Lions were just handed clear blueprint on how to beat Patrick Mahomes in Week 6
Even though the Detroit Lions get the benefit of facing off against a Kansas City Chiefs team that is wounded at 2-3 heading into their Sunday Night Football duel, Dan Campbell needs to put together a masterful gameplan if they are to slow down Patrick Mahomes.
Luckily for Campbell, Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars may have given the Lions a place to start after their 31-28 comeback win. Defensive coordinator Anthony Campinale made some serious adjustments in the second half, including getting away from the zone coverage looks that have been his staple.
Mahomes destroyed the Jaguars when they played zone coverage, as he completed 27 of his 32 passes against zone for 311 yards passing. When they weren't playing so far back and tried to see if Kansas City's wide receivers can get open against an improved DB room, the result was a resounding no.
Mahomes was just 2-9 passing for seven yards against man coverage. One of those completions was a touchdown to Travis Kelce that may have been offensive pass interference, and Mahomes' 99-yard pick-six to Devin Lloyd in the red zone also came against man coverage.
Lions need to play man coverage to beat Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs in Week 6
The Lions entered Week 5 playing man coverage at one of the highest rates in the NFL, showing that new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has maintained the same attacking principles Aaron Glenn installed before departing to join the New York Jets. That could come in handy against Mahomes.
Sunday Night will be the last game of Rashee Rice's suspension, meaning that Detroit will have to contend with a beaten-up Xavier Worthy, Tyquan Thornton, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. No wonder Jacksonville switched to man and dared those receivers to win in single coverage.
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The Lions needed a matchup with a subpar wide receiver room, as they are dealing with some preposterously bad injury luck at the cornerback position once again. Both youngster Terrion Arnold and veteran DJ Reed are scheduled to miss a few games, and highly-touted draft pick Ennis Rakestraw Jr. remains on the mend.
While the Lions' defense has gotten back on track lately, Lamar Jackson was able to move the ball through the air with relative ease against them. Time will tell if another elite quarterback in Mahomes will be able to exploit a beat-up secondary or if the Lions find themselves on the receiving end of a classic No. 15 demolition.
Mavericks have no hope if Anthony Davis can't capitalize on his controversial wish
When the Dallas Mavericks made the Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade on February 1, it was clear the Mavericks were emphasizing their frontcourt prowess and size on defense, and getting No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg only added to the surplus of defensive talent in Dallas' frontcourt.
With Dallas already having two starting-caliber centers in Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford, it's been clear since Davis' arrival that Davis would be playing power forward more often than not, even if that was slightly derailed last season due to all of Dallas' injuries. Davis will almost certainly start at the four for Dallas this season, though, but he'll need to be a fairly efficient jump-shooter for this recipe to ultimately work.
Lively II has claimed he'll start taking some open corner looks from outside or in trail scenarios, but he's far from a proven 3-point shooter up to this point in his career, which creates a bit of a spacing mess for Dallas' offense if they are starting Davis and Lively II together, especially if Davis is having a game where he's also struggling to convert on his jump-shots.
Davis must shoot decently for Dallas to keep playing double-big
Dallas just needs one of Lively II, Davis, or Gafford to be a formidable enough threat from outside that they can draw opposing bigs and wings away from the rim a little bit more, as Dallas' offense could get very clunky and predictable if they are unable to capitalize on this proposition. With Lively II and Gafford projecting to be non-threats from outside for the most part this season, Davis will bear a lot of this responsibility despite having a career average of 29.6 percent from outside.
Spacing the floor doesn't just mean Davis being somewhat of a threat from outside, but he'll need to convert on a decent amount of his face-up midrange opportunities as well, as his efficiency from the midrange has notoriously been tied to how efficient he typically is on a given night.
If Davis struggles from the midrange and outside early on into next season, head coach Jason Kidd could quickly be forced to have to start Davis at the five, which would be a tough pill to swallow considering how much of Dallas' identity and payroll are tied into mauling opposing offenses with their double-big lineups.
If this scenario presented itself, it would likely have greater ripple effects, such as Dallas seeking to move Gafford in a trade before next year's deadline, as it'd be malpractice to be paying three starting caliber centers a quality percentage of the cap, but only starting two of them.
It's not like Mavericks fans should expect Davis to come in shooting north of 35 percent from outside next season or that the season will be totally trashed if he isn't able to, but he needs to creep over 30 percent from outside and be a touch more efficient in the midrange area compared to the brief stretch he played with Dallas last season, as the implications from him not doing this are something both Davis and the Mavericks won't want to have to deal with.
