Good News, Lions Fans, The Off Season Is Over
By: Eric Thomas
The only good news for Lions fans when the team takes the field Sunday is that it represents the end of the off- season. Yes, they Lions re-signed Calvin Johnson long term and that was probably the biggest signing of the year for any team, I guess this makes me spoiled.
That aside, the Lions off-season was awful. The team was mired in a choking miasma of mistakes and malfeasance. Fans tried to kick the dirt around the slug trail following the team and made excuses, "Do you want choir boys?" is a common one, while through bad luck and outright stupidity the team got a lot worse.
The two biggest problems with the team at the season's close were the anemic running game and the decimated secondary. One problem helps the other be a bigger problem, and both problems are worse than we thought.
Plenty of fans (and opinion holders) have intimated that the NFL is now a throwing league and the Lions are primarily a throwing team. With a 5000 yard passer and a superhuman receiver, many believe the Lions don't need a rushing attack. Nonsense. Teams that throw on three downs lose, period.
If you pay no attention to the running game, you have no ability to run the clock. Any lead you accumulate can be rendered abrogate within a quarter when you can put the team back on the field in under a minute. The Lions got themselves into a lot of trouble throwing on three downs last year, the game against Minnesota at home being chief among them. You gotta run the ball to keep the lead. You have to have a back capable of five yard rushes and Kevin Smith wasn't always.
People argue that the Packers and Patriots have been to the Super Bowl with sub-par rushing attacks but that ignores the fundamental truth. Teams that blaze a trail to a championship invent something (greatest show on turf, Ravens insane D, Jerome Bettis), and win championships. The teams that copy don't. You gotta innovate.
Now the secondary. Eric Wright didn't set the world of fire last year, but I imagine we're all going to miss him Sunday. There are some pasta strainers that are less porous than this team's passing defense. Jim Schwartz said "We may be better than you think" in Allen Park this week, and the assembled media actually laughed.
The Lions were going to be bad, secondary wise, this year. Then the Lions found out Houston and Delmas might not play Sunday. Ouch.
The Lions need to win this weekend because then they travel west to play a team that was in the NFC Championship game last year. To start this year 0-2 after last season's undefeated start would be a letdown we don't need. Fingers crossed.
