Detroit Lions FA Thread

[jdeb]

No I'm saying what actually happened. Fumble recovery rate is one thing that can change and was flukey. Bush may fumble 4 or 5 times again. Will Bell in the snow twice? Durham going out of bounds? Everytime Bush or Bell put it on the turf will they lose it?

Stafford could have 18-19 picks again but he may have more TDs or the defense forces may more turnovers to counter those 4-5 extra picks. Or the coaching staff can tweak his footwork and he'll have 12 or less. Plus some more health. There are so many ways this team can win more games because the talent is already there.

And this team was thin depth wise at WR. And thus when WRS get hurt its costly. Doesn't mean they are paper thin everywhere (RB, DE, DT, CB, QB,RT) they were not. Safety and LB depth was not needed except for the Pittsburgh game with safety. And it took Calvin plus someone else plus no running game those days to have really bad offensive days at GB and at Minnesota.

what you fail to realize is that Stafford does not have a three to one touchdown to interception ratio. if he did, the Lions are in the playoffs last year. what you also fail to realize is that this organization is weak in all areas. you can put all the positive spin on it that you want. they have done nothing to disprove my negative theory. I respect your opinions to a point but frustrated at your lack of reality. furthermore, I get a little angry when you accuse me of not being a real fan when in all reality I have been through this all my life.

 

[lucke]

That was a 63 year yard FG. Tucker is talented but most kickers and even Tucker might have a bad % kicking 63 yards. Detroit is the only team I know that can lose a heartbreaker on a FG like that. And it's very frustrating. We'd be talking about Staffords incredible TD drive if not for that. And then when you think about that and combine that with Akers miss and block against Arizona in a 4 point loss and the block against Cincy in 3 point loss (that set up a Bengals TD). it makes you really frustrated. Now we're talking kicking turning a 7-9 season into 10-6.

this is true, however, you also have to fault the coaches and players for playing a prevent defense that allowed BAL to drive the ball all the way down the field after our go-ahead TD. 60+ yd FGs are no easy, drop in the bucket, score... but inside a dome with no wind or weather affecting it, it's a lot easier than you may think with a younger leg like Tucker has.

the simplest explanation for all of our losses is that our players did not make the plays necessary to win the game.
Bush fumbled a lot...
Calvin played through a broken finger, thus dropping the ball more than normal...
Akers sucked (again)...
Stafford played like crap, for the most part, down the stretch, but with flashes of brilliance here and there...
the defense was like a siv during the times they were needed to step up the most...
the DL got a ton of hurries and hits, which are nice, but some of those need to turn into sacks...
injuries are part of the game, but lack of quality depth is more to blame than the injury itself...

overall, i do think we're closer than we've been to being a consistent winner, but until we shore up a few things i don't think that's going to happen.

 

[mhughes0021]

this is true, however, you also have to fault the coaches and players for playing a prevent defense that allowed BAL to drive the ball all the way down the field after our go-ahead TD. 60+ yd FGs are no easy, drop in the bucket, score... but inside a dome with no wind or weather affecting it, it's a lot easier than you may think with a younger leg like Tucker has.

the simplest explanation for all of our losses is that our players did not make the plays necessary to win the game.
Bush fumbled a lot...
Calvin played through a broken finger, thus dropping the ball more than normal...
Akers sucked (again)...
Stafford played like crap, for the most part, down the stretch, but with flashes of brilliance here and there...
the defense was like a siv during the times they were needed to step up the most...
the DL got a ton of hurries and hits, which are nice, but some of those need to turn into sacks...
injuries are part of the game, but lack of quality depth is more to blame than the injury itself...

overall, i do think we're closer than we've been to being a consistent winner, but until we shore up a few things i don't think that's going to happen.

Schwartz agrees with the negative posters too or else he would have called a TO prior to the fg in order to give his top 5 paid qb a chance to win the game. But instead he let BAL run the lock out and kick the GW. sad when even your coach has no faith in you...

 

[lgolfer]

That was a 63 year yard FG. Tucker is talented but most kickers and even Tucker might have a bad % kicking 63 yards. Detroit is the only team I know that can lose a heartbreaker on a FG like that. And it's very frustrating. We'd be talking about Staffords incredible TD drive if not for that. And then when you think about that and combine that with Akers miss and block against Arizona in a 4 point loss and the block against Cincy in 3 point loss (that set up a Bengals TD). it makes you really frustrated. Now we're talking kicking turning a 7-9 season into 10-6.

To be clear, it was a 61 yard field goal, not a 63 yarder. And like Swami said, it was in a dome, perfect conditions, Tucker has a huge leg and was 10-11 over 50 yards on the season. So it wasn't a fluke. It was a very good kick, but definitely not a fluke.

 

[mhughes0021]

same thing can be said about you looking at this organization though shit colored glasses.

he's overly positive about the outlook, while you're overly negative. pot, meet kettle.

the difference is that he's looking at things saying he's what can be fixed, etc... you're looking at it as "how can i rub it in that i was right"...

negative and realistic/rational are 2 different things. What is there to be positive about last year? Our underperforming dline? Our overpaid qb that led the team to yet another disastrous finish on his watch? Durham? What exactly would you like me to be positive about? Another top 10 draft pick?...I love those....pretty excited about that!

 

[LKP]

this is true, however, you also have to fault the coaches and players for playing a prevent defense that allowed BAL to drive the ball all the way down the field after our go-ahead TD. 60+ yd FGs are no easy, drop in the bucket, score... but inside a dome with no wind or weather affecting it, it's a lot easier than you may think with a younger leg like Tucker has.

the simplest explanation for all of our losses is that our players did not make the plays necessary to win the game.
Bush fumbled a lot...
Calvin played through a broken finger, thus dropping the ball more than normal...
Akers sucked (again)...
Stafford played like crap, for the most part, down the stretch, but with flashes of brilliance here and there...
the defense was like a siv during the times they were needed to step up the most...
the DL got a ton of hurries and hits, which are nice, but some of those need to turn into sacks...
injuries are part of the game, but lack of quality depth is more to blame than the injury itself...

overall, i do think we're closer than we've been to being a consistent winner, but until we shore up a few things i don't think that's going to happen.

They had one big first down to Jones. Jones had a nice kick return. It was 3rd and long. Prevent should be used at that point.

Bush did more good than bad.

Stafford did way more good than bad and carried us at times. Not every pick was his fault so the TD to int ratio you can throw out the window. And Stafford had to do it with little turnovers, 12 fumbles (almost 1 game) and most of the time no run game in losses. Stafford overall did not play like crap. You can't just ignore the first 9 games either no matter what happened in the stretch. Stafford got us in good playoff position. Then various things happened including some multiple pick games. And Stafford helped us get 21 ponits in that Buc game too and played well in the 4th despite the Durahm fumble and pick.

WR depth sucked. And nickel CB sucked when Carey had to come in due to Houston/Slay/Bentleys injury combined. Mathis is the true nickel depth for Bentley but if Mathis is stepping in for Slay or Houston and Bentley are hurt, then you have to put Carey at nickelback. Same with Gomes, he only played safety against the Steelers because Carey was at nickel (due to Slay having problems, Mathis on the outside). Carey did fine in 2012 at safety but he sucks at nickel. I'm fine with one guy hurt and then the backup coming in. Getting into 3rd string is where you get issues.

Overall the Lions depth does not suck just because I mention WR injuries. Multiple WR injuries by the way. Not just Calvin. Calvin and Burleson, Calvin and Pettigrew. Two big weapons each time. Plus Waddle each time and poor running games. You really blame Stafford missing two big weapons and not having a running game to support him. 3rd and long all day.

Greenwood and Green played well when called late in the season, Young played well forJones, Bell played well getting his touches just not in the Philly/Zona game, Slay/Mathis is good depth depending who you call the starter (in fact Slay stepeed up nicely against GB and at Minnesota Week 17) so we had CB depth, Waddle/Fauria were good finds from depth and Waddle became the starter from 3rd string and Hill was a good backup. LB depth untested last year. DT Mosely did fine as 3rd DT.

Lions have plenty of depth, just not multiple WR depth.

 

[LKP]

To be clear, it was a 61 yard field goal, not a 63 yarder. And like Swami said, it was in a dome, perfect conditions, Tucker has a huge leg and was 10-11 over 50 yards on the season. So it wasn't a fluke. It was a very good kick, but definitely not a fluke.

We'll see how many more 60 yard game winners he makes. And around the league how many 60 yards are made. Low percentage.

 

[LKP]

negative and realistic/rational are 2 different things. What is there to be positive about last year? Our underperforming dline? Our overpaid qb that led the team to yet another disastrous finish on his watch? Durham? What exactly would you like me to be positive about? Another top 10 draft pick?...I love those....pretty excited about that!

Things to be positive about
How well Detroit moved the ball and scored (despite long fields and weapon injuries)
Bush 4.5 YPC 1,000 yard back. Our RBs broke a record with passing and receiving yards combined each
Oline pass blocking
Fauria redzone
Oline run blocking with Waddle in the game
Jeremy Ross returns (he had other big ones besides Philly)
Consistent pressure by the Dline
Levy and Tulloch big seasons. Quin had a good season
Slay his last 2 games (development)
Greenwood and Green play when called upon
Stafford 29 TDs, 6th in 3rd down conversions
Defense 1st in third down stop %
Run defense the majority of the season (some bad games mixed in but not many)
Suh is still a monster
Ansah 8 sacks as a rookie even missing time
Martins punting and booming kickoffs

Playoff hunt until Week 16.
4-2 division (with the 2 losses coming without Calvin). Swept Bears


Those are the postives.
Negatives turnovers allowed, drops, 22 turnovers forced can add a few more and bonehead coaching and Akers.

 

[lgolfer]

negative and realistic/rational are 2 different things. What is there to be positive about last year? Our underperforming dline? Our overpaid qb that led the team to yet another disastrous finish on his watch? Durham? What exactly would you like me to be positive about? Another top 10 draft pick?...I love those....pretty excited about that!

1.You could be positive about our good and improving O-line.
2.You could be positive that we have one of the best 1-2 duos at RB in the league.
3.You could be positive that Caldwell and Lombardi have said there are things that Stafford needs to improve on and that they said they had a plan to work on it, unlike Schwartz ever even identifying Stafford's problems.
4. You could be positive that we've signed a WR in Golden Tate who addresses some of our biggest weaknesses at WR (drops, durability, talent) even if he's not the guy who will always line up on the outside opposite of Calvin.
5. You could be positive that Mayhew signed Ihedigbo to a great, low cap hit deal to fill one of our big needs
6. Lastly, you could be happy that the 2014 draft is supposed to be extremely deep, including many good WRs (a need) and it being likely that we'll be able to take Gilbert, who should help our secondary for many years to come.

Obviously there are negatives, like our DE situation, questions about Stafford, etc., but there are a decent number of things to be positive about if you want to view it that way.

 

[lgolfer]

We'll see how many more 60 yard game winners he makes. And around the league how many 60 yards are made. Low percentage.

Considering that teams are almost never put in that position, Tucker probably won't make many more 60 yard game-winners. Tucker is one of the best long-range kickers in the league, so comparing his percentages to around the league is stupid. I bet you in the same conditions, he would make over 50% of 61 yard kicks

 

[Mitchrapp]

1.You could be positive about our good and improving O-line.
2.You could be positive that we have one of the best 1-2 duos at RB in the league.
3.You could be positive that Caldwell and Lombardi have said there are things that Stafford needs to improve on and that they said they had a plan to work on it, unlike Schwartz ever even identifying Stafford's problems.
4. You could be positive that we've signed a WR in Golden Tate who addresses some of our biggest weaknesses at WR (drops, durability, talent) even if he's not the guy who will always line up on the outside opposite of Calvin.
5. You could be positive that Mayhew signed Ihedigbo to a great, low cap hit deal to fill one of our big needs
6. Lastly, you could be happy that the 2014 draft is supposed to be extremely deep, including many good WRs (a need) and it being likely that we'll be able to take Gilbert, who should help our secondary for many years to come.

Obviously there are negatives, like our DE situation, questions about Stafford, etc., but there are a decent number of things to be positive about if you want to view it that way.

That's true but it's those negative things that stick in your craw. Human nature..

 

[jdeb]

can't wait for the draft. it's the Lions real fans Super Bowl

 

[LKP]

Considering that teams are almost never put in that position, Tucker probably won't make many more 60 yard game-winners. Tucker is one of the best long-range kickers in the league, so comparing his percentages to around the league is stupid. I bet you in the same conditions, he would make over 50% of 61 yard kicks

I highly doubt he would make 50% and he's one of the better kickers. He barely snuck in the 49 yarder earlier in that game. He was on a hot streak and stayed hot. He missed the next week I believe.

Blair Walsh had a great rookie year over 50 then came back down this year.

Detroit wins that game 80% of the team if it comes down to a kick like that.

 

[tomdalton22]

I highly doubt he would make 50% and he's one of the better kickers. He barely snuck in the 49 yarder earlier in that game. He was on a hot streak and stayed hot. He missed the next week I believe.

Blair Walsh had a great rookie year over 50 then came back down this year.

Detroit wins that game 80% of the team if it comes down to a kick like that.

Detroit also wins that game 80% of the time if their starting QB doesn't throw 3 picks and have a QB rating of 48. Stafford sucked that game!!!!

 

[Mitchrapp]

I highly doubt he would make 50% and he's one of the better kickers. He barely snuck in the 49 yarder earlier in that game. He was on a hot streak and stayed hot. He missed the next week I believe.

Blair Walsh had a great rookie year over 50 then came back down this year.

Detroit wins that game 80% of the team if it comes down to a kick like that.

I'll trust their coaches. They weren't hurrying it up, they didn't throw it down field. They ran a play to set Tucker up..they knew he could make it.

 

[lgolfer]

I highly doubt he would make 50% and he's one of the better kickers. He barely snuck in the 49 yarder earlier in that game. He was on a hot streak and stayed hot. He missed the next week I believe.

Blair Walsh had a great rookie year over 50 then came back down this year.

Detroit wins that game 80% of the team if it comes down to a kick like that.

Making hypothetical situations like that is pointless. I could say if our kick coverage did a better job, then the Ravens wouldn't have had the chance to even kick a field goal. That's not even mentioning the fact the Lions didn't even score a touchdown all game.

 

[lgolfer]

I'll trust their coaches. They weren't hurrying it up, they didn't throw it down field. They ran a play to set Tucker up..they knew he could make it.

Exactly. This is why I was expecting Tucker to make it at that time.

 

[mhughes0021]

1.You could be positive about our good and improving O-line.
2.You could be positive that we have one of the best 1-2 duos at RB in the league.
3.You could be positive that Caldwell and Lombardi have said there are things that Stafford needs to improve on and that they said they had a plan to work on it, unlike Schwartz ever even identifying Stafford's problems.
4. You could be positive that we've signed a WR in Golden Tate who addresses some of our biggest weaknesses at WR (drops, durability, talent) even if he's not the guy who will always line up on the outside opposite of Calvin.
5. You could be positive that Mayhew signed Ihedigbo to a great, low cap hit deal to fill one of our big needs
6. Lastly, you could be happy that the 2014 draft is supposed to be extremely deep, including many good WRs (a need) and it being likely that we'll be able to take Gilbert, who should help our secondary for many years to come.

Obviously there are negatives, like our DE situation, questions about Stafford, etc., but there are a decent number of things to be positive about if you want to view it that way.

1. I gave credit to our oline numerous times. I listed it as a questionmark prior to the start of the year due to reiff being moved to LT, rookie rg, will Crayola improve?, what are we doing at LT? there were a lot of questions. Now...I gave them credit along the way for gelling but I also think their weaknesses were masked by how fast Stafford was getting the ball out last year.

2. Ive been positive about both RBs. It almost went unnoticed that we had our first 1000 yard rusher in I don't even know how long...seems like forever. I give the oline even more credit for that than what the did in the pass game. it was a huge improvement for us.

3. meh...ill wait for the results. talk is cheap.

4. said it since day 1 ill be happy with Tate as soon as we get the real needs addressed. I do think we overpaid based on previous production. Is hard to shell out that much money when you have to project what he will do in our offense. I think your guys' projections to what he will mean to this offense is a little more than mine. Nothing on him as a player....I just haven't even seen Stafford utilize another WR to the point he is considered a dual threat. Even nates good years....he wasnt getting many targets for how much we throw the ball.

5. great deal and a cheap stop gap. But hes still a stop gap..

6. im always excited for draft time. deep draft...but mayhew still has to not blow it

this is the worst list ever....these are basically the only things I ever talk positive about lol.

 

[mhughes0021]

Things to be positive about
How well Detroit moved the ball and scored (despite long fields and weapon injuries)
Bush 4.5 YPC 1,000 yard back. Our RBs broke a record with passing and receiving yards combined each
Oline pass blocking
Fauria redzone
Oline run blocking with Waddle in the game
Jeremy Ross returns (he had other big ones besides Philly)
Consistent pressure by the Dline
Levy and Tulloch big seasons. Quin had a good season
Slay his last 2 games (development)
Greenwood and Green play when called upon
Stafford 29 TDs, 6th in 3rd down conversions
Defense 1st in third down stop %
Run defense the majority of the season (some bad games mixed in but not many)
Suh is still a monster
Ansah 8 sacks as a rookie even missing time
Martins punting and booming kickoffs

Playoff hunt until Week 16.
4-2 division (with the 2 losses coming without Calvin). Swept Bears


Those are the postives.
Negatives turnovers allowed, drops, 22 turnovers forced can add a few more and bonehead coaching and Akers.

how well we scored? we were 3rd in scoring in our division and scored only 4 more points than a ponder led/APless Vikings team.

yes...im thrilled we have a punter now so when Stafford fails we can try to gain some field position back

 

[lucke]

Detroit also wins that game 80% of the time if their starting QB doesn't throw 3 picks and have a QB rating of 48. Stafford sucked that game!!!!

outside of that last TD drive to take the lead, i whole heartedly agree.

but again, those are all hypothetical situations that have no bearing on the reality of what actually transpired.

LKP, you can spout off as much as you want on the woulda, coulda, shoulda's, but the fact is that they didn't... not even you can deny that (although i bet you'll try).