Detroit Lions Weblog

Rod Marinelli 2nd interview

The Lions will be bringing in Buc’s Defensive Line Coach Rod Marinelli for a second interview for their vacant head coaching position. Marinelli is reportedly under strong consideration for the same position in Oakland. The Lions will have to wait patiently for the Steelers to either lose this weekend or for the end of the Super Bowl, if Russ Grimm is Matt Millen’s frontrunner. It is quite possible that Grimm and the Lions have a preliminary deal in place like the one that is rumored to have been agreed upon by the Texans and Broncos Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak.

If the Lions somehow lose out on Grimm or if Matt Millen and the Ford’s grow impatient, it will be very interesting to see what other contenders will emerge since it seems increasingly more clear that Dick Jauron will not return and that Jim Haslett may be the leading candidate for the job in Buffalo. Can the Lions afford to wait until Feb. 6 to hire a head coach and assemble it’s staff?

Norv Turner is the Niners new Offensive Coordinator. This places any rumors regarding him coming along with Grimm to Detroit to bed. Mike Mularkey, who was a coordinator in Pittsburgh along with Grimm, may be who Grimm would potentially turn to next.

Wasn’t the Steelers-Colts game great? The officiating throughout the playoff weekend was awful, but the game still managed to be filled with intrigue and excitement. Two surprising things to emerge from that game were 1) Peyton Manning’s critical comments of his teammates 2) Joey Porter’s comments about the officiating.

Manning, far from a favorite of mine due to the glut of hype and hoopla that surrounds his performance, has annually failed to win big games and has consistently managed to underperform in nearly all of them. Nothing would provide me with greater happiness than if both of the Manning’s could continue this family tradition. Actually, their family would make an excellent setting for a modern Faulknerian novel of the “New South”

I think that Manning’s post-game comments in regards to the team’s difficulties at pass protection were a major cop-out and a little classless. Obviously, the team had major difficulties dealing with Pittsburgh’s pressure. That being said, his criticism has to be regarded as not only pointed at his teammates, but also at his coaching staff who suffered through a similar onslaught against the Chargers and had several weeks to devise the game plan in which they played with against the Steelers. Manning, whose gigantic salary cripples the team’s salary cap, ought to be careful who he is pointing his fingers toward.

Joey Porter made post-game comments questioning the integrity of the league’s officiating and by proxy the front office. These type of bold comments and conspiracy theories have been routinely levied against the NBA, but this is the first time I have been aware of an NFL player giving voice to similar notions.

With the multi-million dollar marketing, merchandising and general spectacle which surrounds the modern day NFL, you can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a mysterious phone call made from the commisioner to the replay official’s booth to overturn the Polamulu interception That being said, Porter’s statements will not be taken as possessing much validity since he has been continually outspoken in recent years. The Machine that surrounds professional sports will continually come into question as it continues to grow. You hate to consider it, but you have to wonder if the line will continue to blur between professional sports and entertainment, like it has in nearly every other venue of the televised world.