Lions Display Strengths, Weaknesses in 40-9 Victory Over Patriots

Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford throws a pass in the Lions 40-9 preseason victory over the New England Patriots (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

It has been over a year-and-a-half since the Detroit Lions appeared in their most recent playoff game, a 45-28 drubbing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on January 7, 2012. In the loss, the Lions gave up a 466-yard, three touchdown performance to perennial Pro-Bowl quarterback Drew Brees, confirming what had been apparent to Lions fans for much of the season: Detroit's secondary needed a lot of help.

Two offseasons later, the Lions are still struggling against the pass. As recent veteran signings indicate, head coach Jim Schwartz isn't particularly happy with secondary play. Unfortunately for Schwartz and the rest of his staff, their future with the Lions may rest on some rookie and second year players in the defensive backfield.

But, back to the 2012 playoffs.

While the then young and inexperienced Lions were expected to lose to the Saints, the 2008 Super Bowl Champions, it was a tough loss to digest after an extremely successful (by recent Lions' standards) 10-6 regular season.

What followed in 2012 was a disheartening season. Many fans predicted Detroit to finally pull together back-to-back winning seasons, myself included (I picked them to go 10-6), but instead, saw the Lions falter to a 4-12 record, losing their final eight contests.

What seemed like a significant regression by the Lions was probably more attributable to the team under-playing its talent, a slew of injuries on both sides of the ball, and a confusing call in their yearly Thanksgiving game that stole the momentum at a time when the Lions finally seemed to be creating some of their own.

Still, the 2012 season was only as depressing as the 2011 season was inspirational.

In 2011, Detroit opened up the season 5-0, including two incredible second-half comebacks against the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys in weeks three and four. Detroit again won back-to-back games later in the season, forcing a fumble by the Vikings in the fourth quarter to seal a win in week 14 before coming back against the Oakland Raiders with a late Stafford-Johnson connection for a touchdown in week 15.

After two wildly opposite seasons, the question for 2013 becomes whether or not the Lions will continue the roller coaster ride of the past two years or play solid, veteran football that is needed if they are to return to the playoffs. A sub-.500 year and Jim Schwartz might be gone, forcing Detroit back into re-building mode. A winning record or a playoff push, and Schwartz and company might stay for at least one more season.

As of late, NFL writers have been offering their thoughts on the Detroit Lions chances in the upcoming season. Many, including Grantland's Bill Barnwell, (give this article a read) noticed the unfortunate events of 2012 and write of how the Lions could see a bounce back year in 2013.

In the NFL, the third preseason game is often considered the most important, and as good an indicator for the upcoming season as any. For the Lions, their third game was scheduled against the New England Patriots, and, in a re-run of the 2011 preseason game (Detroit defeated New England 34-10 in 2011), saw the Lions whip the Patriots, this time by a score of 40-9. A quick glance gives hope for the upcoming season, but a closer look gave me a few reasons why Detroit might struggle to reach the .500 plateau.

1. Detroit still struggles with discipline: The Lions racked up 11 penalties for 102 yards, five of which were personal fouls. As Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp noted in his column on Saturday, Detroit has to clean up its act if it wants to improve. And, surprisingly, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh agreed: “We pride ourselves on playing tough, but there's always a limit. We're always going to respect that limit.,” said Suh. Sounds like a case of “do as I say, not as I do.”
2. The secondary remains a concern: Detroit looks to be okay at the first cornerback position as Chris Houston intercepted Tom Brady Thursday night. Glover Quin and Louis Delmas will start at safety, as long as they remain healthy, which is always a question for Delmas. The problem will be at the second cornerback position, where rookie Darius Slay will likely start. Slay played okay Thursday night, and granted, he was playing against one of the best quarterbacks in the game, but he did get beat pretty easily on a 37-yard hook-up between Brady and Kenbrell Thompkins.

Of course, a 40-9 victory isn't all bad. There were a few strong points in Thursday game that do in fact shine a ray of hope onto the regular season.

1. Detroit's defensive front is looking strong against the run: The Lions held the Patriots to 68 yards on 29 carries, allowing 2.3 yards per rush. In previous preseason games, Detroit gave up 81 yards on 27 carries to the Browns and 37 yards on 16 carries to the Jets for averages of 3.0 and 2.3 yards per rush, respectively.
2. The Lion defense had four takeaways: Chris Houston intercepted Tom Brady and Detroit forced three fumbles. Another large difference between 2011 and 2012 was turnovers. The Lions totaled 17 takeaways in their 4-12 2012 campaign compared to 34 in 2011, when they were 10-6.
3. Detroit's short passing game is looking phenomenal: Even without Calvin Johnson, the dump-off part of the Lions passing game looked strong Thursday night. Offseason acquisition Reggie Bush had a 67-yard reception on a short screen while Joique Bell had a 38-yard reception on another. Bush finished the game with 102 yards receiving. Detroit has been looking for a strong receiving threat out of the backfield, and with Johnson commanding double teams downfield, Lions running backs should have impressive pass-catching numbers out of the backfield this season.

All-in-all, it is difficult to truly translate anything seen in the preseason to the regular season. But, with a couple of fixes and some additional experience, the Lions could see themselves on their way to a strong season, while stagnation in regards to improved discipline and rookie development could doom head coach Jim Schwartz and send Detroit into another phase of rebuilding. With the regular season only weeks away, only time will tell.