Detroit is dangerously bad. So bad that they won’t even lose properly
Yeah. I don't see this game as an automatic W.
The Jete hung 48 on the Lions in wk-1, but only 34 of those points were on the Lions' defense. The Jete were also gifted a couple of layups off Lions' turnovers and special teams failures.
The Lions bounce back pretty well on the road against the Niners last week, even though they lost. The Lions' pass rush was crapping on Aladdin's magic carpet all day, and almost picked him off a couple times. Stafford came close to engineering another 4Q comeback.
Unfotunately, Lions' special teams gifted the Niners with a layup TD off a 101-yd return on the 2nd-half kickoff (return TD called back on a facemask penalty against the returner, DJ Reed).
Anyway, the Lions are far from talentless on either side of the ball.
While their run-D is certainly suspect, it's not as if either d'Arnold or Aladdin had their way with the Lions' pass-D all game (although they may be without Darius Slay against the Pats).
On offense, Stafford runs hot and cold, but often gets hot against prevent defenses in the 4th quarter. Blount looked good against the Niners, and rookie RB Kerryon Johnson (who the Pats scouted pretty thoroughly), seems like a kid who could pull off a Kareen Hunt level performance almost any time.