DETROIT LIONS FOOTBALL BY: JON VIGI

 Team has not won an NFL Championship since 1957  Decades of mediocrity and disappointing seasons  Only team in NFL history to go 0-16 (2008)  After reaching the playoffs in 2011, they show promise for the future. A VERY BRIEF HISTORY

Barry Sanders  The team had maybe the greatest running back of all- time, Barry Sanders (‘89- ’98)  Won Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma State in  Rushed for over 2,000 yds. in 1997  Retired too early, Lions fans were stunned

Head Coach Jim Schwartz  as Head Coach of the Lions (1 st year was 2009)  0-1 Playoff record  Although he is credited with getting the Lions back to the playoffs, he is back on the “hot seat” and needs to have a successful season in 2013.

Matthew Stafford  1 st overall pick in 2009 out of Georgia  Strengths: Big arm, playmaker, leader  Weaknesses: Durability, sometimes has bad mechanics  Just signed an extension through 2017, due to make $76.5 million over the next five years

Running Backs  Reggie Bush – Recently acquired from the Miami Dolphins  He is versatile and will create matchup problems for defenses.  Mikael Leshoure and Joique Bell will be good “change- of-pace” backs and will provide more of a power run game.

Calvin Johnson  Nicknamed “Megatron,” he is the best receiver in the NFL  Set an NFL record for receiving yards in a season in 2012 with 1,964 yards  Strengths: playmaker, leader, extremely athletic, 6 foot 5  Weaknesses: none really

Other Receivers  There is a good supporting cast of receivers around Calvin  Nate Burleson and Ryan Broyles will be the #2 and #3 receivers  Burleson brings experience and leadership and Broyles brings youth and athleticism

Tight Ends  Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler (WMU)  Pettigrew is a big target that can block and catch  Scheffler is a quicker, slot receiver type player  Both should catch a lot of passes this year and be a big part of the offense

Offensive Tackles  There are some question marks along the offensive line for 2013  Projected starting LT – 2012’s 1 st round pick Riley Reiff (Seen on left)  Projected starting RT – Jason Fox  Reiff is sure to replace the recently retired Jeff Backus (seen on right) at LT but there is competition between Fox and Corey Hilliard for RT  None of these players have significant NFL game experience although Reiff did rotate in last year

Center & Guards  Long-time Lion’s captain Dominic Raiola is expected to keep his spot at center  Rob Sims is expected to keep his spot at LG  It is too early to tell who will play RG as there have been up to 3 or 4 players getting reps in OTA’s.  The inexperience of the 2013 offensive line raises some questions and, in my opinion, is the area of biggest concern going into next season

Defensive Tackles  Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley will be the interior defensive linemen in 2013  Fairley recently stated that him and Suh make up the best DT tandem in the league, a claim that Suh agrees with completely  These two have put the target on their backs but they just may be good enough to back it up  They can both be an absolute terror to opposing quarterbacks and can dominate opponents

Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah  Ziggy was the Lion’s 1 st round draft pick in 2013  He is originally from Ghana but he attended BYU  He is an unbelievably gifted athlete at 6’5, 275 pounds  He has not played football for very long but he is a raw, hard working player that can develop into something very special

Other Defensive Ends  While Ansah will replace Cliff Avril as the rush end, Jason Jones and Israel Idonije will replace Kyle Vanden Bosch as the weak side ends  While neither of these two players are superstars, they are both respected veterans that will be key role players in 2013  Jones last played for the Seahawks while Idonije last played for the Bears  Jones is a native of Detroit and went to EMU

Outside Linebackers  DeAndre Levy, who has been a solid starter on the defense the past few years, is expected to continue in that role.  Ashlee Palmer, Travis Lewis, and Tahir Whitehead all have taken reps at the OLB position with the first-team defense during OTA’s  I expect Palmer to be the starter Week 1

Middle Linebacker  Stephen Tulloch  Tulloch has been a great addition to the defense when he came here from the Titans in  He is a captain and the clear- cut leader of the defense  A very high energy, emotional player

Cornerbacks  Chris Houston will be the #1 corner in 2013  There are questions as to who the corner opposite Houston will be, though  nd round pick Darius Slay, Bill Bentley, Jonte Green, Chris Greenwood, and Ron Bartell will all be in contention for the starting spot

Safeties  WMU’s own Louis Delmas and recently acquired Glover Quin will be the starting safeties in 2013  Delmas is a high-energy player but has durability issues. Hopefully, he can stay healthy.  Quin last played for the Houston Texans where he was one of their best defensive players

Special Teams  Jason Hanson, who holds many NFL kicking records, holds the NFL record for most seasons with one team (21 with the Lions). He retired at the end of the 2012 season at age 42.  Havard “Kick-a-licious” Rugland and Veteran David Akers will compete to be the Lions #1 Kicker  th round draft pick Sam Martin is expected to be the punter  Reggie Bush (situationally), Ryan Broyles, Steven Miller and a few others will compete to return kicks with the departure of Stefan Logan Thanks Jason

Offense Bush Calvin Johnson Stafford Pettigrew BroylesBurleson -One of Calvin Johnson’s receptions against Atlanta, the game he broke Jerry Rice’s record -The names are replaced with what they would most likely be in ATL was playing man coverage -Pettigrew runs across middle, screening the CB over Johnson -Johnson catches a side-arm pass from Stafford and outruns everybody down the right sideline -49 yard gain Empty Formation (No running backs in the backfield)

Defense -2 nd and 10 -A play in a win against the St. Louis Rams -St. Louis runs a draw play -Suh is blocked one-on-one -Fairley is getting double teamed -Suh dominated the RG and tackles Stephen Jackson in the backfield -If you double team either Suh or Fairley, you can’t double team them both, which is why they are so dangerous as a tandem Fairley SuhAnsahJones Tulloch LevyPalmer Delmas Quin Slay Houston 4-3 Defense – Cover 2

Week 1 Sep 8 1:00PM Vikings Week 2 Sep 15 4:05PM AT Cardinals Week 3 Sep 22 1:00PM AT Redskins Week 4 Sep 29 1:00PM Bears Week 5 Oct 6 1:00PM AT Packers Week 6 Oct 13 1:00PM AT Browns Week 7 Oct 20 1:00PM Bengals Week 8 Oct 27 1:00PM Cowboys Week 9 BYE Week 10 Nov 10 1:00PM AT Bears Week 11 Nov 17 1:00PM AT Steelers Week 12 Nov 24 1:00PM Buccaneers Week 13 Nov 28 12:30PM Packers Week 14 Dec 8 1:00PM AT Eagles Week 15 Dec 16 8:40PM Ravens Week 16 Dec 22 4:05PM Giants Week 17 Dec 29 1:00PM AT Vikings Lions Schedule