Detroit Lions Weblog

Weak 7:Lions emerge Victorious over Hapless Browns

Steve Mariucci fired the last bullet he had in the chamber of his gun on Sunday. The organization decided that, at least for the time being, that Jeff Garcia was the answer at starting QB. What the long-term ramifications of this move hold for the organization and the once star-studded career of Joey Harrington remains to be seen. It would seem likely, that as long as the Lions are playoff contenders, Jeff Garcia will be the starting QB (as long as his 35 year old, risk-taking body can stay healthy!) Sunday’s win is normally a time when rejoicing Lions come clamoring in support of the new QB who lead the team to victory. I think that this time, most are cautionly optimistic, at best, since the victory was a hard fought but ugly one.

The mounting roster attrition as a result of injury continues. WR Kevin Johnson is lost for the season with an achilles injury. LB Alex Lewis was placed on the injured reserve before the game, opening a roster spot for WR Glenn Martinez. DT Shaun Rogers (knee) and CB Dre Bly (wrist) were both also injured. The extent of their injuries are not clear, though it is rumored that Bly may need surgery. If there are two players on the entire Lions roster that they can ill afford to lose, these two players may be it.

The Lions defense again carried the day. They provided 3 interceptions of Browns QB Trent Dilfer and generally rendered the Browns offense ineffective all day. After last week’s loss, I was extremely nervous about the Browns getting the ball back with a couple of minutes remaining on the clock. Fortunately, all the Browns offense could muster was moving the ball backwards and continuing their general offensive ineptitude.

Speaking of ineptitude, the Lions offense was still the same offense without Joey Harrington. The team seemed to rally around Jeff Garcia and he was able to scrap out some plays that Harrington would probably have been incapable of. Garcia was a much more accurate passer than Harrington, which may bode well for the Lions upon the returns of receivers Rogers and Williams. I will be curious what the Lions will plan to do about their receiver depth now that Kevin Johnson will have to be placed on the injured reserve.

For Steve Mariucci and the Lions this was a big victory. They remain in a first place tie with the Bears. I still think that the Lions offensive scheme is tragically mismatched with the players on the roster, a little out of step with the modern day NFL reality, and pathetically ineffective. Steve Mariucci continued his trend of being being painfully conservative at the end of the first half and the team somehow chronically continues to mismanage their timeouts and the play clock during this same time. I can empathize with being careful and emphasizing ball preservation, but there are certainly times when I would like to seem the Lions offense put opponents on their heels a bit. But hey, in the 16 week NFL season a win is a win and that is all that matters.