NFL Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions’ Third-Quarter Season Grade

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By @jerry2landry

Calvin Johnson Detroit Lions Wide Receiver vs New England Patriots

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Lions are on a two-game losing streak, but those two losses came on the road to the Arizona Cardinals (9-2) and on the road to the New England Patriots (9-2) in consecutive calendar weeks. You couldn’t pick a tougher stretch of football outside of visiting the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks back-to-back. The Patriots are the hottest team in football, and the Cardinals were one of the NFL’s most formidable in Week 11.

Detroit (7-4) is now a game back of the Green Bay Packers (8-3), and sits paired with the Dallas Cowboys (8-3) for the wild card. Although the NFL scheduling system is quite fair, the league can’t account for timing. Green Bay will be playing their big dogs (Lions and Patriots) at home, and there’s no guarantee that the Patriots will remain hot in Lambeau.

Overall, the Lions’ defense has earned an A. They gave up 34 points against the Pats, but much of that was on short-field opportunities due to dumb luck (a 66-yard punt by Patriots’ Ryan Allen from his own 17) and an inability of the Lions’ offense and special teams to gain/maintain any leverage on field position. Before this demolition at Gillette, the Lions’ D was giving up 15.6 points per game in light of bottom-flight performance from other units.

Overall, the Lions’ offense is an underachieving C-. Golden Tate has been tremendous and is outplaying his preseason trade value. Calvin Johnson, when healthy, has been an absolute manimal, making spectacular catches in pinhole-sized windows. The running game hasn’t been terrible, and when Reggie Bush is an option, it’s resembled something you could call a threat.

So what gives? It’s the Lions’ third-down conversion rate (39.1 percent, 22nd in the NFL). For any other team, 22nd on third down is something you can overcome. For a team that has the game’s best receiver (Johnson), arguably the best second option (Tate), a top-10 quarterback (Matthew Stafford) and a running back good enough to keep the offense two-dimensional (Joique Bell), it’s inexcusable.

The Lions’ defense is good, but it’s not 2013 Seahawks or 2000 Baltimore Ravens good, and they can’t propel the Lions to the playoffs in spite of their offense. 

The crazy thing about context in the NFL is that it shifts and does so continuously. When you consider the fact that the Lions squandered games against the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers, yet pilfered wins from the Packers and New Orleans Saints, their 7-4 record shakes out to a surprisingly representative mark of their performance, somehow turning the context into a controlled variable.

Lions’ third-quarter grade: B+

Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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