Detroit Lions Weblog

Week 4-Lions at Bucs

Coming off a disastrous loss on the road against the Chicago Bears and a LONG bye week, the Lions have a lot to prove. They have to prove that they can weather some serious adversity, win a big game on the road, and build some confidence and momentum as potential contenders in an extremely weak NFC North. In order to do so they are going to perform much better than they have thus far in several major areas of their game.

This is really a poor matchup for the Lions. They have yet to prove they can stop an opponents ground game or establish a ground game for themselves. The Buccaneers feature the second best ground game in the NFL which rides on the back of rookie phenom Carnell “Cadillac” Williams. They also feature the best rushing defense in the NFL by a large margin (2.72 Yards/Rush and 51.7 YPG allowed Rushing, zero rushing TD’s allowed) These two factors will decide the outcome of this game. Until the Lions prove they can perform in either aspect of their game, it will be difficult imagining them winning any games for the remaining duration of the season for that matter.

After the Bears game, Steve Mariucci lamented over the criticism he and his coaching staff were receiving for their conservatism. He said that they had blitzed more often in that game than they ever had and that they had in fact attempted to spread the Bears defense with multi-receiver sets and had attempted to thrown the ball downfield more often. The issue in these matters is the situations in which the Lions decided to utilize these concepts in their game plan. The Lions under Mariucci are predictable because they only deviate from their conservative game plan when their backs are against the wall. Facing the Bucs this week, for example, they will need to attack the Bucs secondary early. The Bucs play a cover-2 zone defense which allows teams to exploit soft spots in the Buccaneers zone defense 10-15 yards downfield. Occasionally, you can also beat the Buccaneers deep due to blown coverages by their safeties. If the Lions stubbornly cling to their dink and dunk passing schemes the Buccaneers athletic and quick linebackers will gobble up the Lions skill players in a manner similar to that of how they handled the Raiders in the Super Bowl a few years ago. Needless to say, if the Lions plan to throw downfield more often, the Lions offensive line will have to perform a lot better than it has thus far. The Lions offensive line will have it’s hands full with DE’s Greg Spires and Simien Rice. The Lions also face the formidable task of trying to create holes in the middle of the Bucs defense with stout DT’s Chris Hovan and Anthony “Booker” McFarland plugging the middle. The Bucs also feature active linebackers in Ryan Nece and Derrick Brooks, who if they viewed recent tapes of Def. Coordinator Monte Kiffin’s devotees defenses (Lovie Smith with the Bears and also the Smith built Rams defense) manhandling the Lions with blitzes, will wreak havoc on the Offensive Line and running backs attempting to pick up blitzes. It is imperative that the Lions offense start to be able to operate more efficiently and generate some big plays. At this point, opposing teams are content in shutting down Kevin Jones and forcing Joey Harrington and the inexperienced receiving corps to try and beat them. If the Lions expect that situation to ever change, they are going to have to make teams pay for this strategy. Since Steve Mariucci and puppet/Off Coordinator Ted Tollner show no signs of attempting to take advantage of this situation, I can offer no optimistic predictions for the Lions offense untill further notice.

On Defense, the Lions will have to do their best to bottle up “Cadillac” Williams. Of course, this is no easy task. If they can contain Williams, they can pressure Bucs QB Brian Griese into making costly turnovers. Again, if Dick Jauron chooses to stand pat in the Lions “Bend and Break” defensive scheme, Griese will methodically pick apart the Lions defense with capable receivers Joey Galloway, Ike Hilliard, and Michael Clayton. Jon Gruden utilizes a similar dink and dunk scheme, being that he and Mariucci are disciples of the holy Bill Walsh/Mike Holmgen coaching tree, so the Lions will be up against a mirror image of themselves. The differences being, the effectiveness of Williams in the ground game, and the innovative formations that Gruden’s version of the West Coast Offense will utilize as opposed to the more conventional version the Lions use. This is a game that the Lions front seven can dominate and win. It will be interesting to see if Gruden attempts to attack CB Andre Goodman, who is the replacement for injured Fernando Bryant.

Until the Lions prove me wrong, my expectations for them performance wise are decidedly low. If they can’t get Kevin Jones going in the ground game, or stop the “Cadillac” Williams express, they will get bitch-slapped on the road again. BUCS 27 Lions 10

The highlight game for me this weekend!
Michigan St. 41 U-M 38