Do Recent Playoff Games Validate Patricia's Approach?

[Just Want A Title]

I watched the the Rams, Chiefs and Patriots leverage effective running games to propel them to the conference championship game.  The Cowboys couldn't run the ball and got bounced from the playoffs.  I may be wrong but Patricia's goal (as I understand it)  of having an offense that could be balanced enough to win by running or passing rather than being focused on the passing game seems like a good plan for post-season success.  Even more to the point, all of teams that progressed to the conference played really good defense;  even the Chiefs.  

In the second half of the season, the Lions had an effective running game and played really good defense.  They did this despite getting very little production from d-line edge rushers and marginal production from their #2 CB position.  The Lions have no dynamic edge-rushing threat on the roster and seem to have a bunch of guys that are better slot CBs then boundary CBs.

I hate to sound like I am drinking the kool-aid for next year but targeted improvements to our secondary and edge rushing could make our defense really stout.  Targeted improvements to the tight end and deep passing (scheme and play-calling) could make our offense really tough to defend. 

We have a decent amount of cap space and draft resources to take a big step forward in my opinion.  The way I see it our success next year comes down to three things:

1.  Improve our points production on offense

2.  Get better QB pressure from our D-Line without any drop-off in LB QB pressure

3.  Get better production from our #2/Boundary CB position

They have the cap space and the draft resources to be aggressive in the off-season.  This may sound like I am over-simplifying things but if they successfully address these problems they could take a big step forward.  Thoughts?

 

[Karnage84]

This is Detroit. Nothing that we do will matter.

[Lions017]

It really depends. There's a difference between a ball control, running-based offense and what the teams left in the playoffs are doing. All of the teams that are left are fully capable of cranking up the pace and dropping 45 points on you if they need to. I think that flexibility is key. KC/NE/NO/LAR don't just have good running games, they have dynamic offenses that can run and sling it all over the field. 

[diehardlionfan]

I see it differently.

The Patriots scored on their first three possessions. The Chargers were forced to play catch-up so running the ball wasn’t much of an option. Brady also went 34/44 for 343 yards.

The Colts were effective running the ball but fell behind and play calling changes.

Brees threw for 301 yards and Mahommes 278.

I see four teams that are capable of taking advantage of what the defence gives them. In most of these cases the losing teams fell behind which made them one dimensional and gave the defence a big advantage.

Each of the winning teams are high powered with effective defences. 

Do the Lions need to run the ball? Absolutely! But they need to be much better in the passing game. Currently the offence simply doesn’t achieve much of anything. It’s great they attempted to run the ball and balance their attack but the results, in my opinion were less than satisfactory.

On defence I think you’re spot on. Pressure off the edge. A linebacker good in coverage and another top CB would be great. Throw in a penetrating DT with the ability to play the run on the way to the QB and I would be thrilled. 

People have long said that defence wins championships and I tend to agree. As a Sooners fan I’ve pulled my hair out for years with their lack of focus on defence. Great offensive team but bad defensively gets them to the big game only to get beaten by teams that play defence.

From my perspective the Lions are a mess. They don’t do anything well and any time they get positional proficiency they watch it evaporate while focusing elsewhere. The dline was effective, the receivers excellent but now these are two big areas of need. 

If the Lions enter the off season with a goal to sign and draft players to control the line of scrimmage they can build a winning program. 

 

 

 

[Karnage84]

5 hours ago, diehardlionfan said:

I see it differently.

The Patriots scored on their first three possessions. The Chargers were forced to play catch-up so running the ball wasn’t much of an option. Brady also went 34/44 for 343 yards.

The Colts were effective running the ball but fell behind and play calling changes.

Brees threw for 301 yards and Mahommes 278.

I see four teams that are capable of taking advantage of what the defence gives them. In most of these cases the losing teams fell behind which made them one dimensional and gave the defence a big advantage.

Each of the winning teams are high powered with effective defences. 

Do the Lions need to run the ball? Absolutely! But they need to be much better in the passing game. Currently the offence simply doesn’t achieve much of anything. It’s great they attempted to run the ball and balance their attack but the results, in my opinion were less than satisfactory.

On defence I think you’re spot on. Pressure off the edge. A linebacker good in coverage and another top CB would be great. Throw in a penetrating DT with the ability to play the run on the way to the QB and I would be thrilled. 

People have long said that defence wins championships and I tend to agree. As a Sooners fan I’ve pulled my hair out for years with their lack of focus on defence. Great offensive team but bad defensively gets them to the big game only to get beaten by teams that play defence.

From my perspective the Lions are a mess. They don’t do anything well and any time they get positional proficiency they watch it evaporate while focusing elsewhere. The dline was effective, the receivers excellent but now these are two big areas of need. 

If the Lions enter the off season with a goal to sign and draft players to control the line of scrimmage they can build a winning program. 

 

 

 

I like all of this here. Good evaluation.

Question for you - what are your thoughts on local product (to dhlf and I) Neville Gallimore of your Sooners? I haven't been able to watch much CFB this year and definitely was not able to watch the Sooners on a regular basis. I know this is non-Lions related but really... there's only like 6 of us who are really commenting on things anyway.

[diehardlionfan]

16 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

I like all of this here. Good evaluation.

Question for you - what are your thoughts on local product (to dhlf and I) Neville Gallimore of your Sooners? I haven't been able to watch much CFB this year and definitely was not able to watch the Sooners on a regular basis. I know this is non-Lions related but really... there's only like 6 of us who are really commenting on things anyway.

Gallimore is an interesting player. I will say up front that I’m not sure if I’ve trusted an Oklahoma defensive player since Gerald McCoy. As a team they just don’t play defence well.

My concerns with Gallimore are consistency and playing shape. He gets subbed out to frequent for my liking. 

Hes strong, displays some freakish athletic ability (I would like to know how high he can jump) and at times is very disruptive.

I see him as a rotational guy that could surprise a team.

 

[Karnage84]

2 hours ago, diehardlionfan said:

Gallimore is an interesting player. I will say up front that I’m not sure if I’ve trusted an Oklahoma defensive player since Gerald McCoy. As a team they just don’t play defence well.

My concerns with Gallimore are consistency and playing shape. He gets subbed out to frequent for my liking. 

Hes strong, displays some freakish athletic ability (I would like to know how high he can jump) and at times is very disruptive.

I see him as a rotational guy that could surprise a team.

 

I was coaching Tyke football (8-10 years old) here and he was on one of the older teams as a running back. I remember watching him run around as the best player on the field at any time. When he was in the 9th grade he looked like a full grown man. I've watched the Sooners when I can to see how he's doing. I remember talking to folks when he had committed to Oklahoma over some other places. For some guys when you're the biggest and best player on the field the better part of your life, you might not develop the work ethic necessary because you haven't had to try. He used to get ripped on for goofing around and he probably received like a half dozen practice jerseys that season. I'm hoping that it was just kid stuff and he's matured. I would really like to see him do well.

There's another kid playing for Penn State as a linebacker, Jesse Luketa. He was always a really nice kid. I'm sure it's much more commonplace for some of the other guys here to know people or know of people who make it to School X or played in the league. It's cool to see someone from our city make it to a Power 5 school with the potential to do something special.

[diehardlionfan]

2 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

I was coaching Tyke football (8-10 years old) here and he was on one of the older teams as a running back. I remember watching him run around as the best player on the field at any time. When he was in the 9th grade he looked like a full grown man. I've watched the Sooners when I can to see how he's doing. I remember talking to folks when he had committed to Oklahoma over some other places. For some guys when you're the biggest and best player on the field the better part of your life, you might not develop the work ethic necessary because you haven't had to try. He used to get ripped on for goofing around and he probably received like a half dozen practice jerseys that season. I'm hoping that it was just kid stuff and he's matured. I would really like to see him do well.

There's another kid playing for Penn State as a linebacker, Jesse Luketa. He was always a really nice kid. I'm sure it's much more commonplace for some of the other guys here to know people or know of people who make it to School X or played in the league. It's cool to see someone from our city make it to a Power 5 school with the potential to do something special.

It’s cool to see, I agree.