predictions

ta daaaaaah,

yes, boys and girls it is that time again for all serious leo fanatics (fans) to boldly offer up their prognostications:

i will again predict an undefeated season with a clean playoff sweep to include the super bowl. yes my friends, this is the year!!!

i know what your thinking: but, but, but don't you always make the same prediction?

well, yes but, but, but this time its different. this time we are talking about a 10 win team that has finally emerged. a ten win team that really didn't have much in the way of contributions from extremely high draft picks that finally look good to go.

starting with the offense: stafford will stay healthy (or else stop reading) and he has new toys to play with. reiff is the real deal and future OLT that everyone (almost) on this board has been begging for. the receiving corps is the best in all of football and the leos finally have the semblance of a running game. a 1,000 plus season for smith to go along with another 5,000 yard stafford passing year, this time without breaking a finger in his throwing hand. pettigrew will catch so many passes that even MI will declare what an outstanding pick that was after all.

on to the defense: our front four have not been able, for a variety of reasons, to come together and play up to their full potential. with a full off season and all healthy, it is going to look unfair at times. resulting in turn overs all over the field. the LB ing corps is also intact after playing the entire season together so there is going to be much greater synergy (its so seldom that you get to use that word). and we will be deeper than ever. R lewis was the defensive steal of the draft due to his broken foot which he played over thereby depressing his final year numbers. he is a guy who set tackling records for the sooners (that's right the oklahoma variety). he will back up our weakest LB, levy at the WIL. and i know that you're thinking, bongo is forgetting about the secondary, right? wrong! that will be the most improved unit on the team and yes, you are reading that first right here on this very board where the smartest people hang out, so it must be true. who takes over for berry? it doesn't matter so long as someone does. go back and look at the tape. that guy got burned more often than a swim suit model getting ready to pose for the sports illustrated cover (that's a lot). we do have a nice group of big and fast rookies, three in total. boykin is twitch quick and can jump through the roof to go with blazing speed. he will be greatly helped by the front four as wounded ducks season will be in full swing. look for a hybrid defense that features suh standing along side of the hammer. the hammer time defense.

and as for the coaching staff, one word: continuity. that's right, no more firing coordinators after every disappointing season. this is going to give the leos an edge.

they will be the talk of the league, this time for all of the right reasons.

I'll drink a batch of that!!!!!! Come on preseason!!!!!

boykin? make that bentley.

Bongo always gets the season kicked off right! The hopes and dreams of a new season and an undefeated prediction gets the football blood going every year. Last year it was so nice that those dreams were kept alive right up until the end of the third quarter in New Orleans. Not sure that same result can be expected again this year.

While the Lions have done a little better in many areas to shore up their depth, health is still a key for the Lions. THey are woefully weak at the DB position still and are still pinning their hopes on the always wounded like Delmas. Heck if it weren't for th egun charge they'd have put their money on Berry who can't stay healthy either. Still can't figure out what Mayhew is thinking when it comes to the defensive backfield but the only hope the Lions have back there is that guys stay healthy and some no-names make a name for themselves.

The LB corps is what it is...very average and made look worse by poor play behind them. With the DL in front of them they should be making plays all over the place. Unless one of the rookies shows they are worth more than the 4th round pick (or lower) than they were or Hogue figures it out in his second year when he did absolutely nothing in his first, then this unit has to stay healthy also as there's little in the cupboard.

The DL is very talented and very deep. It sounds like Young's progress is going as planned. See this is how we should look at ALL low round picks who have some talent. To expect guys like Whitehead, Bentley, Lewis, etc. etc. to be of some impact this year is really basing too much on hope (as Obama how that worked). Young is a great story of how a kid with little big game experience made the move to the speed of the NFL and is growing into his own. Those guys I mentioned may end up being good and providing some impact but it isn't likely to happen this year.

To complete the thought...the DL is in great shape.

Offensively I'd say that the QB, WR and TE positions are all in very, very good shape. Solid talent and deep. I wished the Lions could've kept Stanton but otherwise no complaints here at all.

RB is a real concern for me. Again, health is the key here. It is very, very possible that the Lions play most of the year with guys who are not named Leshoure, Best, or Kevin Smith. There are three of the most often injured RBs I've ever seen and those are the three Mayhew has put his money on.

Then there is the OL. I like that we got Reiff and even more like that Schwartz is practicing him across the line. My hope is that Gosder plays well enough and Backus is healthy enough that Schwartz is forced to put Peterman on the bench and give Reiff some real time. That only helps the depth as Peterman add to the bench so if there is an injury we can handle it better.

In the end, if the Lions don't get any/many injuries at DB, LB or RB than I predict an 11+ win season and a real push to the SB. I still say that the weaknesses at DB could be exposed and the negative effect on the LBs due to weak DBs allow the better offenses to make life misearble but if the DL can step up big in a playoff game there's a chance.

Should guys like Delmas, Houston, Durant, Tulloch, Leshoure or Best miss 6+ games, this team may be looking at an 8 or 9 win season and miss out on the playoffs.

pretty fair assessment mi.

i have been reading about whitehead and t. lewis and it seems as if they are moving ahead of hougue and palmer on the depth chart. and schwartz reminded the starters of a NY first sacker named wally pipp, given the early showing of those two.

i also think that the coaches have to step it up. allowing suh to be double teamed on every snap had to wear him down. i would like to see him moved all over the front 7 with fairly taking on a greater role, if he can handle it.

last year's draft was a wash out but for the kid from boise state. lets hope (there's that word again) that the bad boy duo of fairly and leshoure are all healed up in body and mind and that one of the secondary rookies steps up at CB. speivey should also be a better player this season but the lions have tried to draft a S high in the past couple of years so that may be a case of hopeful wishing.

and yes on rieff. i think his impact is going to be significant. and one of your favorites fox, is practicing and could push cheerios. the OL and the LB ers are deeper.

and you are spot on regarding the RB's. i do not think that best should even be in pads. too dangerous for him although what else does he know? leshoure is said to be ready to go and i think that after the suspension the lions are going to have a monster tail back on their hands. smith ran better last season than he ever did and if he takes the same level of dedication into this season, he will be a valuable member of the RB by committee approach that the lions should plan on using.

bongoman wrote:
and yes on rieff. i think his impact is going to be significant. and one of your favorites fox, is practicing and could push cheerios. the OL and the LB ers are deeper.

Good catch on Fox! Another of the heath issues I talked about. If this kid could stay healthy that depth issues becomes very minimal on the OL. To that point, if Reiff could play OG when needed the only spot where there would be a depth issue would be at OC and some here (me) feel that there is little drop off between Raiola and the next best.

I think more of Cherilus than you and from what I've read, from a talent issue the coaches agree that Gosder is talented. If he can become more consistent then the Lions could have four talented tackles (albeit none quite ready for Pro Bowl). That's some flexiiblity there but Schwartz really needs to push one of them to work at OG to spread that depth around.

Nice problem to have.