Lions vs. Chargers: Three things to watch

The 2015 NFL schedule makers have seemed to ‘bless’ your Detroit Lions with back-to-back road games to open the season with the first coming on the west coast against the San Diego Chargers.

The Chargers a terrible draw for the Lions.

San Diego has concerns coming into this game that could play into the Detroit’s favor. The Chargers are looking at their front seven to sniff out where quarterback pressure is going to come from and what to do about Phillip Rivers’ security blanket Antonio Gates being out the first part of the year with a suspension.

Meanwhile the Lions are looking to prove they can protect Matthew Stafford and open up the play book a little more in offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi’s 2nd year.

Let’s take a look at how they match up in this week’s three things to look out for.

San Diego should feature one of the league’s better corner duo in Brandon Flower and Jason Verrett. But the Lions will bring a tall group of pass catchers to the table. Flowers and Verrett both are 5-foot-9 on a good day while Calvin Johnson, Corey Fuller, Eric Ebron, are all over 6-foot-3 in. This obviously presents a problem for Flowers and Verrett while not even mentioning the sure handed Golden Tate whose an excellent route runner that will present further problems in the matchup.

The San Diego front seven is also looking for a consistent pass rush and with Detroit’s revamped offensive line it has to make life a little easier for them. If the Chargers can’t find a way to get pressure on Stafford, the Lions offense should close in on 30 points.

I won’t sugar coat it. The Lions have questions on defense coming into this game. Besides Ansah, where does the quarterback pressure come from? How does Tyrunn Walker do as a full-time player? With DeAndre Levy out how much does that hurt the team? Plus make no mistake about it, Phillip Rivers is an underrated quarterback and should be considered in the top five.

The good news for the defense is Rivers’ bread and butter, Antonio Gates is out but that’s not what concerns me. The San Diego offseason focus was on one thing, get Rivers help. They invested in two offensive linemen and drafted Melvin Gordon out of Wisconsin. Gordon is easily the most talented player Rivers has had to work with in years. This is where the loss of Levy hurts, instead of the Charger focus being on staying away from a tackling machine and playmaker like Levy, the field is opened up, and if these upgrades stop the Lions from getting pressure Rivers will pick them apart making this game more of a shootout then it needs to be.

I expect Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to mix up some blitz packages and different looks to confuse Rivers.

 

It should be noted that the Chargers didn’t score or give up a special teams touchdown last year, but they did add Jacoby Jones as their new returner.

Detroit is going with a new returner as well in Notre Dame receiver TJ Jones. Keep an eye on Matt Prater too as he wasn’t as crisp in the preseason as fans would like.