Playoff Recap: Well that was ugly

So my hometown pick of the Lions beating New Orleans in the SuperDome did not pan out so well, good thing I didn’t put money on it.  I didn’t think an NFL secondary could look that bad in back to back weeks, but the Lions did a nice job of proving me wrong. 

While everyone in the Detroit area is complaining about the refs in Saturday night’s game, they were not the reason our defense gave up over 600 yards and 45 points again.  There were some very bad calls, and most of them seemed to go against the Lions.  But at some point doesn’t the defense just have to step up and show a little bit of pride and make a stop on a 3^rd or 4^th down, or hold onto one of the 3 sure interceptions?  I guess not. 

The Lions scored a touchdown in every quarter, and it wasn’t good enough to even stay within 10 points of the Saints.  The Stafford to Calvin connection continues to get stronger.  He is the closest thing I have ever seen to being not coverable, even in triple teams.  He can just run faster, jump higher, and fend off any defensive back.  Stafford came out and looked great to start the game.  He drove the Lions right down the field on the first possession for a touchdown.  The offense looked like it had the previous few weeks.  Stafford had a great game, and it was until the defense put the team in such a hole that he began trying to force throws and then the 2 interceptions happened. There are a lot of things to be excited for on the offensive side of the ball.  What can Stafford do in his 2^nd healthy season, the expectations will be high, but I think he could have another Pro-Bowl type season.  I feel like after these guys (especially Calvin and Stafford) got a taste of the playoffs they will come back next season even hungrier.  Yes, there are still questions up front, and the running game is a big question mark.  I think a lot of it has to do with the offensive line not being good run blockers.  They can protect Stafford decently well, but they cannot get a consistent enough push up front to create any running lanes for any of our backs (no matter how good they are).  It will be interesting to see if they can pick up some linemen for the future in this offseason, they need to start rebuilding sooner rather than later. 

Defensively it was just a mess all night.  I don’t know what was worse, watching a back up QB set passing records against our starting defense or watch them constantly miss assignments and tackles.  The supposed strength of the entire team was the front four, especially in the pass rush area.  They continued their disappointing season on Saturday night by consistently not getting any pressure on Brees, but then when they bull rushed up the field it was on plays where Brees audibled to a run, setting up huge holes and an easy 8-10 yards.  For being so scary on paper, they were limited to 2 sacks and only a handful more pressures.  Yes, the Saints offensive line features 3 probowlers, and Drew Brees wouldn’t have been able to break all of those records without an amazing offensive line.  But the Lions missed a chance to step up in crunch time to validate all of the respect they think they deserve.  They fell flat.  The linebacking corps missed more tackles than I remembered for the entire season.  The Saints had 160 yards rushing, which is a disgusting amount when they have Drew Brees, but the worse stat is the Saints had 103 rushing yards after initial contact!  How is that possible?  It looked like I was watching an early season college game where Baylor plays Grambling or something.  The linebackers constantly wanted to make the “big” hit, and they would lead with their shoulders and completely forget to wrap up the ball carrier. Then the player would bounce back a little then keep going for another 7 yards.  How many times on 3^rd down did we hit them 4+ yards short only to watch the 5’6” Sproles carry guys to the first down.  Early in the game was a clear indicator of how the game was going to shape out, after Detroit punted on their 2^nd possession up 7-0, the Saints were pinned deep in their own territory.  It was a 3^rd and 10, and the Saints called a screen pass.  It is a perfect play for a 3^rd down when you are at the 10 yard line, especially when you are playing a blitz happy team like the Lions.  But the Lions were ready and waiting for it.  Sproles was hit 3 yards past the line of scrimmage.  Yet 3 Detroit Lions all had the same idea, “let’s try to knock him out” instead of just tackling him.  It turned into a gain of 12 and the Lions would barely stop another 3^rd down conversion.  I haven’t even talked about the secondary yet.  Eric Wright is one of the worst open field tacklers in the NFL.  I know the Saints defense is not statistically good, but there were multiple times when Stafford checked to a WR screen because of a large cushion, and the cornerback would come up and make the tackle.  Those things don’t happen in our secondary.  Most of the starters should not see the field, or they should be our nickel back that we rotate in on 3^rd downs.  Our linebackers were frozen over and over by the play action pass, which resulted in the middle of the field to be wide open for Brees to find Colston over and over. Even though the secondary is terrible at pass coverage, open field tackling, zone coverage, and run support, they do find a way to create turnovers.  I guess when you are so terrible you have to play aggressive and gamble on some passes, and sometimes the gamble pays off.  The Lions didn’t gamble much on Saturday, yet Drew Brees seemed to just taunt the Lions by throwing the ball up for grabs on three different occasions.  Every time the ball went right through the cornerbacks hands.  One was in the endzone right before halftime, it would have secured the 7 point lead.  One would have been a pick 6 early in the 3^rd quarter that would have put us up by 4, and the last one was when the Saints were driving late in the 3^rd quarter and Aaron Berry let the ball go right through his arms and legs near the goaline that would have held the lead at 3.  Instead the Saints scored 17 points on these 3 drives.  Pretty convenient since we ended up losing by 17. 

The past 2 games should give the executives with the Lions an easy idea of what they need to focus this upcoming offseason on.  They have to sure up the secondary anyway possible.  Their first round draft pick has to be an offensive lineman or a cornerback.  Since most offensive lineman are overvalued come draft time, it will likely need to be a cornerback.  Chris Houston would not be a terrible defensive back, if he was the 2^nd or 3^rd best on the team.  The Lions also need more depth at safety, since this year by the end of the year they were starting their 5^th safety of the season.  There are quite a few free agents after this year, it will be interesting to see who the Lions re-sign.  It will also be important for the team to begin rebuilding the offensive line, because the current guys are not getting any younger and at least 3 lineman will need to be replaced in the next few years.  At this point though, if there is a cornerback that projects somewhere between the 10^th to 20^th best player, the Lions will need to do whatever they can to draft him.