Week Five: Detroit Lions (1-3) @ New England Patriots (1-3)

[MichiganCardinal]

     vs.     

Setting: 10/09/2022 1:00pm EST on FOX

Site: Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA

Weather: Mostly Sunny, 59° High, 12mph Winds

Opening Spread: Patriots -2.5

All-Time Series Record: Patriots lead, 7-5

Last Meeting: 09/23/2018, Lions won 26-10

 

New England Patriots (1-3)

Head Coach: Bill Belichick (28th Season: 291-146)

Projected Starting QB: Brian Hoyer (14th Season: 16-24) (Questionable with a Head Injury) or Bailey Zappe (1st Season: 0-0)

Last Week: 27-24 (OT) L @ Green Bay Packers (3-1)

Looking Ahead to Week #6: Sunday @ Cleveland Browns (2-2)

 

Your Detroit Lions (1-3)

Head Coach: Dan Campbell (2nd Season: 4-16-1)

Projected Starting QB: Jared Goff (7th Season: 46-40-1)

Last Week: 48-45 L v. Seattle Seahawks (2-2)

Looking Ahead to Week #6: BYE

 

Elsewhere in the NFL

Primetime: Colts @ Broncos (TNF), Bengals @ Ravens (SNF), Raiders @ Chiefs (MNF)

9:30am: Giants @ Packers (in London)

1:00pm: Chargers @ Browns, Texans @ Jaguars, Falcons @ Buccaneers, Steelers @ Bills, Dolphins @ Jets, Bears @ Vikings, Titans @ Commanders, Seahawks @ Saints

4:05/4:25pm: 49ers @ Panthers, Eagles @ Cardinals, Cowboys @ Rams

[djhutch]

If we see a defensive performance against Patricia like we saw against Seattle, somebody needs to be fired.

[sabretooth]

If Mr. Fat-ass's offense torches the D I am going to scream.

[MichiganCardinal]

I don't think the defense will be as bad as they were against Seattle. For one, it would be nearly impossible to be worse. For another, even if we say that the defense is no better than last year (even though it should be), the trends from last year's worst performances (giving up 44 to the Eagles in week 8 and 51 to the Seahawks in week 17) were followed up with bounce back performances, giving up 16 to the Steelers in week 10 after a bye and 30 to the Packers in week 18. The same holds if you count the COVID-depleted Broncos loss, where we gave up 38 and bounced back to trounce the Cardinals.

I also think the Dan Campbell run-through-a-wall mentality works best when there is external motivation in addition to the intrinsic. A lot of these players, particularly on defense, have every incentive in the world to embarrass Matt Patricia's offense.

[TP_Fan]

A win would be surprising at this point. 

[Kamakzie]

I can hear the announcers slobbering over Patricia already. 🤢

[Mr.TaterSalad]

Can they carry Patricia off the field on their shoulders like the Bills did with Schwartz when they beat us?

In all seriousness, if we lose to a team starting Bailey Zappe at QB and give up a point total north of 35 that's going to change future conversations regarding Aaron Glenn's job and it should. Campbell said Aaron Glenn is his guy at the press conference after the debacle against Seattle. If Glenn's defense has another awful week, against a rookie QB no less, I don't know that Campbell will be able to avoid the conversation about replacing Glenn.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Mr.TaterSalad

[djhutch]

10 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Can they carry Patricia off the field on their shoulders like the Bills did with Schwartz when they beat us?

Not without serious risk of injury

[RandyMarsh]

Mac Jones back at practice and pushing to play, if he plays he's going to put up a billion yards. 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[MichiganCardinal]

1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

Mac Jones back at practice and pushing to play, if he plays he's going to put up a billion yards. 

Ironically, an immobile Mac Jones may be a better matchup for us than Bailey Zappe. The defense in the first three games did a good job creating pressure, and Glenn loves to blitz. It just didn't make a difference with Geno Smith because he was getting rid of the ball so quickly on those bootlegs, and wasn't afraid to tuck it and run when the interior of the line spread. To Geno Smith's credit, a few of those deep passes were made as he was getting hit or facing pressure. He was able to avoid all but one sack to my memory (the intentional grounding).

If Mac Jones cannot - or struggles to - run, dip, dive, duck, or dodge to avoid pressure because of his ankle, I'd prefer to have him in there. The pocket will collapse on him and he'll have nowhere to go.

If the bootlegs are going to kill us again, it won't matter who's in there. Both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe should be able to throw ten yard outs without problem.

[MichiganCardinal]

 

Wide Receivers are just having a day out at Dave and Busters. Kennedy wasn't invited.

[RandyMarsh]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Ironically, an immobile Mac Jones may be a better matchup for us than Bailey Zappe. The defense in the first three games did a good job creating pressure, and Glenn loves to blitz. It just didn't make a difference with Geno Smith because he was getting rid of the ball so quickly on those bootlegs, and wasn't afraid to tuck it and run when the interior of the line spread. To Geno Smith's credit, a few of those deep passes were made as he was getting hit or facing pressure. He was able to avoid all but one sack to my memory (the intentional grounding).

If Mac Jones cannot - or struggles to - run, dip, dive, duck, or dodge to avoid pressure because of his ankle, I'd prefer to have him in there. The pocket will collapse on him and he'll have nowhere to go.

If the bootlegs are going to kill us again, it won't matter who's in there. Both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe should be able to throw ten yard outs without problem.

I was a big proponent of Jones pre draft to the point where my friends joked that I had a man crush on him, since he hasn't panned out as well as I thought he would I now talk about how great he is facetiously kinda like my "chuck norris of qbs."

[buddha]

1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

I was a big proponent of Jones pre draft to the point where my friends joked that I had a man crush on him, since he hasn't panned out as well as I thought he would I now talk about how great he is facetiously kinda like my "chuck norris of qbs."

jones looks like the epitome of "high floor low ceiling" qbs.  the buzz is that he "is what he is" and wont get any better than he was at points last year.

still too early to tell.  being on a team without much individual offensive skill position talent like the pats doesnt help him much.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

5 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

 

Wide Receivers are just having a day out at Dave and Busters. Kennedy wasn't invited.

So we're going into the game with Tom Kennedy as our #2?

[Sports_Freak]

On 10/4/2022 at 11:35 PM, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Can they carry Patricia off the field on their shoulders like the Bills did with Schwartz when they beat us?

In all seriousness, if we lose to a team starting Bailey Zappe at QB and give up a point total north of 35 that's going to change future conversations regarding Aaron Glenn's job and it should. Campbell said Aaron Glenn is his guy at the press conference after the debacle against Seattle. If Glenn's defense has another awful week, against a rookie QB no less, I don't know that Campbell will be able to avoid the conversation about replacing Glenn.

Didn't he take Green Bay to overtime in Green Bay? Lions defense is gonna get shredded.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

The best and highest scoring offense in the NFL. In a league where offense wins championships we still manage to be 1-3 because we have a Big 12 quality defense.

[RedRamage]

25 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

The best and highest scoring offense in the NFL. In a league where offense wins championships we still manage to be 1-3 because we have a Big 12 quality defense.

That's a bit insulting to the Big12 conference.

[djhutch]

Last year when this team hit a wall offensively (the first 11 games) DC made the changes necessary.  I am holding out hope that given the porous defense so far this year, DC & his staff will make the changes necessary to compete.  I don't expect them to go from worst to first, but if they simplify some coverages (which they've hinted at) & improve a little bit we may start winning some of these close games. 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Sports_Freak]

Pats like to run the ball, especially with a rookie QB. Can the Lions stop the Pats ground game? Bye week coming, it would be nice to go into it with a win. But Campbell has never won a road game as the Lion coach. 1-4 this afternoon.

[buddha]

pats have one of the best running games and one of the worst passing games in the nfl.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

We're going to have St. Brown back it looks like. There is no excuse for losing this game to a rookie QB who is a third string QB, making his first start of his NFL career.

[MichiganCardinal]

The defense will bounce back, but still look lousy at times. The offense will still look good.

Detroit 34

New England 31