Enough Excuses We Were Out Coached

Does talent play a role as to why the Lions are 0-3, yes. Losing your #1 QB is bad, Losing your #2 WR when there is nobody to replace him is horrible, and losing your #1 RB to top it all off is so unbelievably bad all you can really do is shake your head.

Through 3 game even with the injuries piling up, coaching could have easily turned two if not all three of our losses into victories. Let me start with my favorite target since week 1 of this year, Scott Linehan. Now Scotty's play call hasn't just bothered me this year, no, his play calling has bothered me since he was hired. From a article I wrote last November...

"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, it's the players' first year in his system, but his system looks like crap."

"I swear that I sit there every Sunday feeling 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 that's 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 fourth down if they don't convert, it's still a pass!”


"Linehan has managed to take us from crap to crap, but we're all okay with it because we have low expectations."

Linehan tried pounding the ball with Best up the middle all game in Chicago and it didn't work. He came back in week two and ran Best up the middle on 3rd and short against Philly then Schwartz let him do the same crap on 4th and short. Shockingly we didn't pick up the first and the worst part about it was we were in field goal range. This week against the Vikes I think it was Morris they tried it with but we got the same result, if Linehan is dead set on running right up the middle in those situations why not use Felton? Jahvid Best is more talented? Very true but how many times do we have to get stonewalled on 3rd or 4th and short before Linehan realizes that JAHVID BEST IS AN OUTSIDE THE TACKLES RUNNER! I'm not saying Best can't run up the middle but obviously he is better in space not trying to pound the ball up the middle with 8 or 9 guys in the box.



I’m sure everybody noticed the quote that doesn’t quite match up well with the others, last year I was complaining that Linehan always passed on 3rd and short and it burned us, this year I’m doing the same thing because he’s running and its burning us. Smith is 6‘’1 around 220, Best is 5‘’10 around 200, Linehan should have rolled out some of these HB Dives last year for Smith instead of trying to pass it on 3rd and short all the time. This year it seems as though watching HB Dives on you tube during the offseason has become Linehan’s new fetish of choice. Running the HB Dive a a couple times is fine but running it to the point where every fan watching at home knows your going to run it is downright stupid. There are things called HB pitches, there are HB off tackles, there are HB sweeps, there is even something called a play action pass. When everybody is stacked in the middle waiting for your small speedy HB to try to pound the rock between the tackles, good teams usually utilize one of the plays I’ve mentioned to pick up first downs. If Linehan doesn’t stop being so damn predictable I hope Schwartz takes Linehan out for dinner at the end of the season and buys him a big plate of “Your Ass Is Fired”.



Next on my **** list is Gunther Cunningham aka Rod Marenelli. What the hell was Gunther thinking this week against the Vikings? I seriously can’t come up with an explanation as to why we were letting the Vikings negate the talent on our defensive line by having the CBs playing 5 to 10 yards off. We could have had 4 clones of Reggie White playing on our defensive line today and it wouldn’t have mattered because as soon as Farve got the snap his was chucking it to the outside for an easy completion. It went on all game and I honestly don’t remember us adjusting to it and playing press any, it was kind of like having Rod back.



　

Last but not least is Schwartz and the special teams, again I’ll revert back to the articles I wrote last November...




“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? It's 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. “

　

Anybody else think this sounds eerily familiar? If Stefan Logan isn’t cut this week it’ll do nothing but make my argument stronger and make me think I stepped into a time machine and went back to last year.

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.

Lions Stay Active In Free Agency

If one thing can be said about coach Jim Schwartz and GM Martin Mayhew its that they just aren't sitting around doing nothing. Jim Schwartz isn't standing for underachieving players and if players want to start and want to keep their spots on the roster they better play well. That combined with a lot of injuries piling up have the Detroit Lions being more active in the free agent market than I have ever seen them.



With Adam Jennings hitting injured reserve and the injury to Calvin Johnson the Lions ended up with only three wide receivers against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They aren't going to make that mistake again, the Lions have re-signed WR John Standeford. To make room for him the Lions released veteran Chuck Darby who they had just re-signed last week which most likely means Sammie Hill and Grady Jackson are looking healthy.




The Lions Have placed DB Eric King on their injured reserve. Eric King was forced into starting in week one and was slaughtered by Drew Brees. Since then he played mostly nickel and dime corner after Phillip Buchanon became healthy and he was overtaken by the strong play of Will James. Still any loss to Detroit's already horrible secondary hurts, however this does leave them with an open roster spot and there are some good free agent DBs still on the market.



The Lions have also made a flurry of practice squad moves.In practice squad news The Lions placed DT Mathias Askew on practice squad/injured and released WR Logan Payne. The Lions signed WR Kole Heckendorf and DT Jervonte Jackson to the practice squad. The Lions released DB DeAndre Wright and signed DB DeMarcus Faggins. The Lions also sign DE Robert Henderson to their practice squad.