My thought's on this team:
The Lions won 11 games last year thanks mostly to their very aggressive defense, but this year they will need to rely more on their offense to get the job done, as they defense will be down a bit this especially with the loss of Suh and Fairley. There is some solid talent on this defense and bringing in Ngata will help, plus they have upgraded their depth some on this side of the ball. Still i don't see them putting up the same numbers as they did last year. The offense last year was very average for a Detroit offense, especially with two 1000 yards receivers on it and a QB that once threw for 500 yards in a season. It was a new offense that Stafford was running last year, plus the injuries and inconsistent play along the line didn't help things either. It really looked as if Detroit got so conservative on offense because they knew that their defense was so good and win games for them. This year the offense will have to make more plays and Stafford will be expected to stretch the field more and take chances, which is something he didn't do last year. The Lions will not reach D in wins this year, but as long as the OL steps up and the defense doesn't drop too much then I feel they can win 9 games this year and contend for another playoff spot.