How ironic are the Detroit Football Lions? The first half of the year the Lions struggle in the early stages of the game only to finish strong. Now, the team starts fine but can’t finish games and look lost trying to do so.
Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had a very good start to the game and was managing a smart first two drives. Detroit even ran the ball like a team that was built to run the ball. But it wasn’t just Stafford, the Lions offense was so effective with the ball that Green Bay ran only 16 plays in the first half. However after a fumble by Stafford on an attempted pass play, Green Bay recovered and before you knew it the Lions’ 14-0 lead was evaporated to 14-10.
At this time Detroit was shocked and never recovered. On the next drive, Green Bay smelled blood picking off Stafford on a missed route further adding to the Lions’ demise. The Packers found another gear and Detroit found themselves in complete shell shock.
But what can you take from this? How about more red flags on the Schwartz regime?
His team always played hard but in three straight games now the Lions have had questionable effort in the end. It’s also becoming more clear whatever Schwartz is doing to address the on-field discipline problem isn’t getting through. Last night we saw Ndamukong Suh involved in yet another incident this time pushing Aaron Rodgers and receiving a personal foul. This eventually led to Rodgers’ run for a 25 yard touchdown and the lead. Second year defensive tackle Nick Fairley then basically choked slammed the Green Bay quarterback to the ground and although he didn’t receive a flag on the play he’ll more than likely hear from the League later on in the week. But after Coach Schwartz took a jab at Titus Young last week during a press conference is anyone really surprised that this team is still dealing with the same on-field issues?
Lions fans deserve more.
Detroit had a 14 point lead to start a game, only to have Green Bay go on a 27-3. The Lions had poor clock management to end both half’s and never really played to win the game. Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan pulled in the reins with a minute left in the first half and Detroit wasted time with timeouts left in the 2 minute offense. This is a veteran coaching staff that has been together for 4 seasons. With this continued lack-luster coaching and a team clearly losing focus the future right now isn’t looking all that bright.
