Readers, this is the part where my brother takes over my blog to talk about football again. -N
Last year, I wrote two posts comparing the 2010 Detroit Lions to the 2009 and 2008 squads on a statistical basis. One was a mid-season post, and the other was a season review post. The short story is that the 2010 Lions were a much better team than the 2008 and 2009 teams. That point was probably obvious given the difference in records. The more interesting discovery made in those posts was that the 2010 Lions beat their opponents in terms of third-down conversions, passing yards, sacks and turnovers. Further, they were just 
barely edged out by their opponents in terms of first downs, total yards, rushing yards and completion percentage.
So, what did the Lions do in the 2011 draft to maintain their victories and reverse their losses? In the first round, they drafted Nick Fairley. Fairley was a senior-year dynamo defensive tackle at Auburn, racking up 4.29 tackles per game, 1.71 tackles for loss per game and .86 sacks per game. Last year the Lions took defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who is now the pro bowl rookie of the year. In his senior season, Suh had 6.09 tackles per game, 1.46 tackles for loss per game and .86 sacks per game. These guys are now going to be playing next to each other. I think it is safe to say that the Fairley pick ensured that the Detroit Lions will sack a few quarterbacks in 2011 and will cause a couple of turnovers. NFC North quarterbacks are already having nightmares about playing the Silver Storm.
With their first pick in the second round, the Lions took Titus Demetrius “T.D.” Young. Young is a speedy receiver out of Boise State. His senior year, he racked up 93.5(!) yards receiving per game by catching 5.5 balls per game. That led to him scoring an average of 4.6 points per game. Plugging this guy in with the greatest receiver in the NFL and Nate Burleson just made the team’s passing game a difficult day for opposing secondary squads. My prediction is that the Young pick puts the Lions on top of their opponents in terms of first downs and completion percentage and keeps their hold on passing yards.
By trading some later round picks, the Lions acquired a second second-round pick. They used it to take Mikel Leshoure, a north/south running back from Illinois. In Leshoure’s senior season, he carried the ball 282 times for an average of 6.05 yards per carry and 131.23 yards per game. He never fumbled in college. Not once. And the Lions just passed their opponents in terms of rushing yards per game and total yards per game and ensured their hold on turnovers per game.
At the end of last season, I opined that the 2011 Detroit Lions were going to be playing in the 2011 post-season. Today, I’ll guarantee it.
Assuming there is a 2011 post-season.
You may also like “Can the Detroit Lions Restore Their Roar,” in which author Robert Cobb agrees with Perry Mason’s assessment.
Of the eight above statistical categories — which I would say are the key stats to winning football games — the 2008 Lions were better than their opponents at none. And they won zero games. The 2009 Lions were better than their opponents at exactly one. And they won two games. 