Today's game at Gillette should be interesting to say the least. No matter what angle you take to look at the game, things just seem odd. The first oddity will be mostly for outsiders as most fans in New England are pumped up about it.
FIRST ODDITY- Today the Patriots are not only getting to wear the old red jerseys and the white Pat Patriot helmets, the field and stadium itself have also gone retro. Hopefully the throwback version we get is the 1985 Patriots and not the 1990 team.
ZAPPE TIME- This one we've had a week to think about. While a lot of people were wondering why Belichick took a quarterback so early in the draft if Mac was going to be the guy, it appears to have been a good decision. Zappe looked good both over the summer and in his first regular season game. Now it's time for him to look good in his first NFL start. If he looks good today, I'm not sure if anyone will give him any credit since the Lions have the worst defense in the NFL 4 weeks into the season.
WORST DEFENSE- No matter the category, the Lions are likely worst in the NFL when it comes to anything defensively. So, should the Patriots look good on offense today, they won't get any credit. People will still complain about the play calling and the fact that the team doesn't have a named offensive coordinator. While the offense won't be able to come out as winners today, if they don't put up some big numbers, they will surely be "taken to the woodshed".
WORST DEFENSE- No matter the category, the Lions are likely worst in the NFL when it comes to anything defensively. So, should the Patriots look good on offense today, they won't get any credit. People will still complain about the play calling and the fact that the team doesn't have a named offensive coordinator. While the offense won't be able to come out as winners today, if they don't put up some big numbers, they will surely be "taken to the woodshed".
BEST OFFENSE- Using either points or yards as your measuring stick, the Lions currently have the best offense. I'm very curious how that all works out in practice. Sure you use scout teams and everything, but how can the offense maintain or improve when the defense is that bad. Is it the athletes or the strategy which has them at opposite sides of the spectrum?
ALL OR NOTHING OFFENSE- Looking at the games the Lions have played this season I observed a few things about their offense. One is that if they don't punt early, they almost always get a touchdown. They have scored touchdowns on 18 of their 46 possessions. They have had a 3 and out or 4 and out on 12 of their possession. If you look at the offensive rankings, you can see that they are middle of the pack when it comes to third down conversions. Of course, the Patriots are struggling defensively with their 3rd down stops. In addition to the turnover battle, the success of the Lions on 3rd down may determine the winner.
FAKE NUMBER ONE- Four games into the season the Lions have the best offense, but have they actually played good defenses? While that has yet to be determined, it currently looks like they've had some pretty weak defenses opposing them.
Week one they played the Eagles. Since the Eagles are the only undefeated team in the NFL, we'll give them credit for being pretty good on defense as of now. Of course it was week 1 when they played each other and the Lions did score 35 points at home in the loss.
Week two they scored 36 points against the Commanders. The Commanders are 29th with points given up per game (26.8).
Week three they scored 24 points against the Vikings. The Vikings' defense is giving up 20 points per game, so not really that impressive.
Week four they scored 45 against the Seahawks. The Seahawks have the 2nd worst defense in the NFL and give up 28.8 points per game.
FAKE NUMBER ONE- Four games into the season the Lions have the best offense, but have they actually played good defenses? While that has yet to be determined, it currently looks like they've had some pretty weak defenses opposing them.
Week one they played the Eagles. Since the Eagles are the only undefeated team in the NFL, we'll give them credit for being pretty good on defense as of now. Of course it was week 1 when they played each other and the Lions did score 35 points at home in the loss.
Week two they scored 36 points against the Commanders. The Commanders are 29th with points given up per game (26.8).
Week three they scored 24 points against the Vikings. The Vikings' defense is giving up 20 points per game, so not really that impressive.
Week four they scored 45 against the Seahawks. The Seahawks have the 2nd worst defense in the NFL and give up 28.8 points per game.
INJURIES- Other than at quarterback the Patriots' offense looks to be getting healthier as speedster Tyquan Thornton has been taken of the IR and added to the 53 man roster. Conversely, the Lions' offense has a good amount of skill players and offensive linemen who observed a lot of their practices this week. Although the Lions are healthy at running back, it may be hard to run with a mix match offensive line.
SPECIAL TEAMS- Since they've been scoring so many touchdowns, not having a reliable kicker has not really been noticed outside of the Detroit locker room. Yesterday they signed Michael Badgley to perform their kicking duties. Badgley is fresh off a 4-4 emergency kicking stint for the Bears. Not known for being a clutch kicker, I'll give the kicking advantage to the Patriots assuming Folk doesn't get the old announcer jinx thrown at him. When it comes to punting, the advantage has to go to the Lions. What is up with Jake Bailey this year? Personally, I'd like to see him at least attempt to use the sidelines. With Belichick being ultra conservative at mid-field, their is nothing worse than seeing Bailey get touchback after touchback for a net of 20 yards. Should the Patriots force some punts today, we better not see any more Myles Bryant back there. Marcus Jones had a nice game last week and should be back there moving forward.
SPECIAL TEAMS- Since they've been scoring so many touchdowns, not having a reliable kicker has not really been noticed outside of the Detroit locker room. Yesterday they signed Michael Badgley to perform their kicking duties. Badgley is fresh off a 4-4 emergency kicking stint for the Bears. Not known for being a clutch kicker, I'll give the kicking advantage to the Patriots assuming Folk doesn't get the old announcer jinx thrown at him. When it comes to punting, the advantage has to go to the Lions. What is up with Jake Bailey this year? Personally, I'd like to see him at least attempt to use the sidelines. With Belichick being ultra conservative at mid-field, their is nothing worse than seeing Bailey get touchback after touchback for a net of 20 yards. Should the Patriots force some punts today, we better not see any more Myles Bryant back there. Marcus Jones had a nice game last week and should be back there moving forward.
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