Seemingly the New England Patriots have everything – Tom Brady playing at a high level, a six-game win streak and the comfort of 18 straights wins at Gillette Stadium.
The Lions respect that. They really do.
“We’re going against a very good football team,” safety James Ihedigbo said. “We’re not going in with the mindset that ‘Oh they are unbeatable’ or ‘They do everything so amazing.’
“We are the No. 1 defense, we’ve kind of earned that. Respect is not given in this league it’s earned. We’ve earned that, it’s one of those games you have to play like it, that’s what it’s going to boil down to,” Ihedigbo added.
The Lions have given notice that they will not intimidated.
“Look at the names and guys we’ve got on this team, you should be intimidated by we’ve got on this team,” Ihedigbo said. “We’ve got (Ndamukong) Suh, we’ve got guys who are beasts in this league not even just on this team.
“Why should we take a back seat to anybody? Why should we?” he asked.
The Lions (7-3) will try to prove they are among the NFL’s elite at 1 p.m. on Sunday. They’re coming off a loss at Arizona and have not lost back-to-back games this season.
The Patriots are 8-2 with the two losses coming against top 10 defenses.
With Brady at quarterback, the Lions defense can’t spot the Patriots 14 points like they did against the Cardinals or 21 like they did in the win over the Falcons.
“If we execute the way we’re supposed to execute they can’t score on us, they can’t move the ball on us, they can’t do it,” safety Glover Quin said. “First two drives last week we didn’t execute properly and they scored points. The last few drives we started to execute, getting turnovers and stopping them. That’s just to show us if you execute from first play to last play there’s no reason we can’t shut teams out.”
Again the respect factor for the Lions holds true, but it’s not like Brady plays secured in bubble wrap.
“I think, in my opinion, times in the past there’s ways to get after him,” Ndamukong Suh said. “He’s an exceptional quarterback. It’s not necessarily easy but no quarterback likes to be hit. That’s one of our goals, to get after it, put a lot of pressure on him, try to speed things up, try to get back there and get in his face and do different things of that nature.”
Ihedigbo, who played one season for the Patriots and grew up in Massachusetts, seems to be a man on a mission. Match him up with tight end Rob Gronkowski? That’s all good.
“You talk about you want to go against the best all the time that’s how you judge yourself, that’s how you judge this defense,” Ihedigbo said. “We’re not ranked top by chance. We’ve gone against some of the best teams in this league and (executed) at a high level. This game isn’t about any match-up it’s about us wining and working toward doing that.’
