Three things we learned in the Detroit Lions win over the Green Bay Packers A wacky first half allowed the Detroit Lions to take control of their Week 5 game against the Green Bay Packers early and they never looked back. Here’s a few things we learned in the Lions divisional win.Kenny Golladay is this team’s WR1As I wrote about earlier this week Michael Roberts Jersey , second year receiver Kenny Golladay has been the offense’s best player this season. The receiver was Matthew Stafford’s favorite target on the day and was a key piece in Detroit’s domination. Golladay was targeted nine times—six times in the first half—for four receptions and 98 yards. While Golden Tate eventually surpassed his reception total late in the game, they came on shorter passes while the Lions were trying to ice the game. Detroit was making an effort to make sure the ball was getting into his hands. With the way he has been performing recently it’s easy to see why. Detroit is making an effort to get Kerryon Johnson involved. The first drive an NFL offense plays in any game is a scripted drive that they had memorized and worked on throughout the week. Everything is predetermined and put through a flowchart to make sure the team can get off to a good start. On their first drive Sunday the Lions handed the ball off to rookie running back Kerryon Johnson three times and he was targeted by Stafford on an out route out of the backfield. This shows that the Lions really want him to get involved. Four touches on the scripted drive means Detroit sees him as an incredibly valuable to the offense. An early injury cut his game short but he still finished with 12 carries for 70 yards along with two receptions for 15. It is still unknown the severity of the injury he suffered, but assuming he returns to the lineup soon, his share of the touches should only get bigger. The Lions have fixed their short-yardage issuesDetroit’s inability to convert on third and fourth-and-1 have haunted this team over the past couple of years. These issues seem to be all but buried. Running back LeGarrette Blount converted a third-and-1 on the ground early in the game to keep the offense moving. He later scored two 1-yard touchdowns to get the Lions out to an early lead. While Blount has been awful in basically every other situation, he has thrived in the areas Detroit needed him to the most. With Johnson grabbing more and more carries on a week-to-week basis—assuming he’s healthy—Blount’s role may be marginalized to just these situations. He has done the job he was brought to Detroit to do and that is huge for the Lions offense going forward. The Lions are going to win the division according to math. Okay, not exactly..." Detroit Lions NewsFootball Outsiders: Detroit Lions most likely NFL team to go worst to firstNew,31commentsThe Lions are going to win the division according to math. Okay, not exactly... EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Football Outsiders: Detroit Lions most likely NFL team to go worst to firstTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesEvery year, there seems to be one NFL team that comes out of nowhere to win their division and make a deep playoff run. Every year Taylor Decker Jersey , Detroit Lions fans hope and pray it will finally be their turn. Every year since 2002, at least one team has gone worst-to-first in the division, with the lone exception being in 2014. Needless to say, those prayers for the Lions haven’t been answered in *checks watch* 60+ years. But according to Football Outsiders, there’s legitimate reason for hope in 2019. Via ESPN+, Football Outsiders ranked the eight teams that finished last in the division in 2018 by their likelihood of winning the division this year. The Lions came in atop the list. Football Outsiders is giving the Lions a 25.5 percent chance to win the NFC North (second-best in the division) and a 39.8 percent chance to make the playoffs (14th). Their reasons for picking the Lions? There are plenty. Let’s run through a few of them. Offseason movesAaron Schatz of Football Outsiders is a big fan of some of the additions the Lions made this year. He notes the additions of T.J. Hockenson and Jesse James will be a huge improvement to their tight end room. Hockenson may be a unknown commodity, but Schatz is high on James.“James was seventh among tight ends in receiving value last season by our metrics,” he wrote.He also notes the two big signings along the defensive line with Trey Flowers and Mike Daniels.Defensive improvementSchatz notes that there is a certain amount of expected regression in the first year of a new defensive scheme. Conversely, there’s a noticeable bounce-back effect in Year 2.“The Lions are in the second year of a new scheme A’Shawn Robinson Jersey , and all else being equal, teams take a little step back in the first year of a new scheme and a step forward once they have more experience in it,” Schatz writes.But there are more reasons to believe the defense will improve, even putting the perceived improvement in talent aside. According to Schatz, the fact that the Lions were better against the run last year than the pass suggests the defense will improve the following year. Additionally, turnovers—which are statistically random by many measures—should regress to the mean after the Lions defense failed to force many in 2018.“Detroit got a takeaway on only 7.3% of drives last year, 31st in the NFL,” Schatz wrote. “That’s an important metric that tends to regress toward the mean heavily from year to year.”Bears regressionWe’ve talked about it a few times already, but some advanced statistics suggest the Chicago Bears could be in for a big regression in 2019 after their 12-4 season. Schatz explains:Of course Graham Glasgow Jersey , the Lions still have to deal with two other competitive teams in the division, but taking down the 2018 division champions would be a good start for Detroit. Overall, it’s admittedly a little hard to get too excited about the Lions potentially winning the division, considering they haven’t done so in 28 years, but you don’t often see them getting this kind of support from an advanced statistics site, either. So maybe a little hope is warranted.