If I may continue the homage to Bob Marley theme of the headline a little longer "If you are a big tree, then we are a small axe, coming to cut you down".
For me that is where the Lions are right now, unafraid, still firmly in the underdog category and yet, you do get a sense that they will start swinging and cutting down some big NFL trees before too long. Unfortunately Sunday wasn't the time for this to happen and to follow on from last weeks buzz word, it is clear the 'process' of rebuilding the Lions has yet to be completed.
The game against the Eagles saw the emergence of Cal running back Jahvid Best in the Honolulu Blue. Yes he scored two TD's last week but outside of his two TD carries he averaged a paltry 1 yard per carry rushing and 3.5 yards per reception, hardly the stuff to give opposition DC's sleepless nights. Against the Eagles he laid down a marker that if he comes anywhere near for the rest of this season he will probably be the biggest landslide victor of Offensive Rookie of the Year there has ever been.
The Lions offense took to the field for the second time in the game and, finding themselves 7-0 down, decided to see if the 10 yard run Best had managed in the first drive could perhaps be repeated. It could. Suddenly the Lions O Line were blowing holes in the Eagles D Line and Best was gashing through for gain after gain, Aaron Brown even chipped in while Best got his breath back before returning to punch it in through the heart of the Eagles D from 14 yards out. After two Lions offensive possessions of the ball Best had the following numbers: 5 carries for 74 yards at an average of 14.8 yards per carry with 1 TD. The game was just over 9 minutes old, the scores were tied at 7 and yet somehow in the remaining 50 minutes Best managed 12 carries for 4 yards and 1 TD. Yes he added a 75 yard TD run off of a pass and racked up a total of 154 yards receiving but what happened to the Lions running game? During that field long TD drive the O-Line resembled a rolling maul, such was their dominance.
My fantasy jinx ensured Brandon Pettigrew had an impressive game receiving and as an added bonus he blocked effectively as well (I replaced Pettigrew with Scheffler after last weeks showing and then to prove it wasn't a selection fluke replaced the Dolphins D with Baltimore! Oh yes I am the harbinger of Fantasy doom). Also for someone playing in a position that is notoriously difficult to impress in as a rookie Ndamukong Suh is seeming to have little trouble living up to the expectations we had when he was drafted. That's a sack in each of his first two games. Kyle Vanden Bosch and the rest of the D Line gave their all and looked impressive but after that it's difficult to get too excited about much else on either side of the ball.
Hill didn't have the best of games at QB but then he is the backup and, as such, you can't expect him to perform to the level of Stafford. Do we win with Stafford behind centre? Possibly. The defense do miss DeAndre Levy and it is noticeable that Louis Delmas is not 100% which makes our back 7 too weak and vulnerable in this league. Throw in a few key missed tackles and a dropped interception and it's not hard to see how we give up 35 points to a Vick inspired Eagle offense. The fact that the game was kept close has given the defense a bit of a free pass the last two weeks. Not much was expected of the D outside the front 4, as we all knew the weakness of the linebackers and secondary, so giving up in excess of 400 yards each week is no surprise. The signs are there that we have a spirited, never say die bunch but it is also clear you can't make up for lack of talent.
The offense performed well enough too given the starting QB was absent and yet the feeling persists it could have done better. So for this game for the first time since they came on board I found myself questioning coaching decisions (is that in itself a sign we're getting better?). Was Linehan's play calling becoming a bit too predictable at times? Were we making the most of what we had on the field? Shouldn't we be taking a field goal here?
That last one did it for me. I know through reading the comments on the forum that I'm in a minority here but I really do think that was a key moment and one that Schwartz got wrong. He was right in saying in his post game interview that you have to be capable of making a yard with 2 carries of the ball, it is also true to say if you score the field goal you still need a 2 point conversion which is further to go than 1 yard and it is also true to say that it is right to back your offense to gain that 1 yard as there is no guarantee you will make the kick. I still think that you take the points in that situation though, especially with plenty of time still on the clock.
Rather than try and justify decisions though in his post game interviews I thought Scwartz would have been well served this particular week to have taken a leaf out of Rod Marinelli's book and taken one for the team. "Hey fella's that loss is on me" would have taken the focus away from the players not making key plays (and they would know as well as the rest of us how crucial some of those mistakes were) and, I believe, had them wanting to burst through walls for him in Minnesota next week.
The games in the record books now though, and this seasons 0-2 is looking a lot more competitive than previous years. We have a meeting with fellow 0-2 division rivals the Vikings to look forward to and, I don't know about you but, I can't wait to see Suh sack Favre, so...
bring on the Vikes!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment