2023 Lions Preseason thread

[Mebert]

I'm interested to see the defense. If they don't step up then it's just the same old Lions all hype with nothing to show for it.

I think pass defense upside is about 20th, which is a massive improvement. They added a ton of secondary. Dline is a question, but LBs are also improved. Should be interesting.

 

[broncosmitty]

Hard game to watch today.

Cota has the big body Id like to see for our receiving corps. But he looks slow.

Don’t know whats up with Ibrahim not playing. They trying to make sure nobody snatches him from the PS?

I get that Craig Reynolds helps of ST. But he’s not going to help on offense.

Jack Fox got his work in at least. Lots of live action practice for him.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

I think pass defense upside is about 20th, which is a massive improvement. They added a ton of secondary. Dline is a question, but LBs are also improved. Should be interesting.

We shall see I suppose. Also, I noticed from the depth chart that the RB's are below average and the WR room took a significant hit as well. WTF is management doing? They looked horrific today against the Jags (yes just preseason but still not a good look early on).

 

[Mebert]

We shall see I suppose. Also, I noticed from the depth chart that the RB's are below average and the WR room took a significant hit as well. WTF is management doing? They looked horrific today against the Jags (yes just preseason but still not a good look early on).

They upgraded the RB room by quite a bit. WR room for the most part is unchanged from the previous year. Only change is Marvin Jones for DJ Chark. Everything else is the exact same.

They did look terrible today, it is the lack of depth for oline. The starting 5 is one of the best in the league, but after those 5 it is dismal. Bridgewater got hit before he could hand the ball off one play.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

They upgraded the RB room by quite a bit. WR room for the most part is unchanged from the previous year. Only change is Marvin Jones for DJ Chark. Everything else is the exact same.

They did look terrible today, it is the lack of depth for oline. The starting 5 is one of the best in the league, but after those 5 it is dismal. Bridgewater got hit before he could hand the ball off one play.

I'm not sure about that, as you had a dude averaging 5.5 YPC and an automatic TD in Williams. Now you have an extremely undersized rookie who can't block or run in between the tackles and a sub par backup in Montgomery. It appears you lost Cephus, one dude is suspended and The Egyptian God is currently injured but I don't know for how long. I'll have to take a look at their starting defense to see if I can tell if there's a significant improvement. I like the HC and his aggressiveness on offense I'm just concerned with the D and decrease at the RB spot on paper as I liked your RB's last season but I suppose the RB market is crazy right now.

 

[Mebert]

I'm not sure about that, as you had a dude averaging 5.5 YPC and an automatic TD in Williams. Now you have an extremely undersized rookie who can't block or run in between the tackles and a sub par backup in Montgomery. It appears you lost Cephus, one dude is suspended and The Egyptian God is currently injured but I don't know for how long. I'll have to take a look at their starting defense to see if I can tell if there's a significant improvement. I like the HC and his aggressiveness on offense I'm just concerned with the D and decrease at the RB spot on paper as I liked your RB's last season but I suppose the RB market is crazy right now.

Cephus grabbed 2 catches for 15 yards last year. His loss changes nothing. Williams is suspended for 6, last year he missed the first 10 for acl. Both of those are no change from last year.

Williams ran for below expected yardage last year based on his blocking. He is a mediocre runner who got a bunch of 1 yard TDs for an offense that could move the ball. Swift is crazy talented, and was useful every year for 6 or so games and habbled the rest.

Montgomery was a leaguebleader in missed tackle rate that came from am extremely weak oline. Now he is bringing that skill set to a great line. Gibbs is taking the Swift role, I think he is at worst a side grade for Swift.

Thinking Williams is better than Montgomery is a bad take that looks at the results of the blocking and ignores who got the most of what was available.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

They upgraded the RB room by quite a bit. WR room for the most part is unchanged from the previous year. Only change is Marvin Jones for DJ Chark. Everything else is the exact same.

They did look terrible today, it is the lack of depth for oline. The starting 5 is one of the best in the league, but after those 5 it is dismal. Bridgewater got hit before he could hand the ball off one play.

I'm not sure about that, as you had a dude averaging 5.5 YPC and an automatic TD in Williams. Now you have an extremely undersized rookie who can't block or run in between the tackles and a sub par backup in Montgomery. It appears you lost Cephus, one dude is suspended and The Egyptian God is currently injured but I don't know for how long. I'll have to take a look at their starting defense to see if I can tell if there's a significant improvement. I like the HC and his aggressiveness on offense I'm just concerned with the D and decrease at the RB spot on paper as I liked your RB's last season but I suppose the RB market is crazy right now.

Cephus grabbed 2 catches for 15 yards last year. His loss changes nothing. Williams is suspended for 6, last year he missed the first 10 for acl. Both of those are no change from last year.

Williams ran for below expected yardage last year based on his blocking. He is a mediocre runner who got a bunch of 1 yard TDs for an offense that could move the ball. Swift is crazy talented, and was useful every year for 6 or so games and habbled the rest.

Montgomery was a leaguebleader in missed tackle rate that came from am extremely weak oline. Now he is bringing that skill set to a great line. Gibbs is taking the Swift role, I think he is at worst a side grade for Swift.

Thinking Williams is better than Montgomery is a bad take that looks at the results of the blocking and ignores who got the most of what was available.

Oh, I figured Cephus was a better NFL player than that.

As for Montgomery IDK, I never seen him as nothing more than a mediocre back. He was literally outgained by his own QB that's embarrassing and if anything that should make it easier for him to run when the QB is a major threat to run. PFF has him as a 67 and Williams as a 73 which is slightly better but not drastic. His average is only 4.1 mostly because he was the short yardage back running on downs where the defense knew he was getting the rock but he still manages to consistently get the first downs and TD's without fumbles. He's a solid all around consistent reliable and healthy player just didn't have top end speed. Overall I trust PFF as they judge each player play by play week by week. I'm telling you there's nothing impressive about Montgomery. Zero nada nil. I wouldn't take him on my team even if he were free.

The rookie has the speed but IDK if he has the Juke like Swift.

 

[Mebert]

I'm not sure about that, as you had a dude averaging 5.5 YPC and an automatic TD in Williams. Now you have an extremely undersized rookie who can't block or run in between the tackles and a sub par backup in Montgomery. It appears you lost Cephus, one dude is suspended and The Egyptian God is currently injured but I don't know for how long. I'll have to take a look at their starting defense to see if I can tell if there's a significant improvement. I like the HC and his aggressiveness on offense I'm just concerned with the D and decrease at the RB spot on paper as I liked your RB's last season but I suppose the RB market is crazy right now.


Oh, I figured Cephus was a better NFL player than that.

As for Montgomery IDK, I never seen him as nothing more than a mediocre back. He was literally outgained by his own QB that's embarrassing and if anything that should make it easier for him to run when the QB is a major threat to run. PFF has him as a 67 and Williams as a 73 which is slightly better but not drastic. His average is only 4.1 mostly because he was the short yardage back running on downs where the defense knew he was getting the rock but he still manages to consistently get the first downs and TD's without fumbles. He's a solid all around consistent reliable and healthy player just didn't have top end speed. Overall I trust PFF as they judge each player play by play week by week. I'm telling you there's nothing impressive about Montgomery. Zero nada nil. I wouldn't take him on my team even if he were free.

The rookie has the speed but IDK if he has the Juke like Swift.

Montgomery had the 7th most yards after contact last year. Williams was 51st with 25% more touches. Montgomery was also 8th in the league for broken tackles, and the only guy above him on the list with fewer carries was Jonathan Taylor

Williams was ninth in the league in yards before contact. Montgomery in the 50s.

 

[Old Lion]

Mims experiment over bye bye

I hope we can finally end the the Benson experiment. I have seen enough of him dropping passes on the few times he actually gets open.

I am done.

 

[Old Lion]

Lions better have extreme luck on the oline this year, their second and third groups are embarrassing

Glasgow actually looks decent again but you are right. Everyone else is awful. Most not even practice squad material. Sorsdal made a rookie mistake and almost got Teddy killed and resulted in a fumbled exchange.

Do you happen to have Dan Skipper's phone number?

 

[Old Lion]

I'm not sure about that, as you had a dude averaging 5.5 YPC and an automatic TD in Williams. Now you have an extremely undersized rookie who can't block or run in between the tackles and a sub par backup in Montgomery. It appears you lost Cephus, one dude is suspended and The Egyptian God is currently injured but I don't know for how long. I'll have to take a look at their starting defense to see if I can tell if there's a significant improvement. I like the HC and his aggressiveness on offense I'm just concerned with the D and decrease at the RB spot on paper as I liked your RB's last season but I suppose the RB market is crazy right now.


Oh, I figured Cephus was a better NFL player than that.

As for Montgomery IDK, I never seen him as nothing more than a mediocre back. He was literally outgained by his own QB that's embarrassing and if anything that should make it easier for him to run when the QB is a major threat to run. PFF has him as a 67 and Williams as a 73 which is slightly better but not drastic. His average is only 4.1 mostly because he was the short yardage back running on downs where the defense knew he was getting the rock but he still manages to consistently get the first downs and TD's without fumbles. He's a solid all around consistent reliable and healthy player just didn't have top end speed. Overall I trust PFF as they judge each player play by play week by week. I'm telling you there's nothing impressive about Montgomery. Zero nada nil. I wouldn't take him on my team even if he were free.

The rookie has the speed but IDK if he has the Juke like Swift.

Thanks for joining the thread but @Mebert is correct.

WR is only a little weaker as MJ2 is not what he used to be but Chark couldnt stay healthy. Cota, Drummond and Antoine Green are all better than Cephus and Kennedy were. Not sure which ones we will keep though. It is close. TE improved with La Porta being added.

We would have improved our RB situation if not for the loss of Justin Jackson. Williams faded badly at the end of last year and Swift is always injured. The replacements we got for them were an upgrade.. Benny Snell is not a bad replacement for Jackson either but not as good a tackle breaker.

 

[Old Lion]

I think pass defense upside is about 20th, which is a massive improvement. They added a ton of secondary. Dline is a question, but LBs are also improved. Should be interesting.

There was a noticeable difference when Campbell came out of the game yesterday. LBs are still a little thin but certainly look better.

D-line is becoming easy to make cuts now. Both Okwara's are playing against 2s and 3s and had no impact this week. The inside guys all sucked. We will have no problem getting rid of players that used to be starters or were high picks. Houston was the only guy I noticed without cringing yesterday and he didnt play a ton.

 

[Mebert]

There was a noticeable difference when Campbell came out of the game yesterday. LBs are still a little thin but certainly look better.

D-line is becoming easy to make cuts now. Both Okwara's are playing against 2s and 3s and had no impact this week. The inside guys all sucked. We will have no problem getting rid of players that used to be starters or were high picks. Houston was the only guy I noticed without cringing yesterday and he didnt play a ton.

Houston showed some ability beyond passrush which is awesome. Lions only really use 2 LBs, so Anzelone/Campbell good starters. Rodriguez/Barnes add some decent depth. I think we will be fine there. I was ok with Martin on the interior. The Jags ground game killed us running outside the tackle, not up the middle. He will be a good gap plug. McNeil is the only guy on the inside that makes a difference though.

Cominsky was pretty impressive, the rest of the line was not very good.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

Thanks for joining the thread but @Mebert is correct.

WR is only a little weaker as MJ2 is not what he used to be but Chark couldnt stay healthy. Cota, Drummond and Antoine Green are all better than Cephus and Kennedy were. Not sure which ones we will keep though. It is close. TE improved with La Porta being added.

We would have improved our RB situation if not for the loss of Justin Jackson. Williams faded badly at the end of last year and Swift is always injured. The replacements we got for them were an upgrade.. Benny Snell is not a bad replacement for Jackson either but not as good a tackle breaker.

I suppose I'll have to see it before I believe it. I just don't have faith in Montgomery or a one-dimensional unproven rookie. Along with the WR group having a suspension early in the year and the Egyptian God have an early injury. Just too many questions and not enough proof of defensive improvement for me to jump on the Lions bandwagon. Early preseason results are alarming as well. Not looking good for the home team. Could they still make the postseason? Sure, I just do not see them in a better position than they were last season. Obviously other factors play into this like schedule, injuries, luck, etc.

 

[Mebert]

I suppose I'll have to see it before I believe it. I just don't have faith in Montgomery or a one-dimensional unproven rookie. Along with the WR group having a suspension early in the year and the Egyptian God have an early injury. Just too many questions and not enough proof of defensive improvement for me to jump on the Lions bandwagon. Early preseason results are alarming as well. Not looking good for the home team. Could they still make the postseason? Sure, I just do not see them in a better position than they were last season. Obviously other factors play into this like schedule, injuries, luck, etc.

I don't disagree that they are likely to back slide. More because I think Goff's second half was an outlier and he is unlikely to repeat. That and Ben Johnsons first year was unbelievable, but I guarantee teams have been watching his tape. Defense will improve, but still be bottom half of the league, offense will regress, but not because of WR and RB.

 

[Old Lion]

I suppose I'll have to see it before I believe it. I just don't have faith in Montgomery or a one-dimensional unproven rookie. Along with the WR group having a suspension early in the year and the Egyptian God have an early injury. Just too many questions and not enough proof of defensive improvement for me to jump on the Lions bandwagon. Early preseason results are alarming as well. Not looking good for the home team. Could they still make the postseason? Sure, I just do not see them in a better position than they were last season. Obviously other factors play into this like schedule, injuries, luck, etc.

Well GB out of the picture for sure. Jury out on Bears and Vikes but I am willing to bet Vikes wont be as good without Cook. Bears worry me more than both at this point.

t will come down to O-line staying healthy on offense and CB on defense. We have little depth at either. And like you said injuries and schedule.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

Well GB out of the picture for sure. Jury out on Bears and Vikes but I am willing to bet Vikes wont be as good without Cook. Bears worry me more than both at this point.

t will come down to O-line staying healthy on offense and CB on defense. We have little depth at either. And like you said injuries and schedule.

Packers are in a much better position than last year as Rodgers that's for damn sure. For the first time in his career was a detriment to the team (injury). Dude was the 27th ranked QB in QBR and 17th in PFF. Yes I know those aren't perfect metrics but they're the best we have to date from what I've seen. So he was a bottom tier QB and they still nearly made the postseason. Love just has to be average at best and the make the postseason. Now if the DC pulls his head out of his ass they could be competing for more than just making the playoffs but Joe DInglebarry will probably dissapoint again with his swiss cheese zone defense bs. When he puts them in man to man press coverage as you seen with JA on JJ it was a complete sutdown of the Vikes offense.

Bears will be the Bears until they replace the old bag owner. I have zero faith in them NONE.

Queens are likely to fall dramatically as they were the luckiest team in NFL history and we seen the pack beat the living shit out of them once they took out JJ which is all they have left in that offense.

To me I see the Bears and Queens fighting for last place and Pack and Lions fighting for first place.

Biggest weakness for the Pack:

1.) DC: Refuses to consistently play aggressive D (unless pressured by the HC or press)
2.) S: Savage is a horrific Safety probably the worst starting safety in the NFL
3.) Kicker: Brand 6th round Kicker has inconsistent at best in camp and preseason. Has a monster leg and can boot it from 70 yards no doubt but misses PAT's and chip shots for no reason. One game he could go 5/5 and the next go 1/5. Just crazy



Overall it should be an exciting competitive season and may be a tight race by mid season but somebody will pull away in the second half. It could be the Lions with the Vet QB or the Packers with the best overall defense but It's too early for me to say 100% either way. If someone put a gun to my head I would say the Lions just because the Packers offense is a bunch of first and second year starters but extremely talented. I don't see anyone competing for a SB this year unless Joe Barry magically pulls his head out of his ass. He's too old to do that though so it's stuck in there.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

I don't disagree that they are likely to back slide. More because I think Goff's second half was an outlier and he is unlikely to repeat. That and Ben Johnsons first year was unbelievable, but I guarantee teams have been watching his tape. Defense will improve, but still be bottom half of the league, offense will regress, but not because of WR and RB.

Good take I can roll with this. I'll be honest, I never seen anything from Goff that made me think he was anything than an above avg QB even when the Rams were dominating. There's a reason the Rams wanted Stafford over Goff. However, he can be enough to manage the game if you have a solid defense and some pieces on offense. They may have the horses on offense but IDK about the defense just yet.

Good luck and enjoy the season.

 

[broncosmitty]

Well GB out of the picture for sure. Jury out on Bears and Vikes but I am willing to bet Vikes wont be as good without Cook. Bears worry me more than both at this point.

t will come down to O-line staying healthy on offense and CB on defense. We have little depth at either. And like you said injuries and schedule.

GB isn’t out of the picture at all.

 

[Sweetswingingsammysosa]

GB isn’t out of the picture at all.

Agreed. People are just tired of 30 years of GB HOF play from the QB spot so they're hoping they go back to the 70's and 80's but MLF is a good HC so they won't magically dissapear.