Detroit Lions Weblog

Lions Vs. Cowboys

To preface this entry, as a young boy I REALLY hated the Cowboys. The stiff older man marching up and down the sidelines with the weird hat. T.D., Tony Dorsett, Roger Staubach, Danny White, the punter/QB?, the America’s Team-hype, and worst of all their upstaging of the Lion’s nearly every Thanksgiving as the second game of the doubleheader. Heck the Cowboys, even had cheerleaders. No victory provided me with more glee than the Billy Sims-era Lions beating the Cowboys in the playoffs. It was spectacular. I still hate the Cowboys and last season’s utter embarassment of the Lions coming off the Lions’ bye week still grinds me. So, I really want the Lions to obtain victory this week.

On offense, I think we can expect more of the same from the Lions. They will operate within their small margin of error and hopefully not turn the ball over. The Cowboys have some exciting playmakers. Roy Williams may be the most vicious hitter in the league. He is an incredible all around talent and Harrington will need to be aware of his whereabouts all day. The Cowboys have a decent front seven. Greg Ellis has six sacks and the experienced Marcellus Wiley was acquired in the offseason to help with pressuring the passer. Laroi Glover is stout in the middle of their defense. The Cowboys have small quick linebackers who move well from sideline to sideline. The Lions will need to continue and be able to run the ball and control the field position game. The Cowboys have allowed 139.3 rushing yards per game, so hopefully the Lions will establish the run early and often. The Cowboys secondary is pretty good but they have been burned for some big plays due to their inexperience. The Lions will have to take some shots down the field and hopefully convert on some big plays again this week. Which Roy Williams will have the upper hand?

On defense, the Lions will have to execute in much the same way they did against the Giants. The fact the Cowboys lack the running game that the Giants possessed is a big factor in the Lions favor. Eddie George is still a threat, but his hard running is more of a complement to the Cowboys downfield passing. The Cowboys will have to rely quite a bit on Jason Witten this week. Without Terry Glenn and a questionable Quincy Morgan, the Cowboys lose quite a bit on offense. The Cowboys will depend on versatile fullback, Richie Anderson to help account for the losses in their passing game. Keyshawn Johnson is still a very good posession receiver. I wish that the Lions still had Mark Carrier on moth balls. Nothing provided greater joy than watching Carrier repeatedly seperate Johnson from the ball as he came across the middle. I will never forget Carrier knocking Johnson silly when the Bucs first got Johnson from the Jets. The Lions front four has the chance to yet again carry the team to victory. If the front four can pressure leadfooted Vinny, the Lions should be able to win. The Cowboys Offensive line is very capable and will be difficult to get much pressure unless the coverage improves. That being said, Testaverde sits back in the pocket like a target, for the most part. Kalimba Edwards could make a huge difference utilizing his size and speed in this game.

I think the Lions will win 21-10 and Billy Sims will have 150 rushing yards and Eric Hipple will have 2 TD passes…..I mean the Lions will 24-14 even with Testaverde throwing for 275 yds.

Lions Vs Cowboys Tales of the Tape

32nd Lions Offense vs./ 18th Cowboys Defense

Yardage
Yards 1,461/ 2,114
YPG 243.5 (32nd)/ 352.3(25th)

Scoring
Points 116/ 156
PPG 19.3(18th)/ 26.0(30th)

Passing
YPG 160.7(29th)/ 213.0(16th)
TD 10(7th)/ 26.0(30th)
Sack 16(18th)/ 15(13th)
INT 3(3rd)/ 3(28th)

Rushing
YPG 82.8 (31st)/ 139.3(29th)
TD 3(24th)/ 4(10th)

22nd Lions Defense vs./ 16th Cowboys Offense

Yardage
Yards 2,168/ 2,139
YPG 361.3 (30th)/ 356.5(10th)

Scoring
Points 123/ 107
PPG 20.5 (18th)/ 17.8(21st)

Passing
YPG 257.2(29th)/ 260.6(6th)
TD 8(18th) / 7(14th)
Sack 22 (2nd)/ 12(11th)
INT 5(16th)/ 4(9th)

Rushing
YPG 104.2(11th)/ 96.5(26th)
TD 5(17th)/ 5(15th)

Takeaways/ Giveaways/ DIFF
INT/ FUM/ TTL/ INT/ FUM/ TTL

1.Det. 5/ 9/ 14/ 3/ 1/ 4/ +10
25.Dal. 3/ 1/ 4/ 4/ 5/ 9/ -5

QB stats

Att/ Cmp/ Pct/ YDS/ YPG/ TD/ INT/ RTG
Harrington 158/ 99/ 62.7/ 1039/ 173.2/ 10/ 3/ 94.9
Testaverde 209/ 127/ 60.8/ 1609/ 268.2/ 6/ 4/ 86.4

Injury Report
Lions: OUT D. Curry, B. Bailey
QTBL: F. Bryant, J. “D” Davis, A.Z. Hakim, C.Schlesinger, R. Williams
Cows:OUT T.Glenn, J.Jones
QTBL: Q. Morgan

Lions’ Predictions are futile…

Anybody who could have told me before Sunday’s game what was about to transpire would been a major subject of derision and disbelief from me. I honestly couldn’t conjure up a scenario where the Lions could possibly win three games in a row on the road (maybe four?) and played the best game of the short lived Mariucci/Harrington-era Lions.

First off, Harrington was nothing short of what the Lions hoped they had drafted when they selected in with the third overall pick. He was efficient. He was decisive and got the ball down the field. His 141.8 passer rating was remarkable. Even more so was the fact that he hit six different receivers with passes of 18 yds or more. Two of those receivers were released by the Lions at the end of training camp. Completing 18 of 22 passes for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns, Harrington didn’t even seem like the same player from one week earlier. Most importantly he threw zero interceptions and really only missed on one pass of his four incompletions. Two of them were balls he intentionally threw away and the other was a drop by Roy Williams. My only negative in regards to Harrington would be that he let Tony Siragusa off much too easily after the “Goose” made his regrettable comments during the Eagles game. I know Joey is a natural born diplomat, but really I didn’t need to see him and Siragusa smiling and back-slapping like they had just emerged from the henhouse.

Sunday also was cause for great joy because we finally saw the emergence of a potential running game. Kevin Jones had two runs of 20+ yards in the same drive. If he can get healthy and the Lions can ratchet up their running attack another notch or two, as ridiculous as it sounds, they would be playoff contenders. As a Lion fan, I know I shouldn’t even begin to intimate this possibility, but it isn’t so far-fetched as it may have seemd one week ago.

The Lions’ defense has really come through in the 3 road victories. This week featured more stellar play from it’s rotation of players that configure it’s front four. They provided the relentless pressure necessary to keep Kurt Warner uncomfortable most of the day. The linemen had six sacks, 2 of them by a player I had once so unkindly deemed “Kalimba the Ghost”. I did have one heart-stopping moment, when Shaun “Big Baby” Rogers lumbered off the field and onto the “dead sled” (aka golf cart that hauls players back to the locker room). If their is one indispensable player on the Lion’s roster at this point, he would be it. Most importantly, when a play need to be made, the defense stepped in and made it. The two biggest would have been Chris Cash’s heads-up interception of a pass that Warner lofted in to Amani Toomer that should have been darted in. The other would have been Alex Lewis’s deflection of a pass intended for Jeremy Shockey at the end of the game that turned the ball over on downs to the Lions.

The Lions are an astounding +10 in takeaways/giveaways. They are really a two interception game away from losing many of these games, so their future successes will be dependent upon this remaining a constant. At this point, one thing is certain, Roy Williams is the best draft pick they have made in recent history. Even injured, good things seem to happen when he is in the game. Even better things occur when he touches the ball. The Lions have not had a playmaker with this ability in a few years. He entered hallowed company Sunday. He became the 6th Lion to score 5 or more Td’s in their rookie season or first season as Lion. (The others are rookies Doak Walker, Dorne Dibble, David Hill, and Earl McCulloch. 2nd year player, Willie Green, in his first playing, also had 5 TD’s)

I will have to commend the coaching staff for having the team prepared and not allowing them to get to down after last week’s loss. The team has a relatively small margin for error and any victory they achieve will be earned because of it. The staff made the right decision by rotating David Loverne and Matt Joyce in the second half. This seemed to have a direct influence on their ability to succesfully run the ball. The offense still can be a little conservative and Mike O’Hara is right in pointing out that after making the big interception before the half it was a little strange that Mariucci chose to sit on the ball and go into the locker room with 30 seconds remaining. Especially since it was a similar decision to the one which got him fired in San Francisco.

Re:”Sledge”

It looks as if Corey Schlesinger is going to be out for another game this week. It is beginning to appear his reign as Lion FB may be nearing it’s end as well. He still makes incredible collisions with linebackers at the point of attack as a lead blocker and still seems capable catching the ball out of the backfield. No one will ever question his intensity and toughness that has long made him a fan favorite in Detroit. One still has to wonder if Lions have been attempting to prepare for his retirement/release in the future though. Paul Smith, who is on the IR list, seemed to be a nice combo back who didn’t have the size or explosiveness of Schlesinger but is also quite useful on special teams. They also drafted Brandon Drumm a couple of years ago and he didn’t stick with the team. Stephen Trejo has been a capable special teamer who had been released during training camp and welcomed back with the Schlesinger injury troubles. I think the Lions could continue to utilize his versatility in the future. I think with Shawn Bryson’s blitz pick-up ability and his pass catching skills he could become a nice combo back with added girth. No one will ever question Sledge’s “badassitude” and ability to create mind-jarring collisions that increase his folk hero status as he busts face mask after face mask. It still might be time to plan for the future now that he has missed so many games this year.

3rd Down Offense/Defense

I saw an article today in the joint edition of the Detroit News and Free Press that I found quite interesting. They found that teams who had the best 3rd conversion % had generally won more games than other teams. I showed the Top 5 teams and then Detroit for comparison.

3rd Down Conversions(offense)

Team/ GP/ 3rd%/ W

Minn. 5/ 55.9/ 4
INDY 5/ 49.0/ 4
G Bay 6/ 48.8/ 2
St. L 6/ 47.5/ 4
NE 5/ 46.0/ 5
31.DET 5/ 25.4/ 3

This is symptomatic of how conservative the Lions have been on offense. It also gives credence to the notion that you need to have another play to call on third and long besides a screen pass or the “Wayne Fontes Draw”.

On the flipside, the Lions defense is the 25th ranked defense in third down conversion percentage. I have included the number of third downs converted per game and the percentage of succesful 3rd down conversions per game. This is the bottom tier in it’s glory:

3rd Down Conversions (Defense)

Team G 3rd Md/G 3rd% L
Det 5/ 6.0/ 41.7/ 2
Oak 6/ 5.0/ 41.1/ 4
Indy 5/ 6.4/ 48.5/ 1
TB 6/ 5.5/ 37.5/ 5
New O 6/ 5.7/ 43.6/ 4
Jax 6/ 6.2/ 46.2/ 2
Houston 6/ 6.7/ 50.0 3

I think Tampa Bay is a particularly interesting case here. They have a good enough defense to hold a lot of teams to having third down situations. Yet, their offense is so pathetic that the Bucs are constantly facing third down situations on defense. The situation with Indianapolis is also interesting. The fact that they have converted so many third downs on offense makes up for teams ability to move the ball. Also, in many cases with their big-play capability they assume big leads early and play a softer form of defense while already featuring a sieve-like defensive unit.

Lions Vs. Giants

It is hard to envision on any level, especially after their performance versus Green Bay, the possibility of Lion’s victory on the road this week. The New York Giants don’t jump out as a dominant team in any factor of the game. Still, the fact that they have a lot of experience on offense and defense and have repeatedly gained victories with a small margin for error doesn’t bode well for the Lions.

On offense, the Lions will be hoping that increased reps for a healthier Kevin Jones will jump start their running attack. Their ground game has been ineffective at best. The Giants have allowed some rushing yards thus far this season but have really tightened up their defense in the red zone, not allowing a single touchdown. The Lions will also have difficulty in the passing game if they are unable to make some big plays this week. The Giants have been pretty good in pass defense, the 2 Wills (Allen and Peterson) are capable corners who have rebounded from poor starts to the season. The Lions must stretch the field. Their conservative offense has hamstrung their ability to simply convert a first down. We all realize that without Charles Rogers and Roy Williams the team is very limited as far as game-breaking playmakers are concerned, but if Harrington spreads the ball around effectively the Lions should be able to move the ball some. Stockar McDougle has the unenviable task of trying to block the powerful and athletic Michael Strahan. McDougle’s success will have a major factor in the outcome of this game. I look for the Lions to run at former Lion and turncoat, Barrett Green, his lack of size should allow the Lions to run to his side of the field if the linemen and fullbacks can get to him.

On defense, the Lions will need to be more aggressive. Jauron coached defense’s play a lot of zone coverage and he does not utilize blitzes. In the current NFL, where officials are strictly enforcing the no-contact rule after 5 yards penalty this is suicide. The receivers have a distinct advantage and if the front four can not exert pressure then it will be another long day for the Lion’s secondary. Kurt Warner, with his lead feet and aging fragility, should be a continuous and unrelentless target of the Lion’s D-Line. Thus far, he has made very few mistakes in running the Giants ball control offense. The Lions linebackers and ends will have to do good job of containing the spritely Tiki Barber, he shouldn’t have much room to run on the inside. Hopefully, the Lions will help Barber regain his fumbling bug.

Like I said earlier, I hold little hope for a Lion victory. I think this will be one of the most boring games to watch all season as both teams play not to lose. The Giants will play not to lose better and win 17-7.

Lions Vs. Giants Tales of the Tape

32nd Detroit Offense vs./ 10th NY Giants Defense

Yardage
Yards 1,136/1,640
YPG 227.2(32nd)/328.0(16th)

Scoring
Points 88/72
PPG 17.6(20th)/14.4(4th)

Passing
YPG 150.8(31st)/204.0(10th)
TD 8(9th)/9(21st)
Sacks 13(14th)/13(11th)
INT 3(4th)/5(11th)

Rushing
YPG 76.4(31st)/124.0(20th)
TD 1(28th)/0 (1st)

14th Giants Offense vs./ 20th Detroit Defense

Yardage
Yards 1,819/1,843
YPG 303.2(21st)/386.9(29th)

Scoring
Points 104/110
PPG 20.8(14th)/22.0(19th)

Passing
YPG 220.2(13th)/258.6(28th)
TD 3(30th)/7(16th)
Sacks 16(24th)/16(5th)
INT 1(1st)/4(17th)

Rushing
YPG 143.6(4th)/110.0(15th)
TD 7(4th)/5(19th)

Takeaways Giveaways Total Diff
INT FUM TTL INT FUM TTL

Det 4/ 8/ 12/ 3/ 1/ 4/ +8
NY 8/ 7/ 15/ 1/ 3/ 4/ +11

QB’s Att CMP PCT YDS YPG TD INT RTG

11th Warner 147/ 95/ 64.6/ 1125/ 225.0/ 3/ 1/ 91.8
14th Harr. 136/ 81/ 59.6/ 809/ 161.8/ 8/ 3/ 86.9

Packers, Lions and Ulcers…Oh My!

My favorite element of a Lion’s poor performance is listening to the radio broadcast team. Jim Brandstatter (sp?) and Mark Champion. They are at their best in these situations. Fortunately for them, they have had many occasion by which to respond to poor Lion’s play. In particular, I really enjoy some well-placed “Oh My’s!” or “Oh Dears!” from Champion. This weekend even garnered the Lion’s offense the apt description of being “putrid”.

Here is some interesting facts from the game:
Lions 1st Half 2nd Half Total Packer Average
Total YDs 107 18 125 383.8
Rush Yds 26 7 33 149.8
Pass Yds 81 11 92 234.0
1st Downs 5 0 5
3rd Conv. 1-4 0-7 1-11
Points allow. 17 21 38

By the way the Packer defense had been allowing 28.4 pts/game. Oh my, indeed!

A major disappointment for me were some of Joey Harrington’s post game comments. He has been under the gun this year between the Siragusa comments and high expectations for him to have a break-out season. At any rate I feel these were stupid.:

” I learned after watching (Favre) last week (on Monday Night Football), if they boo you at Lambeau Field, you can be booed anywhere,” “Do I think it’s right? No. Can I change it? No. But it’s not going to affect me. It’s a long season, and we’re still in a position to do what we want to do.”

These are alarming comments. Why would he compare himself to the Packers and Favre? He can only answer to himself, the organization and it’s fans. He should have been glad the Lions were booed, they deserved it! Furthermore, he could in fact change things by performing well. The fans don’t really enjoy paying their hard earned money to watch their favorite team get it’s butts kicked. The “it’s not going to affect me” is the most troublesome. Harrington is unflappable. I’ll give him credit for that. On the other hand, he never seems to grasp the urgency of his job and the how integral his performance is to the successes of the organization. This I think is his biggest downfall. This is ultimately why he can never be counted on to win games regardless of the players you place around him (unlike Favre). He has never owned up to the fact that at times he may be needed to carry this team to victory, which is what I believe the Lions envisioned in him when they selected him three years ago.

Wet Toast Offense

Mike O’Hara, NFL insider for the Detroit News has taken to referring to the West Coast Offense as the “Wet Toast Offense” due to it’s general ineffectiveness in the years since the Lions have implemented it. The organization has used several coaches and made interminable personnel moves in attempts to establish this heralded “system”, that has it’s beginnings in the early 50’s with the Otto Graham Quarterbacked Cleveland Browns.

My beefs with the West Coast are many. Many West Coast offenses are too busy shuttling personnel in between plays and attempting to out-scheme opponents instead of just beating teams by pure force and desire. Football, isn’t quite the thinking man’s game it sometimes get presented as. What sense is there in constantly throwing 3-5 yard passes when the NFL has began to enforce a rule that gives offensive teams a distinct advantage for their receivers from 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The Lions have been particularly conservative this season because they have made it a priority to protect the ball and keep their defense from being placed in situations where they have to defend from poor field position. I don’t want the Lions to dump this offense I just want to see them occasionally stretch the opposing teams defenses by throwing down the field more. Throwing down field isn’t conventionally as high percentage as those 3-5 yard passes, but the passer can be less accurate than they have to be in the short timing routes that the West Coast thrives on. They can be less accurate because the receiver can react to the pass and make the play. On a three yard slant if the ball isn’t placed properly, the receiver will get annihilatedby the defense, have a case of the “alligator arms” or look obscenely stupid in attempts to respond to a poorly thrown ball..

My biggest problem with the West Coast offense as a sysytem is that it takes to long to implement. By the time you have scrapped your personnel, changed your coaching philosophies (and staffs) and everything begins to coalesce opposing teams have figured out ways to offset any advantages the system may offer. If I am an opposing defense I will give you a 3-4 yard pass and try to keep you contained from making the big play. I will jam you hard at the line and hopefully throw you off your receiver’s route. I will do what Green Bay did and have a lot of defenders hovering around the tackle box daring you to go over the top, down the field not giving you much space to work with inside of 10 yards to throw the ball.

The Cosmology of the Detroit Lions

Saturday night I was gazing at the heavens like I usually do through my specially designed Honolulu Blue-lensed telescope. I was feeling particularly confident and delighted as I saw the lay of the universe and the wonders of it’s design. Conjecturally, the Lions planets all seemed to be in alignment. The team was going to be facing a mortally wounded Packer team at the friendly confines of Ford Field. I reflected on the facts that suggested that the Lions seemed to be moving in the right direction. This should be the game that they can make a statement against their long time intra-division and intra-conference foes and that they were about to arrive and become competitive amongst the NFL elite.

Yet, as a long time Lion fan I had forgot many important factors that have dogged this franchise immemorial. Their always appears to be some sort of karmic counter-balancing force in place to maintain the Lions standing in the NFL pantheon. While many football fans are blessed to view their teams rise to great heights floating in aether, Lions fans seem to always to have to be reminded of how mired and earthbound their team’s mucky existence has been. Dare a Lion fan, grow to have any expectations or hopes of their team’s future successes, these universal forces will knock said fan down a peg with imminent disappointment and failure.

Remember folks this is an organization that has been coached by Darryl Rogers, Monte Clark, “Cocaine” Wayne Fontes, and Marty Mornihnweg (et tu Marriucci ?). This is team whose recent history includes first round draft selections of Aaron Gibson, Chuck Long, Andre Ware and Bryant Westbrook. This is a team who has invested money in free agent duds like Pat Swilling, Bill Schroeder and Scott Mitchell. In essence, Sunday was a stern reminder that we Lion fans are rooting for the same old Lions and that their are ominous forces at play in the universe that will remind us of that with a quickness if we forget.

So that my rambles don’t take on that of your standard, garden-variety, doddering old fool, I will inform you that I have been recently been reading “Papa Bear”, a George Halas biography, that is virtual compendium of the history of the NFL from it’s inception. In this tome, Davis helps to see how inextricably linked the life of George Halas and the ups and downs that have lead to the current status that the NFL holds in the lives of many Americans. At any rate, Davis recollects an anecdote from Lions past that seems indicative of the trajectory the Lions have taken through history. “The fates definitely had to be smiling down on Halas when he landed Bulldog Turner on the seventh overall pick” says Davis on pg. 151. Halas already possessed the most dominant team in the NFL and was able to acquire a future hall of famer due to a Lion’s blunder. George A. “Dick” Richards had purchased and moved the Portsmouth Spartans to Detroit in 1934. Richards, was sworn enemies with Halas, and had made arrangements for Turner to receive $200 to get his teeth fixed-in other words keep his mouth shut and to tell anyone who asked he was uninterested in playing professional football. At the time, this was not uncommon, college football was king and in many circles professional football was considered to be legion with rogues, gamblers, drunks and undesirables of all stripes. (Sounds vaguely familiar) In the 1940 draft, the 5 teams ahead of Detroit all passed on Turner seemingly opening the doors for the Lions to get their man. Enter, Lion coach, “Gloomy” Gus Henderson (his real nickname). He stunned Richards and all others present by selecting USC tailback Doyle Nave. Halas jumped up and screamed “Clyde Turner, Hardin Simmons”, before Gloomy Gus had an opportunity to reconsider.

A furious Richards, fired Henderson on the spot. Henderson responded by producing letters citing Richards illegal wooing of Turner while he was a collegiate athlete. Even though these tactics were semi-common practice, they were illegal. Richards was eventually fined $5000 dollars for tampering. Unaffected Richards kept after Gloomy Gus. Henderson produced more letters for the NFL stating that Richards had in fact gambled on games featuring his own Lions. Again, throughout the course of NFL history this is not an unheard of practice but it was not conventionally accepted. Halas was aware that these gambling accusations would all but kill the league. Halas and the other NFL owners kept the accusations secret and brought in Fred Mandel to buy out the franchise from Richards. (with a little help from Halas ally and part-owner of the Bears Charlie Bidwill, who was also future owner of the Chicago/St. Louis/Arizona Cardinals) In the process, Richards gained a 700 percent profit but also may set the wheels in motion that may predicate all future events that may occur within this franchise.