Detroit Lions Weblog

Wild Card Predictions

AFC

Steelers 31 Bengals 21

The Bengals appear to be a team on the decline as the season progresses. The Steelers are built for the playoffs and should demoralize the upstart Bengals.

Patriots 21 Jaguars 10

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have yet to lose in the playoffs throughout the duration of their companionship. Even with a returning Byron Leftwich, the Jaguars are undermanned on offense.

NFC

Bucs 17 Redskins 13

This will be a knock’em out, smashmouth game. The Bucs defense will create turnovers and have the team speed to lasso Skins stars Portis and Moss. “Cadillac” Williams will have a banner game as Chuckie attempts to control the clock and win the field position battle,

Panthers 24 Giants 13

Eli Manning has been quite shaky as the season winds down. The lack of healthy linebackers for the Giants will allow DeShaun Foster to control the game. An early big play from Delhome to Smith will put the Giants in the position to have to get away from Tiki Barber and force the game upon Eli’s young shoulders. The Giants are probably a year away.

While you were sleeping….

The final Lion’s game was not as disappointing as I had predicted, at least they were mildly competitve in the first half. That being said, the game was probably even more frustrating due to the fact that it took the Lion’s 17 weeks to give the remote appearance that they could potentially have a NFL caliber offense. Whether this is attributable to Greg Olson calling plays over deposed Ted Tollner or the better player preparation that seems to have occurred after Mariucci’s dismissal remains to be seen.

The Lions enter this offseason with as many questions left unanswered than they have in years? Who will be the head coach? What about the disappointing careers of Joey Harrington and Charles Rogers? The Lions have 18 unrestricted free agents, who will they re-sign and will they utilize their franchise or transitional tags on any of these players? Will they be active in free agency searching for players to fill holes from other rosters?

I believe that with the dearth of NFL-quality QB’s, that the Lion’s have no choice but to keep Joey Harrington. Especially, if he will consider restructuring his deal like he offered last season. The prospects of the Lions attempting to sign or draft 2 QB’s could set this organization back another 5 years. At this point, does anyone have the patience for that? Charles Rogers, on the other hand, will probably never amount to anything as a player. Unfortunately, the Lions may keep him, he will be quite cheap next season since he was off-target on many of his contract escalators which would have gone into effect had he even had a remotely successful season. How motivated Rogers will be remains to be seen.

The Lions have lined up several Head Coaching interviews with Jim Haslett and Russ Grimm appearing to be the front runners for the unenviable job. Haslett, recently deposed in New Orleans, has a great reputation as a coach around the league. He is supposed to be a stern and demanding coach. Still, with these perceptions, Haslett’s teams have been mostly disappointing. I hope that Grimm or other wild card interviewees like Maurice Carthon, Mike Singletary, Gary Kubiak, or dare I say it, Dick Jauron are able to beat out Haslett. I think the Lions should avoid a retread coach at all costs. Personally, I would give Kirk Ferentz or Russ Grimm the keys to the Allen Park facilities.

As far as free agents go, the Lions will (and should) place a priority upon resigning OT Jeff Backus. It is also important that they re-sign the wildly inconsistent Kalimba Edwards. Neither of these players are worthy of the salary increase that comes with a franchise tag, so the Lions will have to work that much harder to keep them around. Among other free agents, the team should also consider retaining the services of RS/DB R. W. McQuarters, MLB Earl Holmes, RB Shawn Bryson, DL Jared DeVries, OL Kyle Kosier, and special teams aces Wali Rainer, Vernon Fox, and Bracy Walker. These players all provide quality depth. I am afraid to see what a large turnover to the roster may do to the team. Like I said, no one wants this organization to fall any further.

I believe that among the five Lions restricted Free Agents, Corey Redding is the only who may receive anything above marginal interest. All of the others (TE FitzSimmons, LB Davis, RB Pinner, and S Holt) provide depth but are not irreplaceable.

I will provide a more extensive Lion’s postmortem next week.