2007 Detroit Lions Preview
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by Killuminati
As a long suffering Detroit Lions fan I have very little optimism about the upcoming season. My best guess is that they will win either 3 or 4 games. However, if the stars align just right and there is a miracle of all miracles they might win 7 or 8 games. The odds aren't very good, but stranger things have happened.
I know I sound like a Cubs fan, but hey, they are tied for first place right now. I have to look for hope somewhere.
I recently read a Sporting News article that pretty much said the same thing I did. The magazines official prediction was the Lions would go 5-11 and finish fourth in the NFC North. Which, by the way, I thought was a pretty good prediction. The author finished the article by saying that if everything goes 100% right, they Lions could squeak by with 8 wins. This is a professional, not some over-optimistic Lions fan that is dying for a win.
I know the Lions only won 3 games last year, and that it is almost unfathomable to think that they could win an additional 5, but Calvin Johnson gives me hope. If you look at the average score for the Lions last year they lost 25-19. That is only a margin of 6 points. If the Lions could have put together an additional TD here and there they could have turned around quite a few games.
Case-and-point: The Christmas Eve game against the Bears. The Bears were a tough team last year and ended up playing in the Super Bowl, and the Lions had a great opportunity to beat them. In the last seconds of the game, Kitna threw a pass to Mike Williams that would have resulted in a TD and the win for the Lions, if he had only caught the ball. I don't think anybody in their right mind believes that Calvin Johnson would drop that kind of ball.
Mike Williams' game losing drop only goes to show how poor the Lions were in the Red Zone last year. From what I could find the Lions went 17-42 (40%) while being in the Red Zone last year. If that number increases at all because of the presence of Calvin Johnson the Lions win-loss record should reverse a little bit.
Even Roy Williams commented to the media last year that he was shocked that he didn't get used in the Red Zone last year. Unless the Lions are complete morons (which isn't too far off) they can't avoid but to use Roy Williams or Calvin Johnson in the Red Zone. And I don't there are a whole lot of defenses that contain both of those guys.
Like I said, if the Lions win more than 4 games I would be surprised. It is not impossible, but I would be surprised.
