2010 Detroit Lions

[Big Dog]

Thruster, You've got the wrong guy, "and speaking like you know what Vikings fans would or might feel". I didn't say that, Smogboy said it , I commented on it. Here's his words, "Quite honestly if I was a Vikings fan, I wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy either". An apoloy, should be forthcoming, for your mistake.

[Thruster315]

Thruster, You've got the wrong guy, "and speaking like you know what Vikings fans would or might feel". I didn't say that, Smogboy said it , I commented on it. Here's his words, "Quite honestly if I was a Vikings fan, I wouldn't exactly be jumping for joy either". An apoloy, should be forthcoming, for your mistake.

Apologize for what? Your ignorance??

I was the one stating that smogboy's assumption was dead-on correct. My brother-in-law [[the dyed-in-the-wool Vikings fan) will testify that he wasn't thrilled about the victory. You were the one asking if any of would seriously believe smogboy's assumption and I said yes, we agree that he could as well as a true Vikings fan. What part of this did you miss?

Quit making it personal and stick with talking about football- if you can.

So here's your "apoloy". HA!

[Big Dog]

I rest my case. The readers will decide my intent.

[GOAT]

Gentlemen [[or ladies), I know watching the Leos is stressful, angering, bewildering etc but let us not turn on each other. If we are all Lions fans we should know what we are in with this organization. No need to start attacking each other because it is hard enough watching these jokesters play [[the Vikings game proved to me that lack of depth and the same players who have been here too long are causing these losses).

So lets root for this team and then when they lose again we can attack what they did wrong, together.

[kenp]

Gentlemen [[or ladies), I know watching the Leos is stressful, angering, bewildering etc but let us not turn on each other. .

No kidding. It reminds me of that movie were the whole town had to quit smoking for a month to collect $1,000,000. 2 weeks in and they were at each others throats.
After that awful game where we made so many mistakes its really frustrating. Its like the same stuff every year. UGH!

RIP George Blanda, he was a legend. Strange he was mentioned here just days before dying.

[gnome]

RIP George Blanda, he was a legend. Strange he was mentioned here just days before dying.

He could, even today, play better than Hill did in Sunday's 2nd half.

[gnome]

oh, i noticed on the "connect" side that Cub is showing the games at the Georgia Street Community Center. it might be nice to arrange a meet-up there.

any takers?

[GOAT]

I would love to go [[I'm a sucker for wings) but I have to do stupid gutters and fascia on my house...not an easy feet considering how high up it is and I'm doing it with ladder jacks and planks.

[Downriviera]

This Just In; Matthew Stafford has been cleared to do some light throwing this week. Meanwhile, Shaun Hill has been doing some light throwing the past two games.

[Bong-Man]

If Stafford was playing we'd still be 0-3. You can make that 4, because we're gonna get killed on Sunday, and it wouldn't matter if Bobby Layne himself was taking the snaps.

As for our linebackers and secondary, this might be the worst back seven the Lions have ever fielded, and that's saying somethin' !

I think the Lions should start Williams at Wide Receiver while Burleson is hurting. I liked the way he skied for that one catch. Maybe there's a chance he can catch passes better than he does punts. All the rest of these pussies are hearing footsteps. That's unacceptable at the Pro level.

[smogboy]

If Stafford was playing we'd still be 0-3. You can make that 4, because we're gonna get killed on Sunday, and it wouldn't matter if Bobby Layne himself was taking the snaps.

I'd have to contend that we'd be 1-3. That Chicago theft was horrific. Even as inept as we played, the Bears played just as bad. The call against us was criminal and we should've won that one. And Green Bay has just been a nightmare for our team regardless if it's the frozen tundra in December or mild temps now. I just hope we can keep it close but I'm not counting on any sort of victory there, moral or otherwise. I can see Aaron Rodgers having a career game against us and even Ray Layne isn't going to be able to save us, much less Bobby.

As for our linebackers and secondary, this might be the worst back seven the Lions have ever fielded, and that's saying somethin' !

I think they go hand in hand. If the linebackers are piss poor, the secondary looks that much worse and vice versa. But I do agree with you that the seven back there is pretty bad; even Delmas is getting lost in the mix. Seriously when I watch the game I just hope that the front four can be disruptive enough to make something happen defensively [[sack, hurry the QB or snag the runner) because I know once their QB dumps it off to a flat, it's clutch the rosary time and hope [[did CC Brown look horribly bad last week or what?). Both of these obvious weaknesses need to be addressed in free agency and in the draft- it's that obvious and I think the other teams know this.

I think the Lions should start Williams at Wide Receiver while Burleson is hurting. I liked the way he skied for that one catch. Maybe there's a chance he can catch passes better than he does punts. All the rest of these pussies are hearing footsteps. That's unacceptable at the Pro level.

I agree. He's a third rounder. He needs to start playing like one. He was a stud at Penn State and needs to elevate his game here. I'm still at a loss to why he can't field a punt in the pros but he needs to find a way to stay on this team beyond being on special teams.

It's almost seems as though this team is treading water and hoping for a do-over after the bye week when we'll hopefully get Stafford, Burleson, Smith and any of the other walking wounded back.

[GOAT]

I think we would be 2-3. The Eagles game we would have won with Stafford in there with his command of the game.

I agree with Bong-man in that our secondary is the worst that I have seen [[though I was drunk every game of the 0-16 season, kinda like the old man Ford). I will also agree that they are playing like pussies by dropping balls or interceptions when they hear those footsteps running.

Get tough boys or get out of the league, plain and simple.

[ejames01]

I believe that week 5 is the most critical game of the season. If the Lions cannot defeat the Rams, then Ford Field should be RAZED TO THE GROUND!!!!!!!

[Big Dog]

Same result, but this was a entertaining game. S. Hill looks great, like a real starter. They showed some promise in todays game.

[Downriviera]

Refs cost us another one. Clearly pass interference on Woodson on third down on the Lion's last drive. Even color commentator/ex coach Billick called it obvious. And did you hear Billick's swipe at fellow Fox commentator Matt Millen? He said the management of the team in those years was criminal.

[Lowell]

We're 4-0 in moral victories. Wouldn't it be nice to get an actual win?

As for the ref calls, I have a saying from decades of playing handball which is a game to 21. "If you get a bad call on 21 and lose, it is not the ref's fault; it is your fault for letting your opponent get 20 and the server."

Win convincingly and the refs won't matter.

[kenp]

I could only watch a little bit. We kick off and get a 15 yard penalty. Next play offsides 5 yard penalty. A few plays later TD. That was it for me, wasnt about to ruin my day any further.

[ggores]

You're a brave man for taking that bet. Granted if the Lions would've won you would've been touted as a genius.

Heh, taking the Lions +3 against the Packers really would have been genius! Damn. I wasn't about to go anywhere near that game yesterday.

[Downriviera]

We're 4-0 in moral victories. Wouldn't it be nice to get an actual win?

As for the ref calls, I have a saying from decades of playing handball which is a game to 21. "If you get a bad call on 21 and lose, it is not the ref's fault; it is your fault for letting your opponent get 20 and the server."

Win convincingly and the refs won't matter.

I think we're a couple years away from beating anyone convincingly. In the meantime, it would be nice to win a couple close ones, but the refs won't let us. You do have to play over the refs, but they should not escape our wrath.

[GOAT]

Downriviera,
What was criminal was Millen taking the money for such shitty work [[or non-work). I guess the mustachioed prick has no conscience...
If the Lions are going to lose because of one call then they should have payed better. The penalities, once again, lost the game! I mean how in the fuck do you line up wrong? That is basic football!
Schwartz has to to slapped upside the head because the head coach is responsible for making sure players don't make penalties. Sure he doesn't actually play on the filed but they do practice correct?
Now the million dollar question. Do we go after O-linemen [[especially with Backus and Raiola getting old, and Backus just being plain shit) to protect a guaranteed $40 million [[Stafford) or do we go for more secondary because they are terrible as well?

Your thoughts?

[kenp]

We been saying the same stuff for 10 years, get us some O-lineman PLEASE

Lets pretend.

2009 3rd pick - we dont draft Derrick Williams and go O-Line
2008 2nd pick - we dont draft Jordan Dizon and go O-Line
2007 2nd pick - we dont draft Drew Stanton and go O-line
2006 3rd pick - we dont draft Brian Calhoun and go O-Line
2005 3rd pick - we dont draft Stanley Wilson and go O-line

From the 2005 draft to current we draft only one O-lineman in the first 3 rounds.
Gosder Cherilus with a #1.
O-lineman are good 3rd pics.

[gnome]

the O did pretty well yesterday.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/boxscor...Id=20101003009

they beat the packers in about every catagory 'cept pts.

hard to fault anyone over that woodson int... he changed direction almost in mid-air, leapt to hoover up a flipping spinning ball, hit the turf then got up and ran like his ass hairs were on fire. rayola had nothing to do with that.

[smogboy]

Not a bad loss if there ever was such a thing; this game did give us some hope although a week from now that hollow moral victory will still be note in the L column and all will be forgotten. Did any of us here really think we were going to beat the Packers? Wasn’t the Vegas line somewhere around 11 points? There were a multitude of surprises in this game beyond the closeness of the score:

-Who thought Aaron Rodgers was only going to throw a measly 17 times in this game? Didn’t everyone [[myself included) think he was just going to just shred the Lions secondary and have himself a 300+ yard game?

-Our offense moved pretty well against a top ranked defense. The Lions mixed it up with a few runs, short passes, and actually dominated in yardage. Getting 26 points on a team that averages only giving up 18.3 wasn’t bad. Our third down conversion rate was pretty good too, although it wasn’t pretty most of the time.

-Jim Schwartz learning better time management this game. For flubbing the clock last game, he managed the end of the first half much better this time and we ended up going to Calvin Johnson for a nice catch in the endzone.

-Who knew Shaun Hill ran that well? The commentators mentioned something about him being an option QB once in his life? Whoda thunk it?

-Our special teams actually looked special! I don’t know how much of this to pin on the exit of Stan Kwan and that system, the new personnel or whatever- but we looked pretty good. Jason Hanson was ever efficient, Stefan Logan actually gets us good net yardage after kick-offs & punts , and we actually made the Packer special teams cough it up a few times [[thank Mr. Logan for both of the recoveries too). No complaints there unless one wants to nitpick Hanson’s missed 55 yard field goal attempt at the end of the second quarter. This unit seems vastly improved from last year.

Some other observations that I noted were that I honestly thought we still had a viable chance to win this game in the fourth quarter [[Lord knows we haven’t had that feeling often the last few years). I was a little disappointed that our vaunted defensive line couldn’t stop John Kuhn. Kuhn had nine touches the entire game and I believe seven of them came in the fourth quarter when we knew that Green Bay was going to try to run the clock out. We knew what they were going to do and we just couldn’t muster the will to take the ball back.

Penalties the first half were absolutely painful to watch. I don’t know what Schwartz said to them at halftime about it because the total dropped drastically in the second half but maybe he needs to start the game off with that speech about the inept penalties [[lining up offsides is just absolutely unacceptable at this level).

0-4 is still unsatisfactory. The Lions still need to deliver and show some improvement in the win-loss columns. I know we were dealt a brutal start of the season but we’ve seemed to have dealt with adversity somewhat well [[was it me or did the team not seem to panic when down against the Pack?). I’m hoping with some of the guys coming back from injury and this teams starts gelling, things could happen and a few of those 5-6 predicted victories could still materialize before the end of the season.

[smogboy]

Refs cost us another one. Clearly pass interference on Woodson on third down on the Lion's last drive. Even color commentator/ex coach Billick called it obvious. And did you hear Billick's swipe at fellow Fox commentator Matt Millen? He said the management of the team in those years was criminal.

The truth hurts. I liked the way Billick didn't mention Millen by name- but we all knew who he was talking about. Also Millen is no longer with Fox; instead he's a mouthpiece for ABC/ ESPN and will be in town doing the MSU/UofM game. What an absolute disgrace that Millen should even be allowed in the state anymore much less have an informed opinion on football.

If anyone wants to call up ESPN and voice their disapproval of allowing Millen even near a football stadium, the phone number is [[866) 317-3776.

[smogboy]

We been saying the same stuff for 10 years, get us some O-lineman PLEASE

Lets pretend.

2009 3rd pick - we dont draft Derrick Williams and go O-Line
2008 2nd pick - we dont draft Jordan Dizon and go O-Line
2007 2nd pick - we dont draft Drew Stanton and go O-line
2006 3rd pick - we dont draft Brian Calhoun and go O-Line
2005 3rd pick - we dont draft Stanley Wilson and go O-line

From the 2005 draft to current we draft only one O-lineman in the first 3 rounds.
Gosder Cherilus with a #1.
O-lineman are good 3rd pics.

In the 2009 draft, we picked Lydon Murtha who's backing up Jake Long in Miami. And yeah- while we did need a right tackle in Gosder Cherilus [[2008), the Manny Ramirez in 2007 and Jonathan Scott in 2006 [[now with Pittsburgh) have pretty much been for a back-up roles.

-the other 2006 pick in Fred Matua is now playing for the UFL.

-2004 Kelly Butler, waived in 2005 and playing in the CFL.

-2003 Ben Johnson never made it off a practice squad for Detroit or any other team.

-2002 Victor Rogers is out football.

-2001- Dominic Raiola & Jeff Backus

-2000- Stockar McDougle last played in Jacksonville in 2007 and is out of football.

Needless to say, we've never had much of a priority, knack or intellect [[count all three if you want to talk about the Millen Era) in picking offensive linemen. I'm hoping that this is one area that the new regime of Mayhew/ Lewand/ Schwartz will try to do more of in the upcoming years. I'm hoping that this previous draft's Jason Fox will turn into more than the tackling sled's ballast in the years to come.