One article sequence from everyone's "favorite" CBS writer, Pete Prisco, has deemed to rate the offensive and defensive lines from every team in the league.
Now I don't know about you, but there are a lot of things in the articles that he's presenting that I agree with, but still others that I don't get. Specifically, I disagreed vehemently with the ratings he provided the Lions.
For those who've missed it, Prisco rated our offensive line as #27 stating:
Best player: C Dominic Raiola. Weak link: RT Gosder Cherilus.
The skinny: The Lions had major problems at right tackle last season so they will turn to rookie first-round pick Cherilus. Starting a rookie is always dicey. Raiola is the best of this line, with left tackle Jeff Backus second best. The guards are just OK. Left guard Edwin Mulitalo is a good run blocker.
And our defensive line as #31 stating:
Best player: RE Dewayne White. Weak link: LE Jared DeVries.
The skinny: Detroit has problems up front. The Lions signed White last year as a free agent with the idea he would amp up the pass rush; injuries prevented that. But he's still this unit's best player. DT Cory Redding got a big deal before the 2007 season and didn't play as well as in '06. DeVries plays hard, but he's limited. Chartric Darby, signed as a free agent from Seattle, will help inside. The player to watch here could be second-year defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis. He has some pass-rush skills and will challenge DeVries. Rookies Andre Fluellen and Cliff Avril will factor as well.
While I agree that the Lions lines are both below average, I don't think that either line is as far below average as Prisco claims, nor do I think that the offensive line is better then the defensive line.
To prove this point I went out to FootballOutsiders, and looked up what their stats for 2007 said about the Lions lines.
As it turns out, from a purely statistical perspective the Lions offensive line ranked 23rd in run blocking, 26th for pass protection in 2007. From last year to this coming year the Lions have added:
- More experience at RG where Stephen Peterman is still growing into his role.
- A potential upgrade at RT where we've got Gosder Cherilus if last year's two options at RT still don't work out (including Jonathan Scott who also should be further along his development curve)
- A scheme that isn't designed to screw the offensive linemen but rather to fit their strengths.
On the strength of this I would think that the Lions would be rated higher for the coming year, but instead they rank lower...
On the defensive side, again from a purely statistical perspective the Lions defensive line ranked 16th against the pass and 23rd against the run. From last year to this coming year the Lions have seen:
- Corey Redding involved in the offseason activities and healthier, both of which should improve his effectiveness in 2008.
- Ikaika Alama-Francis got healthy and should be better prepared to contribute more then he did last year (remember it was said that IAF would be a 1-2 year project type player who could be a star - and we're only 1 year in..)
- Dewayne White is healthy again - and when he was healthy last year he was hard to stop.
- Shaun Rogers is gone, and although his talent is impressive, he free-lanced and didn't work too often, weakening our run defense by not taking care of his responsibilities. In his place we've got Chuck Darby who is known for his ability to focus on his responsibility and really take on his role in the defense. Combined this will take away a big hole that previously came up regularly on runs to the middle - and the Lions should be better for it.
- An improved secondary should result in more time for the guys up front to get to the QB. And we all can agree that the secondary has been improved with Keith Smith coming in with more experience, Leigh Bodden and Brian Kelly replacing Fernando Bryant, and Dwight Smith replacing Kennoy Kennedy.
With all those improvements, I would hope that the Lions defensive line could break into the top half of the league this year - but only time will tell if what I see has more truth to it then what Prisco sees.
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