This was the first year I've watching football actively (I used to only watch the Superbowl) so naturally I had to choose a team to follow. I asked my friends which team is young and has a lot of potential, kind of like the "OKC Thunder" of football. One of the teams they mentioned was the Detroit Lions. After watching their first game I instantly fell in love with Calvin Johnson’s game. He’s probably one of the most complete athletes in all of sports and it shows through his dominance at the wide receiver position. With their dominant offense (when Stafford plays well) and tough defense this team is great on paper. The problem with them, and this made me lose a few years of my life, is their astounding ability at making the most bone-headed penalties. Hopefully today they will be disciplined and focused on trying to stop Brees and his receivers while minimizing penalties, as well as executing on offense. If they manage to bother Brees and Stafford pulls off a great performance I could see the Lions winning, otherwise the Saints could destroy them.
Quarter 1
15:00 Kickoff!!!!
13:05 A typical Detroit penalty, c’mon Schwartz control your team.
12:26 Nice find by Stafford. Titus Young has been great this year as a rookie. Watch for him to be one of the better receivers in the future.
10:58 Touchdown by Hanson! (who is this guy?). What a great way to start the game.
10:54 Alright defense, it’s time to do your end of the job
10:47 Brees is one of the most precise passers I’ve watched. What a great throw.
8:16 Fumble!!!!!! Huge defensive stop by the Lions, great job by Durant forcing that fumble.
7:27 Burleson spins to the 1st down line. Keep it going Lions!
5:35 Stafford and Pettigrew with a nice 22 yard connection. The Lion’s O-line is doing a great job so far.
4:20 Good defense the Saints, that would have been a huge play if Johnson managed to catch it. The defense has to keep applying pressure to Brees since I can’t see them winning any other way.
0:00 That was an entertaining 1st quarter. I’m expecting more of the same high powered offense in the next 3 quarters.
Quarter 2
14:01 Good effort by the Lions but it wasn’t enough this time. Good running play by the Saints.
13:54 I was about to say how great of a run that was by Logan…but of course the Lions get a penalty call. No more, I just ask for no more stupid penalties.
10:47 Stafford is on point today. Good pass to Scheffler to keep the drive alive. I always get nervous with Stafford on 3rd downs.
9:11 TOUCHDOWNNN!!! Johnson completes the catch from Stafford using his leaping ability. I love how the offense is playing today.
6:45 A nice floating pass by Brees. The Lions defense is letting the Saints get anything they want on this drive. And on cue, they force a fumble by sacking Brees.
5:11 Stafford gifts the ball back to the Saints with some poor decision making. I hate how he takes random drives off and decides to just throw the ball away.
1:43 Big blitz by the Lions. This is the pressure I wanted Suh to put on Brees. Unfortunately, the Saints easily run to a 1st down on the next play.
0:48 Lovely, an offside penalty. They cannot allow the Saints to score a TD right now, the advantage after half is very important for their confidence.
0:16 And there’s the touchdown by the Saints. I don’t think the Lions can respond positively to this in the 2nd half. The play is under review and the TD overturned. Lions need to play great defense for 16 seconds now.
0:00 Great defense to finish the half by the Lions, forcing the Saints to go for a field goal. It’s great that the Lions are up heading into half time since this will give them extra confidence to finish the game off strong. On a side note, Brees is amazing at avoiding getting sacked.
Quarter 3
13:09 Excellent throw by Brees for a touchdown, really not too much the Lions could have done there. It’s time to focus back on offense.
10:45 Another great example of how the Lions’ penalties have killed them. Instead of being 3rd and 1, they were 2nd and 19 and obviously didn’t manage to get the 1st down. The Lions’ defense needs to stop the Saints from scoring on this play since a TD would be very hard to overcome right now.
6:32 4th and inches can will they get it? They do, great play by Brees. The Lions defense is doing great during this Saints drive but Brees manages to come up with a huge play when they need it.
4:22 Huge throw and catch by Holston, leading to a TD by Graham. Lions need to get a TD on this next drive otherwise this game is as good as done.
2:32 What a huge catch by Johnson. He pulled off 3 great catches on this drive, saving the Lions.
1:44 Stafford needs to make smarter decisions than throwing it into traffic. Now they are at 3rd and goal and need to get a TD.
1:08 Stafford fakes and runs in for a TD but it might end up being overruled since it looks like he was down before he hit the pylon. Ruling is confirmed, Stafford gets the TD!!
Quarter 4
11:46 Lions coming up with some big stops but the Saints get the 1st down on 4th and 2.
9:53 Sproles waltzes through the Lions D and scores a TD. He’s been having an great game so far.
9:43 Stafford makes a poor decision by throwing a hail mary…resulting in a turnover. I don’t understand why this was necessary since there is still plenty of time left to come back in the game.
7:40 Brees just raped the entire Lions defense and threw to Meachem for another TD.
6:14 Johnson with a nice catch and stiff arm gaining the first down. He has been the Lions’ best player by far tonight.
4:45 Johnson with his 2nd touchdown of the night from a great play call that led to him being isolated.
4:39 Onside kick is unsuccessful. This play is always really risky and it puts Brees in a good position to throw a TD.
3:45 Brees throws another beautiful pass to the Detroit 1.
3:36 Touchdown by Thomas. This game is finished, unless they could make a trade for Tebow.
Summary: Good first half by the Lions where they were attacking offensively and were good on defense. The second half was the complete opposite. Offensively, Stafford made some poor plays and their defense was picked apart by Brees. Congrats to the Saints for a good win and a great job by their coach with crucial half time adjustments. I’m happy that the Lions made the playoffs and am excited to watch them as a more mature team next year. The rest of the playoffs should be fun to watch, especially tomorrow’s playoff debut for Tim Tebow.
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