i didnt get to watch the final game of the regular season against the packers live but i saw the taped replay. the opinion many people had about matt flynn’s performance was confirmed to me. He had it very easy playing against a depleted lions secondary…

that secondary will be all systems go tomorrow with the return of luis delmas (who was running at 100% this week in drills for the first time since playing in November), chris houston (who also missed the saints regular season matchup), alphonso smith and aaron berry healed from their foot and shoulder woes. On top of that, you already know they will have Ndamukong Suh, Corey williams (who missed the last game), Willie Young, and Nick Fairley will be in the rotation (instead of just playing one dominant half against Brees before having to leave that game) The Lions should have all 11 starters for this game…

for a team thats always missed player(s) all season they actually are the healthiest team in the playoffs on the injury report. I’d suggest that the influx of talent compared to the last time around potentially makes the Lions a Consolazio philosophy pick. These guys will be hungry and theres no telling how they crash the saints party with the starting 11 back in the fold. Delmas, Houston, Suh (again, all who missed the first matchup) and Fairley in particular….

the first three aforementioned players are self explanatory. key disruptive forces for the team. Fairley is under the microscope because of his play in that regular season game. Drew Brees his first career sack and keeping him out of his rhythm with several hurries until leaving that game in the 2nd quarter. What was originally a game because of fairley’s impact was lost. the lions still managed to get one more sack on brees in the game without him totaling 2 sacks. this is significant because the saints only gave up 5 sacks in their last 8 games. Enter Suh & Fairley….

and an offense i dont have to sell makes for a serious affair. Analyzing the breakdown of talent on the lions roster position by position convincingly rivals any other. the only vice is the penalty game. the lions have shed this practice of stupid penalties in the last four games.