A number of us will be following this game via our phones or the Wembley scoreboard as we will be at the International Series game watching the Broncos taking on the 49ers. For those of us at Wembley the nightmare scenario will be the Lions handing out another beating (a la St Louis Rams) while the 49ers & Broncos serve up a stinker in the rain.
As the Redskins were one of the two opponents we managed to beat last season we should feel reasonably confident about doing the same again this season. Before we put this one in the bank though we need to add a note of caution, these Redskins are better than last season's team. The Lions are also improved and their win/loss record this season could, and perhaps should, be much better than the 1-5 it is. It is also worth noting that this will be only the third game the Lions have played at home this season.
Coming off the bye week it is to be hoped that the injury niggles have cleared up and Schwartz and his coaches have managed to find a way to minimise, if not eliminate entirely, the dumb penalties that have been perhaps the single biggest reason why we have not had more than one win. There are 10 games remaining in this season and this game offers the opportunity of making a statement about how the remainder of this season will go. To hand out another beating similar to what they gave the Rams will send a message even to the likes of the Jets and Patriots that Ford Field is no longer the place to come looking for easy victories but the place where you're glad to be going home from and hoping never to return,
Stafford looks like he's back and we, along with the Lions organisation no doubt, will all be hoping he survives the game. Hill did an adequate job while Stafford was on the sidelines but you've got to believe that we would be at least two victories better off had Stafford stayed healthy. The trio of Pettigrew, Scheffler and Burleson may see a lot of action early and Best should see a lot of short passes too as the Redskins are susceptible to RB's receiving the ball. It'd be nice if the Lions could finally get some sort of ground game going too but I'll settle for the O-Line not giving up any sacks to allow Stafford to find his targets.
The consistency of the D-Line and the improved play of the secondary have the defense looking to be a more formidable proposition now. The Redskins have not been lighting up the scoreboard so far this season but McNabb is still a QB that deserves respect. The loss of Follett for the season may be offset by the return of Levy and the introduction of new addition Bobby Carpenter to the linebacking trio where Peterson has picked up his game.
I'm not convinced that this Redskins team is as good as it's record suggests (much like the Rams) and think that the Lions are better than their record suggests so am reasonably confident that this will be win number two of the season for the Lions. The form of the NFC teams has been very patchy this season with no real stand out team as yet and so I think that the Lions should beat all their remaining NFC opponents at home.
Another good read and for a while at Wembley I thought your vision had come to past.The Lions winning and the 49ers and Broncos doing nothing to get the crowd off their seats.Thakfully all that changed in the 2nd half.
ReplyDeleteNext year hopefully a Lions team in Wembley !