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Week Three: Atlanta Falcons (2-0) @ Detroit Lions (1-1)


MichiganCardinal

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7 hours ago, buddha said:

more than anything, the nfl is about quarterbacks, playmakers, health, and turnovers.  the lions have a pretry decent qb, a couple playmakers, they are not healthy, and they turned the ball over in their last game.

win the turnover battle against atlanta and they'll probably win the game.  if not?  they'll probably lose.

this is a big game.  losing two conferencw games early is not optimal, especially to teams youre going to be competing against for the wild card.

and they get unhealthier by the second and its only week 2.

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7 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Who are you conceding the division to?

no one.  their one saving grace is that the division is terrible.

but the injury gods are not smiling on them for sure.

before the season i thought they'd win 9-10 games if relatively healthy and i had them on par with the seattle's of the world but probably behind them.  definitely behind dallas, san fran, and philly.  now a question for you, mr. optimism at 12 wins and going to the super bowl, has anything you've seen so far changed your mind?

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Yeah it's definitely not good to be losing important players this early in the season.

Given the nature of the NFL you expect injuries to happen but you also hope that when they happen they aren't all at once or get season ending injuries early on in the year and thus far the Lions have already had both of those things happen.

For a team that didn't have a huge margin for error coming into the season that just isn't a good thing and could end up being a death blow. You already know you're without arguably your 2nd best defensive player for the season and 2nd best pass rusher(atleast from last year) for most of the season and you only played 2 games. 

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Also on the subject of injuries has there been any word on Vaitai? The injury didn't look good on replay but sometimes those ones that look bad end up not being as bad as the ones that don't. 

It would be a big blow though if he is out for awhile, atleast while Decker is out anyway. The line seemed to be holding up ok before V's injury but as soon as he went out you noticed a big decline.

I think if Decker was there we'd still be fine since you atleast would have Sewell at RT but if they are both out going forward that's going to be another big blow. 

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7 hours ago, buddha said:

now a question for you, mr. optimism at 12 wins and going to the super bowl, has anything you've seen so far changed your mind?

Hey now, that’s Mr. 12 wins and going to the NFC Championship to you! 😆

But no, not really. I had them starting 1-2 and finishing 11-3. I think Doug Karsch put it well yesterday that a lot of people had the Lions going 10-7 without losing 7 games. It happens. It shouldn’t have happened against Seattle in the context of how that game played out, but they lost in OT without touching the ball. That  happens sometimes to good teams. I still think they can go 5-1 against the NFC North and go 5-4 or 6-3 against the Falcons, Panthers, Bucs, Ravens, Raiders, Chargers, Saints, Broncos, and Cowboys.

I will say, if this injury situation gets much worse I may start to adjust my prediction. I think we are very nearly at the breaking point where we need the injury report to be showing guys getting healthy, not losing more long-term.

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1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

Also on the subject of injuries has there been any word on Vaitai? The injury didn't look good on replay but sometimes those ones that look bad end up not being as bad as the ones that don't. 

It would be a big blow though if he is out for awhile, atleast while Decker is out anyway. The line seemed to be holding up ok before V's injury but as soon as he went out you noticed a big decline.

I think if Decker was there we'd still be fine since you atleast would have Sewell at RT but if they are both out going forward that's going to be another big blow. 

I think Campbell said it’s not expected to be season ending, but he’ll miss some time. It will be telling if he’s put on IR this week.

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21 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

The Falcons are good and anyone who cries SOL if we lose this game is just being reactionist.

The Falcons offense, between Ridder and Bijan, is hard to defend. Ridder is dangerous when he is allowed to run the ball, but isn't terribly good as passing. He's an NFL QB, so he'll still make the throws that are open in the short to intermediate range. I think they will try to run with Ridder quite a bit and our linebackers will be tested in containing him. That said, they also should have lost to the Packers. Green Bay had a 24-12 lead going into the 4th quarter and were outscored 13-0 in the 4th quarter. Through two games, Atlanta has outscored opponents 27-0 in the 4th quarter, something to be aware of.

Potential for a look-ahead game for both teams. Lions have a short turnaround to travel to Green Bay for Thursday Night, Falcons are traveling to London after this game.

Injuries will play a role here, a little worried to see the report on Wednesday. We already know Houston is out, sounds like Montgomery is too. If Decker and Vaitai are both out as well, I'm very concerned for our rushing game.

The crying of SOL if they lose to Atlanta would be an overreaction but if the Lions are the team they've been built up to be, you can't lose a game like this at home. Going 0-2 at home to start would be unacceptable really. 1-2 wouldn't be the end of the world and I wouldn't call this a "must win" but the Lions really need to and should win this game even with all the injuries. It's time to raise the bar.

Edited by NYLion
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