Well, I'm energized by a recent win (winning streak at one, baby!) by my Lions against the St. Louis Rams, so I figure, why not bore my reader(s?) with a COMPLETE RUNDOWN OF THE DETROIT LIONS ROSTER.
Yeah!
OFFENSE:
QB:
Mathew Stafford
Shaun Hill
Drew Stanton
This is the hardest part of the roster to get a hold on. Mainly because in his two seasons in Detroit, Stafford still hasn't played a full schedule of games. He showed some great flashes of brilliance last season, but he turned the ball over a lot, but, in his defense, you have to force the ball downfield sometimes when you're losing every game by 20, so I can forgive the turnovers. Honestly, in Week 1 of this season, he looked like he was on a leash, he threw pretty much nothing but check-downs before he separated his shoulder again.
Shaun Hill is another guy who is hard to figure out. Last week I was jumping up and down because he was making great plays and managing the offense like a champ, but the previous games, he handcuffed the offense by taking bad sacks, turning the ball over, and not realizing that Calvin Johnson still plays for the Lions.
And Stanton is a hometown hero who 99% of Detroit wishes they would actually give a chance to start while Stafford heals.
RB:
Jahvid Best
Kevin Smith
Maurice Morris
Aaron Brown
This is a good group here. I've always hated Kevin Smith, and groaned every week when the out-of-town TV announcers heralded him as a bright spot in the offense, but in terms of backing up Jahvid Best, he's going to be very effective. He can provide a change-of-pace that every team needs for a great running attack. Maurice Morris is a decent receiver out of the backfield, and he can block, too, and Aaron Brown is a good return guy and a big play threat but he won't see much playing time.
WR:
Calvin Johnson
Nate Burleson
Bryant Johnson
Derrick Williams
Stefon Logan
Calvin "Megatron" Johnson: What can I say? Calvin Johnson id the most physically gifted WR in the NFL. He's tall, strong, fast, and he can probably jump over me. The only problem is, we could never get him the ball because he was no-shit getting TRIPLE teamed most games last season.
Enter Nate Burleson. He got injured in Week one and sat on the sidelines until last week, then he had a good game and eventually, this one-two punch with him and Calvin is going to pay huge dividends if he can pull some coverage off of the other guy.
Bryant Johnson was the guy that was supposed to pull people off Calvin last season, and that really didn't work. His production has been terrible his whole time in Detroit and he's probably on the verge of getting traded or cut, I mean, he really hasn't done much at all here.
Derrick Williams is another disappointment. He came out of Penn State looking to be a good kick return guy and a playmaker reciever, but poor practices and a lack of being able to catch kickoffs have led to him sitting on the bench most of the time. I still think he's got the talent to be a good WR, but he needs to show something soon.
Stefon Logan has taken over kick-returns this season, and he's don a fine job, including a 105 yd TD last week. Not much on the side of production in the offense, though, but we should make an effort to get the ball to him.
TE:
Brandon Pettigrew
Tony Scheffler
Will Heller
You're looking at the most productive group of tight-ends in the NFL, and the stats back it up. When we traded Ernie Simms to Philly, I almost died, why would we trade a good LB for a tight-end? A mediocre one at that? but the Lions run 2 TE packages all the time, and with two guys who could start on most NFL teams, it's a great base for our young QB to throw to.
LT:
Jeff Backus
Corey Hillard
Jeff Backus has had something of a career resurgence this season, after being mediocre at best throughout most of his career in Detroit. Backus is the only link left from those awful, awful, terrible, no good Lions o-lines in the early-mid 2000s. I still think he should be moved to Guard, but he's playing alright now, so we'll see.
RT:
Gosder Cherilus
Jason Fox
Jamon Meredith
Gosder is another guy who's playing decent right now, and by decent, I mean, better than our RT's have played since I can recall, which isn't saying much. This o-line isn't fixed, because Gosder and Jeff Backus are playing beyond their means right now, but Gosder's still young, so maybe he's still developing.
Jason Fox is another young guy who could spot-start on the o-line and probably be decent. Again, my idea of decent on the o-line is very skewed considering the shit I've lived through.
LG:
Rob Sims
Unspectacular guard, but again, he's doing his job okay. The thing about this line, is that they're all pretty average. No one's great, but no one's terrible either. Rob Sims is a perfect example.
RG:
Stephen Peterman
Probably the best G/T the Lions have, but not by much. Another guy who lets a few guys by, but not a ton. He's a pretty good blocker.
C:
Dominic Raiola
Dylan Gandy
Raiola is my favorite guy on this o-line. He's athletic, he's able to get into the box and do some decent run-blocking, plus, he's been a vocal leader on this Lions team since the 0-16 season, calling on the guys to do better. Top 10 NFL center in my view.
OVERALL:
Offense if certainly our strength. We still have some issues on the line, but somehow, these guys are seemingly pulling together and playing good football in the trenches. We've got some very good, young pieces like Stafford, Best, Johnson, and Pettigrew, along with some good veterans like Scheffler, Burleson and even Backus and Raiola.
DEFENSE:
LE:
Cliff Avril
Willie Young
Cliff Avril is a very, very good LE, and we were all ready to have him as the best player on out d-line after last season, but our GM had other plans. He'll get lost under the big names of our defensive front, but he creates a fair bit of havoc himself, and e facilitates other guys making plays by dominating his side. He's one of those guys who doesn't really pile up sacks, because his closing speed isn't great, but he gets in the backfield a lot and rushes a lot of throws.
RE:
Kyle Vanden Bosch
Turk McBride
Lawrence Jackson
For those who don't get to see him play every week, the sheer awesomeness of Kyle Vanden Bosch is lost on them. This guy will bust through the line, hurry a throw, and then go tackle the guy who caught it, all the while bleeding from the forehead randomly like he always does. This guy has frickin PYTHONS on his arms, and I don't care how old he is, he's got a better motor than anyone I've ever seen.
DT:
Ndamukong Suh
Corey Williams
Sammie Hill
Andre Fluellen
DON'T YOU WISH YOUR D LINE WAS AWESOME LIKE MINE? I mean, good lord, Sammie Hill was our number one last year, and now he's our number three. Suh is awesome, he leads the NFL rookies in sack, has an interception, ripped Jake Delhomme's head off in the preseason, and has a Nike commercial where he's in his underwear.
Corey Williams is another guy who could be a number one most other places. He used to start for the Packers, got traded to a place where he didn't really fit the system, and now he's back in the same system he used to be in, and he's doing a FINE job. He's not as impressive as Suh, but he serves a different purpose, he's a great run stuffer, and if people start to forget about him, and start double or triple teaming Suh, he could destroy some QB's, too.
Like I said, Hill and Fluellen started for us last season, so they'll be competent back-ups to say the least.
OLB (1):
Zack Follett
Landon Johnson
Now we get into the issues for this defense. Zack Follett is a guy any team in the league would love to have...as a third-stringer. He's young, so maybe he'll get better, but he can't really cover, he can't really tackle, he doesn't really come up to the line and make plays, he really disappears in almost every game, that is, unless he's getting burned by a tight-end.
MLB:
Deandre Levy
Isiah Ekejiuba
Spencer Havner
Levy's a decent LB, but not much more, and what's worse, he's pretty injury prone. The other guys behind him are pretty bad. Good thing Kyle Vanden Bosch makes as many plays downfield as he does, because we need the help.
But hey, at least they're not Larry Foote.
OLB (2)
Julian Peterson
Ashlee Palmer
Julian Peterson is an above-average LB at this point in his career. He used to be an elite pass rusher in the league, but his age has slowed him down a bit, and we don't really use him to blitz anyway. We use him to stop the run and make tackles, which isn't his strength, but he's better at it than our other two starting linebackers.
CB:
Chris Houston
Alphonso Smith
Johnathan Wade
Amari Spievey
Nathan Vasher
Chris Houston is a good corner, and he could be a great one when he hits his prime. He lacks a couple of skills at this point but overall he's a huge asset to this notoriously bad secondary. Alphonso Smith was promoted to starter alongside Houston last week, and he had a very good game. Every time he's seen playing time this season, he's looked good, at least, a lot better than whatever Wade was doing in that starting spot previously, so that's a bright spot. We actually have some depth here, with Wade, Spievey, and Vasher being able to start for us if need be. Spievey, a rookie, made an impact in his limited time in Sunday's game, hopping over a few players and recovering an onside kick that opened up the game. Also, Nathan Vasher is Nathan Vasher. He may have limited cover skills, but he's magic with the ball in his hands.
SS:
CC Brown
Dante Wesley
Another weak spot. CC Brown is no good as a starter in the NFL, but I guess we're stuck with him for this year. His shoddy tackling and lack of ball skills are cause for concern.
FS:
Louis Delmas
John Wendling
Louis Delmas is pure, concentrated awesome. I could do without his dredlocks and his "grill" but his playing skills more than make up for whatever he lacks in good taste. He's been hampered slightly by injuries this season, but most who see him say he reminds them of Ed Reed. High
Praise indeed. Not a whole lot of cover skills, but he's a ball hawk, and he can knock someone's head off with some of his hits.
OVERALL:
Yeah, we still need help. We overhauled the line last offseason, so hopefully, we can focus on other areas now. I don't think we need another giant offseason for our defense, but we need at least a few more pieces, good ones, in order to have a defense that's worthy of our offense. Suh's going to keep getting better, and he's going to be a dominant guy in the middle, which is really going to take this defense to a new level.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
K:
Jason Hanson
This guy is like 300 years old, and he's still automatic from 40 or less. Anything more than 50 is an adventure, though.
P:
Nick Harris
Probably an above average punter. He's been consistent over the years, which is the most important thing.
KR/PR:
Stefon Logan
Aaron Brown
Nate Burleson
Never seen Burleson return a kick, but he's on the depth chart, so whatever. Logan, like I've stated, has been very good, and Aaron Brown is a good second option. I doubt Logan will return a lot of kicks for points, but he's been good at getting us good field position, and that 105 yd return last week was nuts.
OVERALL:
Probably a below average ST unit. Most good teams have either a great kicker, or a great punter, we have two average ones, and above average return guys, but what I didn't delve into, is the fact that we've been below average at kickoff coverage. But at the same time, Suh has already blocked a field goal. It's a wash.
So there ya go. I predicted a 6-10 season fot eh Lions, but with our QB out for at least a week more, it looks like we'd be lucky to get to that mark. Plus, our schedule absolutely sucks this season. We have a great base to build on, and while I realize it's taking a longer time than most teams, in a season or two, this could be an elite NFL team, and no, I'm not on drugs.
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