| By now, you’ve all heard about how teams
like Denver, Seattle, San Diego and St. Louis have greatly improved their personnel
through the draft and free agency this offseason. However, with the exception of San
Diego, which brilliantly hired John Butler as its general manager, the Detroit Lions may
have had the best offseason of all. There are several reasons why I like the Lions this
year.
First, the Lions hired Matt Millen to run the football operations. This was a bold move
for the Ford family and the Lions’ organization as they turned to an individual who
had no previous experience running a professional football team. But Millen knows the
league well, having starred as a player and using his time as a broadcaster to pick the
brains of coaches and players and making note of what made the good teams successful.
Millen showed how savvy he is by getting rid of Gary Moeller as coach and hiring highly
regarded Marty Morhinweg, San Francisco’s offensive coordinator, as head coach.
Morhinweg is considered to be one of the bright, young offensive minds in the NFL and
should do a great job of utilizing the Lions’ offensive weapons effectively.
The Lions have done an excellent job building their offense’s foundation around
the offensive line. They drafted two huge tackles in ’99 (Stockar McDougle and Aaron
Gibson) and came back this year to draft Michigan OT Jeff Backus and Nebraska C Dominic
Raiola. They also signed free agent Brenden Stai to replace free-agent loss Mike Compton.
Add in veterans Matt Joyce, Eric Beverly and Ray Roberts, and the Lions have incredible
OL depth that should help preserve the health of injury-prone QB Charlie Batch.
Batch, actually, is the biggest question mark for the Lions this season. He struggled
last season with knee and rib injuries and only completed 53.6 percent of his passes. His
13 TDs and 15 INTs in 15 games hardly qualified him for a spot in the Pro Bowl. Batch
needs to improve his accuracy and productivity, but I believe that the West Coast offense
being implemented by Morhinweg will help Batch greatly.
First, Batch will be taking shorter drops and looking to either hand off or dump off
short passes more often. That should limit the number of punishing hits he sustains,
therefore keeping him healthier. Second, the passes Batch will be asked to make should be
higher-percentage throws, thus improving his efficiency. Plus, the Lions still boast a
talented group of offensive players to make Batch better.
RB James Stewart isn’t a superstar, but he’s a tremendously productive back
who loves to carry the ball 20-25 times per game. He gained 1,184 yards last year, and I
won’t be surprised if he surpasses that in ’01. The Lions also signed free-agent
RB Amp Lee, who has excelled as a pass-catching back in San Francisco and St. Louis.
WRs Germane Crowell, Johnnie Morton and Herman Moore (the latter could be a June 1 cap
casualty) are talented pass catchers as is free-agent TE Pete Mitchell.
Defensively, the Lions are loaded along the defensive front seven, and the secondary is
more than adequate.
Luther Ellis has made himself into one of the top defensive tackles in the NFC, and
James Jones is also an effective run stopper. The key is DEs Robert Porcher and Tracy
Scroggins. Porcher had a down season last year, but I look for him to be rejuvenated by
the new coaching staff and get his sack total back where it belongs, in double figures.
The Lions are blessed with a Pro Bowler at middle linebacker in Stephen Boyd, and they
have a rising star on the outside in Chris Claiborne, who may be unleashed in rushing the
passer more often this season.
LCB Bryan Westbrook was having a Pro Bowl-type season before being injured late in the
year. He returns along with Terry Fair and free-agent signee Todd Lyght (from St. Louis).
SS Kurt Schulz has a nose for the ball and collecting interceptions.
I also love the Lions’ special teams with steady P John Jett, consistent PK Jason
Hanson and electrifying PR-KR Desmond Howard.
A final reason to look for the Lions to have a big season is a favorable schedule. They
have the seventh-easiest schedule heading into the season (based on their opponents’
2000 records), and their toughest non-division opponents — Tennessee and St. Louis
— have to come to Pontiac. Other non-division games are against Dallas, Cleveland,
Cincinnati, Arizona, San Francisco and Pittsburgh.
The Lions fell one victory shy of a playoff berth last season, but considering their
improvements since that disappointing home defeat to the Bears in Week 17, I look for the
Lions to move up to second place in the NFC Central and earn a wild-card berth. |
