Game 2: Lions @ Packers - Monday, September 20th 7:15pm

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Keke's been horrible. Didn't he have a decent camp?

 

He did seem to have a good camp. He put on weight, though, and seems a step slow so far.

 

It might be time for them to see what they have in Slaton and Heflin. Definitely need some more energy out of those DT/DE spots, and they aren't getting it with Keke, Lowry and Lancaster.

[KeithStone53151]

I know no one cares about other people's fantasy games, but I think if AJ Dillon had either caught one more pass or had 10 more yards rushing I would have won $15K on Draft Kings. Happy to go home with $60 though

 

I would have been right there with you had I picked Cephus instead of Benson. I'm not sure why I thought Benson was best at the time but I had the Jones/Rodgers/Adams/Hockenson core and then Cobb as one of my cheap guys. Went with Benson over Cephus at the MVP spot for some unknown reason.

[homer]

I know no one cares about other people's fantasy games, but I think if AJ Dillon had either caught one more pass or had 10 more yards rushing I would have won $15K on Draft Kings. Happy to go home with $60 though

 

I would have been right there with you had I picked Cephus instead of Benson. I'm not sure why I thought Benson was best at the time but I had the Jones/Rodgers/Adams/Hockenson core and then Cobb as one of my cheap guys. Went with Benson over Cephus at the MVP spot for some unknown reason.

 

Some dude on the Lions caught a meaningless pass at the end of the game and that dropped me from $587. Oh well.

[roadcrew3]

I thought Campbell played well as the game went on, but that may have been because the Lions were forced to pass to catch up. I agree that it's hard to gauge anything from playing the Lions, but the second half looked far more competent and encouraging on both sides of the ball than the first did.

 

It's possible the defense is still catching up to the scheme, which is both fair/plausible and possibly overly-optimistic. Won't know much until the next two weeks. You have to look at least competitive in both games defensively to feel good about the future of the season, I'd think.

 

Campbell was actually decent last night I thought. They seemed to target him a lot and connect but none seemed to go for many yards, with the exception of the ridiculous throw/catch by Hockenson.

 

I agree that the defense is still catching up to the scheme and I think there are going to continue to be growing pains over the next few weeks. We probably won't really know how good this D actually is until closer to mid-way through the season but there were some signs last night, specifically in the second half, that showed the unit can at least be solid.

 

Stokes looked pretty solid and I think should overtake King as CB2. King was actually much better when he was playing in the slot so potential to see that more going forward. Preston Smith is looking more like the 2019 version than 2020 and Kenny Clark also had a pretty solid game.

 

Wonder if next week we get to see Heflin active given I'm sure the 49ers are going to try to hammer the run. Tough expecting an UDFA to provide a huge boost to the team but still excited to see if he can provide anything after the reports out of camp about him.

[PeaveyFury]

Keke's been horrible. Didn't he have a decent camp?

 

Keke received the Packers' lowest PFF grade last night. Yes, even worse than Lancaster, who was second lowest.

 

Keke's regression is a big part of the front's problems. He seemed to take a leap last year, but he's been terrible thus far.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Keke's been horrible. Didn't he have a decent camp?

 

Keke received the Packers' lowest PFF grade last night. Yes, even worse than Lancaster, who was second lowest.

 

Keke's regression is a big part of the front's problems. He seemed to take a leap last year, but he's been terrible thus far.

 

Additionally, a big part of this team's recent MLBs getting poor reviews, IMO, is the fact they haven't had enough good defensive lineman in front of them that can at least stymie blocking enough to allow the linebackers to get after running backs without first having to deal with a lineman blocking them downfield, too. When your D-lineman wind up on the ground after an initial block it's just a mess - and with the exception of Clark the other lineman on this roster are constantly knocked to the ground.

 

I'm not saying the MLBs on this roster are great or even above average....but when you have below average interior linemen opening the gate to middling at best middle linebackers on most running plays, you're not going to be good at stopping the run.

[SomewhereInTime]

The Packers do not yet have a tackle for loss and the only sack is credited as a team sack (QB dropped the ball in the pocket). The Lions aren't going to go out and win a game, you really have to give the game away and for the first half, it looked like GB might do just that. Could be a long day in SF.

[tmwiese55]

Yes the D looks like a train wreck. Hard to believe it's been like this for about ten years now barring an occasional ok stretch of games. Seemed they were really aided by the rain last night in the 2H. Take that away and there's a good chance they had a game on their hands. The missed 4th down by Det was huge too. Guess give credit they stopped it but also seemed a very poor play call.

[FVBrewerFan]

When you look at how poorly they've drafted the front 7 over the last decade, that's hard to do if you tried.

[Pugger]

When you look at how poorly they've drafted the front 7 over the last decade, that's hard to do if you tried.

 

They have only drafted one DL player (Kenny Clark) in the first couple of rounds. Most of the DL guys are later round picks and/or UDFA. If you aren't willing to invest in your DL this is what you are stuck with. Not having Z. Smith out there hurts their pass rush big time too.

[CheezWizHed]

I can understand why you aren't getting great pass rushers in the 3rd-5th rounds... but why in the world can't these guys stop the run? The OL has two 2nd rounders, but we make hay in the 4th round for OL.

[homer]

When you trade up, you lose draft capital to fill in holes which means you have to be pretty close to perfect on the guys you do pick. They have arguably been pretty good on offense overall. Defense not so much.