Detroit Lions Weblog

Warner re-signs, Martz/Henderson Media Klatch

Kurt Warner, who recently expressed an interest in coming to the Lions, has re-signed with the Arizona Cardinals. Warner, who has extensive knowledge of Mike Martz’s offense, was not allowed to hit the open market by the Cards. They, like all teams searching for QB talent in free agency and the draft, realize that the cupboard is nearly bare and that it will difficult to find desirable players at the position this offseason.

Judging by Mike Martz’s comments in his recent press conference, the Lions are addressing the current lack of depth by deciding to retain Joey Harrington. Martz did his best to sound optimistic about the Lion’s current offensive personnel. It remains to be seen if Martz’s words will hold true or if he and his offensive staff will feel as saddled with Harrington as their QB as did the previous offensive coaches.

The Lions also announced a few other coaches that they have added to their staff. Mike Barry (assistant offensive line), Clayton Lopez (defensive backs), and Fred Reed (general defensive assistant) were are the recent additions.

Does anybody miss football yet?

Joey and the Free Agents

We are currently in the middle of a brief time of quiet in NFL land. March 3 is the beginning of the Unrestricted Free Agent signing period. In the meantime, the Lions need to determine what exactly is the future of Joey Harrington in Detroit. If he is unwilling to renegotiate his contract, he will surely be released. It is hard to believe the Lions would keep a player who will cost so much if his current abilities far from guarantee that he will be a starter.

I am cautiously hopeful that Harrington is genuine about his desire to remain in Detroit. Mike Martz’s offensive system could go a long ways in rehabilitating Joey’s tarnished image as a NFL QB. Few coaches have done more with less at the QB position than Martz has.

I think that it is absolutely essential that the Lions retain the services of Jeff Backus and Kalimba Edwards. Hopefully, with Marinelli’s guidance, Edwards could assume a Simien Rice-like role with the team. Backus, who has struggled at times but has also provided some much need consistency, should be the A-1 signing priority. The team has no one on the roster who can step in if Backus leaves and this draft has probably just one Offensive Tackle polished enough to contribute right away. (D’Brichashaw Ferguson) He will be drafted before the Lions select their pick at #9.

Whom will the Lion’s pursue not currently on their roster? I know that they still a pass rusher at Defensive End, possibly also need help at Weakside LB, and CB and FS could also be priorities. I think that the Lions may still need an Offensive Guard and potentially a FB depending on what Corey Schlesinger decides to do about his NFL future.

With a great deal of certainty the Lions will surely sign either Kurt Warner or Jamie Martin to be a backup/starting QB. The deliberations with Harrington will probably not effect one of these two being brought due to their knowledge of Martz’s system.

Martz and a Cadre of Assistants Hired

The Lions finally got their man. It will be intersting to see how this story unfolds. Will Kurt Warner or Jamie Martin (both familiar with Martz’s system) be brought in to aid Joey Harrington in learning Martz’s system? The Lions have been decidedly non-committal about Joey’s future since Marinelli has been hired. I expect that that will soon change. Once the Lion’s have decided on Harrington, a lot of things will be much clearer. Free agency begins soon, the Lions likely will attempt to retain Kalimba Edwards and Jeff Backus above all of their other free agents.

Along with Martz, the Lions hired offensive assistant Shawn Jefferson, Tight Ends coach Pat Carter, Running Backs Coach Wilbert Montgomery and Defensive Line Coach Joe Cullen. Carter and Montgomery coached with Martz in St. Louis. Martz will also be the QB’s coach. With Martz’s past success in developing Trent Green, Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger it will be interesting to see if he can reproduce similar results from whomever the Lion’s choose as a starting QB next season.

The league is entering a very tumultous era. The owner’s are experiencing disagreements over how to handle the distribution (or lack thereof) of local revenues. The socialist NFL tries to keep a level playing field amongst owners but with the success of owners like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder in generating local revenue as compared to owners like Buffalo’s Ralph Wilson, the league is entering a disharmonious time period.

On top of that, the player’s and owner’s have not renewed their collective bargaining agreement. Should this contract lapse, the 2007 season will be played without a salary cap. Also, the player’s union has threatened to dissolve, which would threaten the NFL’s anti-trust exemption that it currently enjoys. One can only hope that the player’s and owner’s will bridge their differences so that the world’s most successful professional sports league is not weakened in a labor dispute, strike, etc.

Desperately Seeking Martz

The Lions are apparently still desperately attempting to hire Mike Martz as their offensive coordinator. If the sticking point in their discussions is monetary, I am surprised. The Ford’s have never been known to be frugal. The potential conflicts that could arise over a coordinator and a head coach receiving similar salaries seem a little overblown. I can’t imagine that Mike Martz would have any interest in usurping Rod Marinelli’s authority, the hiring isn’t a power play. It would seem likely that Martz would hope to springboard from the Lions to a desirable head coaching position in a relatively short amount of time.

That was some Super Bowl last night, eh? One of the uglier ones that I can recall. Poorly officiated, poor execution by both of the teams and a general lack of drama. Obviously, the game had a few moments but the highlights of the game would have sufficed over the 5 hour investment I made in viewing the game. It seems that it is becoming a tradition that the Super Bowl has become a bit of a letdown from the preceding playoff games (especially with the gargantuan build-up prior to the game).

I am glad that things went well for the city of Detroit and Ford Field as game hosts. I think that Detroit may have resuscitated it’s national image a bit, even if we all know that after the circus leaves town things have a tendency to return to normalcy. A lot is still looming in the city of Detroit, but for a few weeks it was provided the luxury of attempting to become a city it hopes to be rather than the one that it is.

Martz, “Mooch”, “Motor City” Bowl, and the “Hue” and Cry?

As it is by now well documented, Mike Martz turned down the Lions offensive coordinator job. Martz purportedly could not agree with the Lions on the monetary terms of his contract. Their are also rumors floating around that the Lions got cold feet over Martz’s abrasive demeanor and were concerned about his ability to interact with the other coaches and his superiors in the front office. Their are still reports being made that the Lions may have hired former Rams running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery and that the Martz hiring may not be completely out of the woods, yet.

The conclusion to this drama is all too bad, even if I had serious concerns about the Martz hiring and the ability of the Lion’s personnel to perform within his offense, I was still readying myself to imagine the fan response to the Lions going out and signing free agent QB Jamie Martin (or maybe even Jeff Smoker?) to backup Joey Harrington. I also was wondering how a sample sports call placed by Kevin Jones’s father would possibly sound after Martz had called under 10 rushing plays for Jones in consecutive games. Doesn’t look like we’ll get that opportunity at this point. Also, this saga reveals ever so strongly that the Lions organization still has no sense of direction. The Lions hire a tough-minded coach who plays “smash mouth” football. Then they proceed to pursue an offensive coordinator who offensive scheme consists of a more finesse, Gillman/”Air Coryell”-styled pass heavy game plan. Then the discussions between the two parties break drown and the two parties are each reporting different reasons why the talks have stopped. Then the Lion’s reportedly come back to the candidate and ask if they would like to be their escort to the dance again? One has to strongly hope that somehow these events aren’t portent to what is to come for the Lion’s in the future.

The Lions reportedly still have the Bengal’s receivers coach Hue Jackson and the Packer’s Offensive coordinator Tim Rossley on the radar. The fact that Rossley, a “West Coast” devotee, is on the radar is EXCEEDINGLY worrisome. The last thing that the Lion’s need is to bring in another misguided “West Coast” offense disciple as the Lion’s offense continues to languish. I strongly believe that a system change is in order.

Steve Mariucci recently broke his silence. He has said that he won’t be coaching for a “long time” (or at least until the Michigan State job becomes available after next season) at a recent Piston’s game. He also was interviewed by Frank Beckmann and among other comments voiced his support for Joey Harrington. What?!? After the passive/aggressive relationship Mooch shared with Harrington publicly and privately why would he make these comments now? I agree with Mooch, that Joey is in fact the Lion’s best option at QB going into next season, but why wasn’t Harrington deserving of a similar chance while Mariucci had the reins to the team? Even stranger, Mooch and Marinelli coached together at Cal. Mooch even called Marinelli and wished his congratulations upon his hiring. I know that the coaching world is extremely inbred and rife with nepotism, but can there be any stranger bedfellows than Mariucci and Marinelli?

The Super Bowl is being played in Detroit, you know, Jerome Bettis’s hometown, in case you haven’t heard. Hopefully, after the two week buildup, the game will live up to it’s billing. Personally, I think that the Steelers will win. I am hoping that a “Stillers” victory will indirectly help the Lions future. I think that if the Steelers win, it will effectively break the “Bobby Layne/Buddy Parker” curse that was placed on the Lion’s organization in 1958 when the team allowed Parker to defect to one of the league’s worst franchises and eventually traded Parker’s compatriot, Layne, to the same destination. The Lions have continued the once disappointing Steeler tradition of being a doomed franchise from the moment these events occured.

If the Steeler’s get out to an early lead, like they have in their last playoff games, they will enjoy similar results. It is amazing the 180 degree turn the media has done in the last two weeks. It seemed that everybody strongly believed that the Steelers were overwhelming favorites, now that isn’t so. I think that even with the Seahawks powerful O-Line and stalwarts Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander, the Steelers will slow down the Seahawks offense. In turn, as effective as the undersized Seahawk defense has been, I think the size of the Steeler’s O-Line and it’s rushing attack will grind down the Seahawks if the Steeler’s mange to gain an early lead.

Steelers 24 Seahawks 17