Observations From Titans Game

[WillParks]

Just finished watching the Titans-Lions game and these are some of the things that I noticed:

Offense:
1. Why is our offense so painful to watch in the first half of every game? I like Scott Linehan but with all the talent we have on offense we shouldn't be this discombobulated.

2. Brandan Pettigrew's hands/ball security is hurt us again. Will he ever be a top-shelf TE or is he just a good blocker with decent hands?

3. Why do the Lions receivers seem to be unable to get separation from DBs? Titus Young has been invisible. Nate Burleson hasn't done much either. Can anyone other than Calvin Johnson make a plays consistently?

4. We had a pretty decent running game today. That is the one of the positive things I take away from today's game.

5. Stafford did a nice job of taking what the defense gave him instead of forcing throws into good coverage. That is good to see.

Defense

1. We didn't get enough pressure/sacks for our DEs. Avril has been pretty quiet. Lawrence Jackson and Willie Young were just as quiet.

2. Out DTs were good at getting up-field pressure but nobody could get a sack. They were pretty good at bottling up the inside running lanes.

3. The LBs did a pretty good job. I thought DeAndre Levy had a pretty good game. We lost containment on a couple of outside runs but that didn't lose the game for us.

4. Chris Houston had a pretty good game. Bill Bentley had a couple of rough spots but overall had a decent game on the outside. The go-ahead touchdown on Lacey was horrible. Lacey never got his head around and Wendling failed to keep Nate Washington if front of him. I think Houston and Bentley are solid but after that our DBs are a crap shoot. Maybe Chris Greeenwood can come of PuP and help out. Not likely though.

Special Teams

1. Gave up two touchdowns. Everyone pinched in on the first one and we got burned. Granted that was a pretty unusual play but we have to do better. On the second TD the only person who didn't pinch early was Jonte Green. He was completely over-matched and got obliterated by his blocker. It looked bad but he was giving away a lot of size and was pretty much on an island by himself with no help.

Coaching
I hate to say this but it looks like we were being out-coached. We can't get our offense going in the first half. Our receivers couldn't get separation. Our special teams gave up two big plays because of bad containment. In my opinion, some of this lack of success can be traced back to questionable game-planning.

What did everyone else see?

[WillParks]

I just looked up the information on the guy that obliterated Jonte Green on the second touchdown. It was #84, Taylor Thompson listed at 6'6" and 268Lbs. Jonte Green is just a shade under 6 feet and 190Lbs. I am not sure how many people could have made a play with that kind of mismatch.

[Nnivolcm]

This game finally inspired me to get a new sig.
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[WillParks]

I missed the last few minutes of the game. Glad to see Titus Young get a score but he didn't have much impact despite his numbers. Same goes for Nate Burleson outside of his 2-point conversion catch.

[Locke]

Observation:

Pro's:
1) Stafford seemed to move the ball around a bit more. I think that Burleson got involved as a number two.

2) Leshoure looks like the real deal. I believe he will be a cornerstone piece of the future.

3) Levy has really picked his game up this year. I see him playing much more consistently, especially in the run game.



Cons:

1) Detroit's playcalling and personnel groupings are so vanilla. If I were an opposing team, I would be perfectly content with Pettigrew catching underneath. The worst case scenario is he catches the ball and gets 3-4 YAC. Best case scenario was on display a few times today.

2) Our secondary is horrendous. Without playing the injured card, I don't see how as a general manager I could go in with the expectations of progressing on last year with the group they have back there. I understand they couldn't have foreseen losing Berry but I don't think this team has a chance to progress without it being fixed.

2a) I almost wish we had not cut Alphonso Smith, at least he could have intercepted a ball or two while leaving people open. I don't understand what they are doing with Speivey, Wendling and Coleman. It's like the moment one of those get beat, they get replaced by the other one. To be honest, I think 2 of the 3 don't belong as a starting safety in the NFL.

3) Our special teams has not improved at all, and to be honest, they drafted all these people to play ST and at what point is the coach to blame.

[diehardlionfan]

I don't know how you can rag on Burleson. He had ten catches and a touchdown. He didn't shy away from contact. He and Leshoure were the only positives in the first half.
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Sig by LionsFTW

To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.

[WillParks]

We threw the ball 55 times in this game. Yes he had 10 catches but only had 69 yards. He is supposed to provide some semblance of vertical threat. Our #2 receiver should be able to do more than that when Calvin Johnson is always bracketed or double-covered.

[cibowilson]

1. Calvin Johnson is simple unstoppable. He might really be the best player in the league. When we need a big play he always seems to come through.

2. Mikel Leshoure is exactly what I thought he would be-A Stud. Looked good out there. Really good. Showed good vision, balance, speed, and power.

3. The Ageless One is still automatic. We need to retire Hanson's jersey when he retired.

4. We really need Delmas back. He makes a HUGE difference. Also Spievey needs to start next to him. He is much better then Wendling and Coleman, and that's not saying much.

5. Bently and Houston looked ok to good. After that we are really bad. Lacey is just like Alphonzo Smith, without the picks: Which means he sucks.

6. Our D line is not getting the pressure it needs to. Our DEs have been ineffective. We need to move Suh around more and we need to run more twist and stunts and get more creative with our pressures.

7. Stafford needs to work on his mechanics. He's been throwing too much of that side arm stuff and while it works sometimes I think it leads to to many inaccurate throws.

8. Pettigrew is by far the most frustrating player to watch. Every time he catches it I think hes going to drop it or fumble. And half of the time that's exactly what he does. I can't believe he let that Verner strip that ball, oh wait yes I can.

9. Our Offense is a bit stale and predictable. We need to run more easy throws early to get Matt in a rhythm. Run Some bunch formations to open things up and dump it off. Also we don't seem run the screen as much as we used to. Also, why are we not getting Broyles involved? This seemed like the perfect game to use him in the slot.

10. This is More of a Question, but is it too late to make a big trade to struggling team for a secondary player? We really need a new safety and/or corner.

[FootballPhreak]

I don't know how you can draw any conclusion from any game this year. Stafford hurt his leg-that is about the only thing with conclusive evidence I saw.
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[diehardlionfan]

[FootballPhreak]

[detroitroar]

Well aside from allowing 70 yard TD's every 5 minutes, I thought we played pretty well. Oh; and Pettigrew had a terrible all around game.
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[WillParks]

How about by averaging more than 7 yards per catch. There is a big difference between getting a certain number of catches and making a consistent impact on the game.

[diehardlionfan]

[qball8001]

Our first quarter should have been better, we let them hang around in this game, and they got a big play that gave them a lot of momentum.

I do not think we where conservative early, I think we really just wanted to see what ML could do with the ball. Now we have an idea, and we can gameplan around his skill set.

I am not worried yet, a loss this week and I will be worried.
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Lions are completely inept.