2011 Detroit Lions

[firstandten]

We cant run the ball and teams can exploit this. Worse news came today, Best has another concussion. This is a real blow, its his 2nd of the year.

We will need to upgrade the o-line positions with the next draft and free agency period. But Best is not a feature back. I see where the Lions try to get him out in space where he can be more effective.

I also wonder about Best long term future in football. With the league's new emphasis on concussion injuries [[ and rightly so ) the Lions might want to shut him down for the year should he get another one, and with this one we might not see him for a few weeks.

[smogboy]

I don't know, I guess I'm not all that OK with Schwartz jawing at other coaches or other players during the game. He did it during the Dallas game where he was laying it on Dez Bryant after the Lions won a challenge or something like that and I was a bit uncomfortable with it.

I think Schwartz is a great coach, I love his passion and intensity and knowledge, and the players obviously love to play for him, but he needs to cool it with the talking at the other team. Fist pumps, high fives and celebrating with his guys is fine, but let the players take care of giving the business to the other team.

I'm in agreement here. The players can jaw and trash talk one another all they want on the field. As a coach or any member of the team leadership, they need to stay out of the fray. Schwartz has to for the benefit and safety of his own players. He has to maintain a measure of decorum and leadership. As a the coach- if he mouths off to a player, he also has that veil of "he can't retaliate against me" so all that it does is be inflammatory or be bulletin board material for the other team.

Control what we can control and let the other team be the guilty party if need be. If Harbaugh wants to be the aggressive boob that he is, let him lose his dignity and respect. We don't need to jump in the mud with him. I also agree that Schwartz can celebrate with his fist pumps and with his own team; it's almost expected. But the second he [[and any other player) makes it about rubbing the other team's nose into it, it's not good sportsmanship- it's taunting at that point and it becomes personal. No one can blame a coach for celebrating a victory but I also think what Harbaugh did crossed the line a little bit; it was far too amped up and he should've kept his emotions in check before coming over to shake hands with Schwartz. There are moments to celebrate and ways to celebrate- both of these men should realized a better way to do so. They're in positions of leadership and need to demonstrate that at every turn for their team.

What they did took away from the game itself and it truly was a disservice to the people who played hard that day on the field.

[gnome]

The same passion behind the fist pump, the "learn the rules mo...fu...ker", the "it's incomplete Dezzzz!" ... all the fire is just a shade behind the on-field dust-up last week. Some of that stuff we like until it crosses a very mysterious line, then all of a sudden we don't.

hmm

I think every coach is part meglomaniac and it is that drive that drives a winning program. Bo, Vince, Woody, Bear, Bobby Knight, Coach K... each one part loon. That's what we have in Schwartz. He is an intense fellow and we shouldn't be surprised when he boils over.

Like it? No. Expect it. Yes.

Before the season my main hope was that we'd at least be competitive and that we wouldn't devolve into an embarrassment of being yellow hanky magnets. Thus far, we have been competitive. We aren't a class act yet. Not classless, mind you, just not classy.

[sirrealone]

The Lions were all set to acquire Ronnie Brown by trading Jerome Harrison and a 7th round pick, until the trade was voided because of Harrison failing his physical.

Turns out they discovered that Harrison had a brain tumor.

I was disappointed when I saw that they wouldn't be getting Brown, as I thought he has more upside and could be a better fit into the offense than Harrison should Best be out for a while [[or even the entire season as it is more and more looking). But, when you consider that the failure to get Brown could end up saving Harrison's life, it kind of puts things in perspective.

That being said the Lions are definitely without Harrison for the rest of the year, and if Best goes down, that's losing two backs in one week and three for the year. That would effectively kill the weak running game that we already had and could make it dicey the rest of the year.

Then again, staking a 5-0 start definitely gives them a nice cushion to still be looking at a playoff run regardless of what happens with the RB situation.

[kenp]

The trade may have saved his life, in any case I hope he is going to be ok.
This sure isnt good news for our running game. I have to think Best is done which leaves us with just two guys. I do like Morris though, he ran well late last year.
Even if we wanted to get Brown now the trade dealine has come and past.

[gnome]

Lucky break for Harrison, but it is weird stuff like this that haunts our Leos.

[Downriviera]

I'm all for throwing on every down ala the Chargers and Air Coryell. The only reason they didn't make it to the Superbowl was because they had to play a playoff in subzero temps in Cincy. At the very least, and someone mentioned it earlier, lets try throwing on first down more often instead of running for a 1 yard gain.

[gnome]

This is a problem Linehan can handle. MoMo did a fine job last year and I think he'll step up this year as well. It seems Linehan works best in a crisis and we could call the loss of Jahvid a bit of a crisis. Sometimes the sky falling is a good thing as it forces moments of clarity and refinement. Strip ornaments, be elegant, be pure.

Maybe some of you have been in an accident or combat or a fight and in such situations time can seem to slow down. Purity of thought takes place, anything extra is discarded, and the will goes through an aerodynamic alteration. Elegance. This doesn't happen for everyone, some guys just get confused and short-out when the shit gets heavy, some don't. Linehan is one that works best in a crisis.

Of course that is just a wild hair, bacalounger guess, maybe refracted through my own experiences, but I'm not seeing this crisis as a reason to panic. I see Atlanta not knowing what our Leos are going to look like, we will be a blank page in their scouting report. How to you defend against something you've never seen? Especially when you rank as one of the NFLs worse teams against 3rd down conversions...

Next week will be a different kettle of kippers.

But this week, Detroit will be rocking and Sucklanta will come away feeling like they had a high colonic with a fire hose.

36 - 27 Leos

[smogboy]

Immediate thoughts after the game versus the Falcons here.

It was by far one of the most boring first halves of Lions football I can remember. One has got to admit the most exciting thing about the game is listening for the stadium noise level. Neither team played well. Both teams seemed undisciplined and flags were thrown around like confetti at Mardi Gras. Neither the Falcons, the Lions nor the NFL could be proud of that first half. As a Lions fan going into halftime behind didn’t help either.

Some of the things I see the Lions not executing the first few weeks were discipline, tackling and getting into an offensive rhythm. We did our best defensively to keep the Falcons on the field with silly penalties and we also got our offense off the field the same way. Most of the penalties weren’t of the excusable kind either where one could say it was because of aggressive play. I thought most of the penalties were of the mental miscues and I’m not sure how Schwartz is going to exorcise some of those in practice.

Tackling on the other hand has got to be resolved. There just seemed to be many a time when the Falcons [[and the 49ers the week before) gashed us at the line and we’d get an arm or two on them but they powered through. In the weeks before it seemed as though the Lions would make initial contact, hold them for a split second and the gang came along to clean it up. I’m not sure if it’s just bad angles or just lack of concentration but defensively the team needs to tackle better.

Offensively we just haven’t been in sync at all. It’s not just because Jahvid Best is out either. It’s not fair to place the blame solely on his shoulders. Stafford just seems to be throwing sidearm or ¾ arm as of late. And I really didn’t have a problem with them getting small chunks of yardage with the dumps short and to the flats. It at least got them into a rhythm and produced forward yardage. I’m sure part of it has to be on Linehan’s play calling but the players themselves still need to execute. We really need to get some of that top notch talent playing like it. If this doesn’t come together soon we’re going to have to rely on that defense that much more. Early on and even more so now, this team is going to go as much as Stafford can will them to do so and seeing him on the cart being taped up at the end of the game doesn’t fare well for the next few weeks. I’m wondering if it isn’t time to let Shaun Hill come in next week against the Broncos if Stafford isn’t more than 80% fit. Toss in the bye week afterwards might give Stafford additional time to heal too.

Another slightly disappointing thing that confounds me is the weak Special Teams play. It isn’t as sad as the Stan Kwan teams but they do need to cover better and stop giving up large returns. How many times have we seen Hanson or Donahue have to dirty their jerseys in making tackles?

I haven’t given up on my team the Lions yet, but we’re on a slightly slippery slope of possibly falling back into that losing culture. I have faith that Jim Schwartz won’t let it happen but this is when this young team has got to figure out how to deal with adversity. Both of the losses were of the kind that they knew they could’ve played better. They have yet to be blown out of the water and I’m sure to the man they know they can play much much better. This loss sting will sting for a bit but I also know we can still play that much better; we’ve seen it in the first five games. It’s easy to sip the Kool Aid when we’re winning but also realistically we have to be critical of what can be improved upon to get back to those winning ways.

[firstandten]

Again smogboy great post.

Last week I commented on the Lions shoddy tackling and you really saw it against the Falcons. The players seem to be getting to the ball carrier in time, getting decent angles to make the play, however I'm seeing too many missed tackles. After looking a little closer, I saw guys putting there shoulder into guys but not wrapping up, guys throwing there arms out there trying to bring the ball carrier down and not getting there body to help. It was really bad.


Next week against Denver they will probably lose as well. Tebow is no joke trying to bring down and he did a number against Miami. Not that Tebow is a great or even good QB but he will run thru a arm tackle like a hot knife thru butter and Tebow runs a lot.

[gnome]

I left the game with two minutes left, that was how convinced I was that the Lions had lost the magic.

No magic dust to trust, just a bust.

Next wk the Mile High Mountain of Denver, a Brokeback Mountain,...

"God, I wish I knew how to quit you!"

[Thruster315]

Don't paint me off the wagon just yet but I'll say it...

where the hell was the tackling??

The secondary did a semi-decent job defending the throw but when it came time for run support, they were like turnstiles. That last play where all we had to do was stop their micro scatback from gaining four yards & the first down was embarrassing. It was like we had wiffle bats for arms.

I knew Atlanta was a hot team but damn, we made them look a helluva lot better than what they brought to the field yesterday.

The last two games were lost by stupid stupid stupid [[did I mention stupid) plays all across the board. We could've easily have won them but instead we pissed them away with our own swagger and inability to keep our heads in the game. So it's not going to be impossible to right the boat but quit with the swagger before the game, the mouthing off at the line and other playground bullshit. Win the game and all will have been said. All of this posing and bravado don't mean a hill of spit if we lose.

[Thruster315]

Another slightly disappointing thing that confounds me is the weak Special Teams play. It isn’t as sad as the Stan Kwan teams but they do need to cover better and stop giving up large returns. How many times have we seen Hanson or Donahue have to dirty their jerseys in making tackles?

Funny now that Stan's in Buffalo, the other darling up and coming team in the NFL too. It makes you wonder how much of it really falls on the coaches and how much is really the players executing now.

[Thruster315]

Next week against Denver they will probably lose as well. Tebow is no joke trying to bring down and he did a number against Miami. Not that Tebow is a great or even good QB but he will run thru a arm tackle like a hot knife thru butter and Tebow runs a lot.

Let me check with gnome's Miss Cleo turbin on this one. If all Tebow is going to do is run then I think we stand a good chance against him. If he's got any sort of accuracy and can mix it up a bit then it'll be tricky and dicey. Tebow's 13/27 and 161 yards in the air doesn't exactly have me quivering in my cleats yet. And Denver's O line gave up 7 sacks yesterday to an 0-6 Miami team. Granted Denver's a pretty desperate team so who knows?

I think the amulet on the Miss Cleo turbin's glowing Honolulu Blue this upcoming week and I can't bet against our Lions losing three in a row.

[firstandten]

Let me check with gnome's Miss Cleo turbin on this one. If all Tebow is going to do is run then I think we stand a good chance against him. If he's got any sort of accuracy and can mix it up a bit then it'll be tricky and dicey. Tebow's 13/27 and 161 yards in the air doesn't exactly have me quivering in my cleats yet. And Denver's O line gave up 7 sacks yesterday to an 0-6 Miami team. Granted Denver's a pretty desperate team so who knows?

I think the amulet on the Miss Cleo turbin's glowing Honolulu Blue this upcoming week and I can't bet against our Lions losing three in a row.

Here's why the Lions are going to lose to Denver. The Denver fans have been begging for Tebow to start and they are going to be real hyped for the game. Now remember I don't think Tebow is great or even very good, but he has that "it" factor in that he almost wills a team to win. Now eventually that will get exposed and he will seen as the substandard QB he really is, but for now the honeymoon between Tebow and the Denver is on and unfortunately the Lions are going to feel that love.

In the Miami game there were almost as many fans wanting Denver to win even though I think that it was as much Miami wanting to get in the Andrew Luck sweeptakes as the recognition of the University of Florida winning the national championship.

[gnome]

You be looking kinda fine there Thruster.

[Thruster315]

It's obviously more like this, friend gnome.

[gnome]

I see a Tebow Thigh Bone being brought back on the Mane Plane.

[douglasm]

Oh my what a thumping, with the added satisfaction of it being administered to Denver. [[as a suffering Seahawk fan, Denver is disliked from the AFC days as.....well....the Yankees)

Listened on the web and for once didn't actually yell at the computer. I hope the guys enjoy their bye week. With Chicago, Carolina and Green Bay coming up they need to be healthy.

[smogboy]

I anticipated a game like this.

I knew the Lions had a very very good chance of stomping on the hapless Broncos. The Broncos are frauds at best and I’m still not sure of all of this Tebow hype. The game last week where Tebow played well for a few minutes does not make him a great QB at all and I think our Lions defensive pressure made him look even that much worse. He scrambled well but that was about it; his throws were wounded ducks and he definitely didn’t have much help from his offensive line at all. But that being said, praise needs to be heaped upon our guys up front.

The Lions played the tempo that they wanted to dictate. Beyond the first Denver drive where they walked away with a field goal, Gunther Cunningham dialed up the defense and just controlled the game. I loved the adjustment to keep more players in the box and daring Denver to air the ball out. And it’s not like we don’t rotate out fresh defensive help constantly to begin with. Seven sacks total by the defense and two touchdowns scored by them says a lot about their dominance. It should’ve been eight sacks on the one where Tebow was clearly in the grasp but somehow one of his players stacked him up just enough to toss the ball out; the ref’s whistle was far too slow there. Cliff Avril and Lawrence Jackson had a field day from the edges. I’m sure the one sting that the defense would’ve loved to have gotten back was that Decker TD late in the game; I’m sure they would’ve loved to have gone into the bye week knowing they didn’t give up a TD. And again to dispel the myth of Tebow and his perceived prowess at QB- it was Eric Decker that did most of the work to get that ball into the end zone.

Offensively it was nice to see Stafford come back after the minor ankle injury and show no ill effects. The Linehan game plan worked well and Stafford passed the ball around quite a bit. Even without Jahvid Best in there, I thought Maurice Morris still gained some solid yardage [[averaged 4.5 yards a carry) and kept the Denver line honest. While the offensive line wasn’t spectacular they kept Matthew Stafford clean for the most part and seemed to give him time to look downfield. To Stafford’s credit he seemed much more accurate than his last two starts.

All of those things that seemed to vex this team in the past seemed to go away with this game. Defensively they tackled well and the penalties were nearly non-existent until the fourth quarter [[4 total). Third down efficiency seemed much better as well. Again, it seemed as though the Lions just wanted to go out there and dictate their will on the far less talented Broncos. It’s a thing that winning teams need to do. I feel good about going into the bye week on a high note- it feels a lot better seeing 6-2 rather than 5-3. We’re far from a perfect team and we still have plenty of things to overcome, but for one week against a sub-par team, we played like a team with vision, some talent and a resolve to cure some of the demons from their two losses.

[Thruster315]

Here's why the Lions are going to lose to Denver. The Denver fans have been begging for Tebow to start and they are going to be real hyped for the game. Now remember I don't think Tebow is great or even very good, but he has that "it" factor in that he almost wills a team to win. Now eventually that will get exposed and he will seen as the substandard QB he really is, but for now the honeymoon between Tebow and the Denver is on and unfortunately the Lions are going to feel that love.

In the Miami game there were almost as many fans wanting Denver to win even though I think that it was as much Miami wanting to get in the Andrew Luck sweeptakes as the recognition of the University of Florida winning the national championship.

Sorry to serve your plate of crow up so raw, but Tebow-Mania stunk up the joint and the Lions took them to the woodshed.

I just don't understand the hoopla over this guy. NFL scouts said he just doesn't have the mechanics to make it at this level and he proved it today. His throws didn't have tight spirals to them at all. They looked like wounded duck passes all game long. I'm sure having our front four barging up the gut doesn't help, but Tebow is not an NFL QB.

And what the hell was John Fox thinking by leaving Tebow in the game so late? Hell, even Schwartz was savvy enough to take his starting QB out when he knew the game was well in hand.

Denver's just a shell of the Elway glory days now. They stunk and got spanked for their efforts. If all the Bronco fans can do is hang their hopes on Tebow, then they're in for a really rough time. Like I said, I don't understand this dude's appeal other than he's a devout Christian but I'm willing to bet you there are other guys in the league who are just as devout and have talent. Anyone remember our own Jon Kitna sporting a cross on his baseball cap? He was just as devout and evangelical but at least he could play. Seriously is the NFL Hype Machine just trying to ram this crap down our throats? "Good vs. Evil" headlines? I'm not a Tebow hater. I just don't understand his appeal. I can easily rattle off a ton of other QBs that are better suited to play in the NFL than him. He reminds me of a really really poorman's Joey Harrington.

[Thruster315]

And again to dispel the myth of Tebow and his perceived prowess at QB- it was Eric Decker that did most of the work to get that ball into the end zone.

Good eye, smogboy. For that one play Tebow gets another digit added to his touchdown total which was so bogus.

[gnome]

mmm, raw Tebone

[sirrealone]

Tebow looked terrible for 55 minutes and brilliant for 5 minutes against a Miami Dolphins team that hadn't yet [[and still hasn't) won a game. Yet the entire week afterward, all anybody could talk about was how that made him a challenge to the Lions.

As if.

Sorry, but the Lions and the Dolphins are on two different pages right now, and what worked against the Fish wasn't going fly with the Lions. Maybe two or three years ago, Tebow would have had a chance to follow up last weeks game with another stunner.

Not this year.

I was worried on the first Broncos drive, especially when they gave up the long run which has been their glaring weakness on defense this year. But, thankfully, they used that drive as a warm-up and took it on home from there.

Denver just isn't a good football team. Tebow is not an NFL quarterback. I really think that John Fox is systematically trying to show Elway and the front office that they don't have a starting-caliber QB on their roster. Tebow will probably get another few games, and then they'll finish off with Quinn getting a look.

[firstandten]

Sorry to serve your plate of crow up so raw, but Tebow-Mania stunk up the joint and the Lions took them to the woodshed.

I just don't understand the hoopla over this guy. NFL scouts said he just doesn't have the mechanics to make it at this level and he proved it today. His throws didn't have tight spirals to them at all. They looked like wounded duck passes all game long. I'm sure having our front four barging up the gut doesn't help, but Tebow is not an NFL QB.

And what the hell was John Fox thinking by leaving Tebow in the game so late? Hell, even Schwartz was savvy enough to take his starting QB out when he knew the game was well in hand.

Denver's just a shell of the Elway glory days now. They stunk and got spanked for their efforts. If all the Bronco fans can do is hang their hopes on Tebow, then they're in for a really rough time. Like I said, I don't understand this dude's appeal other than he's a devout Christian but I'm willing to bet you there are other guys in the league who are just as devout and have talent. Anyone remember our own Jon Kitna sporting a cross on his baseball cap? He was just as devout and evangelical but at least he could play. Seriously is the NFL Hype Machine just trying to ram this crap down our throats? "Good vs. Evil" headlines? I'm not a Tebow hater. I just don't understand his appeal. I can easily rattle off a ton of other QBs that are better suited to play in the NFL than him. He reminds me of a really really poorman's Joey Harrington.

Yep ! I put a little hot sauce on that crow to make it taste better.
Glad the Lions won, they cleaned up the tackling issues and took Tebow to school.
I have to remember that we are seeing the new Lions now, not the Lions that snatch defeat from the jaws of victory or let their opponents have career days against them.

I have heard that the coaching staff at Denver is in a bind with Tebow. He came out of camp third string QB, but the fans and certain media people are in love with him. The coaching staff responded by starting him but there are whispers that they are setting him up for failure and the announcers sort of mentioned why didn't they call more short passes for him.

Realistically no matter what they do Tebow is not an NFL QB and I don't think a college type offense is really going to help him.