My Predictions Come True!

Ok, so here is what I said the Lions would need to do to win.

1. Stick with Stafford up under center.
2. Move the DB's up to the marker on third and long.
3. Use the fullback formation often, especially on third and short.
4. Be aggressive with the pass rush and blitz package.

I also said Fairley and the rest of the line would be hard to stop, especially Ansah. Here's a breakdown on all of this.

1. Stafford under center.
He was there for at least half the snaps and I will have that exact figure later. At the beginning of the game, and later in the 4th quarter, Bell and Bush had success running the ball. After the first couple of runs, the Giants committed to stopping it which opened up the passing game. Several play action passes were successful also. Stafford is a good ball handler and froze the Giant linebackers several times with his fakes and his real handoffs were also hard to read.
2. Move the DB's up.
Nobody has mentioned one HUGE difference between this game and almost EVERY game in the last few years: the Lions did not give up a big play TD. Game after game, the opposition broke off a long run or short pass that turned into a TD or a long pass. Not so this time. One big reason is we no longer have Delmas back there "guessing" (wrong a lot, never should have given him that leeway.) And I saw a lot of straight cover 2 in the secondary, with the safeties well back taking away the long throws. Later in the game, the Lion safeties were coming up more aggressively and especially on third down, the corners and safeties were right on the receivers at the marker, making several key tackles to stop Gian drives. Also, the linebacker drops were not as deep as in the past, so there was no big open layer.