Detroit Lions Weblog

Rod Marinelli’s Hollywood Resemblance? More Joey?

Pro Football Talk has always been one of my favorite sites that is devoted to football on the internet. They are generally informative and usually quite funny (if a little juvenile). Recently, they have made a reference to Coach Marinelli as being a modern-day Les Steckel. Steckel, much like Tom Coughlin often has been reputed to, was notorious as a micro-managing taskmaster who failed miserably as a head coach. Marinelli’s schtick does have the ring of an old-school gym coach who’s deep in the process of dividing up his squirrelly minions for a rousing game of “Dodgeball”. That being said, Marinelli gives me the strong impression as being a completely genuine individual and the type of personality who may be able to cultivate what other recent Lion’s head coaches have been unable to do with this hapless franchise, win.

The newest Pro Football Talk has noted that Coach Marinelli bears a strong resemblance to Peter Boyle’s character on the television sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” After falling out of my seat laughing, I realized that had Mike Tice not been fired in Minnesota, that half of the team’s in the NFC North would have featured head coaches who had a close resemblance to cast members of that program.

In regards to Harrington, he was obviously like a boil that needs to be lanced. The boil (Harrington) was a minor irritant causing a slight discomfort. But should the pus residue from the lanced boil do something like say, flourish with another organization and become an all-pro, that irritation will rise a few levels become a genuine source of infection locally. Unless of course one of the newly-minted QB’s on the Lion’s roster were able to perform well enough to help us forgot about Joey’s success outside of the organization. At this point, nothing has occurred to lead me to believe that either Jon Kitna or Josh McCown will unable to succeed under the tutelage of Mad Scientist/Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. Still, it is of the utmost importance that these new QB’s acquit themselves with the local fan base quickly so that the fan outcry does not elevate beyond where it was last season.

The Lion’s still need to address several roster positions via either free agency or the draft. They will likely need additional help at T (especially if “Big Daddy” retires), MLB (unless Teddy Lehman can both remain healthy an exhibit the strength to stop plays at the point of attack), OLB (as much as I like “Dirty” Davis and Alex Lewis, they need someone who is more dependable to emerge here), CB (Obviously, Fernando Bryant has proven unreliable and their depth has been severely taxed with the losses of Goodman and McQuarters, they sorely need Stanley Wilson to be ready to contribute), S (They obviously are trying to address this position but I will be very disappointed if they are unable to draft Michael Huff), WR (Ricky Proehl is apparently going to come back for one more season. With his past familiarity with the Martz offense, the Lion’s may finally have the go-to possession receiver they so sorely lack if they decide to pursue him), OG (Are the combination of Rex Tucker, Rick DeMulling, and Barry Stokes equitable to a starter?), and DE (As much as I like James Hall, Corey Redding, and Kalimba Edwards, they desperately need a more consistent edge rush than they have possessed in recent years.)