The Lions stand at 7-4 after Thanksgiving, with some tough games and some not-so-tough games yet on the schedule. It still seems realistic, if not likely, that they'll hit my projected 10-6 mark and have a shot at an NFC Wild Card playoff spot. They're a good team for the first time in a decade, a team that should have a winning record every year and should be in playoff contention. But when I watch them play good teams, it becomes evident to me that there's yet a gulf between the Lions and the way playoff-winning teams look.
That's okay. A lot of teams have that look, particularly young teams: and the Lions are a young team, winning for the first time. I thought they showed a great deal of mettle against the Packers, especially in that first half. But watching Louis Delmas, Chris Houston and Kevin Smith all leave with injuries in that first half made me think that if they couldn't register points before halftime, things would probably start to go against them.
The propensity of the Lions to fall behind and rally late is something that good teams don't let happen. You play a tight game, but you don't play asleep at the wheel early. I thought the first half of the Green Bay game was a step forward - sure, they were behind, but it was due to missed opportunities and their defense had been stalwart. To do that against the Aaron Rodgers offense was impressive. In fact, take a look at the Lions' wins: TB, KC, MIN, DAL, CHI, CAR; losses: SF, ATL, CHI, GB. Only two of their seven wins have been against teams with winning records, which tells me that the honest truth is that the Lions are benefiting from a weak schedule as much as anything. That's not to say they'll fall off next year if they play a harder schedule; I fully believe this is a team on the rise and they'll continue to improve, but let's be honest - they're reaping some schedule-given benefits this year and learning to win against some soft teams.
The Lions have three glaring issues as we move on from Thanksgiving. First is the penalties. They play undisciplined at times and while I understand that a sort of reckless abandon is part of Schwartz & Gun's pass-rushing scheme, they need to clean it up. At this point, the refs are against the Lions because of the reputation the Lions have. If they see something that looks close, they're going to call it against the Lions, whereas they might not against the Colts or the Packers or the Buccaneers. Sports referring has always shown that teams perceived as dirty (truthfully or not) receive more calls against them because the refs are watching them more closely. As the first half of the Green Bay game went, on every good drive that got into Green Bay territory got stalled by a penalty - resulting in numerous 2nd & 15s or 2nd & 20s that the Lions were unable to convert. When the halftime numbers read a time of possession advantage of 15 minutes and a yardage advantage of over 100, but you're behind, it usually means penalties or turnovers. They need to clean up the penalties. Even if it means two or three games of less aggressive pass-rushing, it's worth it to shed that image of a dirty, over-aggressive team.
The second problem is that the offense isn't in sync. It's not. Stafford is inconsistent, but I believe this is a lack-of-running-game issue. After Kevin Smith went out of the game, the offense stopped clicking the same way. Mo Morris wasn't grabbing extra yards or moving with the same speed and agility that Kevin Smith had. They were slicing the Packers up across the middle and underneath early on, which, if they had been able to continue to do so, would have opened things up over the top later. Hopefully this isn't an issue next year - with Mikel Leshoure healthy and, I would think, Kevin Smith staying on the roster, along with Jahvid Best, the Lions should be putting forth a very dynamic rushing game. Outside of that, it's hard to diagnose the exact problem the offense is having. Calvin Johnson isn't getting as open as he was earlier, but again, it could be a mark of the teams they're winning against that they put up 40 on them but only hang 20 on teams they're losing to.
Third - Ndamukong Suh. I've defended Suh for awhile now, although I've always criticized his technique. Suh strikes me as an intelligent man when he speaks, a guy who wants to win and play well. He strikes me as uniquely powerful, a freakish athlete, who has always been able to compensate a lack of technique with his superior strength. This is becoming problematic in the NFL this year - if you watch tape of Suh, he wraps guys up or hits them high - often around the chest or shoulders. The upward momentum of his hit, combined with the often falling momentum of a runner or blocker going to the ground, causes his arms to slide up the player in question, sometimes resulting in a helmet being popped off, or some incidental helmet-to-helmet contact. On this, I (continue to) fault the Lions' coaching staff. Suh is a superior athlete and if he would tighten up his technique, he'd avoid dumb penalties and become an even better player.
But I can no longer defend Suh. Whether it was a moment of testosterone or adrenaline or an inclination to do dumb, dirty things, Suh crossed a line on Thanksgiving that has me turning away. On a failed third down conversion by the Packers, inside the Lions' 10, to see him grinding some guy's helmet into the turf and then kicking at or stepping on him as he's pulled off... it crosses a line. It crosses a line because, for one, it's blatantly dirty - previous reputation aside, it's straight up dirty, and for two, it's the worst possible time to do it, against the worst possible team, an impressively low-IQ football play. He basically handed the Packers 4 points and sucked the life out of the team. A penalty like that not only gives them fresh downs, but it's like taking the Lions' cumulative morale, gift-wrapping it, and transferring it to the Packers.
Suh deserved to get ejected. That move brought back shades of Albert Haynesworth, when he was a dominant defensive linesman in Tennessee... which makes a person realize, that was when Schwartz was their defensive coordinator. And that, in conjunction with the multitude of penalties, is when I start to get concerned. Schwartz likes to rip off his headpiece and yell at refs. I like that fiery attitude. I wanted to see him ripping Suh's head off. Instead, I see them talking - sure, Schwartz looks heated, but they appeared to be having more of a discussion than I wanted to see. And I start to wonder if this is a systemic coaching problem. The NFL should suspend Suh. I expect that to happen. I want to see the Detroit Lions suspend Suh. I want to see the team take a stance that says "clean up your act; we're holding you accountable too." It disturbs me that we haven't seen that yet; it makes me wonder if the Lions' coaching staff is enabling Suh as it so vigorously has defended him. I was fine with the team defending its player, but I hoped that there was something else happening behind closed doors.
Suh is a young man, a powerful young man who has been highly-touted. I'm sure he enjoys reveling in his strength and gets pretty excited during games, resulting in his aggression. As a second-year player with a true strength advantage over his foes, coming off of a fantastic rookie season, is it surprising for a young man's ego to inflate, to start to feel like he can do what he wants and, when rebuked for it, feel like it's him against the world? Most young men have felt that way, regardless of what they do and how good they are at it. It's up to the coaching staff to educate him, to bring him down to earth and teach him to be a solid player, a disciplined player. Criticize Suh all you want, he deserves it. He deserves an NFL suspension of 2-4 games and a team suspension of 1-2 games after that. But the Detroit Lions need to step up here. Suh is one of the faces of the team. It's on them to say - not just to Suh, but to Detroit, to Lions fans, to the NFL - that they hold him to a high standard and won't stand for him acting like bully, giving the Lions an even dirtier reputation. The Lions are deep enough at defensive line that they could have Suh gone the rest of the year and not take a huge personnel hit from it. They should. At this point in his career, at this point in the rising arc of the young Lions, sending a message that says "we hold you, all of you, accountable, and we expect better" is the most important thing they can do.
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