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
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