Quote Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid View Post
That flag while being the incorrect call, did not lose the game for the Lions. They had they're chances. The defense allowed Dallas to march down the field for the winning score. Also having a 20-7 lead and only scoring a FG in the 2nd half didn't help. I'm still trying to figure out why Tate and Megatron did not get targeted in the 2nd half, at all.. Throw the ball down field please? They reeled Stafford in a little too much IMO. Joe Lombardi has to improve his play calling if he's to remain OC. And Caldwell, while he did a good job this year, but he needs to show some onions as well. Next thing to look for is if we keep Suh and DC Teryl Austin, whose on everybody's short list for a head coaching gig.
I'd say you're spot on with this assessment of the loss. We played it too close to the vest. Why back off of them when we had them on the ropes? We effectively took the crowd out of it early and should've kept after them with the aggressive play calling. Remember a few weeks back when it was a slightly more hurried offense and the Lions offense responded?

Lombardi really needs to sit down and see who and what he has on this team- and utilize them better. I'm not going to completely pin the blame on him as he's a rookie OC, but he truly does need to use the talent he has on this team better [[reminiscent of how Rich Rod tried to warp the UofM football team to fit his scheme right out of the box). He has to see where the strengths are and where the weaknesses are with every one of his players- and then come up with some innovative ways to use them. At least at that point it's on the players to carry out the tasks assigned to them. I can't fault Lombardi for Stafford being inaccurate nor can we blame him if Calvin let's one slip through his hands or someone fumbling the ball. But we can lay some blame on the brains of this group for being a little more timid than they need to be.