manchild98
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2011
- Messages
- 21,984
I say 7-9.
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Get StartedWeek Date Opp
1 9/8 vs. Min W
2 9/15 @ Ari W
3 9/22 @ Was W
4 9/29 vs. Chi W
5 10/6 @ GB L
6 10/13 @ Cle W
7 10/20 vs. Cin L
8 10/27 vs. Dal W
9 Bye Week
10 11/10 @ Chi L
11 11/17 @ Pit L
12 11/24 vs. TB W
13 11/28 vs. GB L
14 12/8 @ Phi W
15 12/16 vs. Bal W
16 12/22 vs. NYG W
17 12/29 @ Min L
10-6 Several of these games are toss ups. I could see us splitting with all our division but think that this team has the ability. Also the schedule is pretty favorable with the games we play at home and the fact that AFC north and NFC east could both have down years. Washington has good pieces and probably wins the east but they are beatable because they dont have much at WR or CB/S. Philly probably struggles all year as does Dallas with mediocre olines and inconsistent QB play. Plus Philly losing Maclin hurts them a lot and not much on defense. Dallas is just consistently inconsistent the past few years. The giants are a huge ? Eli is bipolar, the defense isnt what it used to be and not much run game but big play WR. Pit is beatable the defense is consistently top tier but the offense will struggle. Baltimore lost a lot but then brought in some very good pieces but the offense again just doesnt have much outside of Ray Rice. I think Flacco will come back to earth and not perform so much like Playoff flacco. Cincinnati probably wins that division with a hard hitting defense and oline and good secondary play. But if you can pressure Dalton you can win plus our offense if it stays healthy should be able to put up points on anyone. Cleveland.....well you know. Arizona has lost quite a bit and I expect CJ to put a spanking on Peterson for all his nonsense talk after the last time. Megatron put up big numbers and that dude still talked what a clown. TB people are hyped about but I see a team with some mediocre talent and a inconsistent QB. They dont have a game breaker and if you can stop the run game and pressure the QB you win. Their defense is predicated on the ability to pressure the qb but with Bush we can now run more screens and kill their pressure. Thats a breakdown.
I don't see 10 wins. I don't think you are giving some of the other teams enough credit. I think all 4 teams in the NFC east are better than the Lions. Chicago, MN and GB are also all better than the Lions. Balt, Cinci and the Steelers are also all better than the Lions. We all know that anything can happen but this looks more like a sub .500 than a 10-6 playoff caliber team.
Why dont you just say you think the lions are one of the worst five teams then because this schedule isnt very tough based on projected starters on those teams. Philly has no qb or oline and a weak defense but they are better? Washington is probably a little better. Dallas is mediocre on par with the Lions. I dont see any of those teams that I would say are head and shoulders more talented or will dominate the Lions. I am looking at who they have and I am just not seeing us that far behind or talent deprived like I have the past decade. I think this team is more along the lines of 8-8 but I also said these games were toss ups. We dont know what we have on either side of the line but based on how I see our young players and our established guys I think we can win some games. This team was ruined by injuries last year as well as understocked at key positions and we were in every game and should have finished closer to .500.
I'm just hoping for a playoff spot 10-6 should do it, but one thing I know I'm more confident in this team then any team I've seen in the past 10 years. There is no one true area of major weakness. obviously we have question marks like the right side of the line, OLB'er, how the young DE's will step up, same with the young CB's, and if someone can step up behind CJ Burleson and Broyles.
None of those problems are big concerns to me because I have confidence in Rieff, Fox, and Warford. I have confidence in the players we have behind Houston. We finally have another safety outside of Delmas so if he does miss time we won't have two major weak links back there. Palmer has played well is spurts for three years now so I think he can be at least decent. Idonije and Jones have both proven to be at least solid players so if the young guys struggle we have options. As for the receivers both Edwards and Schillens are standing out so hopefully one of them can prove to be good depth there because we will need it when injury strikes, which they always do.
Assuming we can stay relatively healthy I think we are the best team in the division, and thats saying something because this is a tough division. The Packers have the QB and WR's, but they didn't do much to upgrade that O-Line. Same with the defense they didn't add much over there to what was one of the worst defenses ever. Rodgers will carry that team and they obviously could win the division, but I think we are the more complete team. As for the Bears I just don't see what everyone sees. O-Line picked up Long which I liked, but Bushrod is average at best he was more of a product of Brees, IMO. Cutler will never be more then decent and people are overrating Jeffrey and Bennett. They act like these guys are future pro bowlers when Bennett was a borderline bust for years and I'm just not a big fan of Jeffrey. On defense they are just another year older. IMO, Lovie Smith was unbelievably underrated and I think he always got the best out of the talent he had. They will realize how bad that team is and I would be surprised if they won more then 6 games. As for the Vikings they have Ponder so unless Peterson tops the year he had before I can't see them pushing for the division, but they should still be tough to beat.
All in all if health prevails I see something like 10-6 and our first division title in I don't know how many years.
If im gauging playoffs you need to look at all the teams in the NFC and imo these teams are better than the lions right now:
SF
NO
ATL
SEA
GB
TB
East Winner
That leaves the likes of CHI, whoever doesn't win the east out of nyg/was/dal and us to fight for probably TBs spot....not easy to do with our schedule.
I could see TB going either way. But I'm not even thinking the playoffs because unless they surprise the shit out of me they're not making it. I just wan't a successful season where we don't stink.
If im gauging playoffs you need to look at all the teams in the NFC and imo these teams are better than the lions right now:
SF
NO
ATL
SEA
GB
TB
East Winner
That leaves the likes of CHI, whoever doesn't win the east out of nyg/was/dal and us to fight for probably TBs spot....not easy to do with our schedule.
Teams in the NFC that I think are definitely better than the Lions
ATL
N.O.
SF
Seattle
GB
Bears
Redskins
Teams in the NFC that are probably better than the Lions
NYG
Dallas
MN
Teams that are similar
Carolina
TB
Rams
Eagles (wild card due to new offensive system)
Teams that the Lions are probably better than
AZ
There is not one team in the NFC that I can say with confidence that the Lions are superior....not even AZ.
Are you even a Lions fan? How can you not say with confidence that the Lions are better than Arizona and St. Louis? The Rams' starting running back is Daryl Richardson (who?) and wideouts are rookie Tavon Austin and Chris Givens (who?). And at least the Eagles (completely switched their defensive scheme and personnel in the offseason) and Carolina should be teams the Lions are "probably better than."
The Lions have more talent than they had in 2011 when they went 10-6. I'm not guaranteeing they'll go 10-6 this year because their schedule is so tough, but I'll be disappointed if they don't go at least 8-8, if not 9-7 or higher.
The biggest question I have is RT and RG. If the O-line can protect Stafford a little better, I think the defense has improved enough where they can consistently play with anyone.
Could be anything from 6-10 to 10-6. I'm going to the Green Bay game, so to about time they won on Thanksgiving please.
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