Lions a curious mix of productivity and inefficiency

An interesting Week 16 in the NFL: My Packers finally found some offense in a 55-7 romp over Tennessee, and the Jets “savior” at quarterback, Greg McElroy, discovered what Mark Sanchez’s legion of critics apparently have failed to notice: The Jets' offensive line can't pass block, or at least only offers an imitation of such. I would also like to express the opinion that the highly personal nature of some of these criticisms--such as by ex-Jet Kris Jenkins--can come so easily only from an "ethnically" biased attitude, considering the fact that there are so few Hispanics in the NFL. And as Darin Gantt of NBC Sports recently wrote, "The issue is that Sanchez has become an easy mark, and a red herring for the real issues the Jets have...(he) never had a chance this year."

But what I find an ongoing curiosity is the 4-11 Detroit Lions. In a 31-18 defeat against the Atlanta Falcons to extend their losing streak to 7 games, Lions’ quarterback Matthew Stafford set a dubious record: Most passing yards in a game without throwing a touchdown pass, 443; the previous mark was 432 yards by Warren Moon. The Lions gained 522 yards in total offense, yet managed to score just one touchdown. On the surface, this is difficult to explain: The Lions’ total offense and defense has statistically improved over last year’s 10-6 team, insofar as yardage gained and allowed. The Lions are currently second behind New England with an average of 414.2 yards gained per game, while they rank 12^th in total defense. During their current seven-game losing streak, they have outgained their opponents 2946 to 2505. 

Yet the Lions are in the middle of the pack in scoring offense (after averaging nearly 30 points per game last season), and their scoring defense is in the bottom quarter of the league. While Russell Wilson is busy padding his stats against San Francisco by throwing 4 touchdown passes that covered a mere 29 yards—his success, such as it is, bought on the back of the Seahawks’ running game and defense—Stafford is set to become the first quarterback to reach the 700 pass attempts in a season mark, and a second 5,000 yards passing. Yet through 15 games, all this “production” has yielded a mere 17 touchdown passes, compared to 41 last season. His principle target, Calvin Johnson, has caught passes for a record 1,892 yards, but he has caught only 5 touchdown passes. The Lions’ 17.9 yards per point ranks 28^th in the league. Last season, 70 percent of the Lions’ scoring plays were touchdowns—57 to 24 field goals; this year with one game remaining, it is a nearly 50-50 split, with 36 touchdowns and 31 field goals.

One identifiable problem with the Lions is their terrible special teams play; the Lions have allowed 11 non-offensive touchdowns—without which the team would have a +14 scoring differential instead of a -63. Another problem is that the team seems unprepared at the start of games; their first half scoring is near the bottom in the league, as the team appears to be just “warming” up for practice, and then scrambling to make-up ground in the second half. Another issue is last year’s positive turnover ratio has turned into a double-digit negative. But more importantly, this is a team that cannot “finish” drives; against Atlanta, the Lions had drives of 57, 59, 65, 83, 62 and 64 yards that ended with a total of 6 points scored. 

But then again, this is a team that has a 1-10 playoff record since it won the 1957 NFL Championship—which kind of makes this former 0-16 team the Chicago Cubs of football.