The Lions Congregation: Week 2
>> 9.18.2009
It’s time once again for The Lions Congregation! I have sadly been a bit of a “Creaster” (just showing up for Christmas and Easter) lately at the Church of Schwartz—but I’ll be contributing every week from here on out! This week’s questions for the men of the Lions cloth:
- 1. Explain how you’d defend the Vikes this week.
- 2. How do you fix the Lions inability to run the ball in short yardage situations?
- 3. What’s your projected score for Vikes – Lions?
As always, there's tons of interesting and varied takes from the most pious of the Lions flock. I heartily encourage everyone to go worship at the Church of Schwartz!
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2 comments:
Creaster! I love it!
1 - This question should be "How would you stop Adrian Peterson?" If you can't at least slow him down, the Vikings don't have to do anything but hand him the ball and watch the clock tick down. Your best chance is against Favre, so you gotta' make Minnesota throw it. To do this, I think you use White, Jackson, Hill, and Fluellen on the line. They don't have to cause chaos, but they need to hold the line and keep the LBs clean. Sims and JP have the athleticism to run/bring down All Day and Foote can thump in the middle. They have to be free to make these plays, though. Also, one safety, at least initially, will need to be in the box (you can switch which one to add some deception). Overall, this creates a base 8-man box, cover 1, man up with the corners situation.
If this is successful in containing Peterson, you're now playing against Favre (which is your best bet, especially indoors). First, you CAN'T bite on playaction. The Vikings WILL do it whether Peterson is running well or not and Favre has been making those plays since time began. Their WRs are still underwhelming (Berrian is still dinged up and Harvin is still a rookie), so Buchanon and Henry should be able to handle them. Favre has always liked his TEs, so keep JP over Shiancoe as he's best able to fight him off in the running game and cover him in the passing game. Finally, you can't run vanilla Ds all day (Favre will pick them apart) and you can't take huge gambles (Favre will make you pay). So, you gotta' throw some different looks and creative blitzes at him to force him into some classic Favre mistakes without selling out. Also, when you put Avril in, #4 is his only job.
2 - Short answer: throw it instead. Long answer: I like a "jumbo package" with Pettigrew, Heller, and/or TSmith/Felton on the field together. If Silent Bob can't run behind those horses, well, the Lions are probably screwed (the Williams Wall is pretty impenetrable). That being said, I'd like to see them get a little more creative like they did on the KSmith TD run. If bowling him straight ahead isn't going to work, try a little trickeration and get him on the edge. Finally, Stafford has to find his rhythm with Megatron (and not JUST Megatron) so that the D can't just key on stuffing the run.
3 - Vikings 31, Lions 20. It could be much lower-scoring/closer and the Lions definitely could win, but this is my "gun to the head" prediction with 2 TDs each from AP, Favre, and Calvin.
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