Lions at Vikings Depth Chart Preview - 2023
Dec 23, 2023 14:51:38 GMT -6
Funkytown, FSUVike, and 1 more like this
Post by Danchat on Dec 23, 2023 14:51:38 GMT -6
After another close loss, the Vikings need to keep winning to reach the playoffs. Can they topple the likely NFC North champs? Let's see how their roster stacks up:
Injury Report
Vikings
CB Murphy - Out
WR Nailor - Out
DE Bullard - Questionable
ILB Hicks* - Questionable
HB Mattison - Questionable
T O'Neill - Questionable
ILB Pace Jr - Questionable
DT Phillips - Questionable
Lions
CB Jacobs - Out
TE Wright - Out
LB Barnes - Doubtful
Line: Lions -3
Super Sim Calculated Line: Lions -5
*My Thoughts*
The Lions enter in just a win away from their first division title in 30 years, and only the Vikings stand in their way. They've built a contender-quality offense with Goff playing like his best days with McVay. He's benefitted from having a top 3 OL to protect him, and has the weapons to take advantage of defenses' weaknesses. The run game has been fantastic with the OL powering holes open for the steady and strong Montgomery and the lightning quick Gibbs. This is the first run game in a long time that scares me, and with a few injuries to the front seven, the Vikings will likely have trouble here.
Onto the receivers, St. Brown is a stud who beats CBs with his route-running and has some of the best hands in football. He could be a big problem as he enjoys feasting on zone defenses. Jameson Williams is finally becoming an every-down player but isn't any good yet, but he can stretch the field with his speed, opening things up for other players. Reynolds is a nice jack-of-all-trades who will punish defenses that forget about him. 2nd round TE LaPorta is one pace to break the rookie TE records as his size/speed combo has proven too much for LBs to handle. The RBs are threats to catch passes out of the backfield as well.
Their OL is rock solid, with the consistently good Decker holding down LT, Sewell stepping into the Elite category for the first time this year, and Ragnow having another great season. LG Jackson has had injury issues and has allowed more pressure than you'd like. Glasgow has taken over RG from Vaitai and has proven to be a good enough player. Flores will need to whip up his best blitzes to limit them.
Defensively, this unit is way worse than you'd think. With two of their best players on the IR - DT McNeill and S Gardner-Johnson, they've been bleeding yards and points. Like the Raiders with Crosby, Hutchinson is by far the best pass rusher, with nobody else (healthy) on the team having more than 30 pressures. They have a collection of rotational bodies in Cominsky, Owara, and Harris, but none are good enough to punish teams for doubling Hutchinson. The DT position is bone-dry with Buggs being a run-stuffer only, Jones being a total liability against the run compared to just 18 pressures and 1 sack, and Onwuzurike has proven to be a bust. Ty Chandler should be licking his lips.
The LB position has also disappointed. Anzalone has turned his career around after being Abysmal to start in Detroit, but PFF still doesn't like him. What is less controversial is that 1st rounder Jack Campbell is not living up to his billing so far as he's been a sieve in coverage (82% completion against, 40 PFF rating) and is just decent against the run, nowhere as good as Pace Jr. Barnes had been starting at LB but Rodriguez should start this one, and after a decent rookie year has been forgotten about.
The corner position is also weak on depth. Cameron Sutton is a fine starter but certainly not what you'd want for a #1 CB, and Jacobs had been forced into the #2 spot with Moseley on the IR. Thankfully rookie Brian Branch has been worth the 2nd round selection, playing a similar position as to Josh Metellus at SCB/S/LB, but they will have to field others at CB like Will Harris who is somehow Abysmal at CB and S in his career. Melifonwu just had a career game last week and could start, as the speedy safety might finally be blooming after a very slow start to his career. Walker hasn't quite been the same as he was early in his career but is a solid starter, while Joseph is having a rough second year after a promising rookie season.
Prediction: Lions 30, Vikings 24
Offensively, the Lions have the guns to do something that no team has been able to against this Vikings defense since we faced the 49ers - equally pass and run the ball effectively. With the Bengals beginning to crack Flores' defense and some key players questionable to play, I think the Lions finally break the run defense and feed their RBs at will. However, their defense as of late stinks and has holes all over the place, begging for Chandler to run through alongside Jefferson and Addison running free. In the end, I'll put my faith in Goff and Ben Johnson over Mullens and O'Connell as on the whole the Lions are the better team and the Vikings homefield advantage hasn't seemed to matter much this year.
Any thoughts?
Injury Report
Vikings
CB Murphy - Out
WR Nailor - Out
DE Bullard - Questionable
ILB Hicks* - Questionable
HB Mattison - Questionable
T O'Neill - Questionable
ILB Pace Jr - Questionable
DT Phillips - Questionable
Lions
CB Jacobs - Out
TE Wright - Out
LB Barnes - Doubtful
Line: Lions -3
Super Sim Calculated Line: Lions -5
*My Thoughts*
The Lions enter in just a win away from their first division title in 30 years, and only the Vikings stand in their way. They've built a contender-quality offense with Goff playing like his best days with McVay. He's benefitted from having a top 3 OL to protect him, and has the weapons to take advantage of defenses' weaknesses. The run game has been fantastic with the OL powering holes open for the steady and strong Montgomery and the lightning quick Gibbs. This is the first run game in a long time that scares me, and with a few injuries to the front seven, the Vikings will likely have trouble here.
Onto the receivers, St. Brown is a stud who beats CBs with his route-running and has some of the best hands in football. He could be a big problem as he enjoys feasting on zone defenses. Jameson Williams is finally becoming an every-down player but isn't any good yet, but he can stretch the field with his speed, opening things up for other players. Reynolds is a nice jack-of-all-trades who will punish defenses that forget about him. 2nd round TE LaPorta is one pace to break the rookie TE records as his size/speed combo has proven too much for LBs to handle. The RBs are threats to catch passes out of the backfield as well.
Their OL is rock solid, with the consistently good Decker holding down LT, Sewell stepping into the Elite category for the first time this year, and Ragnow having another great season. LG Jackson has had injury issues and has allowed more pressure than you'd like. Glasgow has taken over RG from Vaitai and has proven to be a good enough player. Flores will need to whip up his best blitzes to limit them.
Defensively, this unit is way worse than you'd think. With two of their best players on the IR - DT McNeill and S Gardner-Johnson, they've been bleeding yards and points. Like the Raiders with Crosby, Hutchinson is by far the best pass rusher, with nobody else (healthy) on the team having more than 30 pressures. They have a collection of rotational bodies in Cominsky, Owara, and Harris, but none are good enough to punish teams for doubling Hutchinson. The DT position is bone-dry with Buggs being a run-stuffer only, Jones being a total liability against the run compared to just 18 pressures and 1 sack, and Onwuzurike has proven to be a bust. Ty Chandler should be licking his lips.
The LB position has also disappointed. Anzalone has turned his career around after being Abysmal to start in Detroit, but PFF still doesn't like him. What is less controversial is that 1st rounder Jack Campbell is not living up to his billing so far as he's been a sieve in coverage (82% completion against, 40 PFF rating) and is just decent against the run, nowhere as good as Pace Jr. Barnes had been starting at LB but Rodriguez should start this one, and after a decent rookie year has been forgotten about.
The corner position is also weak on depth. Cameron Sutton is a fine starter but certainly not what you'd want for a #1 CB, and Jacobs had been forced into the #2 spot with Moseley on the IR. Thankfully rookie Brian Branch has been worth the 2nd round selection, playing a similar position as to Josh Metellus at SCB/S/LB, but they will have to field others at CB like Will Harris who is somehow Abysmal at CB and S in his career. Melifonwu just had a career game last week and could start, as the speedy safety might finally be blooming after a very slow start to his career. Walker hasn't quite been the same as he was early in his career but is a solid starter, while Joseph is having a rough second year after a promising rookie season.
Prediction: Lions 30, Vikings 24
Offensively, the Lions have the guns to do something that no team has been able to against this Vikings defense since we faced the 49ers - equally pass and run the ball effectively. With the Bengals beginning to crack Flores' defense and some key players questionable to play, I think the Lions finally break the run defense and feed their RBs at will. However, their defense as of late stinks and has holes all over the place, begging for Chandler to run through alongside Jefferson and Addison running free. In the end, I'll put my faith in Goff and Ben Johnson over Mullens and O'Connell as on the whole the Lions are the better team and the Vikings homefield advantage hasn't seemed to matter much this year.
Any thoughts?
... and neither is this Chris guy.