| 19 August 2010
This week, the Lions congregation welcomes the newest Lion, Lawrence Jackson, and give our takes on last Saturday's exhibition game with the Steelers.
1. What are your thoughts on the Lawrence Jackson trade?
What's not to like?
This is a low risk, high reward trade, a Martin Mayhew special...much like the deals for Rob Sims, Corey Williams and Chris Houston. In Lawrence, the Seahawks had themselves former 1st round draft pick who became a square peg in a round hole when ownership cleaned house, bringing in a new coach and GM. Mayhew swooped in like a vulture, and found himself a player who is, at the very least, better than the backups currently on the Lions' roster.
Defensive end is a position where many players tend to develop slowly. But remember, Jackson's also under team control for for the next three seasons. Time is in the Lions' favor.
So at the very worst, Jackson adds youth and depth to a rapidly improving defensive line. At best, Jackson has a break out year, and the Lions have what they've needed for decades, a pure, skilled pass rusher with speed at defensive end.
The Lions can't lose either way.
All for the minimal cost of (reportedly) a 6th round draft pick in 2011.
2. What was the most exciting and the most discouraging for you in the first preseason game?
What was most exciting for me was seeing the Lions' long dormant pass rush continually pound Byron Leftwich into the Heinz Field turf. It's been so long since I've seen the Lions genuinely pressure the quarterback without the help of a blitz, I'd swear I was wearing a Member's Only jacket and parachute pants at the time. (Hey! We all make mistakes...)
I realize it was only one quarter of one exhibition game. But it sure looks like Mayhew and Schwartz may have done a surprisingly good job of rebuilding what was the worst defensive line in the NFL...and the NCAA... and the MHSAA...and...you get the point.
What was the most discouraging was the glaring lack of depth on display once the 1st team offense and defense went to the bench. The Lions couldn't do a thing on offense, didn't make a difference who was under center, Shaun Hill or Drew Stanton. The defense was even worse, unable to even slow down, let alone stop, the Steelers' 3rd string quarterback, Dennis Dixon. He literally ran wild in the 2nd half, as Dixon's yards per pass attempt of 18.3 and QB rating of 158.3 explicitly show.
It's obvious the Lions' two-deep is more like one-shallow. It's not as if I didn't expect to see a startling lack of depth...but to see that shocking lack of depth in action (or more accurately, the lack of action) on the field with the Lions' backups was still very disappointing.
We knew it was going to take time, and lots of it, to repair the damage done to the Lions franchise by Matt Millen. The lack of depth can't be fixed in a season or two. It's going to take years.
Unfortunately, we're only in year two of the post Millen era.
With camp well underway, the Lions congregation answers your questions weekly. So if you have a Lions query you'd like to see answered, you can email the congregation at lionscongregation@yahoo.com.
As always, to read the rest of the Lions blogosphere answering questions submitted to Joshua, aka DetFan79, head over to Roar of the Lions every Friday!
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