Lions look to progress against Saints in first playoffs game since 1999 - NFL News
The Detroit Lions have got their first aim done and dusted to reach the playoffs and are now looking forward to go over the next obstacle winning their wildcard playoffs round against the New Orleans Saints.
Coach Jim Schwartz in his Monday press conference spent not a single moment to reflect on the Packers game shifting focus completely to the playoffs and the Lions first postseason game since 1999. The Lions will face off against an in-form New Orleans Saints
side on Sunday and the game will pit together two of the most prolific offenses of the season.
Both quarterbacks Saints Drew Brees and Lions Matthew Stafford had a great regular season passing upwards of the 5000-yard mark but Coach Schwartz knows that this is not the regular season and they have only one game to get things right.
"This isn't college bowl season where you're getting a watch and a new warm-up suit and taking a tour in the chamber of commerce and it's like a reward for the season," Schwartz said. "This is the tournament. This is the chance to win the championship, and
that's the only thing that's important."
The Lions had a brilliant season qualifying for the playoffs wildcard round with a 10-6 record and finally look to have turned a corner. Only two seasons ago the Lions were down at the bottom after a 0-16 season but with new acquisitions and Coach Jim Schwartz
inducting a physical and united mentality in the team the Lions have become a test for any National Football League side.
The Lions however, will rue their missed chance of getting a higher seed after losing to a second string Green Bay Packers side. The 45-41 loss kept the Lions as the sixth seeded team in the playoffs pitting them against New Orleans Saints.
The Saints have hit a rich vein of form and with quarterback Drew Brees performing like a MVP the Saints present a scary prospect for the Lions. The Lions defence will have to perform at their peak if they want their team to progress through to the division
rounds of the playoffs.
Coach Schwartz will prepare his team thoroughly over the coming days for the Saints and hope that they somehow manage a way past the Saints.
"After the San Diego game, I said if you polled the locker room I don't think anybody would have said our goal was to get into the playoffs," he said. "I think that it's what you do with it, and that's the way we'll look at it."
The Lions will face the Saints this Saturday and will be fired up to progress a step closer to the Super Bowl XLVI.
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