LOL @ Tannehill with more rushing yards than Bush.

(I know he was injured...so what...still funny)

 

The more I watch Detroit the more I think their D is good but not great. They rely on their front 4 to get pressure and they shut the run down, neither of things are likely to happen on Sunday. I think our 5 man pass pro can handle their 4 man rush and if that's the case Tannehill will shred their suspect secondary.

OTOH our DL should have a field day on their OL, it's by far the weakest unit on their offense. What worries me is their receiver group, it's scary good with Megatron, Tate, Bush, Ebron etc.

 

atlanta moved the ball easy on them 2 weeks ago, i hope we do the same

 

Do you think Miami's O-Line has taken advantage of some weaker D-Line's lately, and will have real trouble with Detroit?

 

In the first half anyway. The Falcons had 160 passing yards and 76 rushing yards in the first half, for 236 yards of total offense. In the second half, they had 53 yards passing and 2 yards rushing, for 75 yards of total offense. They finished the game with 213 passing yards and 78 rushing yards, for 291 total yards in the game. Before the game, Atlanta was the 6th ranked offense in the league, averaging 387.7 total yards per game, 289.6 through the air (5th) and 98.1 on the ground (23). The Lions stepped up in the second half without Fairley or Mosley on the d-line. If Detroit's defense shows up for the whole game, which they should since it's a home game, I think they will do a decent job of limiting the Dolphins. Whether the offense steps up to help out the defense is another question altogether.

 

I don't see either team running the ball this weekend. Both Dlines can shut down the run. This game is going to come down to which team can give it's QB enough time to make the passes. The team that gets more pressure and likely more turnovers will win. I do give an advantage to Detroits passing game over ours, especially playing at home. Our pass rush has to compensate for it.

 

So far you and Deerless Dice have been classy fans of your team and provided great insight on your team, I appreciate that. Does your team usually make good 2nd half adjustments if they get out played in the first half? We have done the same this year, it's been a breath of fresh air compared to previous years.

 

Yes and no.

If a line has elite edge rushers we can handle them. Its interior players we struggle with. I'm hoping there is a good gameplan to keep Suh and your line off balance.

 

Deerless Dice is a Lions fan??

 

My bad, I meant dwolfg

 

I agree on running the ball, but I think Miami has the advantage offensively. Only way I see that changing is if Mosley plays at the top of his game. Otherwise the pressure Detroit is known for generating decreases some. Might not make a big difference, but all it takes a split second for a good QB to make a play. Detroit might end up being that split second late without Fairley.

Detroit's offensive line has been a weak point this year. Partly due to an injury to LaAdrian Waddle, partly because Raiola is getting old and is not what he was even last year. Stafford is playing smarter this year, but he's also holding the ball longer. He might release quicker having Johnson and Fauria back, but I'm not counting on that.

 

Thank you. I try to be polite, because no matter what, this is just a game after all :)

As far as 2nd half adjustments, I would say that the Atlanta and New Orleans games are perfect examples of what is different this year from last. Against the Saints, the Lions were by all means dominated in the first half. At one point in the 3rd quarter, they were down 17-3. They ended up winning 24-23. Atlanta was up 21-0 at the half. They didn't score again, and Detroit won 22-21.

Those are both games that the Lions get blown out of last year. This year they found ways to win.
Against the Saints they didn't have Calvin Johnson, Eric Ebron or Joseph Fauria, and Reggie Bush was limited by his ankle.
Against the Falcons, they didn't have Johnson, Bush, Ebron, Fauria, Pettigrew and Waddle.

Luck played its part for sure, but the hope in Detroit is that having some key players back from injury will keep them from needing to be lucky late in games.

 

Here is a graphic I made for my weekly game breakdown on my site. Figured I would share it because people like graphics, right? :)

If you care to read my attempt at a game preview (obviously from the Lions perspective), you can see it here. I'll admit that I haven't followed the Dolphins as closely as other teams, so if you think I'm way off, let me know.

 

20 drops? That is so bad.

 

We're similar teams, evolving teams, but we've faced much stiffer competition. Anything can happen on a Sunday. Expect a tough, physical game. This game is a true 50-50 for me.

 

Indeed. Detroit had that problem last year. It can really kill momentum at pivotal times.

Here is the full list of drops for each team.
http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-receiver-drops-percentage/2014/

 

Pretty good write up and thoughts about the game. However the stats you have about the dolphins in your write-up are not indicative of the way the Dolphins have been playing lately. And Tannehill has been doing really well making good decisions, throwing the ball away, scrambling to either run or pass on the run and give his WR's a chance to get open. However, we haven't done that against the caliber of Detroit's defense. There's no doubt this is a tough game for both of our teams. Here's how I see it going down, The Lions will give up on the run game and the Dolphins will continue to run even if Detroit shuts our run game down. Needless to say if this happens the Dolphins will force the Lions to play honest on defense, not knowing if we will run or pass. Both teams will be successful pressuring the QB. I have enough respect for both defenses to lower the average score that each offense is accustomed to this year. The Dolphins average score is 26.4 and the Lions is 20.2.
My prediction is:
Mia 20
Det 13

 

http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2014/11/6/7151477/lions-injury-report-eric-ebron-brandon-pettigrew

Fauria already practiced this week, now Ebron and Pettigrew are practicing as well. There's a chance all 3 will be back for Sunday.

 

Cool, thanks!

 

I wish I would have inhaled something but I haven't smoked for a month in a half because I have a court date this month and I am not sure if I am being drug tested or not. I mixed you up with the other Lions fan that has posted in another thread, both names start with a D. To be honest, there is very few names that I know on this message board even though I've been here for a while. I usually never look at someone's name unless I like something that is posted. I just scroll down and read the content of whatever is in a post.

 

I'm glad you are getting some players back, I would rather play a team when they are at their best. We got most of our injured players back after our bye but we still aren't completely healthy, I don't know of a team that is. We started the season missing a bunch of key players, but that made our victory against New England even sweeter.