0xbt

 for their first decisive road win of the year? A couple days later Youth LeGarrette Blount Jersey , the Lions would trade for arguably the best run-stuffer in the entire NFL for just a fifth-round pick. The Lions were riding a two-game winning streak and sat just a game out of first place in an extremely competitive NFC North. Man, that must’ve been a good two months ago. No? That was just two weeks ago? Did I time travel? What year is this? Who’s president? Wait, don’t answer that last one. Yes, the sky was blue, the weather was warm, and the Lions were good. All of that is gone now. After two consecutive blowout losses and the trade of Golden Tate, Lions fans have pretty much lost all confidence in the team. Currently Lions fans are at a 20 percent confidence rate according to our weekly FanPulse survey, good for eighth lowest in the league. However, there’s one NFC North fanbase that’s feeling even worse in Week 10:[*extremely Nelson from The Simpsons voice*] Ha-ha! But while the Packers have been on a steady decline since the beginning of the season, Lions fans have been tormented by the ups and downs from this team. That peak of confidence from two weeks ago sat at 86 percent. Their 66 percentage point decline over just two weeks is by far the biggest drop of any fanbase over that timespan. The only teams that come close are the Ravens (-60%)—who have lost three straight—and the Jets (-44%).And while those two fanbases have certainly had it rough this year http://www.lionscheapstore.com/ricky-wagner-jersey-cheap , they haven’t had to deal with the week-to-week variance that Lions fans have been tortured with since Week 1. It’s not just the gameday results that are disorienting for fans. One week the team is making a move that appears to be a “win-now” trade. The next week they’re sending away the centerpiece of its offensive weaponry. One week, we’re reminded that general manager Bob Quinn has made some pretty good draft picks in Kerryon Johnson, Da’Shawn Hand and maybe even Michael Roberts and A’Shawn Robinson. The next week, Teez Tabor and Jarrad Davis remind us of his limitations as a personnel evaluator. It has never been easy for Lions fans, but this season feels particularly tortuous.The cheat sheet: Patriots’ offensive adjustments give defenses fits The main way to beat the Patriots is to not make it easy on them, especially on offense. Unfortunately for the Lions, they’ve made mediocre offenses look sensational through the first two weeks.The Lions defense is tied for last in the NFL in points allowed, yielding 39 a game. The current top defense in the NFL, which belongs to the Los Angeles Rams, is surrendering just 6.5 points per game http://www.lionscheapstore.com/t.j.-lang-jersey-cheap , and the NFL average defense is giving up about 22 points per game. Giving up nearly twice the NFL average in points per game just as Tom Brady and the Patriots roll into town is downright terrifying.“We certainly have things that we need to fix first and foremost, to make sure that those are taken care of before we play the Patriots,” Patricia said this week in his conference call with reporters. “That’s the biggest thing for us right now, that we just try to get the problems that we’ve had so far handled, so when we walk into the game, they’re still not an issue this weekend.”The Lions have a lot to clean up and must do it quickly. Despite missing key offensive and defensive players, the Patriots are not a team you can take lightly. What consistently impresses me (and frustrates opposing defenses) is how good the Patriots are at setting up certain offensive looks and making adjustments based on what the defense gives them.Here’s a look at how the Patriots did this last week against the Jaguars:They run plays, see how the defense reacts, and then adjust accordingly. If the Lions aren’t careful those adjustments will go for big plays on Sunday.Opponent snapshotThe Patriots haven’t exactly hit their stride yet this season. So far they barely eked out a Week 1 win over the Houston Texans after having an 18 point lead, and lost in a relative beatdown at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2.So what team is going to show to Ford Field on Sunday?“We’re going to try as hard as we can to make up that ground as quickly as possible Youth Ricky Jean Francois Jersey ,” Belichick said at a press conference earlier this week. “It’s about where it usually is at this point in the season, just not at the point you like it to be at. It’s early, and there’s a long way to go. Hopefully, we can keep improving every day and every week.”Patriots’ biggest threat Tom BradyI don’t care how old he is. I don’t care how many quarrels he has with his head coach. I don’t even care how many Super Bowl rings he has. The only thing I care about Tom Brady is how effective he is on Sunday. Because, as I see it, he’s going to have to put this team on his back to stand a chance this season—even against the Lions.Brady is so smart and effective at taking advantage of what teams want to do on defense. The trick for the players is to not overthink the situation on the field. “With his level of expertise and his level to just understand defense, understand coverage, understand location, run-stick, I mean it’s the full package Youth Michael Roberts Jersey ,” Patricia said. “I think you’re also in a situation though where people go out and try to do too much or trying to over-disguise something, you put yourself in a bad situation, [and] he’s going to find that pretty quick.”Patriots’ weak linkRun defenseThe Patriots are 27th in the NFL in run yards allowed per game (135.5 per game). While the Patriots are traditionally a dominant team, run defense is not their strong suit. Typically, the Patriots are able to make up for poor run defense by playing with the lead. This forces team to throw the ball more often and abandon the run. The only way the Lions can exploit the Patriots’ lackluster run defense is to control the clock and successfully run a balanced offense. Bottom lineBill Belichick is 14-8 all-time against his former assistants.That stat isn’t shocking. We all know how Belichick assistants have fared as NFL head coaches. But it certainly isn’t comforting either. The Lions will need to play a near flawless game if they stand any chance of winning. There won’t be many secrets between these two teams so everything will come down to execution—which doesn’t bode too well for the Lions.PredictionPatriots 31 Lions 24