Last week: 26 (-4)

Record: 2-4

The Bengals are the favorite to be this year’s team to goes from out of the playoffs to 5 wins or fewer, but the Lions are right there in the loaded NFC at 2-4. The issue is that both yards per play and rate of sustaining drives say they’re a better team than their record. Yards per play has them at 4^th, while rate of sustaining drives has them at 16^th. However, special teams has been a major issue and that’s something that neither of those statistics takes into account and the real troubling thing is the play of their offense.

Their defense, 16^th against the run and 11^th against the pass, hasn’t been bad, but Stafford and the offense have been a mess and that’s why they are where they are. If their defense can’t continue to play at this improved level and Stafford and company can’t bounce back, that’s a real issue and I think that’s more likely than the opposite (Stafford and company bounce back and the defense continues to be solid.

Studs

LG Rob Sims: Did not allow a pressure on 52 pass block snaps, run blocked for 1 yard on 2 attempts

CB Chris Houston: Allowed 3 catches for 25 yards on 9 attempts, 5 solo tackles, 4 stops

LOLB DeAndre Levy: 5 solo tackles, 1 assist, 5 stops, allowed 2 catches for 0 yards on 3 attempts

SS Louis Delmas: Was not thrown on, 6 solo tackles, 1 assist, 1 stop, 1 quarterback hurry on 3 blitzes

Duds

RG Stephen Peterman: Allowed 2 sacks and 5 quarterback hurries on 52 pass block snaps, run blocked for 28 yards on 3 attempts

WR Calvin Johnson: Caught 3 passes for 34 yards on 12 attempts on 52 pass snaps, 3.0 YAC per catch, 1 drop

TE Brandon Pettigrew: Caught 5 passes for 37 yards on 6 attempts on 34 pass snaps, 2.2 YAC per catch

RB Stefan Logan: 6 punt returns for 7 yards, 2 kickoff returns for 44 yards, 2 fumbles

[switch_ad_hub]

[switch_ad_hub]

[switch_ad_hub]