SnakeLH2006
12-12-2010, 01:23 AM
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/12/detroit_lions_defense_expects.html
DETROIT -- Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas laughed at the question.
"Oh, yeah, they'll be going deep. That's what they like to do,'' Delmas said of the 8-4 Green Bay Packers, who will be visiting Ford Field today to take on the 2-10 Lions.
The oddsmakers have the Packers listed as a seven-point favorite, partly because of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his 23 touchdown passes and passer efficiency rating of 100.3.
"He's definitely getting better,'' Lions rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "He can win the game with this feet or his arm.''
The Lions picked a bad week to lose two key defensive players. Pass rusher Kyle Vanden Bosch (neck) and cornerback Alphonso Smith (shoulder) -- who led Detroit in interceptions with five -- are both out for the season. That means that Detroit's depth in the secondary will be severely tested.
Cornerback Brandon McDonald, who was claimed on waivers just five weeks ago, will see a lot of action against the Packers' deep threat trio of Greg Jennings, Donald Driver and James Jones.
"It's going to be a good challenge for this team. They definitely like to throw the ball down the field with that quarterback and those receivers. They feel they can compete with anybody,'' said McDonald, adding that he's comfortable with Detroit's defense. "I caught on real quick. When I got here, they threw me into the fire and I've been learning since I've gotten here.''
LIONS VS. PACKERS
Kickoff: 1 p.m. today
Where: Ford Field, Detroit
TV: Fox
Records: Lions 2-10, Packers 8-4
Line: Packers by 7
Summary: The Packers got a little shock in Lambeau Field earlier this year when those pesky Lions wouldn't go away and Green Bay finally escaped with a two-point win. The Packers won't take Detroit lightly this time and you can look for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to try to bury the Lions early with some long passes against their undermanned secondary. The Lions have taken some significant injuries lately and there's little chance that defense will be able to stop the Packers -- or for the offense to keep pace.
Kowalski's prediction: Packers 44, Lions 17
Rookie safety Amari Spievey, who also still is learning the defensive schemes and assignments, knows that veteran quarterbacks such as Rodgers like to pick on young defenders.
"It requires some extra studying and knowing what I have to do. It's focusing on your job,'' said Spievey, who realizes the Packers' receiver will try to get behind him for deep passes. "You have to know what they're trying to do and know their tendencies. I've got to do my job.''
Lions coach Jim Schwartz said the Packers have adapted to key losses at their running back and tight end positions, including stars like Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley.
"Green Bay has done an outstanding job of that. The key is the quarterback and their two marquee receivers (Jennings and Driver), but they have enough offensive personnel that if you concentrate too much on any of those guys, the other guys can make you pay,'' Schwartz said. "They've been multi-dimensional in all games. They go three running backs. They go three wide receivers. They go five wide receivers -- a lot of different things. I don't think we'll get a steady dose of any one thing, but all year they've taken the approach of spreading people out and getting rid of the ball quick."
Jennings has scored 11 touchdowns this season while Driver, who is back after missing a lot of time with injuries, had a 61-yard touchdown catch-and-run last week.
"We have some continuity from a health standpoint and, at the quarterback position, we're playing at a very high level,'' Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.
The Lions will counter with Drew Stanton, who is getting his second start this season because Matthew Stafford (shoulder) and Shaun Hill (finger) are out with injuries. Stanton threw for a touchdown and ran for another in last week's start and didn't have a turnover.
"Obviously, there are some throws you'd like to have back. There was some stuff to build on that was good. It's just me getting in the right play and getting the ball in these guys' hands,'' Stanton said. "We've got to be in position where on first down, we're getting first downs and on second down, we have to get first downs. We don't need to handcuff ourselves with third-and-short and not convert. We're doing a good job on third down but we also have the most third downs attempted in the league.''
The Lions also are on the wrong end of another key stat -- they've been outscored 42-0 in the fourth quarter of the past three games combined.
"It's been different things in different games,'' Suh said. "It's a combination of things we need to figure out. It doesn't always come down to the whole fourth quarter, it's certain plays.
_______________________________________________
To Title of Thread...2 words:
James Starks.
I know it's early to anoint this kid as the savior for the season, but really, look at last week vs. the previous weeks.
Arod is elite, and had an amazing game passing vs. the Falcons, but that was mostly based on his uncanny athleticism out the pocket and finding a guy. He's damn good.
But last week, with Starks running the ball solidly for the first time since Grant got hurt....what happened. The D sucked up and had to actually treat the run as a threat, and the play-action passes were insane. You can play-action all you want with BJack, but he's only a threat catching the ball (good at that, but piss-poor now that he'd had his chance as the featured back). Starks offered quite a bit of Grant-like ability (man I feel bad I used to rip on Grant as he was pretty good) as a runner getting tough yards and being able to make a play out of nothing. Speed and toughness go a long way as an RB in the NFL. BJack has neither, but Starks showed that last week, and Arod's play-action passes tore the hell out of them.
Arod is as good as any QB in the NFL, but if you have to sneak your QB to get a 3rd and 1 all the time, and run him 12 times a game...guess what, your running game sucks, the D knows it, and they won't sell out to stop the run on the play-action...not to mention it's only a matter of time till you get your QB killed.
Starks changed all that last week. The jury is out, but really, this kid has some toughness and speed to make things happen. That was our biggest weakness vs. an elite Falcon team, and if all things fall into place (despite a tough schedule) I don't see how any NFL D can hold ARod and an honest rushing attack under 30 points.
Starks is the X-factor, kind of how Grant came out of nowhere in 2007 to help lead us to a great regular season. I like this kid....not only for his rushing ability, but the fact that our play-action passing game will be QUITE effective for the rest of 2010 and into the playoffs.
DETROIT -- Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas laughed at the question.
"Oh, yeah, they'll be going deep. That's what they like to do,'' Delmas said of the 8-4 Green Bay Packers, who will be visiting Ford Field today to take on the 2-10 Lions.
The oddsmakers have the Packers listed as a seven-point favorite, partly because of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his 23 touchdown passes and passer efficiency rating of 100.3.
"He's definitely getting better,'' Lions rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. "He can win the game with this feet or his arm.''
The Lions picked a bad week to lose two key defensive players. Pass rusher Kyle Vanden Bosch (neck) and cornerback Alphonso Smith (shoulder) -- who led Detroit in interceptions with five -- are both out for the season. That means that Detroit's depth in the secondary will be severely tested.
Cornerback Brandon McDonald, who was claimed on waivers just five weeks ago, will see a lot of action against the Packers' deep threat trio of Greg Jennings, Donald Driver and James Jones.
"It's going to be a good challenge for this team. They definitely like to throw the ball down the field with that quarterback and those receivers. They feel they can compete with anybody,'' said McDonald, adding that he's comfortable with Detroit's defense. "I caught on real quick. When I got here, they threw me into the fire and I've been learning since I've gotten here.''
LIONS VS. PACKERS
Kickoff: 1 p.m. today
Where: Ford Field, Detroit
TV: Fox
Records: Lions 2-10, Packers 8-4
Line: Packers by 7
Summary: The Packers got a little shock in Lambeau Field earlier this year when those pesky Lions wouldn't go away and Green Bay finally escaped with a two-point win. The Packers won't take Detroit lightly this time and you can look for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to try to bury the Lions early with some long passes against their undermanned secondary. The Lions have taken some significant injuries lately and there's little chance that defense will be able to stop the Packers -- or for the offense to keep pace.
Kowalski's prediction: Packers 44, Lions 17
Rookie safety Amari Spievey, who also still is learning the defensive schemes and assignments, knows that veteran quarterbacks such as Rodgers like to pick on young defenders.
"It requires some extra studying and knowing what I have to do. It's focusing on your job,'' said Spievey, who realizes the Packers' receiver will try to get behind him for deep passes. "You have to know what they're trying to do and know their tendencies. I've got to do my job.''
Lions coach Jim Schwartz said the Packers have adapted to key losses at their running back and tight end positions, including stars like Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley.
"Green Bay has done an outstanding job of that. The key is the quarterback and their two marquee receivers (Jennings and Driver), but they have enough offensive personnel that if you concentrate too much on any of those guys, the other guys can make you pay,'' Schwartz said. "They've been multi-dimensional in all games. They go three running backs. They go three wide receivers. They go five wide receivers -- a lot of different things. I don't think we'll get a steady dose of any one thing, but all year they've taken the approach of spreading people out and getting rid of the ball quick."
Jennings has scored 11 touchdowns this season while Driver, who is back after missing a lot of time with injuries, had a 61-yard touchdown catch-and-run last week.
"We have some continuity from a health standpoint and, at the quarterback position, we're playing at a very high level,'' Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.
The Lions will counter with Drew Stanton, who is getting his second start this season because Matthew Stafford (shoulder) and Shaun Hill (finger) are out with injuries. Stanton threw for a touchdown and ran for another in last week's start and didn't have a turnover.
"Obviously, there are some throws you'd like to have back. There was some stuff to build on that was good. It's just me getting in the right play and getting the ball in these guys' hands,'' Stanton said. "We've got to be in position where on first down, we're getting first downs and on second down, we have to get first downs. We don't need to handcuff ourselves with third-and-short and not convert. We're doing a good job on third down but we also have the most third downs attempted in the league.''
The Lions also are on the wrong end of another key stat -- they've been outscored 42-0 in the fourth quarter of the past three games combined.
"It's been different things in different games,'' Suh said. "It's a combination of things we need to figure out. It doesn't always come down to the whole fourth quarter, it's certain plays.
_______________________________________________
To Title of Thread...2 words:
James Starks.
I know it's early to anoint this kid as the savior for the season, but really, look at last week vs. the previous weeks.
Arod is elite, and had an amazing game passing vs. the Falcons, but that was mostly based on his uncanny athleticism out the pocket and finding a guy. He's damn good.
But last week, with Starks running the ball solidly for the first time since Grant got hurt....what happened. The D sucked up and had to actually treat the run as a threat, and the play-action passes were insane. You can play-action all you want with BJack, but he's only a threat catching the ball (good at that, but piss-poor now that he'd had his chance as the featured back). Starks offered quite a bit of Grant-like ability (man I feel bad I used to rip on Grant as he was pretty good) as a runner getting tough yards and being able to make a play out of nothing. Speed and toughness go a long way as an RB in the NFL. BJack has neither, but Starks showed that last week, and Arod's play-action passes tore the hell out of them.
Arod is as good as any QB in the NFL, but if you have to sneak your QB to get a 3rd and 1 all the time, and run him 12 times a game...guess what, your running game sucks, the D knows it, and they won't sell out to stop the run on the play-action...not to mention it's only a matter of time till you get your QB killed.
Starks changed all that last week. The jury is out, but really, this kid has some toughness and speed to make things happen. That was our biggest weakness vs. an elite Falcon team, and if all things fall into place (despite a tough schedule) I don't see how any NFL D can hold ARod and an honest rushing attack under 30 points.
Starks is the X-factor, kind of how Grant came out of nowhere in 2007 to help lead us to a great regular season. I like this kid....not only for his rushing ability, but the fact that our play-action passing game will be QUITE effective for the rest of 2010 and into the playoffs.