Detroit Lions Weblog

Shaun “Big Baby” Rogers is Back, Orlovsky and Kitna Ailing

“Big Baby” Shaun Rogers has finally begun to practice with the team.  Hopefully, the extra conditioning and rehabilitation time he has been given will prove to have been useful.   Rogers, with the accumulated weight of this past year’s off-season troubles and his notoriously surly attitude, is a welcome, if not enigmatic, presence.  Rogers has a lot to prove and needs to shake the casual observer’s perception that he is lazy and has a poor attitude.  

Rogers is among the most gifted and talented athletes on the Lions roster.   If Rogers and Cory Redding can generate a consistent inside bull-rush, and Rogers consistently blows up the middle of the line of scrimmage and commands double and triple teams from opponents, the development of players like Kalimba Edwards, Ikaika-Alama Francis, and Corey Smith may be hastened.   The performance of the Lions defense, preeminently along it’s defensive front four, will be the major determining factor between a 6 and 10 win season, in my eyes.

Jon Kitna has missed recent practices due to back spasms and it’s unclear if Dan Orlovsky’s turf toe will impact his availability for his game against Indianapolis.   Kitna is probably going to play little, even though the third game serves as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the season, and therefore is the most important game of the pre-season. 

Orlovsky is embroiled with J.T. O’Sullivan in a battle for the second string QB job.   Most reports indicate that O’Sullivan is establishing a firmer grip on that role with each passing moment.   Orlovsky needs to establish that the Lions have held onto him for all of these years for a reason.

Charles Rogers is apparently about to find his calling.   He is rumored to have generated some interest among CFL teams.    If reports about his 4.8 second 40-yard dash time are true, it’s a miracle that the CFL even has an interest in the unemployed Rogers.    One thing is for certain, the tainted, embattled careers of players like Joey Harrington, C-Rog, and Mike Williams will not soon be forgotten among fans of the Lions.