Lions vs Ravens - Pregame Week-14

Daunte Culpepper will have his chance to audition for his future this Sunday as he replaces the injured Matthew Stafford at quarterback for the Detroit Lions.

The best thing the Lions offense could do is to throw a lot of quick slants. Plays that are designed to get rid of the ball fast and hit the receiver moving forward. However, likely they will stick to their usual plans. The same plays they have called through several quarterbacks, multiple coaches and decades of losing seasons. Screens, dumps and simple plays that hit a receiver or running back while standing still, waiting for the defender to come for the hit as he gets the ball. Along with those, the other pass plays will mostly be plays that take a deep drop and wait for the play to develop while the offensive line desperately flails at defenders running by them. The worst part is that that is not what they really need to worry about. The Lions defense is far worse than their offense.

Joe Flacco is not having the season he had last year. Even so, he has only had three games with a completion percentage of less than 60%. What will he do against a Lions defense that often allows average quarterbacks to complete over 70%? How are the Lions defense going to stop Ray Rice when he has run well against much better defenses?

Could this be the week the Lions actually live by the blitz? Could they finally realize that they get burnt often when they play the lousy zone defense and rush with four linemen? Flacco is one quarterback they could rattle with the blitz. Get to Rice in the backfield before he gets any speed going and they might have a chance. Likely the Lions will play the same defensive style we have watched every year since I have been a fan. Rarely blitzing, soft zones and allowing teams to consistently move the ball.

Ever watch a good team play? Ever get upset that a team holds their opponent to a minimum all game long then in the waining minutes they change to the zone defense and allow a team to move the ball down field? The difference is that the good teams only get stupid and go to the soft "Bend but don't break" defense at the end of the games when they just don't want to give up the big play. The Lions live by it!

I honestly believe that if the Lions played aggressive football this week, they could actually beat the Ravens. I truly believe it is a good match-up for them if they blitzed and called aggressive plays. That would be against the Ford style Lions though.

Ravens 24
Lions 13