Through eight games this season, the Detroit Lions have been unable to click on all cylinders and Sunday was no exception, yet they were able to to pull off a 15-9 victory against the Green Bay Packers. This may seem like a bizarre thing to say about the Lions, but they exhibited traits of great teams. Are the Lions a great team? Definitely not. They are still a bad team. But, what were they able to do to beat the Packers? One thing, they took advantage of their opponents’ mistakes. Until Sunday, the Lions were unable to do this against any team. In addition, the Lions were able to force turnovers and outright bad play by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. If the team is able to improve their all around play, and continue to force and take advantage of other teams’ mistakes, they will be able to take steps in the right direction as an organization.
For every game this season, the Lions have played inconsistent in some fashion, either on defense, offense, or special teams. As a general rule, the Lions were unable to outscore any opponent this season despite being at the top of the league is scoring statistics. Moreover, when the offense struggled, the defense found it difficult to stop any opponent’s offense. That all changed Sunday. Yes, the offense struggled, but the defense stepped up only allowing single digit points to the Packers. They accomplished this feat by defending the pass well and forcing three turnovers by the Packers. This type of defensive effort allowed the offense to do just enough to win, while still being anemic. Obviously, the characteristics described show that the Lions may be on the path to becoming a great team, only time will tell.
Though the defense played well, it goes without saying that some of the Lions success was due to Aaron Rodgers less than stellar play. Consequently, it prompted Rodgers to make some post game comments about the Lions that may act as motivation to propel the Lions to continued improvement. All day, Rodgers struggled with inaccurate passing and caused turnovers via two interceptions. As a result, their offensive production was at a premium all day. The poor play by the Packers led to these public comments by Rodgers, “We can’t lose to that team.” If the Lions are making the progress many think they are, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Lions play improves dramatically the rest of the season. This is what good teams do when they are thrown under the bus.
Though the Lions did not play well Sunday, they were able to play well enough in many aspects of the game to gut out a victory. The defense played well enough to offset a struggling offense. Too many times this year, this is something that neither side of the ball was able to accomplish. If the defense and offense are able to continue to compensate for each other’s struggling play, great things are to come for the Detroit Lions. If not, the years in the doldrums will persist.
1 comment:
There's alot of people out there that think the Lions should tank it to get a high draft pick. Where has that ever gotten us except for Barry Sanders and a few others? I'll take winning no matter what over tanking it. You can't create a winning culture by tanking it and the Lions have nowhere to go but up in that department.
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