Detroit Lions stock watch: Bah humbug!
By Matt Bosko
The Detroit Lions came up short in their biggest game of the season. While some players shined, the team as a whole had a miserable performance.
‘Tis the season.
To be frustrated.
To be disappointed.
To watch teams other than the Detroit Lions play meaningful games in Week 17 and beyond.
While Lions fans everywhere expected a win this past Sunday against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals, they woke up Christmas morning to dashed hopes and shattered dreams.
In this week’s stock report, we examine a gift from Sunday, and several lumps of coal.
PRESENT UNDER THE TREE
The Lions’ only semblance of a pure pass-rusher is making a desperate push prior to landing in free agency. Ansah, who has spent more time on the injury report in the last two seasons than in the opponent’s backfield, notched three sacks against the Bengals.
What’s more? He appears to be heading towards full strength.
It puts the Lions in a precarious position.
Ansah leads the team with nine sacks. The team lacks talent and depth on the edge, and Ansah is certainly a factor when healthy.
One of Bob Quinn’s most interesting decisions this offseason will be whether to keep Ansah, or risk letting another team sign him, where he will undoubtedly haunt the Lions for years to come.
LUMP OF COAL
OC Jim Bob Cooter
For now, I’m leaving Jim Caldwell out of this discussion. He’s a different story altogether.
This is about the execution on both sides of the football.
For Cooter, the inability to turn this offense into a juggernaut is astounding. While he has helped develop Matthew Stafford into one of the game’s best quarterbacks, his scheme is simply not getting enough results.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Theo Riddick does not average 80 receptions per year. That may be a lofty goal for a situational running back, sure, but Riddick’s talent is not consummate with his production. A truly great coordinator finds a way to put the ball in the hands of their most talented players, and Cooter has largely ignored one of the league’s most dynamic weapons. Line him up at receiver. Have him run the wildcat. Make the defense account for the man in some way.
Underusing Riddick is not the only reason why Cooter’s offense has fallen short this season, but it is a significant one.
DC Teryl Austin
I have not lost total faith in Teryl Austin, but I simply cannot make sense of the defense’s shortcomings last Sunday.
The Lions manhandled one of the league’s best rushing attacks in Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen two weeks ago.
Life comes at you fast.
Coming into this past Sunday, the only team worse at running the football than the Lions were the Bengals. Somehow, the league’s worst rushing offense scampered all over Austin’s unit in a game that meant everything to the Lions’ playoff hopes.
It wasn’t prolific rookie Joe Mixon, the team’s starting running back, that did the damage. It was Giovani Bernard, who lost the starting job to Mixon midway through the year, who carried the ball 23 times for 116 yards and a touchdown.
Next: Caldwell's success was impossible. Why? What now?
Even with the Lions losing Haloti Ngata on the defensive line, there has to be better execution of containing the run against the league’s worst attack. And that execution has to come in a must-win game. It did not come this past Sunday, and the Lions’ offseason begins prematurely as a result.