Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s single-season receiving yards, but the Lions offense just couldn’t produce points at the rate their defense was giving them up. They lacked a true secondary receiving option to Megatron, even though Matt Stafford led the league with over 700 pass attempts. They added Reggie Bush to the fold in free agency, and he should give them a play-making threat out of the backfield. The offense committed 33 turnovers last year, 5th most in the league, and will need to keep their hands on the ball if they’re going to return to playoff form.
From a yardage perspective, the Lions defense was middle-of-the-pack, but they gave up the 5th most points in the league and lost both of their defensive ends in free agency. Rookie Ezekiel Ansah will need to develop fast if he’s going to take over for Cliff Avril, and it’s hard to see the Lions maintaining their “best 4-3 defensive line in the league” status this season. Behind the line, there isn’t much depth in the rest of the defense, and the secondary remains an issue.
After a 4-4 start the Lions dropped their last 8 games, giving up 24+ points in each game. The offense had the 5th highest turnover rate and the defense created the 5th fewest turnovers. At the end of the day, the Lions need to turn the tables and create more turnovers and not give the ball away if they’re going to be competitive this year.
The defensive line isn’t as good as it was last season. The offense will score, but I still doubt the ability of the defense to stop other teams. 6-10.
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