Post Game Lions Defeat GB 34-31

This game showed how bad the scouting dept is. They have spent several high draft picks throughout the years on this defense. They are not panning out. Outside of McKinney who they signed in FA there are no playmakers right now on this defense. Walker flashes at times but he's to hit and miss. Wyatt this year has become invisiable. Cooper and Williams have flashed at times but also looked like rookies other times. Clark I think it was a mistake to pay him. He is a 3-4 NT not a 4-3 DT. Gary and Van Ness have maybe flashed a couple games this year but for the most part both have done very little out there. Have to wonder is it the talent alone we lack or is the 4-3 just not a fit for the guys we have and are we going to have to make large changes in who we have on defense if they want to continue to run the 4-3.
 
What a disappointing game - a poor first half killed them.

Kicking game - solid and consistent.

Run defense - better than expected. They did a nice job holding down a good Lions running game.

Inexperience at QB - not really a problem, though Love and ML did not handle the Lions blitzes very well at times. They seemed unprepared for just how much th Lions blitzed and did not have any quick options.

The difference was that the defense couldn't get off the field. The Lions scoring drives were almost all long, double digit play drives. They totally owned TOP. A "Barryesque" performance from the defense in that sense. The ease with which the Lions exploited the middle of the defense, especially in the red zone was disappointing. Losing Bullard and Williams didn't help, but the Lions were doing this even when both of them were still in the game.

The passing game was a little disappointning llast night. The o-line was not handling the blitz well at all, especially in the first half, and there was such limited contibution from anyone other than Watson, Wicks and Kraft. Those 3 guys accounted for 204 of the 206 receiving yards. Nothing from Reed, Heath, Melton, or the RB's.

Some personnel needs remain at OL, CB, DL, and LB, with a sneaky need still remaining at WR.
 
Mark87 said:
Depth...they have none, said it in July still an issue. Need another draft/FA cycle and hopefully we are set
Click to expand...
I do find myself more annoyed with Gute at this point for going into the season with this glaring issue at corner. I was hoping it would work out with Jaire staying healthy and Valentine taking a step but those were wishes, and wishes aren't a plan. We also apparently spent a 3rd round pick on an ILB who can't earn snaps. Our DC would rather play a 2 down ILB on all 3 downs, where he is a huge liability, over Hopper.

Also a wild part of this game - GB only ran 49 non-kneel down plays but set a season high pts against this Lions D, and in their own place. Once they turned it on they were really efficient and found a groove. On the other hand, the Lions ran 79 (!!!) non-kneel down plays. 79! This defense never broke but it was death by 1,000 cuts. They could not get off the field. That can't happen. The Lions will do this again and again to them. Philly will do it again and again. It's a season high snap count for them on defense, but Philly, the Rams, the Bears and Miami previously all had over 70 offensive plays. You really want that number to be in the 60's, or 50's even better. Having the D on the field for over 70 angry snaps in 3 of the last 4 is a bad trend.
 
rpiotr01 said:
I do find myself more annoyed with Gute at this point for going into the season with this glaring issue at corner. I was hoping it would work out with Jaire staying healthy and Valentine taking a step but those were wishes, and wishes aren't a plan. We also apparently spent a 3rd round pick on an ILB who can't earn snaps. Our DC would rather play a 2 down ILB on all 3 downs, where he is a huge liability, over Hopper.

Also a wild part of this game - GB only ran 49 non-kneel down plays but set a season high pts against this Lions D, and in their own place. Once they turned it on they were really efficient and found a groove. On the other hand, the Lions ran 79 (!!!) non-kneel down plays. 79! This defense never broke but it was death by 1,000 cuts. They could not get off the field. That can't happen. The Lions will do this again and again to them. Philly will do it again and again. It's a season high snap count for them on defense, but Philly, the Rams, the Bears and Miami previously all had over 70 offensive plays. You really want that number to be in the 60's, or 50's even better. Having the D on the field for over 70 angry snaps in 3 of the last 4 is a bad trend.
Click to expand...
Well to be honest you can't fully put all those snaps on the D because the first half offense wasn't all that great. We came out flat again ... this is a very young FB team and it shows weekly.
 
It's fun and exciting for a coach to constantly go for it in curious situations...then when it backfires in a pressure situation it's how you lose a huge 2nd half lead in a conference championship game, too. I still don't trust Goff in a big moment against a defense with a pass rush - so much of Detroit's offense is based on the quick hitter/screen game that their athletic Oline gets RBs and receivers out in space - if a defense can hold that in check and make Goff consistently throw to receivers downfield, he's going to make some decisions with the football that give a secondary interception opportunities.

I don't really care what analytics say - with a 3 point lead in the 2nd half of a home game (in a building you've been dominating most opponents in), you punt the ball from your own 29 on 4th and short and make your opponent that had been struggling to sustain extended possessions drive the length of the field to tie or regain the lead instead of allowing the chance of a failed conversion totally flip the flow of the game.

Also - that Lions defense is going to cost them in the playoffs, whether they play home or away...Packers struggled in the 1st half against constant blitzing, but they eventually figured out what they were doing and started carving them up. A balanced team like Philly with weapons outside and Barkley/Hurts dictating what the Lions could or couldn't do at the line of scrimmage is going to gash them.

All that said, the Packers played the Lions tight, and made enough unnecessary mistakes to leave me optimistic about their playoff chances against anyone based on the talent on their roster. A healthy Dobbs last night would have made a difference - so would have a healthier secondary (not just Jaire, but Bullard and Williams both going down in the game left the middle of the field wide open for easy completions).
 
I still think Hafley is doing a pretty solid job considering he is using players that have been here and drafted in the 3-4. They have been better against the run but he has 4 1st round picks on the d-line that are not getting it done. Then you have Walker in the middle, who is very average and no CB's. Like Mark mentioned, the offense stunk in the first quarter and some of the 2nd so the defense was tired in the 2nd half. RP, mentioned the play discrepancy.

If Reed is supposed to be our #1 WR why does he disappear for long periods of time. He was absolutely invisible tonight. He was thrown to one time and he dropped it. (Though it was a tough catch) He needs to either get more involved or maybe he isn't as good as we believe.

Lastly, the o-line played pretty crappy from what I saw. Even Tom wasn't great. Meyer was destroyed and Walker was getting beat consistently as well. I think we have a big problem against good defensive lines with this starting o-line.

Having said all this, we hung with the best or one of the best teams in the league and almost beat them. We just need to add some more pieces in the offseason.
 
ChampionshipBelt said:
I still think Hafley is doing a pretty solid job considering he is using players that have been here and drafted in the 3-4. They have been better against the run but he has 4 1st round picks on the d-line that are not getting it done. Then you have Walker in the middle, who is very average and no CB's. Like Mark mentioned, the offense stunk in the first quarter and some of the 2nd so the defense was tired in the 2nd half. RP, mentioned the play discrepancy.

If Reed is supposed to be our #1 WR why does he disappear for long periods of time. He was absolutely invisible tonight. He was thrown to one time and he dropped it. (Though it was a tough catch) He needs to either get more involved or maybe he isn't as good as we believe.

Lastly, the o-line played pretty crappy from what I saw. Even Tom wasn't great. Meyer was destroyed and Walker was getting beat consistently as well. I think we have a big problem against good defensive lines with this starting o-line.

Having said all this, we hung with the best or one of the best teams in the league and almost beat them. We just need to add some more pieces in the offseason.
Click to expand...

Yeah the OL should have zero excuse last night. With how many guys the Lions had missing there should be zero reason our OL got their butts handed to them.
 
Packfan35 said:
It's fun and exciting for a coach to constantly go for it in curious situations...then when it backfires in a pressure situation it's how you lose a huge 2nd half lead in a conference championship game, too. I still don't trust Goff in a big moment against a defense with a pass rush - so much of Detroit's offense is based on the quick hitter/screen game that their athletic Oline gets RBs and receivers out in space - if a defense can hold that in check and make Goff consistently throw to receivers downfield, he's going to make some decisions with the football that give a secondary interception opportunities.

I don't really care what analytics say - with a 3 point lead in the 2nd half of a home game (in a building you've been dominating most opponents in), you punt the ball from your own 29 on 4th and short and make your opponent that had been struggling to sustain extended possessions drive the length of the field to tie or regain the lead instead of allowing the chance of a failed conversion totally flip the flow of the game.

Also - that Lions defense is going to cost them in the playoffs, whether they play home or away...Packers struggled in the 1st half against constant blitzing, but they eventually figured out what they were doing and started carving them up. A balanced team like Philly with weapons outside and Barkley/Hurts dictating what the Lions could or couldn't do at the line of scrimmage is going to gash them.

All that said, the Packers played the Lions tight, and made enough unnecessary mistakes to leave me optimistic about their playoff chances against anyone based on the talent on their roster. A healthy Dobbs last night would have made a difference - so would have a healthier secondary (not just Jaire, but Bullard and Williams both going down in the game left the middle of the field wide open for easy completions).
Click to expand...
Pretty much where I'm at. The Packers are not beyond having a dogfight with Tampa/Seattle/Atlanta in the Wild Card. But they are close enough to Detroit that who knows, some goofy bounces and they can steal one. The Lions were missing guys, but so were the Packers. One of their "backup DL" was Za'Darius Smith. It's being played up a bit much.

My money is on a 2nd round loss. I think they are playing as well as we can hope right now though to end the season. Love looks better. Need a few guys healthy and hoping they can scheme a way to get better pressure. I am optimistic. They have not gone with a heavy-run offensive scheme yet against Detroit, and I am hoping they kept some defensive looks in their back pocket.
 
rpiotr01 said:
Click to expand...

this is just one of the many plays that i witnessed the lions breaking the rules. another bad one was that tackle of love where the defender delivers a solid blow to love's neck and head. and if you rewatch the game, i believe you will see that they broke rules on every single play. a ton of holding. i think their philosophy is that they prove their toughness by breaking the rules and if the break the rules on every play there is no way that the refs can call them all. i'm not going to sing their praises because they aren't playing by the same rules as the other teams. and i truly hope somebody knocks them out of the playoffs before they get to the super bowl, because i think they destroy the integrity of the game. i am pretty sure the eagles can beat them, and who knows, maybe the packers can figure out a way if they meet again in the playoffs. third time's the charm?

anyway, kudos to the packers for taking the lead twice, and staying in the game until the last play.
 


Stokes on a pivotal play against the Lions #4 receiver. The football people can correct me but it looks like he’s in man coverage, trying to press. This was supposed to be the thing he could do. If he can’t do this against a #4 receiver in a close game then I don’t know what else to say. It’s over.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top