Sunday open thread: Who will finish with more passing yards: Matthew Stafford or Aaron Rodgers? One of the oddest stats you’ll find about the
Detroit Lions this year is that they have allowed the second fewest passing
yards of any team in the NFL. Looking at the teams near them—Jaguars
Ricky Jean Francois Jersey , Washington, Ravens, Seahawks—you’d understandably think the Lions pass defense is fairly stout.... but you’d be wrong. The Lions
rank so high in passing yards allowed simply because teams aren’t throwing the
ball against Detroit. They’ve faced just 100 passing attempts, which is 23 fewer
passes than any other team that has played four games this season. Teams aren’t
throwing the ball against the Lions for two reasons: first, they’ve been able to
get out to early leads against Detroit, limiting their need to pass later in the
games. The other reason is Detroit can’t stop the run, so teams are just keeping
the ball on the ground. So you have to wonder, with Aaron Rodgers in town, will
Green Bay forego having the future Hall of Famer air it out on Sunday in favor
of establishing the run? Today’s Question of the Day is:Who will finish with
more passing yards: Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford? My answer: I’m picking
Stafford simply for the fact that I think the Lions will throw the ball more in
this game. Don’t get me wrong
Levine Toilolo Jersey , the Packers’ run defense is quite vulnerable too, and I expect Detroit to run the ball far more often than they did last week. Still,
the Lions offense has always gone through Stafford, and I fully expect him to
throw it at least 5-10 more times than Rodgers this week. That doesn’t mean the
Lions will lose necessarily, just that they are going to be forced to air it out
more.Your turn.Wednesday open thread: Who should replace Jamal Agnew as Lions
kick, punt returner? With news that the Detroit Lions are preparing to be
without All Pro punt returner Jamal Agnew for the long term, the team is now
facing an interesting dilemma. Prior to Week 5, Agnew was handling both the kick
and punt return duties, as well as picking up a significant portion of defensive
snaps
Christian Jones Jersey , and even a couple of offensive plays, as well. The man did a heck of a lot for a 2017 fifth-round pick, which, unfortunately, means the
Lions will have to rely on several players to pick up the slack.But for today,
let’s just focus on his special teams contributions and who may help take over
in both returning spots. On Sunday, Ameer Abdullah—active for the first time all
year—took over as the team’s kick returner, but it’s unclear if that will
continue to be his job going forward. It seems odd to keep five running backs
(including fullback) active on gameday, especially since they only kept three
active last year. So today’s Question of the Day is:Who should the Lions’ kick
and punt returner be with Jamal Agnew out?My answer:I’m going to break this down
by potential optionsAmeer Abdullah - Abdullah seems like the most logical choice
here for kick returner
Devon Kennard Jersey , not only because he was there against the Packers, but because he was pretty darn good as the team’s kick returner in 2015—averaging
29.1 yards per return. The question here is whether Abdullah would be worth an
active spot on the roster. If Kerryon Johnson misses any time, this is a
no-brainer, but if not, five active running backs is honestly a poor use of
roster space. Additionally, Abdullah doesn’t provide any value as a punt
returner. He hasn’t returned a punt since his sophomore year in college. TJ
Jones - Jones has 10 kick returns to his name as a Lion and averaged a
respectable, but not fantastic 21.1 yards per kick. Jones is an interesting
option, because he not only could take over punt return duties, but he won’t
take up an extra gameday roster spot—Jones has been active in every game this
year
Isaac Nauta Detroit Lions Jersey , and offers offensive potential, as well. One reason why I think roster management is a big factor here is because the Lions have
only returned seven kickoffs this year. If we’re being completely honest, kick
returner is a dying position right now, and it’s not worth a roster spot alone.
Brandon Powell - Powell has been sitting on the team’s roster all year, but has
yet to be active for a single game. In the preseason and training camp, Powell’s
speed was on full display, and he looked to be the team’s second-best returner
behind Agnew. However, activating him would mean someone else would ride the
bench, and I don’t think Powell would provide much of anything outside of
special teams.Golden Tate - Tate probably wouldn’t take over kick return
duties
Isaac Nauta Jersey 2019 , but he’s shown himself to be valuable as a punt return guy. Over the course of his career, he’s returned 90 punts for an average of 10.7
yards per return. There’s an obvious injury risk in putting Tate back there, but
he’s clearly the team’s most experienced option and he won’t use up that extra
roster spot. Conclusion:I’m all about using your roster spots efficiently, and
considering the new kickoff rules have all but ended kick returns in Detroit, I
don’t think it’s worth adding another player to the gameday roster for that
alone. Brandon Powell could do both punt and kick return duties, but I still
don’t think it’s worth it. Have TJ Jones take a knee for kickoffs, and roll the
dice with Tate as the punt returner (it’s not like the Lions are forcing that
many punts, either—they only have seven returns on the year). Your turn.Tweets
from https://twitter.com/PrideOfDetroit/lists/lions-coverage
