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