Lions vs. Saints: 4 Lessons Detroit Can Take from Big Loss to New Orleans

The New Orleans Saints defeated the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, handing the upstart team a 45-28 loss and ending their season.

Though the Lions have much they should be proud of this season, the loss brings to light a number of areas the team will need to improve if they want to find themselves with a playoff win next season.

Here are four lessons the team can learn from its blowout playoff loss.

Start Strong, Finish Strong

The Detroit Lions looked like they could pull off the upset victory over the New Orleans Saints, dominating the favored Saints in the first half of the game and leading 14-10 at halftime.

However, in the second half, the Lions gave up five touchdowns while scoring two of their own, and thus lost the game by a large margin.

Twenty-eight points is a lot to put up, to be sure, but it's not enough to beat the Saints. If Detroit could have kept up the momentum it had in the first half of the game through the remaining two quarters, it would have had a better chance to keep scoring, keep holding the Saints offense down and perhaps win the game.

A strong start is practically worthless if it can't be maintained throughout a full four quarters. The Lions learned that this week.

Limit Penalties

The Detroit Lions have been one of the most-penalized teams in the NFL this league and that trend continued in Saturday's Wild Card Round loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Flagged seven times for 64 yards, the Lions found themselves on the wrong side of false start and pass interference penalties a number of times in the game, killing momentum with those lost yards.

The Lions have had issues with discipline all season long and now they've helped the team lose its first playoff game in over a decade. If the Lions want to improve in 2012, they need to reign in their penalties and play the game more intelligently.

Improve the Defense

The New Orleans Saints are good enough to put up points and serious yardage on most any opponent, but the Detroit Lions ultimately didn't make it hard for them to do so on Sunday with the team putting up 626 total yards of offense and 45 points.

The Lions primarily got burned in the secondary with Saints quarterback Drew Brees throwing for 466 yards and three scores, but they didn't fare much better against the run, either.

The Saints, for all the discussion of their dominant passing game, also boast a top-10 rushing unit as well, and it was in full effect on Sunday night, with three touchdowns and 167 yards coming on the ground.

Detroit went into the season with a much-hyped defense that hasn't delivered when it's needed to this year.

The Lions need to shore up positions other than their line and work on both stopping the run more effectively as well as strengthening in the secondary if they're to have any luck containing the more explosive offenses in the NFL.

Run the Ball

The Detroit Lions have a very effective passing offense—indeed, it's been one of the NFL's best this season. However, to stay competitive with the likes of the New Orleans Saints in 2012, they need to improve their running game.

In the 2011 regular season, the Lions ranked just 29th in rushing yards per game, averaging just 95.2 In their Wild Card loss to the Saints on Saturday night, the team rushed just 10 times for 32 yards.

The Saints, in contrast, ran the ball 36 times for 167 yards and three scores, while still passing the ball 43 times for over 450 yards.

The Lions' great passing offense is an asset to the team, of course, but they would also be well served to improve their running game as well. They need more overall carries per game and more yards per carry.

While their running back corps sustained a number of injuries this season that has helped keep the Lions' rushing numbers low, they still need to increase focus on the run and become a more balanced offense.