NFL Playoff Picks: Why Detroit Lions Can Stop New Orleans Saints Offense

Let's start this off with two facts.

1. The sixth-seeded Detroit Lions face the third-seeded New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round of the 2012 NFL Playoffs on Saturday night. 

2. The Detroit Lions defense is capable of shutting down Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints offense.

Yes, it will be a very tough task to accomplish it, but the Lions can do it. 

Let's take a look at the situation and how Detroit can overcome it. 

2011 New Orleans Saints

Wow.

Talk about an amazing offense. Quarterback Drew Brees (pictured) led the top-ranked passing attack and passed Dan Marino's record for the most passing yards in a single season with 5,476 yards.

Around Brees were great wide receivers like Marques Colston, Devery Henderson, Lance Moore and Robert Meachem along with standout tight end Jimmy Graham.

In the backfield, the Saints had the sixth-best rushing attack thanks to a balanced rushing attack from Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas, Mark Ingram and Chris Ivory. 

Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles were Brees' two best and perhaps most unlikely pass targets. They combined for 2,020 receiving yards and 18 touchdown catches. 

But this couldn't have happened if not for the great offensive line the Saints have. They only allowed Brees to be sacked 24 times, 24th in the NFL and one of the best numbers for a quarterback who started all of his team's games.

December 4th Matchup

On December 4th, the Detroit Lions traveled down to New Orleans to play the Saints, just like they will this weekend.

But the result was less than optimal for the Lions as they lost 31-17.

Since this is slideshow is only about the Detroit defense and the Saints offense, we'll just focus on that aspect of the game.

Drew Brees tore up the Lions secondary for 342 yards and three touchdowns—good for a passer rating of 129.6. Robert Meachem caught 119 of those yards and one of those touchdown passes on only three catches. 

The Detroit defense didn't do so well, clearly. 

They only managed two sacks and four hits on Brees and Amari Spievey led the team with 10 total tackles. Spievey is a safety, so clearly Brees was passing the ball at will. But Detroit did stop New Orleans' ground game and held them to a combined 100 yards and one touchdown.

Luckily for the Lions, things are looking up for their defense this weekend.

Then and Now

In the first matchup between the Lions and Saints, the Lions were missing several key players on the defense.

First of all, they were without Ndamukong Suh, their dominating defensive tackle, who was serving a two-game suspension. While he can get very out of hand, without him, their defense is left with a huge hole.

The Lions were also missing players due to injury such as safety Louis Delmas (pictured) who was a big party of the dominating Lions defense in the first half of the season. Defensive end Lawrence Jackson missed most of November and December with a thigh bruise but is now healthy and playing well. Finally, cornerback Chris Houston also missed the Saints game and will be able to play in a limited capacity on Saturday.

Clearly, the Lions were missing some big pieces of their defense during the first game against the Saints, but those guys will be back on Saturday—most importantly Suh and Delmas.

Detroit's Front Line

Few teams have as imposing a defensive line as the Detroit Lions do.

The biggest name is Ndamukong Suh, who had somewhat of a down year in 2011 with only 36 tackles and four sacks in 14 games. Despite that, teams are afraid of him.

Also on the line are defensive ends Kyle Vanden Bosch and Cliff Avril (pictured), two unsung heros of the line that finished the season with 41 sacks. Both men actually played better than Suh, combining for 71 tackles and 19 sacks.

Rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley has yet to do much of anything, 15 tackles and one sack, but he is due to breakout at some point. Who knows? Saturday could be the day. 

Send a Message

As the season has gone on, the Lions have developed a reputation for being a team that is out of control—they were the third most penalized team in football, giving up the second most penalty yards.

There's no way they can be happy with that and they should want to prove to the nation that they can focus on football. In their last game against the Saints, they were penalized 11 times for 107 yards, almost all of them extending Saints' drives or stopping Lions' drives.

On the other hand, the Lions are also one of the best teams at forcing turnovers, as they forced 34 turnovers compared to their 23 giveaways. 

Linebacker Stephen Tulloch (pictured) needs to stop playing dirty and continue to be dominant on the field where he amassed 111 tackles, three sacks, two interceptions and recovered three fumbles. He should be known for his defense, not horse-collar tackles and Tebowing.

If Tulloch and the rest of the defense can put those two qualities together in the right way, they can be a turnover-producing machine and stop the Saints' potent offense with the help of Lions' scary front line.

They can send a message to the league that they can play and they can play fair.