GMart's Lions Blog 11-28-08

First off, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! I certainly did, in spite of the Lions. This Lions debacle turned out to be the worst one ever on turkey day, as they fell 47-10 to the Titans. There really isn't a whole lot to say about this game. The Lions were dominated by a much better team. Onto the gameballs...

GAMEBALLS

Cliff Avril

I have to give out a gameball to a Lion. Other than Jason Hanson, Avril is the only one that I really think deserves one this week. His sack & forced fumble on Kerry Collins led to the only TD the Lions had.

Chris Johnson, Lendale White, and Rob Bironas

These Titans players all put up huge stats for my fantasy teams. Thanks guys.

GROIN-KICKS

Lions coaches, offense, defense, and special teams

I don't think I even need to explain this one

Jeff Fisher

The Titans coach displayed a total lack of class that was Belichick-esque. With about 3:30 left in the game and a 37 point lead in hand, Fisher threw the challenge flag to force instant replay on a Calvin Johnson catch (which proved to be a legit catch). At that point, I officially became anti-Titans. I will cheer against Tennessee in every remaining game this season.

WHAT ELSE?

0-16 is almost here. Whether they go 0-16 or 1-15, this is the worst NFL team I've ever seen. They will almost assuredly have the #1 overall pick in next April's draft. It may be too early to speculate, but it's never too early for Lions fans. So, onto the speculation: the last 2 weeks has brought regression in Culpepper and we've seen Drew Stanton get injured yet again. Dan Orlovsky is still injured and rumor has it that the front office doesn't like him (hopefully, those front office people will be fired!). Like most other positions, QB is looking questionable. That's why early speculation indicates that the Lions may be looking at a QB. The most likely candidates would be Georgia's Matt Stafford and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford (both are underclassmen, though, and have yet to declare for the draft). This is such a tough call, though. If these guys are as good as advertised, it would be hard not to pick them. The problem is, though, that the Lions have oh so many needs. I'm not sure any QB could succeed behind that horrible offensive line, and comparing the defense to swiss cheese would be an insult....to swiss cheese. That's why I'd be leaning towards drafting a LT 1st overall at this point, while focusing on defense for the remainder of the draft (maybe throw in an OG or WR with KR skills, too).

We'll have plenty of time to speculate about those things, though, when this season mercifully ends. There will also be a search for a new head coach after Marinelli gets fired and more than likely, a search for a GM after Martin Mayhew gets the ziggy. Nobody likes to see good people fired, but it's very necessary in this case. What really needs to happen (and probably never will) is for the Fords to sell the team. Our only hope in the meantime is for Bill Ford, Jr. to get more control of the franchise from his father. That still wouldn't inspire too much confidence in anyone, but I can't believe that he'd be any worse at running things than his father has been.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Well, this is it. The next game has the Lions staying home for a battle with Minnesota, in what many believe will be their last shot at a victory this season. I happen to agree. The remaining schedule has the Lions going on the road to Indy (loss), back home to face New Orleans (double loss), and then closing at Green Bay (the Lions haven't won there since '91, so triple loss). What gives them any chance at beating the Vikings, though? Well, a few things: Brad Childress is not a very good coach, Gus Frerotte is a mistake-prone QB, Their 2 best defenders (Pat & Kevin Williams) are likely to get suspended next week, and finally, Daunte Culpepper will be motivated for revenge against his former team. These are good, legitimate reasons that the Lions can win this game. Unfortunately, I don't think they will. I actually thought they would win this one last week at this time. However, after watching them quickly blow a 17 point lead to Tampa and then not even show a pulse on turkey day, I think 0-16 is going to happen. Their defense is so atrocious, that I don't see how they will be able to stop Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor. As always, I hope I am wrong. Thanks for reading!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 11-23-08

Another week, another loss. This time it was a 38-20 beat-down at the hands of the Tampa Bay Bucs. The Lions actually got off to a fast start again this week and had built up a 17-0 lead, only to get outscored 38-3 the rest of the way. Ugh. Daunte Culpepper got off to a great start, hitting Calvin Johnson on a 41 yard pass and then a 15 yard TD pass. Things quickly unraveled for him, though, as he finished a wretched 8-20 with 2 INTs. And after some early success, the defense also payed a visit to the land of suck. Huge, no, make that gargantuan breakdowns occurred in the secondary and the special teams also chipped in by allowing a 70 yard punt return TD by Clifton Smith. Now onto the gameballs....

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

66 yards and a TD today for Megatron. Though he only had 3 catches, the Lions at least made more of a conscious effort to throw some deep balls his way. Hopefully that trend will continue.

Kevin Smith

I don’t care if Smith “lacks speed” according to experts. The guy is a solid RB (much like the banks at Rose City Motors - SOLID). He had 86 yards on 16 carries today (5.4 avg) against a tough Tampa defense.

Daniel Bullocks

A defensive player getting a gameball? What!?!?! Bullocks was in the right place at the right time to recover a Jeff Garcia fumble and return it 44 yards for a TD.

Corey Smith

2 defensive players getting a gameball? That’s just wacky! Smith gets one because he had 2 sacks today.

GROIN-KICKS

Daunte Culpepper

Daunte, you’ve gotta take better care of the ball than that. I’m pullin’ for ya, buddy, but please cut down on the turnovers.

The Offensive Line

The whole line sucked today. They did a pretty good job of run blocking, but that was negated by their atrocious pass blocking and numerous penalties. And guess who committed another penalty today? Jeff Backus. Twice. Note to Lions: Please draft a LT to replace Backus!

The Defensive Backfield

Everyone in the secondary (besides Bullocks) blew chunks today. The Bucs could’ve thrown on them all day if they had wanted to, but they were content with pounding the rock and running time off of the clock.

Paris Lenon

The coaches like Lenon because he’s smart and has a lot of heart. The problem is that he’s slightly above average when he’s at his very best (which isn’t too often). He showed that today, specifically with his lousy pass coverage.

Cory Redding

Not only did he not make an impact with any positive plays, but he committed a costly roughing the passer penalty. The penalty happened on a 3rd down when the Lions had seemingly forced Tampa to punt. Instead, they kept the ball and received an automatic 1st down. Fellow “franchise player” Jeff Backus probably nodded in approval from the sidelines as this play occurred.

WHAT ELSE?

Lions QBs were beat up pretty badly today. Culpepper looked bad (aside from his first drive) and Stanton also had a rough day (he looked shaky before leaving the game with a concussion). Hopefully this was brought on by a Tampa defense that’s still pretty darn good and not a sign of things to come for the rest of the season.

Why Jordon Dizon isn’t starting at LB is beyond me. Paris Lenon and Ryan Nece are not good. Not only should the Lions be using the rest of this wasted 0-11 season to develop young players like Dizon, but I think he would actually be an immediate upgrade over Lenon or Nece. I know Dizon blew coverage on the TD to Stevens today, but that's a mental mistake that he wouldn't have made at this point in the season if he had gotten more playing time earlier in the season. He has a lot of talent and I think once he finally sees significant playing time, we’ll all be wondering why he wasn’t on the field sooner. Sort of like when Calvin Johnson finally started getting more opportunities on offense, and when Kevin Smith & Gosder Cherilus got to start, and when Cliff Avril got more playing time on defense. Hmm, I’m noticing a pattern here.

The Lions need to make significant upgrades on the defense in the offseason. Also, they need at least 2 more starting offensive linemen. After trying to fill those spots, they aren’t likely to have a whole lot of money/draft picks to spend on other areas. Sadly and ironically, another area that needs to be addressed is WR. After spending 4 1st round picks on WRs between 2002 and 2007, the Lions still need help there. Shaun McDonald will likely leave via free agency after this season, leaving them with Calvin Johnson, Mike Furrey, and not much else. Even if a guy like John Standeford steps up, the Lions will probably have to acquire 2 more WRs in the offseason through free agency and/or the draft. I think another speed threat on the outside to go with Calvin Johnson would really make their passing game difficult to defend. We’ll see if the Lions have the resources to make this happen. It’s one of the least of their problems at this point, but definitely something else they need to think about after this season.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Unfortunately, the Titans lost to the Jets today, so they will not be undefeated heading into the matchup with the winless Lions on Thanksgiving this Thursday. Instead, it will be a battle of 0-11 vs.10-1. I was really pulling for the clash of the winless and unbeaten. Regardless, this game has “disaster” written all over it; but then again, how many Lions games don’t have “disaster” written all over them these days? I just hope they can play a close, entertaining game. With all of the Thanksgiving day blowouts they’ve had in recent years, I worry that the NFL may one day take this tradition away from us. No matter how badly the Lions stink, they belong on Thanksgiving. This has been a tradition of theirs since 1934 (with a few years in the 40s missing due to WWII). Hopefully they will never lose this great tradition. No matter how bad of a season the Lions are having, I always look forward to the Thanksgiving day game.

I don’t see the Lions winning this game, but I think they might be able to keep it close. The Titans like to run the ball a lot. With the emotion of playing on Thanksgiving, I expect the Lions defense to tackle better than normal and defend the run reasonably well (for part of the game, at least). If Daunte can hit Calvin on a couple of deep ones and not turn the ball over, then they’ve got a shot to at least be in this game. I can’t envision them winning it, but a close game is all I ask and hopefully they can at least achieve that. Thanks for reading and happy Thanksgiving!!!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 11-16-08

The Lions are now 0-10 after a 31-22 defeat at the hands of the Carolina Panthers. The Lions played beyond expectations, though, and had a chance to win in the 4th quarter. However, in typical Lions fashion, they just couldn’t come through in the clutch. With around 6 minutes to go, the Lions scored a TD to cut the deficit to 24-22 and needed a 2 point conversion to tie. As Culpepper tried to run it in, he was blatantly face-masked. The refs missed the call and the Lions were still down by 2. Amazingly, though, the Lions actually got a defensive stop when they needed one and got the ball right back. There was plenty of time and all they needed was a field goal. However, they committed a ridiculous personal foul after the punt return and then Culpepper followed with a hideous interception. DeAngelo Williams ran it in for a Carolina TD on the next play and the Lions were finished just like that.

GAMEBALLS

Kevin Smith

Kevin had a great game with 112 yards rushing. It was the first time a Lions RB has had over 100 yards rushing in a game since Kevin Jones did it in week 8 of last season. Yes, it had been over a year. Whoa doctor!

Calvin Johnson

CJ had 65 yards receiving and a TD catch, which was a terrific play.

Jason Hanson

Jason hit a 56 yard field goal today, with plenty of yards to spare. He is a phenomenal kicker.

Leigh Bodden

Yes, I’m actually going to give a game ball to a defensive player. Bodden helped hold Steve Smith to just 59 yards receiving (although part of that was due to Jake Delhomme being terrible) and even forced him to fumble. Bodden has definitely been disappointing this season, but I think a man coverage defense would better utilize his skills. He showed today that he has a little playmaking ability.

GROIN-KICKS

Lions Defense

I’d love to be able to list specific players instead of putting the entire defense here, but they’re just not leaving me much choice in the matter. The Lions allowed the Panthers to rush for a franchise record 264 yards today. The d-line can’t get a consistent pass rush of any kind and is poor at stopping the run. The linebackers are terrible. They are bad tacklers and are often caught out of position. The secondary is also awful. Rarely does anyone make a play and the other team’s QB frequently has a career day passing. But hey, other than that, they’re great.

The Officials

The blown facemask call on the 2 point conversion was terrible. They also missed what should have been a very easy call in the first quarter. Shaun McDonald called for a fair catch and a Carolina defender blatantly ran right into him and he couldn’t make the catch as a result. What?!?! To be fair, though, they also had a bad call in Detroit’s favor. The Lions benefited from a roughing the kicker call on Nick Harris that I thought was pretty weak. At any rate, these guys blew a lot of calls.

Michael Gaines

Gaines fumbled again this week. That is now 2 fumbles in his last 3 games. He’s gotta do better than that. The Lions can’t afford any turnovers, especially from the tight end position where you don’t expect any of them to occur.

WHAT ELSE?

I was so close to giving Culpepper a game ball, but his INTs were 2 very poor throws. Like last week, though, I think you have to say that he’s doing fairly well for a guy doing everything on the fly in the middle of the season (specifically, learning the playbook and getting timing down with the WRs). There are 2 things I really like about Daunte: playmaking and leadership. While he doesn’t have the mobility that he used to, he still has enough mobility and pocket-presence to evade the rush and make a play. It also appears to me that his offensive teammates respect him. He’s assertive and I think the fact that he is a veteran with a mostly-good track record allows him to be an effective leader. Hopefully he improves as the season goes on. While I’m a Stanton fan, I don’t care who plays QB for the Lions as long as they play well. I was a fan of Culpepper’s abilities when he was a Viking, too, so I’m all for him having a resurgence in Detroit.

One name noticeably absent from this week’s groin-kicks was Jeff Backus. Jeff finally went a full game without committing a penalty. However, he did manage to get torched particularly bad on one play, giving up a sack on a 3 step drop passing play. However, since he was going up against Julius Peppers, I’ll cut him a little slack this week. It’ll take a better game than that (and a lot more of them), though, for him to get back into my circle of trust (a la Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents).

A couple of other things worth noting: I was glad to see John Standeford make a couple of plays today. He’s a sure-handed WR out of Purdue who had a great preseason. Hopefully John does well the rest of this season and earns a spot on next year’s roster. Also, Aveion Cason had a nice kickoff return today. For the first time all year, the Lions had a kickoff returner show a burst of speed. Cason should help them out and keep that job the rest of the year, as long as he doesn’t get careless with the ball.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Next Sunday, the Lions return home to take on Tampa Bay (More importantly, though, Jack Bauer returns to primetime TV!). I think the Lions might have a shot in this one. No, really, I seriously do. If Earnest Graham is out, they should be able to limit Warrick Dunn and the other Tampa RBs (“limit” for the Lions means giving up 100-125 yards rushing, rather than over 250+). Jeff Garcia will probably tear them up, but not as excessively as some other QBs Detroit has faced. The Lions offense will be the key next week. They have to do what they did vs. Carolina today, with one addendum. They have to cut the turnovers back to one, or preferably zero. They must also win the special teams battle. Basically, it’s going to take many “ifs” and “ands” for this to happen. I’m just sayin’ it’s possible. I’m not going to predict it, though. I’ll say that the Bucs will pull it off, but that it won’t be a blowout. That’ll set up an interesting Thanksgiving showdown. If the Titans beat the Jets next week, it’ll be the battle of the unbeaten and winless. Tennessee will be 11-0 and Detroit will be 0-11. Hopefully the Lions can avoid that, though, and somehow beat the Bucs. Thanks for reading!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 11-09-08

The Lions fell to 0-9 today as they were beaten 38-14 by the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s not too often that you get beat by 24 points and say, “The game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate,” but these are the Lions we’re talking about. This game could’ve been even worse if the Jags wouldn’t have taken their foot off the gas pedal in the 2nd half. Detroit’s defense was especially poor today. Jacksonville could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to do it all day long. The Lions offense had a couple of exciting plays, but couldn’t sustain anything consistently with off-the-street QB Culpepper or the inexperienced QB in Stanton. Now onto the gameballs and groin-kicks…

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

Calvin averaged 46 yards per catch today. Unfortunately, he only had 2 catches. The Lions need to get him the ball more next week.

Kevin Smith

Lost in this absolutely horrific season is this positive fact: The Lions have found a RB. Smith had 96 yards and a TD today. He’s really a solid looking player.

Drew Stanton

Drew looked inexperienced at times. He took a couple of sacks that he shouldn’t have and one-hopped a pass to Calvin. However, he threw his first NFL TD pass today, didn’t turn it over, and went 6-8 for 94 yards.

David Garrard

22 points for my fantasy team. Thanks David.

GROIN-KICKS

The entire Lions defense

Horrible. Just horrible. I don’t know what else to say. They’re just...so...horrible!

The entire Lions offensive line

These guys are pretty terrible in their own right. Oh, and Jeff Backus had another penalty today. Keep the streak going, Jeff!

Rod Marinelli and Joe Barry

Sorry guys, but I just hate your defense. I know the personnel lacks talent in some areas, but not this badly. There is no excuse for looking this bad week in and week out. I look forward to the day when we can dump the stupid “Tampa 2” scheme.

WHAT ELSE?

Daunte Culpepper looked like a guy who only had a few days to prepare for this game (that’s because he did). All things considered, though, I didn’t think he did too bad when you consider the circumstance that he was in. Drew Stanton did some nice things, but also showed his inexperience at times, too. I’d like to see Stanton keep playing so that they at least have a developed QB to show for their tribulations at the end of this terrible season. I’m not giving up on Culpepper either, though. He’s only 31 and his arm strength is clearly still there. This is a simple offensive scheme that he should be able to pick up and Calvin Johnson is the best WR he has had to throw to since Randy Moss in Minnesota. Actually, I wouldn’t have a problem with the Lions bringing back Daunte and/or Orlovsky to go with Stanton at QB next season. I don’t know if they have any stars in this group of QBs, but what I’m getting at here is that I don’t think QB is a problem right now. They’ve got some guys that they can work with and I don’t think it’s necessary to blow a top pick on a QB next April. We’ve got plenty of time to speculate on that between now and then, but I would prefer either a franchise left tackle (to take the place of Jeff Back-us-up) or an impact defensive player (James Lauranitis?). Ah yes, at least we have NFL draft speculation. We’ll always have that!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Next week the Lions go on the road to face the Panthers. I don’t know who they’ll start at QB, but I don’t think it matters. Carolina has 2 good RBs in DeAngelo Williams and Jonathon Stewart and they also have a very good defense. Not to mention that Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammed will probably run wild in the Detroit defensive backfield. Speaking of that, pick up Muhammed in your fantasy league if he’s available. He almost always tears up the Lions. At any rate, the Lions have now lost 16 of their last 17 regular season games and I think it’s going to be 17 out of 18 after next week’s game. As usual, I hope I am wrong. Thanks for reading!

Greg

GMart's Lions Blog 11-02-08

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Another week, another loss. The Lions are now 0-8 after suffering a 27-23 defeat to the Chicago Bears. For the second week in a row, they teased us with a halftime lead. Things were really looking good: they were up 10, clearly out-playing the Bears, and had knocked out Kyle Orton for the rest of the game. As usual, though, mistakes doomed the Lions in the end. Specifically, three offensive drives were derailed by various mistakes in the 2nd half: Orlovsky had a pass picked off in the end zone, Backus had a false start on a 3rd down that took them out of field goal range, and Gaines fumbled just past mid-field late in the game. Some credit has to be given to Chicago’s opportunistic defense (I will give no credit to Rex Grossman, though, because he still sucks), but that’s no excuse for the Lions. They really should have won this game today. Now onto this week’s gameballs & groin-kicks…

GAMEBALLS

Calvin Johnson

Calvin set a career high with 8 catches today and caught a TD pass for the 4th straight game.

Shaun McDonald

Mac had 6 catches, 1 TD, and provided a spark in the punt return game.

Jared DeVries

Jared was very active today, blocking 3 passes at the line of scrimmage.

GROIN-KICKS

Jeff Backus

Back-us-up had a false start once again today. And in typical Jeff Backus fashion, he saved it for a crucial moment in the game. With the Lions driving in the 4th quarter and the ball on Chicago’s 35, he decided that it would be a great time to move the team back 5 yards. Thanks Jeff.

Michael Gaines

Gaines had a decent game overall, but his fumble on the 2nd last drive of the game was pretty much the nail in Detroit’s coffin. Hang onto the ball, man!

Greg Olsen

The Chicago TE had just 10 yards receiving. Against the Lions defense, that’s pretty terrible. Thanks for getting my fantasy team a robust 1 point, Greg.

WHAT ELSE?

If you haven’t heard by now, the Lions will officially sign Daunte Culpepper tomorrow. Rumor has it that he may start as soon as next Sunday vs. Jacksonville. I’ve got mixed feelings about this.

First off, here’s what I don’t like about the move: I want to see Drew Stanton play. I don’t think this will happen now that Daunte is on board. I’m also concerned that the Lions may bungle this and make the wrong call at the end of the year. Daunte’s deal for this year is guaranteed, but it’s reportedly a team option for next season. If Daunte doesn’t do anything great, I think it could be a tough call as to whether or not they pick up his option, which is rumored to be $7 million. That’s a pretty big cap number for next season, so they better make dang sure that he’s worth it. I also think they better make dang sure that they’re ready to let Dan Orlovsky go. If Daunte isn’t clearly better than Dan, I think they should just go with the cheaper option and bring Dan back next year. Wouldn’t it be just like the Lions to bungle such a decision, though?

Here’s what I do like about the move: What do they have to lose? They’re 0-8, so they might as well roll the dice and give Daunte a shot. It’s also a low-risk move. If it doesn’t work out, just don’t pick his option up after the season. I think he has something to prove, too. He was frustrated that nobody would offer him a starting job this off season, so I think he’s motivated to prove other teams wrong. And who knows? Maybe another year removed from knee surgery will have done him some good. And while Calvin Johnson isn’t Randy Moss, he’s better than anyone Daunte had to throw to when he was in Miami or Oakland. Much better, in fact. He’s also familiar with this division and would love to stick it to the Vikings. Lastly, he has been at his best playing indoors. With Ford Field being home, that should be a comfortable environment for him.

We’ll see what happens. I’m not expecting anything great, but this is the NFL and stranger things have happened. Everyone thought Kurt Warner was done when he left St. Louis and struggled with the Giants. Now look at him in Arizona. He’s just as good as ever. I’m not expecting this to happen with Daunte Culpepper, but I wouldn’t be totally shocked if it did, either. I also wouldn’t be totally shocked if he was a turnover machine and played like absolute crap. Let’s see what happens and hopefully the results will be closer to the former than the latter.

FINAL THOUGHTS

With Cincinnati beating Jacksonville today, the Lions are now the last winless team remaining in the NFL. Ironically, Jacksonville is next on their schedule. Hopefully the Jags play just as poorly next week when they stroll into Ford Field. I’ll give the Lions a good chance in this one if the Jags are without Matt Jones. Jones is rumored to be facing an NFL suspension very soon and is by far their best WR. This would mean that the Lions would be able to key on Maurice Jones-Drew. The defense may just have a fighting chance in such a situation, with Jacksonville’s o-line under performing this season. Also in Detroit’s favor is the fact that Jacksonville’s defense is having a down season. Factor in all of these things, and it looks like the Lions can win this one. I’d love to see it happen, but I’m not quite ready to predict a Lion victory just yet. I do think they’ll win a game at some point, though (right now, I’m leaning towards picking the upset vs. either Tampa Bay or Minnesota). As usual, though, I hope I’m wrong and that we’ll be talking about a Lions victory next week vs. the Jags. Thanks for reading!

Greg