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 It’s time to break out the red marker again for another year of report card grades for the Detroit Lions. Each week Marvin Jones Jr Jersey , I’ll be handing out your normal A through F grades for each position on the roster. Based on the Lions’ Week 1 performance against the New York Jets, I think I’m going to run out of red ink before the bye week. Quarterbacks: FThere is no excuse for the game Matthew Stafford had. I don’t care if the Jets recognized his hand signals. I don’t care if the play-calling was predictable. I don’t care if there was a sleeper-cell agent inside the Lions huddle (my money is on Luke Willson). You can’t make the kind of mistakes Stafford did all game. Stafford made some extremely poor reads, and looked completely flustered when pressured. I haven’t seen him play that badly in a long, long time. Running backs: DLeGarrette Blount looked completely ineffective, rushing for -3 yards on four carries. He was effectively benched in the game after nearly fumbling, and it didn’t seem like he could break a single tackle.The Lions decided to ride with Theo Riddick for most of the game, and outside of a bad drop, Riddick didn’t do horribly, but he certainly still doesn’t look capable of being a lead back. As expected, Kerryon Johnson looked the best of the group, but the guy only got eight touches and turned them into 37 yards. Tight ends: FIf Monday is any indication, tight ends are not going to figure into the Lions’ passing offense game plan. Pure blocker Levine Toilolo led all tight ends in snaps, and considering the Lions’ couldn’t run the ball and Stafford got hurt twice, I think it’s fairly safe to say the tight end game plan didn’t work all that well. Michael Roberts and Luke Willson are continuing to have an extremely disappointing two months to start the year. Wide receivers: C-Just about every wide receiver had a bad in this game, but this unit did also produce the only player worth talking about in a positive fashion: Kenny Golladay. Not only did Golladay surprise with an extremely efficient game (after a quiet camp and preseason) but he also had the hit of the game: Golladay finished with seven catches on 12 targets for 144 yards, and there’s the end of nice things I’ll be saying for the rest of this article. Offensive line: COkay, maybe one more nice thing. Despite Stafford getting beat up, I thought the offensive line pass blocked relatively well. Stafford didn’t take a single sack in the game, and at times, he had an extremely long time to throw. There were some mistakes made. Frank Ragnow had a very up-and-down NFL debut, but overall, I think the Lions offensive line did much more good than bad when it came to pass blocking.The problem is we were all promised an improved run blocking performance this year, and that obviously never materialized. Detroit was pretty much forced to abandon the run halfway through the game Authentic Graham Glasgow Jersey , so maybe better things are on the horizon in games that don’t get way out of control, but for one night, it looked like more of the same.Defensive line: D-For a brief moment, it looked like the defensive line may have been better than advertised in the preseason. The Lions notched two first-quarter sacks after only have two total during the entire exhibition season.But then Ezekiel Ansah predictably went down with an injury, and Sam Darnold had all day to pick apart the Lions secondary for the final three quarters. The interior of the line, led by two aging veterans, failed to provide any push nor did they plug any running lanes. They are who we thought they were. Linebackers: DI’m not really sure what unit I should give credit for Devon Kennard, but since he’s listed as a linebacker, I guess I’ll give it to them. Outside of Quandre Diggs’ pick-six, he was the only notable positive performer on the defensive side of the ball. Missed tackles, poor angles, bad play recognition: it was all there. Secondary: FThey weren’t helped out by a poor pass rush, but the Diggs’ interception was long forgotten by the second quarter. Nevin Lawson was punished, as predicted. Tavon Wilson failed to make a play on Darnold’s 41-yard touchdown bomb, and the secondary was completely ineffective in run defense. Quin continues to look his age. Special teams: F-I rarely pull out the F minus, but the Lions’ special teams unit fully earned it on Monday night. Former Lions punt returner Andre Roberts just annihilated the Lions’ special teams units, and averaged FORTY-FIVE YARDS PER PUNT RETURN. Meanwhile Matt Prater missed a couple kicks. Coaching: FI don’t know if the Lions offense is tipping plays, and at this point, I don’t really care. The offense is inefficient and it’s clear the same problems that have plagued the unit for years remain. This offense looks absolutely no different after an entire offseason to adjust. That’s poor coaching whether the defense knows your plays or not.On top of that, there were some seriously puzzling personnel decisions that appears to have backfired. Bradley Marquez was kept on the 53-man roster specifically for his special teams acumen, and his punt return coverage was especially bad on Monday. A’Shawn Robinson was a healthy scratch, and with only two defensive tackles dressed, Sylvester Williams and Ricky Jean Francois looked dead tired in the second half—each posting over 75 percent of snaps. Also Youth Sam Martin Jersey , can we unleash Kerryon Johnson next week, please? I love you, Theo, but you should never be getting carries inside the 10-yard line. The Detroit Lions are coming off the bye and heading into their litmus test portion of the season. No one really knows what to think of the Lions right now, with two big wins on their resume, but those three ugly losses loom large. The next seven games for the Lions are against teams that are .500 or better, meaning we’re about to find out who this team is in a hurry. First up on the block is the Miami Dolphins, an equally confusing team. Let’s get to know them a little better. Miami DolphinsLast season6-10 record (3rd in AFC East)28th in points scored, 29th in points allowedOverall DVOA: 27th (27th on offense, 28th on defense)2018 offseasonKey free agent additions: WR Danny Amendola, RB Frank Gore, WR Albert Wilson, G Josh Sitton (IR), C Daniel Kilgore (trade)Key losses: WR Jarvis Landry, DT Ndamukong Suh, C Mike Pouncey, K Cody Parkey 2018 NFL draft picks:Round 1, 11 overall - DB Minkah FitzpatrickRound 2, Pick 42 - TE Mike GesickiRound 3, Pick 73 - LB Jerome BakerRound 4, Pick 123 - TE Durham SmytheRound 4, Pick 131 - RB Kalen BallageRound 6, Pick 209 - CB Cornell ArmstrongRound 7 http://www.lionsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-darius-slay-jersey , Pick 227 - LB Quentin PolingRound 7, Pick 229 - K Jason SandersDespite a puzzling 6-10 record, the 2017 Miami Dolphins were not good. They had the fourth worst point differential and their DVOA numbers were all towards the bottom of the league. So this year, the team went out and tried to fix one of their bigger issues: the offensive line. They moved on from long-time center Mike Pouncey and traded for Daniel Kilgore. They also added veteran guard Josh Sitton to the starting five. Unfortunately, both Pouncey and Kilgore have suffered major injuries, and both on on IR.However, the Dolphins’ biggest addition thus far has been Albert Wilson, who just had a breakout game against the Bears. Wilson joins 2015 first-round pick DeVante Parker, 2016 sixth-round pick Jakeem Grant and 2015 trade acquisition Kenny Stills to form one of the most underrated receiving units in the league.To improve defensively—and make up for the loss of Suh—the Dolphins have focused on their back end. For the third straight year, the Dolphins spent a third-round pick or higher on a cornerback, this time Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick.2018 season thus far (4-2)Week 1: Win over Titans, 27-20Week 2: Win at Jets, 20-12Week 3: Win over Raiders, 28-20Week 4: Loss at Patriots, 7-38Week 5: Loss at Bengals, 17-27Week 6: Win over Bears, 31-28 (OT)Stats:22nd in points scored, 17th in points allowed6th in DVOA (15th on offense, 9th on defense, 3rd on special teams)There’s nothing flashy about this Dolphins team, and it seems puzzling they are 4-2 thus far. Al four of their wins were by a single possession, but their two losses were both by double-digits. Their wins are over some mediocre-to-bad talents, but their losses are to some very good teams in the AFC. In terms of point differential Tavon Wilson Jersey , the Dolphins are bad. In act, they’re worse than the Lions at -15 (20th). But those DVOA numbers—sixth best in the league—tell a different story, and it’s not really clear why.The team isn’t moving the ball all that well overall on offense. They’re 30th in yards per drive and 28th in points per drive, according to Football Outsiders.They’re a little better on defense, but not by much. They’re 25th in yards per drive allowed, and seventh in points per drive allowed. Wait... back up there. Seventh in points allowed... let me crunch some numbers.Okay, here’s the deal. The Dolphins have been winning games by playing the field position game. They rank sixth in starting field position on offense, averaging drives starting on the 30.7-yard line. Defensively, they also rank sixth, with an average starting position at the 26-yard line. How are they winning the field position battle? Special teams and turnovers. Let’s start with special teams. They’re 14th in net punting average, which is just okay, but they’ve pinned opposing teams inside the 20 14 times, good for fifth most. In terms of returning, they’re lethal. Meet Jakeem Grant. Grant already has a punt and kick return touchdown, leading to the Dolphins ranking third in punt returns (15.7) and second in kickoff returns (32.8).Then there’s that improved secondary. The Dolphins lead the league in interceptions (11), and that will do wonders for your field position. Unfortunately for the Detroit Lions, there’s not one player the Lions need to worry about. Six different players have recorded an interception, including first-round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick.So, in my opinion, this is a below average team that is overperforming right now. They’re not horrible—and their offensive weapons pose a legitimate threat for big plays—but some regression is in order. If the Lions can avoid allowing big plays on special teams (no easy task given how Detroit’s special teams units have looked so far), and Matthew Stafford avoids turnovers, this is a more than winnable game for Detroit. Vegas line for Sunday: Dolphins by 4 Lions by 2.5