2011 Detroit Lions

[Downriviera]

The other day I saw a contest for a trip to the Pro Bowl. I was thinking if I won I'd gladly take the trip to Hawaii, but I wouldn't go to the game. I'd rather surf for a few hours instead.

[Thruster315]

The other day I saw a contest for a trip to the Pro Bowl. I was thinking if I won I'd gladly take the trip to Hawaii, but I wouldn't go to the game. I'd rather surf for a few hours instead.

Yer darn tootin'! I'd be putting them up on StubHub, eBay, craigslist, or any other site I could manage to get a few bucks for the tickets. I'd like to think it could pay for a round of golf somewhere or at least a round of drinks at a nearby watering hole.

The Pro Bowl and all of the other all star games are glorified popularity contests. Name recognition means more than actual abilities or the player's individual performances that particular year. And seriously who's going to go out there and really play that hard for a damn exhibition game? Football's a sport where there's some serious contact happening. Intimidation and just sheer physicality are also a huge factors. Those things won't happen in the Pro Bowl. Who's dumb enough to risk an injury at this event.

I like smogboy's suggestion of having a skills competition where the risks are a lot less to the players and we fans can still appreciate their abilities. I'd tune in to watch that over the "game" any day. So c'mon NFL brainiacs, find a way to make this engaging to the fans and we might care. And you can still bring out the best players to compete too. I wouldn't mind finding out who's the fastest guy in the NFL is, the strongest, or who's the most accurate QB is. Those facts a player could actually hang their hat on as opposed to the final score in an absolute mockery of the game.

[Thruster315]

You beef should be with Eli not Rivers, the NFC QB's are a more competitive group

Like I said in my previous post, I'd love to see this fact borne out if they had a way to prove it at a skills competition as opposed to the idiotic Pro Bowl. I'd like to know who's the more accurate QB between Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. What about Drew Brees? And maybe they could come up with different skills for them as well. Who's the most accurate QB scrambling out of a backfield? Who's the most accurate QB beyond 20 yards? 30 yards? 40+ yards? Who's the best kicker in the NFL? Which receiver runs the best and quickest routes? Toss the tight ends into that category as well.Hell, make it the college combines again!

[Downriviera]

The only skills competition you'll see among NFL players at the Pro Bowl is who can pound down the most mai tais in Waikiki. When I lived there in the 80's I saw a drunken Lynn Swann in a bar barely able to stand up at 4 am, a mere 8 hours before kickoff. He was scratched from the game due to a reported ankle injury. lol

[Thruster315]

The only skills competition you'll see among NFL players at the Pro Bowl is who can pound down the most mai tais in Waikiki. When I lived there in the 80's I saw a drunken Lynn Swann in a bar barely able to stand up at 4 am, a mere 8 hours before kickoff. He was scratched from the game due to a reported ankle injury. lol

That's hilarious! Who's to say the NFL injury report wasn't accurate? If he was as drunk as you say he was, that idiot very well could've twisted an ankle stumbling out of the bar that night!

Players- take it as an honor that some arbitrary group thinks you're deserving of being selected an all-star, but don't let it go to your head [[or liver as in Lynn Swann's case).

[gnome]

It could be argued that our Mr. Suh did not benefit from his Pro-Bowler status. It could be argued that Mr. Suh got big-head-itis and expected other NFL players to bend their knees when he showed up on the field this year.

Remember last summer during those player organized practices? Remember who showed up for the last one and only spoke to ESPN? Remember all those tweets from Europe, from pool-side, from everywhere but gym-side?

Success is not granted and I'm not convinced Mr. Suh has learned that lesson. When asked how he felt about not making the Pro-Bowl Mr. Suh said, "It wasn't my year this year."

The point here is that accolades don't translate into wins.

[HistoryNotHisStory]

Prediction...


Lions will go to the superbowl!


Reason: A detroit football went to the high school championship [[cass tech).

A detroit team went to the college football championship [[wayne state)

therefore, a detroit team will to the pro football championship.

[Thruster315]

Prediction...


Lions will go to the superbowl!


Reason: A detroit football went to the high school championship [[cass tech).

A detroit team went to the college football championship [[wayne state)

therefore, a detroit team will to the pro football championship.

I have to respect your optimism. I hope you're right. But you'll have to forgive me if I don't fall for your logic here.

[Thruster315]

It could be argued that our Mr. Suh did not benefit from his Pro-Bowler status. It could be argued that Mr. Suh got big-head-itis and expected other NFL players to bend their knees when he showed up on the field this year.

Remember last summer during those player organized practices? Remember who showed up for the last one and only spoke to ESPN? Remember all those tweets from Europe, from pool-side, from everywhere but gym-side?

Success is not granted and I'm not convinced Mr. Suh has learned that lesson. When asked how he felt about not making the Pro-Bowl Mr. Suh said, "It wasn't my year this year."

The point here is that accolades don't translate into wins.

I'd be willing to bet that a few extra sets of refereeing eyes will be on Suh and the Green Bay offensive line this Sunday. I'm sure the NFL doesn't want any shenanigans happening again- from arm stomping to the untying of the shoelaces. I'd be willing to bet that both sides are going to be choirboys. Intense choirboys but nevertheless, rematches in the NFL aren't always hyped up to what the fans expect.

And who'da thunk it that the Lions would be a 3 1/2 point favorite this Sunday at Lambeau where they haven't won since fire was invented?

[firstandten]

To gnome's point about Suh, I read where Suh had some of the same problems in college and some of his teammates didn't care for him. Being that he's only 22 years old and trying to become one of the faces of the NFL I think the league sent a message by him not making the Pro Bowl , that he needs to clean up his act.

I believe the folks here were fooled by Suh's personality, being well spoken and such that he doesn't have anger management issues. I would bet that the anger management side of him is probably the more real Suh than the nice PR side of him. As a 22year old he is going to need to figure it out, and I think thats what happening with him this year. He's a smart young man and I believe he wants to be considered great and make big money in endorsements. I would chaulk a lot of this to the maturation process.

Also it seems that his teammate in college felt he did dirty stuff in practice which is some of the reason he didn't care for him. However you didn't hear about dirty play in his college games which is probably a direct reflection on his college coach. Having said that Suh because of his age might need a little more guidance from his coaches on the Lions.

[Roq]

You beef should be with Eli not Rivers, the NFC QB's are a more competitive group

Oh I'm aggravated at that too - Eli has not been impressive this year. At all.

[gnome]

GB is sitting a bunch by taking the week off, meanwhile our running game has taken the year off. Edge GB due to more wind than a cabbage and bean convention.

Leos are favored by 3+ in a head-shaker so despite not believing we should win, I think we will win.

[Lowell]

Jim Schwartz, we love ya, honestly. But, sheesh, please grow up and set the example for your team.

Burning a time out besause you are p-oed is unacceptable.

[kenp]

Before the game I heard this guy say we were going to lose 37 13. I said there is no way GB gets 30 points without Rogers. Well I was right, they got 44, geez

[gnome]

Did the defense miss the plane trip to Wisconsin? They certainly didn't show up.

[firstandten]

The defense performance doesn't bode well going down to NO to play the Saints

[Thruster315]

The defense performance doesn't bode well going down to NO to play the Saints

It's gotta be a shootout if we stand as so much a flea's chance of beating the Saints. Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson had better be hooking up constantly.

Not that I ever want to bitch about it but damn, did the refs have cheese covered glasses they were looking through? Blowing the Logan supposed fumble and absolutely butchering the Titus Young TD was un-freaking real.

I know we won a game a few weeks back on a non-facemask call but the missed calls today were MORE than reviewable. If we have the freaking technology to make the RIGHT call, why don't we use it? Wouldn't it be great if one of these days the coaches won't have to toss red flags and the refs make the right calls?

[Thruster315]

Jim Schwartz, we love ya, honestly. But, sheesh, please grow up and set the example for your team.

Burning a time out besause you are p-oed is unacceptable.

Blowing an obvious touchdown is even more of an unacceptable call. Why the hell can't the officials in the booth have a say in the matter? And worse yet, why can't the refs on the field confer and ask for help if they're unsure?

Bad reffing necessitated Schwartz' flare up.

[kenp]

All TD's in the NFL are automatically reviewed upstairs, that why Harbaugh got called for a penalty against us when he challenged one of our TD's back in the 49'er game. I thought the rule was that any play that was/would/could have been a TD was automatically reviewed and in all the confusion Schwartz may have thought the same thing. But thinking about it now I think he just wanted to let the ref's know how incompotent they were.
The review rules are really messed up. If a coach challenges and wins he shouldnt lose a challange. It was clear Young had a TD, everyone knows it, yet we are punished and thats a major flaw. The other issue was all the bad the calls on the field, both fumbles were not fumbles at all , not even close.
I will say watching Stafford playing outside on grass and with wind and snow was really impressive, I really gained a lot of respect. And Flynn was either real good or our D was real bad, still scratching my head on that one.

[firstandten]

To change the subject for just a minute. Even when Tebow loses and looks bad. Denver still wins. LOL !!!

[smogboy]

I thought the game was very telling on multiple fronts.

What impressed me was the maturation of Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson. Those two were awfully awfully impressive against the Packers. Stafford's throws were gems so let's not forget his impressive performance and numbers. That would've probably been the major highlight of this game if we had been victorious. Stafford was just throwing them over defenders with just the best of touches and zipping them into places where only his receivers could catch them. Again, I saw a pretty impressive performance. His maturity and skill is just going to do this team well for the long term. Calvin Johnson's abilities also makes Stafford look that much better too. Johnson literally changes the way defenses play us and should probably be our team's MVP this year.

What depressed me was watching our once vaunted defense fall apart like that. Seeing Gunther Cunningham chewing out Alphonso Smith multiple times does not bode well for this team. Flynn was just picking on a dinged up Chris Houston all afternoon long too. Our secondary was exposed especially when the front four couldn't get any sustained pressure on the opposing QB. The linebackers did well in stuffing the runs but ideally I'd like to see them stacked at the line a little better. It's times like this that I sometime wonder if we shouldn't use the Wide Nine as much; it relies very heavily on the linebackers filling the gaps and not helping out the secondary on the flats.

It was still a punchers' game. Whoever got in the last shot was going to win and obviously Green Bay got in the last jab. Surprisingly though I didn't panic and actually had a touch of confidence that Stafford could lead us back. That was a feeling I hadn't felt in ages with too many other Lions teams.

I do feel for Jim Schwartz though. His frustration was evident at the officiating and the Challenge Rules. It was by far one of the worst professional games I've seen officiated in awhile and it was on both sides of the ball. What I still don't understand is why teams are only allowed two challenges- especially if we win the challenges. Each team should be allowed two blown challenges as opposed to two total. And with the technology available to the officials on the field and in the press box, I don't see why the league is so hesitant to use it. It'll still be reliant on the referees on the field but let's admit it, they're fallible [[and boy, did they show it today!). Now I understand the hesitancy to constantly have challenges and slowing down the game for every tick tacky call but at least do it for scoring plays and red zone calls; they're the critical calls. You don't see the NHL using their technology for offsides and minor calls but you know darn well, they have no problem calling their Toronto offices to make sure it's the right call if it's a disputed goal. Detroit got jobbed today on the Titus Young call and I sincerely hope that the League goes back and revamps the challenge rules. Points and victories are too tough to come by. It's a violent and quick game so why not utilize all of the camera available, slow it down and make the right call? Officiating should not determine the outcome of a game of any magnitude. The best officiated games are the ones where the officials aren't even noticed.

I know this game is going to bug most fans for a bit because we very well could've won it and climbed up into the fifth seed. We now have to prepare for New Orleans which is an extremely daunting task. I still hold out hope for this team's resilience. They played the Saints close earlier on and they know themselves that they made errors to give that game away. This is also the team, when pressed to the wall a few weeks back against San Diego came out and played a near perfect game. We're completely capable of going toe-to-toe with the Saints. What we're not showing now is consistency and maturity- which the Saints show in abundance. We will have to play another complete game if we're to upset the mighty Saints next weekend.

[smogboy]

With 2 game to go its coming right down to the wire. Who will win the DetroitYes Lion's prediction contest. Will the Lion's lose both games giving Smogboy the crown. Can they win them both with Gnome taking the spoils. Or will they split, and Downriviera is victorious. Good luck gentleman.

Kudos to Downriviera and the 10-6 pre-season prediction! It was a lot more than most of us projected and considering where this team has been, it was very optimistic months ago. But now that the regular season is done with, your optimism has paid off! Unfortunately no monetary payoff but be proud as you've bested the rest of us loyal and dedicated fans.

[smogboy]

To change the subject for just a minute. Even when Tebow loses and looks bad. Denver still wins. LOL !!!

I'll still take out quirky Honolulu Blue and Silver team over the over hyped [[and quite frankly- VERY lucky) Tim Tebow any day of the week. We're building towards something whereas I think Tebow, the more he plays will be exposed for being an aberration and a gimmick. It's nothing personal but his playing style is not what I would consider traditional pro material. That being said, one could say an extremely talented player like a Barry Sanders was an aberration to the norm of running backs but that sort of talent could be coached and directed. How does one coach a Tim Tebow? Most of his successes this season seems to be based upon his improvisational skills- no diagraming can help this sort of playmaking.

[firstandten]

Again great re-cap smogboy. We shouldn't be too surprised about what happened defensively. We all said from the beginning of the season the defensive secondary was the weakness of the team
especially if the front seven can't get to the QB. Most games we were able to overcome that weakness. When you get this late in the season and injuries make a already weak link in your squad even weaker you get what happened Sunday. I'm sure we are going to look at some upgrades thru the draft and free agency.

BTW I think KC found the formula for Tebow. Play bump and run coverage on the receivers, force Tebow to throw into tight windows and have the rest of the defense go after him, cutting off his running lanes.

[Thruster315]

BTW I think KC found the formula for Tebow. Play bump and run coverage on the receivers, force Tebow to throw into tight windows and have the rest of the defense go after him, cutting off his running lanes.

I thought we established the best model for beating Tebow. It didn't seem that difficult. Pressure him in the middle, like you said with cutting off his running lanes and defy him to throw the ball more than 15 yards down field. He can't. There was one game on NBC earlier in the season and they showed his piss poor body mechanics; he literally has to reach back like an MLB pitcher in order to toss a ball. He doesn't always set his feet [["happy feet") so he can't get the velocity behind the ball. Toss a down lineman to shadow him or keep a linebacker near him and he's not going to make the run up the gut.

And simply put, get more than a two possession lead on him and he's toast. Give much more credit to the Denver defense than Tebow for their team success this year. Yes, he's engineered some comeback victories at the end of the game because so many teams play a prevent defense against them as opposed to sustaining pressure on him to perform. He's slippery but toss a little grit his way and he's exposed.