By Mark Halpern
When training camps broke this season, Certain teams were named to be Super Bowl contenders, playoff hopefuls, and teams on the outside looking in. One of those teams on the outside looking in is the Detroit Lions.
The Detroit Lions are 1-4 to begin the 2022 season. Their record reflects what they have been doing this season as a whole. Throughout the first five games, the Lions have kept themselves in games on the back of Jared Goff. The Lions always seem to start each game slowly (also while looking like a peewee team), kick it into high gear by the second quarter, and start making things interesting. However, in the end, the Lions usually take the loss because they are always fighting from behind. Except in the case of the New England Patriots game. The Lions have kept themselves in games by losing by less than 5 points a game, except for the Patriots, in which the Patriots scored 29 points and blew the Lions out.
The Lions have a team that can play in the NFL and put points on the board. What they need is a new Defense coordinator for starts. The Lions have been good at making games exciting and keeping it close enough (except for the Pats game) that they are covering the spread in most weeks, much to the disagreement of people trying to complete their parlays.
The Lions have had a much better start this season offensively than how they have come out to begin this season in past years. The offense has been firing on all cylinders, with Jared Goff leading the way with 1355 yards passing with 11 TDs and just four interceptions. Goff has finally shown why they traded for him. He has been keeping them in games by having a great start to the season. Having good relationships with all team members, Goff is showing off what he looked like with the Rams, and we hope this play continues throughout the season. Deandre Swift started the season pretty hot, but yet again, the injury bug has gotten him; Jamal Williams has filled in nicely, averaging 77 yards per game to go along with a score in each game. The Wide receiver’s position was the most talked about position on the Lion’s offense. The Wide receivers have had little experience starting in the NFL. Amon-Ra St. Brown was the big talk at the end of last season, and right from the beginning of this season, he came out hot, averaging 65 yards and a score through the first few games, but since then has been slowed by injury over the last two weeks. The rest of the Lion’s Wide Receiver core is a Hodge Podge of players, but they all have contributed to keeping the Lions in games. The Lion’s defense has some bright spots, but when it stops giving up 30-plus points a game and helps the Lions win some more. Then I will give some recognition where it is earned. It looks like games will be pure shootouts this season, as the Lion’s defense can’t stop any team from scoring.
This week the Lions are on a bye week, and I genuinely hope much of the focus will be working on their defense, so the offense doesn’t have to keep putting up 35 points a game to lose by four. The Lions need to use this bye week to focus on Goff, not only to give him time to recover. Goff also needs to take time individually with the Lion’s receivers and try and work out some kinks to help move the ball more and put the Lions in better contention each week.
The Lions return from the bye week to face the Cowboys, Dolphins, and Packers. These three games will be a very tough test for this Lions team as two of these opponents have playoffs on their minds, and the other is the Packers. The Lions face some formidable defenses after the bye week, but with the right game plan, they should be able to move the ball. It depends on whether the defense steps up and plays to its highest level. Stay tuned for next week’s preview of the Lion’s vs. Cowboys game.
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