Yesterday's game was not exactly the most enjoyable of games to watch. Yet, the emergence of Kevin Jones and the Lions obtaining a victory after 5-straight losses was mildly encouraging. The offense is still mind-numbingly bad on third down conversions and in the "red zone". It is still apparent that the best that than can be hoped for from "Champagne" Joey performance-wise, is that he will play well enough to not lose a game for the Lions.

Kevin Jones was absolutely stellar. He exhibited that he had the patience to let plays develop, fought hard for additional second effort yards, and showed that he does have game-breaking ability:

Jones 196 yards are the second best ever for a Lions rookie,

Mel Farr 24 carries 197 yards
Kevin Jones 25 carries 196 yards
Barry Sanders 30 carries 184 yards
Barry Sanders 20 carries 158 yards
Billy Sims 27 carries 157 yards

For the season Jones has 145 carries for 703 yards (4.8 per carry), most of which has come in last 4 weeks:
------------1st Half----------2nd Half-----TTL
Jags-------13/43-----------6/38---------19/81
Vikes-----15/95------------4/5----------19/100
Colts-----9/83-------------3/16---------12/99
Cards---11/105----------15/91--------26/196

Jones's 74 yard run was the longest by a Lion rookie since Garry James 60-yarder in 1986. It was the second longest in team history to a Barry Sanders 80-yarder in 1997 against Indy. Jones's 196 yards was the most any Lions running back has had since Sanders has 216 in that same game versus Indianapolis. Jones provided the Lions with 218 total yards of offense on Sunday and hopefully this performance is the first of many more to come. His performance should help the Lions offense overall because it has proved to opposing defenses that he can be a force to be reckoned with and they will have to game plan accordingly. Jones rushing TD was the first Lions rushing TD in six games! The Lions rushing average was 6.7 yards per rush. That average is 2.8 yards per rush better than the team's 3.9 yard per rush average entering into the game.

The Lions offense was still not very efficient when faced with plays that most mattered. They were for 4/13 in third down conversions and 2 for 7 in the "Red Zone". They were only able to muster 6 points from the 4 Cardinals interceptions. The time of possession was still relatively close between the two teams (Det 30:19, ARZ 29:41) considering the Lions success running the ball is particularly mind-boggling. My television barely survived a harsh fate after Harrington followed up Jones spectacular 74-yard run with a "red zone" interception. In that particular play, Harrington audibled to a slant when the Cards were blitzing. He attempted to "look off" the defensive backs attempting to deceive them and make the wrong judgement as to where he would be throwing the ball. The Cardinals CB, David Macklin, jumped the route and kept the Lions from the end zone. The Lions offense had 6 "3 and outs" in their 14 posessions. Mariucci has a tendency to get too "cute" in his play-calling on third and short yardage situations. Their were two times yesterday, where with the success Jones exhibited carrying the ball, that they astoundingly opted to run play-action passes rather than have Jones hammer the Cards for easy 1st downs. I realize the value of play-action passes keeping teams from over-committing to stop the run, but in those to two particular plays (which were not converted) it seemed nonsensical when you factor the success of Jones rushing the ball.

The defense did it's job, by providing the team with turnovers and not allowing John Navarre to get too comfortable. The Cards seem to have game-planed for him to throw short safe passes and the Lions were willing to give their receivers some cushion in which to operate, so as not to give up any long passes. James Hall got a sack and an interception when he dropped back into coverage on a "zone blitz". The defense did what it should have done to a rookie QB in his first start, pressure him and confuse him. I think that Navarre showed that he has the potential for playing well in the NFL. He still exhibited the propensity for too many of his passes to get knocked down at the line of scrimmage and was burned by Dre Bly twice reading where he was throwing the ball and jumping the routes. It was encouraging to see young Lions like Teddy Lehman, Keith Smith and Alex Lewis making plays, especially with the news coming out that it is growing more unlikely that Boss Bailey will return this season. The Lions defense did get two costly penalties that extended Arizona drives and eventually lead to Cardinal's scores. The offending plays were a James Hall offsides and Fernando Bryant hands to the face penalty both of which proved costly.

The Lions special teams were passable. They still managed to get an offsides penalty on a kickoff (Whuh Happpened?, sorry for the reference) and Jason Hanson is no longer booming the ball on kickoffs like he used to.

With the announcements that W.C. Ford wants to extend Matt Millen's contract and that "Wayne" Mariucci still wants his team to be in the mind set of playing for the possibilityof entering the playoffs, it is apparent the Lions would like us to think that this team is heading for better days. It may be, but with the loss of Boss Bailey and Charles Rogers for the season and the likelihood that Eddie Drummond is gone for the year (even though he indicates he is coming back), the Lions are definitely missing three players integral to their success. Joey Harrington, who according to John Czarniecki of Pro Sports Weekly, is due a big bonus this offseason has four more weeks to prove his value to the organization. This is a crucial time period for this team with all four remaining games being winnable (although defeating Green Bay at Lambeau, after not having done so since 1991, after the Packers blow-out loss in Philly is highly unlikely). If the Lions do not go at least 2-2, this will be a difficult offseason for them.