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| It's been a weird and lonely season for Matthew Stafford's Lions. |
The Lions season could pretty much be summed up as exactly what happened last night. Matt Stafford threw for a record 443 yards, but it wasn't the record he was looking for. He set the record for most passing yards without a touchdown. Going 37-56, throwing no touchdowns, teammate sets a record, but as it has gone all season, the Lions once again lost.
What just happened with this Lions team, fresh off last season's playoff appearance which was the first since 1999? On paper there was too much talent for them not to make the playoffs. The Matt Stafford-Calvin Johnson is the best connection in the game; even when you know it's coming, you still can't stop it. Defensively, they have one of the better and more versatile lines in the league led by offensive lineman eating Ndamukong Suh. It's also not like the rest of their defense is that bad; linebacker Stephen Tulloch and cornerback Drayton Florence are legitimate players. Yet, even with the electric passing offense and dominate defensive line, the Lions have only four wins.
The first thing you could point to was the lack of a running game; the Lions offense is far from balanced as Matt Stafford has attempted 685 passes, six off of the record set by Drew Bledsoe in 1994 (that Pats team went 10-6 and made the playoffs). They rank 23rd in rushing and if it wasn't for the surprising emergence of Mikel Leshoure, it would have been dead last. If you think it might be their offensive line, you'd be wrong. Stafford's only been sacked 28 times which is tied for 11th in the league.
It might come down to the decision making process for Stafford, although he's only thrown 17 TDs and 16 INTs which aren't the worst quarterback stats I've ever seen. Especially considering the fact he's about to annihilate the pass attempts record, 16 INTs isn't that bad. Add in the fact that Calvin Johnson just broke the record for receiving yards in a season and is one 100-yard game away from doing the impossible, racking up 2000 receiving yards in a single campaign and you're just confused. How does one throw more than 700 times and only have 17 TDs, especially when you have a record breaking Calvin Johnson on your team? Really mind-numbing when you look at it on paper; CJ has more yards than Adrian Peterson does and AP's looking to break a record as well. But, then you watch Megatron on the TV and you're like, duh. Obviously he's going to make that ridiculous jump-ball catch over three defenders. But, then the thought process switches back to this: how the hell is this team 4-11?
Save my statistical vomit fest that I just gave you, this team simply failed the eye test. All season we were waiting for the Lions to turn it around. They were 4-4 going into a Week 10 matchup on the road vs. the Vikings looking to make their initial playoff push as we all expected, but it never happened. Maybe that's it. Maybe this team just never happened. Maybe their minds weren't in it, maybe Jim Schwartz never should have started coaching this team. Maybe they should have stuck to their guns this season when they said they were going to run more, but that didn't happen. Something went south before the season even started and the wheels were off the bandwagon before they even started their journey on the Oregon Trail.
Honestly, it's really unfortunate the Lions were this bad. Unfortunate we can't watch Calvin Johnson make ridiculous catches over defenders in the playoffs. Unfortunate we can't watch gunslinging Matt Stafford sling it more. Unfortunate we couldn't watch a playoff game in the beautiful and loud Ford Field. I simply hope the Lions can turn this ship around next season, the Stafford-Johnson connection is just too fun to watch.
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