Pardon me for grabbing the wheel of this thread and veering it off the straight & narrow for a bit to talk about the rest of the NFL that's still playing [[I'd like to think that next year around this time, it'll still hopefully be Lions' talk too).

The San Francisco vs. New Orleans game I walked in on during the last quarter and what a knock-down, drag-out, boob-slap sort of match. Back and forth between two pretty good offensive teams! Honestly one of the better games I've seen so far where both sides went at it. Seeing the emotion that Vernon Davis had on the sidelines was touching too. Here's a warhorse of a player who some might argue is one of the better tight ends in the game still feeling choked up about a play that propelled his team onto the next round of playoffs. No crazy celebrating- just a swelling of emotions.

As much as I loathe Jim Harbaugh, the Niners are getting it done.

Second game of the day? Simply put- Tom Brady and the Pats clowned the Broncos. They just took them out to the woodshed and pulped them senseless. Five touchdowns in the first half to four separate receivers shows you just how explosive the Patriots are. At the half, Brady had more TDs than the Denver QB [[as a courtesy to all concerned no names of the overly hyped will be mentioned) had completions. And just to keep things interesting and other teams on edge, Brady even got in a 48 yard punt that pinned back the Broncos- it wasn't booming nor pretty but it completely caught the sleeping Broncos off guard.

This game was more embarrassing to watch than any of the 0-16 Lions games for me. That Lions team I knew was bad. These were supposed to be two playoff teams in the second round. Somebody clicked off the competition button and it was the men taking on the JV team.

But watching these two games without any true rooting interest made me think of why the 2011 Lions were so entertaining [[attempting to get the thread back on track now)- they were simply competitive. The Niners/ Saints game was competitive; I had no idea who was going to win. The outcome was not determined by the second half. The Patriots/ Broncos game was a lark- much like some of the horrid Lions teams of the past. It was arena based masochism today if you were a Broncos fan.

We like our entertainment. We like our twists & turns. We like the surprise outcomes. And we most definitely like when the good guys [[our Lions) triumph over evil [[whomever we play on any given Sunday).