Another week down and the Detroit Lions come to town this week. The Lions are coming off a loss to a divisional rival in the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day. It was a much better outcome for the Saints as they steamrolled the Giants in front of a national audience Monday night. This game should be a good one as both teams are fighting for a playoff spot and it didn’t hurt that this game was picked to replace the awful Patriots versus Colts as part of the flex package on NBC Sunday night football.
Special Teams/Defense
The Lions’ special teams can be defined by one guy and that is their kicker Jason Hanson. He has been the kicker for the Lions since 1992, which is twenty years on one team. Simply unheard of in today’s league. The return game is occupied by one man and his name is Stefan Logan as he does both kickoff and punt returns. Stefan is not a major return threat as this has been the case the last couple of weeks with the Saints have not having faced a scary threat in that department. The Lions defense is molded by head coach Jim Schwartz, a former defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans. It’s staple on defense is the strong defensive line that the Lions deploy: one that has good rush ends and guys who can stop the run by plugging up the middle. They will be without their dominant defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh as he will be out to serve a two game suspension. It would hurt most teams to lose Suh for two games but the Lions should be okay as they have depth at the defensive tackle position. The problem area for the Lions’ defense have been in both the linebacking core and the secondary as inconstent play and injuries have plagued these two this season. Going further in the season these two areas have to get better for the Lions to have a chance to make a deep playoff run, because if they don’t they may not even make it to the playoffs.
How to take advantage?
Follow last wee k’s gameplan and the Saints should be able to get another win. The Lions’ defense has some of the same tendencies that the Giants’ defense hasand Drew Brees should have another great game. I also think last week showed just how good the Saints’ offense could be as far as spreading the ball around, it seemed like everybody had at least one catch. The Lions will try to put pressure on Drew and the running game will be nonexistent but as the offensive line has gotten better each week this game will be a good test for them.
Offense
The Lions’ offense while young has some playmakers that could make any defense have a long day. They have added their franchise quarterback in Matthew Stafford who has battled injures throughout his career. This year Matthew has been injury free for the most part and he is having a great year in the process, though he is dealing with some recent issues on his throwing hand. It would be easy to say that one of the reasons for his success this season is Calvin Johnson who can take over a game because he is such a mismatch against opposing secondaries. He has to be one of the league’s best receivers and the fact that he gets double coverage most of the game helps the Lions’ other receivers make plays. The only downfall to this offense is the injuries that have riddled the running back position. Before the season it was a strength as they had Jahvid Best as their homerun hitter but he went down with concussions. After that it just seemed like every other guy has gone down also and now the Lions will have their fourth string back in the starting lineup this Sunday. The offensive line has gotten better over the years but with a lack of a running game has geared up the defense to rush the passer as they’re not really worried by the Lions’ rushing attack.
How to take advantage?
Last week the Saints’ defense played one of their better games of the year. I know it seemed the Giants were always marching up and down the field but the one thing the Saints did real well last week was getting the Giants off the field in key situations. This week the key will be stopping Calvin Johnson as the offense goes through him. Let’s go ahead and double cover him take him out of the gameplan. The running game will be limited for the Lions so Coach Williams should bring out some of those exotic blitzes to confuse Stafford in this game.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
