Agreed. His value to a team running a 3-4 is even moreso. Id swear the only reason he doesnt get more PT is because (1) we have drafted some high level talent at his position and (2) hes more of a run Stuffer than a Penetrating DT and our style is more penetration.
Hopefully we can bring him back for fair value and let him step right in to C Williams Role, and bring in a UDFA or UFA to be #4 who can be groomed just like he was. Id feel confident with Suh and SLH Starting with Fairley to spell both.

I believe CWill will be gone after this season.. leaving us Suh/Hill/Fairley in that order.. I am sure the Lions can find another solid DT in the draft or FA. It may just be me.. but I have a feeling that the Lions won't need to overpay players to come here anymore, based on what the franchise has done since Mayhew took over as GM.

Fair enough M2, i probably am not giving SLH his due as a pass rusher also, but my point was more along the lines of , he is the only NT style DT we have on the team (at least IMO) who could play in a 3-4 and be very valuable as a NT to them, while also having the talent to play in the 4-3 as a Run Stuffer & Pressure DT.



Agreed. And Even if we dont Draft or Lure a FA here, we know Mayhew can pull a LoJack or Turk McBride type of trade to fill that 4th spot. As has been discussed he usually does well with those types of trades.

Brian Price anyone?

Lions' Matthew Stafford could pass 350-yard record Sunday
September 13, 2012
By Dave Birkett

Playing from behind has its perks -- including, at the very least, a share of an NFL record.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford tied Drew Brees' mark with his fourth straight 350-yard passing game in Sunday's come-from-behind win over the St. Louis Rams.

Stafford completed 32 of 48 passes for 355 yards with three interceptions. His last 80 yards came on the game-winning touchdown drive in the final 2 minutes.

Last year, Stafford closed the season with 391 yards in a win over the Raiders, 373 yards in a playoff-clinching victory against the Chargers and a career-best 520 in a loss to the Packers. He also threw for 380 yards in the wild-card loss to the Saints, but that game doesn't count toward the record.

Brees set the mark in Weeks 3-6 last season.

"That's cool, I guess," Stafford said Wednesday when told of the record. "Not something I set out to do five games ago, but it's obviously a cool thing. But winning, that's the coolest thing for me. Who knows what the stats will look like this week? Nobody does, but hopefully we can do whatever we need to do to get a win."

The Lions play the 49ers on Sunday night -- almost certainly the best defense the Lions will face this year. Last year, Stafford threw for 293 yards against the 49ers, but he completed just 28 of 50 passes and was sacked five times.

He said he doesn't anticipate having many chances to throw deep Sunday.

"They're a two-high operation," Stafford said. "They've got two safeties deep most of the time and a pretty good corner, so we'll see. We're just going to try to go out there, execute our game plan and play at a high level. It should be a fun game."

Contact Dave Birkett: 313-222-2037 or dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

Free Press beat writer Dave Birkett will answer your Lions questions in a live chat at 3 p.m. Friday at freep.com/sports. Submit early questions here. Then come back Sunday night as Carlos Monarrez live-blogs the Lions-49ers game. And make your NFL picks here.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120913/S ... it%20Lions

Fair enough M2, i probably am not giving SLH his due as a pass rusher also, but my point was more along the lines of , he is the only NT style DT we have on the team (at least IMO) who could play in a 3-4 and be very valuable as a NT to them, while also having the talent to play in the 4-3 as a Run Stuffer & Pressure DT.



Agreed. And Even if we dont Draft or Lure a FA here, we know Mayhew can pull a LoJack or Turk McBride type of trade to fill that 4th spot. As has been discussed he usually does well with those types of trades.

With as many talented D-Linemen that we have, I think we should be playing a 5-2-4 defense. I love the idea of our D-line looking like this:

Avril------------Williams/Fairley------Hill--------Suh----------KVB/Young

There isn't an offense in the league that our 5 man D-line couldn't destroy quickly. They, ( opposing Offense), would not even be able to play a screen game because they would be forced into max protect mode full time.

The 2 LBers and 4 DB's would only have to cover for roughly 4 seconds and down goes the opposing QB.

Lions have the oldest roster in NFL

While much of it is concentrated in the kicking game and along the offensive line, the Detroit Lions have the oldest roster in the NFL.

The Lions averaged 27.42 years old on their opening-day roster this year. The San Diego Chargers (27.27) were the only other team with an average age older than 27.

Kicker Jason Hanson, who turned 42 in June, and punter Ben Graham, who turns 39 in November, are among the oldest players in the league, but the Lions also have the NFL's second-oldest starting line with three players in their 30s, left tackle Jeff Backus (34), center Dominic Raiola (33) and right guard Stephen Peterman (30).

Eleven other Lions enter the season 30 or older, including starters Nate Burleson (31), Erik Coleman (30), Kyle Vanden Bosch (33), Corey Williams (32) and long-snapper Don Muhlbach (31).

The Chargers (18) are the only team with more players over age 30.

The average age of NFL players on opening-weekend rosters was 26.22 years old.

Think of the Lions as a young, up and coming team?

Lions sign CB Conroy Black to practice squad; release RB Stephfon Green
Posted by ttwentyman on September 18, 2012 – 1:53 pm

The Lions signed Conroy Black, one of the fastest cornerbacks in the draft this year, to their practice squad on Tuesday.

Black, who visited the Lions before the draft as one of the team’s allotted pre-draft visits, went undrafted in April. He was signed by the Raiders following the draft, but was released in August.

The Lions released running back Stephfon Green to make room for Black on the practice squad.

The Lions are shorthanded in their secondary with the recent arm injury to cornerback Drayton Florence but are hoping to get cornerbacks Chris Houston and Bill Bentley back this week against the Titans.

http://blogs.detroitlions.com/2012/09/1 ... fon-green/

Louis Delmas, Bill Bentley 'improving,' according to Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz
By Philip Zaroo | pzaroo@mlive.com
on September 18, 2012 at 12:24 PM,
updated September 18, 2012 at 2:09 PM

The health of the Detroit Lions defensive secondary is in rapid and alarming decline. The unit can't seem to catch a break, unless you count the forearm of cornerback Drayton Florence.

Chris Houston is still trying to recover from a high ankle sprain suffered during the preseason, so the Lions would be tickled to get Louis Delmas and Bill Bentley back from their own injuries.

Alas, there's little to report along that front, according to Jim Schwartz, speaking on WXYT 97.1 Detroit.

"(Delmas) is on an improved path, but him getting back on the field, the only timetable we have for that is his health," said the head coach, who is notoriously cryptic about player injuries. "When he's ready to go, he'll be back out there. And we're not going to put him out there too soon.

"We didn't go into it saying this is the particular timeframe. The timeframe is his body, and how his knee's feeling. If his knee's feeling good, he'll be back out there. He's an important player to us, a big part of our plans. Whether it's this week or not, we'll tell as the week goes on."

Bentley suffered a concussion in Detroit's Week 1 win over St. Louis. The rookie cornerback hasn't been practicing with the team, but Schwartz sounded optimistic as far as that goes.

"He's improved," Schwartz said. "We'll get him back on the practice field and just see where he goes from there, but he is improved.

"I think you saw across the league – Darrelle Revis missed a game with a concussion; Bentley missed a game with a concussion. I think we're witnessing the NFL's increased awareness of concussion and how to recover from a concussion, and all those different things. It was disappointing to lose him last week, but if that keeps him better over the course of a season, over the course of his career, then we're on the right track."

Email Philip Zaroo at pzaroo@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/philipzaroo.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/20 ... cart_river