Detroit Lions Weblog

As the season approaches…

The Lions have recently finished their pre-season schedule with a victory against Buffalo. The game in itself was no monument to build one’s hopes upon, but it was encouraging for the Lions to obtain a victory.(Baby Steps, I tell ya) One major negative outcome to this game was the loss of QB Jeff Garcia, as he scrambled out of the pocket to gain a first down and broke his fibula. Garcia, a max-effort player, should have probably slid or ran out of bounds. I harbored no visions of Garcia as a possible future starter, but it is a major loss for the team to lose a capable backup QB, especially if Joey Harrington should suffer an injury (or brain fart) in the future. Now the Lions will have to utilize promising QB prospect Dan Orlovsky as the back-up and WR Kevin Johnson as the emergency QB. In all likelihood, should Harrington suffer an injury, the team would sign some Free Agent QB detritus to fill in temporarily along the lines of “players” like Rick Mirer, Vinny Testaverde, Tim Couch, et al who are all just one significant injury away from joining a NFL roster. The Lions did receive some somewhat encouraging news today. They believed that Jeff Garcia may need to have surgery done on his ankle and would possibly have needed to be placed on the injured reserve and miss the season entirely. He will not have surgery on his ankle and expects to be able to play in 6-8 weeks. (He believes sooner)

After the Bills win, the Lions had to cut ties with several notable players. They released promising rookies TE Jason Randall and FB Will Matthews. They also released former starter CB Chris Cash, WR David Kircus, RB Jamel White and OL Victor Rogers. I hope that Randall and Matthews will be able to return as practice squad players. Kircus, a local favorite, had to know his days were short upon the selection of Mike Williams in this year’s draft. Victor Rogers never was able to remain healthy enough or garner enough playing time to take advantage of his promise. Chris Cash was a victim of the numbers game. In most seasons, I believe the Lions would have carried someone like Chris Cash. They have added enough quality personnel that they had no need for his services.

I can’t stress enough how big this Sunday’s 4:00 P.M. game against Green Bay is for the Lion’s season. Should the Lions get sandblasted, I believe that the season (along with the sharks in the media and the unabated savagery of the fans) would carom out of control. Green Bay has always prove a formidable foe to the Lions, but they are weakened entering this season with an aging roster that suffered significant free agent losses in the offseason. The Lions have to take a step forward this year and in order to do so, this first game could go a long ways in helping the team to gain the necessary confidence to finally get their head above water.