did anyone notice that aaron smith didn’t play in the 2 half??
im worried…i hope he is not injured(remember the 07 season)

I’m sorry, but the offense produced a single 1st down in the last three possessions, it’s on them. If any of these possessions result even with a three, then the game is sealed. D allowed only 14 points without Troy, definitely sub-par, but not scandalous as we make it to be.

I just would like to remind everyone that this is the same guy that said that nobody in the Steelers secondary other than Troy would even make another NFL team let alone start. Consider the source.

Oh and remember he also speculated that the Steelers have the leagues worst defense, and has stated that Woodley is officially a flash in the pan in the same mold as Kendrell Bell, so, ya know, consider the source.

Sacks, Mendenhall looks like real deal, Wallace gets his first long TD, Santonio snatching footballs and breaking tackles, defensive stops at crunch time ….. and a WIN.

And I think if you look, Lions have held the ball longer than opponent every game this year, against good teams. They look to me like a improving team with loads of talent that has faced a pretty tough schedule. So, I’ll take the win. And I’ll bet those beat up bodies in the locker room will take the win, too.

Okay check this out. D is responsible for 13 points today. Ben is responsible for the other 7, the Lions scored. Some concerns for the D were that they struggled to get off the field on 3rd down. Thought the Lions did some nice short yardage plays that turned big because we were being a bit too agressive early…(at least from what I saw), maybe poor tackling too? Anyways, not the snuff you out D we are used to, but what do we expect when we are rotating 3 guys to make up for the absence of Troy? Anyways, lets all just relax and enjoy the W. Browns next week and hopefully Troy is back and healthy too!

I have read both posts in question and agree that both can certainly be taken as too negative and really a good many of the responses are a little on the too positive side. Now, nothing wrong with being positive but what has made this site enjoyable has been intelligent conversations about what we do well and what we need to improve upon. The offense has shown great improvement in virtually every aspect and is primed to be one of the best in the league this year. The defense has looked great at times and at others has looked a bit lost. Troy coming back should be a huge help and should give a clearer view of where we sit defensively. We are 3-2 and that is about how we have played, just good enough to win and just bad enough to lose if the other team does something good. At some point we will have to start playing better and I think we will(12-4 to 11-5 is still realistic). The W is always the most important thing but it would be nice to be up by more than 1 score with 4 minutes left and the ball in the hands of the opposition. I would think next week would be that time.

It is another to expect it.

Detroit is better than a lot of people thought. I had watched them play their two games prior to this one, and I thought we’d have some problems but still win. The same went for Cincy, who I picked as the sleeper team in the division before the season.

This is the problem with hype and expectations.

When we stop thinking teams are “gimme’s” or “hidden bye weeks” and realize this is the NF freaking L and that every game is supposed to be tough, and even poor teams have talent on them that can play this game at a high level and sometimes even challenge a good team, we’ll all take the wins for what they are… wins.

There is plenty the team can work on, but SURPRISE!, they’re human, and not perfect! We’re coming together and starting to fire on all cylinder’s a bit more thane we were 3 weeks ago… it’s called progress (Don’t worry, progress is a good thing). And until the number cruncher’s tell us there is no way to make the playoff’s, the ultimate goal is still in sight. It’s a long season of ups and downs. What matters is getting better and getting W’s. We’re putting those two together right now.

And by the way, in late games, this D has a history of allowing “garbage time” scores. We didn’t last year, because all things clicked, but two years ago it seems we allowed a TD or a field goal late in almost every game we led. That doesn’t mean it’s excusable now anymore then it was then, but it’s nothing too new, and it’s something worth working on, because it can clearly bite you in the arse if you give it the chance.