Lions: Draft Position is all that matters over final three weeks

The losses continue to mount for the Detroit Lions after nearly being shutout by the Minnesota Vikings yesterday.  If you are keeping track it’s the sixth straight loss.

Six straight losses, and five straight minus Matthew Stafford.  After David Blough had a reasonably nice showing on Thanksgiving against the Chicago Bears, the wheels entirely fell off. First downs proved to be hard to come by as the Detroit Lions only had a couple of them midway through the second quarter. They would finish the game with 18, most coming after the game was all but decided – in typical Lions fashion.

The team would eventually catch up in garbage time and actually convert 7-16 third-down opportunities, surprisingly better than Minnesota’s 5-14.

David Blough, despite throwing a couple of interceptions, completed 24/40 passing for 205 yards and 1 touchdown.  His counterpart Kirk Cousins didn’t prove to be much better just throwing for 242 yards and 1 touchdown against a struggling Lions secondary.

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On a day where I expected Dalvin Cook to torch the Lions abysmal run defense, Detroit was able to contain one of the leagues’ best rushers.  Cook averaged 3.4 yards per tote, the same as Detroit’s Bo Scarbrough.  Cook went for 62, and Bo galloped for 65 yards on the day.

It was Stefon Diggs taking the Lions all-pro corner Darius Slay to school yesterday.  He made 6 grabs totaling 92 yards.  Slay struggled against the shifty, smaller, quicker pass-catcher.  Slay didn’t appear to be 100% healthy, and perhaps he was just grinding it out.  Darius wasn’t terrible; he just didn’t look completely healthy.  Yesterday was Slay’s 100th career game joining only Dick LeBeau, Bruce McNorton, and Lem Barney at the cornerback position to do so. That’s some elite company in Lions history.

Scarbrough was forced to leave the game with an injury but appeared optimistic at the conclusion of the game that his season will continue.  Although yesterday was a grind, he’s been a significant upgrade in Detroit’s running game.  He will have a future in Detroit’s backfield beyond this season.

Kenny Golladay caught his league-leading 10th touchdown reception.  The trio of Kenny, Marvin Jones, and Bo Scarbrough are the only exciting playmakers on offense that may keep our interest for the remaining three games of the season. Rick Wagner and Jarrad Davis were both also sidelined with injuries suffered yesterday.

For the Matthew Stafford haters, look at how attractive this team is without their franchise quarterback under center.  Remember this next time you decide to call for his replacement.

With three games remaining on the season, the best thing to hope for is three more losses.  Yes, I said it.  At this point, the only thing that matters for Detroit is their 2020 NFL Draft position.

For head coach Matt Patricia losing the final three games could cost him his job.  He won’t be on team tank after having a 9-19-1 career head coaching record.  Detroit is desperate for a pass-rusher to play on the opposite side of Trey Flowers.  If they can somehow find themselves picking third,  behind the Bengals & Dolphins, they could have an opportunity to select Ohio State’s, Chase Young.

Detroit currently sits with the sixth overall pick behind Cinci, NYG, Wash, Miami, and Arizona.  To get into the top-three, Detroit will need some help.  Maybe the return of Eli Manning will spark the Giants to a couple of victories, which would make for a very interesting final three weeks of the season.