2013 Detroit Lions

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 12:22 PM

Who the heck is this Faurea guy? WHAT? The Lions with a tight end that has hands and can run after the catch.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 12:27 PM

Two nice drives so far with only three points to show for it. Disappointing? Maybe a little bit but it does chew up some clock. Maybe this year our team can manage the time of possession a little better. The Calvin Johnson catch was properly over turned but I still wish we could've gotten a TD out of it.

Time for the defense to be on the field and kick some ass now. Hopefully.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 12:53 PM

Levy's interception getting called back on Suh's block? I feel for the guy who got chopped but it's also a brand new rule this year that maybe not all guys are used to dealing with just yet. Sadly this will probably go under the microscope and Suh's going to get crucified again.

And then Stafford gets tipped and taken? Henderson had all day to get that.

Seriously we need to do more with the ball- as in getting six for a touchdown.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:00 PM

One nice thing to say about the Lions so far- Rieff seems to have held up well against Jared Allen so far. He hasn't been man schooled like some people have said.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:20 PM

Will someone... ANYone, teach Brandon Pettigrew how to hold onto the damn ball? It couldn't be any more difficult than 1) ball hits hands, 2) catch ball, 3) hold onto ball with all your might, and if you have the opportunity 4) run with it but never forget #3. Is it that difficult???

**firstandten** · September-08-13, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Thruster315

Will someone... ANYone, teach Brandon Pettigrew how to hold onto the damn ball? It couldn't be any more difficult than 1) ball hits hands, 2) catch ball, 3) hold onto ball with all your might, and if you have the opportunity 4) run with it but never forget #3. Is it that difficult???

Its too late to teach butterfingers anything. Its time to give BP a little bench time to let him think about things

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:27 PM

This has been circus football on both teams. Neither side has been too disciplined. This sure hasn't been an NFL Films bonanza.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:30 PM

How many touchdowns have the Lions given away already?

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:31 PM

Tip of the ball breaking the plane? OM freakin' Gawd~!

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by firstandten

Its too late to teach butterfingers anything. Its time to give BP a little bench time to let him think about things

I seriously believe the guy's got some measure of talent. Remember years ago when Adrian Peterson's knock on him was not being able to hang onto the ball? I vaguely remember hearing about how in the off season he was practicing by carrying around a heavy ball. He was literally lugging around a football made of concrete to strengthen his grip. Since then, Peterson's been a model of efficiency with regards to possessions. Maybe we need to get BP some QuikRete.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 01:45 PM

This first half has been Oscar Madison sloppy. If this is the way the rest of the season's going to go, we're going to lose out minds. I don't even know how the Lions faithful who are down at Ford Field are capable of dealing with this. I'd be downing the watered down beers just to numb the pain.

Pop Warner football at the end of my block has more discipline and structure. Both teams have given up the ball like it's radioactive. And the penalties? Don't even get me started.

I dunno. I might just get off of the laptop here and maybe be the 12th man on the field from afar. Pray that I don't toss a size 10 Doc Marten shoe into the TV screen today.

I can still hope for the Lions to win but the way they're doing it doesn't exactly re-assure me that this team has overcome some of the past demons.

**firstandten** · September-08-13, 01:59 PM

This is a reason why Schwartz needs to go IF he wins less than 9 games this year

**DetroiterOnTheWestCoast** · September-08-13, 04:03 PM

Reading today's posts, one would think the Lions lost.

**smogboy** · September-08-13, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Reading today's posts, one would think the Lions lost.

I think that's just because you were reading thruster315's first half account of the game. I don't recall seeing anything from him in the much better played second half.

**smogboy** · September-08-13, 04:39 PM

What an odd game to start the season with. Can someone check on thruster to make sure he didn’t pass out from all of the excitement? We can’t afford to be having Lions faithful like him blowing a blood vessel this early in the season.

Now I can understand the frustration of the first half. It was like PT Barnum was diagramming the plays for both teams. Horrific bounces, odd breaks, ill-timed penalties, and just anything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong. I guess one could blame it on first game jitters but one would also like to think that these are professional ball players who are somewhat accustomed to playing underneath the bright lights.

But rather than knock our Lions for their first half blunders- and there were plenty of opportunities to do so, I’m going to look at it this way; we dominated the game on both sides of the ball. Offensively we moved the ball well. It wasn’t just totally reliant on Calvin Johnson putting up huge numbers to pull our fat out of the fire. If anything, he had a pretty pathetic game by his standards [[4 catches for 37 yards). Guys like Bush, Burleson, Bell, Edwards, Fauria, Dunham and Pettigrew stepped it up in the receiving department. When was the last time one could say that Calvin was only fourth in the Lions receiving stats?

I think Linehan had a pretty sound grasp of the offense for the most part. Having Reggie Bush in this offense definitely keeps the other team at bay and guessing. That also kept Matthew Stafford upright and able to direct this offense. The only sack that we gave up today was on a busted play where Allen got him to the outside- and it was so wimpy of a “sack” that I’d even hazard to say that Reilly Rieff pretty much nullified him for the majority of the game. Stafford’s only pick early on was on a deflection so his accuracy wasn’t an issue at all. Reggie Bush should’ve had a few more touchdowns to his stat sheet but alas his shins just kept on touching the turf and his arms just weren’t long enough to break the plane of the goal line. Joique Bell, to his credit finished what Bush couldn’t and we still came out of it with points.

Defensively I think the team was pretty solid to amazing at times. Beyond giving up that opening play to Peterson, he was pretty much a non-factor the rest of the game. Who would’ve have believed that after gaining 78 yards on the first play, Peterson couldn’t even touch the 100 yard mark for the complete game? Levy had Peterson stopped for a good chunk of the game and that was nice to see. Our secondary wasn’t called out too much today beyond that one Chris Houston interference call. Our front four was fresh and harassed Ponder for most of the game and the Vikings offense was never really given much of a chance to have pronounced long drives. The Vikings third down efficiency was pretty much non-existent and didn’t even get a first down until the game was pretty much done with. Nick Fairley also lived up to his billing today too by just being an absolute monster in the face of the Vikings.

And kudos to the coaching staff for calming this bunch down after the horrific first half. The penalties weren’t there and they seemed to play a little more disciplined. If this team is to go anywhere [[and for Schwartz to retain his job), the stupid penalties and mental errors have to be cut back. We’re still a long way from being an elite team given today’s performance. Playing this way against an elite team and they would’ve buried us by half time. We were lucky that the Vikings were just as inept and couldn’t capitalize. But at the end of the day we have a W on the ledger.

**rb336** · September-08-13, 06:47 PM

Smogboy, you did a better job than any of our "professional" sports writers

**7miledog** · September-08-13, 07:59 PM

1 down, 11 to go. Remember it, you heard it here first!

I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 08:20 PM

Originally Posted by rb336

Smogboy, you did a better job than any of our "professional" sports writers

Agreed! You at least tell it the way it is. You're not looking to have some stupid gimmick or having a negative outlook just to stir up fans' interest. Hell, if we didn't care of the Lions now we sure as hell don't need some pundit, professional or otherwise to get us going on it already.

And thanks for worrying if I had blown a gasket or not. I hadn't although that first half was well on its way of giving me an ulcer. It wasn't just the Lions either- it was the game itself. Both sides sucked ass and the fredonkulous bounces were so unprofessional. Every time a team touched the ball, one was just waiting to see how close they could get before imploding.

And my Doc Marten's stayed on my feet and I won't have to go get another TV screen so no need to pass the hat in getting me a new one.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 08:21 PM

Originally Posted by 7miledog

1 down, 11 to go. Remember it, you heard it here first!

I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em.

Damn good start! And that enthusiasm is still kicking.

**Thruster315** · September-08-13, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by smogboy

I think that's just because you were reading thruster315's first half account of the game. I don't recall seeing anything from him in the much better played second half.

I'm superstitious that way. When I was watching the game with my laptop in hand the Lions sucked ass. As soon as I closed the laptop and quietly watched the game in the second half- we were doing better [[as well as my blood pressure). So let's just say next week I probably won't be doing what I did this week just because I'm willing to solely admit that it was me jinxing the team by writing on this forum as opposed to watching the game and cheering more intently.

My bad. It won't happen again.

**Gushi1124** · September-08-13, 08:25 PM

What a sloppy game, that said were tied for 1st with 15 more to go, 10 more wins, [[11-5)

Go
Lions

**firstandten** · September-08-13, 09:21 PM

Originally Posted by Thruster315

I'm superstitious that way. When I was watching the game with my laptop in hand the Lions sucked ass. As soon as I closed the laptop and quietly watched the game in the second half- we were doing better [[as well as my blood pressure). So let's just say next week I probably won't be doing what I did this week just because I'm willing to solely admit that it was me jinxing the team by writing on this forum as opposed to watching the game and cheering more intently.

My bad. It won't happen again.

That's OK as soon as things go south down in Arizona next week you will open that laptop back up.

**rb336** · September-08-13, 10:04 PM

of all the games i've seen parts of the team that looked worst was --- the Giants

**Lowell** · September-08-13, 11:06 PM

The Lions are a good team. If they can make all those mistakes, waste all those points and still win, they might have a chance this year. All they need to do is get some focus. That starts at the top with the coach. I remain skeptical about him and his ability to do the same and provide the example.