The Detroit Lions lost a tough game in Oakland last Sunday. But despite the last controversial play call, quarterback Matthew Stafford is not the problem.
The Detroit Lions have dropped another game in horrible fashion and there is plenty of finger-pointing among fans and the media, but they should be careful who they’re pointing the finger at.
The stark realization that has fallen upon Lions fans this year is that the defense is not really that good. As a matter of fact, they have taken us all by surprise by being very bad at times. They can’t stop the run and they can’t pressure, much less sack, opposing passers.
The results have been points. As in opponents scoring almost at will. Last Sunday the Raiders had no reason whatsoever to pass the ball at all. They ran through the Lions defense for the most part with ease.
When they felt like doing something else to be different, they passed the ball for more yards. There was no wrong answer for Raiders coach Jon Gruden and his staff.
That was not an isolated issue either. It has been very telling in the last five games that the Lions have a 1-4 record and have surrendered 31.2 points a game. Meanwhile, the Lions offense has averaged 27.4 points per contest. they have also scored 30 or more points in three of those games, but only have one victory to show for it.
Any team with an average defense will probably find a way to win if their offense scores 30 points. It’s when the defense starts to fall into the category of bad or worse that you can no longer point fingers at the offense when they are putting points on the scoreboard themselves.
That is as simple as it can get, yet there are those out there who think quarterback Matthew Stafford is the single source of blame and it is his fault this team is sliding back into the abyss.