Drew Stanton Impersonating Matthew Stafford?

I’d like to take this opportunity to explain something to everybody; Drew Stanton isn’t the savior of the Detroit Lions. If you thought he was going to get the start against San Francisco and torch their defense, you obviously had a little too much egg nog.

Now I didn’t expect him to be great when he finally got the start, I expected him to be able to play at the same level that Daunte Culpepper plays at. The reason I’ve been calling for Stanton to start is the fact that any bum can play just as well as Culpepper at this point in his career. The truth of the matter is that Daunte Culppepper should have been sent to third string after the first Green Bay game. However Jim Schwartz and Scott Linehan have absolutely mishandled the quarterback situation all season.

Now what we get is Drew Stanton finally getting some playing time with two weeks left in the season after only practicing with the starters for a week. Essentially any chemistry between Stanton and the receivers is non-existent because playing time and practice reps with the first team have been wasted since preseason. Wasted on a player who WILL NOT be a Detroit Lion next year and who HAS NEVER given us a “better chance to win”.

Drew Stanton has been in Detroit for three years and has suffered multiple injuries along with people changing his throwing mechanics. All things considered, this is his rookie season basically and I do see the potential in him to be able to backup Matthew Stafford. Stanton plays with heart and toughness just like Stafford does, he even has the same problems and makes the same mistakes Stafford does. If you looked at a couple of Staton’s interceptions against San Francisco you would have thought Stafford threw that ball. The one that really stood out the most was the one where if Stanton had put some touch on it to get it over the defender it would have been a great throw. The ball came out flat and powerful right into the hands of a defender, sounds familiar right?



The throws and mistakes I see Stanton make give me déjà vu of Matthew Stafford when he’s having a bad game. Stafford has had reps with the first team, he has had time to develop chemistry with his receivers, and most importantly he has had the opportunity to learn from his mistakes. Had Drew Stanton been elevated to the second string quarterback after the first Green Bay game, he would have had some of the same opportunities. Since Schwartz and company seem to be in love with watching Daunte Culppepper continue to fail miserably though, we are still left wondering what Drew Stanton could do if given a real opportunity. Well played Schwartz, well played.

Why Can't The Lions Get It Right?

There have been some things that I like about this new coaching regime like the fact that most of this years draft picks look to have more potential than any Lions drafted in the Millen Era not named Ernie Sims, Shaun Rogers, or Calvin Johnson.

For the most part I'm willing to give Jim Schwartz a two or three season pass. With that being said, if he is so smart why are we making the same stupid mistakes? I'll start with the special teams. First and foremost Schwartz has to axe Stan Kwan at the end of the season, there is no excuse for the abomination the Lions call special teams. Secondly does Schwartz not realize that not one person who the Lions have trotted out there has even resembled a competent kick returner?

We started the year with Aaron Brown taking kicks but the Lions figured they would get more production out of Derrick Williams. Well it hasn't happened and Williams stats are actually worse than Brown's. On punt returns we have Dennis Northcutt, do I even need to say anything else? Its Dennis Northcutt. Meanwhile the Lions had a good college kick returner on their practice squad in Tristan Davis and they cut him. I also wrote an article earlier in the season about the many good free agent return men out there. However the Lions still stubbornly continue to handicap themselves on special teams and on offense since they're getting horrible field position. So I guess Schwartz is okay with the fact his team will never have good field position.


Next up we have the Jeckel and Hyde units in the offense and defense. People are quick to point out how horrible the defense is but I've actually seen some improvement on that side of the ball. Meanwhile on offense they were getting better and better but have started regressing since Stafford's injury. Maybe I've watched one to many Lions game this season. Maybe I'm starting to look at the world through the eyes of a boxer who has taken one to many hits to head. The fact of the matter is Scott Linehan is making me miss Mike Martz. There I said it but please hold all stones, rotten tomatoes, and other projectiles until the end of the article.



I just don't believe in Scott Linehan at all, I'm willing to give him till the end of next year to show me something but right now he really isn't. Yeah its the players first year in his system but his system looks like crap. Martz had guys like Shaun Mcdonald and Mike Furrey looking amazing. With Linehan it seems like even with teams loading up on Calvin, nobody else can get open. Sure a lot of that falls on the players but how much? Are we saying that Kitna is that much better than Stafford? Mike Furrey and Shaun Mcdonald that much better than Bryant Johnson and Dennis Northcutt? Well Kitna is sitting on the bench in Dallas probably for the rest of his career. Dennis Northcutt is statistically better than Mike Furrey and Shaun Mcdonald combined this season. Mostly because McDonald hasn't played but still both Northcutt and Johnson beat out Furrey.

You might say that Martz had horrible play calling, well so does Linehan. Linehan's isn't as bad as Martz was when it comes to running but everything else Linehan does boggles my mind. No we aren't the most talented team but that shouldn't mean the play calling should be crappy. I swear that I sit there every Sunday felling like a physic when the Lions offense is on the field. The worst part about it is the plays I'm predicting don't match the situation the Lions are in on the field. Case in point if I see a 3rd and short I predict pass because thats what this genius usually dials up no matter how many times it burns us. Even if they are in a position where they have to go for it on 4th down if they don't convert, its still a pass! Martz had a better system point blank, and it showed because after he left we went from a top 10 offense to crap. Linehan has managed to take us from crap to crap but were all okay with it because we have low expectations. If he hasn't done something with this offense by the end of next season I want Martz back.......with a clause in his contract that says he must run the ball at least 20 times per game!


Now the Defense, yes the defense has been bad but I honestly think they have been getting better and better. I don't have the stats to back it up but I do know that the offense has been horrendous since Stafford came back from injury. That means that we have been putting our bad defense out on the field far more than we should have to. The Rams put up 17 points on us yet our offense was only able to manage 10, are we really going to put that on the defense?

Then there is the Seattle game which we could have run away with if the offense had been able to put together anything after our amazing start. It didn't happen though, Stafford turned the ball over 5 times, I don't care if it was Pittsburgh's defense on the field. If your quarterback throws five interceptions, your probably not going to win.

Last but not least is the Vikings game, we were only able to put up 10 points. Yet again were putting our bad defense out on the field and saying "win the game for us". Of course it didn't work out, your supposed to hide your weaknesses not say "here is our weak spot take your best shot". Then again, over the last few weeks the offense hasn't exactly looked like our strong point.


The offense also has less of an excuse than the defense, sure on offense Stafford missed a couple of weeks. On defense, were signing people off the street! We'll sign a guy, he'll get hurt that week, we'll put him on injured reserve then begin the cycle all over again.

Right now Cunningham is getting the benefit of the doubt because he has far less to work with, Kwan and Linehan, my patience are already beginning to wear thin.

Update

Hope to be able to work on the blog more soon, work has been kicking my butt recently. I still haven't been able to combine all the live updates from last sunday into one post so please excuse the mess.

32 to 20 after the interception is returned for a TD

The game ends on Stafford's 5th interception.

The defense holds again but the punt is downed inside the 10. 2:03 LEFT AND WE NEED A TOUCHDOWN TO WIN.

The offense does nothing thanks to another Stafford interception, thats 4 on the day.