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If you’re a Detroit Lions fan, Week 6 is hard to put behind you. The Lions’ devastating loss to the Green Bay Packers is proof that while a football team can be doing everything right, it’s someone else who does something wrong that screws them in the end.
However, we’re moving forward, now, and so are the Lions. As week seven game day approaches, the Minnesota Vikings are speaking up about what they’re focusing on in preparation for the matchup.
Lions’ reporter Tim Twentyman spoke to Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer on a conference call on Wednesday. He reports Zimmer as saying that Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is playing the best he’s ever seen him play.
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“He’s throwing the ball into a lot of tight windows, he’s pulling the trigger, he’s still scrambling like he has,” Zimmer said. “I feel like he’s making the right reads, getting the ball out quick.”
Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs said he considers Lions cornerback Darius Slay to be the best in the game. He also said he’s expecting a lot of man coverage from Detroit.
Minnesota linebacker Anthony Barr said on Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins’ weekly podcast on Vikings.com that he’s seen a huge improvement with the Lions’ offense in their ability to attack teams at all three levels of the defense with the weapons they’ve added, like Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson.
Since he has a mind for defense, Zimmer said he feels Detroit’s defense is playing well together right now. He likes that their cornerbacks and safeties have been playing aggressively and that they’re mixing up coverages.
Zimmer also said Detroit’s slot cornerback, Justin Coleman can match up with anyone, which teams find crucial during a game.
Although Cousins got off to a slow start, Zimmer said his 600 yards passing and six touchdowns can be attributed to the offensive line protecting Cousins better and receivers doing their own part.
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Vikings running back Dalvin Cook told Vikings.com that he feels that if they stay with it and wear the Lions down, the big runs will come.
The proof of the outcome is always told in the final score, but maybe, in this case, it will be told by those who are officiating the game. No one will forget last week, and it’s hard to imagine that it won’t or can’t happen again.
We can’t settle on bad calls though. We and the rest of the NFL can only keep going forward and looking into Week 7: Vikings at the Lions on Sunday.
