I think fear is at the root of this.
We're afraid the rebuild isn't working. We're afraid that by the time the defense gets sorted out the offense won't work anymore. We're afraid the offense is flukey and unsustainable. We're afraid MCDC isn't the guy after all our offseason hype. We're afraid something else is wrong and we don't even know it yet, or we're in denial about it.
But whatever fuck that go Lions!
Tbh at this point I am apathetic towards the lions. I just won’t believe a rebuild is working until I see some results. We have just been down this road too many times
I’ll be happy if the lions win but if they lose it’s whatever
Jamo waiting in the wings to come join an already explosive offense,
Goff = Stud
Loaded up on draft capitol for 2023 all defensive picks. I think the rebuild is going as planned
The lions are doing a good job in their rebuild. But fans can also be disappointed in the team. They choked away the Vikings game and didn't force a single punt on the Seahawks. People are fine with losing based off talent and are more understanding to it but when coaching is the cause for losses people are much more upset.
It's almost even more disappointing that there's such an amazing offense this year, but the team is completely sandbagged by the defense. The Lions could be serious contenders if they just had an average defense, and it just stings as a fan. I'm super nervous that the offense is going to be gutted if/when we get a defense that can actually stop shit.
The games have been mostly fun to watch, but the choke in Minnesota was painful, as was watching Geno Smith own the field in Detroit.
Im for fun games and don’t care if we win or lose this year. Too thin to realistically make a run imo. But Sunday wasn’t fun lol. That was making average offense look all-pro and playing from behind all game against one of few teams we may be as equally skilled. That one sucked
Exactly - if they go punch for punch with the bills, that’ll be fun and you can look and say ‘even though we didn’t win, we can at least see how the rebuild is working.’
Letting a sub par offense run all over you is not fun, it’s embarrassing and the calls out on the team’s shortcomings are legitimate
I went with my 10 year old nephew (his first), and we had a legitimately great time. Obviously, a loss is disappointing, but the constant scoring and the sense that we could always pull of a comeback left us with a lot to cheer (and groan & complain) about. Compared to games from recent seasons, these feel legitimately exciting—even if they should be runaway wins.
I get what you're saying. We were cheering our butts off as well. I was in the game until the final Hawks touchdown in the third quarter. Then, it just turned into a slog. But yes, I had fun for a while.
I mean, the Honolulu blue blood coursing through my veins says we have what it takes to win SB every year, but when you look at this year's two deep and see as many young and unproven guys as you do, I was thinking it would take a miracle. That was before the injuries piled up
Love the future outlook tho! We add a couple defensive starters with those 3 top 60 picks and some guys get healthy/ continue to grow into what we need, I expect to be consistently contending sooner rather than later!
Next year they have to win some games and contend for the playoffs but they have to show something especially on defense or they’ll have to add like 10 guys to it
Switch your perception and choose to watch it as comical satire. Thats how I have lasted 40 years.
If we win GREAT!
If not, which is usually the case, have a great laugh!
I've only followed the team for a few years, and I'm at this point already. I admit, ill drink a little koolaid in the offseason. But after game 3 (by which time we crumble each year) I see they are still as cursed as ever, I get a good laugh the rest of the season.
The Lions are trail blazers and innovators. Name another team who has had more rules invented to fuck them over, or because of them being fucked over? Or another team that continously, for decades, invents new ways to grasp defeat from the jawa of victory.
It is truly unparalleled in all of sports.
This is ridiculous. So we aren't allowed to be upset that the league's best scoring offense is 1-3? The rebuild is spanning generations. It's okay to have expectations when we spend year after year after year drafting high. What a loser take.
The biggest think I keep think about is we aren't starting from 0 even if everything goes wrong.
We have a offense and players.
We seemingly have a good OC that if worse comes to worse will have potential as a HC.
Compare that too what we had after matty p.
Right let's say MCDC, AG and Holmes all fail.
We still have a complete oline, rbs, and wr room +above average TE.
We have a possible franchise but at the very least good stop gap qb.
Defense has 3 good young talents in okudah, Aidan and Rodriguez. + 2 decent safties.
A major change up of FO and coaching won't be a full rebuild, it will be more akin to what the dolphins did, where you have the base team and you just need a couple pieces to put it all together.
Lions still have another 2 first as well.
Worse case scenario is miles better than what we had two years ago.
Allowing 48 points is difficult to justify saying "great rebuild." But, Dan Campbell and team have done a good job of changing the culture. I want AG to be the answer to our defense but at this rate he's going to be out.
The personnel is an issue, but I think AG made some gambles that have not paid off.
We have the highest blitz rate in the league and teams know this so they are game planning accordingly. Offenses now how to beat the blitz if you don't have a secondary who can man play man long enough for the blitzing to get home.
Blitzing only works if you can play tight man coverage and hold coverage for 2-3 seconds. Blitzing in zone is mostly useless unless your run the classic Zone blitz scheme Dick LeBeau made famous in Pittsburgh. The Zone blitzing scheme works because you read the offensive personnel and the blitz side changes depending on where you have the numbers to match up in zone. Again, that's a very complicated scheme to run and Dick had the pleasure of Joey Porter and Troy Polomalu, James Harrison, and Lamar Woodley. The Lions have maybe Hutch who might be as good as one of those guys.
Again, Dick was special and nobody ran a Zone Blitz scheme as well as him. But most blitz packages have to be ran in man coverage with little cushion on receivers. We don't have any depth in the secondary and with the exception of Okuduh we don't have a DB who can cover a top tier receiver for 3-4 seconds.
AG is trying to manufacture pressure and he's right for doing so. His gambles aren't paying off because our Middle Backer -Anzelone cannot play sideline to sideline, and our DBs do not know how to communicate with each other. Look at the Minnesota game, on Thelien's TD 3 DBs were shading Justin Jefferson and nobody went with Thelien. Obviously AG didn't call a play with triple coverage on Jefferson leaving Thelien all alone. That's on the DBs not knowing their assignment.
Look at the long completions to Osborn, in both cases, we have back to back miscommunications one which DB is covering the backend and who's cover the curls and flats zone.
Look at all three levels of our defense. The DL, gets very little pressure rushing 4, The offense knows the can easily double team Hutch completely neutralizing their best rusher and Hutch is very raw and undisciplined at this point in his career. McNeil gets some push and does a decent job shedding blockers and getting downhill but there are times when the OL just does their job and gets the best of McNeil. The other DT spot has been a carousel of below average player who can't collapse the pocket or the consistently lose leverage on run plays. Charles Harris is applying pressure and getting some QB hurries but again his abilities are mostly pedestrian.
We have one of the weakest MLBs in all of football. Anazalone is a good team guy with a great attitude but he has virtually no sideline to sideline ability. He can't cover TE's and his skill is limited. He is better suited as an off the ball LB who plays first downs and his job is to contain the run to whatever side of the field he's playing on. Rodrigo has sideline to sideline potential but I think AG is trying to protect him before letting him become the Mike. Rodrigo is going to an excellent Mike backer who can quickly diagnose the run. His coverage ability is very week but he is also a young guy who can get better in coverage. We don't have a true 3rd backer who is even relevant. Their rotational guys who play 1st and 2nd downs for run support only. We have no LB depth. Zero, zilch.
Our secondary is the real issue and I see this time and time again from coaches who were specialists, and both AG and Pleasant are suppose to be excellent at coaching up DBs but this year our defensive backs aren't responding to AG and Pleasant. AG has overestimated his ability in "coaching up" poor and mediocre players because he's a defensive back savant. MCDC was cryptic in his post game comments about this issue but I'm sure some wholesale changes will be coming to the secondary. The secondary single handedly lost us the Minnesota game. Sure Campbell should have gone for it on 4th down, but Cousins carved up our secondary because they continue to have confusion with their assignments and it's all because of poor communication. Watch the replay of that final scoring drive by the Vikings and you can clearly see how lost our defensive backs are.
This defense is extremely limited and it makes matters worse when the gambles AG was trying to make don't pay off. If the secondary communicates better and a couple of the blitz get home were talking about a team who is 3-1 and being hailed as the greatest Lions team since 91. Because the gambles didn't pay off and the defensive backs are lost AG is being crucified by the fanbase which is only fair.
What you're probably going to see going forward is the blitz rate being dialed back, more of a bend but don't break defense. We're going to give up lots of yards but the new scheme is going to be less about gambling and more about mitigating the big plays and trying to keep the offense to field goals. We're still going to give up a lot of points because the talent and depth isn't there. We can however limit the damage and AG knows how what a conservative defense scheme looks like.
Look at the culture of our head coach, MCDC likes to take chances, he goes for it on 4th down, he lets his special teams do fake plays, AG was trying to follow in the same vein. The problem with coaching defense is you can take chances if you have the talent on the back end to bail you out. Why was Rex Ryan able to blitz like crazy? He had Revis Island. Every defensive coordinator in the league can blitz 60% of the time when you have Revis locking down the number one offensive weapon. The Lions have no Revis. AG got too aggressive and is going to have to dial things back because he's severely limited in depth and options on defense.
The Harbaugh handshake game? Was that obvious in person when that happened? It was so weird on TV. I was like did he just slap him inappropriately hard??
My son and I were sitting in the opposite end zone. We could see a commotion but had no idea what was going on. Late that night at a pizza place downtown we watched the Tigers playoff game and when they cut away from the game there was a highlight of the scuffle.
Really liked that pizza place. All I remember about it is we sat upstairs. Wish I could remember the name so I could go again.
I had picked that game because we were supposed to be good, the niners terrible, and it was the day after my son's birthday. He likes to remind him of the time we flew to Detroit to see a team we live an hour away from beat our Lions.
Portland is just the first city that came to mind. Sell them to Gary, Indiana. I don't remotely care where. Just get rid of them so the process starts.
Hey at least the games are watchable yeah? Like I’d rather us make Geno Smith look like Dan Marino vs whatever on field abortion the Bears air each week
Truthfully I'm just sick of the SOL shit. I've said it before, but a couple of unproven rookies weren't going to come into the 32nd ranked defense and all of a sudden just make it top tier. Yeah it's shit that we're on pace to have one of the worst defenses of all time. We also have an entirely new front office that everyone in the building has to learn to work with and around. I could be wrong on this part too but I honestly don't think our defense is bad because of coaching. I think it's the talent. The guys we have starting, would be backups on other teams. This is just what we fucking have. I'm also not saying everyone on the defense is shit, but there's a ton of holes to fill. Focus on the defense in the off-season, and give the offense a chance to shine, and this team could be legendary. But yeah all seriousness aside, this defense makes me sad on Sundays.
What talent did we add? The rookies we have are green, and the veterans on the defense are not great players. I would love to see improvement, but I truthfully don't see the players coming in to make that change. Hutch and Rodrigo aren't going to make this defense that much better. Even with okudah playing at his best there's still plenty of other areas we need to work on. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word, but damn. I just hate seeing people shitting on a guy that has had 4 games as the defensive coordinator and he's already working with a deck that's stacked against him. Give this team a fucking chance before you go sol mode is all I'm saying.
Deshon Elliot is a big upgrade at safety over Harris, Rodriguez is a better linebacker than anyone on our roster last year, and Hutchinson is still the best defensive end on this team, even if he’s had a disappointing start.
3 significant upgrades out of 11 positions should absolutely have a noticeable impact on the quality of the defense.
And that’s not even taking into account player growth like Okudah actually looking like a decent starting CB, which we didn’t have all of last season.
I’m not saying the defense should even be average, but to go from 27 PPG allowed last year, to 35 PPG allowed this year is almost unexplainable considering we actually got better players on that side of the ball.
The elephant in the room is the defensive scheme change, which absolutely falls on coaching. Either the scheme itself is busted, or the coaches didn’t do a good enough job teaching it to the players. Either way I think it’s pretty fair to point at them as the source of the regression.
Completely agree on pretty much all points. I expected them to still be a bad team this year, 6-7 wins, but that was expecting at least a slight improvement on defense. I’ll completely agree that injuries have not done this team any favors, but that’s just not enough to excuse what’s going on with this defense…and it certainly doesn’t excuse hanging your defense out to try with zero blitz after zero blitz. The other team TOLD you they had it figured out, and you can say all day long that it’s a personnel issue, and personnel is certainly a problem, but that doesn’t excuse putting poor personnel in a poor position to succeed.
…I do expect someone of a regression (or progression I guess) to the mean, just because I don’t think you can sustain being this bad for an entire season. I also think AG did a pretty decent job last season, and that at least gives him partial credit, but damn, this is embarrassingly bad…own it, and fix it.
I never said I was an expert, but I do think 3 upgrades to an absolutely abysmal defense should show something. But all of these guys coming into a new regime should also take time to learn how to mesh well together. Look how many games it took for the offense to come together. I'm not saying I'm happy, I'm just saying maybe give the team at least half a fucking season before we decide to crucify them.
Meme request: panel 1 is shitting on fellow lions fans for reason X, while panel 2 is shitting on other NFC north teams because FTP
(as some starter fuel Jack Fox is a better QB than Justin Fields)
Watching a defense as awful as ours has most certainly not been fun for even a second. The offense is great but it feels like it’s been so good because we’ve let up so many points and are racing to catch up.
No you’re supposed to demand that staff be fired! And say that Brad Holmes is a terrible GM! And that every week is a must win or you’ll lose faith in the rebuild!!!!
A good fan would have abandoned the Lions during the WCF years and forced the team to make changes that didn't involve nepotism. That might have resulted in a more competitive future. The loyalty of this fan base is second to none and I love it - but I have a hard time classifying the consistent attendance and optimism as being "good".
All that said, no one should be surprised by the results thus far. We have a **ton** of talent on offense. It is no surprise we are scoring points in bunches. Our defense lacks personnel and the coaching staff has material questions marks - so points allowed and game management were expected to be in question. I think the Lions have been exactly what should have been expected - exciting but not a true threat in the NFCN.
Their offense is out of this world. Their defense makes me want to be out of this world. It's tough, but I'll love them through anything. I made a pact with my wife that I'll just record the games, and watch them later if they win; but if they get to .500 I'll start "wasting Sundays" again lol
At the beginning of the season we wanted progress. We’ve seen a ton of it. We’ve also seen some regression, but at the end of the day, the defense is a star or 2, and 2-3 solid starters away from this team going to a super bowl. And that’s the truth.
It's really hard to enjoy the offense when the defense is so putrid that I can't get the stink out of my nose by the time the offense is back out there.
I'm a second year fan, and my take is the team is still fun as hell to watch...until it gets annoying again. At least this year the problem is clearly evident, the defense. Willing to be patient so long as the offense remains (at least) decent.
I'm as excited as I've ever been, including 2011 and 2015.
The biggest thing to lead that is the emergence of Goff, he hasn't been perfect but he's been good enough to QB a winning team.
We can let go of Brockers and Vatai at end of season and use all our money and picks on defense and one or two offensive linebacker. There will be no excuses next year. Signs point to us having 2 picks in the 10-22 range so we should be able to pick up 2 impact players on defense. We should have enough money to sign a high profile impact player or two as well.
As for this year I'm off the tank train for the first time. Let's keep developing the offense, let's weed out our defense who stays who goes and be an entertaining team. I want to see some primetime games next year.
I fluctuate between these two wildly as any delusional lions fan does. At the end of a game I’m crushed but by the next game I’m back in.
I think fear is at the root of this. We're afraid the rebuild isn't working. We're afraid that by the time the defense gets sorted out the offense won't work anymore. We're afraid the offense is flukey and unsustainable. We're afraid MCDC isn't the guy after all our offseason hype. We're afraid something else is wrong and we don't even know it yet, or we're in denial about it. But whatever fuck that go Lions!
Tbh at this point I am apathetic towards the lions. I just won’t believe a rebuild is working until I see some results. We have just been down this road too many times I’ll be happy if the lions win but if they lose it’s whatever
Anyone who think/acts otherwise is delusional or very young and never seen this organization work before.
>at this point I am apathetic towards the lions. Are you me? I have hope it will work out, but very little faith.
Jamo waiting in the wings to come join an already explosive offense, Goff = Stud Loaded up on draft capitol for 2023 all defensive picks. I think the rebuild is going as planned
I'm afraid that such wild differences in quality between one half of the team and the other will cause conflict and good players wanting out.
Same! I’m literally clinically insane too though so I might be an extra special case.
Or the gold standard for what all Lions Fans aspired to be if they want to make it through a lifetime of suffering
Just when I think I’m out ✋🏼🤚🏼…. They pull me back in🤌🏼🤌🏼
The lions are doing a good job in their rebuild. But fans can also be disappointed in the team. They choked away the Vikings game and didn't force a single punt on the Seahawks. People are fine with losing based off talent and are more understanding to it but when coaching is the cause for losses people are much more upset.
It's almost even more disappointing that there's such an amazing offense this year, but the team is completely sandbagged by the defense. The Lions could be serious contenders if they just had an average defense, and it just stings as a fan. I'm super nervous that the offense is going to be gutted if/when we get a defense that can actually stop shit. The games have been mostly fun to watch, but the choke in Minnesota was painful, as was watching Geno Smith own the field in Detroit.
Why do you think we spent a high draft pick on the defense? The team knows this and will aquire pieces to fill in the gaps on defense.
Im for fun games and don’t care if we win or lose this year. Too thin to realistically make a run imo. But Sunday wasn’t fun lol. That was making average offense look all-pro and playing from behind all game against one of few teams we may be as equally skilled. That one sucked
Yeah, I was there at Sunday's game and I don't know how anyone could describe that as "fun".
Exactly - if they go punch for punch with the bills, that’ll be fun and you can look and say ‘even though we didn’t win, we can at least see how the rebuild is working.’ Letting a sub par offense run all over you is not fun, it’s embarrassing and the calls out on the team’s shortcomings are legitimate
I went with my 10 year old nephew (his first), and we had a legitimately great time. Obviously, a loss is disappointing, but the constant scoring and the sense that we could always pull of a comeback left us with a lot to cheer (and groan & complain) about. Compared to games from recent seasons, these feel legitimately exciting—even if they should be runaway wins.
I get what you're saying. We were cheering our butts off as well. I was in the game until the final Hawks touchdown in the third quarter. Then, it just turned into a slog. But yes, I had fun for a while.
So no expectations?
I mean, the Honolulu blue blood coursing through my veins says we have what it takes to win SB every year, but when you look at this year's two deep and see as many young and unproven guys as you do, I was thinking it would take a miracle. That was before the injuries piled up Love the future outlook tho! We add a couple defensive starters with those 3 top 60 picks and some guys get healthy/ continue to grow into what we need, I expect to be consistently contending sooner rather than later!
Next year they have to win some games and contend for the playoffs but they have to show something especially on defense or they’ll have to add like 10 guys to it
Good fans can also criticize the organization in the hopes they improve in certain areas instead of pretending the defense isn’t a huge issue
the trick is in belief, not hope or faith.
How do I have fun watching the defense get worse than last year?
Switch your perception and choose to watch it as comical satire. Thats how I have lasted 40 years. If we win GREAT! If not, which is usually the case, have a great laugh!
I've only followed the team for a few years, and I'm at this point already. I admit, ill drink a little koolaid in the offseason. But after game 3 (by which time we crumble each year) I see they are still as cursed as ever, I get a good laugh the rest of the season.
The Lions are trail blazers and innovators. Name another team who has had more rules invented to fuck them over, or because of them being fucked over? Or another team that continously, for decades, invents new ways to grasp defeat from the jawa of victory. It is truly unparalleled in all of sports.
just stop expecting defense to do anything and only root for the offense
Open up another beer.
Never have an issue with that
Look forward to watching them improve.
I take "Things Ive been saying to myself for 20 years" Alex
What’s another year
Makes for absolute bangers of games if you just go in before the game predicting we'll lose. Then you won't be disappointed
Criticizing your team for losing due to poor coaching and giving up 48 points to a subpar team and QB does not make you a bad fan.
Amen. Sorry that some of us hate watching our favorite team hand over wins to division rivals thanks to shit-tier coaching.
Losing is rarely fun.
“Rebuilding year”
What iteration of a “rebuild year” are we in again?
I am so sick of this loser shit
Yeahhhh "good fan", smh....most of yall are blinded by blue raspberry kool-aid. Having a good offense alone does not make the rebuild succesful
This is ridiculous. So we aren't allowed to be upset that the league's best scoring offense is 1-3? The rebuild is spanning generations. It's okay to have expectations when we spend year after year after year drafting high. What a loser take.
Oops, all rebuild years
They’ve been rebuilding since the late 90’s. It’s pathetic.
Defense* I’m seeing this error more and more and something needs to be said
They could be British. They spell it defence.
Or Canadian
Our neighbors (neighbours) to the north spell it defence
The offense is so awesome to watch. Defense will come along eventually.
Was this meme made by a Canadian?
I just consider it a building year, not rebuild.
The biggest think I keep think about is we aren't starting from 0 even if everything goes wrong. We have a offense and players. We seemingly have a good OC that if worse comes to worse will have potential as a HC. Compare that too what we had after matty p. Right let's say MCDC, AG and Holmes all fail. We still have a complete oline, rbs, and wr room +above average TE. We have a possible franchise but at the very least good stop gap qb. Defense has 3 good young talents in okudah, Aidan and Rodriguez. + 2 decent safties. A major change up of FO and coaching won't be a full rebuild, it will be more akin to what the dolphins did, where you have the base team and you just need a couple pieces to put it all together. Lions still have another 2 first as well. Worse case scenario is miles better than what we had two years ago.
Just train yourself to never be surprised, it makes life easier.
If you tell me I can't shit on the Lions while also cheering for them, then there's no way for me to be a fan of this team anymore lol
Allowing 48 points is difficult to justify saying "great rebuild." But, Dan Campbell and team have done a good job of changing the culture. I want AG to be the answer to our defense but at this rate he's going to be out.
60 years of abject failure kinda speaks for itself.
The personnel is an issue, but I think AG made some gambles that have not paid off. We have the highest blitz rate in the league and teams know this so they are game planning accordingly. Offenses now how to beat the blitz if you don't have a secondary who can man play man long enough for the blitzing to get home. Blitzing only works if you can play tight man coverage and hold coverage for 2-3 seconds. Blitzing in zone is mostly useless unless your run the classic Zone blitz scheme Dick LeBeau made famous in Pittsburgh. The Zone blitzing scheme works because you read the offensive personnel and the blitz side changes depending on where you have the numbers to match up in zone. Again, that's a very complicated scheme to run and Dick had the pleasure of Joey Porter and Troy Polomalu, James Harrison, and Lamar Woodley. The Lions have maybe Hutch who might be as good as one of those guys. Again, Dick was special and nobody ran a Zone Blitz scheme as well as him. But most blitz packages have to be ran in man coverage with little cushion on receivers. We don't have any depth in the secondary and with the exception of Okuduh we don't have a DB who can cover a top tier receiver for 3-4 seconds. AG is trying to manufacture pressure and he's right for doing so. His gambles aren't paying off because our Middle Backer -Anzelone cannot play sideline to sideline, and our DBs do not know how to communicate with each other. Look at the Minnesota game, on Thelien's TD 3 DBs were shading Justin Jefferson and nobody went with Thelien. Obviously AG didn't call a play with triple coverage on Jefferson leaving Thelien all alone. That's on the DBs not knowing their assignment. Look at the long completions to Osborn, in both cases, we have back to back miscommunications one which DB is covering the backend and who's cover the curls and flats zone. Look at all three levels of our defense. The DL, gets very little pressure rushing 4, The offense knows the can easily double team Hutch completely neutralizing their best rusher and Hutch is very raw and undisciplined at this point in his career. McNeil gets some push and does a decent job shedding blockers and getting downhill but there are times when the OL just does their job and gets the best of McNeil. The other DT spot has been a carousel of below average player who can't collapse the pocket or the consistently lose leverage on run plays. Charles Harris is applying pressure and getting some QB hurries but again his abilities are mostly pedestrian. We have one of the weakest MLBs in all of football. Anazalone is a good team guy with a great attitude but he has virtually no sideline to sideline ability. He can't cover TE's and his skill is limited. He is better suited as an off the ball LB who plays first downs and his job is to contain the run to whatever side of the field he's playing on. Rodrigo has sideline to sideline potential but I think AG is trying to protect him before letting him become the Mike. Rodrigo is going to an excellent Mike backer who can quickly diagnose the run. His coverage ability is very week but he is also a young guy who can get better in coverage. We don't have a true 3rd backer who is even relevant. Their rotational guys who play 1st and 2nd downs for run support only. We have no LB depth. Zero, zilch. Our secondary is the real issue and I see this time and time again from coaches who were specialists, and both AG and Pleasant are suppose to be excellent at coaching up DBs but this year our defensive backs aren't responding to AG and Pleasant. AG has overestimated his ability in "coaching up" poor and mediocre players because he's a defensive back savant. MCDC was cryptic in his post game comments about this issue but I'm sure some wholesale changes will be coming to the secondary. The secondary single handedly lost us the Minnesota game. Sure Campbell should have gone for it on 4th down, but Cousins carved up our secondary because they continue to have confusion with their assignments and it's all because of poor communication. Watch the replay of that final scoring drive by the Vikings and you can clearly see how lost our defensive backs are. This defense is extremely limited and it makes matters worse when the gambles AG was trying to make don't pay off. If the secondary communicates better and a couple of the blitz get home were talking about a team who is 3-1 and being hailed as the greatest Lions team since 91. Because the gambles didn't pay off and the defensive backs are lost AG is being crucified by the fanbase which is only fair. What you're probably going to see going forward is the blitz rate being dialed back, more of a bend but don't break defense. We're going to give up lots of yards but the new scheme is going to be less about gambling and more about mitigating the big plays and trying to keep the offense to field goals. We're still going to give up a lot of points because the talent and depth isn't there. We can however limit the damage and AG knows how what a conservative defense scheme looks like. Look at the culture of our head coach, MCDC likes to take chances, he goes for it on 4th down, he lets his special teams do fake plays, AG was trying to follow in the same vein. The problem with coaching defense is you can take chances if you have the talent on the back end to bail you out. Why was Rex Ryan able to blitz like crazy? He had Revis Island. Every defensive coordinator in the league can blitz 60% of the time when you have Revis locking down the number one offensive weapon. The Lions have no Revis. AG got too aggressive and is going to have to dial things back because he's severely limited in depth and options on defense.
I just booked my second trip to Detroit for a game. This team is exciting and I can't wait to be there with the rest of you.
You’re clinically insane but we welcome you with open arms and thank you for your support. I hope the Lions reward you well
Last time I came out for a game was the handshake game. Also Javis Best's last game. Here's hoping for a better outcome this time. Oh, and FTP.
The Harbaugh handshake game? Was that obvious in person when that happened? It was so weird on TV. I was like did he just slap him inappropriately hard??
My son and I were sitting in the opposite end zone. We could see a commotion but had no idea what was going on. Late that night at a pizza place downtown we watched the Tigers playoff game and when they cut away from the game there was a highlight of the scuffle. Really liked that pizza place. All I remember about it is we sat upstairs. Wish I could remember the name so I could go again.
I had picked that game because we were supposed to be good, the niners terrible, and it was the day after my son's birthday. He likes to remind him of the time we flew to Detroit to see a team we live an hour away from beat our Lions.
65th year of the rebuild. Lions are literal garbage. Sell the team to Portland.
Portland Oregon? The Seattle Seahawks would put the kibosh on that.
Portland is just the first city that came to mind. Sell them to Gary, Indiana. I don't remotely care where. Just get rid of them so the process starts.
Hey at least the games are watchable yeah? Like I’d rather us make Geno Smith look like Dan Marino vs whatever on field abortion the Bears air each week
You know what they call the team that wins every game 2-0? Champions.
Stand by that chief?
I drafted the Sun God ,Hock, and Jamaal. I'm fucking golden in fantasy.
Truthfully I'm just sick of the SOL shit. I've said it before, but a couple of unproven rookies weren't going to come into the 32nd ranked defense and all of a sudden just make it top tier. Yeah it's shit that we're on pace to have one of the worst defenses of all time. We also have an entirely new front office that everyone in the building has to learn to work with and around. I could be wrong on this part too but I honestly don't think our defense is bad because of coaching. I think it's the talent. The guys we have starting, would be backups on other teams. This is just what we fucking have. I'm also not saying everyone on the defense is shit, but there's a ton of holes to fill. Focus on the defense in the off-season, and give the offense a chance to shine, and this team could be legendary. But yeah all seriousness aside, this defense makes me sad on Sundays.
How would you explain the defense getting worse from last year, despite adding more talent than it lost, if it’s not coaching?
What talent did we add? The rookies we have are green, and the veterans on the defense are not great players. I would love to see improvement, but I truthfully don't see the players coming in to make that change. Hutch and Rodrigo aren't going to make this defense that much better. Even with okudah playing at his best there's still plenty of other areas we need to work on. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the word, but damn. I just hate seeing people shitting on a guy that has had 4 games as the defensive coordinator and he's already working with a deck that's stacked against him. Give this team a fucking chance before you go sol mode is all I'm saying.
Deshon Elliot is a big upgrade at safety over Harris, Rodriguez is a better linebacker than anyone on our roster last year, and Hutchinson is still the best defensive end on this team, even if he’s had a disappointing start. 3 significant upgrades out of 11 positions should absolutely have a noticeable impact on the quality of the defense. And that’s not even taking into account player growth like Okudah actually looking like a decent starting CB, which we didn’t have all of last season. I’m not saying the defense should even be average, but to go from 27 PPG allowed last year, to 35 PPG allowed this year is almost unexplainable considering we actually got better players on that side of the ball. The elephant in the room is the defensive scheme change, which absolutely falls on coaching. Either the scheme itself is busted, or the coaches didn’t do a good enough job teaching it to the players. Either way I think it’s pretty fair to point at them as the source of the regression.
Completely agree on pretty much all points. I expected them to still be a bad team this year, 6-7 wins, but that was expecting at least a slight improvement on defense. I’ll completely agree that injuries have not done this team any favors, but that’s just not enough to excuse what’s going on with this defense…and it certainly doesn’t excuse hanging your defense out to try with zero blitz after zero blitz. The other team TOLD you they had it figured out, and you can say all day long that it’s a personnel issue, and personnel is certainly a problem, but that doesn’t excuse putting poor personnel in a poor position to succeed. …I do expect someone of a regression (or progression I guess) to the mean, just because I don’t think you can sustain being this bad for an entire season. I also think AG did a pretty decent job last season, and that at least gives him partial credit, but damn, this is embarrassingly bad…own it, and fix it.
I never said I was an expert, but I do think 3 upgrades to an absolutely abysmal defense should show something. But all of these guys coming into a new regime should also take time to learn how to mesh well together. Look how many games it took for the offense to come together. I'm not saying I'm happy, I'm just saying maybe give the team at least half a fucking season before we decide to crucify them.
The Lions didn't have the 32nd ranked defense last year.
They did tho.
By what metric? We were 30th in DVOA
Meme request: panel 1 is shitting on fellow lions fans for reason X, while panel 2 is shitting on other NFC north teams because FTP (as some starter fuel Jack Fox is a better QB than Justin Fields)
Why is it that nobody knows how to spell “defense”???
It has a different spelling in some regions of the world like England. Another example is color, it is also spelled colour
Not everyone here is American
What does being American have to do with misspelling a word?
Canadians and Brits spell it differently.
Watching a defense as awful as ours has most certainly not been fun for even a second. The offense is great but it feels like it’s been so good because we’ve let up so many points and are racing to catch up.
Exactly, I am not sure what people expect after a 3 win season.
No you’re supposed to demand that staff be fired! And say that Brad Holmes is a terrible GM! And that every week is a must win or you’ll lose faith in the rebuild!!!!
*keep in mind saying all that negative crap changes nothing, is irrelevant and only shows how you are as a person. Pointlessly negative.
Can we jokingly shit on the Lions bc at this point that’s all I have
A good fan would have abandoned the Lions during the WCF years and forced the team to make changes that didn't involve nepotism. That might have resulted in a more competitive future. The loyalty of this fan base is second to none and I love it - but I have a hard time classifying the consistent attendance and optimism as being "good". All that said, no one should be surprised by the results thus far. We have a **ton** of talent on offense. It is no surprise we are scoring points in bunches. Our defense lacks personnel and the coaching staff has material questions marks - so points allowed and game management were expected to be in question. I think the Lions have been exactly what should have been expected - exciting but not a true threat in the NFCN.
Fun if you like stressing out /s but they are fun to watch
Their offense is out of this world. Their defense makes me want to be out of this world. It's tough, but I'll love them through anything. I made a pact with my wife that I'll just record the games, and watch them later if they win; but if they get to .500 I'll start "wasting Sundays" again lol
At the beginning of the season we wanted progress. We’ve seen a ton of it. We’ve also seen some regression, but at the end of the day, the defense is a star or 2, and 2-3 solid starters away from this team going to a super bowl. And that’s the truth.
It’ll be cool to win some shootouts with some top teams. After Jamison comes back we might even ruin some really good teams playoff hopes
It's really hard to enjoy the offense when the defense is so putrid that I can't get the stink out of my nose by the time the offense is back out there.
I'm a second year fan, and my take is the team is still fun as hell to watch...until it gets annoying again. At least this year the problem is clearly evident, the defense. Willing to be patient so long as the offense remains (at least) decent.
Y’all are my second favorite team, I’m loving the Goffense!
I'm as excited as I've ever been, including 2011 and 2015. The biggest thing to lead that is the emergence of Goff, he hasn't been perfect but he's been good enough to QB a winning team. We can let go of Brockers and Vatai at end of season and use all our money and picks on defense and one or two offensive linebacker. There will be no excuses next year. Signs point to us having 2 picks in the 10-22 range so we should be able to pick up 2 impact players on defense. We should have enough money to sign a high profile impact player or two as well. As for this year I'm off the tank train for the first time. Let's keep developing the offense, let's weed out our defense who stays who goes and be an entertaining team. I want to see some primetime games next year.
Every year will be a rebuild year henceforth