Detroit Lions Weblog

Tatum Bell Rescinds Trade Demand, More Millen Failure

Tatum Bell “uhhh….I was just kidding guys”, admittedly I am paraphrasing here, but what a wuss.   You can’t half-heartedly engineer a trade demand.   At any rate, for better or for worse, Bell will remain a Lion throughout the season and likely will leave as a free agent in ‘08. 

Bell has averaged 4.1 yards per carry, not terrible, but realistically sees that his role is likely to diminish in an already undernourished, run-deprived Lions backfield.  With the imminent returns of T. J. Duckett and Kevin Jones, Bell will certainly have to fight to get the ball with any frequency.   Hopefully, Mike Martz will find a way to utilize some packages with both Bell and Jones, which may provide the Lions with some tantalizing play options.

In the beating a dead horse department, Matt Millen is a terrible GM/Team President.   The Free Press’ Michael Rosenberg succinctly summarizes just how badly Millen continues to the hurt the Lions with his lunkheaded maneuvers:

Bye Week Blues: Quitting in Games, Tatum Bell Trade Request, Offensive Line Woes

As much as the Lions likely were desperate for their upcoming bye week, coming off a horrifically disappointing road loss against the Washington Redskins, this has not been a week of rest for the organization.   In fact, their have been a number of discernible signs of unrest, as an apparent disenchantment over the team’s two terrible road losses grows.

Amid rumors of dissent amongst the coaching staff, especially in regards to the performance of Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, who has been clearly outcoached in several games this season, the Lions have not had a serene week.   Apparently, the feeling is that Martz needs to do a better job of exploiting the advantages that the Lions are being given by the opposition.    Martz has also done a poor job of integrating first round draft pick WR Calvin Johnson as a consistent contributor in the Lions offense. Martz has been frequently viewed as an eccentric, progressive-minded, offensive genius.   There now appears to be a few chinks in that armor.

The Lions continued failings in their ground game, their lack of persistence in attempting to develop their ground attack, and a general lack of ball control have all impacted the Lions defense significantly.   This is likely where the root of the internal conflict begins, since most position coaches are protective and territorial, and want to look out for the best interests of their charges.

With a burgeoning internal conflict to deal with, the Lions also have to face three immediate issues: 1) Washington TE Chris Cooley’s comments that the team quit in the second half of last Sunday’s game, Tatum Bell’s  trade request (deadline Tuesday), and the failings of their offensive line.

Cooley’s accusations are interesting, to say the least.  Cooley essentially, to utilize pro wrestling terminology, broke kayfabe, or the internal code that preserves the fan’s faith in the credibility and sanctity of the game.   Cooley’s comments were also non-committal in the sense that he attributed the Lions quitting to the high temperatures in the nation’s capital last Sunday.  Whether the Lions quit or not in Sunday’s game is inconsequential, the mere fact that this charge has been levied is disappointing, considering the primacy that Rod Marinelli places upon maximum effort and executing fundamental, blue collar football.  Internally, the Lions need to ensure that they will not be accused of quitting in any game throughout the remainder of the season.

Tatum Bell’s trade request, in lieu of the Tuesday trade deadline, should come as no surprise.   Bell has been vocal about his lack of involvement in the Lion’s offensive game plan.   That being said, Bell’s trade demands significantly damage the Lions leverage in pursuing any potential trade, and it remains unclear if he will not eventually be the Lions feature back anyhow, in an admittedly limited Lions ground attack.  Bell, like Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, and a few others before him, all appear to have been the beneficiaries of an excellent blocking scheme, and the consistent play of a veteran offensive line in Denver.   Bell may be able to be successful in places like Tampa Bay, Texas, or back in Denver, but I don’t believe he will receive the opportunity to find out until this season is finished, when he is a free agent. 

In my eyes, the Lions should pursue a trade of Bell, given his lack of production, his apparent dissatisfaction, and the Lions personnel needs.   Aveion Cason, Anthony Sherrell, and whomever the Lions were able to sign off of the street would likely give the Lions similar production to the disappointing Bell. If a trade of Bell could help the Lions at backup QB, O-Line, DE, LB or CB, they would be negligent to not at least consider the possibility of trading Bell, and either of his companion disappointments in G Damien Woody and T George Foster (depending upon the salary cap ramifications, of course).

Which leads me to the offensive line.    The bye week is usually a valuable organizational evaluation period.  It also one of the few times a team can bring in street free agents and take a look at them.   The Lions may have been utilizing both of these analytical tools, but even more importantly, they have to figure out a way to make what previously appeared to be a promising offensive line much more consisent.   It is no secret, that the Lions throw the ball frequently.   The fact that Jon Kitna is easily the team’s most valuable player is also no mystery.   Yet, teams aren’t blitzing Kitna to pressure him, but are able to pressure Kitna by rushing their front four against the Lions five man offensive line with a great deal of success.   Dropping seven into coverage, and still being able to pressure Kitna, has allowed both Philly and Washington to essentially neuter the Lions offense.   

The obvious fact is that the Lions will struggle to win any games without Kitna’s presence, which places the onus upon the Lions offensive line to improve immediately.   Each hit Kitna takes exacts a heavy toll, that toll is unfortunately not limitless.  Combine that with the Lions inability to run with the ball, and the Lions offensive line is easily it’s most disappointing unit, a situation which will likely not be completely addressed until this next off-season.   The unfortunate reality is that Jeff Backus is not a franchise left tackle, regardless of his durability, and the Lions have not had much success with their numerous offseason plug-in’s that they have attempted to patch their offensive line with.   The development of players like Jonathan Scott, Stephen Peterman, and Manny Ramirez can’t come a moment too soon, in my eyes.

Marinelli Vs. The Media

“Killer” Kowalski is reporting that their were some exploding tensions at today’s Lions press conference.  Rod Marinelli has been contentious when asked difficult questions during his Monday press conferences after two out of the last three games, both horrible road losses.

I respect Rod Marinelli and his vigilanct attitude.   I don’t relish his being placed under near constant scrutiny, especially when the Lions so often find the means to ignite the flames of criticism within the third estate.   That being said, Marinelli often reminds me of a military spokesperson, who rather than being honest and forthright, couches their responses in verbiage, and utilizes semantics to completely skirt the line of questioning.

After hearing all week about how the Lions difficulties while playing in Washington were completely unconnected with the current roster, I am very disappointed that the Lions were so clearly outcoached, outplayed, and out-schemed.   Marinelli, being the head coach, should be willing to stand accountable to his team’s failings, as opposed to engaging in evasive debates which only seem to further cloud the direction of the continually moribund Lions franchise.

The Lions are entering their bye week.   This press conference would have been an excellent opportunity for Coach Marinelli to point out the things that the team will address in the two weeks leading to their home game against Tampa Bay, rather than continue to damage his flagging reputation as a head coach.

Broncos Trade, Brian Calhoun–More Millen Failure?

The Lions traded former Pro Bowl CB Dre Bly during the off-season for two veterans, OT George Foster and RB Tatum Bell.    After four games, it has grown resoundingly clear who received the better end of the deal.    Foster, who clearly can’t count past two, has been benched twice and is unlikely to earn his way back onto the field anytime soon.   Bell, like Olandis Gary and a bevy of others before him, appears to have flourished in Denver while benefiting from operating within the Broncos running system, and doesn’t seem to possess the skills necessary to be able to contribute consistently for the Lions.  

Admittedly, the Lions have been completely unable to run the ball this season, and have often neglected seriously attempting to establish their ground game in any manner. 

Bly, even though he was ill-suited for the Tampa-2, or what I believe should be referred to as the “Marinelli Albatross”, still would have helped tremendously with his ball skills, his veteran experience, and his ability to thrive in man-to-man coverage.

RB Brian Calhoun was recently placed on the injured reserve list.    Calhoun was an ‘06 third round draft pick, and has also been a resounding failure.   He has never found a role in Mike Martz’s offense, where considering his reputed skills, he should be able to flourish.   Instead, he is likely to become a roster afterthought moving forward, since he occupies a similar organizational role to diligently irrepressible Aveion Cason.

This organization will continue to suffer black marks like Sunday’s road loss until they are able to do a better job of scouting and evaluating talent.   After 101 games, I have no remaining faith in Matt Millen’s abilities.

Lions Rediscover Their Comfort Zone in Horrible Road Loss

(Disclaimer: I have yet to view Sunday’s game, except for the lowlights that were broadcast. I was working.)

I am speechless.    How could I be stupid enough to associate the Lions and the “p” word (except for maybe p*ssies).    At any rate, the Lions decided that their poor performance in a road loss to Philadelphia wasn’t poor enough in magnitude, so they needed to play even poorer against the Redskins on Sunday.

Only the Lions, by finding their well-established comfort zone, could so quickly and easily erode every single positive sign of organizational progression in one fell swoop. After two horrific losses, their is no visible low point for this organization.

Matt Millen’s 27-74 tenure has been heavily marked with this type of embarassment, especially on the road.   Honestly, will an upcoming bye and few personnel changes remedy the damage that was inflicted upon the organization by their struggles on Sunday?

Week 5 Preview: Lions Vs. Redskins, or “Slaying Media Dragons”

The Lions are more than a little fed up about the incessant reminders of their past futility of performance while playing in the nation’s capital.   They received a near-constant barrage of questions throughout the week regarding their past failures against the ’Skins, in spite of the fact that most members of the current Lions roster have never played in Washington as members of this organization. 

Jon Kitna termed it best, by saying that he feels like the team is being asked to “slay the media dragons” each and every week.   Kitna understands the subtext to the Lions situation, and is doing his best to deflect it.    This game can’t be understated in it’s importance to the ‘07 Lions.  Plain and simple, for the Lions to go to 4-1, in a hostile road environment, would set them up so that by even going 5-6 down the stretch, they would still have a decent chance for playoff contention.

The Lions are facing an interesting challenge in the Redskins.   The Redskins feature young QB Jason Campbell, a nice pair of RB’s in Clinton Portis and LaDell Betts, an excellent H-Back in Chris Cooley, and two smurf-like receivers in Antwaan Randle-El and Santana Moss. I fully expect that the Lions will face a Westbrook-like mix of swing passes and screens to both Betts and Portis, who is dinged up.   If the Lions tackle well when Washington runs the ball, keeps plays in front of them when Campbell delivers short passes to his receivers, and aren’t beaten for any big offensive plays, they will have an excellent chance for victory.   The Skins offensive line is injury-ridden, so this would be an excellent opportunity for the Lions front four of it’s defense to assert itself and help out the secondary.

The Lions offense will face a formidable challenge trying to throw against the deep Redskins secondary.   The Redskins have two capable players in David Macklin and Fred Smoot, to go along with their secondary loaded with 1st round draft picks Shawn Springs, LaRon Landry, Carlos Rogers, and Sean Taylor.   It remains to be seen whether DE’s Andre Carter and Phillip Daniels will provide the adequate pressure necessary to impact the Lions passing attack.  

The Lions have replaced G Damien Woody, with improving Stephen Peterman, and to say that T George Foster is on thin ice, is an incredible understatement.   The Lions offensive line, if it is able to perform well in spite of the personnel changes, can single-handedly win this game.    As good as the Skins secondary is, if Kitna has time to operate, the Lions will pick them apart.

I feel good about the Lions coming into this game.   They have few major injuries and appear poised to make a statement the likes of which they have not made in years.   The scary thing is a 24-17 win sets an infinitely more disappointing end to their season if they falter down the stretch.

Are the Lions for Real?

This very question has been hashed out in a number places recently, by a number of so-called experts, especially since Head Coach Rod Marinelli has recently stated that the Lions could eventually be an “elite” team (his words, not mine).  

Marinelli believes that if the Lions are able to combine their already exhibited mental toughness with a continued effort to “clean some things up” execution-wise, they may be able to become an “elite” team.

The Sporting News’ Clifton Brown believes that the Lions have harvested upon teams who are among the bottom tier of the league, with inferior quarterbacks, rather than being a particularly good team.  He is correct, but other than New England and Indianapolis, and maybe the Cowboys, who really is any good in this modern-day, mediocre, brave new world of the NFL?

Sunday’s game at Washington, where the Lions have not won in twenty attempts, is pivotal.   Odds are in the Redskins favor, but at some point, you have to ask, Why can’t the Lions continue to play better than .500 football for the rest of the season?  Why can’t they beat the ‘Skins?

The Lions seem to have a inordinately sharp awareness of the fact that they have not played as well as they are capable of, yet they still posess a .750 winning percentage.  Jon Kitna says as much by adding, “Listen, we’re trying to peak at the right time.  Have we played our best yet? No. We haven’t played our best yet.  But we’re going to continue to get better each week.  We’re gaining confidence, and we’re learning how to win.”

Marinelli also states “We’re starting to understand and believe that if we just keep playing, something good is going to happen for us.”  If anything, the Lions are saying all of the right things. However,  It does remain to be seen whether the Lions are fully equipped for the challenges that they will face ahead.   Sunday’s game will serve as an early barometer, that’s for sure.

Half Time Tribute to 1957 Lions Was Touching

The Lions brought back the surviving members of the 1957 league champions (and some of their spouses) for a half-time tribute on Sunday.   It was touching to see hallowed players like Hall of Famers Yale Lary, Joe Schmidt and Lou Creekmur, as they were driven around the perimeter of the stadium in convertibles.

The Lions organization deserves some criticism, though.   The tribute was short on film clips, pictures, etc on the JumboTrons.   Why wasn’t there a commemorative program or shirts made available for purchase?  Why were none of the players allowed to speak on behalf of that team?   I have always loved the Lions throwback jerseys, why are they so conspicuously absent?

Apparently The Helmet Hut provided the players with commemorative helmets for their appearance.   It is unclear if the helmets will be on sale for the public or not?

Lions Find Victory in Dramatically Bizarre Fourth Quarter Rally

As I sat in the upper deck of Ford Field on Sunday, surrounded by a large group of Chicago Bears supporters, I was anguished.   As the fourth quarter started, the Lions were behind 13-3, having left anywhere from 6-14 points on the field as a result of a Tatum Bell fumble in the red zone and a blocked Jason Hanson field goal attempt earlier in the game.

The Bears, whose offense struggled mightily with Brian Griese at the helm, also had left some points on the field with Griese having thrown two costly red zone interceptions.  The game had been just plain ugly up to that point.

As I ran through a million nightmare scenarios in my mind, and struggled with the impending re-emergence of the “Same Ol’ Lions”, a strange thing happened.   The Lions began to play opportunistically.   Their offense had also begun to come to life in spite of it’s early sputterings throughout the game.  

During recent seasons, Devin Hester’s kickoff return would have been the dagger necessary to finish off the Lions.   Hester, who totaled close to 300 yards in returns, was easily the most electrifying player on the field on Sunday.

Amazingly, the smallest player on the field, return specialist and the fifth receiver on the Lions depth chart, Troy Walters, may have made one of the bigger catches in Lions team history. His dramatic catch in the corner of the end zone, which eventually was reviewed, after originally being called an incompletion, proved to the Bears, and potentially the rest of the NFL, that this may just be a substantially different Lions team from seasons past.

Walters’ catch exhibited a stark contrast to the disappointing dropped pass in the end zone by Mike Williams in last year’s close loss to the Bears at Ford Field.    The Lions feature a group of unheralded players who have shown an essential quality that had not previously existed in the organization during recent seasons–a strong resolve.

No matter what adversity the Lions have faced this season, including their embarassing road blow-out to the Eagles last week, the Lions have appeared, at least on the surface, to be unaffected and committed to the program of Rod Marinelli and his coaching staff.

This resolve is reflected in the play of a player like Shaun McDonald, who even with his intimate knowledge of Mike Martz’s offensive playbook, was regarded as more of a fall-back option if the Lions were unsuccessful in their attempts to sign McDonald’s former Rams protege, Kevin Curtis.  Like Mike Furrey before him, McDonald has been among one of the more pleasant surprises in my time as Lions fan.  Roy Williams, and eventually Calvin Johnson, will flourish in large part due to the presence of hard-working, tough-minded players like McDonald, Furrey, and Walters.

Make no mistake, the Lions face a long, tough road ahead.  The Bears are not a playoff contender, unless a quarterback miraculously falls out of the sky to lead their team.   If anything can prove just how topsy-turvy the performance of a team can be from year-to-year, it’s the ‘07 Bears.  The Bears played in the Super Bowl last season, and give the appearance, or unpleasant odor, of a team who is unlikely to get even a whiff of the Super Bowl at anytime soon.

For one day at least, the Lions appear to be on the right track.   Next week’s performance, against a tough Redskins team, where the Lions haven’t won ever, will continue to enlighten us about the quality of the current Lions team.