Re: Post Game Thought - the car industry isn't the only thing struggling in Detriot e
Some comments on the comments
1. The Wendell hate is simply ludicrous. Its a perfect example of a preconceived image becoming the common wisdom. Up until last season, Wendell was thought of as an overachieving PS player, who MIGHT develop into a competent backup. No one, including myself considered him possibly winning the C job last season.
BUT the fact is, he did, and much to my surprise, by ALL accounts, he not only did an "adequate" job, he excelled at it. So unless the mavens of offensive line play here on this site were privy to all the line calls and responsibilities, any of their negative rantings should be taken with a grain of salt. He not only beat out Dan Koppen, he beat out Dan Connolly. Believe me if Connolly was the better C, he would have been at that position. Its a lot harder to find a good C, than it is to find a RG.
Wendell proved his worth in TC beating out 2 solid and competent players, and proved it again over the course of 18 games last season. He doesn't have to answer to "so called" experts who get their rocks off making ignorant judgements based solely on past impressions and casual observations
2. That being said, the OL play across the board was substandard, not as good as we hoped, not as bad as it seemed. Since the fact is that NONE of us is privy to the line calls and assignments I think the fairest way to judge the OL is as a group, because if there was ever a group which optimized the sum being greater than the individual parts its the OL.
3. Last night's grade for the first team OL was probably a C, C-. However I'd lower it a half a grade to a D+ because of my higher expectations for this group. I expect them to be one of the best in the league, and last night they clearly weren't. But I'm not worried. Dante has about 20 days to whip them into shape. The talent is there. The coaching is there, and I'm hoping Marcus Cannon will be there as well.
4. The tackling issue is one that is endemic to the entire NFL right now. All teams are going to have problems with this, because there is simply not enough time to practice this critical skill. Plus the investment made in these players these days is simply too high to risk live tackling in practice. So early in the season I'm not surprised that tackling is not up to par. However I assume that the more players get used to full speed looks, the better it will get.
5. IIRC, none of the Lions' completions were downfield. All the so called big games were made by short passes being turned into big gains after the catch. And if I recall correctly, in all of those cases, there was a Pats player who was in good position to make a play, but usually was guilty of over running the play. Something, again, that will happen less and less as the season goes on.
While coaches will go nuts with the guilty players, and make these missed tackles highlighted teaching points in meetings, The truth is, after the players leave the meeting room, they'll be secretly happy that the players were in position to make the play. As a coach, you can more easily tolerate a physical mistake, than a mental one.
6. I would hate to be a Lions fan. Their team is entirely unlikeable. Just thugs trying to pretend to be the Old Oakland Raiders from the 70's, and not succeeding. Their HC should be ashamed. I know I'd be if I coached this group. I know BB is a friend of Jim Schwartz, and wanted him on his staff, but I'm afraid he's a perfect example of a guy who has success as a coordinator, but fails as a leader. The Lions have clearly underperformed their talent.
