Lions’ offense still has potential to light up the scoreboard
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Lions 45, Steelers 3
Nov. 24, 1983, at The Silverdome, Pontiac, Michigan
The last time the Steelers went to Detroit for a game that didn’t include a team with a losing record, the 1970s crashed down on the black and gold. The Steelers went into this Thanksgiving Day game with a 9-3 record against the 6-6 Lions. Kevin Colbert was still coaching running backs at Ohio Wesleyan and future Steelers scout (and Calvin Johnson father-in-law) Bruce McNorton was playing cornerback for the Lions. McNorton had two of the five interceptions served up by Cliff Stoudt and Mark Malone in this drubbing. The Steelers actually had a 3-0 lead, but Billy Sims scored two touchdowns (106 yards rushing) and Eric Hipple threw two touchdown passes and the rout was on. The Steelers won only one more game that season, the famed last start by Terry Bradshaw and his bum arm, which came two games after this one.
TALE OF THE TAPE
“One of the interesting developments of this whole process of going to Detroit is the possible matchup of 6-9 Brian Mihalik against 6-foot James Harrison. T.J. Watt rolled his ankle in practice, so I don’t know where he’s going to be come game time, but you have to think based on Eric Fisher that Deebo versus Mihalik might be a preferred matchup, because the 6-9 Mihalik is made to order for the no-dip, just-rip turnstile effect of Deebo on the pass rush. James is fresh, has a bye week coming up after this, and as a reserve is anxious to play, so it would be a perfect time to release the Kraken and let him play a lot of snaps.” — Steelers Radio analyst Craig Wolfley.
TOP QUESTION
The Lions are 26th in offense and 19th in defense. How do they threaten the Steelers?
QB Matthew Stafford is capable of lighting it up. With eight come-from-behind fourth-quarter wins last year, Stafford hasn’t carried that magic over to this season, probably because he’s been sacked 23 times. But as Ben Roethlisberger said when asked how he would recommend his defense play against Stafford, “Stay back because he can throw the ball a long way.” Stafford was the first pick of the 2009 NFL draft and has a career passer rating of 86.9.
THREE QUESTIONS:
With OG RAMON FOSTER
Q: Coming off two big AFC wins, the Steelers are ripe for the plucking by a mediocre NFC team. Will the fact it’s a Sunday night prime-time game help the team’s motivation?
RF: “It means more than anything, and there are a lot of factors going into it: You’ve got prime-time game, you also want to get a win going into the bye, and also you want to continue on that upward trajectory this season. This is going to be a really good test for us.”
Q: The Lions are 3-3. Is it a test because of your past history of letdowns? Or because they’re a good team?
RF: “They’re a good team. Their offense can score at will. Our defense has a challenge. We’ve got a challenge (on offense) because they have really good players, too, on defense. And they’ve got a special-teams guy who’s doing pretty well, too. There are a lot more dynamics than what the lack of suspense of this game would appear to hold.”
Q: Is this like a carrot at the end of a stick for a team going into a bye week?
RF: “It would be, because you get that feel-good feeling going into the bye. You don’t want to go in and have the coach’s attitude change to where guys that need a break probably can’t get it because there are corrections and this and this and that. You want to go into a week with things smoothed over and hopefully Coach gives you an extra day off. We’re fighting and playing for a lot of different reasons. Definitely want to get a win.”
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers on Sunday night in Detroit:
ON OFFENSE:
The Steelers will again be without Marcus Gilbert, but Chris Hubbard has filled in admirably at right tackle. The loss of benched Martavis Bryant will no doubt be felt, even if he had been averaging more than 2.5 catches for 33 yards per game. He “takes the top off the defense” by keeping a safety deep if only for his potential, and that has to help Le’Veon Bell. The run game will also suffer the loss of tight end Vance McDonald, who’s become their best move blocker not named David DeCastro. Could be a passing game against the NFL’s 22nd-ranked pass defense, and those plans often go down in flames for Todd Haley.
ON DEFENSE:
The Lions have allowed a 28th-ranked 23 sacks of Stafford, and with two left tackles hurt Steelers castoff Mihalik is expected to start there. Watt may have rolled his ankle at the last practice, but he said he’s fine and who wouldn’t be against this tackle? The Lions don’t scare anyone with Golden Tate as their best receiver, averaging only 10 yards per each of his 36 catches. Tight end Eric Ebron, the 10th pick of the 2014 draft, has been a disappointment and this season has only 13 catches and one touchdown. Running back Ameer Abdullah (5-8, 198) went over the 1,000-yard mark for his three-year career in the last Lions game and averages 3.8 yards per carry.
PREDICTION
Classic flat(ulence) spot for the Steelers, who are 0-5 under Mike Tomlin when traveling to an NFC team after two AFC wins that includes a divisional win. On the other hand, the Steelers have been successful in games they should win before a bye. They’re 6-4 the week before a bye under Tomlin, with the losses coming against Baltimore without Roethlisberger, at Oakland in a September game, in London, and last year against New England. Those games had little to do with the reasons why this pre-bye game is a carrot at the end of the first-half stick for a 5-2 team with eyes on a championship. None of those losses occurred in prime time, either. Look for that to motivate them to a strong defensive performance, 26-17.
BY THE NUMBERS
0 — Number of Steelers-Lions games played in prime time.
6 — Consecutive Steelers wins on Sunday night.
14 — Total takeaways by the Lions this season, trails only Jacksonville (16) and Baltimore (15) in the league. Steelers were -4 against Jacksonville but +2 against Baltimore.
63 — Consecutive games started by DeCastro, the second-longest active streak among NFL guards.
462 — Touches for Bell if he continues his pace this season. His current high is 373 touches in 2014. “I don’t run into guys. I’m patient. I pick my spots. I get to the ground. I don’t take a lot of hits,” said Bell in explaining why he doesn’t expect the heavy activity to become problematic.
DOWNLOADS
n The Curse of Bobby Layne is now in its 60th year. The Lions — after the Hall of Fame QB helped them win a third NFL championship in 1957 — traded Layne to the Steelers after two games of the 1958 season. They received a younger QB, Earl Morrall, and two high draft picks. And Layne, who was paged at the Detroit airport after greeting his wife from her flight from Texas, and then informed of the deal, supposedly put a curse on the Lions by saying they wouldn’t win another championship for 50 years. They didn’t, and have won only one playoff game — 1991 — in 12 playoff appearances since. Layne made the Pro Bowl for the Steelers in 1958 and 1959 and retired following the 1962 season.
n The Lions haven’t had a 100-yard rusher since Jim Caldwell became coach with Jim Bob Cooter as offensive coordinator in 2014. The last Lions’ 100-yard rusher was Reggie Bush, who rushed for 117 against the Green Bay Packers in Week 13 of the 2013 season, two weeks after Bush had rushed for 31 yards in a 37-27 loss to the Steelers. The best rushing performance by a Lion this season has been Abdullah’s 94 yards on 20 carries Oct. 1 at Minnesota.
n One of the Lions mentioned repeatedly this week in the Steelers’ locker room is punt returner Jamal Agnew, the only NFL player with two punt returns for touchdowns this season. The rookie fifth-round pick out of San Diego leads the NFL with a 23.7 average, a whopping 7.4 yards per return better than runner-up Kenjon Barner of Philadelphia.
n The Lions are 12-5 against the Steelers in Detroit, but the Steelers won the last game there, 28-20, in 2009, the only appearance by a Tomlin team. The Steelers have won four in a row in all games played between the teams. Roethlisberger is 3-0 against the Lions.
n Roethlisberger was asked if he prefers fullback Rosie Nix being on the field for short-yardage plays, and said he wants to give the ball to Nix at the goal line. Considering the Steelers’ silly touchdown celebrations, might that spark a performance of Ring Around The Rosie? “Ring around the Rosie? That would be funny,” Bell said. “I’m probably the biggest Rosie fan there is because of all the things he does for me, so I want him to get in the end zone. … We’ll see.”
n Haley, when asked why the Steelers don’t have a quarterback sneak in their playbook: “Some staffs choose not to let people earhole their quarterback in the side of the head. Other staffs take that risk at times.”
PARTING SHOT
“What scares me about this game is nothing’s really scaring me,” — Craig Wolfley.