Bradford officially out ... that's got to be good.

Keenum played well last week... but it's Case Keenum. Not exactly a name that spreads fear among NFL defenses. Minnesota also has no run game. They're not exactly a force to be reckoned with.

The DET injury report is huge but reading between the lines it doesn't seem *that* bad. Davis has been involved in light practice all week, which unfortunately means he probably hasn't been fully cleared though concussion protocol and is probably out. The only other confirmed outs are Dwayne Washington and Zac Kerin. O-Line is getting pretty thin with Joe Dahl on IR as well. They signed Tim Lelito as a depth piece, but let's hope he never has to see the field. Swanson is questionable but most likely going to play, so the O-Line is back to 4/5 starters. It sounds like Decker is progressing well so he should be back by mid-season.

The only other player likely to sit or be substantially limited is Golladay who sat Friday with a Hamstring.

So for predictions, I'm expecting more of what we saw in the NYG game. Crippling defense and some conservative offense. Minnesota has a stingy D-Line, so unless this becomes a shootout I expect to see more quick passes, long drives, stuggles in the run-game, and probably a bit boring. Keenum probably has a bit more success than Manning because he can actually move in the pocket, and won't have Davis patrolling the middle. DET 27 MIN 17.

Dalvin cook is pretty nasty, koss. He's averaging 4.7ypc on high usage. Without Davis in the middle he's a big concern.

Got 50 yard line seats tmrw behind lions bench. Let's gooo

Didn't Keenum complete like 90% of his passes against the Lions last year?

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is reporting Davis will be back! Excellent!

I guess Cook has been a bit better than I realized, but I still don't see Minny's run game as the huge threat the way Atlanta's was. His big game was against a New Orleans defense, so hopefully Detroit can do a better job holding him. One big key will be to score early and force Minnesota to the air. The other thing to watch will be to hope our front 4 is more effective all around. Hopefully some of the youngins on the D-Line learned some things from Atlanta.

It sounds like Golladay is out. Which means Ebron will have to step up and be the redzone target today. While I think the long term move is going to be to let him walk after his contract is up, short term you might as well use his field stretching speed and size mismatch while he's sill on the team.

Counterpoints

1. Lots of QB's threw for high percentages against DET last year because they had a mediocre pass rush and no cover LB's.

2. Case Keenum is good for one game a year like that, and he had it last week.

3. Detroit still won that game.

I'm actually a little bit impressed at Caldwell taking those timeouts near the end of the half as Minn was going in to score to give Det an extra possession. No way he does that in previous years imo.

Bang bang mother ****ers

Winning on the road often looks ugly but at the end of thr day all that matters is the W.

What do we think the line will be after CAR looked awesome last week? I'm guessing DET -3 but really -2, -1 or even Pick wouldn't shock me.

even. I think Det wins though.

Gonna be a lot more opportunities through the air next week against Carolina's vulnerable secondary.

Minnesota's defense is real, probably the best front four in football.

If I have a concern right now it's injuries. I think at one point today we were down to backups at every LB position, OL injuries are racking up as well. Get healthy soon Davis please.

Offensive line issues are real. Need to get healthy there. They had to put a 6'7 reserve tackle in there at guard today. Not good.

Minny finished with 7(?) sacks?

On the bright side, the 2nd half of our schedule is significantly easier than the 1st half.

Honestly if we can get through the first half 5-3 we should be in great shape

The next 4 games are important for sure. Panthers and Steelers are definitely beatable at home. Saints and Packers also have holes that can be exploited. 3-1 in the next 4 would put them in great shape to win the division, especially if they can knock off GB. Going 2-2 would be adequate. Any worse and we're looking at best another wildcard or needing the rest of the division to collapse. I really want them to compete for the 1 or 2 spot in the NFC this year. A first round bye is huge, and gets them "out of the first round."

While Stafford did get sacked 6 times, there were a lot of coverage sacks in there, where it was clear Stafford had gone through his progressions and nothing was there. Minnesota also blitzed a lot, and the QB and receivers were clearly not on the same page for how to handle them. That's something they're going to need to work on. It was a pretty sloppy game from the passing offense. No one really had a good game there. Although good teams still find ways to win when not firing on all cylinders, and that's what they did.

The defense put up another gem in this one. They struggled a bit against Cook, which was to be expected with Davis out, but were able to keep Minny from eating up huge chunks of yards. It was another fantastic performance from second year players Anthony Zettel and Miles Killebrew. Zettel racked up 2 sacks and recovered the fumble on the WTF wildcat play. Killebrew continues to be a major hero on this defense, as you'll see him all over the field, making tough tackles at the line of scrimmage, or 30 yards deep in pass coverage. He almost made a great pick in the endzone but couldn't quite bring it home off his fingertips. I also love watching him tackle. Even when he doesn't wrap the guy up cleanly on the hit, he's still fighting and clawing doing everything possible to slow him down and give the rest of the guys a chance. He's just a pure football player.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Zettel when Bryant comes off suspension, but I think you need to keep your sack leader on the field as much as possible.

Glover Quin is still my favorite player on this defense. He's sort of like a Barry Sanders, constant presence good for one giant game changing play per week. This time he gets in there and punches the ball loose to squash any hope of a final comeback.

The offensive struggles seem to partially stem from the Lions trying to run a more conventional offense. I think one knock on Stafford is that his decision making isn't the greatest when they aren't spreading the field with 4 WR's. I like the 2 TE sets and the power run game. If they can figure out how to better blend the pass and run, the offense should get back on track. Cooter's play calling at the end of the game was pretty bad too. 3rd & 17, a first down ices the game, and you run a draw play when the 2-minute warning is about to stop the clock? I think you've got to go out and try to get a first down there. I really don't like conceding the punt that deep in your own territory.

Overall a pretty meh game where you can check one off in the win column, which is all that really matters in the end. There's still work to be done, but they can compete with anyone, anywhere.

That Killebrew pick was in his hands and was an awful play that cost them 7 points. I do really like him as a player tho

Eh, it was an outstretched arms catch that while tough, should have been made. I'd expect the typical NFL WR to make it 9/10 and a DB 7/10.

Looking ahead to the Panthers, it should be a fun game. The good news is just about everyone was back at practice on Wednesday. The only ones still out are Golladay, Washington and Worrilow. Golladay with a hamstring will probably sit, and I'm guessing Worrilow will too. Worrilow won't be that bad if Davis comes back. He's no longer listed with a concussion, but a neck injury, so who knows. I would expect him back, but I said that last week too.

The Panthers are banged up as well, with both Kalils missing some time.

Cam Newton is a matchup problem for just about every defense, but if you can knock him out of rhythm and keep him from running too much, he might force some bad throws, and the Lions have been capitalizing on those pretty well so far this year. It will be a real test for Anthony Zettel, who's been effective at getting at and sacking statues of QB's, but hasn't had to deal with someone the likes of Cam. DE is a tough position to play against Carolina with all the read options they like to run, so Zettel and Ansah need to bring their A games. Armonty Bryant comes off suspension this week, and while his athleticism might be useful in a game like this, I don't see them activating him yet. I think Stafford gets the job done at home, the offense starts clicking again, the d-line continues their success against a banged up O-Line, and the Lions run away with this one. DET 30, CAR 17.

.

Catch the ball you bum

It's unreal

Might as well just drop back 11 in coverage every play since there is no pass rush.

After today there is pretty much no reason not to make Fells TE#1

So I guess we are back to beating scrub teams and losing to above .500 teams. Good times.

That definitely looked like the Lions we've been watching for the last few years. When playing against a good team, they get no pass rush, can't cover a TE, can't force turnovers, dropped TD passes, and the offense can't sustain a drive until garbage time where they put up a bunch of points to create the illusion of a close game. About the only thing going well is that Stafford hasn't been throwing INTs. Whelp ****, I just jinxed it.

A lot of people are calling for Ebron's head and I think it's the right call. For all the good plays he has made over the years, he keeps making drops at critical moments. He can do things a lot of tight ends cant but it's all for nothing if he drops the ball when we need him the most.

How many offensive coordinators has Stafford had now? 3? No team in the NFL has had much success trying to stop the Lions 2 minute offense. Why no one has just said "**** it, this is what we're doing" is beyond me. It seems at least worth considering. Fells really needs to be the #1 TE at this point. Stafford's best year was still 2011, and aside from Megatron, they relied heavily on Pettigrew as a checkdown from the TE spot. That's something that's been missing for a while now. While I don't think it will be a panacea for all the offensive woes, having a big body that Stafford can target for 5-10 yards when the rest of the field is well covered should help.

On defense it all comes down to the pass rush. Most NFL QB's will shred you if given time, and Cam Newton isn't just any QB. He can make mistakes, but you have to get at him. I think at one point I saw him stop in the pocket, do an interview, insult the reporter, get flamed, then apologize, all with enough time to sit back and launch a bomb to a wide open tight end. I'm not sure who was responsible for all those blown coverages, but Teryl Austin needs to do something.

This kool-aid suddenly doesn't taste very good. The Cardinals and Giants wins are looking a lot less impressive in hindsight. I really want to believe this team is better than a .500 team hoping to backdoor into a wildcard spot. They need to go 2-1 in their next 3, but really one of those wins needs to be @ GB if they want a real shot at competing for the division.