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.

The defense holds again, but now the offense has to do something, anything.

And the kick coverage remains horrible giving Seattle great field position.

Shit man, Linehan ALWAYS throws on 3rd and short but Hanson nails the field goal at least. 20 to 25 Seattle.

25 to 17 Seattle

The defense holds on 3rd but seattle steps on our throat by picking up the 4th down on a bonehead penalty but lets us back in it by only geting the field goal.

Stafford throws his 3rd pick not like it matters, it looked like a punt anyway. There is still a quarter left to play but i have a feeling its over.

Well the refs give seattle a touchdown but they screw up the extra point. 22 to 17 Detroit.

And we get pass interference on play that was uncatchable and the wr was holding the db? We got hit with the same shit call last week!

We fail to hold them again and have to punt, up by 1 but it feels like were losing.

Delmas just saved the defenses ass on a great hustle play and is the only reason Detroit is still up by 1

3 and 2 we choose to pass and Fitzsimmons drops it. I bet Stafford wishes he woulda ran with it because he had nothin but green.

At lest the defense holds them to 3 and out.

And the second half starts with horrible kick coverage who woulda guessed

Yuck, 17 to 13 Detroit but its ugly

Will James couldn't tackle a peewee football player if his life depended on it.

Jesus, Stafford is trying to force crap again and throws another pick. Last week wasn't his fault but this week its all him.

Our secondary gets shreaded but we held em to 3, 17 tp 10 Detroit.

And Stafford throws a pick on 3rd down, its starting to go downhill.

Calvin Johnson just got screwed on an obvious pass interference play.

After their drive should have ended on a fumble that was really a dropped pass. Seattle puts 7 on the board.

Hanson makes a field goal after that miss earlier. 17 to 0 Detroit

Detroit holds Seattle on 4th and 1, whats going on? Everything is going our way.

TOUCHDOWN BRYANT JOHNSON! He looked like Calvin on that play, 14 to 0 Detroit!

Live Blog And Game Recap

Updating the blog from my phone, its halftime and our special teams and offensive coordinators are idiots. How do you fall for a fake punt?

How the hell do you call a pass on 3rd and 4? Not only that, they call another pass on the next drive, 3rd and 2. We were running well, I could do a better job of calling plays for this team.

Holy crap are they serious, how do they expect to win? First possession of the second half, 3rd and 3, another pass and guess what they didn't get it.

This is turning into a live blog, is Scott Linehan drunk? He passes on 3rd and short but runs out of shotgun on 2nd and 14? I just don't understand.

WOOOO! Bryant Johnson finally makes a catch and Matthew Stafford takes it in for the touchdown. Then we actually converted the 2 point conversion!

My god Zack Follet just murdered the Rams returner. We were also able to hold them on 3rd down, starting to look better but now we need to score.

Good job pinning them deep Nick Harris, to bad we can't stop Steve Jackson. We gotta hold em from scoring here. COME ON DEFENSE!

WILL JAMES WITH THE STOP! Detroit ball at the 5, that's ugly but at least we got the ball with the game tied.

Damn, the one time we shoulda ran it on 3rd down its a fake draw, the real thing might have got a first, how ironic. Here we go asking the defense to save our ass again but it may be too much.

So it looks like were going to lose this game on a bogus pass interference call? Looked uncatchable to me, almost as bad as Peterson getting called for that noogie earlier. The refs absolutely blow calls in our games weekly.

The rams have to be paying the refs, nobody gets that many calls back to back. The zebras are giving this game away now, its pretty much over.


Well as you can see from what turned into a live blog session earlier, The Detroit Lions managed to blow the Rams game. However it truly was a team effort, the defense held them to 17 points, what more can you ask?

The wide receivers proved that other than Calvin Johnson none of them should be on this team next year. If you can't catch a pass that hits you in the hands, you shouldn't be in the NFL.

Matthew Stafford was actually very good, the fans at the game who were taunting him are idiots. If you didn't see the game, there were Joey chants, way to get plastered at the game and be idiots. Stafford looked like he actually got his overthrow problems in check, its not his fault the WRs all have butterfingers.

Zack Follet is a special teams monster, if he only makes one hit like that per season, he needs to stay on the roster. Delmas is the same way, he had some big plays today. Deandre Levy actually should have had a interception but thanks to Steven Jackson's pass interference not being called, no such luck. The returning Dewayne White on the other hand did come up with one, he seems to have a nose for interceptions.

Kevin Smith did pretty well until he went out with a hurt shoulder and Morris did just as well coming in as a backup. Defensively, it was Kevin Smith's heads up tackle that netted the Lions the safety.

Now as for the coaching, are you guys kidding me? Stan Kwan's special teams sucked on returns and fell for the fake punt. The only bright spot was Zack Follet but that has nothing to do with Kwan, Follet is just a hitter.

The Redskins took away play calling from Zorn and we need to do the same for Linehan. How does this joke not dial up a run on any of the 3rd and shorts we had when the receivers were dropping passes? This isn't rocket science, if its not working, try something else.

That pretty much sums up my Sunday, it wasn't [pretty and we gave away a winnable game. I had us down for at least four wins but now I'm saying were probably going to win two games and that's it. The coaches need to get their crap together because this loss was a complete team effort.