Detroit Lions Weblog

Week 1: Lions Vs. Saints Preview

It is a bit of a shopworn cliche to suggest that Jim Schwartz’s first game as a Lions head coach, Matthew Stafford’s first career NFL start, and the first road game of the ‘09 season with the Lions coming off of a horrific 0-16 ‘08 season comes with a great deal of weight and anticipation. Still, if the Lions start the season with a poor performance in “Big Easy”, I am very afraid of the course this season could take.

It is not difficult for me to envision the Lions starting 0-6, especially if they are blown away by a productive, runaway Saints passing attack in the Superdome on Sunday. The Lions are in a position where they should be desperate to acquire some handholds and a firm footing with which they can begin to build upon. A solid road performance in New Orleans would be an excellent way to start that process.

In my eyes, this game will likely come down to the Lions offense’s ability to control the ball and keep the volatile Saints offense off of the field. The Lions defense should be improved, how in the hell could it be any worse, but facing a challenge like the aggressive Saints passing attack is a lot to ask of any NFL defense, let alone one which is a safe bet to finish in the bottom tier of the league.

The likelihood that the Saints will be without tough inside runner Pierre Thomas, could make the Saints a bit one dimensional on offense. Overrated RB Reggie Bush possesses dynamic playmaking ability as a pass catcher, change-of-pace back and returns specialist, but if Thomas misses the opener, Mike Bell will be asked to do most of the heavy lifting, which may bode well for the Lions defense.

It is an utmost certainty that the Saints will be successful stretching the field with Brees delivering balls to Marques Colston, Lance Moore, and Devery Henderson with regularity. Henderson, who possesses hands of stone, has lightning quick ability to turn Brees’ deep balls into TD’s and could really damage the Lions on the Superdome fast track, especially if the Lions defense allows Brees the time to deliver the ball downfield.

Saints Left Offensive Tackle Jammal Brown is going to have to capitulate to Jermon Bushrod, due to injury, and this is the type of go for the jugular match-up that the Lions absolutely need to exploit with Cliff Avril, and to a lesser extent, DeWayne White.
Bushrod is a backup for a reason and the Lions, if they are going to remain competitive in the ballgame, had better make him look like one.

Offensively, the Lions are going to have to manage Matthew Stafford’s immense learning curve by keeping the game at an appropriate pace, limiting penalties, controlling the clock, and hopefully, putting the game into a situation where the outcome doesn’t solely reside upon his strong, yet unproven shoulders.

The Lions can do that by allowing Kevin Smith, Maurice Morris, and Jerome Felton to run over an undersized Saints linebacker corps, especially if the Lions offensive line can limit mistakes and win the battle in the trenches playing power football. They may be able to open some downfield opportunities for Matthew Stafford, drawing an extra man into the tackle box, by punishing the Saints defense.

The best player on the field Sunday, with apologies to Drew Brees, will be Calvin Johnson. Matthew Stafford will need to be effective in delivering the ball to Johnson, but also needs to capably spread the ball around so that the Saints are unable to focus solely upon the astonishing heroics of Johnson.

This may be a simplistic view of the games outcome, but if Stafford turns the ball over two times or less, Smith rushes for over a 100 yards, and Johnson has 5 or more touches, this game could be close enough for the Lions to eventually win. My guess is, however, that the offensive and defensive fronts will disappoint and that Matthew Stafford will like the rookie that he is.

Saints 34 Lions 21….The inauspicious “March to O-32″ begins!

Stafford, Saints Matchup Already Brewing Up Bulletin Board Material

I fully believe that Matthew Stafford is a cool, confident customer who will be unswayed–either way, good or bad– by the recent bulletin board material provided from the mouths of babes, er I mean the New Orleans Saints(Nola.com) this week:

NOLA.com, Sept. 8: “It’s fresh meat,” Saints defensive end Jeff Charleston said of Stafford. “It’s his first real game. He’s our opponent, and you still have to respect him, but we’re going to come after him.”

“He’s from Georgia, and I’m from Georgia Tech,” Saints defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove said, smiling. “Any time I get a chance to go against a Bulldog, I’m definitely going to try to bring my ‘A’ game.”
…
“Last year Matt Ryan kind of got on my nerves, and he was a rookie and he was kind of intelligent,” Saints defensive end Bobby McCray said. “So therefore I’m going in with the same perception of Stafford. He’s the No. 1 overall pick and probably highly intelligent.

“I’m sure they’re not going to give him too much to handle in his first game, but it’s our job to get after him no matter what. It’s very important that we break his spirit early.”

Now, I believe it is of questionable judgment for the Lions to opt towards starting Stafford over Culpepper at this early juncture, with so much of their future success riding upon Stafford’s shoulders, given the likelihood that they will still have a porous offensive line in front of him against which opposing defensive fronts will likely form a relentless turnstile-like procession to the Lions Qb’s, with relative ease. The Lions are playing a tenuous game of high stakes poker with Stafford’s career, one that stands a tenuous chance of legitimate success according to one expert, Sean Lahman, especially given his spotty, turnover-laden performance during the pre-season. Heck, in his weekly press conference with media, Schwartz even seems to agree, but uses a ready-made excuse about Stafford’s complete “body of work”:

NewOrleans.com, Sept. 8: Q: If the average person looks at the preseason numbers they would ask why wouldn’t you play the veteran and your response was that this isn’t an internship. Can you break the horse’s spirit too early here if you throw him into the fire and things don’t go the way you want him to?

A. If we didn’t think he was ready, we wouldn’t have subjected him to that. He has thick skin. He’s been a quarterback all his life. When he was in seventh grade, he was told he was going to be the starter in high school when he was a sophomore, get ready. That’s not even a consideration with him. Don’t look at his numbers. When we judged him as a quarterback, we judged him on his body of work, not just the preseason games. Some of those games you might throw only 11 passes. There were passes that were called back with offensive holding penalties. He had maybe a half a dozen drops that receivers should have caught balls, receivers that did not make our 53-man roster. That may have made those stats look totally different. What he did as a quarterback is he made good decisions and put the ball where he was supposed to. Did he make some mistakes? Yes. But, he made a lot of plays for us, particularly with Calvin Johnson.

Keeping Calvin Johnson happy would seem to be a prudent decision. I do have visions of what Stafford can be capable of while delivering strikes to a player like Johnson. Does it mar my judgment of Stafford’s game preparedness, and the Lions’, too? Hell Yes, It does! The Lions might be putting the cart before the horse here, Stafford’s first few games will likely bear that fact out, but who doesn’t want to immediately see what could potentially result with Stafford throwing to Johnson? This might be the best and most convenient argument for starting Stafford over Culpepper of any, at this point:

Sterling Sharpe, the great Green Bay Packers wide receiver and perennial thorn in the Lions’ side thinks that NFL.com, Sept. 9:Johnson is “bar none,” the best receiver in the game, but you’d never know because he’s with Detroit.

If that’s the case, what’s wrong with starting the process of turning the Lions around by getting the ball to their most dangerous weapon – the man who strikes fear into opposing defenses more than any other player on the team?

If Stafford successfully delivered the ball most frequently to Calvin Johnson out of all the Lions QB’s during the pre-season, doesn’t that provide all of the argument necessary for his starting, given that many believe Johnson is the best wideout in football, whose success goes largely unnoticed due to the Lions poor Qb play?

Even Larry Foote has taken early not of Stafford’s intangibles which could allow him to overcome the many obstacles to future NFL success he will face as a member of the Lions:

“When I seen him, I seen why he was the No. 1 pick,” Foote tells MLive Lions Insider Tom “Killer” Kowalski and Ryan Ermanni on WDFN-AM. “Just his arm strength and the way he throws the ball – he gets it outta there. He definitely has the talent, and I see why he went No. 1.

“But you don’t know until you get underneath the lights, with real pads and people hitting you. And when I seen he was real calm and cool in that pocket – because you can’t really evaluate that nor coach it – when I seen that he had that attribute, then I knew it was going to be real tough for Daunte.”

Naysayers may believe that Stafford is an untested commodity who has never won a big game, and is unlikely to improve as a passer while a member of the Lions, and they could eventually be proved right. As a Lions fan, after the Saints threw down the gauntlet this week, don’t you at least hope that somehow he proves the Lions fatalist in us all patently wrong?

Lions Roster, Practice Squad Set, With Few Surprises.

The Lions set their first 53-man roster on Saturday, with few surprises in terms of whom they chose to keep and whom they chose to release, except along their defensive line. The releases of Chuck Darby, Shaun Smith and Ikaika Alama-Francis were all arguably a surprise. The Lions appear to be choosing future potential over experience in the cases of Darby and Smith, since they kept Landon Cohen and Orien Harris and also added DE Copeland Bryan in free agency. In regards to “Hawaii Five-O”, he was a project that was progressing at an incredibly slow pace, so parting with him made a certain amount of sense.

I was also mildly surprised by the release of Dane Looker, who had performed quite well in the pre-season and was extremely versatile, given the poor performance of Derrick Williams. Williams now assumes the mantle of the Lions pet project, or player whom everyone hopes will eventually succeed but usually fails, and likely becomes a primary source of a deep burning bile and vitriol, as the season marches forward and the dropped passes mount.

The team’s practice squad is also set with recent draft picks Lydon Murtha, Zach Follett, and Dan Gronkowski leading the way. These three, along with TE Carson Butler, all should provide the team with some future potential, although unlikely, that could all eventually emerge as productive members of the franchise.

The additions of DE Copeland Bryan and CB Marcus McCauley are of interest, along with CB Kevin Hobbs and KR Yamon Figurs since they are all players who could be called upon due to poor performance or an influx of injury at positions which are all of significant weakness for the Lions franchise. The trade for S Ko Simpson also should provide the team with some immediate impact, with his experience.

It remains to be seen what impact all of this personnel movement will have on the Lions future fortunes, but again, I respect Mayhew’s continued re-invention of the roster which seems to be heading in a proper direction, if everything fits according to plan.

For a succinct and informative list of players worthy of future roster consideration see the Church of Schwartz who has compiled a list of potentially useful additions.

With Pre-Season Finished, 53-Man Roster Will Soon be Achieved

After last night’s pre-season road victory against Buffalo, the Lions are no closer to knowing what quality of team that they will field as the season approaches. That will be determined when it really matters, against the Saints two Sundays from now. That being said, the Lions are in the enviable position of having several tough personnel decisions to make. This process began with the release of veteran and seemingly promising CB Keith Smith.

The Lions added another veteran corner, Cletis Gordon, along with two veteran QB’s(well, sort of in O’Connell’s case), Kevin O’Connell and Brooks Bollinger, showing that yet again, Drew Stanton, with his incredibly unfortunate sense of timing, may get pushed to the margins again by the organization.

The Church of Schwartz speculates upon the Lions final 53-man roster, and also is going to evaluate several other bloggers take on what the Lions 53-man roster will be next week.

Here is Mine:

OFFENSE (25 Players)

QB-1) Daunte Culpepper 2) Matthew Stafford 3) Brooks Bollinger (Stanton on IR or PUP)
FB 1) Terrelle Smith 2) Jerome Felton (short-yardage back)
TB 1) Kevin Smith 2) Maurice Morris 3) Aaron Brown (Return Specialist)
TE 1) Brandon Pettigrew 2) Casey FitzSimmons (H-back) 3) Will Heller
T 1) Jeff Backus 2) Ephraim Salaam
G 1) Daniel Loper 2) Manny Ramirez
C 1) Dom Raiola 2) Dylan Gandy
G 1) Stephen Peterman 2) Manny Ramirez
T 1) Gosder Cherilus 2) Jon Jansen
WR 1)Calvin Johnson 3)Dennis Norhtcutt(Return Specialist)
WR 2)Bryant Johnson 4) Dane Looker (holder/emergency kicker) 5) Derrick Williams (Return Specialist)

SPECIAL TEAMS (3 players)

LS Don Muhlbach
K Jason Hanson
P Nick Harris

DEFENSE (25 Players)

DE 1) Jason Hunter 2) Andre Fluellen
DT 1) Grady Jackson 2)Sammie Lee Hill 3) Landon Cohen
DT 1) Chuck Darby 2) Shaun Smith
DE 1) DeWayne White 2) Cliff Avril
SLB 1)Julian Peterson 2) Darnell Bing
MLB 1) Larry Foote 2)DeAndre Levy
WLB 1)Ernie Sims 2)Jordan Dizon
CB 1) Philip Buchanon 2) Eric King 3)Cletis Gordon
S 1)Louis Delmas2)Calvin Lowry
S 1)Kalvin Pearson2)Marquand Manuel
CB 1) Anthony Henry 2) William James 3)Ramzee Robinson

Practice Squad
Chris Roberson
Dan Gronkowski
Lydon Murtha
Zach Follett

The difficult cuts were Ikaika Alama-Francis, Orien Harris, Stuart Schweigert and Chris Roberson, who based on last night’s performance, could still eventually make the team. With so many upoming personnel moves, the Lions roster will still morph some more as game day approaches. Hopefully, they may still find some defensive line and linebacker help along the way.