Detroit Lions Weblog

Some Things I Hope Not to See in the Third Pre-Season Game

The third pre-season game is a virtual dress rehearsal for the beginning of any given season.   It is well-established that Lions fans want to see the team run the ball effectively, and exhibit a tougher, more productive brand of defense.  I figured given the stakes of today’s game, the prestigious “Great Lakes Series Trophy”, it might be helpful to highlight the things that I truly hope that we don’t see:

1) “Big Baby” Shaun Rogers playing like the disruptive, punitive, pocket demolisher, that he is fully capable of.   If Rogers looks like a Hall of Famer, Lions fans are likely to suffer from convulsions.  It was fun to watch him do a mimed Superman cape removal after a sack when he wore Honolulu Blue, but for the Brownies, not so much.

2) Braylon Edwards streaking down the sidelines for TD’s after torching CB Leigh Bodden, and the rest of the secondary, for a few early scores.  As a Michigan State alum, Edwards conjures a number of horrors, when you add what he could do to the Lions, well….

3) An injury to Jon Kitna.   I don’t harbor any illogical notions that Kitna is anywhere near as proficient as either Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, but arguably, he is more elemental to his team’s ultimate success than either of them likely are, in my opinion.

Dan Orlovsky has looked awful rolling out and passing, an added wrinkle to the Lions offense this season, which definitely takes some pressure off of the team’s offensive line. Kitna has flourished with the added rollouts and boots, so the loss of Kitna would likely remove this dimension from the Lions offense.

4) George Foster, et al on the Lions offensive line.  Thus far, the Lions O-Line has looked remarkably capable, at least average, which is a major step up from previous seasons.   If Foster earns a false start, or three and Backus and company struggle my concerns entering the season will heighten significantly.  Gosder Cherilus’ continued development and improvement would assuage my concerns, a bit.

5) This one is aimed at the Lions broadcast team.  Please don’t attempt to convince us of the importance of the Great Lakes trophy, or the long and storied history of the rivalry between the Lions and Browns.  Remember, it has been over 50 years since this contest was a  true “rivalry”.

You are only allowed to play “Cleveland Rocks” once as bumper music, and please, I implore you, play the Ian Hunter version!  You should also refrain mentioning the Drew Carey Show, The rabid, frenzied “Dawg Pound”, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,  or how the Browns stole Chris Spielman from the Lions before he retired.   Gus and Des, you can feel free to mention often the storied history of the 70’s Cleveland punk rock scene (especially The legendary Pagans, Dead Boys, Electric Eels, and Rocket from the Tombs), the 70’s eco-disaster that was the “Lake Erie Fire”, and why Cleveland ultimately sucks more than Detroit.  That’s not too much to ask, is it?

In all seriousness, with the growing surprise competency of the Lions during this pre-season, I hope that they can contine to acquit themselves, suffer few, if any, injuries and give the strong impression that Rod Marinelli’s “football guy” mantras are created some sort of qualitative organization change.