The Detroit Lions (3-3) are coming fresh off a much-needed bye week and are now preparing to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) on Sunday Night Football. The Steelers will not be an easy task for the Lions as their offense contains so many dangerous weapons such as Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, and rookie receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. If Detroit wants to walk away with a win and increase their chances of winning the NFC North, then these are three things that they MUST do.
Limit Antonio Brown
Antonio Brown is considered by many to be one of, if not the best wide receivers in the NFL today. If the Lions want to win on Sunday, they are going to have to stop or at the very least, limit Brown. He is averaging 14.7 yards per reception this season and has three touchdowns. Darius Slay is going to have to play at the top of his game to stop Brown on Sunday, but if he can limit the number of receptions Brown hauls in, the Lions will be in good shape.
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Slow down Le’Veon Bell
Le’Veon Bell is another dangerous piece to the Pittsburgh Steelers offense that needs to be slowed down. The Lions defense, which allows an average of 3.7 yards per run, needs to toughen up and stop Bell before he can get into a groove. Completely stopping him is an almost impossible task, but if the defense can slow him down and not allow him to get the four yards per run that he averages, then the Lions will be in a good position to win the game.
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Protect Matthew Stafford
So far this season, the offensive line has not done a very good job at protecting Matthew Stafford as he has been sacked a total of 23 times for a loss of 144 yards. If the Lions want to win this game, then the offensive line must protect Stafford better. The more he gets hit, the fewer chances he has to get the offense going and to put points up on the board for the Lions. If the line can step up and prevent Stafford from getting hit so many times and give him enough time to make good throws, then the Detroit Lions should walk away from Ford Field with a victory over the Steelers.
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