Detroit Lions: Winning will be hard until Lions achieve balance
By Robert Jones
The offense has to be able to stick to their game plan
The long-term plan is for the Lions to dominate the line of scrimmage. On offense, they are doing a pretty good job of it and quite frankly have been able to run at will for the most part.
It has also created more opportunities for tight-end T.J. Hockenson.
But once the Lions are forced to just play catch up, two things happen; the first is the threat of the ground game disappears. The second is that opposing defenses start double-teaming Hockenson.
We all knew receiver was a suspect position and two games into the season they have made very few plays. Anyone on the outside stepping up would help Hockenson.
But ultimately it is the play of the defense that will determine when the Lions will win their first game.
In truth, the Lions’ secondary seemed to play better without Jeff Okudah against the Packers. The defense as a whole played just well enough to win in the first half. However, it was two amazing throws by Aaron Rodgers that caused the downfall of the defense and they both came on the same series.
On the first drive of the second half, Rodgers hit Davante Adams with an incredible pin-point accurate pass over rookie Ifeatu Melifonwu that was actually defended about as well as it could be. Then to finish the drive, Rodgers put a dart through Alex Anzalone’s earhole into the waiting hands of Robert Tonyan for the touchdown.
That was the end of the Lions.
Yes, if Goff hadn’t fumbled the ball on the Lions’ first play after that Packer scoring drive and Detroit had moved the ball and scored it could have been a different game, but once the tidal wave hit the defense it folded like a house of cards.
There is plenty of work to be done before these Lions will be ready to challenge for a title. This team needs to be better on both sides of the ball quite frankly, but the importance of being able to play defense well enough to allow the offense to stick to their game plan is the difference between the Honolulu Blue and Silver losing or finding a way to win right now.
