Avril (1 Viewer)

[Young 8]

I can't find any news

 

[Jene Bramel]

Schwartz wouldn't specifically say why he was inactive. It wasn't injury related, however, and Schwartz hinted that there were special teams reasons (facing Harvin) that could have been behind it. Beat writers have also speculated that inconsistent play may be the reason. There may be something to that -- Schwartz was hesitant to give more than a rotational role to Avril in the preseason and seemed to warm to him only after the front four were hit with injury and Avril had a productive game.

 

[Anthony Borbely]

Link

Lions' Cliff Avril gets message after benching

John Niyo / The Detroit News

Allen Park -- The coach yells because he cares.

Cliff Avril has to remind himself of that every so often when he hears it from Gunther Cunningham, the Lions' volatile defensive coordinator.

"A lot of the time he's yelling, some of us younger guys think, 'Oh, here he goes again,' instead of listening to what he's saying," said Avril, the second-year defensive end who found himself a healthy inactive for the first time in his career last week at Minnesota. "(Cunningham) actually has a lot of good things to say. It's just the way he goes about saying it sometimes."

Sometimes. Like most of the Lions' young players, that's part of the issue with Avril, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound pass rusher who showed flashes of his potential a year ago as a rookie third-round pick out of Purdue.

This year, it's been more of the same with Avril, who was out because of a hamstring injury in September but had 2 1/2 sacks and a forced fumble in a three-game stretch heading into the bye week. Then he was benched last week after a subpar outing -- particularly on special teams -- in the Nov. 8 loss at Seattle.

"He's a second-year player, and they all go through things those first couple years," Cunningham said. "And by the third year, they really understand what it's all about. ... Sometimes, he doesn't look like he's going too hard. But the one thing about Cliff is he's a great athlete, and sometimes great athletes give you the illusion they're not moving when all the while they're so smooth and so athletic. And I talked to him about that -- his body language, a combination of a lot of things.

"I know he understands. He had some problems on special teams in Seattle and when I talked to him, I saw it. I'm big on non-verbal communication. And I saw it in his eyes: This guy wants to be a good football player, and I think he will be."

So does Avril, who should be back in the lineup this week, having received the message that was sent -- both verbally and non-verbally -- by the coaching staff last week.

Jim Schwartz insists the lineup changes against the Vikings -- Landon Cohen also sat at defensive tackle -- were about matchups, not messages.

"Game plan-wise, we thought the other ends fit the run game a little better," Schwartz said of Avril. "In retrospect, they didn't do a very good job there also. ... Game-day decisions are not always to send a message or because you're disappointed at a guy, there's a lot of different things that you have to take into consideration, special teams, the game plan, all those things. (Cliff's) still developing as a player, but we haven't been disappointed with him."

Still, Avril said, "I've just got to understand as a young player that I should never put myself in that position. But (Cunningham) has talked to me on the side, telling me to take it in stride and basically use this as motivation: 'Don't let it bring you down,' basically. And that's big coming from him."

Avril laughed, adding, "I guess he does actually have a little bit of faith in me."

 

[Young 8]

he's posting a BIG FAT ZERO against the Packers OL

wow

 

[Anthony Borbely]

he's posting a BIG FAT ZERO against the Packers OLwow

The Lions got no pressure at all on Rodgers all day, totally shocked considering how many sacks the Packers give up.

 

[Larry Thomas]

Rodgers is doing a better job getting rid of the ball quicker. He was taking too many sacks holding on to the ball too long. Going forward, Green Bay may not be as good a matchup for sacks (providing Rodgers continues to get rid of the ball quicker) Also, as Tony noted, the Lions did a poor job pressuring the QB.

 

[DesmondBishop]

Rodgers is doing a better job getting rid of the ball quicker. He was taking too many sacks holding on to the ball too long. Going forward, Green Bay may not be as good a matchup for sacks (providing Rodgers continues to get rid of the ball quicker) Also, as Tony noted, the Lions did a poor job pressuring the QB.

That and the fact that our line is getting healthy again.