Best-Case Scenario for the Detroit Lions' 2012 Season

As we look at the 2012 Detroit Lions, a few things become very clear.

This is a team with tremendous talent and ability. This is also a team with a penchant for aggressive play which occasionally spills across the line into penalties.

If the Lions can keep the aggression tilted towards the opposition without crossing that line they could go very far.

How far?

I'm saying all the way.

Here's how that happens.

Stay Healthy

It goes without saying that in order for the Lions to even sniff the Super Bowl, Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson need to stay healthy.

However, it's not just about the stars—the team in general needs to stay as healthy as they can. Of course, from the moment a player steps on the field in training camp, he's never 100 percent. Players get nicked and banged up.

It's awfully hard to win a championship with too many guys on injured reserve and while the 2010 Packers did it, the depth they had was far beyond what the Lions have.

The truth is that even with that depth, the Packers got lucky on a few fronts to make and win that Super Bowl with so many players hurt. More often than not, a rash of injuries leads to doom—for examples, see last year's Houston Texans or if you really want to lose sleep, last year's New York Jets.

Staying healthy starts now—really any good trainer will tell you it's a year-round thing—as the players do their conditioning. Good conditioning will limit the small but nagging injuries that can kill a team's season just as surely as a torn ACL.

The Lions need to stay healthy again this year and limit the injuries. Keep their talent on the field.

Spread the Ball Around

Calvin Johnson can't do it all himself. I know you're thinking "of course not" but how often do we expect him to anyway?

Johnson had 175 targets last year—an extraordinary amount because Matt Stafford threw an extraordinary amount of passes. It's also more than 25% of the passes Stafford threw.

Ideally, Johnson catches all of those but it's not going to happen and the more you throw to him the more the defense will double and triple him up.

Make them pay for that. Nate Burleson and Titus Young did very well last year—Young was tied for the second most touchdowns on the team behind Johnson. When the defense focuses too much on Johnson, go elsewhere.

Beyond that, go elsewhere before you need to. Go to other targets earlier in games and free up Johnson before you really need him.

This goes for the ground game too. If the team is healthy, then Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure are available. I don't think you need to go ground and pound or anything like that but a consistent, dangerous run game makes life easier for the rest of the offense.

Run the ball a little more. Target Young, Burleson, Brandon Pettigrew and Ryan Broyles early.

Keep the defense confused and on it's heels and this offense could be unstoppable.

Win on the Road

The Lions have a really tough road schedule this year. Aside from the usual trips to Green Bay, Chicago and Minnesota, they get to visit San Francisco, Philadelphia and Tennessee.

They have to win as many of their road games as possible. Not even from a 'you need a good record' standpoint but to prove they can and to show the league they are just as dangerous on the road as they are at home.

Besides, taking wins in places against teams like the 49ers and Eagles will give the team plenty of confidence as well—never a bad thing. They can play anywhere—they just need to prove it.

A few road wins will battle harden this team and give the rest of the NFL something to think about around playoff time.

There's nothing like having a playoff road game and knowing that you've already beaten the best in their own house.

That said—

Win Home Field

The best case scenario for the Lions definitely involves home field. There's no bones about it—better to stay at home and not travel in the playoffs.

That's not to say they couldn't be a road dog and make it to the championship never playing at home. Just that it's far harder to do it that way.

Besides, the fans deserve home playoff games. I'm not saying the players would read this and say "oh, yeah—let's do it for the fans!" or anything Hollywood like that.

However, if you can give a starved fanbase a home playoff game or two after years without? That's a home field advantage worth its weight in gold.

Play in Control

The Lions averaged 7.9 penalties a game in 2011—which believe it or not was actually down from 8.5 a game in 2010.

It's not just the frequency of penalties, it's the timing.

Nothing kills a drive or defensive stand quicker than a bad one. Further, it's not even the small and uncontrollable penalties that the Lions have had. You can't control when a holding or pass interference penalty gets called—you can avoid playing too physical but there is only so much you can do. Sometimes bad calls happen, even when they don't.

Unsportsmanlike conduct and penalties like it are very much under the player's control though.

Aggression is fine—it's required in fact. Stupid aggression is not.

Here's something we haven't talked about much when it comes to penalties. When a player loses his temper and gives an extra kick or shove and gets a flag it's often because the other team has pushed him over the edge.

We all know the jawing and trash talking which happens on the field. Part of it is most definitely about getting the other guy off his game.

When Ndamukong Suh kicked that Packer? I guarantee that was the result of someone getting into Suh's head. Titus Young's flag against the Saints last year? Same thing.

The Lions have a rep, whether they or anyone of the rest of us like it or think they deserve it. They will be tested, they will be jawed at, they will be pushed.

They must not succumb.

Play smarter than the other guy. Play it in control.

If they can do that? The best case scenario—a Super Bowl ring—is within their grasp.