The natural reaction to Detroit's 0-16 season is to rebuild the entire franchise from scratch.On the offensive line, the Lions are taking the opposite approach. They are hoping that continuity will key improvement from a long-standing trouble area.
Four of Detroit's starters are locked into long-term contracts, including guard Stephen Peterman and center Dominic Raiola, who signed new deals this offseason.
More of the same is a risky approach considering the unit gave up 52 sacks last season, the second worst mark in the league. The rushing attack was 28th in yards-per-attempt.
With the starters returning, the major offseason acquisition was former Redskin Jon Jansen, although he's expected to be a jack-of-all trades reserve.
The offensive line is under even greater scrutiny because of the presence of Matthew Stafford. If the Lions start the number one overall pick right away, the franchise risks him taking a beating like David Carr-style beating in his rookie season.
The Texans were an expansion team when Carr debuted, but that just means they had the same amount of wins the year before as the 2008 Lions.
Stafford doesn't sound worried.
"Whenever you are out there you have to trust the guys you are behind," Stafford said.
It will be interesting to hear what he's saying in December.
Well truth be told, giving up only 50 sacks and averaging 84 yard on the ground would be an improvement. Which is probably what will happen. You can not expect to face the sturdy and tough defensive tackles in the NFC North with that line. Pat and Kevin Williams, Tommie Harris, Raji and Company.. It is going to turn ugly quick. The Lions were stupid for not taking an offensive lineman in the draft this year. I personally feel that taking Stafford over a Left Tackle was ignorant. But they also had other opportunities in the 3rd round and down to do something. Heck, even the Offensive Guard Duke Robinson from Oklahoma could have been had in the 5th round. Now, I will be the first one to admit the Lions have done a good job of securing talent this off-season and that they had more holes than they could have filled in one off-season. But that is no excuse to go into the season with a back up lineman from another team and an annual injured reservist as your only additions.
I'll be interested from game 1...Go Lions!
That will be the role Daunte Culpepper plays....to test out that O-line!...I just can't see them doing anything this year ...4th in the NFC North!
I think they can at least get 4-5 wins, even more. But still they really have to avoid putting Stafford in or he will end up like Carr and Harrington.
"Whenever you are out there you have to trust the guys you are behind," Stafford said.
Let Culpepper test out the trust level, and see what happens. The lions should not play this kid until next year, letting him sit and learn is his best chance at this level.
This article gets a big incomplete. As a die hard Lions fan I have seen every game (yes that's a painful admission) over the last 5 years and many of them in person. Jon Kitna often held the ball too long which lead to sacks. Mike Martz ran a system that often had a slow, dead legged, imobile Kitna responsible for getting rid of a blitzer on his own. There was pratically no such thing as a max protect scheme under Martz. No fullback or TE left in to aid blocking on 8 man rushes in obivious passing situations.
With that said the depth on this line has been improved. It was not done using high draft picks this year but let's not forget that Backus was a 1st rd pick and so was Cherilous (just 2 yrs ago) on the other side. The team with the fewest running attempts last season was the Lions. The previous year there was success running the ball with TJ Duckett and Kevin Jones but they were not given enough opportunities. Kevin Smith is a good back, Terrelle Smith is a good FB. Pettigrew (TE) will help Backus play one or two more seasons at a decent level. Ephraim Saalam was signed in the off season as was Jansen and will provide depth. Fonoti & Murtha may also make the team and provide depth at Center/Guard for Fonoti & Tackle for Murtha.
Running the ball more which Linehan is committed to will help us open up play action and be less predictable on offense. It is very hard to properly evaluate this team's O line simply off of statistics with the poor coaching and schemes/playcallling that contributed to their past ineptitude. Those days are gone in the Schwartz era.
Realistically I think my Lions win 4-5 games and finish the season about #20-25 in rushing. Things are on the way up but not there yet. This line can be respectable and that's saying alot after last year's tragic season.
GOD Bless Steve McNair & his family & friends! In Schwartz we Trust!
the lions should have drafted real d linemen and traded for a real o lineman. but... jansen is good to have, much better than foster. would like to see jansen at LG, and have him impart some toughness to backus. cherilus is a joke so far.
the lions o line wasnt good enough last year but when ya give up points like the lions did... yer own offense gets forced into being one dimensional very fast. that tends to cloud the issue regarding offensive talent etc.
May the Schwartz be with you!
The D line will get full attention next year I'm sure of it. Better to have your #1 QB and #1 TE going into their second seasons when you get a BA defensive tackle, or two. A defensive guy has a better chance to be effective when you plug him in right away vs. an offensive player.
I favor letting Culpepper start and redshirting Stafford while the 0-line develops, but it looks like the Lions want to start Stafford on day 1.
The Lions O-line is obvious still suspect. I've heard various commentators say that the line wasn't actually *that* bad, but the offense always seemed to be in disarray. The idea seems to be changing the scheme and adding a solid TE will improve the line, but the talent level is still questionable.
It may be unfair to judge the o-line based on last year. The offense was in total disarray. Part of the problem was Marinelli's bizarre obsession with doing away with all things Martz. Jon Kitna felt that he was healthy enough to play, and was angry about being benched because of a questionable injury. Other players who were Martz defenders also found themselves on the bench, on reserve, or just out the door. The final result was an offense that had no direction and was just consistently bad. When you pair that with a defense that gives up 35 points a game ... you've got an 0-16 team.
As pissed off as I was about the Lions drafting Stafford over any of the LTs, the real position of worry is the DT.
We still need to address the D-line before we even can grab an offensive linemen (in next years draft), so hopefully our interior line will pan out, or Stafford will be in for a hurting for the next couple of years.