Lions vs. Rams: Keys to the game

Running back Kevin Smith vows to lead Lions' revival

John Niyo / The Detroit News

Allen Park -- Midway through his second NFL season, Lions running back Kevin Smith has seen enough and heard enough to know it's not enough.

And coming off a bye week that gave him time to rest a lingering shoulder injury, he's vowing to hit the ground running. Or else.

"I feel rejuvenated," he said. "I feel like I've got 10 games to prove myself to the organization and the rest of the people around the league. ... For me, the pressure's on. Whatever that means to anybody, I know what it means to myself.

"The pressure's on. It's time for me to show why I'm me."

Smith, a 2008 third-round pick out of Central Florida, has shown flashes of the kind of production he expected after a solid, if unspectacular, rookie season. He found his stride in an early homestand against Minnesota and Washington, rushing for 101 yards in two-plus quarters against Washington. But he left that game with a bruised shoulder, and has struggled since.

"It has been tough, but a lot of it has been self-inflicted," said Smith, who's averaging just 3.2 yards per carry. "I could've done a lot better. The bye came right at a good time. I'm eager to play Sunday. I'm eager to take my frustration out on the field."

Certainly some of that is on the offensive line, as well as injuries to both quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson. Their absence has allowed opposing defenses to load up to stop the Lions' rushing attack. Smith's injury didn't help, either.

"He's been really having to play with pain, a shoulder harness, all that kind of thing, and it's taken a while to get back," offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. "I think this week I've seen a guy that's close to where he was before he injured that shoulder. I mean, the bye week was great for him. You could see a lot of the strength coming back. You could see he wasn't favoring it."

Smith won't use the injury as an excuse, though. He has just one gain of 20 yards or more this season, and far too many negative-yardage plays. Sunday, he'll face a St. Louis defense that ranks 27th in the NFL against the run and has allowed 11 rushing touchdowns in seven games.

"Breaking more tackles, anticipating cuts," Smith said, when asked what he needs to do better. "Every play's not blocked perfect. But there's been some plays where I let a little penetration stop me from getting to where I want to go. I haven't scored enough touchdowns this season. In my mind, I'm playing catch-up. I'm playing catch-up to getting in the race with all the good backs in the league.

"Our running offense is not in the top 10. It's not good enough. And that's obvious. You don't want to hear any more about how you're 'making progress.' ... None of that matters anymore for these last 10 games. It doesn't matter to me -- I don't know about anybody else -- but I don't want to hear about it. I need to go out and do my job and everybody else needs to do the same thing."

Action Jackson

Steven Jackson, on the other hand, has been a one-man show for the winless Rams. He ranks third in the NFL in rushing (635 yards) and second in yards from scrimmage (804). Of course, he also has yet to find the end zone in seven games, and the Lions know if they can continue that streak, they'll stand a good chance of winning Sunday.

Jackson's versatility makes that a tall order, though. He's a big back (6-foot-2, 235 pounds) with good receiving skills -- six catches for 78 yards in an overtime loss two weeks ago -- and the Lions have had trouble with outside containment this season.

"The biggest thing is to keep him out of the secondary," defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. "If he breaks the line of scrimmage, he's dangerous. If you keep him bottled up, you have a chance. Because he's so big and strong, for DBs to bring him down in the open field, it's difficult. And he's got some athletic skills: It's not like he's some plowhorse rushing for 5 yards a carry -- he's got a lot of big plays."

Strength in numbers

Detroit was undermanned up front on defense in their last game, a 26-0 loss at Green Bay. With three-fourths of the starting defensive line inactive for the game, it also lost defensive end Copeland Bryan to a season-ending knee injury at Lambeau Field.

Sunday, Cunningham will get two of three starters back in defensive tackle Sammie Hill and Dewayne White, both of whom missed the last three games. White arguably was the Lions' most consistent player on the line in the preseason, while Hill's 330-pound interior presence was sorely missed. The Lions actually used undersized end Turk McBride, who tipped the scales at 247 pounds this week, at defensive tackle the last two weeks.

"The way we play our defensive line, nobody plays every single snap," coach Jim Schwartz said. "They need to stay fresh. They need to roll. One of our issues (at Green Bay) was we played way too many snaps. Our offense had been doing a really good job of controlling the games and keeping the number of snaps short. Last week, we didn't do a good job of that. On defense we played 80-some snaps. We only had six active defensive linemen. That accumulation over the course of the game wore us out."

Sunday, the Lions will have seven -- defensive end Jason Hunter remains out with an ankle injury -- in addition to hybrid linebacker Julian Peterson.

Puttin' on the blitz?

Peterson finally is getting more comfortable with his multi-faceted role in the Detroit scheme. Two weeks ago, he led the team with 10 tackles and 2 ½ sacks, including one late in the third quarter that forced a fumble by Aaron Rodgers on a first-and-goal play. Having played in the NFC West with Seattle and San Francisco prior to the trade to Detroit, Peterson has had plenty of success against St. Louis over the years.

Rams quarterback Marc Bulger, who knows his future probably lies elsewhere, is struggling with an underwhelming receiving corps. And with a juggled offensive line -- veteran guard Richie Incognito is out, and rookie Jason Smith will start at right tackle Sunday -- there's an opportunity for the Lions, and maybe left end Cliff Avril in particular, to make a bad situation worse in the Rams' backfield. Bulger has a quick release and throws with accuracy, but he's not very mobile, and the Lions will try to force the issue with more pressure calls.

With an extra week to prepare, Cunningham added another two dozen blitzes to their package, bringing the total to about 65. And while his defense has blitzed 35-40 percent of the snaps in recent weeks, the Rams might see more Sunday.

Coaches' checklist

The week off also gave the Lions coaching staff an opportunity to put individual players on notice. The explosion plays the defense allowed in the first six weeks were as much a result of mental mistakes as anything else.

"But what we did find out was that there were certain individuals making mistakes, and they kept showing up," Cunningham said. "We'd have 45 snaps in a coverage and 40 were good plays. And then we'd have five bad ones and those same guys kept showing up, over and over. I kept track, and put a number on 'em and a total at the end. And we addressed it with those players, that they better figure it out or we're gonna put somebody else in there."

So who's on notice? Well, just about every player in the secondary. Cornerback Phillip Buchanon, if he gets the start over DeMarcus Faggins, already has been benched twice this season. Former starter Anthony Henry still was working with the scout team in practice this week. And Will James' play has tailed off after a solid first few games. At safety, rookie Louis Delmas has cut down on his mistakes, while Ko Simpson, back from an injury, likely will start ahead of Marquand Manuel, whose lack of foot speed has been evident

But it's not who starts that matters. It's who finishes.

john.niyo@detnews.com