Here we are, guys. The live-action debut of the cold af black and blue jerseys. Megatron being inducted into the Pride of the Lions. Monday Night Football at Ford Field. It's just a shame it's against the Seachickens...
Seattle has had our number for a while, and this week is the time for their annual prank call to ask if we have Anitta Dump in our restaurant. But (maybe foolishly) I believe our call blocker will work this time, and the streak will be broken.
The R̶u̶n̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ Walking Man: Last week, we managed to hold a pretty decent Cardinal running attack to 77 yards on 18 carries. This week, we face another good running attack with the three-headed monster of Walker, Charbonnet and McIntosh, and Geno is able to use his legs when needed (though not to the level of Kyler). All four of the players just mentioned have PFF rushing and fumble grades above 68.5. Walker is coming off an injury, so I almost expect him to be on a snap count, which could affect Seattle's rushing efficiency as he is the only 'Hawk to have a ypa over 4.0 (5.2 to be exact). McIntosh is a good spellback, sporting a team-best 66.7% rush success rate. Overall, the Seahawks sport a 40% rush success rate, average 3.9 yards per carry, 2 yards after contact per carry and break a tackle on every 15 rushing attempts.
The good news is that the Lions have the third-best defence when it comes to EPA allowed on runs (-0.26), 2nd in run defence grade from PFF (76.5) and 4th in yards (230) and yards per attempt (3.6) given up. This makes sense given the regime's emphasis on stopping the run first, helped by the fact we're bucking the league trend by using base formations on half of our snaps. This could change with the loss of Barnes as our only SAM perhaps forcing us into nickel more often, though that might not be a bad thing with us facing one of the best WR trios in the league.
Goff's Blind Spot: I think we all know that Jared has some issues seeing linebackers in coverage. He threw a pick to a dropping edge last week, and there was that game last year where he threw 2 picks to the Bears' linebacking corps last year. While Seattle will be without their top 2 edges and potentially one of their starters inside, they still will have their best coverage 'backers (much to Goff's chagrin). Tyrel Dodson has the best grade of all their LBs (84.8). He's allowed a 60% completion rate for 5.7 yards per catch, but he's also registered a PBU on his 112 coverage snaps. Edge Derick Hall has allowed a 100% completion rate for a single solitary yard and a 78.4 coverage grade on 6 coverage snaps.
However, if Baker is out, the other two starters on Monday night will have the two worst coverage grades of any linebacker to have taken a regular-season snap for Seattle. Rookie Tyrice Knight has a 40.9 grade in coverage, having allowed a 90% completion rate for 11.9 yards a catch on his 38 coverage snaps. Edge Dre'Mont Jones hasn't been targeted yet on his 2 coverage snaps, but his coverage has been deemed bad enough by PFF to earn a 42.6 grade from them.
Maybe it's a schematic thing with our tendency to attack the middle of the field, but we need to stop throwing interceptions to opposing linebackers. Unfortunately, with Seattle having their best two coverage 'backers active, and Seattle having a pretty strong secondary, this probably isn't the week this will change.
When a Moveable Object Meets a Resistible Force: This is a matchup of weakness against weakness, as both the interior of our offensive line and the Seattle defensive line are banged up. The Seahawks will be without rookie Bryon Murphy II and star Leonard Williams, and we will be missing Frank the Tank. Replacing these two players for Seattle will likely be Mike Morris and Johnathan Hankins. Neither of these players are exactly improvements over who they are replacing, despite what the PFF grades say for Murphy. Hankins has a 58.4 grade so far this season, with his best grade coming in coverage (somehow), and even this is just a plain old 60.0 grade. Morris has a good tackling grade (71.4), having not missed any of his three tackle attempts (I know, amazing stuff, mindblowing production) and the same basic 60.0 grade in coverage, but his overall grade is 50.8.
On our side of this squab, we have two options. The first, and perhaps simplest, is to bring in Michael Niese at center. In the preseason, he earned himself a 66.7 grade, made up of a 66.1 run-blocking grade and a 61.7 pass-blocking grade. The other option (and the one I'd personally choose) is to slide Glasgow to center and bring in Kayode Awosika so you have our best 5 available linemen on the field. In preseason, Awosika earned a 69.6 grade, including a 74.8 pass-block grade and a 64.5 run-block grade. No matter what we choose, Macdonald will be targeting the interior of our line as our major weakness, even if the weapons he has to attack that weakness are as depleted as the beer kegs after the Tigers' celebration on Friday night. Whoever wins this game probably does so because they won this matchup.
Hot Take: Goff throws another pick to an opposition linebacker dropping into a hook zone...
Score Prediction: A passing attack having some struggles going against one of the best secondaries in the league. A rushing attack going against a weakened defensive line. And an undefeated team facing their first real test of the season. Who's gonna prevail? Got to go with the home-field advantage in a game that could be a "who has the ball last, wins" situation.
Detroit Lions 31, Seattle Seahawks 24
How do you see the game going? Will the Lions break the curse against the Seahawks, or will the Seachickens break our hearts once again?
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look forward to your conclusions on these players/positions after the game today, ty
Thanks Ash, RE TE's - Just to reiterate what Riz said ,& its worth noting what the Lions want their TE3 /4 to do, and how many game reps they'll actually get . Parker Hesse has been taking most Reps in camp primairly as blocker ( & FB ). Mitchel hasn't performed BUT, can Block & has some ST value,& was a draft pick. Zylstra is the best receiver -,but can't block - heresey on this team. So.........bearing in what Campbell said about the WR room ie its about the best players , irrespective of position......how about.......Mitchel as TE4 , & Zylstra ( TE5 ) taking the place of of WR5 ?
Ash, thank you so much for doing these. You and the rest of the ROTL UK gang are fantastic!
Greetings, I was glad to listen to your interesting interview. The season went really well. I liked the quality of your broadcast, which application did you use for this? Is it on this list? I just want to do live broadcasts