[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he last time the New York Giants and Detroit Lions met, it signified the end of the Jim Schwartz era.
This time around the Lions will get the ball rolling on the Jim Caldwell era, as they host the Giants on Monday Night Football to close the opening week of the 2014 NFL season.
The match up will be the second time the two teams have met on Monday night, with the last occurrence being on November 7, 1983 in a Detroit victory.
It will also be the third time the Lions have opened in prime time since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the last coming in 1991 at Washington.
Will history repeat itself again versus the Giants? Let’s go Four Downs In The Lions Den and line up keys to the game.
Betting On Stafford
Matt Stafford will have new targets on the field as he looks to have a better season than last year. Photo/DetroitLions.com
After hiring Caldwell, along with the additions of Golden Tate, Eric Ebron and former Saints offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, the Lions have bet the franchise on quarterback Matthew Stafford.
For most of the first half last season, he looked like a potential MVP candidate. while Reggie Bush and Calvin Johnson suffered injuries and missed time.
During the second part of the season, the pressure became too much as he turned the ball over regularly and played them out of games while finishing with 19 interceptions.
Opposing quarterbacks averaged 292 yard a game against New York in the preseason. Stafford has averaged 290 yards passing in four MNF games.
Look for #9 to take advantage of a porous Giants secondary and put his new toys in Ebron and Tate to work while enjoying a healthy Megatron.
Expect a 300 plus yard game with no turnover game for Stafford.
Stability In The Secondary
Eli Manning completed just 48 percent of his passes this preseason, but he still has a perennial weapon in Pro Bowler Victor Cruz and with the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. in the draft, the Giants have the capability of taking advantage of a less than stellar secondary in the Lions.
Caldwell this week expressed his concern on the importance of Cruz and the potential of a big game from him and Manning.
“I think Victor Cruz does everything well. I think he is a guy that can get open, he understands and recognizes coverage’s quickly,” Caldwell said. “His rapport with Eli is impeccable. The guys have been together for a long time and you can see why they function so well together.”
Darius Slay is expected to start this year in place of Chris Houston alongside Rashean Mathis. Mathis played well last year while Slay is under a lot of pressure to improve on what was a down rookie year.
With the injury to James Ihedigbo and the uncertainty of often injured Bill Bentley, the Lions worked out 12-time Pro Bowler Champ Bailey this week. However, Caldwell downplayed the move.
“Number one I’m not going to go into detail about different guys that we work out because that’s kind of the job of our personnel department.” Caldwell expressed. ”What they do is they test the temperature, see where they are, categorize them in case there’s a need and we’ll do that every single week.”
Although the Lions secondary proves to be the biggest shortcoming on this team, expect them to look better than normal against a bottom of the league team in the Giants.
Pressure From The Front Seven
In the past three years with all of the struggles this team experienced, the defensive line has proved to be one of the few strengths this team has possessed.
There seems to be much motivation with this group and look for that to potentially be on display against the poor and inexperienced offensive line of the Giants.
Ndamukong Suh enters this season in a contract year and comes off his third Pro Bowl year while registering 5.5 sacks. There will be much pressure on Suh, who is in a contract year and will look to command a salary in the area of $90 million dollars after J.J.Watt signed a $100 million deal this week.
His teammate Nick Fairley was demoted in training camp and and after ballooning to 320 pounds early on, he his back to a respectable 305.
Fairley earned his starting spot back and his motivation to maximize the full potential will be questioned all year long as to only one he can answer with his play.
Look for Suh and Fairley to reek havoc in the middle and free up Ziggy Ansah, who is coming off of offseason surgery and company to meet Manning in the backfield early and often.
Cleaning Things Up
For years the Lions have one of the most penalized and undisciplined teams in the NFL.
Caldwell has expressed time after time this offseason that his team needs to do the little things right in order to achieve success. That includes cutting down on crucial penalties that costs this team games.
Many players have declared that Jim Caldwell is “The Guy” to get this team over the hump.
Although they seemed to revert to their old ways in commiting 15 penaties in a game during the preseason, mostly with reserves on the field, expect this team to take a different approach this year starting Monday night.
With a coach who touts two Super Bowl rings in three Super Bowl appearances with the Colts and Ravens, a Super Bowl winner in Lombardi with the Saints and a defensive coordinator who was also in Baltimore for a championship, the pedigree is there.
Look for the Lions to cut down penalties on offense where they are expected to flourish and be more disciplined on the defensive side of the ball, while cutting down on pointless penalties.
Prediction: Lions 31, Giants 13
