Lions may be NFC's surprise team, SI's Peter King says

Peter King is buying into the hype.

Though the Detroit Lions have played just one preseason game and trudged through the majority of training camp (they've got one more open practice Tuesday), the Sports Illustrated NFL writer may have coined a new surprise team in the NFC.

Sure, the Lions finished 11-5 last year and reached the postseason for the second time since 2011. But many expect them to take a step back this season without All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh leading the defense, among other changes.

King altered his tune in today's Monday Morning Quarterback column.

"All along, I’ve had this thought that Minnesota would be my surprise team of the NFC," King wrote. "Then I came to Allen Park, Mich., to watch the Lions practice, and saw rookie back Ameer Abdullah run through everyone on defense, and watched one of the two or three most intense practices of our tour, and saw a healthy Calvin Johnson shred the defense like the pre-ankle-injury days."

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Indeed, there was a lot to like from the Lions' 23-3 shredding of the New York Jets in last Thursday's preseason debut. Abdullah was the highlight of the night, with 7 carries for 67 yards. But King wrote a lot about a player very few are talking about: Caraun Reid.

Reid, a fifth-round pick last year from Princeton, could be counted on to help the Lions cope with the loss of Suh at defensive tackle.

"The irony of Suh leaving? And taking his incredible run defense and sacking (a team-high 8.5 sacks) with him to Miami? In the off-season, he tutored Reid, working out with the second-year Princeton kid, and all in Detroit camp say Reid came back this summer a different player," King wrote.

"More stout. Stronger, with a better interior rushing presence. At 6-2 and 306 pounds, Reid looks more lithe and penetrating than he did last year. How interesting that Suh, who has expressed nothing but love for the Lions after leaving for Miami’s riches, may have left a gift upon his departure from Michigan. If Reid become an impact player, and that’s a very big “if,” Suh would be the former first-round pick that kept on giving."

And then there's the Green Bay Packers, the class of the NFC North and the Lions' biggest hurdle toward a division title.

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Last year, it all came down to a Week 17 showdown at Lambeau Field, a place where the Lions haven't won in more than two decades. And though the Packers won 30-20, King suggested that game -- and the gap between the two teams -- was closer than many perceive.

“I don’t accept they’re that much the premier team in the division as everyone says,” Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said after practice one morning, according to King. “Just look at how we played last year. We split with the Packers and swept the rest of the division. We’re close. We haven’t taken a step back.”

You can read more from King here.

King could be right; the Lions still have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball and did finish 5-1 in the NFC North last year. But they still have plenty of hurdles, including a brutal opening four weeks of the schedule and a Packers team that probably won't slow down.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.