The Lions' Difference Maker

I'm a big fan of Ndamukong Suh, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Rob Sims, Nate Burleson, Corey Williams, Tony Scheffler, Dre Bly, Caleb Campbell and Amari Spievey. They were brilliant additions to the Lions roster. Along with Matt Stafford and Jahvid Best, they complete me (lol).

The problem is that when discussing the merits and potential contributions of one player, it may appear that you are diminishing the contributions of the others.

Not so.

They are all important to the Lions' ascension in the NFC North and the NFC playoff picture.

It's a team sport, after all.

Let's assume that the Lions D-line rotation has improved beyond the ability of predictive stats to measure.

(Yeah, yeah, I know that "assume" makes an ass out of you and me. We can talk about that more later in the year.)

Let's assume that a greatly improved D-line rotation will keep the Lions LBs "clean" enough to be effective against the run and short and mid-range pass attacks.

Let's further make the leap that both an improved D-line rotation and LB effectiveness will help a much improved Lions secondary.

All of this would mean that the Lions offense will be on the field a lot more and not behind so often in the first half.

Now let's assume that with the addition of Rob Sims to a otherwise stable O-line, Matt Stafford will enjoy a lot better protection this year.

Who will his weapons be?

We all know how talented Calvin Johnson is and that the Lions brought in legit 2nd WR Nate Burleson to help peel coverage off of Johnson.

We know that Linehan wants to run lots more two tight end sets and that now with the addition of Tony Scheffler to the TE rotation of Brandon Pettigrew and Will Heller he has the talent to pull it off.

Some of us know that FB Jerome Felton had almost as many pass receptions last year as he did running plays and that Felton is the perfect 4th TE/Flex/H-back compliment in Linehan's offensive scheme.

Add a very speedy in-space RB Aaron Brown, plow-horses RBs Kevin Smith and Mo Morris, WR Bryant Johnson, and either the unspectacular but consistent Dennis Northcutt, or feisty, very speedy, sure-handed special team guru and slot receiver Tim Toone or even Brian Clark.

What do you have?

A mismatch nightmare for opposing defenses.

What if you added Jahvid Best to the lineup?

Best can line up and be effective anywhere. He is the epitome of an any-down, any-time NFL scoring threat. He's got great speed, great hands and great moves.

Pity the defense that has to game-plan against this team.

Look for a shake-up in the NFC North.

The odds are against Brett Favre having a repeat of his phenomenal season last year (if he even returns to the Vikings). It's unlikely that Favre, a QB averaging better than 16 interceptions a year over his 19 year career, can limit himself again to a career-low 7 interceptions. It just as improbable that Favre, with a career average passer rating of about 86, can match his last year's PR of 107.2.

GB's Aaron Rogers is well on his way to becoming one of the best current QBs in the NFL. However, his OL is questionable, at best. Last year, Rodgers got sacked a stunning 50 times. Get sacked enough times and injuries are inevitable. To make things worse, GB's starting DE Johnny Jolly was just suspended for the entire 2010 season. Also, the Packers hasn't done a thing to address their glaring weakness at CB.

In Chicago last year, Jay Cutler threw 26 interceptions and was sacked 35 times. Those stats are about to get worse in a Mike Martz offense that favors seven-step drops and precise timing routes in a stadium located in the Windy City. With former Detroit coaches Marinelli and Martz in Chicago, the Bears have essentially become the pre-Schwartz Lions on Lake Michigan.

The bottom line here is that the standings in the NFC North this year are likely to be:

Vikings 9/7 overall and 4/2 in the division

Packers 9/7 overall and 4/2 in the division

Bears 3/13 overall and 0/6 in the division

Lions 9/7 overall and 4/2 in the division.

I'll leave the play-offs for another story.