Most people like Gerald McCoy more than I do, but I wouldn't complain if the Lions drafted him. He's more of a quicker, penetrating undertackle, as opposed to the bigger, immovable object types that I prefer at the position. Suh is kind of a mixture of the two, which makes him the most dominating DT to enter the draft in several years IMO. Regardless, I think both of them will be very good in the NFL for years to come.

As of right now I'm picking:

1. Ndamukong Suh
2. Gerald McCoy
3. Carlos Dunlap
4. Russell Okung
5. Joe Haden
6. Eric Berry

Berry might be the best of the bunch but the other play positions of more pressing need and value.

Tampa won today. Looks like we're picking #1 again.

As each week passes, this team is doing a backslide. I saw some hope at one time.....I have seen NONE in the past two performances. This defense is atrocious, and regardless of what Mayhew and Schwartz say about BPA, the ENTIRE draft upcoming should be for defense. There are THAT many holes to fill just on that side of the ball.

I hope we can get a C or G in there somewhere.

I'd love to get a second or third round OG. This line needs major help. Unfortunately, I think this team is married to Raiola much the same way we're married to Jeff Backus...

You simply cannot win unless you can run the ball effectively.

An average back like Smith simply cannot run behind Raiola, Peterman, and Ramirez/Loper. This line is garbage in run blocking. They show flashes, but unless Smith gets some great TE/WR blocks downfield, he's bound to average about 3 ypc.

Anyone ever heard of that Ndamukong Suh guy? I hear hes pretty good. Maybe we could use him.

I guess some Eric Berry guy is pretty good too.

What's the answer though? When we had Kyle Kosier no one was happy. When we had Damieon Woody no one was happy... Both of those OGs have gone on to play well elsewhere. Why couldn't we run block with those guys but other teams can? IMO you can't blame everything on Raiola and Backus, soooo... what's the freakin' issue???...

The issue is that there are too many holes in the dam, and not enough plugs to stop the water. I agree the offensive line can use some help, but I whole heartedly disagree that it is our most pressing need. It is a combination of issues, involving the offense, defense and special teams. Our special teams poor play often gives our offense a long field and our defense a short field. Winning the field position game is important, and our special teams loses it for us each and every week. We don't have enough talent on either side of the ball to make up for that.
On offense, they have shown they can score....maybe not as often as we'd like, but it can happen. The Detroit offense is not the worst in the league.

The same cannot be said of the defense, particularly the secondary. Our corners are the absolute worst in the league. They can't cover, they barely tackle, and they don't play to their assignments in the run game. Opposing quarterbacks are completing almost 72% of their passes. And that IS NOT the fault of the d-line. Watch the games closely and see how quickly the opposing receivers come open. It's not like quarterbacks have all day to throw. They often are release the ball just as they plant. That is poor coverage, pure and simple. And I don't blame Cunningham. You can't cover up a big pile garbage with a paper towel....and that's essentially what he's forced to do each week. More blitzing helps on occasion, but it also exposes what lies beneath...a very poor secondary. Until this defense can step up and stop other teams from scoring at will, the Lions will continue to major league suck.

Kosier was heads and shoulders above any of the turds we have now. Woody was good at C, not so much at G. It was stupid for them to make him switch positions because of Raiola. That, and Woody ballooned up because he was a fatty.

I was one of the few who was pissed when Kosier was not resigned. He was a good, smart player with a mean streak and he was hitting his prime. Needless to say, he started every game in 06 and 07, went on IR after 3 games in 08 and has started every game this year. And Dallas' OL is dominant.

I disagree. The pass rush sucks, and we're blitzing to help mask that. Why else would Hasselbeck have an open RB or TE on every single play? The chickens killed us underneath...because we were blitzing! If we had a good 4 man rush, we would have to blitz so much, and Sims/Levy, Foote, and JP could do their job in coverage.

Now, the secondary (CBs particulary) are terrible. They try to tackle, but stink, and they suck in all coverages. WRs do get open quickly, but how long did Rodgers have to throw the ball? All damn day and he used it. He had time so his WRs could work their way open.

Convo, we blitz because that is Cunningham's style of defense, first and foremost. He likes it, and his defenses are usually very adept at it. However, if you watch the games closely, you'll see that opposing quarterbacks are able to drop, set, throw without hesitation. That is on the coverage, not on the rush. The rush needs time to get there, and the coverage units aren't getting the job done to give the rush time to arrive. Teams are completing over 70% of their passes....you wanna tell me that's because of the pass rush?! You should know better than that. Watch how far off the receivers our CBs are playing. No bump and run, no disruption of their timing routes....hot routes available all over the field because our corners flat out suck and they can't man up on anyone. The Lions don't blitz on every play, just about 40-45%. Yet teams are throwing at a completion percentage much higher than that. And there have been times that a four man rush has gotten us a sack or two. But for the most part, if the linebackers drop into coverage, the outside receivers still are WIDE open.

Do me a favor...next game grab a stop watch and time from the snap to the time the opposing QB is able to throw the ball...on every down possible. More often than not, that ball is out in under four seconds. The rush needs longer than that. If the QB is able to wait longer, without moving from the pocket, then that's a rush issue. But I think you'll find out that the opposing QBs are getting quick completions because our secondary blows.

Oh, it's lights out!

I'm not disagreeing with you that the CBs are garbage. That they are. QBs have been dumping the ball quickly, for the most part. But when our coverage is decent (Green Bay, for example), we had to blitz because our pass rush sucked. Even with the blitz, the OL was able to pick up blitzers and Rodgers was able to do just enough to escape so he found open receivers, TEs, and RBs.

I'm saying that the pass rush sucks. The atrocity of our pass coverage is even more painfully obvious when we blitz, but we blitz because our pass rush is so weak. Seattle WRs didn't kill us moving the chains all day, it was all those passes to Carlson, Forsett, Griffiths, etc. In most games, I would agree with you, but watching 10 yards where linebackers should normally be in coverage be completely vacant outside of Seachickens was painful to watch.