A year ago, Stephen A. Smith was anything but sold on the Lions. Now he's buying them as a threat in the NFC.
Asked on ESPN's First Take to name a surprise team that can challenge the NFC-champion Eagles this season, Stephen A. went with Detroit. (Whether or not the NFC North-favorite Lions qualify as a surprise team can be debated.)
"I will openly admit that it’s prisoner of the moment because we saw how they ended last season and how they ruined Green Bay's aspirations of going to the playoffs," Stephen A. said Wednesday. "We get all that."
But he also believes in the Lions' offense to be as good if not better than it was last season, when it ranked fourth in the NFL. If their last-ranked defense improves, and it already has on paper, there's no reason to think the Lions can't win their first division title in 30 years.
Stephen A. said the Lions have "an elevated level of confidence" led by a "quarterback that went to the Super Bowl a few years back."
"They’re deep, their offense was top five last year, their passing game was top 10, their running game was No. 11. I expect them to do similar things this year offensively. Defensively, let’s see what they have with Aidan Hutchinson and those boys. Let’s see what they do defensively, because they got a lot to prove.
"But I'm just looking at the upside for the Detroit Lions. I like Coach Campbell, let’s see what they do."
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