As I start typing I am not sure this is a game we should be betting on, but it is of interest and the changes at the Lions are certainly worthy of note. Detroit had three head coaches last season, two interim, after Matt Patricia (think Bear in a Beanie hat, or Alan from the Hangover)  was fired. He is/was a defensive mastermind (you do not stay as defensive coordinator of the Patriots under Bill Belichick for five years if you are not ) and was meant to overhaul and upgrade Detroit defensively, but that never happened and they finished bottom of the division in each of his three seasons , posting a 13-29-11 record. As bad as that sounds and it is, it is nothing new, the Lions have not won a division since 1993 (whatever happened to parity ?) and have finished rock bottom in 10 of the last 20 seasons.

 

They have cleaned house big time with a new head coach in Dan Campbell , he has spent the last four years as assistant at the Saints, so will be used to a winning mindset and in the use of analytics , we have spoken several times in the past about New Orleans being ahead of the game in that regard. He will work alongside new General Manager Brad Holmes who spent 18 years in executive roles at the Rams, some minor, but in a senior position for the last seven, when he actively recruited some big name players from college. The pair are still young guys 45 and 42 yo respectively and have brought in nine other senior coaches to the franchise, so none of the old baggage from 20 years of hurt (or even the last three) should be carried on the plane to Wisconsin .

 

Biggest change to outsiders will have been the trade of Matthew Stafford to the Rams, a deal we spoke about yesterday and which brought Jared Goff to Motor City as his replacement.

 

I don't think the Lions are looking at a quick fix this time, they have 24 new players on the roster and only a handful are aged 30, this is one of the youngest groups in the NFL and Holmes will be building from the bottom up , with Campbell attempting to mould them into a winning team, with short term success sacrificed (they has not been any for so long it is easy to accept) for longer term gains. 

 

They opened with a 41-33 home loss to the 49ers , that doesn't sound too bad as the Niners followed up in Philadelphia yesterday (17-11) and were difficult to score against, but that doesn't tell the full story. At Ford Field SF led 31-10 at the half and by 28 points early in the third quarter, at which time the visiting staff started packing up the equipment and loading the team bus, which allowed the Lions to give the scoreline a respectable appearance. Goff's base numbers looked good, but the truth is that he struggled and held on to the ball too long when the Niners were "trying" , when it was game over and all he had left was the gamble and a one dimensional passing game and SF playing "softer" he was better, but then most QB's would be. That is not all his fault, he is still forging a relationship with his receivers and they will be better with time.

 

There were some positives, the Lions were actually ok on the ground (this has been an issue in Detroit since Barry Sanders retired) ,did have 31 first downs , which was #1 in the NFL in Week 1 and ten more than they averaged last season and that despite having a low third down conversion percentage and, at the end of the day they did score 33 points.

 

Today they travel to Lambeau Field for a NFC North divisional meeting with the Packers, who are the big player in this section , but who, incredibly, lost 38-3 to the Saints in Week 1 at a neutral venue,New Orleans were a no show yesterday so hardly franked the form line and it is hard to explain how bad Green Bay were, posting worst passing offense and defense and running offense numbers, bottom in three out of the four main statistical categories ! Those numbers were so poor, I am not sure we can discuss the Packers today, we first need a proper look at them tonight first. What we know for almost certain is that Lions head coach Campbell will have spoken to his former boss at the Saints, Sean Payton and other New Orleans staff about the game last week .

 

 

 

 

Good luck !