Detroit Lions – Five things to watch vs. the Vikings

Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell during the second half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans Sunday, October, 30, 2016, in Houston. (AP Photo/George Bridges)
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) scramble during the first half of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, October, 30, 2016, in Houston. (AP Photo/George Bridges)

By Paula Pasche | The Oakland Press

PUBLISHED: November 5, 2016 at 10:32 a.m. | UPDATED: June 17, 2021 at 6:46 a.m.

After the Vikings started 5-0 and the Lions stumbled out of the game at 1-3, it looked like there wouldn’t be much of a race in the NFC North.

That was weeks ago.

Since then the Vikings (5-2) lost two straight and the Lions (4-4) came out of their second quarter with a 3-1 record.

The two division rivals meet on Sunday at Minnesota for an important game for both.

“It’s a new quarter for us, No. 1. That’s kind of how we look at things. We look at one game at a time, and the most important thing for us right now is obviously the team that we’re playing, which is a very difficult foe to play. Very, very talented group,” coach Jim Caldwell said. “We don’t want to get anything beyond that, so if you talk to me about, ‘Hey, how important is it for you to get this quarter kicked off?’ You’d better believe it’s very important. It’s a huge game for us.”

Oddly enough the two will also meet in 18 days when the Vikings visit Ford Field on Thanksgiving.

“We play them twice within a three-game period of time, so it’s a bit of an unusual situation,” Caldwell said.

First things first. Here are five things to watch on Sunday:

1. Third-down conversions killed the offense last week when they converted just three of 11. Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter said the average was third-and-9 – you don’t have to be a coach to understand why that doesn’t work. Part of the reason is an inconsistent run game. “I think negative plays are really important for us to avoid offensively. Early in the year, first four, five, six weeks, we were way, way, way too high. The last couple weeks our negative run numbers and percentages have really gone down,” Cooter said. “The guys have done a good job sort of getting it started. Now we’ve just got to convert those things into 4- or 5-, 6-yard runs, run after run after run. When you’re looking at second-and-5 versus second-and 11, 12, 13, that’s a whole lot different, especially when you’re running the ball on second down and you’re looking at third and nine. I think we averaged like a third-and-9 last week and it’s hard to win in this league doing that and that’s kind of what we did last week.”

2. The Lions have not abandoned the no-huddle offense, but with different guys playing due to injuries they’ve used it less in recent weeks. It’s a trend that could continue.”Sometimes up-tempo, we look at the two-minute drives where we’re playing, we’re throwing the ball every down. Sometimes you do score more points on those things, but sometimes that’s not the best way to play ball in the first quarter or the third quarter, kind of the meat of the game, not necessarily a two-minute drive-type situation,” Cooter said. “We thought it was important for us to sort of get in the huddle, work out of the huddle and move forward from that. Doesn’t mean we won’t do a little bit of everything this week, next week, the week after, the rest of the year. But, that’s what we’ve been doing the last week or two.”

3. Matthew Stafford was sacked seven times in the last game of the match-up in 2015. The Lions reconfigured offensive line should provide more protection but the Vikings defense is the heart of the team. “(It’s) not hard to keep track of them, you just kind of look across the board and know that all of them can play,” Stafford said. “They’re all really physical guys, fast guys. Got some really good inside rushers, some good outside rushers, so you just know that going into the game and go play.”

4. On Wednesday, Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner unexpected resigned. Pat Shurmur, who has worked with quarterback Sam Bradford previously, took over the role. In such a short period it’s unlikely the offense will change that much. “I think between the quarterback and the offensive coordinator they’ve got a long working relationship, so there’s a lot of familiarity there. I think with those two guys, he’s going to know what Sam (Bradford) likes, what he really likes to do and I’m sure there’ll be some additions in terms of what they do offensively to cater to the quarterback’s strengths,” Austin said. “I don’t think it will be a wholesale change because I think that would be hard right in the middle of the season, but I think there’s going to be some tweaks and we’ll just have to adjust to it and see what they’re going to do. We’ve got to be able to adjust accordingly.”

5. The Vikings have lost their last two to the Eagles and Bears. Obviously the Lions would like to capitalize on what those opponents did to win. “I think the big thing that those guys did is they did a great job against the run,” Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “They still like to run the ball because it sets up their action-passes and some things like that, but they did a really good job of stopping the run and then they rattled him in the pocket. They really got after him, got some good pressure.

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– Lions acquire CB Johnthan Banks; more moves

– Five things to know about Lions midway through season

– Notes: Lions need to find way to win on road

– PHOTOS FROM LIONS 20-13 LOSS AT HOUSTON

– Five reasons the Lions lost to the Texans

– Five things to watch as Lions play at Houston

– Column: Lions put muscle behind vow to be accountable

– Five things to know about CB Nevin Lawson

– Notes: Ebron ready to go; 2 starters out

– Five things to know about Lions LB Josh Bynes

– Notes: Stafford wins Ed Block Courage Award; 3 starters return to practice