Sack Masters?

Sack Masters?

September 20th, 2010 | by detfan1979 |

I know the Lions “missed” a lot of plays and tackles on Mike Vick both with what I have seen and read. Many acocunts also mention the pressure brought by Philadelphia’s defense. Imagine my surprise when I was looking at the numbers and saw that Detroit was creating significantly more presure on Vick than Philly did on Shaun Hill — Vick just handled it better. Honestly, I think if you have Stafford and Kolb in there, the Lions win.

It seems like the Lions are racking up the sacks this year, while allowing fewer. Two games does not make for anywhere close to a great sample, but Chicago is now 2-0, and Philly at 1-1 is considered an average team at worst, so I looked at this year’s numbers compared to last year’s numbers (something I am going to do often this year) to see what kind of pace they are on as a team.

First of all, sacks allowed last year was 43. So far this year, the Lions have allowed 4 sacks — on pace for 32. This is an average of 2.0 per game in 2010 versus 2.7 per game in 2009.

More telling than that is the defensive statistics — the Lions had just 26 sacks as a team all of 2009. They already have 10. This puts them on pace for 80 sacks as a team. (No, that is not a typo – I’ve had to say that a lot lately) Will they keep up this pace? Hard to tell… They face some much better offensive lines in the coming weeks, and teams will go to a lot more short passing and max protect (as if anyone could do more of that than Chicago did, but I digress…) in order to stave off the dline pressure.

The big question is — has it helped? The Lions are 1-1 0-2 right now. Their offense is gaining the same yards per play (4.7) as it did last year while giving up the same yards per play (6.3) that it did last season as well. As you can guess, that is not a winning combination. The secondary and linebackers need to start taking better advantage of the pressure the defensive line is creating in order for the defense to improve, and the offense has to just plain get and stay healthy while working together as a unit.

While it’s not making a noticible impact yet, the heavy pressure by the defense will start to pay dividends once the back 7 is improved — which you can be assured is at the top of Martin Mayhew’s To-Do list for next ifseason. The best thing as a fan is that the team is building with the trenches first, and then filling out into the other spots on offense/defense — just like we’ve been clamoring about for years. It will take time, but there is and looks like there will continue to be improvement from the Lions — enough to warrant a playoff push next year? I’m optimistic but there is a looooong season ahead of us yet to be played.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy watching the Lions defense crush opposing quarterbacks for a change.

Rating: 10.0/10 (4 votes cast)

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2 Responses to “Sack Masters?”

1. By jreffy on Sep 21, 2010

   One thing you might want to add, the Lions are tied for the NFL LEAD right now in Sacks with 10. Green Bay also has 10.

   Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

2. By DetroitFanTC on Sep 23, 2010

   I am hopefully optimistic about the future of the lions. Against the Vikes they get to face an immobile quarterback that has been their nemisis his entire career. My mind keeps flashing back to the Sport Science piece about Suh and his hitting the crash test dummy, conveniently wearing the number 4. I hope for this to be a foreshadowing of Sunday. Go Lions!

   Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Snap Thoughts: Lions-Eagles

Snap Thoughts: Lions-Eagles

September 19th, 2010 | by detfan1979 |

Another close loss. More positives, more negatives, and things that make you go hmm….

Lets start with the negative:

• I’m really not a conspiracy theorist, but seriously. Could the officiating be ANY worse than the first two weeks? Phantom facemask extending a drive resulting in a TD and the PAINFULLY obvious shove-off offensive PI that wasn’t called on Maclin on the TD play. Sure, its easy to get open when you can knock over the defender, but he can’t touch you. Also, a couple of times the so called hands to head rule was NOT called on defenders hitting Hill – including the last play of the game. The defensive pass interference was not being called on Philly at all, not matter what their guys did.
• Shaun Hill did okay — but played best against the zone defense at the end. He made some VERY bad reads on the last 4 plays. Best was wide open over the middle on what had to be his hot read, and he overthrew into double coverage. That was first down close to FG range. Hill got rattled, pure and simple.
• Linebackers were not playing well at all. This defense is missing Levy, and is in painful need of upgrades here.
• CC Brown – Brown was the weakest link and it was mostly just him being inconsistent versus not making any plays at all.
• Playcalling was still much too conservative — especially at the beginning of the game after the first drive. CJ HAS to be targeted early even if it doesn’t go anywhere because that is what really opens up running lanes for Best
• Inability to get half a yard on two straight runs. And why was Best in there running? Why not Felton or even Morris? Why not some trickery? I understand making a statement and why not the long FG with Hanson at that point. Still…they all got blown up, period. Horrible. Just horrible.

Things that make you go hmm….

• That 4th down call versus the FG. Could have gone either way, but I’m not sure the Lions’ play to that point justified such confidence in that call.
• The officiating. I know they are human, but come on! Pathetic.
• Why the Lions refuse to throw deep to Calvin Johnson until the last 4 minutes of the game when its a desperate comeback attempt. Maybe if they tried that sooner, they wouldn’t be in that position… just a thought…
• The Lions scoring a 75 yd TD on a screen pass. No, that was not a typo.

Positive:

• 5 more sacks from the Lions. They have 9 after just two games. No, that is also not a typo.
• The defensive line was still dominating for the most part. McCoy’s gains appeared to be when the LB didn’t hit their gaps right.
• The offense still put up 32 points with no Matthew Stafford and no Nate Burleson.
• Jahvid Best. Need I say much more? Lots of non-lions-fans-fantasy league players got a heck of deal on him based on his ADP — just like the Lions did with where they drafted him.
• Chris Houston got jobbed by the no-call on the offensive pass interference, but other than that seemed to have a pretty solid game.
• Louis Delmas again showed why he is the star in the secondary.
• While there are still many obvious gaping talent holes (that, quite frankly, we were already aware of) it is just as obvious there is also some real talent on the team as well. They are finally showing that they can hang with a playoff caliber NFL team for 4 quarters, even if they aren’t pulling out the close wins yet.

So while there was a lot to be unhappy with, the longer term picture is still looking very good. Another infusion of talent next year and another good ifseason will have this team right where it needs to be to contend for a playoff spot. If their record hits 6-6 at this point, I see that as the ceiling right now. On the bright side, at least if the Lions have high draft picks there should be a rookie wage scale and more importantly, Mayhew has shown he will use them to improve the team.

Rating: 6.4/10 (7 votes cast)

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One Response to “Snap Thoughts: Lions-Eagles”

1. By Napoleon Tyler on Sep 19, 2010

   For the most part, Im mostly excited to see that Detroit is being a competition agin in this league. We have been the laughing stock of this nation in the nfl since the day I was born! (1986) I truly can say that I have more confidence in this team then with any other we have ever have. But looking at our roster now-we need sum DBs that are ready to put inda hard work and a defensive coordinator who knows how a 2-3 zone and doubling a teams #1 wide receiver works! Yea, sum might say we have been gettin cheated within the last 4th quarters and I agree! But nobody is taking us serious-so we gotta punish em within the first 3 quarters!! Make dem remember us!!

   Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Backus Wonders: Where was that in Detroit?

Backus Wonders: Where was that in Detroit?

September 15th, 2010 | by detfan1979 |

It has been firmly established the Lions got robbed and the NFL isn’t even bothering to acknowledge a robbery occured, much less investigate it. It may not be a “W” in the record books, but the Lions went to Chicago and beat them in their own house. What it comes down to, as many have indicated, is that the Lions need to play well enough not to leave it in the hands of the offiicals at the end of the game. The NFL also needs to review the rules, and make the rules for maintining posession the same in the endzone as they are anywhere else on the field — where there is not near as much trouble with subjectiveness.

There were other things that should be looked over in this game, and not all of them are Lions-Centric. There were three other games I watched — Jets/Ravens, Dallas/Washington, and Chargers/Chiefs that played out in very similar fashion to the Lions/Bears game (minus the horrific calls). Those are typically considered much better teams than the Lions who lost — with veteran laden offenses that have proven they can put up points. Keep in mind that at this point in the season Defenses are ahead of offenses for the most part. (Except for Indianapolis, who scored me two whole fantasy points with their inability to defend the run against Arian Foster) Unfortunately, as you may have already guessed, this means Detroit’s offense needs to pick it up about 3 or 4 notches because the liklihood of Detroit’s defense keeping this level of play up for the whole season isn’t very good.

I was going to break some of the Martz offense down to see how it was differing from what he was running while in Detroit when a co-worker who is a Bears fan pointed me to an excellent article in the Chicago Tribune that I highly encourage you to read if you haven’t seen it. While it’s from a Bears perspective, it gives great insight into the game.

As the title indicates, I’ve got to think that Jeff Backus is wondering where all the pass-rush help was when he ws in Detroit. Remember fans screaming for some max protect, 3 step drops, quick outs, and screens to slow down defenses teeing off on the Oline? Check out these stats:

The Bears ran the ball 44 percent of the time

Of Jay Cutler’s pure drop-backs, more than half (12 of 23) were either three- or five-step drops. Many of those also called for quick throws so blockers didn’t have to protect for long.

Martz called for two- or three-man pass routes 48 percent of the time, which ensured the five offensive linemen would have extra help.

The Bears used a screen play seven times and a play-action pass six times. Both plays are designed to slow down the pass rush.

When Martz did call for seven-step drops on 11 snaps, it was an adventure, even though he only sent more than three receivers on routes three times on those plays.

There were two sacks and two pressures allowed on seven-step drops, and an interception thrown. But the play of the game — Matt Forte’s fourth-quarter touchdown reception — also was on a seven-step drop with no help for the O-line.

Chris Williams had another rough day at left tackle. In pass protection, he gave up a sack, two quarterback hits and had a holding penalty.

Not all of the sacks were the fault of the linemen, however. Two of them, including the strip sack by Turk McBride, were coverage sacks.

These stats and more point to a totally more flexible offense than Martz ran in Detroit, where he was stubborn to the point of absurdity. Backus has to be going “huh” today along with a lot of disgruntled Lions fans… Marinelli’s defense also played quite well, although they were able to sit back in their zone cover 2 — marinelli’s favorite — thanks to a Lions inability to run the ball.

Rating: 9.8/10 (6 votes cast)

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3 Responses to “Backus Wonders: Where was that in Detroit?”

1. By nubsnobber on Sep 16, 2010

   Yeah…and No.

   Give Marinelli effort for pounding the rock with that defense. But the Lions were too vanilla on offense all game long. It was crap. I am not liking the play calling and predictability of the offense. Did C.J. have a pass thrown to him in the first half? How does that happen?

   Mikey did run the ball a bit more than normal, but he did his first game in Detroit as well. Plus, he has four talented TE’s on the roster and one is playing the slot receiver role in this offense. I think Lovie’s previous relationship with Rod Marinelli allowed Lovie to understand how to cage the Martz BEFORE the wheel started spinning in the mouse cage. Something Rod was unable to do as he took the rains his first year coaching-with Martz.

   But in true fasion, Martz…..out-Martzed Martz. The goalline situation. Perfect example. The last touchdown pass to Forte…I called that as well and knew that Martz was going for the dagger to win the game. He never wants to play it safe and rely on the kicker to win it.

   In that situation, how many other coaches would’ve run the ball three times and ran the clock down to :03, and then kicked the ball. I knew Martz wouldn’t. The Lions should’ve known it. History repeats itself, especially with the crazy white mouse who fancies himself as a scientist and wants to take over the world, “Right, Pinky?”

   Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

2. By CHIEFGER139 on Sep 17, 2010

   The whole game made me sick, stafford getting hurt and the rotten call on the td catch,truthfully if we play that bad all year we probably won’t win a game-our defense was good in the red zone but looked flawed else where, a good team will punch more of them in.I know you have cj on your fantasy team but truthfully hes been a huge disappointment, he has yet to break free and establish himself as a top receiver with huge numbers, and unfortunately for him he now wont have his qb for a while that might of finally given him the numbers we expect.its kind of a shame we all know how good he is, but the poor guy is stuck on the lions and because of it much less tallanted receivers get all the glory and big numbers simply because there on much better teams with a half way decent qb and coaching scheme to get there big play guys the ball.

   Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

3. By chiefger139b on Sep 17, 2010

   OK DET FAN79 I seen your fantasy lineup=still startin cj despite stafford being out-is there somethin you see that finally gives him this breakout game noone else sees? I know you have many reciecers projected to better than cj on your roster-want the inside take-what is it>

   Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)