The Weekend Spotlight - Week 14 Edition - 2011 - Follow Up Post

In one of my favorite plays from the game, #87 Brandon Pettigrew hurdles the defender.

Welcome back once again ladies and gentlemen, to another Weekend Spotlight Follow Up Post.  I am your host, KDawg.  As we are all well aware, the Lions got the win last Sunday against the Vikings.  A win is a win, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the Lions got lucky this time.  When it finally looked like Detroit would blow out an opponent that they SHOULD blow out, taking a 31-14 lead into the half, they crumbled in the second half and WOULD have lost the game if the referees had noticed the facemask by DeAndre Levy on the last play of the game.  Minnesota was on the Detroit 1 yard line, and simply had to punch it into the end zone and they would have been victorious.  I give credit to Levy, who busted through the line and got in Joe Webb's face, forcing a fumble in the process and stopping the Vikings from getting the game winning TD.  That said, he also grabbed ahold of Webb's facemask in the process.  The referees did not see it, no flag was thrown, and the Lions recovered the fumble to end the game.  We, as Lion's fans, have seen this sort of thing happen before, but usually it goes the other way.  As such, it's nice to be on the positive side of the regular bungling of the NFL referees for once.  The Lions are now 8-5 on the season, and the win over Minnesota kept our playoff hopes alive.


Read more after the jump...

I am happy with the win.  I'll take them any way they come.  I am not going to sit here and complain that the referees beat the Vikings.  I am a Lion's fan.  While I could sit here and completely dissect every aspect of the game, and likely bore all of you reading this to death, the real reason I am writing this is to recap my weekly post, recall a few of my statements, and review the accuracy of those statements.  Without further adieu, here is the first bit that I would like you to recall:

Again, the Vikings enjoy as much success as they do on defense due to the play of one man, Jared Allen.  Allen is healthy and as loud as ever, and he has 14.5 sacks, 51 tackles, 1 INT, and 4 fumble recoveries.  Chad Greenway has 110 tackles, but to me it is obvious that Jared Allen is the heart and soul of the Vikings defense.  If we stop him, we should be able to have a field day against the Minnesota defense.

Some of you might be thinking, "Well, we certainly didn't stop Jared Allen".  My answer to that would be, "Oh contrare".  Yes, Jared Allen recorded 3 sacks on Matthew Stafford.  However, those 3 sacks were Allen's only tackles, and ALL of them came in the first half when Detroit was dominating the game.  Jeff Backus did an excellent job containing the All Pro defensive end, for the most part, and it WAS in fact Chad Greenway who led Minnesota in tackles last Sunday.  Even though Allen was getting sacks, the Lion's offense was still able to score 17 points in the first half.  The defense added two defensive TDs, thanks to a fumble recovery by Stephen Tulloch, in the end zone, and a pick 6 by Alphonso Smith.  The Lions were rolling at halftime, and it looked like they would win in dominating fashion.

That said, without the defensive scores, the Lions would definitely have lost the game due to the fact that the offense was once again rather inconsistent.  In fact, the Lions scored just 3 points in the entire second half.  The offense couldn't get anything going, and the Vikings were methodically wearing down our defense.  The Lions had pretty much handed Minnesota the game, on a silver platter, when Levy got away with his facemasking of Joe Webb and stopped Minnesota from scoring the game winning TD.  Minnesota, depleted offense and all, managed to be much more consistent, scoring a TD in each of the 4 quarters of the game.  Therefore, the Lions would have lost 20-28 if it had not been for Tulloch and the Phonz, and likely 20-35 if it had not been for Levy's great play at the end of the game.

This is certainly not how I want to see the Lions winning games, but again I'll take it.  Here's the next set of statements to recall:

As stated by TCLion, the Lions matchup very favorably with the rest of Minnesota's opponents this season.  They should win this game if they don't beat themselves.  That said, over the last 7 games the Lions HAVE beaten themselves 5 times.  There has been an obvious lack of discipline, and the maturity level of their young players has really started to show.  Stupid penalties, at the worst possible times, have been the result, much to the detriment of the team's overall record and chances of making the playoffs for the first time in 12 years (1999).  The Lions need to play a well disciplined game, win the turnover battle, and execute consistently on both sides of the ball against Minnesota.  If they do these things, they could absolutely dismantle the Vikings this week, thereby sending Jared Allen running home with his tail tucked between his legs.  Getting him to shut his big mouth would take an act of God, so barring divine intervention I seriously doubt anything the Lions do will make that happen.          

Speaking to the lack of discipline and maturity displayed by the Lions over the last several games leading up to the game vs Minnesota, the Lions still committed 10 penalties against the Vikings.  However, only one of those penalties was a personal foul (that I can recall), and while none of the rest of the penalties could be called "smart" penalties, for once the presence of 10 penalties did not beat the Lions (even though it could be said that these penalties WERE a factor in setting them up to lose).  The Lions DID play a relatively well disciplined game, and they DID win the turnover battle (they did not commit a single turnover, while Minnesota turned the ball over 6 times).  Were they consistent on both offense and defense?  Not so much, but they did just enough to get the win, and I suppose that is what matters most.  The Lions also managed to win the time of possession battle by 2 minutes and 28 seconds (31:14 to 28:46).  The Lions looked like they WOULD dismantle the Vikings in the beginning, but it was a close game in the end because of their inconsistencies and lack of offensive production (the Vikings had 145 more net yards than Detroit, and the Lions did not break 300 net yards of offense), and Jared Allen is still a loud mouthed ego-maniac.


Moving on to the next set of statements:

The bottom line here is pretty straight forward.  There are only 2 players on the Viking's squad that are putting up pro bowl quality numbers this season.  Those two players are Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen.  If the Lions stop both, they will win the game with ease, most likely in a dominant fashion.  That said, I don't see any way that Minnesota can win this game, as long as the Lions are executing on offense.  That means that in all reality, the most important person the Lions have to deal with IS Jared Allen.  If they can stop Allen, give Stafford time to set up and throw, by not allowing the rest of the Vikings to run free, and if they can generate ANY kind of consistent running game on offense, then they will NOT lose, even if Adrian Peterson plays and rushes for 150 yards and 3 TDs.  If Jeff Backus allows Jared Allen to run wild, then we could see Matthew Stafford do his best Joey Harrington impression again.  If that happens, you can bet that the frustration level of the rest of the team will rear it's ugly head again, and the maturity level of the young Lions could prevail in another "see how many times it takes us to lose by shooting ourselves in the foot over and over again" session.    

The Lions did stop Jared Allen, as previously stated, and they did win the game.  Adrian Peterson did not play, but Toby Gerhart and Joe Webb combined for 199 rushing yards and a rushing TD (thanks to the 65 yard TD run by Webb).  The Lions did not have to stop Adrian Peterson, because he did not play, but even if he had played, and ran very well, these stats show that the Lions could have still won the game by just containing Allen and putting points on the board.  Stafford played an efficient game, throwing 20/29 for 227 and 2 TDs (69% completions), because Jeff Backus DID do his job.  The Lions never once seemed frustrated, keeping their heads even in the face of the greatest adversity.  This is something we can be proud of, as our young players are clearly learning and getting better.  That said, we still have a long way to go and a lot of room to improve.


And now to recall my picks for key players:

Offensively I believe the key player this week is going to be Jeff Backus once again.  Since I believe the ultimate key to beating Minnesota will be containing Jared Allen, Jeff Backus is the perfect player to put in the spotlight.  I named Backus as the key player the last time the Lions faced Minnesota, and Allen was able to sack Stafford 3 times (all in the first half I believe), forcing a fumble on one in the 2nd quarter.  Backus regrouped and did a great job in the second half, helping the Lions overcome a 0-20 half time deficit to win in OT.  Brian Robison also had 2 sacks on the day, so BOTH Lion OTs will need to play a good game in order to keep Stafford safe and upright.  Even though Stafford was sacked 5 times in the previous matchup against Minnesota, he still managed to complete 32 of 46 passes for 378 yards and 2 TDs, with NO INTS.  I called it a win for Backus in the first game, and if Stafford throws for 300+ and 2+ TDs in this game, I will call it a win again, because the Lions will add a W to their record.

Even though Stafford did not throw for 300+ yards, he did throw 2 TDs and no INTs.  Once again, I call this a win for Jeff Backus.  Stafford was sacked 5 times again in this game, but this time Robison only recorded a half a sack along with Ayodele, and Kevin Williams got the other sack.  Overall, the offensive line did a nice job at protecting #9 in this game, and the Lions added another win.

Defensively, my pick for key player this week is going to be Stephen Tulloch.  If Joe Webb starts at QB, then the Vikings will be quite limited in their passing game on offense.  Stopping the run will become the most important thing for the Lions defense in this case.  Stephen Tulloch is the man in the middle who will be tasked with exactly that.  If he plays well and makes solid tackles in the middle, especially if Peterson does not play and Gerhart has to do all of the running for Minnesota, then the Vikings will struggle mightily to put points on the board at all.  Gerhart is a between the tackles runner.  He is not one who readily bounces to the outside.  Strong play from Tulloch in the middle of our defense will be key.  If Peterson plays, then the OLBs will play more of a role in stopping the run, but Tulloch will still play the most important role.  The Lions have been gouged up the middle by running backs all season long, and Stephen Tulloch can be the difference maker when it comes to eliminating that from happening in this game.  If Peterson can not play, or is limited, then Tulloch's performance could be the difference between multiple 3 and outs by the Viking offense, and Toby Gerhart looking like a pro bowl running back.  If Tully plays well, the Lion's offense will see a lot more chances to score, which can only benefit their chances to win the game.

Early on, it certainly looked like I would be right again here.  Tulloch scored the Lion's first TD of the game on a fumble recovery, deep in Viking's territory.  However, as the game prgressed I noticed more and more of Tulloch tackling much to high, attempting to arm tackle Toby Gerhart.  Clearly this is not the way to tackle a back like Gerhart, who is a load to bring down.  Tulloch did not play a bad game by any means, and Gerhart only managed to gain 90 yards on the ground, but his 6 tackles was less than both Bobby Carpenter (who with 7 tackles played a whale of a game) and Cliff Avril (who also recorded 7 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble).  The true key player for the Lions on defense, against Minnesota this time around, was Alphonso Smith.  Smith recorded 5 tackles and 2 INTs, one of which he took 30 yards to the house.  He was everywhere, and he reminded me a LOT of Charles Woodson in this game.  One could argue that Cliff Avril was the key player, and I might not even argue that, but the Phonz came up BIG when we needed him most, and I think he made a serious case to AT LEAST be the #3 corner going forward.

Lastly, here was my prediction for the outcome of the game:

Jared Allen gets 2-3 sacks, but it is not enough to stop the Lions.  The Lions win in dominating fashion 41-14.

Allen got 3 sacks, and the Lions looked like they would surpass my prediction after the first half of play.  That said, inconsistency and some big running plays by Joe Webb made it a much closer game, bringing the actual final score to 34-28 LIONS.  And that is the end of this week's follow up post.  The Lions are now 8-5, and they have kept the playoff hopes alive.  Here is to the hope that they beat the heck out of Oakland on Sunday, and further solidify their chances to play beyond the regular season.  I'll see you all back here, later this week, for the Week 15 edition of your WS.  Until then Lion's fans, this has been KDawg with the WS W14E follow-up.  GO LIONS!