New Orleans game

[boogerlovejoy]

Looking forward to this game for a lot of reasons. Seems like it's been tough to gage this team so far this year, but N.O. seems to provide a few tests to determine just how good some units are.

1. The O-line. They've been awful. Few running lanes. Too many sacks. Too many unblocked pass rushers. New Orleans has six sacks so far this year. 27th in the NFL. Can the line step up and give Stafford the time he seems to need to make the downfield reads this offense relies on? If you can't do that against N.O........you can't do that. Period.

2. The secondary. Helped make Aaron Rodgers look like Mr. Rodgers. Brees, along with Stills, Cook, Colston will provide a pretty good gage. Brees will read the mismatches and get the ball out a lot quicker than Bridgewater.....will our secondary make another HOF QB look average?

3. Matt Stafford and the WR. Time to take a step up, if possible. Tate has been really good, but SOMEONE needs to step up here. N.O. DB's can't guard anything.....so who steps up? Ebron? Fuller? Ross? Broyles? Not one of them has done much of anything....and all, except Ross IMO, has the talent to be a good NFL player. Can't really blame Broyles, he seems to be in some kind of doghouse.....even though I can't find one article ANYWHERE that says he has done anything wrong.

N.O. isnt a playoff team. The Lions are at home and should win this game fairly easily....but the Saints will provide a good look into what the '14 Lions are.

31-24 Good Guys.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

I'm not sure this game is going to tell us anything more solid about the team than the rest of the season, but I'm looking forward to it. I expect the Saints to put 6-7 men in coverage early and dare the Lions to run the ball. That might mean the running game finally gets going, or it might prove our running game is hopeless. Either way, Stafford and Co are going to need to make plays against a team selling out for the pass.

The Saints O vs our D is going to be fun to watch. The Saints will score, but I think our defense will limit damage and give our offense a chance. Not having to cover Graham is huge for us if he is out, but Levy may also be the best defender to have against a star TE anyway.

 

[atxlion82]

They may not put up the points of the old Saints but they are going to score.

Our offense has to show up and put up points. We can not settle for 50 yard FG attempts and then blame the kicking game. Put the ball in the endzone and just let Prater worry about the pat.

 

[boogerlovejoy]

I'm not sure this game is going to tell us anything more solid about the team than the rest of the season, but I'm looking forward to it. I expect the Saints to put 6-7 men in coverage early and dare the Lions to run the ball. That might mean the running game finally gets going, or it might prove our running game is hopeless. Either way, Stafford and Co are going to need to make plays against a team selling out for the pass.

The Saints O vs our D is going to be fun to watch. The Saints will score, but I think our defense will limit damage and give our offense a chance. Not having to cover Graham is huge for us if he is out, but Levy may also be the best defender to have against a star TE anyway.

LOL.....listen, I agree with you 100%. I just think its funny you start your post with "I'm not sure this game is going to tell us anything more solid...", then go on to tell us if the Saints defend the pass, it will tell us something about our offensive line.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

LOL.....listen, I agree with you 100%. I just think its funny you start your post with "I'm not sure this game is going to tell us anything more solid...", then go on to tell us if the Saints defend the pass, it will tell us something about our offensive line.

Sorry, I should have clarified. Our run game is already poor, and teams have a lot of incentive to sell out for the pass. If we can't run on a bad defense playing pass the whole way, it won't tell us anything new, just confirm what we already know (the run game doesn't necessarily provide information on the O-line, either). My main point is that one game generally doesn't explain a season (unless there is a season-ending injury to a QB or something).

If we lay a stinker, does that mean the Lions are a bad team? If we dominate the Saints, does that validate the team being good? The answer to both is no. It takes about 8 games to know how good a team really is, and even then you need to pay close attention to the strength of schedule.

 

[tonyballs]

I got something crazy for everybody. Lean in a bit .....(me whispering) if we win, we're 5-2. End of story.

 

[sggatecl]

I got something crazy for everybody. Lean in a bit .....(me whispering) if we win, we're 5-2. End of story.

Game for game, this year's results have been identical to last season so far. You're not crazy at all!

(If it's to stay identical, we win this week and lose next week.)

 

[zyxt9]

Lions have Lombardi who came from Saints...both sides will be adding that factor into their prep for this week.

Based on how bad the Saints look this year and how potentially historic the Lions D has played (see my posts in grandy's thread on time of possession and turnovers)...Lions will win this game in a blowout and follow that up with another blowout win vs Atlanta in London.

 

[sggatecl]

Lions have Lombardi who came from Saints...both sides will be adding that factor into their prep for this week.

Based on how bad the Saints look this year and how potentially historic the Lions D has played (see my posts in grandy's thread on time of possession and turnovers)...Lions will win this game in a blowout and follow that up with another blowout win vs Atlanta in London.

2 blowouts without Calvin? That would make even the staunchest pessimist a believer.

 

[tonyballs]

Game for game, this year's results have been identical to last season so far. You're not crazy at all!

(If it's to stay identical, we win this week and lose next week.)

I'll take it!! But I expect to beat the Saints and absolutely beat up on the Falcons. 2 big wins.

 

[zyxt9]

2 blowouts without Calvin? That would make even the staunchest pessimist a believer.

Saints and Falcons are absolute shells of their former selves.

Last week Lombardi knew CJ was out, he had to adjust (no decoy BS, which was actually a good thing). It is going to take some time for both him and Stafford to get in a rhythm with those adjustments, but obviously this will be 2 weeks where Stafford is forced to look elsewhere and after last week he is getting a better feel. This week will add to that and the Saints D will give him more time than Vikes did. He will have a great day picking them apart. That will provide more faith going to London and taking on an even worse D that the Falcons have. Both games Lions win by 21+, as the D shows they ARE legit and give up max of 14 points with at least 7 coming in 4th quarter garbage time making the blow out slightly less apparent.

 

[mhughes0021]

I got something crazy for everybody. Lean in a bit .....(me whispering) if we win, we're 5-2. End of story.

5-2 isn't crazy....that happenes every year. What would be crazy is Stafford not folding the entire 2nd half of the season and us not losing most of our 2nd half games.

 

[zyxt9]

I wonder how many guys still remaining from the playoff loss to NO in 2011 are going into this game with an extra chip on their shoulder too.

 

[cmlfactor]

I wonder how many guys still remaining from the playoff loss to NO in 2011 are going into this game with an extra chip on their shoulder too.

Hmm. Raiola, Calvin (who won't be playing), Stafford, Pettigrew, Bell. Those are the only ones I can come up with. I think the guy who will be playing with the biggest chip on his shoulder will be Bush. I expect an inspired game out of him.

Even without Graham I think a win over Easy Breesy will for sure put the Lions in the conversation as being legit. A loss, hmm...same 'ol Lions? Depends on the final score, I guess. We hung tough with them both games in 2011, but turnovers and penalties killed...which is the thing this team seems to have improved on.

Imma say........28-20 good guys.