Lions vs. Saints: Why Detroit Could Be the Newest Version of the Saints

Detroit and New Orleans were two of the most down-on-their-luck cities of the past decade. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Detroit is New Orleans North. 

The two cities have overcome tremendous economic and social catastrophes, though nothing compares to what the city of New Orleans went through a few short years ago. 

Still Detroit is a city that has been ravished by crime, an economy which doesn't even really count as an economy and really bad sports for the most part. 

At least the stench and sting of the Lions' on-field performance has been felt across the street from Ford Field at Comerica Park, down the street to Joe Louis Arena—where the city's primary standard of success, the Red Wings, play—and all the way out to Auburn Hills, where the once-proud Pistons have found life very difficult without (cough, cough) Rasheed Wallace. 

Without a Championship in the Super Bowl era, the Lions have taken losing to a new level. Their struggles have been epic. 

But Lions fans never got to the point of calling their team the Cry'ins, or made paper bags a regular scene at whatever stadium they occupied. 

The only franchise to have its own fans admit to these things would be the New Orleans Saints. Because as bad as the Lions have been, for approximately 40 years the Saints were just as bad, if not worse. 

Of course, this is rightly where any bashing of either franchise should end. Because in 2006, the Saints hired a head coach who transcended an almost impossible situation and turned the Saints into one of the most consistent and proud franchises in the entire NFL. 

In 2009, the Lions made a hire which seems to be paying nearly the same dividends. That man's name is Jim Schwartz, and he's turned this franchise into one with a very bright future. 

Quarterback No. 9 Drew...err Matthew Stafford

By no means is Matthew Stafford in the same hemisphere of Drew Brees. Talent-wise yes. Practically speaking, no. 

But like Brees, Stafford has shown an ability to play football at a high level. He can put yards up in a hurry, thanks to a huge arm and a pass-happy offense. 

Few teams throw the ball as often as the Lions and Saints. They're both aided by at least one superior offensive weapon to target, and a dome for a home field. 

But this season, the Lions offense has become obsessed with the shotgun formation. And this has actually been to the detriment of Stafford. Unlike most quarterbacks to come out of college recently, Stafford actually played in a pro-style, run heavy, primarily under center offense at Georgia. 

Stafford excelled in that kind of offense because it took the burden off him, and allowed him to throw without tremendous pressure and off play-action. 

The similarity to Brees is here: As soon as Brees was given a running game with the Saints, the team went 13-for-13 before dropping a few tough games. They then went on to win the Super Bowl. 

If the Lions can establish any kind of power running game to augment their explosive passing game, Stafford could develop into a top-five QB in this league and one heck of a winner.

And that's coming from one of the few who had him rated as a third-round prospect coming out of Georgia. 

Dome Field Advantage

You can name the number of stadiums which have housed a Final Four and Super Bowl on one hand: Georgia Dome, Reliant Stadium, the now Mercedes-Benz Superdome and Ford Field. 

Though Ford Field is huge, it contains significantly outstanding acoustics which give a home defense a tremendous advantage in terms of noise. A young team such as the Lions can really struggle with this, as the team can get too jacked up. 

But an older, more mature team like the Saints can use this to their advantage in order to feed off the energy and play their best football. In fact, I expect that to be one of the Saints' biggest advantages Sunday night over the Lions, despite the Lions also being a dome team. 

As Jim Schwartz's unit grows more mature—which, based on some of the antics of Ndamukong Suh we can assert is necessary—they will learn to use this advantage to its ultimate peak. 

No team has played more consistently well at home this year than the Saints. If the Lions do what many expect, they too can do that in the next few years.

And just like the Saints—maybe even more so—the Lions have built their team on speed, meaning the fast track of the artificial turf really benefits them.

In time, they will learn to use this to their advantage. 

Best Part About Youth Is It Matures

When Ndamukong Suh stomped on the Packers' offensive lineman on Thanksgiving, no one in the NFL was thinking this is a guy who was just trying to get up after being held down.

People were thinking, what an idiot!

I am a Suh fan, and believe he is an overall good guy and a heck of a football talent. But I will admit, as someone turning 25 on Sunday, when you're young you think you've got it all figured out.

Then you get humbled. 

Hopefully for Suh and the NFL's sake, he learns and is humbled to the point where he sees playing football as a reward and responsibility—not a birthright. But Suh isn't the only player on his team who needs to mature. 

The Lions are one of the most immature teams in terms of taking dumb penalties and making other dumb mistakes. For many teams, losing is the only cure for immaturity. Hopefully Sunday night makes the team 7-5 and shows them just how far they have to go to get to the top. 

Then and only then can they begin to mature as a football team. 

A Good GM Makes Quite a Difference

Just as the Saints have a wonderful general manager in Mickey Loomis—who understands the personality and style of his head coach—the Lions have Martin Mayhew, who has done a fabulous job in a short time to restore the Lions roster.

Sure, Mayhew inherited one super-talented wide receiver, and was aided by high draft picks for a number of years, but that is really no different from what the previous regime had to work with. 

Mayhew has pieced together a few solid drafts—most notably selecting Matthew Stafford no. 1 overall, when I adamantly believed they should have taken either Aaron Curry or Jason Smith. Mayhew understood the needs of his team—in this case to get a QB. 

The last couple drafts have been solid as well. They've added speed and a number of young talented starters for Jim Schwartz to build his football team around. 

He's also made a few keen moves in the other areas of player acquisition. Most impressively, he made a move for former Falcons second-round pick, Chris Houston, a corner I REALLY wanted the Saints to select in the first round the same year they drafted Robert Meachem. 

Mayhew is helping remind us that player acquisition is more about recognizing a player's ability as it relates to the system than it is about the sheer talent the player may possess.

It is that same philosophy which has made the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers the most consistently good football teams in the league (I would add the Saints have begun to use this philosophy as well, and is probably the reason the organization is so good at developing late round/undrafted selections into legitimate NFL talent). 

Mickey Loomis has been doing it longer and has won a world championship, but believe me, the Lions are well on their way to becoming a legitimate contender with Mayhew and Schwartz at the helm in the Motor City. 

A Coach with a Vision

When Jim Schwartz was hired in Detroit he came in with something few coaches have: success as a coordinator. That quality has long been one of my top priorities in hiring a new coach. 

Schwartz's work as the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator, along with his visionary abilities in using advanced metrics, made him quite the new school coach for an organization which had very little innovation or creativity in its past hires. 

But Schwartz hasn't hidden behind his new school approach, as he's also managed to bring an old school hit-you-in-the-mouth type approach to the way the Lions play football, especially on defense. Opposing teams know when they play against the Lions, they have to play a tough 60-minute football game if they're going to come out with a win. 

It's that blend of the old and new school which Sean Payton slowly embraced in New Orleans and made him a Super Bowl winning head coach. 

One major difference of course is that Schwartz has relented control on both sides of the ball to his coordinators, while Payton still is the man on offense, though his recent injury has forced him to relinquish some of that control to offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, Jr. 

Perhaps Schwartz is a quicker learner than Payton, or maybe his philosophy is just a little different. Either way, it seems to be working well for both squads, as each comes into the Week 13 tilt in prime position for an NFC playoff spot. 

Both organizations hold a confidence rarely seen in their franchise's history. And for that, both coaches and the people involved deserve to be proud. Lions versus Saints is no longer a laugher; it's a game that the whole nation will be watching Sunday night on NBC.