Top 10 Lions Stuff From This Season

These really aren’t in any order. And frankly there is probably stuff  I missed.

10. The Drunk Chicks On Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GR_J9ZXwHE

9. Culpepper Stanton starting QB controversy.

We all sat on the edge of our seats waiting to see who’d lead us to victory that fine day. Would it be the oft benched Stanton or the oft injured Culpepper?

8. Making Jay Cutler go upside down to get a TD in Chicago.

Remember our first game against the Bears this year?  Back when Cutler had ‘something to prove’.  Our defense was so good Cutler had to do an upside down, leaping, head first twist to get a TD. Go D!!

7. The signing of Patrick Ramsey

Hey when you have three unproven QB’s on staff, you might as well sign one more who’s really unproven.

6. Culpepper gets injured and Stanton comes in.

Our QB controversy was over!!  Well at least for three quarters.

5. Detroit Lion’s first win in like two years!! Almost.

We skinned the skins and almost gave William Clay Ford a heart attack. We can win us a game!!

4. The Jason Hanson, Swayze Waters, Billy Cundiff scare of 09.

Remember the best player on the team was injured in the preseason, so we got Swayze Waters. He kicks 51 yard field goal. But then he gets injured. So then umm…Billy Cundiff joins the squad.  I was waitin for Troy Aikman to take the field.

3. The my shoulder ain’t broken, get the *bleep* outta my way Stafford comeback.

Probably the greatest Lion’s win we’ve seen in a long time.  Matthew Stafford gets floored.  Yet comes back to lead this team to a win against the Browns.

2. Holy Crap we almost beat the Steelers.

So many bad teams beat them this year, except us. But we almost did.

1. Stafford Mic’ed up against The Browns.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/detroit-lions/09000d5d8147c551/Sound-FX-Matthew-Stafford-mic-d-up

Feel free to add yours.

The Fate Of Drew “He’s Still Developing” Stanton

I want to know, who will be shown mercy? Will us Detroit Lion’s fans be shown mercy by releasing this guy so we can watch a new young quarterback ‘develop’ in the organization?

Better yet, will Drew Stanton be shown mercy and be sent to an organization with some stability that can develop his talent?  Well that’s assuming he has actual talent to develop.

Let me be frank, in most situations QB’s who have ‘speed’ and can scramble seem highly overrated to me.  They never seem to develop in to that powerhouse QB who can take you to a super bowl and actually win.

Sure a John Elway comes along every once in a while, but most of the time your powerhouse, super bowl winning quarterbacks are the ones who can drop back and just throw the ball.

I think Stanton needs a stable place where his ‘talent’ can be honed.  At this point in his career Detroit has become a morale sucking graveyard.  He clearly deserves better.

Take The Best Player Available In Draft?

I hear this every draft year and frankly I think it’s a load of horse manure.  People say you must draft the best player available regardless of if you need him.

It’s quite possible that the best player available this year might be a quarterback.  Do we draft him and blow another wad of money on a position we already have?

We need to draft the best possible player that fits our needs.  Anyone who thinks opposite is probably named Matt Millen or thinks Fridge Perry was a great back to run in the wildcat.  In other words, they’re clearly out of their mind!

If someone can make a better case against what I said here, I’m open to hearing it .

Reality-Aid Instead of Kool-Aid Coming Out Of Detroit Lions Camp

Usually our Detroit Lions front office puts out sunshine and rainbow stories about how they had  a great practice or how the third string CB is practicing hard.   These are all usual attempts by our beloved Detroit Lion’s organization to make things look good.

I was shocked to see our Detroit Lions put out some reality-aid this week.  Maybe they ran out of koo-aid and needed to brew something new.

They had an actual story about how the 2-14 record was a major disappointment.  Who would of thunk it?

I think this is a major step in the right direction.  Admitting the problem is the first step toward recovery.

Hi, I’m The Detroit Lions and not winning is terrible!

William Clay Ford Is The Detroit Lion’s Problem?

I’ve heard the argument for a while now that the biggest problem with the Detroit Lions is William Clay Ford.  Is this true?

As a fan I’ve seen this team flounder for years.  But is that because of William Clay Ford?  I would say yes and no.

Let’s start with the no reason first.  Ford isn’t stingy with money at all.  He signed Stafford for $41 million, all the way up to $71 million.  He’s allowed his staff to go out and blow huge chunks of change on players.  So there is no provable fear of spending money on Ford’s part.  Anyone who says this just isn’t paying attention to the organization.

To me the biggest ‘yes reason’ centers on Ford’s love of Matt Millen for so long.  Matt Millen is really what caused this team to have a losing record for nearly ten years now.  Ford hung on to this man despite his clear ability to fail under every circumstance.

Also, keep in mind, it’s not uncommon for an organization to go ten or more years without a winning season.  So putting things in perspective here, this decade long dry spell isn’t something uncommon to the NFL. I’ll grant you that not winning a Super Bowl for so long is not good, but the long dry spell of a non-winning seasons is quite common.

So yeah, hanging on to Millen for so long was not one of Ford’s high points as an owner.  On the other hand, this guy isn’t afraid to spend money to get players. He’ll put his money forward to improve this team.

I say cut the guy a break for a decade of his mistake for loving Millen.  In the big picture he has done tons financially to try and better this team.  And this decade long dry streak of no winning seasons isn’t something unique to only his organization.

This team is hopefully on the right track now that he’s seen the light and fired Millen. Let’s suspend final decisions on Ford for a few more years.

Marin-victor Or Marin-loser? – Vindicating Rod Marinelli

Rod Marinelli goes down in history as the only NFL coach to lose 16 games in a regular season.  But you know what else, he also went down as the Detroit Lions coach with the most wins under the Millen, Kangaroo Island regime.

Marinelli had this team on a steady path towards the top. Remember 2007 when they finished 7-9, just one victory shy of .500 and maybe two away from a wildcard?

Many will credit that to Mike Martz and his ability to squeeze two gallons of offense out of a one gallon offensive jug.

Then what happened in 2008?  The Lions under Matt Millen didnt try to keep Mike Martz on.  What followed?

That’s right, instead of progressing forward, this team went backwards. Way back!  A big 0-16 backwards.

I think we need to vindicate Marinelli a bit here. When he was given the tools, he had this organization on a consistent path upwards.  A 7-9 record is major progress!

Listen, if you take a hammer out of a construction workers tool case, he probably won’t be able to build a house.  Take Mike Martz and others off the staff and you’re probably going to fail royally.

I think Rod Marinelli was a stand up coach.  He had these players working their hardest and did the best with what he was given in his tool case.  A tool case prepared by Matt Millen.

Lions Win Two Super Bowls – What An Adrenaline Rush

How can we possibly put a positive spin on a two win season?  Now that’s it’s over, can we calmly sit back and have any kind of positive emotions?   Or are we just stuck with tossing out more sarcastic barbs about this team?

Face it, if you’re a Detroit Lions fan, every win is like winning a Super Bowl. They’re rare and whether you want to admit it or not, you feel awefully high and happy after the win!

For fans of successful teams, a win leaves a joyful feeling, but it’s not quite the adrenaline rush we get.  Which leads me to my positive spin for this season.

Fans of most winning teams may be ready for a post season game.  Other fans may be looking forward to the draft like us.  But emotionally, they haven’t been as high as we have been twice this year.

The only fans who will get as emotionally  high as we have been twice this year, are the fans of the eventual Super Bowl winners.  Yet here’s the thing, they’ll only get one emotional high!  We’ve had two emtional highs.

What a rush man!  So what’s the positive spin this year?  Simply that we’ve had more intense emtional highs than fans of winning teams and even of fans of the eventual Super Bowl winner.

So take that NFL!

Time For Our Lions To Trade Calvin Johnson

It’s time for our Detroit Lions to trade Calvin Johnson. I can hear the heckles right now, but hear me out.

Calvin Johnson is injured too often.  He’s spent too much time warming the injured list and not enough time on the field helping this team.

When Johnson is healthy, he’s great.  But all too often he’s injured.  This pattern of getting injured is not going away.  If this pattern repeats, we may end up with a stud receiver who can’t play and gives us nothing in return.

It’s time to trade him while he has plenty of value.  I can hear the objections though.

“But he’s our best stud wide receiver!”

This is true. But here’s the deal.  You don’t need a stud wide receiver to win a super bowl.  To win a superbowl you need a qb who can pass the ball and quality receivers who can catch.  At least on the offensive side.  You need an o-line who can give the qb time to pass or the rb lanes to run in.

It doesn’t matter if you have four stud WR’s. Without that o-line to protect the qb, the wr’s won’t matter.  So let’s trade Calvin now while we can, while his value is high.  We can get some great draft picks in return. Or maybe some o-line.  Or maybe a combination of both.

Our team got a great trade last year out of Roy Williams. Imagine what can be done with Calvin Johson.

We have receivers that can catch the ball. We have running-backs who can find lanes and run well. What we don’t have is the o-line to make all this happen.

To me, the long term payoff of trading ONE injury prone receiver for the LONG term benefits of a strong o-line, well, it just makes sense.

The red flags of CJ’s perpetual injuries are blatantly obvious.  Even a blind person can see them.  He still has some value and some team will be sucker enough to give up a lot for him.

What happens if we keep him?  Well, if we can predict the future by looking at the past, he’ll continue to be injured way too often. When he does play, he’ll give us short and sporadic big plays to oggle.  Which is nice for a fan to watch if you’re only going to look at the small picture.

This team will continue to lose because our qb won’t have the o-line that allows him time to get the ball to the receivers consistently.  Our runningbacks will continue to operate at a subpar level.

But hey, if you’re content with seeing this guy play a few games a year and make sporadic big plays as the team loses, more power to you.

I’d rather get maximum value for him now. See this team build a credible o-line.  Then watch with a smile as our qb has time to get the ball to ‘quality’ receivers. Yeah they may not be studs, but if you got a strong o-line, quality receivers is all you need.

But the choice rests with Lion’s leadership. I hope they make the right decision.

No More Cotton Candy Milestones

Last week we heard how Kevin Smith was going to rededicate himself to the running game. Before game one we heard how Jim Schwartz is a stickler for details. Then before the Seahawks game we heard how the Detroit Lions will further the progression of Brandon Pettigrew.

Enough is enough. Statements like these are nothing more than cotton candy. They are shoved in the mouths of the fan to make us think there is real progress being made once and for all. But in the end, these milestones disappear like cotton candy. Every week there is some new breakthrough thing this team plans on doing to set the tables right once and for all!

There is only one thing that will set the table straight. That one thing is doing the basics on every play and in every game. If they execute that, then the tables will be set straight again.

So enough with the cotton candy. It disappears and doesn’t last.

Feel free to email me at bigorangedx@yahoo.com

No More Excuses

Losing has become acceptable in Detroit. Winning sporadically is acceptable in Detroit. Moral victories are acceptable in Detroit. The only thing that doesn’t seem acceptable is actually winning!

Year after year we see and hear the same things. A string of losses is followed by a win and we celebrate, only to fall back and play poorly. Our team hangs tough against a team, but doesn’t win and we hear, “Hey they played hard, that’s progress. They’re on the right track.” These Lions get a new coach and some high draft picks and we hear, “Hey the team is rebuilding, give them some time, be patient.”

This plays like a broken record over and over. I’m here to declare that the broken record is nothing more than excuses. That’s right, they’re nothing than an acceptable way to allow for perpetual failure in Detroit.

We keep hearing about a culture change in Detroit. How about a culture change that simply says, “No more excuses.”

A loss is a loss. A string of losses is a string of losses. A moral victory is a loss. Losing is bad. Winning is good.

Until this simple equation gets burned in the minds of our Detroit Lions, the pattern will continue.