SB Nation - William James

Preview: Green Bay Packers at Lions

Brandon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:00:27 -0000

by Carlos Osorio - AP

The big news in Green Bay this week have been the injuries, and the big news in Detroit have been the injuries. My opinion is that while the injuries to LB Aaron Kampman and CB Al Harris are significant, they still have a good defensive unit in place. For the Lions, it seems like their offense can't function without QB Matthew Stafford and WR Calvin Johnson. Based on the fact that the Lions only had 149 yards of total offense when the teams met last month, and that Stafford and Johnson were out for that game as well, it's a fair point.

League rankings, based on yardage, from NFL.com:

Team	Run Offense	Pass Offense	Run Defense	Pass Defense
Packers	11	7	4	7
Lions	25	18	20	32

The Packers offense has been productive all season, and should have no trouble gaining yards against a struggling Lions defense (especially their patchwork secondary). While it looks like the Lions might have a shot at attacking the injured Packer pass defense, that No. 18 ranking is based on yardage and doesn't consider that the Lions have a league leading 18 INTs. And how ineffective their offense is without Johnson.

Packers run offense vs. Lions run defense: RB Ryan Grant had one of his best games of the season last week against the 49ers, go vote for him as the FedEx Ground Player of the Week, in large part because the offensive line had their best game of the season. The 49ers run defense has played very well this season, but the o-line opened big holes and controlled the line of scrimmage. The return of RT Mark Tauscher for more than just one half was part of the reason they succeeded, but everyone played better too. If C Scott Wells misses the game, it should hurt, but it might not be a big drop down to C Evan Dietrich-Smith. Since D-S has never had much playing time, it's hard to tell how well he'll play. It's not a given, but there's no reason to suspect Grant, or RB Brandon Jackson, can't have a big game.

Packers pass offense vs. Lions pass defense: QB Brady Quinn has started, and finished, 4 games this season. In those first 3 starts, he threw for a combined 499 yards, 1 TD, and 4 INTs. In his last start against the Lions, he had 304 yards and 4 TDs. Part of their problem is that they don't generate much of a pass rush, only 18 sacks in their first 10 games (and 5 against the Packers in week 6), which comes almost exclusively from their blitzing linebackers. But the bigger problem is their patchwork secondary. They recently lost SS Marquand Manuel and CB Jack Williams for the season, and S Kalvin Pearson and S Ko Simpson should miss the Thanksgiving game too. Rookie 2nd round pick FS Louis Delmas has had a good season, and free agent signing CB Phillip Buchanon has managed to keep his starting job. But veteran CB Anthony Henry had been benched the past few weeks (he might be the nickel CB on Thursday) and journeyman CB William James is probably the other starter. My best guess is that journeyman S Marvin White, who did start 10 games for the Bengals in 2007, will probably be the other starting safety. When it's a challenge for me to figure out who's starting in the Lions secondary, that's the definition of patchwork. And QB Aaron Rodgers has never thrown for under 300 yards in 3 career games against the Lions.

Lions run offense vs. Packers run defense: The Packers run defense has been exceptional this season, and the Lions aren't running the ball. As a team, the Lions are averaging 3.9 yards/carry, but they rarely call for a run (it's only been called on approximately 40% of their plays this season). The injuries to Kampman and Harris shouldn't effect the run defense.

Lions pass defense vs. Packers pass defense. There are so many unknowns. Will Calvin Johnson play? Does QB Daunte Culpepper have anything left? Will the loss of Kampman and Harris give the Lions an opening to attack? The Packers had a great pass rush against QB Tony Romo two weeks ago without Kampman, but one game is a small sample size. The pass defense was very good during Harris's absence last season with a spleen injury. The Lions won't repeat last Sunday's dominant performance against the Browns, but they could be anywhere from decent to awful in this game. Culpepper had 282 yards passing and 1 TD in week 5 against the Steelers, and he could approach those numbers again.

X-Factor - Special Teams: The Packers awful special teams unit moved up to No. 31 overall, according to Football Outsiders, due to the unbelievably bad Steeler kick coverage, but the Packers are still very bad. However, this isn't an area the Lions can exploit much because their own special teams unit stinks, ranked No. 29 overall by FO. And the Lions top kick returner, WR Derrick Williams, is battling a hip injury.

Though the Lions were shut out in Lambeau last month, they've been scoring between 10 to 20 points/game at home (Browns game excepted), while the Packers have been scoring 26 to 31 points/game (Cowboys game excepted) over their past 6 games. Packers 31, Lions 17.

Preview: Lions at Packers

Brandon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:01:03 -0000

by Duane Burleson - AP

2 months ago: Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson reacts after missing a 49-yard field goal against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Detroit. The Steelers defeated the Lions 28-20. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

View full size photo »

The Green Bay Packers are coming off the bye week, and into one of the easiest games on their schedule. The lowly Detroit Lions, in Lambeau. I gave up on looking back for the Lions last win in Green Bay, it's been a while, but it doesn't really matter since it's almost an entirely new Lions team in 2009. Here are the league rankings for both teams, based on yardage from NFL.com:

Team	Pass Offense	Pass Defense
Packers	12	17
Lions	16	27

Team	Run Offense	Run Defense
Packers	22	20
Lions	19	21

Or maybe this game is going to be closer than some people expect. Neither team is very good at running the ball, or stopping the run. Both teams can get yardage passing the ball. The only thing that really stands out is the Lions bad pass defense. We need to take a closer look at this game, after the jump.

While the Packers lead the league in sacks allowed, the Lions lead the league in a more important stat; points allowed. That seems a little odd since their defense doesn't look that bad. At least it looks a lot better than last season. Imagine the worst defense you can, then double it (maybe triple it) and that's the Lions 2008 defense. One reason for the turnaround is the arrival of Jim Schwartz, their new head coach who was previously the defensive coordinator for the Titans. However, Schwartz doesn't play on the field. Looking at their current stats, their top 8 defensive players, as ranked by tackles recorded, are all new guys. They added some free agents (LB Larry Foote, ex-Packers SS Marquand Manuel and DE Jason Hunter, and CB William James), made a couple trades (LB Julian Peterson, CB Anthony Henry), and picked up a couple guys in the draft (2nd round S Louis Delmas and 3rd round LB DeAndre Levy). It's not the next Steel Curtain, but they're playing better than last season.

However they are still giving up a lot of passing yards, and QB Aaron Rodgers should have better pass protection on Sunday with the likely return of LT Chad Clifton. The Lions pass defense has given up 15 TD passes and only 3 INTs, a 119.7 QB rating against, highest in the league. The yardage might not kill them, but all those TDs might. The Lions pass defense statistically looks worse than the Rams, and Rodgers had 13 completions and 2 TDs against them. And that was despite a couple drops from his receivers.

Although the Lions are giving up fewer yards rushing, teams haven't run the ball that often against them either. The Lions are allowing a terrible 4.9 yards/carry against, which should help even RB Ryan Grant have a solid game.

While their offense has shown some signs of life moving the ball, they are having a hard time hanging on to it. Rookie QB Matthew Stafford has dropped back to pass 150 times this season, and has 10 sacks, 6 INTs and 2 fumbles. So something bad happens to him about once a quarter. With Stafford's injury, QB Daunte Culpepper might be under center and he isn't any better, with 57 dropbacks for 7 sacks, 1 INT and 3 fumbles. Something bad happens to him almost twice as often. Still they've managed 103 points which is 19th best (by average) in points.

While the Lions have amassed a decent amount of total yards running the ball, it takes them a lot of carries. Leading rusher RB Kevin Smith has a miserable 3.1 yards/attempt. Despite the high total yards the Packers have surrendered against opposing running backs, I'm very optimistic about their run defense after it stopped RB Adrian Peterson two weeks ago in Minneapolis.

While I'm not a huge fan of SS Atari Bigby, his likely return is great news. The Packers pass defense struggled two weeks ago because of SS Derrick Martin, who was benched mid-game. And that came on the heels of the poor start by SS Aaron Rouse, and now current NY Giant, against the Bengals. While the Packers pass defense should be much improved, the Lions are likely to be without star WR Calvin Johnson. Still they managed almost 300 yards passing last week against the Steelers with nothing from him. The Packers may give up some yards passing, but they'll hopefully be able to take advantage of turnovers by Culpepper.

If you're looking for the special teams to provide an X-factor in this game; don't. The Packers haven't gotten anything positive, and only some negative, from them this season. It's worse for the Lions because the special teams just collapsed last week against the Steelers.

The Lions remind me of the Bears offense, combined with the Rams defense, two teams the Packers have beaten this season. Packers 38, Lions 17.

Official Vikings/Lions Injury Reports

Gonzo — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:54:02 -0000

Good evening/morning, campers! Glad to see that things have been relatively normal here, with the exception of some of the more creative FanPosts (all of which have been deleted). I would have gotten to these injury reports a bit sooner, but I spent my evening last night in New Orleans at a retirement party for a very good friend of mine that is moving on to the civilian world after putting in his 20 years. Let me tell you. . .Disney World might advertise themselves as the happiest place on Earth, but they've got nothing on Bourbon Street.

And I'll just leave it at that. This is, after all, a family show.

So, let's move on to the injury reports. As is customary here, we'll look at the visiting team first, so his Minnesota's injury report for tomorrow's game.

Minnesota Vikings Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Anthony Herrera	back	09/18/2009
Jim Kleinsasser	hand	09/18/2009

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Heath Farwell	hamstring	09/18/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Erin Henderson	calf	09/18/2009

Henderson is going to be out, we know that already. The big question here is Heath Farwell's status. According to Access Vikings, Henderson was the only member of the team that didn't practice on Friday, so since Farwell practiced, I'm guessing that he'll be a go for tomorrow's game, barring anything surprising. So, the Vikings should basically have their entire complement of players going into Ford Field tomorrow.

And here's the injury report for the Lions:

Detroit Lions Injuries

Probable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Grady Jackson	knee	09/18/2009
William James	foot	09/18/2009
Jason Hanson	knee	09/18/2009
Phillip Buchanon	neck	09/18/2009
Daniel Loper	knee	09/18/2009

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Eric King	shoulder	09/18/2009
Andre Fluellen	knee	09/18/2009

Doubtful

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Cliff Avril	hamstring	09/18/2009

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Cody Spencer	knee	08/18/2009
Daniel Bullocks	knee	08/20/2009
Jared DeVries	achilles-tendon	08/11/2009
Chris Roberson	undisclosed	09/05/2009
Damion Cook	triceps	08/07/2009

Grady Jackson is probable despite not having practiced on Friday, and his matchup against Vikings' center John Sullivan will be one of the more interesting ones to watch tomorrow. Sullivan had his difficulties with Shaun Rogers last week in Cleveland, and while Jackson is no longer in the class of guys like Rogers, he's still a big run-stuffing body in the middle of the Detroit defense.

Cliff Avril will likely be inactive for the Lions tomorrow, and I haven't seen anything indicating that anyone else on the Lions' injury report is a definite deactivation for tomorrow.

So there are the bumps and bruises for both teams going into the Week 2 matchup at Ford Field. Not a lot of hugely game-changing injuries for either side. We're about 12 hours away, folks, so make sure you're here for the Game Thread and all the fun that's involved with that. We'll see you here then!

Lions Sign Will James and Lydon Murtha, Release Three

Sean Yuille — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:47:16 -0000

As preparation for training camp continues, the Lions made quite a few changes to their roster today, headlined by the signing of free agent cornerback William James. The Lions also confirmed that they have signed draft picks DeAndre Levy and Lydon Murtha. To make room on the roster for the three players, running back Antone Smith, defensive end Rudolph Hardie, and safety Tra Battle were released.

Will James, who actually played for the University of Michigan for two years (then as Will Peterson), was a member of the Jaguars, so I'm guessing James Harris is behind this move. Jacksonville released James in June, and the Lions brought him in for a workout yesterday. 24 hours or so later, he became a Lion.

James is entering his ninth season in the NFL, and the Lions are his fifth team. He started out as a New York Giant in 2001 and joined the Eagles in 2006. James spent only two seasons in Philadelphia, as he became a Bill during the offseason a year ago. After being released during the final round of roster cuts, he joined the Jaguars, where he played in 8 games. On average, he has only played in around 9.5 games a season. That is mainly due to him playing in only 10 games combined in 2003, 2005, and 2006, but the last two years he has played in 22 total games.

On top of signing James, the two draft picks, and releasing three players, the Lions also brought in quarterbacks Cleo Lemon, Brooks Bollinger, and Craig Nall for a workout. Before training camp begins, the Lions obviously want to make sure that there isn't a free agent backup QB they have missed out on. I expect them to stick with Drew Stanton as the third-string QB, but the Lions may very well see a need to add a player to the competition.

If Bills must cut a corner, James should go

Brian Galliford — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:30:07 -0000

Youboty, rookies pushing James off roster? (Photo Source)

One of the more intriguing positional battles that the Buffalo Bills were keeping tabs on heading into training camp was the battle going on for five - perhaps six - slots at cornerback. The Bills had three incumbents, a free agent addition, and three drafted rookies battling for spots on the team - and given the unique situations of players like Jabari Greer, Ashton Youboty and Leodis McKelvin, there were plenty of story lines to follow at the position.

Now, a month has passed since the onset of that battle, and not surprisingly, there have been some surprises, some disappointments and some depth chart shuffling at the position. We're three games into the pre-season, which means roster cut-downs are looming. We've seen enough from the top six corners on Buffalo's roster to boil the battle down to one fact: if the Bills feel they must cut a cornerback and keep only five on the roster, it's veteran Will James that needs to go.

Five or Six?
Buffalo's top six cornerbacks are all certainly talented enough to remain on the final roster - that's not very debatable. The problem with keeping all six players is that the Bills are virtually certain to keep five safeties, as John Wendling's special teams prowess locks him in behind the team's top four safeties. Eleven defensive backs is an awful lot to keep, and if the Bills decide to trim that number to ten, it's a cornerback that's getting the axe.

There is an argument to be made, however, that the Bills should keep the best 53 players on the team - and if that argument is followed, it very likely includes eleven defensive backs. If the Bills follow this strategy - and it seems like a very logical strategy to follow - don't expect any of Buffalo's top six corners to get cut. All of them have shown versatility and a willingness to play special teams to date. They're all good players.

Where potential meets veteran savvy
If the final verdict is five corners, however, the choice is clear in my mind: it's Will James that needs to go. The Bills have a solid starting tandem in Terrence McGee and Jabari Greer. Ashton Youboty - long thought to be the odd man out in this group - has two pre-season interceptions and has been the best tackler at the position. There's zero chance that the Bills will cut either of its two rookie corners, Leodis McKelvin and Reggie Corner - even if McKelvin's play has bridged between average and awful to date.

The main argument behind keeping James - besides the fact that he's been taking first-team reps at nickel corner since signing with Buffalo - is the fact that he's a veteran. It might be unwise for Buffalo to rely on a youngster at the nickel spot, as the position carries more importance in Buffalo's style of defense than it would for most other teams. But from what we can discern, the Bills are looking for size and physicality at the nickel spot - and Youboty can provide that. McKelvin and Corner are only going to get better the more they play, and the same can be said for Youboty at this point as well.

I've seen James making the same mistakes as the young guys this pre-season - he's flashed poor tackling habits and a tendency to get beat deep. So have the young guys. The young guys have potential; James doesn't at this point in his career. Ergo, easy choice for the Bills, in the estimation of yours truly - if the Bills axe a cornerback, Will James seems the most likely target.