Detroit Lions Weblog

Week 13: Do You Like Your Turkey’s Roasted, Fried, or Just Plain Cooked?

The Lions, forming a most convenient analogy, are being widely-heralded as turkey’s entering their 69th Thanksgiving Day game.  Major media outlets ESPN (Mike and Mike), USA Today ( The Huddle ,please vote!), and even CBS’ “Iron Mike” Ditka, whom you would like to believe would actually be enough of a conventional, NFL purist that he would support the Lions retaining their annual game, have all decried the Lions possessing such a prime time slot for their Thanksgiving game, or their playing at all for that matter.

Anyone who has been reading my entries recently has read that I believe that the NFL should penalize the Lions for their mismanaged franchise, which has persisted despite the organizational structures the league has installed to avoid such an eventuality.  With my tacit support of the NFL taking the annual Thanksgiving Day game from the organization, even I am a little taken back by the growing disenchantment directed at the Lions for playing in such a premium game with a far less than premium team.

Given the Lions 0-11 start and the growing dissent over the Lions playing it’s annual game, where does that leave the franchise as they march towards infamy?  They are facing an incredibly difficult opponent (10-1) in the Tennessee Titans, what chances do they have in altering their current historical course?

Well, the Lions will need a little assistance from the Titans.  The Titans feature an efficient, conservative offense that runs the with the ball very well, and a defense that protects them from having to score many points in any particular game.  If the Lions stand any chance, they will need to slow RB Chris Johnson and Lendale White and hope that the Titans turn the ball over at least twice, but any more would be very helpful!

We will know the mettle and determination of the Lions players very early in the game.  The Titans are a brutally physical bunch with defenders like DE Kyle Van Den Bosch, LB Keith Bulluck, DT Albert Haynesworth, and playmaking DB’s Cortland Finnegan and Michael Griffin all being among the best at their respective positions leaguewide, the Lions offense could possibly get physically dominated and enter shell shock.

The essential difference between this game being remotely close and it devolving into a complete and total blowout will be the relative success of each team’s passing game.  If the Culpepper to Johnson combo can offset big plays from Kerry Collins to Justin Gage, Brandon Jones, and Alge Crumpler, with some of their own, the Lions may still remain competitive through the 3rd quarter.

If not, the Lions could face a bloodbath similar to the ones they received while facing Indianapolis and Atlanta during recent Thanksgiving Day games.  Unfortunately, as much as I want to hope for a solid effort, I believe the Lions body of work speaks for itself.   Titans 31 Lions (0-12, 31-93, 1-19 since mid-season ‘07) 10

The real mystery remains, Does Rod Marinelli coach beyond tomorrow’s game?

Rick Gosselin, one of the finest NFL talent evaluators and columnists today, has written an interesting article entitled “Motor City Mess” , where he comments upon the Lions current situation and the potential franchise Qb’s that they could consider selecting in the upcoming draft.  It is a worthwhile read, even if the mere mention of the organization selecting a QB in the draft, likely 1st overall, makes me recoil in fear and sends me into bouts of incoherent babbling (at least more than normal) (Addition: I emailed Gosselin with my opinion.  Surprisingly, he responded. He says that all of the empty seats will coerce the Ford’s to want to select a QB, so that they can make a big media splash, thus putting asses back into their overpriced seats. I digress…)