There’s a new regime in the Motor City as the Lions are coming off two straight disappointing seasons. Former Colts boss Jim Caldwell is in charge now, ex-Saints OC Joe Lombardi will run the offense, and Teryl Austin gets his first DC gig after spending the last three years as the secondary coach in Baltimore.
Joe Lombardi helmed one of the leagues top offenses in New Orleans which should have Calvin Johnson licking his chops. Megatron is the best wide receiver in the NFL but had an “off” year in 2013 only catching 84 passes for a measly 1,492 yards with 12 TDs in 14 games – his least productive season since 2010. Golden Tate was signed as a free agent from the defending champs and is coming off a career-best season in which he grabbed 64 passes for 898 yards and five scores. The Lions desperately need a solid No. 2 receiver to take some pressure and double teams off of Megatron and get him back to putting up his usual otherworldly numbers. Tate will be that guy. The other major upgrade to the pass-target ranks is first-round pick TE Eric Ebron out of North Carolina. Mix him in with Brandon Pettigrew and the Lions look to have two excellent tight ends, and a much-improved group of targets overall.
Reggie Bush had his best season as a receiver out of the backfield last year with 54 receptions for 506 yards, and should see those numbers go up in Lombardi’s new scheme. Bush added 1,006 yards rushing last season and totaled 7 scores. There will be no learning curve for the RB as Bush told detroitlions.com that Lombardi’s offense is “exactly the same” as Sean Payton’s – the man Lombardi learned from and the man who coached Bush for his first five seasons in the league. Joique Bell is an excellent No. 2 RB who amassed 650 rushing yards in 2013 with 8 TDs, and Lombardi brought FB Jed Collins with him from New Orleans to lay the blocks.
The Lions have a great offensive line led by Dominic Raiola – one of the best centers in the sport. Detroit’s O-line has been a revolving door at the tackle and guard spots in past years but will return all starters from last season. That means Riley Reiff and Rob Sims will start on the left side, and the RG will be Larry Warford – one of the top young up-and-coming interior lineman in the game. The one position battle going on in camp is between LaAdrian Waddle and Corey Hilliard at RT. Current Miami Dolphin Jason Fox won the starting job last year but was injured in Week 2. After that Hilliard took over until a groin injury halfway through the season gave Waddle the job he never relinquished.
QB Matt Stafford has a canon for an arm but has been inconsistent to this point in his career. When he’s on however, he’s damn near unstoppable. He has racked up an eye-popping 14,655 yards passing and 90 TDs in the last three seasons. With the best group of weapons he’s ever had at his disposal and a new OC who has a proven big-time offense, Stafford could put up some amazing numbers in 2014.
On the defensive side the Lions will be looking to improve their pass defense which ranked near the bottom of the league in 2013. New DC Teryl Austin is going to move his lineman around throughout the game to try and create mismatches, so good luck to whoever lines up opposite man-beast Ndamukong Suh. The other starting DT will be Nick Fairley who like Suh had 6 sacks last year. Unlike Suh he is a little inconsistent has has trouble staying onside. If he can thrive in the new system Detroit will have one of the best groups of DTs in the game, which will also include new addition C.J. Mosley – a veteran signed from the Jags who will rotate in as the third string. Not many teams have an interior pass rush as strong as the Lions.
At end Ziggy Ansah will look to build on his 8-sack rookie season in 2013 when he played 14 games. A shoulder injury has kept him out of practice so far but he will he good to go Week 1. Jason Jones is coming back from a knee injury that cost him almost all of last year. If he’s back to 100% he’ll be the starter with sophomore Devin Taylor rotating in. The Lions also drafted a couple of lineman selecting DE Larry Webster out of Bloomsburg in the fourth-round and Caraun Reid from Princeton in the fifth. The Lions D-line has good depth, a bunch of guys who can get to the QB, and some tough beef in the middle so it should be a real solid unit this year.
MLB Kevin Tulloch is one of the more underrated players in the NFL. He’s averaged 128 tackles per season over the last 5 years with 10 total sacks plus 4 picks. He’s a tough SOB who plays through all kinds of pain and has never missed a game over eight seasons in the league. Yes that’s right – eight. It’s fair to say he’s one of the best in the business. On the weak side the Lions employ another relatively unknown yet elite linebacker in DeAndre Levy. Last year he racked up 117 tackles with 6 picks and 15 PDs proving to be one of the best coverage linebackers in the sport. The Lions used their second-round pick on Kyle Van Noy out of BYU who will be expected to start at the Sam. He’s a pass rush specialist so look for him with his hand in the dirt on third down. If he wins the job that kicks last year’s starter Ashlee Palmer down to the role of first linebacker off the bench and he’ll make for an above average player at that spot.
The Lions biggest weakness is at the corners, but they will start steady veteran Rashean Mathis who at 34 years old is still an upper echelon CB. After that is where the trouble starts: The Lions will expect Darius Slay to start opposite Mathis despite his struggles last season as a rookie off the bench. Bill Bentley looks to be the nickel back and is coming off a relatively poor year as well. For some reason the Lions waited until the fourth round to select a DB and ended up with Nevin Lawson from Utah St. who isn’t exactly turning heads in camp.
Hard hitting safety Louis Delmas took his talents to South Beach and was replaced by James Ihedigbo who played under new DC Teryl Austin in Baltimore the last two seasons. He’s coming off a career-best 100 tackles and 3 picks last season but has never been a shutdown coverage guy. Glover Quin will play FS in a kind of deep centerfield role that Ed Reed famously played with the Ravens. They’ll need him to be a playmaker because the rest of the secondary is paper-thin.
VERDICT: You never know how a team will perform under a completely new coaching staff. Offense has certainly not been a problem for the Lions lately and considering their new acquisitions and a proven OC it’s safe to say offense won’t be an issue in 2014 either. The defense however will be lead by a first-time coordinator and he’ll have to try and figure out how to plug the holes in Detroit’s swiss cheese secondary. If they can get to the QB they’ll cover the weaknesses at the back and be in the running for January football but if they can’t – well, they will lose a lot of games as per usual.
Article By: Anthony Schiano
