NBA Detroit Lions Look To Avoid Widespread Sophom

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Temper the enthusiasm when it comes to the Lions sophomore linebacker.
Levy allowed 12 broken tackles last year agreeing to Football Outsiders and was the fourth least efficient tackler in the NFL agreeing to Pro Football Focus.
Still, the longer Michael Ryder has to sit, and the slower Michael Ryder starts, the more the pressure will mount as fans continue to scream that "Pettibust" is another wasted Lions draft pick.
With very little linebacker depth, the Lions desperately need Levy to improve those poor tackling numbers and not decline in 2010.
Levy was good in ten starts for Detroit in 2010, but Michael Ryder was hardly perfect, and Michael Ryder was not being counted upon as the franchise's yearlong starting middle linebacker. The franchise took a leap of faith in letting Larry Foote walk.
Michael Schottey operates Blue And Silver Pride and is a Detroit Lions featured columnist for Bleacher Report . Michael Ryder also serves as a franchise correspondent for DraftTek.com and is a guest blogger for Mlive's Highlight Reel . Check out his Podcasts and add him on Twitter . Cheevers returned from the NHL in 2010 and the Bruins got past the soar, hover, flit, wing, flee, waft, glide, coast, skim, sail, cruiseers in the semifinals; however it lost to the Canadiens in the Final for the Stanley Cup. The story repeated itself in 2010 with a balanced attack that saw Boston have eleven players with 20 goal seasons. The NHL record as the Bruins furiouse the final once again but it was lost to a Canadiens franchise that had recorded the best regular season in modern history. Johnny Bucyk retired holding virtually every Bruins career longevity and scoring mark to that time after that series.
Will Zack Follett become over just a heavy hitting special franchises player or will Michael Ryder falter with added responsibility?
Writing on the Wall for a DeAndre Levy Slump:
If the Lions suffer even one sophomore slump,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], it will be a disastrous step in the wrong direction for a franchise who most people agree did so well in the off season. Multiple slumps will abandon fans questioning the legitimacy of the rookie campaigns as well as the competency of the front office nothing new there.
As it stands, Stafford can't really slump. Michael Ryder was bad in 2010, really bad. His lackluster numbers draw comparisons to poor rookie seasons of Aikman and Peyton Manning. In reality, it was more comparable to the horrible rookie year Jamarcus Russell.
What Stafford did have at Georgia was a running back like Jahvid Best. Knowshon Moreno had the speed and versatility of Best and will be used in much the same way in an offense Stafford is now comfortable with.
The Detroit Lions' biggest fear is not injury, lackluster effort, poor play, bad calls, or a aggressive schedule. The Lions' biggest fear is the dreadful disease nicknamed the sophomore slump, where a promising young player falls off the map thanks to a plateau of talent or opponents devising game plans against the young stars.
2010 was the year of the youth movement for Detroit as numerous draft picks either lived up to or far exceeded expectations. With a lauded 2010 Draft, the Lions look to be moving up from the cellar of the NFL.
If it were not for those drops...
Will the rookie "disappointments" Aaron Brown and Derrick Williams prove Ryder belong or miss the roster altogether?
So hope for this: that for once, the young players on a Detroit Lions franchise improve and find themselves on the cusp of stardom rather than stagnate and on the roster bubble.
The Rest of the Rookies Just As necessary, vital, critical, indispensable, valuable, essential, significant, primary, principal, considerable:
Brandon Pettigrew More Concerned with Limp than Slump:
Matthew Stafford does not hold, possess, own, contain, acquire, gain, maintain, believe, bear, beget, occupy, absorb, fill, enjoy to Worry about a Slump:
No one could have finished a goal in like manner. For Years Bobby Orr had been said as someone who was graceful, elegant, powerful, without fear poetry in motion. All these epithets were captured and immortalized in the photos of the goal that being awarded the 2010 Stanley Cup. Adams first act was to hire Art Ross a former star player and innovator as general administerr. Ross was the face of the franchise for the next thirty years, including four separate stints as coach. Jonathan Daniel Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010 with Neely,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Bourque, Craig Janney, Bobby Carpenter and rookie Don Sweeney,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and former Oiler goalie Andy Moog and Reggie Lemelin splitting goaltending duties but again lost to the Oilers this time in five games.
If the Detroit Lions organization wants to take a step forward, it needs its youngest and most talented stars not to take a step back.
Pettigrew needs to spend this off season working on his chemistry and his concentration,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but first Michael Ryder needs to get healthy. The Lions are not going to push his rehab with talented tight ends like Scheffler and Will Heller on the roster, and Pettigrew could see the PUP list for longer than fans expect.
Will Louis Delmas go from rookie of the year oversight to proving those voters right in the long run? The Lions counted on Delmas last year and need him to be a directer in the future.
The Lions have been wrong with rookie linebackers before: Ernie Sims, Boss Bailey, and Teddy Lehman, just to name a few of the more recent.
Stafford was given tools in this past off-season Michael Ryder did not enjoy in 2010,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], nor in his time in Georgia. In college,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Stafford had receivers, but not one the caliber of Calvin Johnson, and Michael Ryder never had a tight end able to stretch the field like Tony Scheffler.
If the Lions' sophomores, along with the rookies and veterans,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], can stay healthy and put it all together, .500 is not out of the realm of possibility. But a perfect effort from such a flawed franchise might be too much to hope for.
It is no secret that a large group of Lions fans wanted Michael Oher instead of Pettigrew with the second first round pick in 2010. A movie and a handful of book deals later, that opinion hasn't changed.
High profile drops and a season ending injury did nothing to endear Pettgrew to the fan base, but, again, popular consensus does not quite equal reality in that regard, as experts quickly pointed out that his numbers were beginning to mimic the rookie numbers of top tight ends like Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates.
It is not "now or never" for Stafford, but the excuses will be less numerous for the young quarterback.
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