Hello all of my fellow Lionettes,
Let me start off saying how sorry I am for not posting the past decade well last few months but why argue semantics. Let me say I have been insanely busy at the office. Coupled with another bad season for our Lions my appetite for writing this blog got thrown out like some bad food left in the fridge.
Well the Lions season has come and gone. Thankfully! You know at the beginning of the season I really thought we would be 7-9. Boy was I wrong! 2-14 is not much better than last year’s 0-16 but when the house is burned down clearing the rubble is the first sign of progress. I am not going to say that the Lions are in a re-building phase but a BUILDING phase. That joke of a GM, Matt Millen left us with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the tank! Well maybe I am being too harsh. We have a few players that are worth something. Like Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson whom after a disappointing season the Lions front office need to kiss up to and keep him happy here in Detroit.
A quick tid bit my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti after this week’s devastating tragedy. I know a few of the Lions players Louis Delmas, Gosder Cherilus and Cliff Avril are personally affected and I can only hope and pray to the Lord that your family members are safe.
Special Teams Coach Stan Kwan has been dismissed by the Lions and as of this posting I am not sure whom the Lions will pick to replace him. I was hoping on Bobby April from the Buffalo Bills since they fired their entire staff and also as of today signed with the Philadelphia Eagles so he is out. I liked Stan Kwan and I know a lot of fans disliked him but he could only work with what he had. I do believe the Head Coach should have final say on the coaching staff and if Coach Schwartz did not feel he was the one to lead the Special Teams unit forward then I have to support that decision.
Another tidbit. The Lions coaching staff will coach the Under Armour Senior Bowl at the end of the month down in Mobile, Alabama January 30th. WOO-HOO! That is huge because the coaching staff will get a good look at some potential draftees. So that is a big plus. Detroit will coach the North Squad and the Miami Dolphins coaching staff will coach the South Squad.
The Lions 2010 opponents have been confirmed and are as follows. The schedule will be released in a couple of months which as soon as it comes out I will let you all know.
Let me start off saying how sorry I am for not posting the past decade well last few months but why argue semantics. Let me say I have been insanely busy at the office. Coupled with another bad season for our Lions my appetite for writing this blog got thrown out like some bad food left in the fridge.
Well the Lions season has come and gone. Thankfully! You know at the beginning of the season I really thought we would be 7-9. Boy was I wrong! 2-14 is not much better than last year’s 0-16 but when the house is burned down clearing the rubble is the first sign of progress. I am not going to say that the Lions are in a re-building phase but a BUILDING phase. That joke of a GM, Matt Millen left us with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the tank! Well maybe I am being too harsh. We have a few players that are worth something. Like Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson whom after a disappointing season the Lions front office need to kiss up to and keep him happy here in Detroit.
A quick tid bit my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti after this week’s devastating tragedy. I know a few of the Lions players Louis Delmas, Gosder Cherilus and Cliff Avril are personally affected and I can only hope and pray to the Lord that your family members are safe.
Special Teams Coach Stan Kwan has been dismissed by the Lions and as of this posting I am not sure whom the Lions will pick to replace him. I was hoping on Bobby April from the Buffalo Bills since they fired their entire staff and also as of today signed with the Philadelphia Eagles so he is out. I liked Stan Kwan and I know a lot of fans disliked him but he could only work with what he had. I do believe the Head Coach should have final say on the coaching staff and if Coach Schwartz did not feel he was the one to lead the Special Teams unit forward then I have to support that decision.
Another tidbit. The Lions coaching staff will coach the Under Armour Senior Bowl at the end of the month down in Mobile, Alabama January 30th. WOO-HOO! That is huge because the coaching staff will get a good look at some potential draftees. So that is a big plus. Detroit will coach the North Squad and the Miami Dolphins coaching staff will coach the South Squad.
The Lions 2010 opponents have been confirmed and are as follows. The schedule will be released in a couple of months which as soon as it comes out I will let you all know.
Home:
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins
New England Patriots
New York Jets
St. Louis Rams
Away:
Chicago Bears
Green Bay Packers
Minnestoa Vikings
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This is the end of the current scheduling formula and it is TBD when the new one will be made. As you can see we are playing the NFC East, our own division, the AFC East and the bottom feeders of the NFC West and NFC South which is the Rams and Buccaneers respectively. Our Thanksgiving game which is still ours for now will either be the Patriots or the Jets since we are due to play an AFC team on our Turkey Day. I am going to bet on the Patriots and we will see Tom Brady make his return to the state of Michigan.
Speaking of which you all want a good cry? When Tom Brady was drafted in 2000 by the New England Patriots in the 6th round you all want to know who we took when Tom Brady was available? Quinton Reese from Auburn was our 6th round pick in the 2000 draft! Who the hell is Quinton Reese you might ask? I HAVE NO CLUE! I could not even find which position he played. Maybe it was the team towel boy for all I know. This is just one instance of REALLY, REALLY bad drafting although this draft was prior to the Dark Ages of the Millen regime.
Here is the current roster of the Detroit Lions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Detroit_Lions_roster
Click the link because I could not cut and paste it like I wanted to into this blog. And yes there will be another roster turn-over maybe not as bad as last year’s but still another turn over. A lot of Free Agents that were brought in do not fit into the team’s long-term plans. They were brought in to fill holes and it is very apparent that those holes need to be addressed in the draft.
Next item of business the draft in April! I CAN HARDLY WAIT! Some of you will see that I have a countdown on my GroupWise Messenger status bar in the Senate. The draft is of course being held over the course of three days in prime-time. Thursday night April 22nd will be the first round. Friday night April 23rd will be rounds two and three. Saturday April 24th will be rounds four through seven. I am going to take a contingent of fans Thursday night to Ford Field for the Lions Draft Party if anyone is interested. I will get more information to all of you as we get closer. I went last year and it was fun other than the fans booing Matt Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew and Louis Delmas when they were announced. However, I clapped and cheered because I love this team. Once the pick is announced they are Lions and need to be supported 100%.
Quick note about the coming play-offs hopefully the Lions will get there within the next two years. I figure we are two more drafts away from being a contender within the division. I am pulling for the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC and pretty much any team other than the Ravens in the AFC. Your probably wondering why? Well my Lionettes I am going to answer your enquiring minds. No team should go to the Superbowl that used the Lions as a stepping stone to get there. The Ravens embarrassed the Lions this year so I am indifferent to the Colts, Jets or Chargers making it to the Superbowl. In the NFC the Cardinals, Vikings and Saints all beat the Lions and Minnesota who I despise did it twice. So that is my rationale. I am not asking you to agree with it and some of you might say that is dumb. But I do not want my Lions being a footnote on their stupid DVD highlighting all of their accolades.
Next thing I want to talk about is the Lions draft picks or should I say potentials. Everyone in Lions nation myself included want Nebraska Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh but since we have the #2 pick he may not be there when the St. Louis Rams have the #1 overall and may snag him. We need the Rams to fall head over heels in love with either QB Jimmy Clausen from Notre Dame or QB Sam Bradford from Oklahoma. Your all wondering why the Rams would take a QB with their pick? Well they need a QB and most of the QBs will be off the board by the time they pick again at the top of the 2nd round. Unless QB Colt McCoy from Texas falls to the top of the 2nd round then they are covered. But they or any team for that matter cannot count on that. So we might take Tennessee Safety Eric Berry or Defensive Tackle Gerald McCoy from Oklahoma. I am pretty certain that our first pick will be a defensive player.
In the coming draft we pick second in Rounds 1-5.
We have the Denver Broncos 5th round pick because of a trade from the 2009 draft.
We have one pick in the 6th round.
We don’t have a pick in the 7th round because we owe the Buffalo Bills for the S Ko Simpson trade.
We get a 7th round pick from the New York Jets for the QB Kevin O’Connell trade but I am not sure if it is for the 2010 or 2011 draft. Compensatory picks from the league will be determined later once free agents losses have been assessed.
My wish-list of picks are a Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, Two Cornerbacks or a Corner Back and Safety, a Left Guard and then Best Player Available. We can hope that we have another good draft class and judging by contributors from the 2009 class I feel there is real room for optimism since this draft is stocked with DLine.
Well I hope to post again soon. Hopefully the wait won’t be as long next time. Well everyone take great care do not give up hang tough and GO LIONS!
