Lions dominate Sports Illustrated’s all-overrated team – The Detroit News
Looks like Jim Caldwell and the Lions are getting hit with negativity from the national media now, too.
Sports Illustrated released its “NFL Midseason All-Overrated Team” on Tuesday, and it was colored in Honolulu blue and silver.
Included on the team are quarterback Matthew Stafford, the entire offensive line and Caldwell, who earlier Tuesday chided Detroit media for supposed negativity regarding the team.
Only one other NFL team — the Eagles, with two — had more than one representative on the squad.
Sports Illustrated’s Doug Farrar says the Colts’ Andrew Luck could supplant Stafford as the NFL’s most overrated quarterback by season’s end but, for now, the honor belongs to the Lions’ signal caller.
“(Stafford) has had more time in the league to develop his game and certainly more weapons,” Farrar wrote. “You give Luck Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and a credible backfield, and he’d probably do better than Stafford’s numbers so far this season: 193 completions on 299 attempts for 2,083 yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 picks.
“More worrisome than Stafford’s stats in any given season is the simple fact that he hasn’t really grown mechanically. He still believes too much in his arm and relies too much on odd delivery angles and outlier plays. …”
Stafford’s offensive line hasn’t helped, having allowed 22 sacks in the eight games, despite featuring first-round picks in Riley Reiff and Laken Tomlinson (granted, the latter is in his rookie season) and third-round picks in Larry Warford and Travis Swanson.
“There’s a lot of money and draft capital tied up in this line,” Farrar wrote, “and outside of the quarterback it protects, it may very well be Detroit’s biggest disappointment this season.”
Caldwell, meanwhile, has had a rough couple of weeks, which includes the firing of three offensive assistant coaches.
“… It looked like the Lions made the right move by hiring Caldwell in 2014,” Farrar wrote. “This season, though, it’s all fallen apart. The decision to re-do the offensive staff seems to be just a shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic, and Caldwell’s comments Tuesday that the media’s negativity toward his 1-7 team is an issue shows just how desperate he is for any message to stick.”