GMart's Lions Blog - 11-27-20

Hello friends! It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve done one of these, but I thought it would be fun to throw some thoughts together on the Lions and connect with you once again. I sincerely hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Well, it was another debacle at Ford Field this week. Everyone from fans to media is in universal agreement that Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn need to go. Mercifully, it seems to be a question of when and not if. There’s probably not much point in reviewing what went wrong, but in the spirit of Festivus, I do want to highlight a few things to air some grievances and talk a little bit about what has gone wrong over the last 3 seasons and what's next. 

Awful Coaching

We were led to believe that Patricia would have a gameplan each week that was specific to that week’s opponent, but it has just looked like the same garbage over and over. On defense, we saw a “bend but don’t break” philosophy that seemed to be like wishing the other team would eventually make a mistake. They often were predictable with man coverage, rarely blitzed, and repeatedly got burned by crossing routes. They also prided themselves on stopping the run, only to get punched in the mouth and get ran over...and over...and over. 

On offense, they did have some moments, especially once Patricia fired Jim Bob Cooter after the 1st season. However, they have still managed to derail themselves by being too predictable. They ran a ton on 1st downs and are still too predictable based on personnel (Hmm, Peterson & Jesse James are in the game. 80% run probability). Some personnel decisions were curious as well, like last year’s guard rotation and sticking with guys like Blount and Peterson way too much at RB, despite spending obscene amounts of draft capital on the position.

Frustrating Roster Building

Everyone seems focused on Matt Patricia, but let’s not let Bob Quinn off the hook either. Taking Jahlani Tavai in the 2nd round and trading up to get Will Harris in the 3rd round last year are 2 of the absolute dumbest things I’ve seen in Detroit Lions draft history, which is saying a lot. 

I could get into so many more moves that haven’t worked out in the draft & free agency, but I’ll just boil it down to one basic frustration. The Lions seem to dislike having good athletes. For the most part, they seem to like WRs who make contested catches, but don’t have speed & route-running ability to actually get open. That’s why you’re seeing Stafford get sacked a ton with Golladay out. They’re mostly coverage sacks because nobody’s open. They also like big and slow LBs who can’t cover anyone. They like big DL who supposedly can stop the run (they can't) and just don’t seem to give a crap about finding speed rushers who can get after the QB. The Lions have been moving the opposite direction of most of the rest of the league with these philosophies and I hate it. 

Should They Have Kept Caldwell?

(expletive) No. It’s funny to me how everyone is acting like Jim Caldwell was Vince Lombardi or something. Yes, he was obviously wayyyy better than Patricia, but he had some talented rosters and really didn’t accomplish anything significant. How many division titles did he win? Zero. How many playoff games did he win? Zero. This team has won one playoff game since 1957. I’m sorry, but going 8-8 or 9-7 and getting knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs isn’t going to cut it. Caldwell had 4 years with a solid roster (especially that 2014 team, which was absolutely loaded) and couldn’t get it done. Here’s what else went wrong under Caldwell that everyone seems to forget:

-The Lions were incapable of beating virtually anyone who had a winning record

-They literally went like 4 years without having someone rush for 100 yards in a game

-Their formula for winning was basically suck for 3 quarters and let Stafford & Prater put the entire team on their back and figure out how to win in the 4th quarter. That worked against most bad teams, but it was not a sustainable way to succeed against good teams. 

-Offense was Caldwell’s specialty, but his OCs were terrible. Joe Lombardi was fired and Jim Bob Cooter had 1 good year, then was awful once everyone figured him out and he couldn’t adjust. 

-In his last year, the Lions were burned multiple times by having only 10 men on the field.

-Anyone remember one of his last games which was a must-win game against the lowly Bengals where they looked like complete garbage and lost?

Look, I’m not meaning to be overly harsh and excessively dump on Caldwell. He did a nice job of bringing them out of the Jim Schwartz era, where they were horribly undisciplined both on and off the field, and made them a competitive team. There’s definitely something to be said for that. But man, let’s set our sights on something more here. We need to expect better. Bob Quinn hasn’t gotten many things right in his tenure as GM of the Lions, but when he said, “9-7 isn’t good enough” that was and still is an absolutely true statement. The next GM & coach need to find a way to make this a team that can actually win a stinkin’ playoff game. Anything less than that simply isn’t acceptable. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be a while, since it’s likely going to take a while to undo the damage that Quinn & Patricia have done. 

What’s next?

Whether the firings of Quinn & Patricia happen now, Monday, or at the end of the season, they must hire replacements, of course. The next GM is an even more important hire than the HC, but it’s hard to say who would be in the running there. For HC, I’m sure we’ll hear the names Eric Bienemy (Chiefs OC) and Robert Saleh (49ers DC) brought up a lot. I won’t get into names too much right now because it’s early and I don’t want to get too long winded. I’ll just give a few thoughts on my hopes for the next regime. 

I’m going to speak in pretty general terms here, but from a team-building standpoint, I want better athletes. They’re closer to having a good offense than a good defense, so I think they should start by focusing more initially on building a very strong offense and figure out the defense moreso in the coming years. They need to replenish the WR corps with speedy guys who can get open and make plays. On defense, man, where to begin? I think Okudah & Oruwariye have potential to be a nice CB duo and just about everywhere else needs work. Just please, for crying out loud, quit ignoring the pass rush.

From a coaching standpoint, I want someone who’s flexible and can outscheme others, instead of just relying on “executing better.” Offensively, I’d love to see them open things up. Scheme to get guys open, pass to setup the run, use more motion & shifts, be less predictable, etc. On defense, I just want to see some aggression. It seems like we’ve seen nothing but “bend but don’t break” philosophy in Detroit and I’m very sick of it. 

What about QB?

One last topic before I close is the QB. While I’m curious to see what he’d do with another non-sucking team, I’d be careful about moving on from Stafford. It seems like there are more good QBs in the league than there used to be, but still, finding a good one is not as easy as it seems. Maybe a fresh start is what both parties need, but I’m just pumping the brakes a bit here. With the proper system & players around him, it’s my belief that you can still win with him as your QB. Either way, they’d be wise to take a QB next year in the early rounds of the draft. It’s unfortunate that the Lions have neglected finding a developmental QB all of these years. Chalk that up as a failure for both Martin Mayhew and Bob Quinn. Between Stafford’s age and injury history, though, I think it’s clear that this cannot be ignored any longer - regardless of whether he stays or goes. 

Those are my thoughts for now. Thanks for reading feel free to drop some comments of your own :)

GMart's Lions Blog 03-05-09

Well, the first week of free agency has come and gone. So how have the Lions done so far? I wouldn't necessarily say that they've done a "great" job or that I "love" what they've done. However, I do think they've made some solid moves and I really do like their approach thus far.

When you're a team full of holes, you can't just go blowing all of your salary cap money on a couple of guys (a la Daniel Snyder's Redskins). You have to sign a bunch of guys and be careful not to overpay for them. That can be tough when you're coming off an 0-16 season - not too many guys are going to want to play for you unless you grossly overpay for their services. So taking those things into consideration, the Lions have actually done pretty well to get some quality free agents without over-paying. Some past examples of the Lions over-paying for free agents? Damien Woody, Fernando Bryant, Az Hakim. Blech. I'll give them credit for one good one, though - Dre Bly. That one did work out until he was eventually "Lionized." So, onto the moves.....

RB Maurice Morris - Morris signed for 3 yrs at just under 7 mil. He will be the backup RB and should also pickup 5-10 carries a game spelling Kevin Smith. He had rushed for over 500 yards 3 years in a row for Seattle and averaged 4.3 ypc last season. I would consider him an upgrade over the plodding Rudi Johnson.

WR Bryant Johnson - Johnson signed with the Lions for 9 mil over 3 yrs. He's a former 1st rounder who hasn't quite lived up to the hype. However, he's a steady player who has caught over 40 passes 5 years in a row. At 6' 3", he's an example of how Schwartz wants to build a bigger team. From that standpoint, he's an improvement over Shuan McDonald, who is built for the Mike Martz system of putting up meaningless stats.

CB Eric King - King signed for 4 mil over 2 yrs. He came from the Titans and therefore knows Schwartz. He's probably a nickel/dime back/special teamer. Honestly, I don't know much about the guy.

CB/S Anthony Henry - Henry was acquired for Jon INTna. Good deal. Though he's 32 and might be better suited for safety than CB at this point of his career, he was a very solid player for Dallas and a veteran leader who can help a pathetic secondary. Plus, getting anything for Kitna was a steal.

DT Grady Jackson - Grady was inked to a 3 yr 8 mil deal. Unfortunately, he's 36 and probably doesn't have much left. He's a perfect stop-gap for the Lions, though. He is so massive that he requires a double team, so he's a solid player on run downs. Again, another example of Schwartz's desire to get this team bigger.

CB Phillip Buchanon - Phillip signed for 8.5 mil over 2 yrs. Another good move to bolster the defensive backfield. Right now, he's their #1 CB. While ideally I think he should be a #2 CB, he's a definite upgrade over Bodden and all of the other jabroni CBs from last year. If the Lions can draft a CB high, I think they could be looking at a pretty good defensive backfield. Because of this, Buchanon is probably my favorite signing of theirs so far.

While I would've liked for the Lions to make more of a push for a guy like Nate Washington or Bryant McFadden, they did well to get the guys that they did. And most importantly, they didn't over-pay to do it. Also, none of the deals are over 3 years in length. And for those who are disappointed with what the Lions have done so far, here are 2 examples of how they could've done much worse:
Tampa Bay re-signed WR Michael Clayton at 5 yrs, 24.5 mil, with 10.5 mil guaranteed. Clayton has caught 2, yes 2 TD passes since 2004. Yikes!
Baltimore signed CB Dominique Foxworth to a 4 yr 27 mil contract with a whopping 16.5 mil guaranteed. He is only 25, but had 38 tackles and 1 int last year. How does that justify 16.5 mil guaranteed? I don't know.

What else will the Lions look for in free agency as they lead up to the draft? Probably a veteran backup QB. I'm hoping for Byron Leftwich, but they'll probably get Rex Grossman or JP Losman. Another offensive lineman would be nice (Daniel Loper?). Also a linebacker (Mike Peterson?). A CB or WR with kick returning ability would be good, too (Chris Carr?). And with the loss of Moran Norris, I think a FB might be a good idea, too (Mike Karney?). We'll see what happens. Bring on the draft!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 01-20-09

May The Schwartz Be With Us

The Lions coaching search concluded last week when Jim Schwartz was announced as the team's next head coach. Schwartz had been the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans for the past 8 years. The Titans had a very solid defense for most of his time there. Schwartz also has experince in scouting and has worked with 2 of the best coaches in the NFL in Bill Belichik and Jeff Fischer.

Though Schwartz clearly has his work cut out for him, I believe that the Lions made a good hire here. It's almost impossible for an 0-16 team with a history of a completely inept front office to lure a big name, and Schwartz was the "best of the rest" so to speak (with the possible exception of Steve Spagnuolo, although some might put him in the "big name" category, too, even though he was an assistant). The thing I like best about Schwartz is that he has said that he will evaluate what he has and fit the scheme to the players that he has. I've been waiting for a Lions coach to say something like that for years. I am so tired of the stubborn coaches that they've hired. Rod Marinelli was in love with the Tampa 2 defense and pretty much refused to make any adjustments, even though they were far and away the worst defense in the league this year. The Tampa 2 was an absolute disaster and wasted what little talent the Lions had on defense. For example, they dumped Dre Bly for 2 Broncos cast-offs because he "didn't fit the scheme." Also, Leigh Bodden is clearly a better man-cover than zone-cover CB and was basically neutered by the Tampa 2. More examples of coaching stubbornness came from the previous coach, Steve Mariucci. Mooch's offense was incredibly outdated and conservative, yet it seemed like he was the only one who didn't realize that. Some people say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. I don't know if Jim Schwartz will be a successful head coach or not, but I do think that he will at least put a stop to the "insanity" that we have been witnessing from previous head coaches.

Draft talk

The NFL draft is going to start creeping up on us now. The playoffs are almost over, the Senior Bowl is this week, and the scouting combine is next month. Yeah, it's still 3 months away, but this is when the hype just starts to get good. The hype that you're going to hear over the next 3 months (from the national media, anyway) will probably have the Lions taking Matt Stafford, the QB from Georgia or Mark Sanchez, the QB from USC. This would be a big mistake, in my opinion. Mike Mayock, the respected NFL draft analyst for NFL Network, has stated that neither of those QBs is as NFL ready as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were going into the '08 draft. The Lions need to forget about drafting those guys. Don't draft a QB!

What the Lions really need with the #1 pick is an impact defensive player or a franchise left tackle (to replace the atrocious Jeff Backus). Is there a consensus #1 pick among these players? Not really. However, there are some pretty good choices. There's Andre Smith, LT from Alabama. He's regarded as the best LT in the draft by many, but is said to have problems controlling his weight. Michael Oher, LT from Ole Miss is another great prospect, but some are down on him because of an inconsistent Senior season. And then there's Eugene Monroe, LT from Virginia. He hasn't gotten much hype yet, but I expect that to change. He was the reason that highly regarded OL prospect from '08 Branden Albert was moved from LT to LG. The guy that I'm starting to lean towards, though, is Aaron Curry, the LB from Wake Forest. Curry would be a real impact player. Mike Mayock has him rated as the best Senior in the draft and said that he basically has no holes in his game. He can stop the run, does well in pass coverage, and can rush the passer. He also has enough size and speed to make him a versatile player, too. He can play inside or outside and can play in a 3-4 or a 4-3 scheme. A lot can change in the 3 months leading up to the draft, but right now I'd make Curry the pick if I were the Lions (of course I would try to trade down first...and likely not get any takers). Hopefully we'll have some good draft and free agency news to discuss when the Super Bowl is over.

Thanks for reading,
Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 12-28-08

It's official. The Lions are now the 1st team in NFL history to finish 0-16 after a 31-21 defeat at the hands of the Packers. The Lions battled hard today, but predictably came up short once again. The defense finished the season by allowing 517 points, just 16 shy of the record 533 points that the 1981 Colts gave up. I don't care what the stats say, though, this Lions defense is the worst ever. There were several games this season where the opposition got up big on them early and took it easy on them as the game went on. And even in close games like today, you knew the Lions wouldn't get a defensive stop when they needed it. The offense has its issues, too (and don't even get me started on the coaches), but if you can't stop anyone, you can't win. To me, that's the biggest issue among the many issues facing the Lions as the off-season is set to begin. Anyway, onto today's gameballs...

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

Games like today are why I brag this guy up every chance I get. He had 102 yards and 2 TDs and came up with some clutch catches in traffic.

Kevin Smith

Smith rushed for 92 yards and a TD on 28 carries.

John Standeford

He had 82 yards receiving and a lot of it came vs. Al Harris. He also did the first down signal in Al's face after one of the plays. I can't stand Al Harris, so that pretty much was enough to earn Mr. Standeford a gameball.

GROIN-KICKS

Lions defense

Another horse-bleep performance.

Rod Marinelli

Apparently, Rod thinks that unused timeouts carry over from the 1st half to the 2nd because he inexplicably didn't take any of them inside of 2 minutes when the defense shockingly stopped Green Bay.

Jeff Backus

1 holding penalty and 1 false start today. When Backus has that rare game when he doesn't commit a penalty, you can be sure that he'll make up for it at some point by committing 2 in one game.

Al Harris

Harris is over-rated. He's not very fast, so he just mugs WRs and the refs let him get away with it. It was so awesome to see Plaxico Burress expose him in the NFC title game last year. If he played for a team like Detroit, he'd probably get so many pass interference flags that we'd all forget about Bryant Westbrook. He's always been a big trash-talker, too, and today was no different. Wow, Al, I'm so impressed. You guys beat an 0-16 team, keep talkin'. Have fun watching the playoffs at home because you and your defensive teammates blow. Pardon this long rant, but I despise the Packers and Harris is probably my least favorite player on that stinkin' team.

WHAT ELSE?

According to Jay Glazer (link here: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8996898/Sunday-Scoops:-Glazer%27s-latest-coaching-update) it looks like a long shot that Rod Marinelli will be back. Thank goodness. The real problem is that we're stuck with the most inept owner in the history of sports: William Clay Ford. However, I'm an optimist, so I'm going to continue to hope that bringing in a new coach and another personnel guy in the front office will help the Lions find a way to succeed in spite of Ford's bumbling idiocy.

Marinelli is a great guy and I like the attitude that he tried to bring to this team, but it just didn't work out. Whoever they bring in (assuming they do the sensible thing and fire Marinelli), I hope the new coach abandons the Tampa 2 defense. I absolutely hate that scheme. It's another "bend but don't break" scheme that the Lions have been playing for way too damn long. Let's get an attacking style in here. I wouldn't mind seeing a 3-4 scheme or something like what Jim Johnson runs in Philly, with all kinds of wacky blitzes. No scheme could make this current cast of characters succeed, I understand that. But it doesn't mean that the scheme shouldn't be changed. Please dump the Tampa 2!

Onto some good news now - with the Cowboys losing to the Eagles, that ensures that Dallas will not make the playoffs and that Detroit's 2nd 1st round pick will be somewhere in the late teens. In my opinion, the Lions should either take 2 defensive players in round one or take a LT and a defensive player, not necessarily in that order. We'll see what happens, though. There is so much to discuss as far as free agency and the draft go, but we won't have any idea which direction they'll go until the front office & coaching situations are settled. And even then, there's a good chance of Ford stepping in and screwing up the whole situation (a la drafting Joey Harrington).

FINAL THOUGHTS

Thank goodness this season is over. If we can't have a winning product on the field, at least we usually have interesting off-field drama. I suspect (and hope) that we'll be hearing about Marinelli getting fired tomorrow and then hear about prospective front office guys and coaches being interviewed over the next few weeks. Then we'll have free agency and the draft, so that'll all make for interesting discussion and speculation.

There is absolutely no reason to have any confidence in Ford making the right decisions. However, I know that I will just get my hopes up again next year anyway. I guess I think it's more fun to have false hope than no hope at all. Here's to hoping that we have an off-season like Atlanta and Miami did last year. Thanks for reading!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 12-21-08

The Lions are now one game away from 0-16 after suffering a 42-7 defeat today vs. New Orleans. Like we've seen from most opposing offenses all year, the Saints did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to do it. The Lions had absolutely no answer for them. I didn't think the Lions would win today, but I was actually expecting a close game. The Saints have a bad defense and the Lions played with a lot of intensity last week. I thought they'd at least score some points and make a game of it. Nope. The offense was pretty inept today to say the least. There's not much more to say about this debacle. Onto the gameballs...

GAMEBALLS

Kevin Smith

Smith had 111 yards on 24 carries today. He was one of the lone bright spots today for the Lions. In fact, I'm only going to give out one gameball this week because the Lions sucked so incredibly bad. Calvin Johnson should get one, too, but since Colletto & Orlovsky were too friggin' dumb to figure out how to get him the ball, I'm just going to stick with Smith as the lone gameball recipient.

GROIN-KICKS

Gosder Cherilus

Goz wiped out a nice TD grab by Calvin Johnson with a bone-headed illegal formation penalty. He was also doing his best Jeff Backus impression on a few pass plays today. I still think he has had a pretty good rookie season, but he was awful today.

The defense

There's just too many guys to mention here. Leigh Bodden recovered a fumble, which turned out to be the only big play the defense made all day. That's not an exaggeration, either. I really can't stress enough just how bad the defense was today. Did I mention the defense is terrible?

Dan Orlovsky

I heard that Dan was fighting through a battle with the flu today and over the last few days, so that may partially excuse his poor play today. He was pretty atrocious, though. He was inaccurate and often made Harrington-esque decisions (throwing dinky garbage passes on 3rd and long).

The Coaching Staff

I have to blame all coaches in addition to the players when the Lions get blown out this badly. Specifically, Jim Colletto deserves a groin-kick with a steel-toed boot. He was somewhat imaginitive last week when they played Indy and I was absolutely shocked. The reason I was so surprised is that what we saw from the Lions offense today is what we've seen most of the season: terrible play-calling and an inexplicable inability to get the ball to Calvin Johnson. I'm looking forward to the day when Jim Colletto is relieved of play calling duties. Heh heh heh...duty.

WHAT ELSE?

William Clay Ford, Sr. announced today that Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew will be back next year. In a related story, Mr. Ford recently took an IQ test and scored lower than Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants.

Anyway, Ford did say that he will hire another person to help with football operations, but that the person he hires may not have total control over personnel decisions. Personally, I don't think anyone he hires will have "final say" on personnel matters - not in that dysfunctional front office. I think this means that you can say goodbye to the dream of hiring Scott Pioli away from New England. I do think that the Lions can still find a guy who can help them in this role, but there are 2 big questions that remain: "Will Lewand continue to be part of the problem in the front office?" and most importantly "Will that bumbling fool William Clay Ford Sr. stay out of the way and let everyone do their jobs?" We'll see.

By the way, Ford also said that he hasn't made up his mind on bringing Rod Marinelli back next year. Seriously? I know the epic struggles of this team aren't 100% his fault, but Marinelli's record in his last 23 regular season games is 1-22. I could debate this issue further, but I think that 1-22 record pretty much speaks for itself.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We have a chance to witness NFL history next week. The Lions travel to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers next Sunday. Despite Green Bay's struggles this season, it will be a very tall order for the Lions to win this game since they haven't beaten the Packers on the road since 1991. Want another reason why the Lions probably won't win this game? Well, they suck really bad. With that in mind, an 0-16 season looks like it will be a reality at this point next week. I gave up expecting wins a long time ago in this disastrous season, so I'm just hoping that they can at least provide a little drama. A lot of people around the country want to see the first ever 0-16 season, so it would be pretty cool if this game was at least close and intense. It might be. I would think that the Lions will be highly motivated and leave it all on the field for this one. You know the drill by now, though: I don't think they will win, I hope I am wrong, and thanks for reading. Also, Merry Christmas!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 12-14-08

The Lions are now 0-14 after a 31-21 loss at the hands of the Indianapolis Colts. The Lions were surprisingly competitive in this one and even had the game tied at 21 in the 4th quarter.

With Indy favored by 17 going into the game, playing at home, and on a 6 game winning streak, how the heck did the 0-13 (now 0-14) Lions almost shock the world and get their first win today? A few contributing factors:

1. Dan Orlovsky returned to action today and is clearly the QB who gives them the best chance to win.
2. The Lions coaches actually did a pretty good job today. Colletto actually called a good game on offense. A couple of other things that I liked were that they force fed Calvin Johnson and finally decided to play Landon Cohen at DT.
3. The Lions offensive line played like a real NFL offensive line.
4. Bob Sanders did not play for the Colts today. I want to give the Lions all of the credit for today's game, but the Colts defense is definitely less effective when Sanders is injured.

Now onto those coveted gameballs and loathsome groin-kicks...

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

110 yards and another TD today for Megatron.

Kevin Smith

119 total yards and a TD for Mr. Smith today. I'm becoming a bigger fan of his every week.

Lions Offensive Line

I hate to give them a gameball because that means that I'm giving Jeff Backus a gameball, but these guys earned it today. They ran for 90 yards but most importantly, did not allow a single sack today.

Dan Orlovsky

DanO completed almost 70% of his passes for 233 yards, 1 TD, and no turnovers.

GROIN-KICKS

Dewayne White

His late hit on Peyton Manning was costly.The Lions had the Colts stopped on a 3rd down, but White's penalty kept their drive alive.. You can't give Manning & the Colts 2nd chances.

Lions Linebackers

They did an average job of stopping the run and made some nice hits, but the LB corps is largely responsible for covering the TE. Dallas Clark is a very good player, but you can't allow him to catch 12 passes for 142 yards.

The Refs

I've seen much worse this year, but these guys weren't great today. They missed a blatant pass interference call vs. Megatron, and I also felt that they should've overturned a call when it appeared that Dewayne White recovered a fumble.

WHAT ELSE?

It seems like I talk QB in this part of the column every week. When I watch Stafford and Bradford play and when I think of how often the #1 overall pick is used on a QB, it's very tempting for me to say that the Lions should draft one. Unless they're convinced that one of those guys is the next Peyton Manning, though, I don't think the Lions should do it. The Lions have some possibilities with their current cast of QBs. Orlovsky isn't a great play maker, but doesn't make mistakes and I think you can win with a guy like that. Culpepper could be good if he loses about 25 pounds and learns the playbook. Stanton's injury history worries me, but I still really like his potential. Hopefully they use the pick on a franchise LT or improve the defense. The offense needs some other complimentary pieces (OG, WR), but not much. The defense, however, needs a lot of work, so I'd suspect that improving the "D" will be the primary off-season objective. Who will be doing this work, though? I have no idea. Rumors are going around that Lewand, Mayhew, and Marinelli may all be back next year. As dumb as Ford is, though, I don't think he can do that. He will face so much pressure that I would be shocked if at least one of those guys isn't fired. I'm betting that Marinelli will get the axe, while Lewand and Mayhew will get to stick around in the front office. Just a hunch.

FINAL THOUGHTS

14 down, 2 to go. I still think the Lions will go 0-16, but after watching today's game, I think they have a much better shot at winning a game than I thought before. The Lions are still playing hard and both New Orleans (next Sunday's opponent) and Green Bay are out of the playoff picture, so they may not be too highly motivated. Next Sunday's game will be the home finale when the Saints come to town. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. The Lions are obviously winless both at home and on the road, but seem to have played better on the road this year. At any rate, I don't see them being able to stop Drew Brees and Pierre Thomas, so I look for them to be 0-15 at this time next week. As always, I hope I am wrong and thanks for reading!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 12-07-08

The Lions (urinated) the game away today, losing 20-16 to the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions actually had a lot going for them in this one. First off, they won the turnover battle with a +2. Secondly, they won the penalty battle as they only committed 4, while the Vikings repeatedly helped the Lions by committing penalties (6 of them total) on defense. Also, they limited Adrian Peterson to just 102 yards rushing (that may not sound like a great accomplishment, but it's pretty good since AP is considered by many to be the best RB in the league). They even knocked Gus Frerotte out of the game (although the backup, Tarvaris Jackson, ended up playing better than Frerotte anyway). In spite of all of this, the Lions still couldn't win. They had 2 failed 4th down conversions in Viking territory that ultimately killed them in the end. They also should have made a better effort to snap the ball quicker before Minnesota challenged a Calvin Johnson catch for a 1st down (the Vikings won the challenge and held the Lions to a field goal). Today was just another missed opportunity for a Lions team that deserves to go 0-16. It reminds me of what Robert DeNiro said to Sylvester Stallone in the movie Copland, "I gave you a chance and you BLEW IT!!!" Today, the Vikings gave the Lions a chance and they blew it. Unlike Stallone, the Lions won't be able to make up for this loss by finding Superboy and killing Harvey Keitel.

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

Megatron got back on the board this week with a 70 yard TD catch.

Kevin Smith

He had 90 yards from scrimmage today going against the vaunted "Williams Wall." He's a tough guy with a good attitude who runs hard.

Gosder Cherilus

Goz was ripped on by a lot of analysts for his "cheap shot" on Jared Allen. Guess what? It was a legal hit. The Lions are always getting jacked up by other teams. It's about time they make the other team pay for a change. I like the mean streak and "play to the whistle" attitude that Goz displayed on this play. I'm glad that he didn't seriously hurt Allen, but either way I don't have too much sympathy for the guy (Allen) after his 2 DUI arrests last year.

GROIN-KICKS

Jim Colletto

From the "What the $#&S&*&?!?!" department, Lions OC Jim Colletto called a friggin' QB sneak on 4th and inches inside the Minnesota 10 at the end of the first half. Culpepper was easily (and predictably) stopped by the "Williams Wall." Run an off tackle, do a play-action pass, toss it up in the end zone to Calvin Johnson, I don't care. Just don't go straight up the middle. Unbelievable.

Rod Marinelli

When you pass up 2 sure field goals to go for it on 4th down, you better make it. The Lions didn't convert either one of them.

Jeff Backus

Jeff Backus totally sucks and played like crap again today.

WHAT ELSE?

I'd be shocked if the Lions don't go 0-16. Their defense played better today, but I attribute a lot of that to the inept coaching of Brad Childress and poor QB play of Gus Frerotte. I don't see any way they'll be able to stop the other team's offense in these last 3 games: @ IND, vs. NO, @ GB. That'll make the Lions an historic 0-16, and also losers of 23 of their last 24 games going back to last season. WOW.

I'm sure that Marinelli will stick with as many veterans as possible over these last 3 games because they "give them the best chance to win." That means that if Culpepper isn't healthy (he was injured on the 2nd last play of the game today), Dan Orlovsky will get the start if he is healthy enough to go. I still like Dan-O, but I really believe it would be in their best interest to start Drew Stanton (I know, this horse has been dead and getting continuously flogged for quite some time now). What if Drew would play great in the last 3 games? Then he could still be your QB of the future and you don't draft one 1st overall next April. However, we may never know what kind of NFL QB Stanton is because the Lions will (hopefully) clean house in the off-season. With a new coach and GM in place, I would suspect that they'd spend the 1st overall pick in next April's draft on a franchise QB (like I mentioned last week, this would be either Matthew Stafford from Georgia or Sam Bradford from Oklahoma). The QB position, GM/coach situation, and the draft are just a few big things to keep an eye on this off-season. Seeing as how the Lions season has been over for about 3 months now, I'm anxious for it to end and get the off-season going.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Lions travel to Indy next week to play the Colts. Holy crap - how many TDs will Peyton Manning throw for?!?! As Emmitt Smith would say, I'm sure the Lions will get "debacled" in this game. Um, yeah, that's pretty much all of the analysis I have for that game. As always, I hope I'm wrong and thanks for reading!

Greg