This Week Matt Patricia’s Detroit Lions Head Home To Try And Get Their First Win Of The Season Against Tom Brady And The New England Patriots On Sunday Night Football.
The third quarter continues to plague the Detroit Lions as they came up short out west last week. Scheduling is not doing this reeling team any favors early in the season. In the next three weeks, the Lions will see the Patriots, Cowboys, and Packers. If we are being honest with ourselves, Detroit needs to get two out of these next three games to have some kind of shot at the postseason after dropping their first two. The Lions have the odds stacked against them given their record on Sunday nights and the fact that they almost certainly will be without defensive star Darius Slay this week (preseason cut DeShawn Shead was signed Wednesday as a replacement).
This Weeks Opponent: The New England Patriots
New England will be coming to Detroit having lost last week as well. Their AFC Championship rematch with Jacksonville did not go as they would have liked last week and they will be ready to come in against a weaker team and dominate if they are given the chance. There was some big news that came out of New England/Cleveland this week. Perhaps you’ve heard that wide receiver Josh Gordon is now a New England Patriot.
There’s a little bit of controversy as to what number Gordon will wear in New England, but regardless of that Patriot fans are hoping that he can be their second coming of Randy Moss. Everybody knows that Gordon is a former 1600+ yard receiver, but that was long ago. If Gordon was in any position to put up those kinds of numbers again, he would not have been dealt for a fifth-round pick. With that being said, if Gordon is dressed Sunday night, it will be interesting to see if Detroit shadows him with somebody, especially if Slay cannot go.
Can the Lions Linebackers Cover Gronk?
There are some very interesting matchups to look at in this game, but I think that the most influential will be whether or not linebacker Jarrad Davis and company have improved their coverage abilities enough to at least limit some of what Gronk can do. Lions head coach Matt Patricia probably has the best idea of what it takes to slow down Gronk, but there’s only so much you can do to scheme for such a matchup nightmare. If there’s no improvement on that front, Tom Brady and the Patriots offense will tear up the Lions Defense all night. The particularly porous part of Detroit’s defense has been the run defense. Luckily for them, New England does not feature a solid running game, but if Matt Brieda can put up huge runs on Detroit, it may not matter how good at running the ball other teams are.
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