Three Cups Deep: Preseason Week 2, Lions at Browns

Let’s review my Great Lakes Classic preview:

How the Lions’ front seven looks against Joe Thomas & Co. will be telling; the Browns completely neutralized the Packers’ pass rush.

As I said in the Fireside Chat, the difference between the Bengals’ and Browns’ offensive lines was breathtaking. Instead of relentless dominance, the Lions’ starters were merely effective, and Colt McCoy had time to make good decisions and get rid of the ball. Sometimes, only by a split-second—but that can be the difference between a sack and a six-yard completion for a first down.

If Stephen Peterman, Dom Raiola, and Rob Sims can’t open up any space for Jahvid Best tonight, that will also spell trouble.

“Trouble” with a capital T. Browns were getting into the backfield on nearly every running play, and Raiola’s second-level blocking was uncharacteristically bad. It doesn’t matter how quickly you get to the second level if the a linebacker can blow you up once you get there. Best was swarmed until they knocked him out of the game with an apparent concussion.

I’m hoping to see another two-great-drives-and-out performance from Matthew Stafford, then big doses of Drew Stanton and Zac Robinson.

Yes, this happened. Not quite as “great” as last week from Stafford, but no negatives and bountiful positives. It looks as though Stafford’s for real. Stanton, in my mind, clearly separated himself from Robinson (if he hadn’t by, you know, starting and winning real games for the Lions). He made some flat-out NFL throws Friday night, and looked dominant against the Browns’ threes—the clear mark of someone who belongs on the roster. We’ve yet to see any of those awful misfires he’s always had hidden in his ammunition, either; in my mind he’s making a solid bid for the long-term backup gig.

I want to see Jahvid Best run well inside and out, and then I’d like to see either Aaron Brown or Jerome Harrison make a resounding statement.

Eeeerrrgh. Best had no room inside, made a few nice plays in space, and went out with what looked like a mild concussion; the leopard has not changed his spots. Until he has holes to hit and hits them, this will remain a concern. Brown, Harrison, and Bell had a little more daylight to work with once it was two vs. twos or threes vs. threes, but still none look to challenge Maurice Morris for a backup spot. I’d like to see them replace Bell with someone else’s training camp cut.

The Lions can’t completely sell out contain on the running lanes to get to the passer.

Oops. 

I’ll be more concerned about the halftime score than the final tally. Word is the Browns will play their starters for most of, if not all of, the first half, and I want to see the Lions’ twos hold their own.

They didn’t. Now, it wasn’t awful and—as I said on the podcast—there were simply too many sloppy penalties, sloppy turnovers, and minor injuries to major players to get much worthwhile evaluation out of this game. For the most part, the stuff we knew was working (the quarterbacks, Burleson, the D-line) was working and the questions we had (run O, run D, pass coverage) remain questions.

The game was a mixed bag, with a mixed result. Going into an always-serious third preseason game against the Patriots . . . I’ve got mixed feelings.

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Fireside Chat Preseason Week 2: Lions at Browns

Thanks to my Internet connection bouncing in the middle of the intro, this week’s Fireside Chat has two parts. Part One:

and Part Two:

If you dig it, you can subscribe via iTunes for free, or click the “Podcast” tab up there between the content and the logo.

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2011 Great Lakes Classic Preview: Lions at Browns

Tonight’s Great Lakes Classic—the winner of whom will take home the lovely Edmund Fitzgerald Trophy you see above—will be markedly different from last week’s game. It will be in Cleveland rather than in the welcoming confines of Ford Field. The opponent will be similar—an Ohio-based team with a new quarterback and new offense—but many ways, wholly opposite. How will the results differ from last week’s blowout?

The Bengals are in the last gasp of the Marvin Lewis era. Carson Palmer and Chad Ochocinco and the rest of the crew that made Lewis look smart are gone, replaced with a lot of very young faces learning from first-time coordinators. The Lions’ defense made it clear that the Bengals far behind the eight-ball; this lockout-shortened offseason will have their rookie skill players and greenhorn coordinators playing catch-up all year long. It’s easy to see the Bengals’ yo-yo string breaking this year, and Cincy picking at the top of the draft in 2012—almost regardless of on-paper talent.

Yet, if the Bengals are like the 2008 Lions, primed for a breathtaking fall to Earth, the Browns more like the 2010 edition. They’re clearly moving in the right direction under a first-time head coach, Pat Shurmur. Under center will be a talented second-year quarterback in his first full season as the starter, Colt McCoy. Unlike the Bengals, the Browns (and especially McCoy) looked great in their first preseason game, beating the reigning World Champion Packers 27-17.

Curiously, the Browns and Bengals have opposite strengths. The Bengals’ defensive line looked like a scary matchup for what might be the Lions’ weakest unit right now. The Browns’ D-line isn’t nearly so scary, but their offensive line might be one of the best in the business. How the Lions’ front seven looks against Joe Thomas & Co. will be telling; the Browns completely neutralized the Packers’ pass rush. Likewise, if Stephen Peterman, Dom Raiola, and Rob Sims can’t open up any space for Jahvid Best tonight, that will also spell trouble. Leonard Davis just might get called in . . . .

At corner, Aaron Berry figures to get significant work; it’ll be a great chance for him to make his case for the nickel spot. Meanwhile, every Lion quarterback has to be drooling. The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers and Matt Flynn combined to go 17-of-26 for 200 yards, 2 TDs, and no picks. I’m hoping to see another two-great-drives-and-out performance from Matthew Stafford, then big doses of Drew Stanton and Zac Robinson. If Killer’s rumblings are on-target about Robinson pushing Stanton, the Lions should showcase both and trade one while the trading’s good.

The two biggest questions marks are the Lions’ rushing offense and rushing defense. I want to see Jahvid Best run well inside and out, and then I’d like to see either Aaron Brown or Jerome Harrison make a resounding statement. On defense, the Lions can’t completely sell out contain on the running lanes to get to the passer—especially if Peyton Hillis and/or Montario Hardesty are ready to play (either might or might not be). Meanwhile, a linebacker other than Justin Durant has to get through the trash and get to the hole a lot more quickly.

I’ll be more concerned about the halftime score than the final tally. Word is the Browns will play their starters for most of, if not all of, the first half, and I want to see the Lions’ twos hold their own. That having been said, I’d be just fine with the Edmund Fitzgerald’s bronze effigy sailing back to Detroit, too. Most of all though: I want to see no injuries.

Technorati Tags: nfl,nfl preseason,detroit lions,cleveland browns,great lakes classic

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Shaun Rogers: Once and Future Lion?

This is how I like to remember Shaun Rogers. Likely, it’s how you like to remember him too: an impossible combination of size and athleticism. A relentless, disruptive force that demanded—and overwhelmed—double-teams. A goofy, lumbering country boy, simultaneously awkward and balletic, gamboling and galloping, groan-inducing and breathtaking.

Shaun Rogers had some incredible highlights in his seven years as a Lion—and more than a few lowlights, too. For the most part, when the Lions dealt him to Cleveland, fans knew it was simply time to part ways. Of course, it stung when he immediately made an impact there—especially as the 0-16 Lions’ defense was manhandled by opposing offensive lines. As opposing running backs averaged 5.1 yards per carry against the helpless, hapless Lions, we looked south to Cleveland and got all nostalgic. As the Dawg Pound swooned over Rogers’ ability, many of us were bitterly jealous.

But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Thanks to a perceived slight by new coach Eric Mangini, Rogers asked the team to not pay his option bonus, presumably to finagle a quicker trade or release. Eventually, the ice between Rogers and Mangini thawed, or at least partially so. From that Akron Beacon-Journal come successive paragraphs that sum up everything you need to know about Shaun Rogers:

Rogers insists he can still dunk. ''All day,'' he said. Two hands? ''Two hands. All day. Vertical? 360? What you want?'' Rogers said. Two-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas said dunking is probably the least of what Rogers can do. ''He tests better than any player on the team when we do testing in the spring,'' Thomas said. ''He's faster than any lineman, offense and defense. He can jump higher. He's got incredible speed. He's probably a 4.6, 4.7 guy.'' Anderson doesn't think a healthy Rogers can be blocked. ''Not when he's going and he's healthy and rested, there's not a human being who can stop him one-on-one,'' Anderson said. ''I've seen him take double-teams with his body and one arm and get through guys. He spins . . . he's a freak.''

. . . and then the flip side:

Former Detroit Lions coach Rod Marinelli told former Tampa Bay Bucs and Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Warren Sapp that Rogers didn't want to be featured in Detroit. ''Rod Marinelli went to Detroit (in 2006), showed Shaun Rogers my tape and said, 'I'm going to get you one on one,' '' Sapp, now on Showtime's Inside the NFL, said last month in New York. ''Shaun Rogers looked at Marinelli and said, 'What if I don't want to be one on one?' ''Gilligan wanted off that island, too, right? That island is a lonely place. Either you want it or you don't. The great ones do.''

Shaun Rogers’ talent, his potential, his upside—it’s intoxicating. It’s addictive. But, to borrow a phrase, he’s a grown-ass man. He’s 31. He’s—if visual evidence is any indication—way over his listed 350, possibly over 400. He’s been unable to stay healthy, getting just 12 starts and 26 games played in the last two seasons—and when he’s played, he’s been less effective; he has just 41 tackles and 4 sacks in that time.

Now, he’s been released--and unlike other free-agents-to-be, he can actually be signed right now. Should the Lions bring him back to Detroit? As a commenter on the Browns blog Dawgs by Nature said:

Shaun had become a part-time part-timer. At his age and given his shape/condition it’s better to get rid of him, rather than overpay him. He’ll sign for a fraction of that amount somewhere. I’d be happy if it were Cleveland, but not at $5mill.

He’s a rotational player who’s struggling to stay healthy. As a 400-pound two-gap tackle, he doesn’t have a clear role in this defense, either. He’d essentially take up Sammie Hill’s role, but Hill is a very young, very raw, developing player whose best football is all in front of him. As amazing as it still is to daydream about a 400-pound man who can run a 4.6 40 and dunk from a standstill, Shaun Rogers is a ten-year veteran. He was Matt Millen’s third-ever draft pick. He is what he is. He’s not going to realize that incredible potential any sooner than Dominic Raiola is grow two inches and add thirty pounds of muscle.

Those of you who say, “But what if he really is motivated to play? What if a change of scenery does him good?” Well, then are a dozen wannabe 3-4 teams out there who need a nose tackle more than the Lions need a fifth DT to rotate—and they’ll certainly be willing to pay more than the Lions will. The case is stronger, and the role is clearer, for Albert Haynesworth—and I’m not all that anxious to get him on the Lions’ roster, either. The Lions’ defensive line, both starters and depth, was the strength of the team in 2010. Players like Sammie Hill and Andre Fluellen made major contributions late in the year, and both of those players haven’t yet hit their primes.

I’d rather the Lions continue to try to win like the Packers, always thinking about the future, than try in vain to recapture the recent—godawful—past.

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions,cleveland browns,shaun rogers

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Three Cups Deep: Preseason Week 3

This post started with a momentus gameday Tweet from @jschwartzlions:

"If you are going, STAND UP and cheer. If you hadn’t planned on going, get yourself some tix. We NEED you, Lions nation. Be loud, be proud."

When I read that, I kind of got chills.  I think it’s every fan’s delusion, every fan’s special comfort, to believe that somehow, some way, if they only cheer hard enough, they can will their team to victory.  If they wear their lucky jersey, if they watch it on TV, if they don’t watch it on TV, if they go to the stadium in face paint and cheer their guts out, somehow they can help their team win.  Here was the Lions’ head coach, in a message addressed to Lions fans everywhere, telling us to STAND UP and cheer.  To be loud, and be proud.  Incredibly, he said that the Lions need their fans behind them.

This concept has intrigued me since I chatted up Seahawks blogs and forums last year, and discovered that ‘Hawks fans really take their “12th Man” idea seriously.  They really do believe that the noise they generate has a tangible on-field effect for their team.  Yes, pure decibel levels of crowd noise can make it hard for opposing offenses to get their cadences out, but it’s more than that to them; they really believe that their cheering transfers spirit, mojo, power to their Seahawk players. 

Back in the 90s, the Lions had a fairly predictable dynamic: generally win at home, and generally lose on the road.  Some years it would be tipped towards “win,” and others towards “lose", but even in the leaner years, what wins there were seemed to always come at home.  At least part of that, I’d like to think, came from the Lions’ home-field advantage at the Silverdome: a weird inflatable surface, resting underneath a cavernous dome, and yes—a large, raucous crowd that let both benches have it with impunity.

Ford Field, in my experience, is a beautiful shell, but often it’s lifeless.  Sterile.  Empty.  The building itself has plenty of character, but it all seems hollow when the crowds don’t come—or worse, when the crowds come but sit silent, waiting for the inevitable release of failure. 

I’ve said before that there’s a certain safety in futility; to give in, to cash out, and be cynical . . . it’s easy.  It hurts, it sucks, but it’s also easy.  If you’re a constant naysayer, you don’t bear any risk!  If you’re right, you were right not to invest yourself, and if you’re wrong, then WHOO-HOO!  But to allow yourself to hope again?  That’s climbing onto a tightrope walker’s plaftorm.  To allow yourself to feel again, to cheer again, to drape yourself in the Honolulu Blue and brand yourself with the Leaping Lion?  That’s putting one foot out on that rope.  To come to the games expecting victory instead of defeat?  To stand up and exult when your team takes the field?  That’s taking the second foot off the platform, and walking little more than faith.

I don’t think the half-full stadium made Jahvid Best run like that.  Matthew Stafford has been as remarkable on the road as he was at home.  Clearly, the defense wasn’t bolstered by whatever Lions fans brought to the table on Saturday.  I don’t know if we fans really can affect what happens on the field, either directly or indirectly.  But our coach says they need us.  Our coach is directly appealing to us, the fans, to come and help them win.

I know that with all the misplaced faith, and all the wasted emotion, and all the unwearable jerseys hanging in our closets, that’s a big ask.  It’s like Jerry Maguire telling Rod Tidwell, “Help me . . . help you.”

Jim Schwartz isn’t hanging by a thread; his job is more than secure.  But this season starts with a gauntlet of divisional road games and vicious home games, and if the Lions start 2010 going 1-5, they might as well pack it in and wait for 2011.  This young Lions team needs confidence, swagger, momentum, and for that they’ll need all the light and heat the blue bonfire can provide.  I have to say . . . I dig that about them.

Technorati Tags: nfl,detroit lions,cleveland browns,preseason,matthew stafford,jahvid best

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Matthew Stafford against the Browns, one more time

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Stop what you're doing.  Shut down your Twitter client.  Close out your email.  Turn your cell phone notifications off.  Close the door, put up the “Do Not Disturb” sign, do whatever you gotta do.  Take a few minutes, and watch this:

Steve Sabol and NFL Films present: Matthew Stafford

At the time, I described the Lions’ victory over the Browns like this:

This will be Matt Stafford's signature win. If he flames out in a blaze of interceptions, people will point to this win and wonder what might have been. If he goes on to be the next Elway, and the Lions win multiple Super Bowls with him at the helm, this will be the game they point to and say “It all started when . . .”

. . . watching this Hitchcockian one-shot short film, even those words don't lend that moment its proper significance.  In case all the rumblings of Pacman Jones and the owner’s meetings and the overtime rules had let you forget, here’s a reminder: we have our quarterback.  It’s been fifty years, but the Detroit Lions finally have a lead dog to pull their sled.  Even if he’s not a Hall of Famer, even if his career is not Peytonesque, Matthew Stafford will still be the savior who leads the Lions out of football Hell.

Technorati Tags: matthew stafford,detroit lions,nfl,cleveland browns,nfl films

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brownpocalypse

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Last night, I watched most of the Monday Night game between the Browns and Ravens.  I’d decided it'd be a good idea to take some notes, effectively TV scouting the Browns.

I’m going to be real for a second here, folks: if the Lions can't beat the Browns in Ford Field, they will not win another game this season.

The Browns' offense is the most anemic, pathetic, limpid, impotent unit in football.  They have absolutely zero confidence in their quarterback.  The Browns’ gameplan for victory last night was to completely remove Brady Quinn from the equation.  I didn’t actually chart the game, but I would venture to guess—without exaggeration—that over eighty percent of the Browns’ offensive snaps were either a run, a screen pass, a TE screen, a WR screen, a bubble screen, or a Wildcat play.

It’s difficult to imagine, but Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll appeared to be petrified by the prospect of Brady Quinn making a read and throwing the football.  On the  few occasions where Quinn dropped back and threw a real pass, he and his receivers almost never agreed on the route to be run.  Five yards ahead, behind, outside, inside; WRs not expecting the ball, WRs expecting the ball and not getting it . . . every conceivable misfire or miscommunication occurred.  I’m going to let the numbers speak for themselves:

13 of 31, 99 yards, 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.

Folks, that is miserable.  13 of 31 is 41.3%--and again, he was throwing a large percentage of screen passes.  41.3% should not happen.  You know what else should not happen?  3.13 yards per attempt.  When Brady Quinn drops back to pass, you can expect an average of three yards gained . . . that would be anemic for a running game, but for a passing offense, it’s . . . apalling.

Daboll is trying like crazy, though, to disguise what he’s doing.  He’s using Martzian levels of pre-snap motion: TE from one side to the other, new strong-side slot WR to weak side split end, RB from tailback to offset FB; all on the same play!  However, once that’s all settled down, they’re either running up the middle or running a screen.  I am completely confident in the Lions’ ability to stop these guys.

The one thing that really stuck out to me was the explosive playmaking ability of Josh Cribbs.  They try to run the Wildcat with him, but the total lack of offensive threats around him stops it cold.  When Josh Cribbs fakes a handoff to undrafted free agent rookie James Harrison, is there a linebacker in the world who bites?  Even so, Cribbs often makes hay, even with insufficient daylight.  I’m neither joking nor exaggerating when I say that a full-time Cribbs “Wildcat" would be much more dangerous than their current base offense.

Of course, there is the other side of the ball, and I won't sugarcoat it: the Lions are going to struggle to run the ball against the Browns. Besides the OT-to-OT havoc we all know a motivated Shaun Rogers can wreak, and the constant penetration by former Spartan Robaire Smith, the Browns’ secondary is not afraid to get up and support the run.  CB Eric Wright is a tackling machine, and safety Abram Elam loves to lay the lumber across the middle.

In the end, though, we're talking about a team that simply can't beat anyone.  As I've mentioned in the past, there's a special quality about offense: it can beat itself.  If you can't run block, and can't complete a pass, it doesn't matter which defense is across from you.  Given the state of this Cleveland Browns offense, the Lions probably won’t need to score 10 points to win.

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