What Lions fans are saying already. An assortment...

[www.freep.com]

Detroit Lions' Ricky Jean Francois: We should be excited to play Rams

Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press

Most people probably wouldn’t want to play the team that just scored 54 points. But Ricky Jean Francois isn’t most people.

Minutes after the Detroit Lions lost to the Chicago Bears, 23-16, and pretty much snuffed out their playoff hopes, the veteran defensive tackle was ready for the next challenge.

That’s the Los Angeles Rams, an offensive juggernaut that beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 54-51, on Monday night. The Rams have many offensive weapons and rank third in NFL scoring with a 35.4-point average. They also have one of the NFL’s best defensive players in Aaron Donald.

The Lions' defense played well Thursday, holding Chase Daniel and the Bears to 264 offensive yards and 16 points on offense. But the Bears aren't the Rams, who are 10-1 and are on a bye this week.

“I understand we didn’t get the W,” Jean Francois said. “But you’ve got to remember, you’ve got to be excited to be happy to see this Thanksgiving, plus you’ve got to be excited next week to play the L.A. Rams, which is probably the most high-powered offense in the NFL.

“And they’re coming to our house. So if you’re walking around that building with your head down, I don’t know why. You’re playing one of the most exciting offenses that’s going to come in here.”

Jean Francois spoke with an almost giddy excitement about the Rams, maybe something like what a shark hunter might sound like before he takes on a great white.

“You should always want a challenge,” he said. “That challenge should make you excited. That challenge should send chills down your spine when you’re playing a guy like Todd Gurley, playing this quarterback, name how many multiple weapons they have on the defense.

“I know our offense has to be excited to play against Aaron Donald, play against Ndamukong Suh, a guy that used to be here, (Michael) Brockers.”
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Pot is legal in Michigan and everyone is mellow caught up in their dreams.
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The Lions will keep the Rams to under a point a minute.
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Possibly a shut out against the rams?
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Yeah. I can see the Lions not scoring a single point after Suh and Donald murder Stafford!
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[www.freep.com]

Why I'm picking Detroit Lions to beat Chicago Bears — and L.A. Rams
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press

They’ll surely beat the mighty Los Angeles Rams. Yes, the offensive juggernaut that just scored 54 points. The Lions will beat them. Book it.

Why? Because this team makes no sense. It is beyond reason.

Yep, the Rams know how to score. But their defense isn’t close to elite. After a defensive line that features Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, the Rams aren’t great on defense. They rank 24th in scoring, allowing 25.6 points per game and overall they rank 21st — two spots worse than the Lions’ defense. A fumble here, a pick there and the Lions have a chance to win this game at home.
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Make this reporter take a drug test.
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I think the koolaid you guys are drinking is laced with something.
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So The Lions will score 147 points against The Rams?
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wow - didn't take Carlos to long get a hold of recreational Marijuana. didn't think it was in effect for a few more days, but appears he ate an entire gummy haha
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Carlos started drinking a few days before the holiday.
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If Donald lines up over Wagner on passing downs ,Stafford will not finish the game.
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[247sports.com]

Will the Lions open up this offense against the Rams?...or

The Rams are going to beat the s*** out of Detroit just like other teams
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This would normally be a game where you mortgage your house, call your bookie or head to Vegas and put everything on the over.

The Rams will do their part and shred our defense. But even on a porous secondary like the Rams', the Lions won't score. They can't score on anybody. They couldn't score when they had Tate-Jones-Golladay-Kerryon.

Look for more of Stafford going fetal a second before the D-line gets to him.
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Rams will quickly go up 14-0 and it will be turtle mode.
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We will try to run the dink and dunk offense to eat time off, keeping the Rams off the field as much as possible. But the Rams will score on every drive, so by the second half, it will have made no sense
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I predict the O-line will open up, Donald and Suh will have a field day.
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The Lions defense will probably open up for the Rams, probably not the offense though.
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I wouldn't be surprised to see Suh take a liberty with Stafford. Stafford has not played against Suh.
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Right here is the guy that stands between Suh and Stafford:

[​IMG]

Stafford will be lucky to see week 14.
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I don't think it'd be wise for detroit to move away from the short passing game next week. Ndamukong Suh can't wait for this game. Suh might kill stafford if cooter tries to open things up down field. Takes too long for those plays to develop.

Stafford needs help. Jones and johnson being out is a major handicap. Hopefully, at least one of them will be back sooner than later.
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With the Rams defense looking like it is, I'd run out 03 personnel most downs with all tight ends blocking and toss it deep to Golladay covered by Peters.
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[247sports.com]

So glad we didn’t pick that Aaron Donald guy!

Not sure we’re he would have fit in our D!
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All the other teams that passed on him probably wish that too. But drafts are drafts...you win some you lose some.
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The Rams were terrible with Donald from 14-16.

Unless we were going to hire Wade Phillips, I don’t think the D was going to be much more than it is today.
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Obviously guys like Aaron Donald, Mack, JJ Watt were only good because they had a great secondary, top notch coordinators and hall of fame linebackers to compliment them.

How did I do, Stafford apologists??

Oh, you mean some players actually can make plays themselves and not need a supporting cast of all pros to become more than average?
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There were continuous rumors that Suh wanted out of Detroit and into a larger media market. Remember those consultations he had with Warren Buffett?

Some of us were pounding the table for Donald because we saw the foregoing. If the Lions had drafted Donald, then maybe Suh doesn’t have them over a barrel in negotiations. At a minimum, it would have created a different dynamic.
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I saw exactly 0 topics mentioning Donald the week before the playoffs in 2014 when the DL was dominating the run game....and Aaron Donald was sitting at home on his couch, eating cheetoes.
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Where does Donald go in a redraft? Like.....before Greg freaking Robinson for sure.
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Folks may have liked Donald. But there wasn’t the “yep! Everybody knew!” thing. In fact, as I have said....to believe we’d of dominated in 15-16-17 because we had Donald ignores how much the team sucked even with Suh in 10-13.

The only other argument is: we should have taken a DT because I value it. In truth, the team stopped valuing pressure DTs the day Schwartz left town.

There’s a reason why Austin was canned in Cincy despite a pro bowler like Atkins. It’s never been his ideal scheme. Whether or not folks want to believe it....there are so many reasons we passed on Donald it’s really not much more than sour grapes thinking this defense was a AD away from dominating.

Like it or not....even had we selected him, he’s not the same guy here. Not in the scheme Austin ran. Not in Patricia’s either. I’ll say again: unless we hired Wade Phillips, the gnashing of teeth over Donald is sorta useless. The day we moved on from Schwartz was the day extensive pressure from the DTs took a backseat. It’s not a coincidence the staff that passed on Donald was the staff AFTER Schwartz.

There was a lot that went into the pass that IS absolutely hindsight.