Marinelli is Going to Have to Make Some Tough Decisions
December 17, 2007 on 8:23 pm | In Uncategorized |Now that the Lions are more or less removed from legitimate playoff contention, the Lions coaching staff needs to begin to make some tough organizational decisions. As significant as the de-activations of George Foster, Kalimba Edwards, and Tatum Bell all were, there should be more to come after Sunday’s loss.
The Lions are going to try with all of their might to eke out a home victory against the equally pathetic Chiefs this week. Avoiding 10 losses would be significant, but what I believe is more important now, especially if Marinelli is going to be retained as head coach, is that the Lions go back to separating the wheat from the chaffe organizationally.
Starting with de-activating the disappointing Shaun Rogers(or put him on IR), the Lions should also consider benching Jon Kitna, and integrating more of their younger players throughout the lineup. Essentially, the Lions need to enter an evaluatory mode. A cheap, late season victory, leading up to their now annual Lambeau Field ass-whipping, is meaningless at this point.
Rod Marinelli also has to re-discover who is truly on board with his plans. At this point, the easiest thing for the players to do is to place the coaching staff firmly under the bus. The finger pointing surely has started. Their has been a tangible lack of effort of late, which if Marinelli is to remain relevant, has got to be addressed internally.
Last season, with a team full of street free agents and journeymen due to a rash of injuries (remember Clint “Sticky” Stickdorn), the Lions were able to garner an improbable road victory against the Cowboys. I think that the Cowboys victory provided some hope, and the necessary momentum, to carry the Lions through this season’s first half.
Unfortunately, they now appear to be running on fumes. Had they won again improbably last week against the Cowboys, maybe things could have been different for this team. At any rate, after six consecutive losses, I want to see more of players like Gerald Alexander, Calvin Johnson, Ernie Sims, Ikaika Alama-Francis, Manny Ramirez, Brandon Middleton, et al and less of the team’s veteran players. Would it hurt Millen to grab a few guys off of other team’s practice squads? There is going to be more roster turnover this off season, why not get a head start?
Essentially, for the love of God, the Lions need to wave the white flag and look forward, so that they can avoid another horrific season, amid a string of so many of them. The NFL is designed so that teams do not fail perennially. Somehow, in spite if the league’s design, the Lions have failed with high frequency. Will it continue into ‘08? If they continue upon their current course, it most certainly will.
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Pingback by NFL » Marinelli is Going to Have to Make Some Tough Decisions — December 17, 2007 #
I think that deep down inside, the Lions organisation knew that they weren’t gonna have a very good year. They’re expectation couldn’t have been as high as Marinelli have us believing.
The first and second round of the draft is usually used on players who will start playing immediately (except for quarterbacks). Teams will usually use these picks to fill some glaring holes. Even the good teams, who have late picks and not many of these glaring holes, usually have a starting position for their 1st-rounders. If they dont, they make one. They’ll release a high-price or injury-prone veteran.
Our first-rounder, Calvin Johnson, had practically no impact on the team this year. There wasn’t a need for a receiver. Not a pressing one anyway. He’ll have an impact eventually, but they knew that he would have to learn the system and adjust to the pro game. So they weren’t counting on him being a big part of their success this year as the Vikings had with Adrian Peterson, or Cleveland with Joe Thomas.
They didn’t pick any of the second-rounders to help this year either. Stanton is a quarterback so that pick was definitely not to help win games this year. Alama-Francis wasn’t gonna start this year either since they had picked up DeWayne White and were counting on Kalimba Edwards to become a sack artist. Gerald Alexander got to play this year but it was by default. Bullocks and Kennedy had a strong hold on the safety positions.
These guys were all picked to add depth. They were guys that Marinelli were gonna play primarely on special teams and used them sparingly during a game to give his startes a breather.
Marinelli is now giving a more serious look at these guys. And that is a good thing. We didn’t have a third-rounder but Marinelli is gonna give Arizona’s third-rounder, Buster Davis, a chance to play and get involved. Manny Ramirez should also get a look. He cant be worst than Blaine Saipai.
I hope that next year’s 1st- and 2nd-rounders will be used to fill holes, rather than bring depth. Second-day picks should be used for depth and special teams.
Comment by Simon — December 19, 2007 #
Simon–You are right about the Lions poor draft. If they didn’t have a clear plan for Johnson–or were going to be unable to improvise one–then they should have went in another direction.
The second round, where the Lions really could have found the means to help themselves, like you stated, has been an unmitigated disaster for them, which should be a terminable offense for Millen, in my eyes.
Due to salary cap and other issues, the selection of Johnson will likely lead to the Lions taking pennies on the dollar in exchange for Roy Williams this off season, which will also be nothing short of a disaster for Millen.
Glad to hear Davis will get a look now that Williams is on IR.
Comment by Steve — December 19, 2007 #
I understand Mr. Ford…
If you make an investment, it is imperative that you have full confidence in it.
That is why Mr. Ford is backing his guy. The man he originally chose to run the ship.
Comment by Simon — December 19, 2007 #