Lions' first priority should be bolstering offense
BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

The Lions are promising changes this off-season, which is so obviously the right thing to do that it barely merits a reaction. They just went 2-14. What are they supposed to do? Give everybody a lifetime contract?




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Their off-season to-do list seems as long as it possibly could be. I'm here to shorten it. In the next few months, the Lions need to:

• 1. Do something well.

• 2. See No. 1.

"You can look around the NFL and you can see teams that are really a strong running team and don't necessarily have an explosive pass game, or have a really good run defense but don't have a really good pass defense," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Monday. "That's not us. We didn't have anything we could hang our hat on this year."

It is common, in losing situations, to look at a roster, identify the biggest weakness and try to fix it. Schwartz said the Lions wouldn't fall into that trap of pouring too many resources into solving their biggest problem. I'll take it a step further: I think the Lions need to do the opposite of that.

They should identify the area that is closest to being competitive and upgrade it. That way, they will at least do something well. They can rejoin the NFL. And then they can try to go from there to genuine contention.

That means dealing with the offense first, because they are closer to being competitive on offense than they are on defense. Calvin Johnson is one of the best receivers in the league, and a perfect fit for franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford. (I don't know if Stafford will pan out or not, but obviously the Lions must plan as though he will.) They like tight end Brandon Pettigrew a lot. The offensive line, while certainly not dominant, is better than people realize.

The Lions were still 27th in the league in scoring, because Stafford was a rookie, the other receivers are awful, and their running game doesn't scare anybody except their running back's mother. But No. 2 and 3 receivers are easier to find than a No. 1, and with a new left guard, the line can be solid.

Schwartz said Monday that he thought the Lions were in pretty good shape at running back when they were healthy, a comment that made me wince until I realized, to my great relief, that he was probably lying. Kevin Smith, even when healthy, does not have the burst to be a starting running back for a good team. (Ideally, they could trade down from the No. 2 pick and draft Clemson speedster C.J. Spiller, but there are so many obstacles to doing that -- trading down is hard, they have to know where Spiller would go, and I just used the word "ideally" in a column about the Lions. So scratch that whole thought.)


The point is that, with two or three good moves -- not even great moves ... hey, I don't want to go overboard. But really, the Lions can have a decent offense. And that would accomplish a few things: It would make them competitive, it would give Johnson a reason to stick around, it would help Stafford become as good as he can be, and it would give fans a reason to believe in this franchise.

"If you look at the resources this team has devoted to offense -- not just since I've been here, but in the recent past -- I think you can definitely say that we're probably a little bit closer, as far as numbers," Schwartz said.

There is an old saying that defense wins championships. But championships are not the Lions' concern at the moment. Offense can make them decent. Start there, then worry about everything else.

If the Lions had finished 24th or so in total defense then I might consider this, but they have been dead last in defense the last 3 seasons, so there is no way they can go offense in round one. With two picks in round one last year they should have used the second on defense, but I digress.

IMO you'd be surprized to see how much effect the offense has on the defense. If the offense could actually score point and sustain drives, and NOT go 3 and out all of the time, I think you'd see the defense play a LOT better. If our offense were better I think two CB's could make our D respectible.

WJB, how often have you seen our defense over the course of the past three or four years make a stop when the game was on the line? You haven't. There have been those rare, few times when our offense has been able to score when it mattered (this years Cleveland game comes to mind), but never our defense. Teams have been able to score at will. Opposing QBs, some of them marginal starters, have been made to look like HOFers against our defense, particularly our secondary.

It is absolutely no comparison. The majority of the issue with the Lions losing games is on our defense. I agree that if our offense was better, our defense wouldn't be as exposed. But the fact is, they would still be exposed. Having an offense that can sustain a drive for over 6 or 7 minutes does you no good when your defense can't keep the opposing team from scoring in less than 2 minutes.

WJB, how often have you seen our defense over the course of the past three or four years make a stop when the game was on the line? You haven't. There have been those rare, few times when our offense has been able to score when it mattered (this years Cleveland game comes to mind), but never our defense. Teams have been able to score at will. Opposing QBs, some of them marginal starters, have been made to look like HOFers against our defense, particularly our secondary.

It is absolutely no comparison. The majority of the issue with the Lions losing games is on our defense. I agree that if our offense was better, our defense wouldn't be as exposed. But the fact is, they would still be exposed. Having an offense that can sustain a drive for over 6 or 7 minutes does you no good when your defense can't keep the opposing team from scoring in less than 2 minutes.

I aint gonna write several big paragraphs on this idea, ill just summarize it..

Drafting offense in round 1 would be a very, very dumb thing to do.