Lions loss is "encouraging," but scary as hell too

There were some good signs in the midst of the tsunami that drenched the Lions at Heinz Field on Saturday night.

Matt Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, and Jahvid Best all looked more than adequate. The offense can be very good. However, they still showed a Lions moment when the Franchize dropped a pass on a hot read down to Best who let it bounce off his hands directly into the Steeler's safety's eagerly waiting paws.

However, even though that play happened inside the Leo's own twenty yardline, the defense didn't give up a single yard, holding the Steelers to only a field goal.

The Lions also were unable to convert a 3rd and 1 when they were stuffed on a run up the middle. Now 3rd and 3 or less is a stat that I keep all regular season long. It's a pet peeve of mine and at least the Leos were smart enough to run in that situation, but if the offensive line can't move the pile a measly three feet...that's a bad sign.

However, Best finished with 29 yards on six carries, including an impressive 15-yarder around the left end. Of course that means that without that run, he had 5 rushes for fourteen yards...not nearly as promising.

All in all, what jumps out at you from this game is that when the Lions and Steelers had their first teamers out there, the Lions more than held their own. Leaving the game after three series, the Lions first teamers held the lead 7-3.

Now, that's promising, but in the end doesn't necessarily mean a whole hell of a lot. I recall several games where the Lions went into half time with 17-0 and 13-0 leads only to crap the bed in the second half. Three series is nice, but we won't know if they can pull out a whole game performance until the regular season starts.

"The thing we've got to do is get everybody going, we've got to keep that consistency throughout the game,'' Lions new DE Kyle Vanden Bosch echoed this sentiment. Vanden Bosch put real pressure on the QB and Cliff Avril managed a sack as the Pittsburgh offensive line concentrated on doubling the Lions interior line with constant double teams on The Kong. All very good signs, but can they keep it up for a full 60 minutes? We can only hope.

The Problem

The issue with the game came after the first three series, when the second stringers started to play...which of course gives the final score merit...the Lions lost 23-7 or in other words the Lions backups lost 20-0 to the Steelers backups.

So while the Lions can hold their own with their starters, they cannot afford any injuries. The drop off to the backups is atrocious.

Return of the Fade Stop!
Detroit's only touchdown came on a slick play that somebody, I won't name names, has been calling for for two years. To me, this was the greatest revelation of the game. The Lions are actually going to run a play this year that is pretty damn near impossible to stop. On first down, the Lions tried to throw a fade pass to CJ in the back of the endzone. The Steelers inexplicably played one on one coverage on CJ, so Stafford tried to hit him, but sadly underthrew the ball. The Steelers then refused to change coverages on the next down.

"That was impressive," Schwartz said. "He came right back and noticed they were playing the same technique so he threw him a fade-stop. It shows what kind of command he's starting to have."

I think this is a direct result of an entire off season of CJ and the Franchize working and practicing together and developing real chemistry.

Possibly rectifying the Mike Williams draft pick?

While, I've already said that the Lions cannot afford any injuries, backup linebacker Jordan Dizon suffered a season ending knee injury.

In 2005, the Lions held the 10th pick in the draft and as many of you probably already know, Matt Millen chose to piss on all of his scouts' advice and take Mike Williams, when LB DeMarcus Ware, LB Shawn Merriman, and OT Jammal Brown (all probowlers) were all still staring the Lions in the face.

Now, this shows that I am not much of a scout, but let me say that the guy I really wanted the Lions to take was LB Derrick Johnson out of the University of Texas. He went five picks later to the Kansas City Chiefs and while he hasn't been in any pro bowls yet, he has so far had a solid career.

With the injury to Dizon and the lackluster play (massive understatement) of the Lions backup linebackers, the Leos are going to be looking to bring in somebody to shore up the position. For some reason, I haven't found out yet, Johnson is now running with the third team in Kansas City. His play did fall off last year as he registered only 37 tackles, while averaging 90+ the prior three years on typically bad defenses. Chances are Johnson could be camp casualty or trade bait and the guy the Lions probably should have picked five years ago will finally be in the fold.

The Steelers do not feature a cheerleading squad. Please write the Rooneys...