Unofficial Week 12 Pats at Lions Post-Game Analysis

[jmt57]

Another analysis worth reading by Tedy Bruschi, who keys on the following subjects:

• Patriots winning games in different ways
• How the Lions hurt the Patriots with early pressure
• Keeping Brady upright
• Minus Vince Wilfork, defense struggles
• Tom Brady is playing perfect football -- and he has to because of the defense

Five observations from the New England Patriots' impressive win over the Detriot Lions - ESPN Boston

The Patriots had seen enough of Brady getting knocked around. With the play-calling of going more to the run, it gets the defensive line to re-think the attack of pinning its ears back and getting after the quarterback. By establishing the run, it gets the defensive line to anchor down more, slowing down the pass rush, and that means fewer hits your quarterback is going to take

When the Patriots were matching the Lions with their defensive personnel, there were times when defensive lineman Vince Wilfork would come off the field. That's when the Lions had their biggest success running the ball. Not having Wilfork to take up double teams gives the offensive line the ability to quickly get to the linebackers.

Another collapse has Lions pointing fingers | freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Cornerback Chris Houston, like Williams in his first year with the Lions, said the organization’s losing culture has seeped into the locker room.

“Lack of heart,” Houston said. “When adversity hits, everybody can’t hold their head down. Leaders got to step up and lead. When adversity hits on the team, you kind of see it in some guys’ body language, here we go again. You can just tell. So we just got to have heart and know that when adversity hits we got to keep on fighting.”

The Lions suffered from familiar problems Thursday: Turnovers on offense, too many big plays on defense, and a lack of discipline that reared its head once the game got out of control.

Houston said captains and other team leaders “need to step up and say something,” and Williams said he plans to when players gather to watch film before leaving for the weekend today.

“We got to get that heart,” Williams said. “Until we get that, we’re going to keep giving up big plays, we’re going to keep giving up big runs and getting dumb penalties and doing dumb stuff. That’s all it is.”

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

I was at the game. A few notes:

The differential in kickoffs is correct.

Pressure on the Lions QB was good. They needed to contain the guy. Had they just kept him in the pocket, there would not have been a problem. Pryor and Wright should help in that and we will need it Monday.

I would recommend the "Big Ben" approach. Had they done that on Hill, I doubt the Lions would have scored.

Calvin Johnson and Pettigrew are beasts.

I've to a few of the Thurday games in Detroit. I really wish the league would make the week before a bye week for the teams playing. By the first Lions TD drive, our Dline was sucking wind. Having a Sunday night and 4:15 pm game is beyond stupid for a team playing Thursday.

I was quite worried about injury.