Rams vs. Lions: How Should Detroit Attack St. Louis?

The St. Louis Rams are an abysmal 15-65 over the last five seasons due in large part to poor offensive line play, poor wide receiver play and poor personnel moves. With Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney long gone, Jeff Fisher and Les Snead look to right the ship and lead the Rams to their first winning season since 2003.

It will be no easy task, as they head to Detroit to take on the Lions. In recent months St. Louis has turned over 60 percent of their active roster and has now become the youngest team in the NFL with an average age of 25.32.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Lions are the fourth-oldest team in the league, a far cry from where they were in 2009 when Jim Schwartz cleaned house. After their first playoff appearance in more than a decade last season, the Lions are looking to improve upon their 10-6 record. 

Let's take a look at how Detroit should attack the young guns in St. Louis.

Spread the Ball Around

There's no question that Detroit's most dynamic playmakers are on the offensive side of the ball. Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford make for one of the top quarterback-wide receiver duos in the NFL. In 2011, the Lions finished with a top five offense for the first time since 1997. 

So, it only makes sense to continue replicating what made them successful last season. Johnson has proven to be matchup nightmare for any cornerback who has tried to cover him. Come Sunday, he will utilize his unique skill set against one of the best man-to-man corners in the game, Cortland Finnegan. 

Finnegan has matched up against Johnson one time—the 2008 Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit. On a day when Johnson caught five passes for 66 yards, only one went against Finnegan.

Sunday's matchup will prove to be very different considering Finnegan will be shadowing Johnson all over the football field.

However, outside of No. 31, the Lions should have a field day with the rest of the St. Louis defensive backs. Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson are in line to make their first career starts, and it won't prove to be easy, as they will be matched up against Nate Burleson and Titus Young.

Lions OC Scott Linehan's No. 1 priority should be spreading out the Rams and exposing their young group of cornerbacks.

Pressure, Pressure, Pressure

As I mentioned above, the St. Louis offensive line annually has been one of the absolute worst groups in all of football. Last season, ProFootballFocus rated the Rams line the sixth-worst pass-blocking unit in the league. As a team, they surrendered 45 sacks, 34 quarterback hits and 142 quarterback hurries. 

And if there's one thing the Lions defense does well, it's rushing the passer.

The Lions defense has an incredible interior pass-rushing presence with Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley and Corey Williams. With St. Louis being weak at guard, I would look for these three guys to put plenty of pressure on quarterback Sam Bradford. 

Cliff Avril also should have a quite favorable matchup against newly acquired right tackle Barry Richardson. Richardson joins the Rams offensive line after spending the first four years of his career playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. 

In their last meeting, Avril graded out above average against Richardson; in Week 2 of the 2011 season, Avril notched two quarterback hurries against the 6'6" right tackle out of Clemson. Even though a change of scenery seems to be helping Richardson, he figures in to be in for a long afternoon against one of the top left defensive ends in the game.

Detroit shouldn't have to do a whole lot of blitzing against St. Louis since pressure from its front four should be sufficient. 

Stack the Box

Year in and year out the Rams come into the season with one proven commodity on offense: Steven Jackson.

Without a doubt, this year proves to be no different, as the Rams offense looks about as scary as it did last year. Sure, they added rookies Brian Quick, Chris Givens and Isaiah Pead, but all three have proven to be slow in development. 

Until St. Louis proves it can stretch the field and consistently hit downfield passes, there's no reason the Lions shouldn't have eight men in the box on run downs. The last time these two teams met in 2010, Jackson ran wild in a 44-6 drubbing at Ford Field.

I don't see things shaking out in similar fashion on Sunday. I'm expecting the Detroit run defense to be improved after two down years in both 2010 and 2011. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Avril and Suh all need to be more disciplined in the run game; all three of them found themselves overmatched against the run time after time in 2011. 

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