Be Honest

[kdp1980]

Do you think Johnsons praise coming off of last year and Staffords lack of praise has anything to do with whats going on this year?

 

[zyxt9]

no, but i do think the outside influences such as commercial endorsements have pulled their focus from improving and showing the world how good they are and replaced it with complacency and a feeling of "I'm there" so the drive and motivation is less.

i also think there is a sense of growing frustration which can fester and grow unless changes are made, perpetually making it a struggle to improve until the cycle is broken by something mentally clicking.

then there is the play calling. i honestly think stafford should be out there calling the plays like Peyton Manning does. he knows what the O is capable of doing, let him run with it. instead he is constantly looking to the sidelines for plays which when they come in i imagine he finds as frustrating as the fans have been. let him be the leader, put the game on his shoulders.

 

[mhughes0021]

madden curse...that is all. He'll be lucky to be healthy all year. Lets just be glad hes on the field.

 

[LKP]

Combo of alot of things. It's not one thing.
First Vikings, Bears and 49ers have good defenses this year. We scored 19 against the 49ers last year too, we scored 13 at Soldier Field with a garbage TD last year(and got 3 on a Cutler fumble) and we sucked in the first half against the Vikings in 2011(because of pressure and special teams breakdown/not stopping Peterson) and really the second half of game 2 against the Vikings in 2011 due to long drives by the Vikings.

Second redzone has sucked taking away a ton of big opportunities. In the NFL every big play is crucial. And when it rains it pours. Failures early in the game(Pettigrew drop Viking game, LeShoure fumble) took away points(obvious FG) on the 4 and outs in the redzone in both the Bears/Vikings. Same with the Bear game the two fumbles caused no FG attempt on the Stafford pick in the redzone.

Redzone has sucked for a variety of reasons, ints(Rams game) drops(Vikings,Calvin drop on first drive Bear game, last year he caught a big TD), pass protection in the redzone(Vikings, int Bears game), some Stafford misfires and fumbles(Bears game and LeShoure fumble Vikings game). Titans game the offense did enough to win but the safeties and special teams did not along with Pettigrew on one play.

It's not all just on Stafford. One guy is messing up at crucial time, sometimes Stafford, sometimes other (special teams 4 returns and running into Akers by Florence, Pettigrew strip, Raiola early snap, 2 big plays allowed by Titans, 3 long 3rd downs converted on 49ers 4th Quarter TD drive, 39 yard run by Forte and Cutler scramble on Bears TD drive)

This is the NFL. If Lions can't overcome 2-3 crucial plays they'll end up losing no matter how much talent they have. Last year the plays swung in their favor and they were able to impose their will in second halves or finish in 4th Quarters. This year they aren't doing that other than 2 strong 4th Quarter finishes.