The Lions Den

All The Time In The World

2011-02-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hello My Lionettes!

Your wondering what my recent blog title means. Well my Lionettes I will answer your enquiring minds. It was the name of the last episode of the TV series Alias with Jennifer Garner. I thought it a fitting title because of the optimism for next season. It certainly has been awhile since my last post and for that I am sorry. I know many of you have been waiting for my posts much like a small child awaits their next bed time story. I promise to make this one a good one. There are lots of things to catch-up on.

Well let’s see our mighty Detroit Lions finished their season 6-10 winning their last four games with division wins against the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. More importantly picking up two road victories against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins! It was such a relief to see them snap their road losing streak and proves that this team is making the right moves and improving.

A lot of league pundits and analysts are saying what I’ve been preaching that this team will be a force to be reckoned with in the next couple of seasons. This team was competitive in every game and did not get blown out by half-time. There is much work still to be done and providing a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is approved, look for the Lions to do some major damage in the NFC North next 2011 season! Who knows maybe next SuperBowl it will be all about the Lions and some poor saps from the AFC!

Some key things the Lions need to do this off-season everyone come back healthy and ready to start training camp. Need another solid draft and free agency period and resign some players like CB Chris Houston, LBs Bobby Carpenter and Landon Johnson. Key ingredient is Quarterback Matthew Stafford coming back healthy from shoulder surgery and ready to be the leader of this team! As most of you have heard Matt Stafford underwent successful shoulder surgery and God willing his problematic shoulder will be a thing of the past. I do not believe he is injury prone, according to his coach at Georgia he never had these type of injuries. I believe he is just the victim of some horrible luck.

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Lions-QB-Matthew-Stafford-Undergoes-Successful-Shoulder-Surgery/78e53a3f-48f8-452c-86bc-9da2c40e680d

Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh is becoming the face of the franchise with his recent accolades. Here are a couple of links about him earning Defensive Rookie of the Year and Rookie of the Year Honors!

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Suh-Named-Sporting-News-Rookie-of-the-Year/5fe916f9-4832-4e60-b947-859a70ce8e55

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Suh-Voted-2010-Pepsi-NFL-Rookie-of-the-Year/dd01fe65-e050-4c28-ac01-d7e3509ede29

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Suh-Named-2010-Pepsi-NFL-Rookie-of-the-Year/af9cfdfd-e872-4d70-88f2-b4a2ecb4dbc5

We finally have Pro-Bowlers! Wide Receiver Calvin Johnson and Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh were both named starters for the Pro-Bowl although Suh did not play opting to get shoulder surgery so he will be ready for training camp.

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Lions-DT-Ndamukong-Suh-to-Undergo-Shoulder-Surgery/ff7ef04f-135c-425b-b1d5-c8e9d0f44e9e

I love this guy! He thinks of his team first and helping them get to the next level. He did attend the Pro-Bowl to support Calvin ‘Megatron’ Johnson as well as lobby a few free agents about coming to play for Detroit! Such a class act!

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Johnsons-Pro-Bowl-Presence-Highlights-Talent-in-Detroit/e1d4d73b-a113-4821-8555-a55e0329fc61

Here is next season’s schedule. This is of course is tentative on whether we have football in 2011 but based on current scheduling formula this is the current lineup. Dates and times will be determined sometime in late Spring early Summer. I personally see some winnable games and no reason why we cannot compete for a play-off spot next year!

Home Away

Chicago Bears Chicago Bears

Green Bay Packers Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Vikings

Atlanta Falcons New Orleans Saints

Carolina Panthers Tama Bay Buccaneers

San Francisco 49’s Dallas Cowboys

Kansas City Chiefs Denver Broncos

San Diego Chargers Oakland Raiders

You know what be super awesome for a third alternate uniform? Silver Jerseys and all Honolulu Blue Pants! Currently they use the ‘ThrowBacks’ circa 1950’s era. I will be certain to mention it to the team at the next season ticket holders meeting.

The 2011 NFL draft will be a three day event (like last year) April 28^th-30^th at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Here is a link from Wikipedia on the 2011 NFL Draft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_NFL_Draft

There will be lots more info coming your way as we get closer to the NFL draft. As it stands right now we have 7 picks in the 2011 NFL Draft, one in each of the 7 rounds. Here is my current wish list for draft needs:

1^st Round OLB (Outside Linebacker) The Linebacker group is the most critical need, with OLB Julian Peterson not expected to return next season and OLB Zack Follett not certain to return because of his neck injury.

2^nd Round CB (Corner Back) Need a shutdown Corner and this draft has a lot of Corner Backs available and we should get a starter in the 2^nd round.

3^rd Round SS (Strong Safety) Pair a good starting Safety next to S Louis Delmas.

4^th Round WR (Wide Receiver) To cement the third WR spot behind WR Calvin Johnson and WR Nate Burleson. WR Derrick Williams could be released or traded.

5^th Round QB (Quarterback) Not sure if QB Drew Stanton will be resigned and whether they keep QB Zac Robinson on the roster.

6^th Round BPA (Best Player Available)

7^th Round BPA (Best Player Available)

Here is a very funny spoof on Quarterback Bret Favre on YouTube! There is some bad language in the video though so you are warned.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POyFvDgV2cU&feature=feedf

Here is another YouTube video spoofing the Pure Michigan Ads using the Lions as the subject, pretty funny again some bad language so that is my disclaimer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FJoRxT6B5g

Well that’s all I have for now my Lionettes enjoy your SuperBowl Day. Some of you are wondering what my stance is on it well. I do not care for either team especially the Packers since they are a division rival. I believe the Pittsburgh Steelers will win 35-27. Probably get it wrong but I don’t see this a very high scoring game especially with two of the leagues best defenses bashing heads today.

It is a new dawn for our Lions! Great things are coming! I will have more draft and scouting combine info for all of you really soon! Take care everyone! Drive safe don’t do anything I wouldn’t do which isn’t saying much and have a great time watching the SuperBowl!

GO NOBODY! AND BEAT EACH OTHER AKA Steelers and Packers

Last but not least GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

You Are NOT The Wind Beneath My Wings

2010-09-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

Did you ever know that you're my hero? and everything I would like to be?I can fly higher than an eagle, 'cause you are NOT the wind beneath my wings!

A very good evening my Lionettes :-) What did you all think about my remix version of Did you ever know that you’re my hero by Bette Middler? Yeah pretty bad I know. I thought it was appropriate since the Eggles are coming to town and yes I spelled it that way on purpose. You all laughed, admit it!

This Sunday’s game will be televised avoiding a blackout, not like it matters to me since I am going to the game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/detroit_lions_sell_out_sundays.html

The Lions run offense needs to get established because we sure cannot win any games like when we played the Bears we only garned 20 yards on 21 rushing attempts. That cannot happen again. Check out this article by Tom Kowalski.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lions_know_they_have_to_get_ru.html

Linebacker Ernie Sims will be making his return to Ford Field this Sunday. I know some of you had misgivings about the Lions trading him but he was drafted for that Tampa 2 Defense which we no longer run and he was a Matt Millen pick. I wonder how many missed tackles he will have? University of Michigan Defensive End star Brandon Graham will also be returning to Michigan since he plays with the Eggles now.

Here is an article that has some links rounded up. It is pretty short and worth checking out.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/detroit_lions_links_1.html

Detroit will finally have some cheerleaders! They are not sanctioned by the Detroit Lions however. They are more or less volunteers trying to drum up buzz and support with the hopes that they will be made the Detroit Lions official cheerleaders. They are called the Detroit Pride and I wish them nothing but the best and hope that eventually the Lions will agree with us fans and realize we want a cheerleading squad that will help cheer this team at Ford Field.

Here is an audio interview with Coach Jim Schwartz on Quarterback Shaun Hill taking over for the injured Matthew Stafford this Sunday. Pretty good audio interview if you have the time to listen.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/jim_schwartz_on_wbbl_2.html

Last Thursday there was a Lunchtime Q&A with Tom Kowalski on MLive. Fans posted their questions and you can read them. It’s not that long and worth browsing through. I didn’t get my questions posted and the two I had submitted were if the Lions are finally going to look at drafting a LT with First Round pick next draft and if Stafford might be back sooner than later from his shoulder injury.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lunch_with_killer_tom_kowalski.html

There is some good news on our injury list. LB DeAndre Levy and Safety Louis Delmas are both expected to start but unfortunately DE Cliff Avril is expected to miss this game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/detroit_lions_get_good_news_on.html

Defensive Coordinator Gunther Cunningham is very high on DE KyleVanden Bosch. Check out this article. I wish we had an entire team of guys like him. If we did I GUARANTEE multiple Super Bowl vistories. I am thinking about getting his jersey the next time I order a jersey from the Roar & More :-)
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/detroit_lions_kyle_vanden_bosc.html

In order for us to have any success of winning this game against the Eggles our defense must STOP Michael Vick. We have got to contain him. If we don’t keep him in check he’ll have 150 yards rushing on us in the first-half alone and our defense will be spending the entire game on the field like a lone survivor on a desert island. Our Dline needs to get to him so I can imagine that Gunther will be dialing up A LOT of blitz packages.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/pressure_will_be_on_lions_defe.html

Well my Lionettes enjoy football this weekend. Keep the faith and believe that good things come to those who wait. God Bless you all! I’ll post after the game against the Eggles probably on Monday or Tuesday. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UnBearable!

2010-09-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hello My Lionettes,

WOW where do I start? First off let me apologize for not posting sooner this week. I had to wait until emotions calmed down. There are days that are hard being a Lions fan and Sunday was one of the worst days ever. Not only were we robbed of a road win but our leader on offense Quarterback Matt Stafford is out 4-6 weeks with a shoulder injury. This past week has been one of the toughest ones I have had to go through as a fan. This was truly heartbreaking. Since our beloved Lions were robbed of our first win of the season, we’ll have to look to the home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday for our first win of the season. By the way since Matthew Stafford is out, Quarterback Shaun Hill is going to start.

In a way I’m kind of glad I didn’t host my Welcome Back Detroit Lions Kick-Off Party this year since it would have been a really sad affair. That and the money that would have been spent on this party was used to but Lions season tickets instead. I guess I dodged a bullet on that one huh my Lionettes? Not to worry providing there is football in 2011 I am planning a Draft Party in April but that is also contingent if I am still gainfully employed with the Michigan State Senate.

I am going to be throwing A LOT of links at all of you in this post. They are all worth reading providing you have the time. I know I try to have by own substance when it comes to these posts but there was so much information these past few days I wanted to share with all of you.

Tom Kowalski from MLive gives letter grades to offense, defense, special teams and coaching from the Lions vs. Bears game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/grading_the_lions_lack_of_runn.html

Here is a photo slide show of the game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/photos_chicago_bears_19_detroi.html

Ironically it was the Lions defense that kept us in the game. Our revamped DLine was night and day difference than the previous ones. Our offense let us down except it was nice to see RB Jahvid Best get two touchdowns. Losing Matt Stafford at the end of the first half was devastating to say the least. He is the heart and soul of this team and I can only hope and pray that the team can rally behind Shaun Hill for the next few weeks until Matthew’s return presumably October 31st our first game after the bye-week which unfortunately I will most likely have to miss due to campaign duties.

By the way thank you to all of you who signed the Get Well card for Matthew. I mailed it this morning to the Allen Park training facility so hopefully they will get it to him.

Here is an article from Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press with his take on the game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/calvin_johnsons_overruled_touc.html

Here is an excerpt from the above article from Brian on LT Jeff Backus getting beaten and failing to protect Matthew Stafford causing his injury which puts Stafford out the next 4-6 weeks.

“Let's get something straight once and for all: Backus is below-average NFL left tackle. Period. If Schwartz continues to push the agenda that Backus is a Pro Bowl-caliber performer, he's going to lose a lot of the respect he has built up with the fans since his arrival. There's no disputing the cause of Stafford's shoulder injury this time. The Lions' front office is rife with Backus apologists and there are lots of lemmings in the media who'll believe anything team management tells them. The sad truth is the Lions cannot continue to put Stafford and the future of this rebuilding franchise at risk of some sort of ridiculous loyalty to a substandard left tackle. It's a business. So treat it like a business. Make drafting a franchise left tackle in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft.Speaking of draft picks, I must repeat the following: The Lions fumbled when they drafted tight end Brandon Pettigrew at No. 20 overall in the 2009 NFL draft and passed up offensive tackle Michael Oher. For all of the draft picks general manager Martin Mayhew and Schwartz have gotten right, they got that one dead wrong. Oher became a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle as a rookie and can play either the left or right side. The Lions can't afford to risk Stafford's health on the protection of people such as Backus and right tackle Gosder Cherilus.”

I wanted either a CB, LB or Safety with our First Round pick next April but now I am hoping beyond hope that our First Round pick next April is used to draft a franchise LT that can protect Matt Stafford’s blind side!

Here is an article about the NFL referee explaining the call. I do not agree with the call of the Calvin Johnson TD being ruled incomplete. In every other football organization it would have been ruled a touchdown including and I am not making this one up the Lingerie Football League!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/referee_gene_steratore_explain.html

Here is the rule from the above article mentioning their ill-conceived rationale for the ruling.

"The ruling is that in order for the catch to be completed he has got to maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process of the catch.''He was on his behind before he rolled over. If he stayed on his behind would it have been a touchdown?"No. We don't play with the two feet or one knee or anything of that scenario. We're talking now about the process of the catch. He's catching the football, as he goes to the ground, he must maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire process. So as he continues to fall if he fell with two feet and his elbow hit the ground and came out, it would be incomplete.''It looked like he had the ball up in one hand while on his rear end, but there was continuation?"Well, the process was not finished until he finished that roll and the entire process of the catch.''

Here is a feel-good story on Matt Stafford which is worth the read.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/matthew_staffords_lions_teamma_1.html

There were a few positives such as DT Ndamukong Suh getting his first sack as well as CB Aaron Berry getting an interception and RB Jahvid Best scoring two touchdowns. Unfortunately all of that has been overshadowed by WR Calvin Johnson having his game-wining TD pass ruled incomplete.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/who_knew_the_detroit_lions_def.html

Here is an article from Tom Kowalski about some of the rookie mistakes made in the game.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lions_notes_rookies_contribute.html

Here is a story recapping the game from Tom Kowalski of MLive.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lions_lose_matthew_stafford_to.html

The link below is from a Monday morning chat where you can log in and post questions. I do not think that many questions were answered it was basically fans venting after our stolen victory.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/live_chat_monday_morning_quart.html

A cool article about DE Kyle Vanden Bosch having a solid performance.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/kyle_vanden_bosch_among_bright.html

Here is a video of the post-game breakdown with Brian Van Ochten and Bill ‘The Huge Show’ Simonson.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/video_brian_vanochten_and_bill.html

This article is about Quarterback Matt Stafford’s injury.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/matthew_staffords_injury_is_no.html

Here is an article with Coach Schwartz dismissing the talk about Matt Stafford being injury prone and an article discussing how much time he could miss. He is not injury prone, he has just taken some hard hits because that poor excuse for an Offensive Line failed to protect him yet again.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lions_jim_schwartz_dismisses_i.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lions_matthew_stafford_could_m.html

Here is an audio clip with WR Calvin Johnson being on the Huge Show talking about his TD catch that was ruled incomplete.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/calvin_johnson_on_the_huge_sho.html

Here is a Week Two Preview chat with Brian Van Ochten. He answers a lot of question on some of the injuries and the status of Matt Stafford so it is worth checking out.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/live_chat_lions-eagles_week_2.html

I gave more links than I would of liked in this post but there is a lot of worthy information in them. I will post most likely either Friday or Saturday before this Sunday’s game against the Eagles.

I will end this post by calling someone out in particular. Although still saddened by our loss I am still angry. If I EVER see this freak show on the street I am taking out my frustration out on him and I will smash his head like a rotten tomato! So consider yourself warned! It case your wondering it is a boss enemy called the Executioner Majini from the Resident Evil 5 videogame who also made an appearance in the recent Resident Evil Afterlife movie. http://residentevil.wikia.com/Executioner_Majini Just kidding my Lionettes. I thought you all could use a good laugh :-)

Well that’s it for now. Take care and stay strong. We have gotten through worse, we’ll get through this. Until next time my Lionettes, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Cuidado La muerte peluda! Cuidado La muerte peluda!

2010-09-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Howdy my Lionettes!

No you did not read that title to my latest blog entry wrong. It is Spanish for Beware the Furry Death! I was inspired from an episode of one of my favorite shows South Park where they were poking fun at the movie Cloverfield. Instead of some big scary monster tearing apart New York City the South Park Episode had giant guinea pigs wrecking havoc. It’s pretty funny and I highly recommend checking the episode out.

Well Summer has ended and Fall is officially here with the kick off of football season. College kicked off last season and the NFL is tonight in fact with the New Orleans Saints facing the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions will open up on the road against the Chicago Bears this Sunday at Soldier Field at 1:00 p.m. It is away so it will not be blacked out.

Well anyhoo my Lionettes forward march! Let’s get to it shall we? My last blog entry had my projection of the Lions 53-man roster as well as the practice squad. Well I had a few wrong and was not anticipating the Lions trading TE Dan Gronkowski to the Denver Broncos for CB Alphonso Smith as one example.

Here is the press release from the Official Page of the Detroit Lions announcing the 53-man roster although I cut and pasted the depth chart from Wikipedia. Also they are hyper-linked so if you were to click on the individual player it’ll take you to their page on Wikipedia although I would not take Wikipedia for gospel.

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Lions-Trim-Roster-to-Final-53-Man-Limit/04bfeefe-f4fb-4632-8186-ac9ead658059

Quarterbacks
14 Shaun Hill
9 Matthew Stafford
5 Drew Stanton

Running Backs
44 Jahvid Best
21 Aaron Brown
45 Jerome Felton FB
28 Maurice Morris
34 Kevin Smith

Wide Receivers
13 Nate Burleson
80 Bryant Johnson
81 Calvin Johnson
11 Stefan Logan
12 Derrick Williams

Tight Ends
89 Will Heller
84 Brandon Pettigrew
85 Tony Scheffler

Offensive Linemen
76 Jeff Backus T
77 Gosder Cherilus T
70 Jason Fox T
65 Dylan Gandy C
78 Corey Hilliard T
66 Stephen Peterman G
51 Dominic Raiola C
63 Manny Ramirez G
67 Rob Sims G

Defensive Linemen
92 Cliff Avril DE
96 Andre Fluellen DT
91 Sammie Hill DT
94 Lawrence Jackson DE
75 Turk McBride DE
90 Ndamukong Suh DT
93 Kyle Vanden Bosch DE
99 Corey Williams DT
79 Willie Young DE

Linebackers
50 Isaiah Ekejiuba ILB
49 Zack Follett OLB
41 Spencer Havner OLB
55 Landon Johnson OLB
54 DeAndre Levy ILB
58 Ashlee Palmer OLB
59 Julian Peterson OLB

Defensive Backs
32 Aaron Berry CB
39 C. C. Brown SS
26 Louis Delmas FS
23 Chris Houston CB
25 Randy Phillips FS
27 Alphonso Smith CB
42 Amari Spievey FS
24 Jonathan Wade CB
29 John Wendling SS

Special Teams
4 Jason Hanson K
2 Nick Harris P
48 Don Muhlbach LS

Reserve Lists
97 Korey Bosworth OLB (IR)
72 Trevor Canfield G (IR)
60 Joe Cohen DT (IR)
95 Jared DeVries DE (IR)
46 Richard Dickson TE (IR)
57 Jordon Dizon OLB (IR)
47 Jake Nordin FB (IR)
31 Jack Williams CB (PUP)

Practice Squad
61 Robert Callaway DT
53 Caleb Campbell OLB
40 J. J. Finley TE
64 Dan Gerberry C
33 Jonathan Hefney CB
17 Michael Moore WR
43 Paul Pratt CB
18 Tim Toone WR

They released some veterans like CB Dre Bly and OT Jon Jansen but the front office is looking at getting younger and finding players they can build a core nucleus around like Matt Stafford, Jahvid Best and Ndamukong Suh. Those are the kind of players that this team will be built around. The old adage is you build your team through the draft and supplement with free agency and trades. We are still two solid drafts away from being a major threat to the entire NFL. Someday fans from other teams will be saying “Oh crap we gotta play the Lions this weekend” and it’ll be fear. I can only hope to drink their tears like water when their teams are soundly beaten!

Tom Kowalski the beat writer for the Lions on MLive had a lunch time Q/A with fans and during my lunch break I posted a question and it was answered by him! I cut and pasted what I asked and his response and you can check out the link and read the other questions that were asked. Although my question is the only one of consequence LOL Just joking I am not that conceited well maybe just a little :-)

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/lunch_with_killer_tom_kowalski_5.html

Comment From Kenny:
Hey Killer love your stuff do you think the lack of a solid Bears receiving corp might nullify our weak secondary?

TomKowalski:
not at all ... those guys might not be marquee names, but they're very dangerous ... very fast ...

Here is a Poll question by Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press on how many wins the Lions will get this season. Click on the link to vote!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/poll_question_how_optimistic_a.html

Here is a video podcast with Brian Van Ochten and Bill “the Huge Show” Simonson on the Lions Bears Preview. It’s only a few minutes long and well worth watching.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/09/video_lions-bears_preview_with.html

Here is an interesting article from the Lions website on how our offense can counter any Bears Defensive scheme Rod Marinelli throws at us.
http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Lions-Look-to-Negate-Whichever-Defensive-Scheme-Chicago-Tries/e18d1401-4691-4656-b272-7d815076408c

I know what your all thinking your like “Yeah, yeah, yeah this is all very good information and insite but what is your prediction for the game this Sunday? I have most excellent news for you my Lionettes! I believe the Lions will go to Soldier Field this Sunday and beat the Chicago Bears by a score of 38 to 31. The Bears are favorites by 6 points but I believe we will prevail! This is not the same team that has taken the field the past two seasons and it will be shown on Sunday!

I want to mention to the Lions players that this weekend begins a new era. It does not matter what has been in the past. All you need to know is a new day has dawned and you will be a part of this turnaround. Believe it and feel it. Sisu! If you don’t know what it means it’s a phrase they say up in the UP. Sisu is a Finnish word that stands for "strength of will, determination, perseverance and acting rationally in the face of adversity."

I will post most likely on Monday or Tuesday recapping the game. All of you have a safe and blessed weekend. Until next time enjoy the game drink some beer and eat some chicken wings :-) GO LIONS!

Cuts, Cuts, Cuts and Other Stuff!

2010-09-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

Howdy my Lionettes,

Well just like Christmas, the pre-season has come and gone. But don’t despair it’ll be back in the Summer of 2011 God will if there is a new Collective Bargaining Agreement reached by then. I am sure there are worse things to consider then no football in 2011 but none are really coming too mind.

I went to the final pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills and had a pretty good time. You know what really annoyed me about this particular trip to Ford Field? It was the fact that me and my bestest buddy Ben had to park in a really crummy parking lot because there was an uber lame Eminem/Jay-Z concert going on at Comerica Park. The real tragedy was how could so many people want to see two no talent hacks instead of the mighty Detroit Lions? That question will befuddle me for the rest of my life!

The stadium was one of the poorest attendances I had ever seen at Ford Field. I guess that goes to reason since the projected starters only played barely the first quarter. In case you missed it my Lionettes the Lions won their final pre-season game by a score of 28-23. I am encouraged by some of the play of our back-ups like Corner Back Paul Pratt intercepting a ball and running it back 106 yards to the house! Quarterback Drew Stanton has a reputation of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. His two touchdown passes secured a win for us to go 3-1 in the pre-season.

Here is a really cool link sent to me by my bestest buddy Ben that will give you a neat perspective like what it would be like coming through the tunnel at Ford Field. Check it out it is really cool!

Want to know what it's like to walk onto Ford Field as a player... http://www.immersivemedia.com/demos/index.php?clip=Video15

Well my Lionettes here it is as promised. The projected 53-man roster, I however upstaged the rest of the NFL world by throwing in the Practice Squad and the Injured Reserve (IR) List. TOP THAT!

Depth Chart

Quarterbacks
14 Shaun Hill
9 Matthew Stafford
5 Drew Stanton

Running Backs
44 Jahvid Best
21 Aaron Brown
45 Jerome Felton FB
28 Maurice Morris
34 Kevin Smith

Wide Receivers
13 Nate Burleson
80 Bryant Johnson
81 Calvin Johnson
86 Dennis Northcutt
12 Derrick Williams

Tight Ends
89 Will Heller
84 Brandon Pettigrew
85 Tony Scheffler

Offensive Linemen
76 Jeff Backus T
77 Gosder Cherilus T
70 Jason Fox T
65 Dylan Gandy C
68 Jon Jansen T
66 Stephen Peterman G
51 Dominic Raiola C
63 Manny Ramirez G
67 Rob Sims G

Defensive Linemen
92 Cliff Avril DE
96 Andre Fluellen DT
91 Sammie Hill DT
94 Lawrence Jackson DE
75 Turk McBride DE
90 Ndamukong Suh DT
93 Kyle Vanden Bosch DE
99 Corey Williams DT

Linebackers
50 Rocky Boiman ILB
53 Caleb Campbell OLB
52 Vinny Ciurciu OLB
49 Zack Follett OLB
54 DeAndre Levy ILB
59 Julian Peterson OLB

Defensive Backs
40 Aaron Berry CB
32 Dre' Bly CB
39 C. C. Brown SS
26 Louis Delmas FS
33 Jonathan Hefney CB
23 Chris Houston CB
38 T. J. Rushing CB
42 Amari Spievey FS
24 Jonathan Wade CB
35 John Wendling SS
29 Eric King CB

Special Teams
4 Jason Hanson K
2 Nick Harris P
48 Don Muhlbach LS

Reserve Lists
94 Copeland Bryan DE (IR)
72 Trevor Canfield G (IR)
60 Joe Cohen DT (IR)
95 Jared DeVries DE (IR)
46 Richard Dickson TE (IR)
57 Jordon Dizon OLB (IR)
47 Jake Nordin FB (IR)
25 David Roach SS (IR)
31 Jack Williams CB (PUP)
33 Jahi Word-Daniels FS (IR)

Practice Squad
83 Tim Toone WR
82 Dan Gronkowski TE
78 Corey Hilliard T
79 Willie Young DE
97 Korey Bosworth OLB
3 Steve Hauschka K
43 Randy Phillips FS
41 Dante Wesley CB

Well my Lionettes it has been a full day, I am really tired and I have a long day of drinking beer ahead of me tomorrow. Planning on drinking like a fish! And Griff I am calling you out on Bean Bag Toss Buddy! So as always stay the course, keep the faith and God Bless each and every one of you! GO SPARTANS and yes unfortunately GO WOLVERINES for some of you and last but certainly not least GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dog, dog, dog eat dog; Dog, dog, dog eat dog

2010-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

No my Lionettes, I am not advocating eating man’s best friend. Although I am a cat person I’m not a dog abuser. I figured the title for this entry in my blog would reference a song by the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. I got the idea from seeing a clip of the Cleveland Brown fan base getting silly and causing all sorts of shenanigans and that song was playing in the background. There is your ten cent trivia for the day on how I come up with this particular wacky title for this entry.

Anyhoo I trust that all of my very loyal readers are doing well. By the way I do not write this thing for my own edification. I do it for all of you my Lionettes! Yes I am talking to those of you who could care less about the NFL and especially the Lions. That and I’m bucking for a guest columnist spot with the Detroit News. It can happen! But you see this where I am doing a service for the Lions organization, by spreading the glad tidings of joy that are coming our way with a winning team.

You might be saying “it’s only pre-season and we fall into this trap every season”. Well true and true. However, unlike the Matt Millen years of darkness; the team is headed in the right direction and building a strong foundation for the future. We have a legitimate Quarterback in Matt Stafford as well as an offensive arsenal that would but the USS Ronald Reagan’s to shame.

Well my Lionettes our most beloved NFL franchise team the Detroit Lions beat the Cleveland Browns by a score of 35-27. I was in attendance personally and I felt it was my cheerleading that helped bring us a win at home. Just joking! I am not that conceited! It was an enjoyable game and a lot of fun. Since this is my first year buying season tickets I hope I will be witness to our march to the Super Bowl. Hey dreams are free ya know!

There were a lot of good plays on offense and some not so good plays on defense. Although I wish I could dissect every facet of this game I will post a story from Tom Kowalski from MLive which has his recap of the game. It’s a bit lengthy but well worth the time to read.

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b5BfR

The major concern I have after watching the game is the playmaking of the linebackers and the secondary. There were too many missed tackles, penalties, a fumble from RB Kevin Smith that cost us 6 points. Offensively they are clicking quite well. Matt Stafford is spreading the ball around and was solid on the day with 13/17, 141 yards, no touchdowns but more importantly no interceptions. He seems to be very focused and cutting down on the mistakes.

I really believe that if we can sustain offensive drives and keep our defense off the field for as long as possible then hopefully we can get through this season with a sub-par linebacking corp and secondary. If we have CBs Wade and Houston back healthy, I think they are serviceable. Maybe not the greatest CB tandem but certainly not the worst! Who knows maybe the secondary won’t be as bad as we might think. Both of them have been injured and have not had a chance to gel together as a unit.

I do have a dreadful feeling that like the OLine from last year the Secondary is going to be this season’s problem child. The obvious key is staying healthy, if we do that we will be all right but if Wade or Houston goes down at any point in the season, it could be serious trouble.

There is the possibility of getting some decent depth guys fro our linebacker and secondary units by waiting to see who gets cut from other teams. That is a most definite. Tomorrow is the first round of cuts where teams have to cut their rosters to 75 players. This does not include those players on Injure Reserve. If you are interested here is the current batch of Lions who are on IR.

Reserve Lists

94 Copeland Bryan DE (IR)
72 Trevor Canfield G (IR)
60 Joe Cohen DT (IR)
95 Jared DeVries DE (IR)
46 Richard Dickson TE (IR)
57 Jordon Dizon OLB (IR)
47 Jake Nordin FB (Waived/Injured)
25 David Roach SS (Waived/Injured)
31 Jack Williams CB (Active/PUP)
33 Jahi Word-Daniels FS (IR)

Here is an updated Linebacker and Defensive Back list.

Linebackers

-- Rocky Boiman ILB
97 Korey Bosworth OLB
53 Caleb Campbell OLB
52 Vinny Ciurciu OLB
50 Isaiah Ekejiuba ILB
49 Zack Follett OLB
55 Landon Johnson OLB
54 DeAndre Levy ILB
58 Ashlee Palmer OLB
59 Julian Peterson OLB

Defensive Backs

40 Aaron Berry CB
32 Dre' Bly CB
39 C. C. Brown SS
26 Louis Delmas FS
33 Jonathan Hefney CB
23 Chris Houston CB
29 Eric King CB
43 Randy Phillips FS
36 Paul Pratt CB
38 T. J. Rushing CB
30 Ko Simpson SS
42 Amari Spievey FS
24 Jonathan Wade CB
35 John Wendling SS
41 Dante Wesley CB

So tomorrow we’ll be down to 75 players and then on September 4th we will have the cut to 53. Most people tend to forget that there is also the 8-man practice squad to consider but the danger in that is players can be plucked by other teams. The last pre-season game will be this Thursday September 2nd at 6:30 p.m. it will be blacked out in all probability like the Cleveland game. Especially when the starters will barely play the first quarter to prevent a major injury before they open up the regular season on the road against Chicago on September 12th.

Well my Lionettes it has been a very long day I am exhausted and I think I am going to go home now. Again I never get tired of saying this. Stay positive and encouraged. Things are improving. Still a long ways to go but it will happen someday. We have been far too patient for it not too. I’ll have another post out on Friday after the Bills game with a recap of that game as well as my prediction for the 53-man roster. Take care everyone and God bless you all. Until next time my Lionettes GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've Got High Hopes

2010-08-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes; He's got high apple pie, in the sky hopes! No my Lionettes I am not preparing to rejoin the MSU Glee Club, well not yet at least. That song by Frank Sinatra is appropriate for the hope our beloved Lions continue to instill in us. Well my Lionettes we got our first win of the pre-season with a 25-20 win over the Denver Broncos.

Yes I know it's only pre-season and we must not fall into the same trap we seem to every season by reading too much into meaningless pre-season games. However, this time I see a real change happening! I believe Matt Stafford will lead us to the promised land someday!

By the way this photo is of Denver Broncos Quarterback Kyle Orton who loves to drink as you can tell. I got this photo from http://drunkathlete.com/ Pretty funny although it wasn't quite the one I was looking for.

I hope you all get a good laugh from it like I have.

Well let's recap the game and I am feeling particularly cocky because we got a win so we can talk a little smack.

Well let's look at the highs from this past Saturday. The First Team offense led by Matt Stafford was solid including a touchdown pass to Calvin Megatron Johnson. The lowlight of the Lions offensive drives were points left off the board and the 25-20 score made it look closer than what it really was. The Lions opted for field goals when two touchdown passes by Stafford were dropped from TEs Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler. Our Red Zone offense has got to be better than that. 3 out of 4 possessions ended in field goals when we should of gotten TDs.

By the way here is a pretty good interesting recap from the Bleacher Report that you all should enjoy.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/441198-detroit-lions-monday-morning-quarterback-preseason-week-two?utm_source=newsletter

RB Jahvid Best had a solid game averaging 6.1 yards a carry and amassing 59 yards of total offense. He would of have had 100 yards rushing had he played the entire game. I think we have a solid one-two punch in our run-game with Jahvid Best and Kevin Smith. By the way I met Jahvid Best at a Lions practice for season ticket holders and yes my Lionettes I am REALLY chugging the kool-aid this time when I bought season tickets. Anyways I got his autograph and I told him to run the ball down Green Bay's throats this year and I believe he will!

Filling in place of injured Kicker Jason Hanson, Steven Hauschka was perfect making all four of his field goals and putting all six kick-offs in the end zone. If Hanson is ever injured again I believe we have a competent kicker in him to fill in providing no other team picks him up.

The Defense did not disappoint except when it came to the play of the Secondary. The starting defensive line only allowed 20 yards although Denver was without their top two running backs. The first-team defense did get to Orton sacking him once. It's refreshing to see our DLine get pressure they have in the games against Pittsburgh and Denver.

Now the bad news. With our DLine having a suspect secondary to complement it; it has created a blueprint for opposing team offenses to look at this game and avoid the pass-rush by using a three-step back drop and using a quick release to get rid of the ball. Without Safety Louis Delmas and CB Jonathan Wade out there, Kyle Orton picked our defense apart and unfortunately without a solid secondary teams will further exploit this weakness. Again we can blame Matt Millen for leaving almost next to nothing in the tank when GM Martin Mayhew and Coach Jim Schwartz took over.

I know we were not going to fix this team with just two drafts. We'll need at least two more before we can begin to serious contend for the NFC North. Like I mentioned in my last posting, my wish list for next year's draft is at least one Linebacker, two Cornerbacks and one Safety.

Once Safety Louis Delmas gets back healthy that will be a huge help to the Secondary. We need depth and someone to pair next to him which could be rookie safety Randy Phillips who is making quite a name for himself in training camp and in these two pre-season games. In this game he had a key tackle for a loss and had a team-high four tackles. I only see us carrying eight defensive backs on the roster. Louis Delmas, Randy Phillips, Ko Simpson most likely three out of the four Safeties. Dre Bly, Jonathan Wade and Amari Spievey will most likely be three out of the four Cornerbacks. The other Corner Back and Safety positions are up for grabs which could come later via trade or roster cuts from other teams. Speaking of Dre Bly he had an awesome interception taking away an impressive drive from the Broncos. So kudos to him.

It was nice seeing LB DeAndre Levy back in the lineup and was showing why he is the Quaterback of the Defense.

I watched the replay of the game the next day on the NFL Network and on the NFL Network replays they have the home team's local coverage so it was the Broncos broadcasters. Well during that first half, they were beside themselves when it came to the Lions defensive line having its way with the Denver offense. One thing annoyed me with their coverage of the game was that they were using the old Lions logo for their animation which of course was wrong.

Some of the rookies need to play a bit better like OT Jason Fox who had a holding and facemask penalty. WR Time Toone was okay on kick-returning games but the numbers were not that impressive. We can only hope that the rookies will develop in time.

Overall I was happy with their performance with the exception of getting field goals instead of touch downs. Well my Lionettes don't forget this coming Saturday's game against the Cleveland Browns has been moved from 5:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is possibly going to be blacked out so those of you in the blackout zones will not be able to see the game until it is repeated I believe at 8:30 p.m. laster that day. I will be attending in person rotting our Lions onto victory.

Well my ever faithful Lionettes it has been a really long day. I'll have another post next week after the Cleveland game. Until next time stay strong, believe that good things will come and we will be rewarded for our loyalty! I KNOW IT! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope We Truly Can Believe In!

2010-08-20T17:16:00.000-07:00

Good morning/afternoon/evening to all of my Lionettes depending on where you are in your respective time zones. Anyways let's dive right in shall we? Since my last post we played our first pre-season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and lost 23-7. There are a lot of positives we can take from that game. Our first team offense and defense played extremely well. Our pass rush led by DE's Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch was right on target. For once it was nice to see the other team's QB scramble for their lives like we have had to see time and time again of ours. Matt Stafford was awesome and connected with Calvin Johnson AKA Megatron for a nice end-zone touchdown pass. Like I mentioned in the last post I have learned not to take much stock in pre-season games. Hell I'd be okay with going 0-4 in the pre-season if that meant we go 16-0 in the regular season.

By the way if some of you are wondering about the title of this blog entry I figured it made sense since we are in election season. Unlike Obama's false hope, campaign promises this Detroit Lions team really does give us hope. That is what I saw in the Pittsburgh game, legitimate hope! Although I am concerned with the defensive play of the secondary and our depth for other positions is also a concern. Like Coach Schwartz says we don't want to say when were healthy were a good football team, we want to say when we get injured were a good football team.

That is why depth is important! Although it is not as bad as it was a couple of years ago depth is still a concern with the Linebacker Corp and Secondary. How do other players respond and step up their game if heaven forbid Delmas or Levy are out for the season. They have been very active in bringing in players to fill secondary positions. As of this post here is the current DB (Defensive Back) roster.

40 Aaron Berry CB
32 Dre' Bly CB
39 C. C. Brown SS
26 Louis Delmas FS
33 Jonathan Hefney CB
23 Chris Houston CB
29 Eric King CB
43 Randy Phillips S
36 Paul Pratt CB
25 David Roach FS
38 T. J. Rushing CB
30 Ko Simpson FS
42 Amari Spievey CB
24 Jonathan Wade CB
41 Dante Wesley FS

31 Jack Williams CB (Active/PUP)

As we get closer to the regular season I will give you all my prediction of projected starters and back-ups. I do apologize that my posts are as of late few and far between. As the seaon is upon us I should post more frequently although sometimes it may be tough because of the election season. I am also planning on doing a Mortal Kombat Bracket, NFL Mascot Edition pretty soon! Should be quite funny.

Tomorrow night we are set to play our second pre-season game against Saint Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos although it is doubtful that Tebow sees the field due to sore ribs. It'll be a fun game to watch I am certain of. Not sure what the line is not that also matters but I'm hopeful to see more of our defense in action. Speaking of defense. DT Ndamukong Suh's debut was pretty solid. Although he did not have any tackles or sacks he was occupying two blockers. The Pittsburgh offensive line was obligating two Offensive Linemen to block him and that only frees up other DLine men to attack their QB. That is why we should feel encouraged with our revamped DLine we can finally get to the Quaterback and make them have a seat on the turf.

Next week I'll recap the Lions Broncos game and look at our Linebacker Corp. That is the only other area of major concern that we'll need to look at before the regular season begins. Well my Lionettes it has been a really long day and I am very tired. Enjoy the game tomorrow night remember kick-off is at 9:00 p.m. and should be carried on your local Fox Affiliate. Until next time keep the faith believe that there is hope on the horizon and last but certainly not least GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only In The Leap From The Lion’s Head Will He Prove His Worth!

2010-08-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Howdy to all of my bestest friends in the whole wide world! Yes I am talking directly to you my Lionettes! Your all probably wondering how I came up with the title of my latest and greatest entry to my Detroit Lions blog. Well I will answer your enquiring minds right now! There is a scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where our hero Indiana Jones must retrieve the Holy Grail to save his father who was shot by the Nazis. He has to face three challenges in order to reach the Holy Grail and the third and most difficult of the challenges requires blind faith. You see Indiana Jones is staring over a chasm with no way across to the other side. He must cross but there is no way he can possibly jump that far. But then remembers that he must have faith and leap from the Lion statue at the edge. He closes his eyes and falls off the ledge and instead of falling to his death he lands on a ledge that was painted to perfection to make it look invisible.

So that is where we are with this new Detroit Lions team. We have to take that leap from the Lions head to prove our worth. I know we are long-suffering and the past few years have been particularly discouraging and disappointing. But I believe in my heart that our faith will be rewarded. Maybe sooner than we think? It has taken awhile to undo the Matt Millen damage and we still have a ways to go especially with the Secondary and Linebacker Corp as well as the Offensive Line. Speaking of which is it too early to think about next year’s draft wish list?

Here are my wants for the 2011 NFL Draft. Linebacker, Two Cornerbacks, Safety, Offensive Guard or Offensive Tackle, Quarterback (Depending on what happens with Quarterback Drew Stanton since this is his last contract year) and a Defensive End. Of course team needs and BPA (Best Player Available) will be taken into account and where we will be drafting. God willing we draft out of the Top Ten next time.

Some of you may have seen a YouTube video that is becoming a sensation with us Lions fans. It is a clip of the Detroit Lions winning the Super Bowl by beating the Indianapolis Colts in the latest edition of the Madden Football game for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. When I first saw it I am not afraid to admit I got misty eyed thinking of what will be someday. Here is the link check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjUh5GbqMxI

Tomorrow we kick-off the pre-season against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I am indifferent to tomorrow’s game although I do hope for a victory; I have learned never to read anything into pre-season performances. Had the 2008 regular season been like their performance in the pre-season they would be erecting statues of Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli in front of Ford Field. In case some of you need a refresher we went 4-0 in the pre-season and 0-16 in the regular season. I will be looking at our new and improved 4-3 defense as well as how the Secondary performs.

All of our draft picks have been signed with the last being DT Ndamukong Suh who held out for four days. It was shorter than WR Calvin Johnson holding out for 8 days before he got his contract signed. I know he said he was going to be in on camp at time and wasn’t but I am willing to let bygones be bygones. I am looking forward to Suh smacking the heck out of opposing team’s QB’s which hopefully becomes a habit.

Here is the current Detroit Lions roster from Wikipedia as of today. I know you can take what Wikipedia says with a grain of salt but in this instance they are very accurate. I am not certain who maintains this particular page but whoever they are, they do a very good job of keeping it updated with the latest information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Detroit_Lions_roster

Lastly I mean for this last part in this entry to be to the team itself. Tomorrow (Saturday) you’ll be taking the field to do something very few people get the chance to do. No matter what happens to you after the pre-season always remember you carry the hopes and dreams of an entire city and state with you. Us fans believe in you guys and know you’ll do great things. Remember what the coaches have told you, do not over think the plays, relax and just execute. Do that and you’ll be just fine. God bless you all and I will be eagerly awaiting kick-off at 7:30 p.m. but whose counting :-)

Well until next time my Lionettes stay strong, be safe and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Revenge of the Roar!

2010-07-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Hello My Lionettes!

Wow where do I begin? Should I profusely apologize to all of my local readers just our sorry I am for not posting in forever? Well maybe not forever but like four months but why argue semantics. Well I am here now and that’s what’s important. People often wonder and ask me how can I be such a huge Lions fan when we are 2-30 over the past two seasons and most analysts have us penciled in between 4-7 wins at best for the upcoming season? I personally believe that if you care about something so much especially when that thing is at its lowest it is the truest test of our humanity. If you come across someone who is hurt in the street you would reach down and help them up wouldn’t you? That is how I see it. This team has fallen down and the true fans will reach down and help them up. For far too long this team has been down but I see this team getting up on its feet and being a team that the entire NFL fears! Well there is my cheerleading pitch for now!

Well this weekend is it! Training camp has finally arrived and as of this blog post the Lions have signed 5 of their 6 draft picks with the exception of DT Ndamukong Suh which should be imminent now that the St. Louis Rams have come to terms with their top pick QB Sam Bradford. So I believe that most likely all Lions players will arrive on time Saturday morning in Allen Park to begin training camp.

How this all works is when the top pick in the NFL draft works out their deal with their team then it is a sort of template on how to base the salaries for the remaining rookies. Sort of a scale but when a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is reached I am certain a rookie minimum salary will become part of it so that an untested rookie does not get 50 million guaranteed money before he takes his first snap in the NFL.

Here is the Lions upcoming season schedule by the way.

http://www.detroitlions.com/schedule-and-events/season-schedule.html

Speaking of which in case you didn’t know the Lions draft picks here they are in order with an analysis from the NFL.com website

DT Ndamukong Suh
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/ndamukong-suh?id=496861

Pick Analysis: The Lions pick Ndamukong Suh to become the pillar of their defense at the tackle spot. Suh gives coach Jim Schwartz a disruptive interior player in the mold of Albert Haynesworth to build around. Given the fact that the Lions ranked 32nd in total defense last season, Suh's dominant presence should restore some of the roar in Detroit.

RB Jahvid Best
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/jahvid-best?id=497147

Pick Analysis: The Lions pick up the ultra-explosive Jahvid Best to alleviate some of the pressure on Matthew Stafford. Best is the most instinctive runner in the draft, and his skills may flourish as the feature back in Detroit. Although his back-to-back concussions last season justifiably raise concerns, the Lions may have landed the player with the most potential to become the next CJ2K.

CB Amari Spievey
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/amari-spievey?id=496743

Pick Analysis: The Lions pick up a tough, hard-nosed corner with the selection of Amari Spievey. He excels at zone coverage, and possesses the instincts to emerge as a ball hawk in the pros. With the Lions in desperate need of playmakers in the secondary, the addition of Spievey gives them more depth and talent at the corner spot.

OT Jason Fox
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/jason-fox?id=497008

Pick Analysis: The Lions address their offensive tackle situation with the selection of Jason Fox. Though Fox lacks the skills to compete for a starting position immediately, he has the skills to develop into a starting caliber player in time.

DE Willie Young
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/willie-young?id=496891

Pick Analysis: The Lions draft another edge rusher in Willie Young of North Carolina State. He's high-hipped, but highly inconsistent. However, he's a natural bender, who can accelerate of the edge and get to the quarterback.

WR Tim Toone
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2010/profiles/tim-toone?id=1037920

Pick Analysis: The 2010 Mr. Irrelevant is an all-purpose threat that can return kicks, run routes and make plays in space. He will fight for a spot on specials teams in his rookie year.

Well sorry this is so short but I will post again really soon most likely after this weekend after Lions practice this Sunday morning! I can hardly wait! Until next time my Lionettes BELIEVE that great things are coming! Until next time GO LIONS!

With the 2nd Pick in the 2010 NFL Draft the Detroit Lions Select………

2010-04-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hello My Lionettes!

Well it is that favorite time of the year to be a Lions fan! The Draft! I hope everyone is as geeked as I am about the coming NFL Draft! Well I do set the bar pretty high so I think I am alone at the top on this one. As of this posting we are only three, count em three days away from Thursday’s NFL Draft. Here is a link from the Detroit Lions website about the draft party at Ford Field. I am going and if anyone wants to tag along please let me know. I only have space for four people though.

http://www.detroitlions.com/news/article-1/Lions-to-Hold-Draft-Night-Event-at-Ford-Field/376b792f-d7a3-4296-940b-d1813c9c9282

Here is my Mock Draft. This mock draft is based on our 7 picks and does not take into account pickups or losses from the result of trading down or up to acquire certain players. IF we can trade out of the #2 spot and move back I am ok with that and picking up additional draft picks that is ok. In the event of that happening we will most likely draft LT Russell Okung from Oklahoma State. The only problem I see with that is he would most likely play RT the coming season and then move over to LT in 2011 after Jeff Backus is most likely placed in a back-up capacity, traded or released. Taking Okung was a strong possibility until we acquired LG Rob Sims from Seattle to play Left Guard.

DT Gerald McCoy from Oklahoma, OG Mike Iupati from Idaho or CB Joe Haden from Florida are candidates for our 1st round pick if we do move back. If they do trade back they can pick up a 2nd round and a 3rd round plus a 6th or 7th round pick. Because this draft is so deep in Oline and DLine it is possible for the Lions to keep moving back to the middle of the first round with their first pick being in the high teens or low 20s and they can amass several picks. It could mean us having so many picks that we can finally have solid starters in multiple positions; have true battles in training camp for starting spots; developmental and depth guys like the Patriots, Giants and Steelers.

1st Round Pick 2 (2) DT Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska
(Projecting Suh will be available based on the high probability the St. Louis Rams will select QB Sam Bradford with their pick)

Here is a link from Sports Science on DT Ndamukong Suh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDMWKvqG6Fs&playnext_from=TL&videos=sJmA82PySN8

Here is a link from the Bakita and Grey Morning Show with a parody song of Runaround Sue about the Lions drafting Ndamukong Suh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxXAxuw4uJc

2nd Round Pick 2 (34) CB Patrick Robinson from Florida State

3rd Round Pick 2 (66) RB Toby Gerhart from Stanford
(I think the Lions snag Gerhart if he is still around in the 3rd)
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2010/04/stanfords_toby_gerhart_could_f.html

4th Round Pick 2 (100) DE Antonio Coleman from Auburn

7th Round Pick 6 (213) S Terrell Skinner from Maryland

7th Round Pick 7 (214) OG Reggie Stephens from Iowa State

7th Round Pick 48 (255) OT Mike Tepper from California

Pretty much my 7th Round picks are ALL guesses. I doubt any of those three are picked. I think your odds of winning the lottery are better than accurately determining late round draft choices. Every team’s draft boards will immediately change after the #1 pick in the First Round is announced. Why do we even have a mock draft for rounds 5-7? By then most of those players are either depth guys or developmental players. The Lions will most likely move back in either the 2nd or 3rd rounds and if they do that they’ll pick up at least a pick or two in the 5th and 6th rounds.

Here is a Mock Draft from Sportingnews.com and they say we are taking mostly defense I agree with their assessment on players taken in specific positions like DT, CB/RB, RB/CB but I am not so certain on the players they are suggesting. Like I said before it depends on where players fall and when they are chosen because it’ll alter every team’s boards.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/draft/mock_draft?season=2010&round=1

Now the position groups I think they do not draft in at least in the first four rounds are QB, WR, TE, LB and ST (Punter & Kicker). I think if they draft anyone in those positions it’ll be extremely late and I don’t see them taking a QB at all in this draft. A Line Backer could come in the 4th or if they pick up a 5th or 6th round pick.

I am really encouraged about the directions this team is taking. It is taking some time to undo all the damage that Matt Millen caused in his eight years of bad drafts. Especially the first round busts like WR Mike Williams and WR Charles Rogers. I sincerely believe we are going to make a strong run after this season. Speaking of which on Tuesday the NFL will announce the 2010 schedule. Well my Lionettes WATCH THE DRAFT either at Ford Field with the rest of us die-hards or it’ll be on NFL Network and ESPN. I’ll have another post after the draft take care everyone and GOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mock Draft (Movie Edition)

2010-02-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hello my Lionettes,

Again I am sorry for not posting in awhile. This one will be a bit short because I am just getting over a bad cold. Sleep has been scarce this past week. I will post more often as we get closer to the draft. I thought I would be a bit clever with a mock draft. This one is my picks for the Lions based on characters from football movies. This is a sort of wish list not dissing any of the players on the current roster but I am treating this as a sort of expansion experiment. I would draft franchise players in major areas of need. A Quarterback, a Linebacker, Running Back, Safety, Defensive Tackle, Wide Receiver and Offensive Tackle. The unfortunate circumstance is that if these were real players thay would all most likely be 1st rounders. I have listed them by round, position, character name from movie, the actor playing them and the film.

1st Round QB Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves The Replacements)
2nd Round LB Bobby Boucher (Adam Sandler The Waterboy)
3rd Round RB Earl Megget (Nelly The Longest Yard)
4th Round Safety Torres (Lobo Sebastian The Longest Yard)
5th Round DT Switowski (Bob Sapp The Longest Yard)
6th Round WR Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr. Jerry Maguire)
7th Round OT Jumbo Fumiko (Ace Yonamine The Replacements)

Hope you all get a good laugh out of this mock draft. Take care everyone and until next time GO LIONS!

Ready For Round 2?

2010-01-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

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.

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!

A Lion Man’s Burden

2009-10-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

A most excellent morning/afternoon/evening/night to my fellow Lions enthusiasts. Let me start off with saying just how sorry I am for being away for so long. I feel today is just as good as any to post on my blog about Detroit’s less well-received team, the Lions. Well the Lions have snapped their 19-game losing streak with a 19-14 win over the Washington Redskins! Thanks to a fella named Brendan Ringlever I was able to attend and see the win since it was blacked out.

So far we are 1-4 and in the losses thus far to New Orleans, Minnesota, Chicago and Pittsburgh there were huge signs of improvement. They didn’t start the games being down 21-0 before starting to battle back. Although we got doubled up by Chicago we were in that game with a 21-21 tie at the half. What they have to focus on is learning to finish and not let up keep the foot down on their throats. Quarterback Matt Stafford is showing good signs of improvement and I believe we have our quarterback for the future. I wish he could have played against Pittsburgh because that is how a QB gets better is by playing the tough, hard teams.

I love this team so that is why I called this blog entry “A Lion Man’s Burden” it is a burden to be a Lions fan and have the NFL world look at you like you are a joke. But the thing is the Lions are NOT the worst team this season well at least not for now. The Tennessee Titans, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St Louis Rams are all 0-5 and The Rams and Buccaneers are both former Super Bowl champions. Last seasons’ division winners could very well be this years’ division bottom feeders. Things change! New players are either drafted, new free agents are signed and or players change rolls. New offensive/defensive scheme changes, coaches and personnel change all the time. I think we are going to keep last seasons’ record like luggage unless the Rams follow in our awful footsteps. I would never want to see another team go through the hell the Lions did last season except for the Vikings and Packers whom I despise with a nuclear capability.

Not sure how many draft picks we will have in next year’s draft but if we have 8 picks, these are the positions I think we should draft. Defensive Tackle or Offensive Tackle (with 1st round pick), Defensive End, Cornerback, Safety, Offensive Guard, Linebacker, Quarterback (Developmental player for Stafford’s back-up), Wide Receiver (not a 1st round pick FYI) and a Running Back. I agree with drafting the best player available but you have to address team needs. If the best player available in the 3rd round is a Wide Receiver but you have a glaring need at Cornerback draft the best Cornerback available.

Here are a couple of links on the top college prospects for next year’s draft as well as a VERY tentative, speculative draft scenario based on teams’ standings thus far into the 2009 season.
http://walterfootball.com/draft2010.php
http://cfn.scout.com/2/856941.html

Here is the current roster of the Lions in case anyone would like to check out the current roster.
Detroit Lions roster

Quarterbacks
11 Daunte Culpepper
9 Matthew Stafford
5 Drew Stanton

Running Backs
21 Aaron Brown
45 Jerome Felton FB
28 Maurice Morris
34 Kevin Smith
44 Terrelle Smith FB

Wide Receivers
80 Bryant Johnson
81 Calvin Johnson
86 Dennis Northcutt PR
12 Derrick Williams KR

Tight Ends
82 Casey FitzSimmons
89 Will Heller
84 Brandon Pettigrew

Offensive Linemen
76 Jeff Backus T
77 Gosder Cherilus T
65 Dylan Gandy C
68 Jon Jansen T
70 Daniel Loper G
66 Stephen Peterman G
51 Dominic Raiola C
63 Manny Ramirez G
74 Ephraim Salaam T

Defensive Linemen
92 Cliff Avril DE
94 Copeland Bryan DE
98 Landon Cohen DT
91 Chuck Darby DT
96 Andre Fluellen DT
79 Sammie Hill DT
97 Jason Hunter DE
90 Grady Jackson DT
75 Turk McBride DT/DE
99 Dewayne White DE

Linebackers
57 Jordon Dizon OLB
49 Zack Follett OLB
55 Larry Foote ILB
54 DeAndre Levy ILB
59 Julian Peterson OLB
50 Ernie Sims OLB

Defensive Backs
31 Phillip Buchanon CB
26 Louis Delmas FS
32 Anthony Henry CB
23 Kevin Hobbs CB
41 William James CB
40 Marquand Manuel FS
24 Kalvin Pearson SS
30 Ko Simpson FS
25 Marvin White SS

Special Teams
4 Jason Hanson K
2 Nick Harris P
48 Don Muhlbach LS

Reserve Lists
27 Daniel Bullocks SS (IR)
-- Damion Cook G/T (IR)
95 Jared DeVries DE (IR)
-- Kenneth Harris WR (IR)
17 Adam Jennings WR (IR)
29 Eric King CB (IR)
53 Cody Spencer ILB (IR)
1 Swayze Waters K (IR)

Practice Squad
61 Matthias Askew DT (Injured)
43 Tristan Davis RB
64 Dan Gerberry C
86 Dan Gronkowski TE
-- Kole Heckendorf WR
-- Jervonte Jackson DT
87 Taurus Johnson WR
78 Lydon Murtha OT
35 DeAndre Wright CB

Well that’s all I got for now my Lionettes. Just hang in there, this team is getting better but still has a long way to go. We need two more solid drafts before this roster is purged of some bad and mediocre players. A lot of players that were brought in are not long term solutions. As Coach Jim Schwartz likes to say “Let’s get a little bit better each time” and they are doing that! Good night and GO LIONS!

Training Camp Links Round Up

2009-08-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

Lions Uncaged!

2009-08-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

A VERY SUPER AWESOME DAY TO MY FELLOW LIONS FANS!

YES I AM SUPER PUMPED!

I have been drinking kool-aid this morning! Lions Uncaged was so awesome! Kudos to the Lions front-office for putting this event on! 15,000 fans came out in the rain waiting to see a Lions practice. If that is not the definition of a true fan then I have no idea what is. Unfortunately I was unable to get any autographs since they cut off the lines. Next time I will have to get there at 5:00 am! LOL I did get a few photos on my cell phone and hopefully will have them uploaded sometime soon.

I snagged some photos of various players. I got a couple of LB Ernie Sims. He looked up and saw that I was taking a couple of photos and I said to him "I'm wearing your jersey!" He smiled at me and seemed very encouraged that a fan was wearing his jersey. I am sure that makes them feel really encouraged that the fans support them. I believe he is going to have a Pro-Bowl year! That is a prediction I am NOT afraid to make.

I also got a few photos of Coach Jim Schwartz. He is so cool and down to earth! While I was taking a few photos there were younger children getting autographs, giving fist bumps to the kids and I thought man how special is that? You just fist bumped Jim Schwartz! Lucky kids. He was genuinely glad that the fans showed up enmasse.

Maybe we are all buying into it but I believe this Lions team is not setting us up for another heartbreak. I believe this team and coaching staff is for real and definitely headed in the right direction! It just wasn't the diehards that showed up but a lot of folks who wanted to see this new Lions team. It was such a great thing not only for Ford Field but the community. Football can really bring people together.

You all are probably wondering what I thought of the practice. I really liked how the defense looked and broke up some passes. The running plays were solid with FB Jerome Felton looking awesome and Kicker Jason Hanson was knocking them through the uprights. LOL He was even passing the ball between Nick Harris. Hanson has quite an arm! Look out Matt Stafford you might have some competition. It was such a great time for the younger fans to interact with the players. All of the QB's looked pretty good in their drills. Stafford, Culpepper, and Stanton got the ball going but there is still a lot of work to do. And this was just a practice. I am sure the Spartan basketball team has countless missed free throws and bad passes in practice.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was in attendance watching practice. I assumed it was partially because the NFL Hall of Fame Ceremony and Game is this weekend in Canton, Ohio not that far away. Coach Schwartz made some opening comments to all of us fans thanking us and was appreciative of the fact that many folks were out there standing in the rain waiting to enter. A sign of true fans. Coach Schwartz also said about how the front office would fight tooth and nail to keep our Thanksgiving game with the Commissioner being in attendance and witnessing us fans supporting the Thanksgiving game and not having it taken away from us.

I wish they would remove the blackout rules which I am very much against. It is punishing the fans and in this economy it is a true slap in the face. One of the few things people have going for them in their lives is a chance to watch football. People who are out of work and would like to watch a game can't because of these BS rules. If they are going to keep the rules then they can at least broadcast another game which they don't. I remember last year during one of the blackouts for the Lions they aired the movie Clueless in instead! Are you kidding me? Us fans are being subjected to that PETA nutcase's awful movie? That angers me to no end! These rules need to go. The advertisers will do much better when they advertise things like beer and potato chips. This is not fair or right! Hopefully those rules will come to a screeching halt.

After heading back to Lansing I called into 97.1 FM the Ticket and got on the air to Dennis Fithian and I mentioned about what a great idea the Lions Uncaged event was and how much fun it was. I also mentioned that the weakness I do see on the DLine is the DT position and hopefully it will be addressed pretty soon.

As some of you have learned I have bought a new car. A Black Chevy Cobalt! While at Ford Field I went to the Roar and More and got a few things. I got a Lions licence plate cover and a Lions window cling. I was going to get the car flag but I had to watch my nickels and dimes. I also picked up a couple more wall decorations. Well I think that's about all for now. I hope to be caught up with the stories from MLive on training camp really soon. If any of you are interested My Land O Links posts are collections of stories on the Lions from MLive. LOTS and LOTS of articles but they are all pretty short with great information from Tom Kowalski, Philip Zaroo, and others like Pat Caputo from the Oakland Press. Well enjoy the Bills vs. Titans game tonight and all of you have a safe and enjoyable Sunday :) See you all really soon! GO LIONS

Land O Links III

2009-08-06T17:49:00.000-07:00

An article from Tom Kowalski on Matthew Stafford.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/matthew_stafford_on_fast_track.html

Bigger and Stronger

2009-08-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

A very good evening to all of my fellow Lions fans! Your wondering why I am in such a happy-go-lucky mood and well as most of you know I am a pretty happy person anyways but the reason I am particularly happy is from the time the Super Bowl ended and just this past Saturday my withdrawal symptoms are over! Training Camp has finally arrived! High 5 to all of my fellow Lions fans.

We are witnesssing the dawn of a new era. The losing culture of the Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli era is over! General Manager Martin Mayhew and Coach Jim Schwartz have poured a solid foundation for a solid team. With all of the changes they have made it is hard to say which area we will be better in. We had a great receiving corp and with Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan's vertical pass system Wide Receivers Calvin Johnson and Bryant Johnson will but up awesome numbers. We hit pay dirt with our Running Back Kevin Smith who I am predicting will have at least a 1,200 yard rushing season.

Now the area of concern to me going into training camp is our DL situation we do not have much depth in the DT area and we have to stop the run and that is one area that Coach Schwartz has said any good team worth the effort has to be able to run the ball and stop the run. Now with DT Grady Jackson could be suspended for the first four games of the regular season due to him taking a banned diet supplement which is total garbage. So DT Sammie Hill who we drafted in the 4th Round in this years draft was supposed to be a developmental, project player but he may be forced to playing right away as a starter. For our defense sake I hope he is a quick study.

A quick note, the Lions are holding a team kick-off luncheon at Ford Field. I have attended the last two kick-off luncheons at Cobo Hall. They are a great time. Last year I had WR Brandon Middleton at my table. Didn't talk to him much but he signed my Lions yearbook which you get for free for attending by the way. Here is the link from the Detroit Lions web site with the press release on it. Tickets are like $60.00 FYI. It is a lot of fun and I hope you can all attend. I am looking forward to this event. One of the highlights before the season kicks-off.

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=486470

Here is a link from the Lions web site which has a schedule for the Lions open practices with a really cool event this coming Saturday at Ford Field called 'Lions Uncaged'. It is free to attend but you need to get these voucher sort of tickets from SVS Vision Centers. There contact information is in the press release. I will be going there. Pretty stoked about it! Should be a great time for all that attend there will be an autograph signing session also.

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=486307#Uncaged

Coach Schwartz wants bigger, stronger lineman. The lineman's strength has increased about 16% which is substantial. One big difference in this season's training camp is that they are running a 4-3 defense. Everyone will be on a bit of a learning curve since the last three years the Lions ran a useless Tampa 2 defense. I believe we can force the opposing team's offense to run to the middle instead of the outside where before they were gobbling up huge amounts of real estate. I feel that is one of the first things that we need to focus on.

The Offense will click with all three of the QBs getting reps. I fell pretty confident with our QB depth but it will be interesting if they sign a 4th QB for possibly the practice squad.

You know another reason I think Coach Schwartz will be better on Sundays? It is because of his intelligence. He won't get out coached he will know when to challenge a play, when to use time-outs and know how to make adjustments and substitutions. We are in safe hands with Coach Schwartz.

Before I forget my Lionettes I re-did my UFL List and I like the changes I made. The Detroit Lions new UFL farm team is called the Grand Rapids Lynx. It was changed from the Grand Rapids Snow Leopards. I thought that sounded too cute and cuddly and Lions and Lynx's are not cute and cuddly but creatures that will look at you and say "Hello Lunch!" I was really toying with the idea of calling the Lions farm team the Michigan Massasaugas. The one native poisonous snake here in Michigan. Anyways I think this list is much better. Enjoy!

NFL UFL (NFL Affiliate)

NFC NORTH
Detroit Lions Grand Rapids Lynx
Green Bay Packers Lincoln Black Knights
Minnesota Vikings Bismarck Archers
Chicago Bears Columbus Fire Ants

NFC SOUTH
Atlanta Falcons Nashville Vipers
Carolina Panthers Jackson Leopards
New Orleans Saints Tallahassee Sting Rays
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Huntsville Spiders

NFC EAST
New York Giants Annapolis Harpoons
Philadelphia Eagles Albany Sidewinders
Dallas Cowboys Oklahoma City Gun Slingers
Washington Redskins Orlando Conquistadors

NFC WEST
St. Louis Rams Las Vegas Red Knights
Arizona Cardinals Albuquerque Cobras
San Francisco 49s San Jose Hammerheads
Seattle Seahawks Portland (Oregon) Pythons

AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens Manhattan Rattlers
Cincinnati Bengals Richmond Cougars
Cleveland Browns Portland (Maine) Bull Sharks
Pittsburgh Steelers Norfolk Torpedoes

AFC SOUTH
Tennessee Titans Little Rock Bombers
Houston Texans Austin Scorpions
Indianapolis Colts Louisville Juggernauts
Jacksonville Jaguars Baton Rouge Cheetahs

AFC EAST
Buffalo Bills Harrisburg Jackals
Miami Dolphins Raleigh Scythes
New England Patriots Charleston Makos
New York Jets Hartford Condors

AFC WEST
Denver Broncos Salt Lake City Dragons
Kansas City Chiefs Des Moines Tomahawks
Oakland Raiders Boise Renegades

San Diego Chargers Los Angeles Rebels

Well as Porky Pig would say "That's All Folks!" Well not really but it is late and I have an awesome day of writing Happy Letters planned tomorrow! Everyone take care and remember when things turn around for our team, it will be well worth all of the heartaches and sorrows of our past failures. I will have news round up links posted by the end of the week well then again I should not promise that I will do that because as of late I have been coming up short in that regard. But anyways GO LIONS!

Land O Links II

2009-07-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Hope all is well out there in Lions Land. Just a quick note this blog is just a recap of Lions news links the past couple of weeks. They are all pretty much great information but there is a lot so read what you wish. I will have another post out Thursday night before training camp starts this Friday. Until then take care and GO LIONS!

A good article by NFL Senior Analyst Pat Kirwan that the Lions under Coach Schwartz are not that far off from respectability in the league.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d810bd435&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

An archived Live Chat from NFL.com with QB Matthew Stafford.
http://chat.nfl.com/front/archived_chat/345

Calvin Johnson is such a stud here is an awesome article on him from the Detroit News.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090716/SPORTS0101/907160425/1004/SPORTS/Lions+have+no+reason+to+worry+about+WR+Calvin+Johnson

Lions have signed our sixth round pick, RB Aaron Brown and seventh round pick LB Zack Follett.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/lions_sign_late_draft_pick_aar.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/lions_ink_seventhround_linebac.html

Lions announcer Dan Miller was on the Huge Show with Bill Simonson to talk about the off-season. A good audio interview if you get a chance to listen to it.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/dan_miller_on_the_huge_show_ve.html

Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press was also on the Huge Show with Bill Simonson on QB Matthew Stafford being the starter at New Orleans. Another great audio interview!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/brian_vanochten_on_the_huge_sh_4.html

Here is an interesting article from Tom Kowalski on DT Sammie Hill playing immediately for the Lions because of our lack of depth at the DT position.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/sammie_hill_is_one_rookie_who.html

A great article from Tom Kowalski on Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/lions_will_need_to_score_point.html

T Jon Jansen had some keen insight on the unlikelihood of an NFL strike in 2011.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090719/SPORTS01/907190412/1049/New-Lion-Jon-Jansen-says-NFL-strike-in-2011-is-unlikely-

NFL Sirius Radio’s Adam Schein made a prediction that the lions won’t go .500 like division foe Al Harris from the Green Bay Packers has proclaimed. Thanks a lot Al for the love and Adam you’re not the first analyst I would turn to for football commentary.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9813380/Schein's-Nine:-Cards-back-in-Super-Bowl?&GT1=39002

As you all know with our team coming off that dreadful season the likelihood of the Lions being blacked out is almost a certainty. I feel they need to end the black-out rules they are archaic and extremely insulting to the fan base especially in these downtrodden economic times.
http://oplions.blogspot.com/2009/07/will-we-see-lions.html

A great Q/A online chat with Lions Announcer Dan Miller. It is the transcript of the Q/A session which is a great read.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/live_chat_lunch_qa_with_fox_2.html

A good article by Tom Kowalski on our Defensive Coordinator Gunther Cunningham.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/look_for_lions_defensive_coord.html

The Lions have traded WR Ronald Curry to the St. Louis Rams for DT Orien Harris.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/lions_trade_wide_receiver_rona.html
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090722/SPORTS0101/907220422/1361/Lions-acquire-DT-Orien-Harris-from-Rams-for-WR-Ronald-Curry

Martha Reeves is running for re-election on the Detroit City Council and she put the old Lions logo on her campaign literature. She said she was a member of the Lions but someone forgot to tell her women are not allowed on professional football teams. What amazes me is the pure stupidity of the Detroit City Council and I really feel bad when you have morons like this lady represent a once great city.
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/07/is_martha_reeves_and_the_vande.html

The NFL draft is moving from Saturday and Sunday to Thursday through Saturday. I am pretty stoked about this.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/nfl_to_start_draft_on_thursday.html

Some bad news might be brewing with a possible NFL strike in 2011. Here is an article from Tom Kowalski about that subject.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/enjoy_the_nfl_this_season_and.html

A great article by Tom Kowalski on our super awesome Head Coach Jim Schwartz. A great read.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/head_coach_jim_schwartz_should.html

Here are articles from Tom Kowalski on WR John Standeford, WR Eric Fowler, WR Adam Jennings, TE, Casey Fitzsimmons, LB Julian Peterson, CB Phillip Buchanon, CB Keith Smith, K Jason Hanson
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/lions_backup_receivers_will_ha.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/casey_fitzsimmons_is_only_retu.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/arrival_of_julian_peterson_giv.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/phillip_buchanon_could_be_the.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/keith_smith_might_be_down_to_h.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/comment_rebuttal_actually_ther.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/07/jason_hansons_amazing_talents.html

Links round-up by Philip Zaroo.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/07/detroit_lions_links_roundup_li_3.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/07/detroit_lions_links_roundup_ji_1.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/07/detroit_lions_links_roundup_al.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/07/detroit_lions_links_roundup_se.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/07/detroit_lions_links_roundup_li_4.html

It's This And That With Kenny

2009-07-24T04:37:00.000-07:00

Howdy to my favorite peeps in the world the ones that I call my fellow Lions fans! I know things are pretty bad in Michigan but if I can give you all a few laughs and some helpful insight on the Lions then that makes me feel good. I want to tell you all that when the Lions turn this thing around, this will be Christmas, New Years, winning the lottery and meeting the love of your life all rolled into one!

Here is a link to a site called College Football News that is a first-look projection of where the 2010 NFL Draft Class will land and the First Round is STACKED with OL and DL! We could very well snag out LT with our First Round pick!
http://cfn.scout.com/2/856941.html

The Lions have announced open practice schedules for the Lions. Here is the schedule from the Detroit Lions web site. I hope some of you will work out a time when we can go down to Allen Park and check them out in action.
http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=486307

Here are some HYSTERICAL You Tube videos with Adolf Hitler ranting about the Lions. Some of you have seen some of these before. This movie clip that they use is from some World War II movie with Hitler assumably blaming everyone but himself about Germany losing the war and the sheer genius who does these adds subtitles to totally change what it really says. These are so funny I almost split my side every time I watch them. There is some bad language so you are forewarned but they are so funny to watch. They take awhile to stream so I suggest clicking on the link hitting pause then wait for it to load and then watch them.

These two are on the Lions going 0-16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_MSuSL8e-c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01AvAlIxwQo&feature=fvw
(There one has a few comments from Rod Marinelli at the end of this one)

This one is on the Lions half-way through the 2008 season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm4ikLH3qW0&feature=related

Last night the NFL Network aired a special Quarterback Challenge competition. It got me thinking about a few things. I have mentioned before changing the Pro-Bowl format so I want to hit on that again. This is what I would change in the Pro-Bowl. Make it like the All-Star Game in baseball. Instead of having it two weeks after the Super Bowl have it mid-season after Week 8. Every team should have their bye week during this time so the playing field is leveled PUN INTENDED.

It would be early enough in the season so various cities can host it if there is stadium that is exposed to the elements like Lambeau Field. These are some of the events I would have. Baseball has the homerun derby, so I would have the Pro-Bowl have a Quarterbacks Challenge with quarterbacks throwing the ball the farthest and accuracy contest, Kickers with the longest Field Goal and a Wide Receiver contest to catch balls on various routes. The game that is played between the AFC and NFC would have some meaning like whichever side wins the NFC or AFC teams in the draft would get an extra compensatory pick in the 7th round or the NFC/AFC team automatically receives the ball first in the Super Bowl.

The Draft is moving from a two-day weekend format to a three-day primetime format! They are going to move it from a two-day format to a three-day format. The first round will air on Thursday night during primetime, second and third rounds air on Friday night also during primetime and rounds four through seven will air on Saturday morning. WOO-HOO! This is such awesome news! Check out this article!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nfldraft-primetime&prov=ap&type=lgns

This article is worth checking out some interesting thoughts on the NFC North.
http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/07/15/summer-scramble-nfc-north-burning-questions-and-prediction/

Another Lions fan maybe not as big as yours truly LOL just joking calls himself Lions In Winter and he uses the same blog domain that I do and he has some really awesome insights and thoughts on the Lions. I suggest adding his spot to your favorites.
http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com

Everyone thinks I am on mad crack for saying the Lions are going 7-9 this year and I am delighted that Lions In Winter agrees with me! I am not alone in this universe after all! Although a caller to the Pat Caputo show said that Matt Stafford will lead the Lions to an 11-5 record. I guess I am not the only one chugging the kool-aid and scarfing the corn bread.
http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com/2009/07/completely-useless-waste-of-time-part-i.html
http://thelionsinwinter.blogspot.com/2009/07/completely-useless-waste-of-time-part.html

I want to repeat my draft wish list from awhile ago. I know I am a little ahead of the game on this one but I was thinking about our draft wish list for the 2010 draft. Right now we have 8 picks. One for each round 1-7 and I believe an extra 5th rounder from Denver from this past draft. There is the chance of getting another couple of compensatory picks from the league with free-agent losses. But let’s say for the sake of the argument we have 8 picks. What should we get with those?

My little list will probably change a million times before the 2010 draft and that is probably a conservative estimate. Right now I think we should look at snagging a Cornerback/Safety, Quarterback (Stafford will need a strong back-up), Offensive Guard/Offensive Tackle, Defensive Tackle (First Round would be my choice), Defensive End, Wide Receiver (Not a First Rounder but maybe a good one in the 3rd round), Running Back (they are a dime a dozen and we should be able to snag one in the 4th round) and another Linebacker (preferably middle which is sort of dependent on if Larry Foote signs a long-term deal with us.

Well my Lionettes I will have another post with more link round ups by the end of this weekend. I hope you all have an awesome weekend. Until next time GO LIONS!

Land O Links

2009-07-22T19:31:00.001-07:00

Getting Closer To Season Kick-Off

2009-07-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of my fellow Lions fans. Sorry it has been awhile since my last post and I have to warn you this post is more or less a links round up of Lions News from MLive. MLive is the best when it comes to news about our favorite football team in thee state of Michigan. So this post and most likely the next will be playing catch up with all of the happenings out of Allen Park these past few weeks. I know it is a lot of information but like a buffet, eat AKA read what you like. I just try to offer you all a condensed source of Lions information.

Here are so various stories collected by Philip Zaroo from MLive. By the way I emailed Philip to see if he had a video from Fox Sports of a ‘tale of the tape’. It was like what they do in boxing comparing fighters’ weight, arm reach, etc. This one had a comparison between Calvin ‘Megatron’ Johnson and Megatron from the Transformers. It was totally hilarious and if I ever find it I will share it with all of you.

http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_ro.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_li.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_of.html

(In this link an excellent story about Bret Favre with the Vikings)
http://www.nfltouchdown.com/brett-favres-return-good-for-the-lions/

(A really awesome story from NFL.com by Pat Kirwan with video from the NFL Network) PLEASE READ THIS AND CHECK OUT THE VIDEO!
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d810bd435&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true&campaign=email_NL0612

http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_tr.html
(In this link there is a game scenario of the 76 Buccaneers Vs, the 08 Lions, pretty funny)
http://www.profootballcentral.com/2009/06/16/game-of-the-century/

http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_lo.html
(A neat Q/A from the Detroit Lions web site with Safety Louis Delmas)
http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=485584&nsln=061909

Some of you might have heard that the Lions are considering having practice held at a venue other than Allen Park. It is speculative right now but two possible locations are Saginaw Valley State University and Grand Valley State University. Here are a couple of articles from Tom Kowalski and another from Gregg Johnson of the Grand Rapids Press.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_jim_schwartz_is_big_beli.html
http://www.mlive.com/lakers/index.ssf/2009/06/talk_of_moving_lions_camp_to_g.html

Here is an interesting article from Tom Kowalski on TE Will Heller.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/will_heller_should_be_no_2_tig.html

This article has Head Coach Jim Schwartz discussing there not being a depth chart and that there is a clean slate with all of the players.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_coach_jim_schwartz_keeps.html

Here is a neat video with Tom Kowalski on the Lions pursuing DE Kevin Carter.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/tom_kowalski_on_woodtv_still_p.html

Here is an interesting story from Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press about the OLine protecting Matt Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/will_lions_line_performance_di.html

Here is a neat tidbit on Head Coach Jim Schwartz.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_head_coach_jim_schwartz.html

Here are some articles from Tom Kowalski on QB Daunte Culpepper, OLB Zack Follett, CB Ramzee Robinson, Safety Louis Delmas, DE Jared DeVries and DE Cliff Avril. There pretty short so check them out.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_daunte_culpepper_still_b.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_daunte_culpepper_breaks.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_rookie_zack_follett_focu.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/despite_his_high_intensity_lio.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_cornerback_ramzee_robins.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_use_louis_delmas_in_mant.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/despite_defensive_changes_lion.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/a_likely_starter_lions_cliff_a.html

An interesting article regarding on Marquand Manuel playing at Safety then there is the possibility of keeping Anthony Henry at CB who was possibly going to be moved to Safety.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/will_marquand_manuels_play_at.html

Here is a good analysis from Tom Kowalski about the QB’s performance and another photo slide show from Mini-Camp.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_qbs_moved_the_ball_but_t.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/photos_detroit_lions_morning_m.html

Lions owner William Clay Ford Sr. broke his silence about firing Matt Millen and owning up to the failures of the Lions recently. Here are some stories and a Q&A with reporters. I believe he does want to win but his biggest problem he is too loyal. He said that the hiring of Jim Schwartz as head coach was his call and kudos to him on that because I believe we hit pay dirt with his hiring. If I had the choice of hiring Jon Gruden, Mike Shanahan or Jim Schwartz, I would take Schwartz in a second!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_owner_for_those_who_walk.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/william_clay_ford_acknowledges.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_owner_william_clay_ford.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_owner_william_clay_ford_1.html

Here are a couple of articles from Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press on the changing mood of the Lions and owner William Clay Ford Sr.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_players_upbeat_during_mi.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_owner_william_clay_fords.html

I know a lot of fans are unhappy with Center Dominic Raiola getting a 4 year extension but I am okay with this. He is not the worst center and he plays really hard. I think some continuity on the OL might lead to better production out of everyone this coming season.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_sign_dominic_raiola_to_f_1.html

An audio interview with Coach Jim Schwartz on WDFN-AM Detroit, a good listen, it’s about 25 minutes long so a bit long but worth it.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/jim_schwartz_on_wdfn_i_feel_a.html

Here is an article on the city of Clawson’s second favorite son (right behind Justin Winslow) RT Jon Jansen who I think could start over Gosder Cherilus on the right side, play Right Guard or even Center!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/former_washington_right_tackle.html

This is a bit of old news but maybe not so much to those of you who don’t follow the Lions as religiously as I do. Anyways the Lions traded Safety Gerald Alexander to the Jacksonville Jaguars for WR Dennis Northcutt. He was most likely not going to make the team and was going to have to be cut.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/report_lions_trade_gerald_alex.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_trade_gerald_alexander_w.html

Here is an article from Tom Kowalski on OT Jeff Backus, a really long article but worth it.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/after_threeyear_nightmare_lion.html

Here are a couple of articles from Tom Kowalski on OG Manny Ramirez and DE Dewayne White.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/manny_ramirez_needs_to_mix_pow.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_dewayne_white_pits_produ.html

Lastly here is an article on Kevin Carter on playing both DE and DT by Tom Kowalski. I so hope he signs with us. If he signs I will certainly sleep better at night knowing our DLine is more stable and a Mack truck won’t be unable to run through it.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_kevin_carter.html

I know I am a little ahead of the game on this one but I was thinking about our draft wish list for the 2010 draft. Right now we have 8 picks. One for each round 1-7 and I believe an extra 5th rounder from Denver from this past draft. Then there is the chance of getting another compensatory pick from the league with free-agent losses. But let’s say for the sake of the argument we have 8 picks. What should we get with those? My little list will probably change a million times before the 2010 draft and that is probably a conservative estimate. Right now I think we should look at snagging a Cornerback/Safety, Quarterback (Stafford will need a strong back-up), Offensive Guard/Offensive Tackle, Defensive Tackle (First Round would be my choice), Defensive End, Wide Receiever (Not a First Rounder but maybe a good one in the 3rd round), Running Back (they are a dime a dozen and should snag one when a good one is available) and a Line Backer (Depending on if Larry Foote stays with us, an Inside Line Backer).

Well I hope to have another post sometime next week. I will have some original stuff here soon I just wanted to share these links with all of you. I hope you all have an awesome weekend. Until next time GO LIONS!

25 Days To Go But Whose Counting?

2009-07-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Yes by the title of this blog you can see I’m getting rather antsy about waiting for training camp. Again I’m sorry for not posting in awhile. Been a really busy one as of late. By now we have all gotten over the Wings loss in game 7 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Where the Pistons and Wings fell short the Lions will prevail. I was wondering how electrified will this whole state be when the Lions make a Super Bowl run? All in do time :)

For those of you on FaceBook the Lions have started an official page. All of the Detroit Lions FaceBook pages were unofficial. Here is the link to sign up if interested.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Detroit-Lions/95004133604

Here is a link from Tom Kowalski about DT Grady Jackson.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/scouting_report_grady_jackson.html

Here is a slide show from an OTA with some neat photos from the practice.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/photos_detroit_lions_final_ota.html

I am glad there have been some upgrades as far as depth goes on the OL with the signing of Jon Jansen. Here are a few links with more on him as well as some of the other guys on the OL.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/jon_jansen_anxious_to_help_bri.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/jon_jansen_finally_provides_li.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/could_jon_jansens_signing_with.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_felt_resigning_stephen_p.html

Here is a link from Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press on out notable free agent signings.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/jon_jansen_beefs_up_lions_coac_1.html

Here are a couple of stories from Tom Kowalski about QB Matthew Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_matthew_stafford_shows_s_1.html

Here are some scouting report stories from Tom Kowalski.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/detroit_lions_scouting_report.html

Tom Kowalski has recently been replying to comments made on MLive and here are a few of those stories.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_drew_stantons.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_lions_still_s.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_run_blocking.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_lions_say_oth.html

Here are a couple of short articles one on DT Andre Fluellen on his future with the Lions and the other on Safety Daniel Bullocks. Just a note I think they will be better in the 4-3 Defense vs. the Tampa 2. Fluellen he needs to put on more weight as a DT and Bullocks needs one more shot after coming off knee surgery and the awful year everyone had last season.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_andre_fluellen_is_still.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/once_promising_daniel_bullocks.html

Here is a podcast from the Grand Rapids Press with Brian Van Ochten about the changes the Lions have been making.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/06/twominute_drill_podcast_lions_2.html

Here is an audio interview with Tom Kowalski on various topics too many to name. But if you get the time check out this audio.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/tom_kowalski_on_wbbl_controver.html

Here is a short article about Lions 7th round draft pick Lydon Murtha and his projections for the season.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/oftinjured_lions_rookie_lydon.html

I expect RB Kevin Smith will have a far better season and will be a huge workhorse for the Lions offense this season. Here is a short article on him.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/kevin_smiths_star_could_shine.html

Here are a few comments from rookie Safety Louis Delmas.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_louis_delmas_i_have_a_lo.html

Here are a couple of short stories from Tom Kowalski on RT Gosder Cherilus and Safety Daniel Bullocks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/theres_a_lot_to_like_about_lio.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/once_promising_daniel_bullocks.html

Here is an audio interview with Center Dominic Raiola on WDFN AM on what has been going on.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/dominic_raiola_on_wdfn_matthew.html

Here is an audio interview with Dan Miller the voice of Detroit Lions football about TE Brandon Pettigrew and other comments.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/dan_miller_on_wzam.html

Here are a couple of articles about Millen picks having a tough time making the final roster. One is on DT Landon Cohen and the other is on OLB Alex Lewis.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_landon_cohen_will_need_m.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/crowded_linebacker_field_means.html

Here is an interesting video from You Tube, a clip from the Ellen DeGeneres show with free-agent acquisition OT Ephraim Salaam. Please check it out! Man I love this guy. He is so cool!
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_li_1.html

Here are a couple of articles on TE Dan Gronkowski.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/lions_rookie_dan_gronkowski_ne.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/comment_rebuttal_lions_dan_gro.html

Here is a short article about LG Daniel Loper who I believe will make the final roster.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/daniel_loper_fighting_to_nail.html

Here is one singing the praises of Safety Louis Delmas. This kid rocks!
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/early_indications_are_that_lou.html

Here is an article on Linebacker Larry Foote.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/06/while_hes_not_the_most_talente.html

Here are some link round ups from Phillip Zaroo that has more Lions news and stories.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_la.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_ji.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_ev.html
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/06/detroit_lions_links_roundup_li.html

Yes lots of links but they are FYI’s for all of you so if you have the time check them out. Lots of neat stories but do check out the video from the Ellen DeGeneres show and listen to the audio clips. Well worth it. I will have another post before the weekend. Until then GO LIONS!

Snow Leopards and Friends

2009-06-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

Hidy Ho to all of my fellow Detroit Lions fans,

Yes can you believe it that I am posting my blog when I said I would? Yes miracles happen every day. This blog will be a short one because it has to do with my dreams of the UFL becoming the developmental league for the NFL. The other night I came up with a "farm team" for each of the NFL teams. The problem I had wasn't coming up with cities of where to place the teams but giving them really cool names. That was the most painful. I went through many revisions and some earlier typos of giving a couple of cities two teams which was not my attention. It is a lot of hard work coming up with an entire league.

By the way a big thank you to all of you who take the time to read my blogs and check out the links I collect from MLive. They have the best sports coverage when it comes to the Lions because unlike other media outlets they are not embarrassed to publish stuff on the Lions. When one of you comment that you checked it out and took the time to look it over it gives my heart such a warm fuzzy feeling that a nuclear reactor seems frigid in comparison.

You all are wondering what does my blog title mean this time? Well the Snow Leopards are the Detroit Lions farm team that will play in Grand Rapids if I ruled the football world. The reason I say Snow Leopard and Friends it is in homage to Saturday morning cartoons when they were the highlight of your week when you were a kid. Anyone remember the days of Bugs Bunny and Pals? Awesome cartoons.

Well you know that one of the biggest improvements the NFL needs is a developmental league like what Major League Baseball has with their AAA teams. I am hopeful like many other football fans that the UFL (United Football League) will be that answer. By the way here is the web site for the UFL. http://www.ufl-football.com/ I would like to see the UFL partner with the NFL and become its right arm. A league that gives us fans our fix of football and molds players to play at the NFL level. Time will tell. Well here is the list of NFL teams with their affiliate. I hope you all get a kick out of the team names. Some might seem lame but I was tring to be originial and come up with names you don't hear that often.

NFC NORTH

Detroit Lions Grand Rapids Snow Leopards

Green Bay Packers Lincoln Black Knights

Minnesota Vikings Bismarck Goblins

Chicago Bears Columbus Fire Ants

NFC SOUTH

Atlanta Falcons Nashville Vipers

Carolina Panthers Jackson Tigers

New Orleans Saints Tallahassee Sting Rays

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Huntsville Spiders

NFC EAST

New York Giants Annapolis Harpoons

Philadelphia Eagles Albany Sidewinders

Dallas Cowboys Oklahoma City Gun Slingers

Washington Redskins Orlando Conquistadors

NFC WEST

St. Louis Rams Las Vegas Red Knights

Arizona Cardinals Albuquerque Cobras

San Francisco 49s Los Angeles Hammerheads

Seattle Seahawks Sacramento Pythons

AFC NORTH

Baltimore Ravens Dover Rattlers

Cincinnati Bengals Richmond Cougars

Cleveland Browns Portland (Maine) Bull Sharks

Pittsburgh Steelers Norfolk Torpedoes

AFC SOUTH

Tennessee Titans Little Rock Cannons

Houston Texans Austin Scorpions

Indianapolis Colts Louisville Juggernauts

Jacksonville Jaguars Baton Rouge Cheetahs

AFC EAST

Buffalo Bills Harrisburg Bombers

Miami Dolphins Raleigh Scythes

New England Patriots Charleston Makos

New York Jets Hartford Condors

AFC WEST

Denver Broncos Salt Lake City Dragons

Kansas City Chiefs Des Moines Tomahawks

Oakland Raiders Boise Rebels

San Diego Chargers Anchorage Comets

Yes some of them might seem silly but this list was very hard to come up with. I really hope you enjoy this list an please let me know what you think of my list and what names you would like to see for different cities. Well it has been a really long day. Take care everyone and remember you are special God has ordained us to be the best fans in all of football and it begins with us. I should have another post this weekend hopefully Killer has some great insites as to what is happening down in Allen Park. Until then GO LIONS and a very special GO WINGS!

The Shark is Working!

2009-06-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

A very awesome morning/afternoon/evening to the ever faithful Detroit Lions fans! Let me start off my saying how sorry I am for not posting these past few weeks. Lots and lots going on but I should not have ignored my loyal readers. You’re probably wondering what the title of this blog has to do with the Detroit Lions. Well I am going to educate you.

Back in 1974 when the movie Jaws was being filmed, a mechanical shark was used for the shark effects. There was no CGI available like in the movie Deep Blue Sea. Anyways the movie was being filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts which was the setting for the fictional town of Amity Island. During production there were so many problems with the mechanical shark that everywhere on the island you heard the film crews say on their radios “the shark isn’t working” or “the shark still isn’t working”.

It was a God ordained miracle that this movie was not cancelled because of the financial toll it was taking. Then all of a sudden the mechanical shark starts working and you heard the crews say “the shark is working” and were able to get production finished in time for it to be released in theatres and drive-ins. So my analogy is this. We have seen the production of the Detroit Lions falter time in and time out. The Lions franchise was not working under Matt Millen but now we have new directors and producers that will get this team headed in the right direction.

There is legitimate hope and I am not just drowning myself in kool-aid. There have been so many changes with personnel, coaches, staff and the general attitude that we are a beater team. I believe great things are coming. By the way that was your five cent trivia. Next time I am going to charge you. Just kidding! Well let me hand out some links from MLive like handing out candy at Halloween.

Here is an audio interview with Ernie Sims on the new defensive schemes. I am a huge Ernie Sims fan and I believe his production will be much better under the 4-3 defense that the Tampa 2.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/ernie_sims_on_wdfn_new_defensi.html

Here is an audio interview with Middle Linebacker Larry Foote. He is so awesome I am so ecstatic that he signed with us. He is the quarterback for the defense. The thing I like about him is his ability to look on the bright side. He said the Lions and the Patriots were in the exact same spot at the end of the season last year, neither made the playoffs and I feel that is a good point of view to have. You either go on to the playoffs or you go home and start the off-season.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/larry_foote_on_wdfn_lions_otas.html

Here are photo slide shows from the Lions OTA practices.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photos_detroit_lions_ota_pract.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photos_detroit_lions_ota_pract_1.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photos_detroit_lions_ota_rooki.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photos_detroit_lions_ota_pract_2.html

Here are some comments from Coach Schwartz about addressing multiple personnel needs in the off-season and what he sees from some of the players. I am so super stoked about your coach. I was indifferent to Coach Steve Mariucci and Coach Marinelli being hired and they were disasters although I think Coach Mariucci could have had success if Millen had gotten him the right players. I hope Coach Schwartz is our last new coach for an extremely long time as long as he is winning.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/jim_schwartz_lions_had_too_man.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/jim_schwartz_discusses_what_he.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/jim_schwartz_lions_will_explor.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/additional_quotes_from_head_co.html

Rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford seems to be winning over the locker room and so far he is night and day difference from Joey Harrington. The huge question for the Lions in the upcoming season is if Stafford or Culpepper starts? I just hope it is Coach Schwartz’s and Coach Linehan’s decision and no one else's. I would strongly suspect that it will be so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/quarterback_matthew_stafford_m.html

Here are some scouting reports on the OTAs from Lions beat writer Tom ‘Killer’ Kowalski.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_daunte_culpepp.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_calvin_johnson_2.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_ikaika_alamafr_1.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_maurice_morris.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_deandre_levy.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_dominic_raiola_1.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_jordon_dizon.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scouting_report_aaron_brown.html

The latest on Quarterback Drew Stanton is he is the third string guy on the depth chart but so far he is showing enough in practice that he will end up squeaking by into the season and still remain on the team. So far the Lions have not brought in any other veteran quarterbacks into camp. However, once training camp opens that can change. If they do bring in another veteran QB, a possibility worth taking a look at could be Rex Grossman. I feel he is a serviceable back-up and would connect well with the other players.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/drew_stanton_fighting_for_rost.html

One of the better free-agent singings has been OT Jon Jansen the former Clawson, Michigan native and Wolverine stand-out. He was released from the Washington Redskins and like Middle Linebacker Larry Foote was excited to sign with the Lions and help build this team into something we can call be proud of. I suspect he plays back-up RT behind Gosder Cherilus or possibly play RG on the offensive line. Which ever position he plays it is a huge upgrade from George ‘False Start’ Foster who the Lions released once Jansen was signed.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/report_lions_agree_to_oneyear.html

Well that’s about it for now I will have another posting at the end of the week for sure this time because I want to be caught up with MLive’s Lions articles. Sweet dreams in Lions Land everyone and until next time kiddos, GO LIONS!

Chugging The Kool-Aid

2009-05-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy to all of my fellow Lions fans! Well I am sorry I have not posted sooner but life can down pour at times and my arms are tired from bailing the water. Well I am back and that’s what’s important.

There has not been much news as of late because there hasn’t been much to report and most of the sports media coverage is dedicated to the Red Wings and Tigers. Hopefully more news becomes available within in the next couple of weeks. I thought there would be some news what with OTA’s (Organized Team Activities) happening down in Allen Park. Soon it will be that time right before the season starts when the fans get really excited with Super Bowl dreams for their team. I would hope that the Lions win at least 6-7 games and at least be competitive in the losses and not get totally blown out.

I know I am the eternal optimist but here is a story from MLive by Rick Gosselin. Seems I am not the only one drinking or should I say guzzling down the kool-aid.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/rick_gosselin_with_right_moves.html

You know that one special player that fans get really fired up and excited to see play? Well the Lions drafted Louis Delmas the Safety from Western Michigan University could very well be the next Bob Sanders and for those of you who don’t know Bob Sanders is a super great Safety for the Indianapolis Colts. I feel he will truly be a motivating force not only in the locker room but for the fans to get behind. I love this kid’s work ethic and yes maybe the kool-aid is spiked a bit but I really feel this team is putting some great pieces in place.

Here is a link from the “Mike In The Morning Show” on 97.1 The WRIF with Coach Jim Schwartz as a guest in studio. A long radio segment but well worth listening too! I love our coach not only is he intelligent but he is a rocker! And how cool is that when you can say your head coach is rocker? I really don’t see Bill Belichick head-banging to Metallica
http://my.wrif.com/mim/?p=2101

Here is a link from Tom Kowalski talking about DT Sammie Hill our 4th round pick, We have been notoriously bad in drafting in the 4th round so hopefully Hill will be a reliable run-stopper.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/sammie_lee_hill_another_fourth.html

I am not sure if anyone knew of former Kansas City Chiefs Coach Frank Gansz but he died a couple of weeks ago. He used to be a Special Team coach with the Lions.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/former_lions_special_teams_coa.html

Here is a video with Tom Kowalski on NFL Network post-draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_kowalski_on_nfl_network.html

The roster cuts have begun and the notables are QB Drew Henson, TE Michael Gaines and CB Travis Fisher. So here are those stories if you are interested.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_release_qb_drew_henson.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/to_make_room_for_brandon_petti.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/purge_continues_lions_release.html

The biggest off-season edition to the Lions is signing ex-Steelers Middle Linebacker Larry Foote. I am so hyped about this edition and not only does he plug a major hole in defense but a veteran presence to help guide the rookies and other veterans to play better. Here are some interesting stories from Tom Kowalski about him.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/was_larry_foote_in_the_lions_p.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/if_lions_are_interested_larry.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/larry_foote_says_he_has_agreed.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/source_larry_foote_turned_down.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/its_official_larry_foote_joins.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_larry_foote_doesnt_belie.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/larry_foote_happy_to_back_home.html

Here are some interviews from the Huge Show with Bill Simonson, most of which are his typical Lions bashing. Also some stuff from Brian Van Ochten of the Grand Rapids Press. I will present differing opinions even the Lions bashers have a few intelligent things to say not that I really agree with their view points.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/bill_cubit_on_the_huge_show_wm.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/brian_vanochten_on_the_huge_sh_3.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/jim_miller_on_the_huge_show_co.html
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/05/twominute_drill_podcast_lions_1.html

Here are some stories from Tom Kowalski on the first mini-camp for the rookies. They are not that long so don’t feel overwhelmed like there is a lot of reading required because there is not and you guys have the freedom to choose which links you want to check out or not.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/draft_picks_look_to_impress_at.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/louis_delmas_is_the_most_impre.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_coach_jim_schwartz_matth.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/stafford_draws_praise_from_oth.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/walled_lakes_justin_goltz_does.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/rookie_brandon_pettigrew_to_be.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_deandre_levy_makes_move.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_louis_delmas_finally_cas.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/louis_delmas_among_standouts_a.html

This one has a photo-gallery from Mini-Camp.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photo_gallery_detroit_lions_ro.html

This link has a photo-gallery from the OTA.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/photo_gallery_detroit_lions_ot.html

Here is an audio interview with Tom Kowalski talking about the second-day draft picks and like I have been saying is give this team the benefit of the doubt. We won’t know if these guys are busts for at least two years.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/tom_kowalski_on_wghn.html

Now an interesting decision is when Matthew Stafford takes over the QB spot. I believe the Lions are trying to avoid the pitfall of the Joey Harrington situation where he started right away and it was a total disaster.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_will_fight_temptation_to.html

Here are a couple of stories about QB Drew Stanton and his speculative future with the Lions.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_stanton_shrugs_off_no_3.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_qb_situation_daunte_culp.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/lions_qb_drew_stanton_faces_to.html

As some of you may have heard former Detroit Lions President and General Manager Matt Millen has been hired by ESPN as an analyst. Just saying his name makes we want to throw-up my dinner which wasn’t very good by the way. I was browsing through some of the comments on this story and one stuck out in particular. sweeney71 commented “for some reason i feel like a spousal abuse victim who their X lover with someone new.” Obviously not an English major but I have to agree. Bill ‘Huge’ Simonson said watching Matt Millen doing football commentary is like watching Osama Bin Laden on the Fox News Channel talking about the War On Terror. Anyways good riddance and by our pain and suffering other teams can learn from our mistakes. I wouldn’t wish this disaster of a GM or someone like him even on my most-hated foes like the Bears, Viking or Packers.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/05/espn_hires_matt_millen_one_of.html

I am glad we picked up TE Brandon Pettigrew who is going to be a great blocking Tight End and should be a major weapon for Matthew Stafford. Here is a quick tid-bit on him.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/05/scott_linehan_brandon_pettigre.html

Here is an audio interview with Brian Van Ochten with the changes to our defense.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/05/twominute_drill_podcast_kudos.html

Well my fellow Lions fans that's about it for now. I will get another post out soon hopefully not as long as a wait int between like this one was. Until then GO LIONS!

The Glass Is Half-Full & Half-Empty!

2009-05-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

A very good day to the finest fans in all of football, the Detroit Lions fans. Well the draft has come and gone. I know some of you are unhappy with the direction they took and the mantra of building from the inside out, took sort of a back-burner. It wasn’t the direction I probably would have taken. I support the decision to take QB Matthew Stafford with the number one overall pick though. When QB Jon Kitna was traded to Dallas and Jim Schwartz was named Head Coach it was a given we were taking a QB in this draft.

Here are a couple of articles from Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press about his view of the Lions draft strategies. He does not give a very good assessment. To each his own but I do see his viewpoints and if I had been calling the shots I would have made a few of his suggestions.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_ignoring_of_defense_on_d.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/secondday_reaches_cap_strange.html

Here is a rather disturbing scenario for the first day of the draft what if WR Jeremy Maclin was sitting there at pick 20 and the Eagles who selected him passed on him instead? I can guarantee the Lions would have drafted him with their 20th pick. The second part of a jaw-dropping day one draft would have been if the Cardinals hadn’t selected RB Chris Beanie Wells with their pick the Lions would have taken him at the top of the second round with the first pick. Now that would have been a really tough pill to swallow. You ignore DL and OL positions completely and take THREE offensive weapons. I could make the rationalization that with so much offense the Lions could sustain offensive drives keeping our defense off the field and truly stick it down other team’s defensive throats. So we were lucky in this draft that we got a QB, TE and a Safety because it very well could have been QB, WR and RB.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_mightve_taken_beanie_wel.html

Well here we go with some links on some thoughts from Tom Killer Kowalski. http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_staffords_contract_wit.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_stafford_must_win_over.html

This one has Tom Kowalski’s analysis on the first three picks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/player_bios_more_on_the_lions.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_focus_on_offense_with_fi.html

Here are two chat blogs one with Tom Kowalski and the other with Philip Zaroo, really long reads with people asking questions and worth it if you have time to scan through. I actually had one of my comments posted in the chat blog for day 2 with Philip Zaroo which was made shortly after the Sammie Lee Hill pick.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/live_blog_nfl_draft_day_1.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/live_blog_nfl_draft_day_2.html

Here are some tidbits, highlights, positives and audio interviews on each of the ten players the Lions selected in the draft.

1. QB Matthew Stafford Georgia Jr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=136155
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/matthew-stafford?id=79860
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_matthew_stafford_agree_t.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_qb_matthew_stafford_i_wa.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/matthew_stafford_i_really_didn.html

2. TE Brandon Pettigrew Oklahoma State Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=114052
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/brandon-pettigrew?id=71431
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/brandon_pettigrew_detroit_lion.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/detroit_lions_take_oklahoma_st.html

3. S Louis Delmas Western Michigan University Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=126286
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/louis-delmas?id=71279
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/western_michigan_safety_louis.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/louis_delmas_theres_no_such_th.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_say_size_isnt_an_issue_w.html
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/louis_delmas_to_lions_im_ready.html
http://www.mlive.com/broncos/index.ssf/2009/04/the_best_of_louis_delmas.html

4. LB DeAndre Levy Wisconsin Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=132285
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/deandre-levy?id=71365
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/detroit_lions_grab_wisconsin_l.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/deandre_levy_said_lions_talked.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_will_try_deandre_levy_at.html

5. WR Derrick Williams Penn State Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=124921
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/derrick-williams?id=71517
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_draft_wide_receiver_derr.html

6. DT Sammie Lee Hill Stillman College Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=123732
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/sammie%20lee-hill?id=79571
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_use_fourthround_selectio.html

7. RB Aaron Brown Texas Christian University Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=133343
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/aaron-brown?id=89690
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_take_running_back_aaron.html

8. T Lydon Murtha Nebraska Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=118291
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/lydon-murtha?id=81853
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_use_first_of_three_seven.html

9. LB Zack Follett California Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=135558
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/zack-follett?id=80640
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_take_second_linebacker_o.html

10. TE Dan Gronkowski Maryland Sr
http://stats.mlive.com/nfldraft/players.asp?id=101512
http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/dan-gronkowski?id=81829
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/one_pick_before_mr_irrelevant.html

Here are some more player bios for the second day picks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/player_bios_lions_secondday_dr.html

Now I really like our picks and as fans we need to unite behind them, support them 100% and hope they are successful and make huge contributions on the team. Some of the later round guys probably won’t be starters but developmental players, add for depth and can step in at times and make plays. I give them a solid B for a letter grade in this draft. The reason I give them a B is they grabbed four of the top picks in each of those positions QB, TE, S and Kick Returner and the reason I don’t give them an A is because of their choices and prioritizing in the third round.

We needed a QB desperately. Kitna was traded, Orlovsky was a free-agent, Culpepper is a short-term solution and Stanton and Henson are not starters. I am glad we grabbed a TE in the draft but thought it would have gotten a back-burner priority with more desperate needs in front such as Middle Linebacker. Drafting Pettigrew who is a really strong run blocker gives Stafford a huge weapon on offense and rookie QBs best friend is what kiddos? You guessed it a Tight End.

Here is a funny clip called the Matthew Stafford Song which is pretty good.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/05/the_matthew_stafford_song.html

I like the Tight End Dan Gronkowski pick. With him and Pettigrew that gives our Tight End situation some serious teeth. I remember watching the NFL Combine and was really impressed with both of them. I love the Safety Louis Delmas from Western Michigan University and a fitting nickname for him is the heat-seeker. He will really strengthen the secondary and hopefully be our version of the Steelers Troy Polamalu.

I LOVE the DT Sammie Lee Hill pick. That kid is going to be a monster! He once saved a man from a burning home by going in and pulling him out. Not that this means a lot but he has a couple of tattoos and one of them is a lion on his chest wearing a crown. Maybe it’s fate much like the fact that Matthew Stafford is from the same high school as Bobby Layne.

Here are some interesting audio interviews with Tom Kowalski about taking Matthew Stafford and other thoughts on the draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_kowalski_on_wrif.html

Here is an audio interview with Coach Schwartz discussing whether to start Culpepper or Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/jim_schwartz_on_matthew_staffo.html

The Lions have already started building on the 2010 draft by acquiring the Denver Broncos #5 pick.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_trade_sixthround_pick_to.html

I apologize for not getting this out there sooner but this week has been a really busy one. I try to share links with stories that are relative that have a lot of good information and the draft weekend had TONS. I left out quite a few links but wonder if I didn’t cut enough. I appreciate you all taking the time to read my blog or at least browsing through it. Tom Killer Kowalski who has been the Lions beat writer for the better part of two decades brings a lot to the table so I reference his and the other writers at MLive's work. They are the only really good sources outside Pat Caputo of the Oakland Press and Brian VanOchten from the Grand Rapids Press.

There are a lot of sports writers that just bash the Lions and DO NOT help anything with their barrage of negative attacks and venomous criticism. I criticize also but I give suggestions on how this team can be better. Well anyways it’s later than I wanted to get this blog entry done so I am going to post now. I will have another one sometime mid-week about some of the Unrestricted Free Agents as well as the drafted rookies from this weekend’s rookie camp. Until then keep the faith and GO LIONS!

We Are Here!

2009-04-25T06:02:00.001-07:00

We Are Finally Here!

Howdy to all of you out there in Lions Land!

To start off immediately the Lions and Georgia Quarterback Matthew Stafford have come to terms and Stafford will be our number one draft pick, the face of our franchise and our QB of the future. Here is the late-breaking story from MLive that broke at around midnight.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_matthew_stafford_agree_t.html

Here are a few audio interviews with Tom Kowalski about drafting Matthew Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/kowalski_on_wdfn_they_say_you.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_kowalski_on_the_huge_show_1.html

Well everyone we have finally arrived at the 2009 NFL Draft. I know a lot of you are feeling nervous, apprehensive, worried, concerned, excited and or optimistic. I would have to say I feel a little of each. I put a lot more weight on optimism than the others. If the Lions had not had come to an agreement with Georgia Quarterback Matthew Stafford then there were a couple of contingency fall-back plans with Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry or Baylor OT Jason Smith.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/source_lions_have_aaron_curry.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/if_jason_smith_enters_talks_it.html

I know a lot of the Lions fan base would have liked OT Jason Smith or LB Aaron Curry. I am sold on pretty much ANYONE providing it’s not a WR or RB. We have multiple needs and we really can’t screw this draft up. You would really have to try in order to do that. Now that the Lions have drafted Matthew Stafford then they will most likely go Defense the rest of the draft with the possibility of snagging the last really good OT Michael Oher at pick 20 if he is available or LB Rey Maualuga to plug the gapping hole at middle-linebacker.

Here are a couple of Mock Drafts from Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press in regards to who goes where in the first round.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/nfl_mock_draft_lions_to_land_q.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_mock_draft_lions_to_land_q.html

What we need to remember is this is the first post-Matt Millen draft. This is GM Martin Mayhew and President Tom Lewand’s first draft and they deserve the benefit of the doubt. I sincerely believe the decision to draft Matthew Stafford is Head Coach Jim Schwartz’s call because he realizes our QB depth chart will make you laugh until you cry. Now before Jon Kitna was traded to Dallas I was of the opinion that we stick it out with Kitna for one more year and snag our QB next year when some others would be finishing up there senior year i.e. Sam Bradford from Oklahoma, Colt McCoy from Texas or Tim Tebow from Florida.

When Jon Kitna was traded to the Dallas Cowboys, Dan Orlovsky signed as a free-agent with the Houston Texans and Schwartz was named Head Coach, that was a given we were taking a QB in this draft. Now I believe that because of the Lions awful history, other QB prospects decided to return to their colleges out of fear of getting drafted by the Lions. WOW what a bunch of scared schoolgirl cowards! Not Matthew Stafford though! He welcomes becoming a Lion and wants a challenge.

Even if we didn’t hold the number one overall and we were somewhere in the top ten, I suspect he would be holding out hope beyond hope that the Lions pick him. I think he has more courage and commitment then most other QBs and he is accountable. In one of Georgia’s few losses under him as a starter, he was asked about his performance; he manned up and said “I didn’t play well” not making excuses, or throwing his teammates under the bus. That is accountability and that is a rare quality.

Some of you are scared that he is another Joey Harrington disaster waiting to happen. I won’t and can’t believe that. I believe he is the real deal. I am 100% behind the Lions decision to draft Matthew Stafford. Just like a presidential primary, different sides need to unite for party unity and get behind the party’s candidate. It is truly a great day to be a Lions fan and we need to unite as a fan base and support the Lions and Matthew Stafford.

I like to reference a lot of stories from MLive which is why I like to share the links with all of you because unlike other media sources, they are local insiders that have some really keen insights.

Here are some stories from MLive about the logo and uniform change and speculation about what they will do in the draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/photo_gallery_lions_unveil_new.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_lewand_lions_new_logo_will.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/whats_new_about_the_lions_logo.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_transformation_continues.html

This one also has Dan Miller discussing the draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/dan_miller_on_wzam_new_logo_is.html

These few have Lions President Tom Lewand discussing the draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_lewand_on_wdfn_new_lions_l.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_president_tom_lewand_wer.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/president_tom_lewand_gives_rar.html

Let’s talk a little defense. Something the Lions were sadly lacking in the past two years. There are some real potential pro-bowl defenders the Lions can pick up this weekend. Here is an article from Tom Kowalski about a few of those picks. We do need to target a Defensive Tackle to upgrade our run defense and they will have to snag one this draft especially with the departure of DT Cory Redding to the Seattle Seahawks.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/questions_about_defensive_line.html

Here are a couple of articles from MLive about the needs of Corner Back.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/cornerback_isnt_worst_of_posit.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/sean_smith_lions_might_eye_you.html

Here is an article on the need for the Middle Linebacker.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_hoping_to_grab_middle_li.html

One of the Lions many needs on Defense is a Safety for our awful secondary that got a whopping one interception last year! WOO-HOO! And by the way I am being extremely sarcastic in that enthusiasm.

Here is a story from Tom about Missouri Safety William Moore, some pros and cons and another article examining the Safety situation.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/william_moore_at_safety_he_can.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_still_in_need_of_gamecha.html

Though it’s a done deal with Matthew Stafford here are a few stories on arguments on drafting defense and not taking Matthew Stafford. The first is from Mike Schottey of www.DraftTek.com Check out this site also, it has some interesting mock draft scenarios. The other audio interview comes from the Huge Show with former Lions QB Greg Landry.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_draft_expert_interview_mik.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/greg_landry_on_the_huge_show_t.html

Here is an interview from MLive by Rick Gosselin an NFL Columnist on what the Lions should do in the coming draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_draft_expert_interview_ric.html

Here is another story about meeting the need for a Tight End but I suspect we won’t be able to get one this draft.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_draft_expert_interview_dan_1.html

Here is a podcast from Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press on what the Lions will do in the draft.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/twominute_drill_podcast_lions.html

Here is an interview from the Huge Show with Bill Simonson interviewing Head Coach Mark Richt from Georgia making his case for QB Matthew Stafford.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/mark_richt_on_the_huge_show_ma.html

Here is an interview with Lions GM Martin Mayhew on the coming draft, an article from Tom Kowalski about the job Mayhew is doing and a video of Dan Miller interviewing Martin Mayhew.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_gm_martin_mayhew_very_co.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_gm_martin_mayhew_showing.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/detroit_lions_gm_martin_mayhew.html

I know I might have gone overboard with all of the links that have lots of audio links but they are worth taking the time to listen too. This is a new dawn for our Detroit Lions. We can only hope that the coaches and the front office are all on the same page and will meet all of the critical needs for this team. Best of luck to the team and everyone have a safe and fun weekend. I will be at Ford Field for the Lions Draft Day Party. I will have a post-NFL draft most likely on Monday night reviewing the Lions draft picks. Until then take care, God Bless and GO LIONS!

Hope your hungry for Detroit Lions News

2009-04-18T16:43:00.001-07:00

Howdy all in Lions Land,

One week to go until the draft! WOO-HOO! Happy days are coming I can feel it! We are now 7 days away from the NFL Draft and thus far the Lions have not signed the number one overall. Does this mean a trade is in the works for the number one? We can only speculate because the Lions front-office has been so tight lipped about everything, we can only guess. I would have thought the Lions front office would have the player signed since Martin Mayhew wants it done before the draft. Maybe they have a preliminary deal in place and are just waiting on getting a few i’s dotted and t’s crossed. This is one of my biggest entries on my blog filled with lots of links. There is a tone of info so please eat up and enjoy.

The Lions have released their 2009 schedule which you can check out here.
http://www.detroitlions.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=13&top=21&level=2

I am always the optimist when it comes to the Lions so I am going out on a limb and say the Lions will go .500 an even 8-8 record. But if they achieve between 5 and 7 wins that is a good step in the right direction towards getting some respectability in the league, avoiding the number one overall pick next year and opening the doors for free-agents that want to come to a competitive team and not a complete burnt-out wreck. The schedule is difficult the first half, starting with a game on the road at the New Orleans Saints but it gets easier as it goes. Thankfully our bye week is after week 6 and not an early bye like we are always stuck with.

Brian VanOchten from the Grand Rapids Press assessment of the Lions schedule is a bit bleaker and you know maybe he is a realist. I am a kool-aid drinking, ready to leap off a cliff with the other lemmings fan so I cannot be too objective when it comes to the Lions expectations. Here is his story from MLive about the Lions schedule including an interview on the Huge Show with Bill Simonson. We are not going 1-15 like Bill Simonson is suggesting. He is nothing but a Lions basher so you cannot take anything is says as credible. Just like Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press, both men have grown so bitter that they believe nothing good will ever become of the Lions.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/early_look_at_the_lions_schedu.html

On Monday the Lions will have a press conference on the new logo and uniform change. Check out the press release from the Detroit Lions web site.
http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=483516
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/readers_respond_lions_right_to.html

Lions QB Daunte Culpepper is back to old-form, getting in much better shape and ready to be the teams’ leader. It’s not that I dislike Daunte Culpepper but he is not the long term solution. He is short term; especially if they draft Matthew Stafford they will guide him and prepare him to be the starter. Here are a couple of articles from MLive about Daunte Culpepper preparing himself in camp.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/daunte_culpepper_looks_good_ot.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/daunte_culpepper_looks_sharp_a.html

As most of you have heard John Madden has decided to retire as a football broadcaster which leaves Cris Collinsworth as the voice of football. I am sure going to miss John Madden. I really enjoyed him calling Monday Night Football with Al Michaels. I wish him all the best in his retirement. Here is that story from MLive.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/cris_collinsworth_replacing_jo.html

Coach Jim Schwartz is mixing it up in the locker room and working hard to build team chemistry. They have assigned parking and have made new locker assignments. The team needs to be much better cohesively. I believe they are making great strides in that area.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/gerald_alexander_practices_lio.html

The Lions have added a couple of new faces to the locker room, WR Ronald Curry and FB Terrelle Smith.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_view_ronald_curry_in_slo.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/lions_sign_free_agents_wr_rona.html

Here is a Podcast from Brian VanOchten about draft possibilities.
http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/_matthew_stafford_jason_smith.html

The decision to draft Matthew Stafford, Aaron Curry, Eugene Monroe or Jason Smith is a crossroads. If you take Jason Smith or Eugene Monroe you have immediate payoff on the O Line. If you take Aaron Curry you get a pro-bowler linebacker. If you draft Matthew Stafford you have a franchise quarterback for the next ten years. Matthew Stafford was on the Jimmy Fallon show this past Thursday doing a little skeet shooting with a football. You need to check out this video it is pretty sweet.
http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/04/video_skeet_shooting_matthew_s.html

Pat Kirwan senior draft analyst from the NFL has a story about team needs in the NFC North which also includes a video from Lions beat writer Tom Killer Kowalski about the Lions draft possibilities. The information is somewhat old but a few valid points are still relevant.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/story?id=09000d5d80f808a3&template=with-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Mel Kiper from ESPN believes the Lions should draft Matthew Stafford. I also need to sort through some confusion. I was initially against drafting Matthew Stafford because as anyone can see the O Line and D Line have major gapping holes in them. Matthew Stafford is just too good to pass up. A lot of fans out there are against this because we have been so bad in drafting QB’s Joey Harrington, Andre Ware and Chuck Long as some prime examples. We need to get over that fear collectively.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/mel_kiper_sticks_to_his_guns_a.html

To further solidify the argument of taking Stafford with the number one overall there is little chance of getting a QB with the 20th pick in the first round. If the Lions draft Curry, Monroe or Smith with the number one overall, Mark Sanchez, Josh Freeman and Matthew Stafford will all be gone by the time we get to the 20th. So then they might take a QB in a later round like Graham Harrell from Texas Tech. Here is an interview with Chad Reuter, a draft expert who explains the depth of QB’s in this draft class.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_draft_expert_interview_cha.html

Here are two articles from MLive highlighting pros and cons if the Lions play it safe with Aaron Curry or Eugene Monroe. Here are those articles by Tom Kowalski about risks and rewards with both of those players.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/aaron_curry_will_the_lions_go.html
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/eugene_monroe_still_in_the_run.html

So much attention has been given to the Lions number one spot but what about the 20th pick? Well it depends what they do with the first and what other teams pick before they get to the 20th which is the most obvious. We can hope that the last good OT Michael Oher is there at 20 but if not there is hope of taking LB Rey Maualuga to play middle.
http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/rey_maualuga_will_lions_finall.html

So with the Second Round pick I would like to see the Lions take James Laurinaitis to play middle if they take OT Michael Oher at the 20th spot in the first round. Then take the best DE and DT or a Safety with the two picks in the third round. Well that’s about it. I am going to have another post sometime mid-week after the new colors and logo have been announced and hopefully we know the number one pick. Until next time GO LIONS!

Are We There Yet?

2009-04-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hidy Ho to all of you out there in Lions Land,

Remember when you were a kid on a road trip with your family and you would ask “are we there yet?” over and over again? This is what it feels like waiting for the Lions to sign their number one. Well my Lionettes we are 1 week and 6 days away from the NFL Draft which will start the process of our team rebuilding through the draft and getting competent, quality football players.

So far the Lions have not signed the number one pick but the front-office will want the deal done before the draft. It is either going to be OT Jason Smith from Baylor or QB Matthew Stafford from Georgia. Either one will be a good thing, no let me correct that, a great thing for our team. I have said that Matthew Stafford is no Joey Harrington and will be a franchise QB which we sorely need. If they draft Jason Smith our OL gets an immediate shot in the arm and Culpepper will get needed protection. I feel this is a win-win whichever direction the Lions front office goes in.

If they do sign Stafford the downside will be that he will carry a clip board for the coming season and see if any playing time barring something happening to Culpepper like injury or failing to lead the team. Culpepper, Stanton and Henson will all be gone after this year. Henson will most likely be cut when the NFL mandatory roster cuts are made at the start of the regular season. Stanton and Culpepper both have a year left.

So in terms of long term strategic planning they sign Stafford, have Linehan and Culpepper guide him and get him ready for next year. However, the question arises if they draft Stafford do you draft one of the high-profile QBs next year like Colt McCoy or Sam Bradford? I would believe they would draft one of them and then have them battle it out for the starting job when the lines to protect and defend are better met.

Here is a link from MLive with Mel Kiper from ESPN suggesting the Lions should take Stafford.

http://blog.mlive.com/twominutedrill/2009/04/mel_kiper_lions_must_take_matt.html

Here is a link from MLive by Tom Kowalski about Coaches Schwartz and Linehan need to put the stamp of approval on Stafford. I am OK with Stafford if Schwartz and Linehan want him. They are both intelligent coaches that know talent. If they say he is our guy then we need to back them up and support them on this draft decision. I am starting to get the impression that Mayhew who ultimately has the final decision is getting what the coaches want. If we take Stafford the implication in this year’s draft is we need to take the best LB available at pick 20 in the First Round and target Defense with the Second Round, and two Third Round picks. We do not have any picks in the 4th or 5th rounds unless we trade our two 6th round picks to trade down and get another teams extra 4th or 5th round pick. To be honest I am not sure if that scenario would even be likely.

Here is an interview on MLive from Bob Gaunt a draft expert with some of the possible directions the Lions might go in for the coming draft. It is a really insightful interview and answers quite a few questions.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/nfl_draft_expert_interview_jer_1.html

Here is another interview from Tom Kowalski on MLive about the Lions not drafting anyone until they are signed first.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/tom_kowalski_on_wghn_lions_won.html

I was going to host a draft day party but I am going to Ford Field for the Detroit Lions Draft Day Party. Here is the link with some of the details if anyone is interested in going. Maybe some of you want to work out a carpool. It’s one of those things that should be on your Bucket List if it isn’t already.

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=483448

Tuesday the NFL will announce team schedules and I will have comments on that in my next post and also when the Lions will most likely announce their choice for the number one draft. Well everyone until next time GO LIONS!

Dodging A Bear

2009-04-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

A very good morning/afternoon/evening to my fellow Lions fans,

Since Tom ‘Killer’ Kowalski is MIA, I will have to fill his shoes in the interim until he resurfaces. There has been very scant news from MLive and other sources which befuddles me because we are three weeks away from the March Madness of the NFL, the draft. There have been no free-agent signings, potential draftee visits or any other major announcements. So maybe Tom Kowalski is on vacation and will return soon.

There hasn’t been much attention give to the Lions as of late since most sports coverage have been on the Red Wings, Pistons, Pre-Season Tigers and of course our Michigan State Spartans in the Final Four!

Thanks to two of the bestest Chiefs of Staff in the Michigan State Senate alerting me to the Jay Cutler trade that went down on Thursday late afternoon, I will give my input on this breaking news trade. The Denver Broncos have traded QB Jay Cutler and their 5th round pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for QB Kyle Orton, their 1st and 3rd round draft picks in this years draft and their 1st round pick in next years draft. Wow, that price tag is extremely high and there wasn’t a chance the Lions could or would match that.

Here are a couple of articles from the Detroit Free Press Online and MLive about the Jay Cutler trade.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090402/SPORTS01/90402116/1049/Jay+Cutler+traded+to+Bears

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/04/broncos_deal_jay_cutler_to_the.html

The Lions could have matched that deal but it would have been a colossal gamble to give that many picks plus a player in exchange for a late round and a whiny QB. I wish he hadn’t had been traded to the Bears since they are a division foe. We now have to face him twice a season for the foreseeable future. So we will have our work cut out for us on Sundays when we face the Bears. That is the bad news but the good news is the Lions dodged that roll of the dice. Like the rest of you we can only hope that after years of taking beatings from Brett Favre and the Packers that Jay Cutler and the Bears aren’t following in that tradition.

I could not imagine a worse scenario if the Lions traded under those conditions. That would have been totally contradictory to the Lions front office philosophy of building this team through the draft, not free agency or trading draft picks away. The situation with the Bears is their OL is not the greatest although they signed OT Orlando Pace which will bolster their OL. However, they do not have a solid core of WRs, their DL is rebuilding and with surrendering draft picks they won’t have much depth. The Broncos will be able to stack their team with good players and add depth. The Bears got the worst of this deal. I am so thankful to God that the Lions didn’t take this bait.

I can only imagine Matthew Stafford jumping and screaming with excitement over this trade announcement. He wants to be a Lion. Even if he wasn’t a potential number one I sincerely believe he is hoping beyond hope that the Lions acquire him. He believes it is his destiny to lead the Lions. To me that is very hard to argue against. A lot of players are shunning the Lions because of our dismal past but he welcomes it.

Here is a scenario where I can see Stafford wearing Honolulu Blue on Sundays. Say the Lions draft Jason Smith the OT from Baylor with the number one overall. Stafford will in all probability be gone by the time we get to our 20th. Damn you Cowboys for not having a crummier season! Say the 49’s or another team drafts him, the Lions could make a trade on draft day to them and give them our 20th and hopefully we can bait them with one our 6th rounders but most likely it will be one of our 3rd rounders. I know some you might say “then why don’t we just draft him number one overall and be done with it?” The reason is Jason Smith is WAY too good to pass up and WILL BE gone within the first few draft picks. He will give the Lions immediate pay-off value for at least ten years.

If the Lions do draft Matthew Stafford number one overall I am OK with it. We do need to get over the fear of him being a potential bust like Joey Harrington. I believe he is a solid QB that we will get value out of. I will eat my hat if he is a bust but I am going to go out on a limb here and say he will be good for our team. I just might even pre-order a Stafford jersey. Hell I used to have a Joey Harrington and a special thanks to my brother Kevyn for taking that one off my hands.

Other than that there is nothing else to report on as far as the new logo, schedule, and draft scenarios other than my tid bits that I just gave you all. I would like to share Kenny’s version of the NFL if I controlled the NFL world, which like I sometimes say ‘it can happen, it can happen’.

NFC

EAST
A. New York Giants
B. Philadelphia Eagles
C. Washington Statesmen

WEST
A. Seattle Seahawks
B. Arizona Cardinals
C. San Francisco 49’s

NORTH
A. Detroit Lions
B. Minnesota Vikings
C. Chicago Bears

SOUTH
A. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
B. Dallas Cowboys
C. New Orleans Saints

CENTRAL
A. Cincinnati Bengals
B. St. Louis Rams
C. Green Bay Packers

ATLANTIC
A. San Antonio Scorpions
B. Atlanta Falcons
C. Carolina Panthers

AFC

EAST
A. New England Patriots
B. Buffalo Bills
C. New York Jets

WEST
A. Denver Broncos
B. Oakland Raiders
C. San Diego Chargers

NORTH
A. Baltimore Ravens
B. Pittsburgh Steelers
C. Cleveland Browns

SOUTH
A. Richmond Rebels
B. Jacksonville Jaguars
C. Miami Dolphins

CENTRAL
A. Houston Texans
B. Tennessee Titans
C. Indianapolis Colts

PACIFIC
A. Portland Rhinos
B. Los Angeles Lynx
C. Kansas City Chiefs

As Porky Pig would say 'That's All Folks'. From what the players are saying, there is a new attitude and culture forming and our team will be far better come September. Until then take care, God Bless and GO LIONS!

Thirty Days To Go But Whose Counting?

2009-03-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

A very good morning/afternoon/evening to you that are the ever faithful Lions fans!

Let me first start off to apologize to all of you that are my very loyal readers for not posting in a little while. I am not going to make excuses; I will be upfront and say that I didn’t get it done. But I am here now to bring you my thoughts and feelings on the soon to be greatest football team ever, thee Detroit Lions.

We are now exactly thirty days away from the April 25th draft. We will know within the next couple of weeks who the Lions will draft with that number one overall since it looks like we will have to eat the cost of it. There is a four-way race between LB Aaron Curry, QB Matthew Stafford, OT Jason Smith and OT Eugene Monroe.

I have warmed up to QB Matthew Stafford so if we draft him number one overall, I am okay with it. We have a critical need at QB and I have really warmed up to him. It could be fate since he is from the same high school as Bobby Layne. I sincerely believe he is not another Joey Harrington but more of a Jay Cutler type of QB. I don’t mean to sound like I am giving him an endorsement but I will say if we do draft him it wouldn’t be the end of our team. I believe he has good leadership skills, a strong arm and he will be a quality QB. I do wish he had returned to Georgia for his senior year but he has had three very productive years at Georgia.

The other three NFL hopefuls, Curry, Smith and Monroe are all very highly qualified, worthy candidates for the number one. We can only take one of them because the other three will not be there for our 20th pick in the first round. So that is the Lions front-office dilemma. We need an impact player now with that first pick so that is why I don’t think the Lions are going to draft Stafford but take the safe route with Curry, Smith or Monroe.

Most of you have seen me wear my Detroit Lions necktie and everyone feels some sort of sympathy for me. Well I am going to give you all a little insight into my psyche why I am such a hard core fan. I feel something for this team. The sort of feeling when a stone mason sees a boulder and can make a statue out of it; when a carpenter takes a tree trunk and makes a grand piece of furniture out of it; or an artist that can take a brush to a canvas and paint a beautiful portrait. It will become something really great when it is done right. I feel for this team because they have taken such a beating from fans, the media and the rest of the football world. I suppose it is like a parents love for their child.

A love that is always constant whether they are good or bad, that is the kind of love I have for this team. No I am not a fair-weather fan. Much like I root for the Spartans, Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers I believe in loyalty because it is the loyal fans that give these teams life. Without the fans no one would even bother with team names. I believe in this team because I know great things are coming.

The NFL owners recently held their annual owners meeting in Dana Point, California. They have awarded compensatory picks and the Lions received a whopping one pick! WOO-HOO! Yes I was being very sarcastic. Here is the article from NFL.com with the allocations.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80f699b6&template=without-video-with-comments&confirm=true

Here is the article from M-Live on the compensatory pick

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/nfl_rewards_detroit_lions_with.html

You know what I find sickening under this current system? Teams like the Titans got four comp picks and the Patriots got three! This is like issuing a bridge card to Bill Gates. These teams do not need them especially the Patriots. This system is set up on free agency acquisitions and departures. I thought it was based on team performance. Now since I like to give solutions and not constant bash like that no talent hack Drew Sharp, I am suggesting a better system. I believe a fair, equitable system would be for the top half of the league getting an extra pick and the bottom half getting two. The reason for that is because with these compensatory picks the New England Patriots have 12 picks in this coming draft! That is just nuts because with that many they can and will control the boards by throwing those picks around to other teams and stacking their roster with a cadre of good players.

Here is an article from M-Live on Coach Jim Schwartz’s take on the first overall pick.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/jim_schwartz_lions_might_not_g.html

It has been announced that the Lions will play the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day. Here is the official press release from the DetroitLions.com web site.

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=482974

The remaining schedule will be announced within the next few weeks. Hopefully with a new roster, coaches and football philosophy we can win this Thanksgiving Day game and stop the embarrassment of letting the country see how bad this team was. I am excited for this Thanksgiving game because of the tradition, the history and my outright hatred for the Packers. If I was only allowed to pick one team I truly despised and wish icky sticky horrible things to happen to it would be the Packers.

Another topic I want to touch basis on is the leaked new Detroit Lions logo on the nflshop.com web site.

Here is the story from M-Live about the jumping the gun on it by the nflshop.com web people.

http://blog.mlive.com/highlightreel/2009/03/and_the_winner_of_the_new_detr.html

I like the new look of “Bubbles” the leaping lion. I like the new font type of the word Lions and it still keeps the tradition of the logo but gives it a much needed update. I like how they gave it a sort of lifeless eyes like it has no soul, no heart and it symbolizes cold death. That is what the team needs, an image that strikes fear into the hearts of our opponents. I think this change is good and sometime a fresh coat of paint is exactly what a team needs.

Well there is not much more to say no free-agent signings these past couple of weeks. There is still a long way to go until the draft with a lot of private work outs and pro-days to evaluate players and determine the best direction for the team. Until next time God bless and GO LIONS!

If You Smell What The Lions Are Cooking!

2009-03-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy to all of you, who are the Lions faithful,

Do you know what the NFL needs? You might say a lot but something I feel this league needs is a minor equivalent like what Major League Baseball has. No, not something completely lame like the XFL or Arena League Football but a minor farm team system. The same number of players with practice squads, have the teams play in areas that want or could support a smaller team like Grand Rapids. Stadiums would complement about 30,000 people or so and play the game with the same intensity as the NFL. What I would like to see is teams building through the draft and their farm team, putting an end to high price free agency. You know how each team has seven picks in the draft one for each of the seven rounds? My system would still have the draft but in addition each team can bring up a handful of players from their farm team.

Wishful thinking I know but with the UFL forming who knows maybe a good sign of things to come.

Our draft count is now down to seven picks in the April draft after trading our 5th rounder to Seattle along with DT Cory Redding for five-time Pro Bowler LB Julian Peterson. We have our two picks from the first round, one pick from the second round, two picks from the third round and two picks from the sixth round. Now the Lions have been very active during this free-agency period but the thing that gets me is that the Lions front office said they would build through the draft and not through free-agency. They have signed quite a few, plugging critical holes but in my opinion trading draft picks should have been hands off with the only exceptions of trying to trade the first overall and our possible second to another team for a franchise QB like Jay Cutler.

We don’t have our 4th, 5th, or 7th round picks now although we did get the better of the deal with the Roy Williams trade with Dallas. There is still the possibility of getting a compensatory pick and getting an extra pick if we trade down for another team to snag the guy they want.

My amended wish list of draft picks are a Defensive Tackle, Defensive End, Line Backer, Tight End, Offensive Tackle, Kick Returner Wide Receiver, and a Free Safety. Those are positions I envision the Lions targeting but this is dependent on what happens with a possible Jay Cutler trade. If we trade our second first round pick or the second round pick to Denver we will have six picks which isn’t the best draft class especially when you are trying to clean house. But hey it could be worse we could be like the Redskins with only four draft picks coming in the draft.

For some of you who are unfamiliar with the Jay Cutler story let me give you the gist of it. About two weeks ago the Lions were talking to the Broncos and the Patriots to work out a three team deal. Now the Lions were trying to get Matt Cassel from the Patriots and trade him to the Broncos for Jay Cutler. When Jay Cutler learned of this he was fuming mad not with the Lions but with the Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels. So now Jay Cutler stated he wants to be traded and he has put his Denver area home on the market so I believe it is just a matter of time before he is gone from Denver and God willing into a Lions uniform.

Speaking of which there has been nothing said about the new Lions logo or colors being changed. I believe the jersey color will be unveiled with the number one draft pick. I think there will be a press conference soon for the new logo because they want people like me for example to buy Lions logo merchandise and the longer they wait the less money they make, so it should be coming soon.

We have signed Tight End Will Heller. Here is the article from MLive

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/lions_sign_free_agent_te_will.html

Here is a summary of things so far from Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Detroit_Lions_season

Our schedule won’t be out until later in the spring but based on the NFL Scheduling rotation here is the teams we will be playing.

We play our own NFC North Division naturally, home and away.
The NFC West Division playing the Cardinals and Rams at home and the Seahawks and 49s away.
The AFC North Division playing the Browns and Steelers at home and the Ravens and Bengals away.
And we play the Redskins at home and the Saints away.

Well my Lionettes I am letting you all off easy this time but don’t think you will be so lucky next time. I am just kidding. It has been sort of slow the past few days. If this Jay Cutler trade does come through I will have a lot to say about it in my next post. Until next time, keep the faith and GO LIONS!

Now You Know And Knowing Is Half The Battle

2009-03-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

A very good awesome day to the best fans in the world! That is you the Lions fans.

Almost everyone has seen a PSA and most are pretty bad. Remember the one from the 80s with the guy saying ‘This is your brain (holding up an egg) and he would crack it into a frying pan and say ‘this is your brain on drugs’ ‘Any questions?’ People often here me say ‘and knowing is half the battle’. That particular catch phrase was from G.I. Joe the most awesomest show during the 80s. There was a safety PSA after the end of each episode and usually it was some kid about to do something really, really dumb and the Joe member would give them this safety lecture and the kids would say ‘and now we know’ and the Joe would say ‘and knowing is half the battle’.

So what does this trip down memory lane have to do with the Lions? Well my ever faithful Lionettes why have the Lions been sort of low key during this free-agency period? Why haven’t we made a bigger splash during free-agency and sign some big names? Most teams will put a franchise tag on their best UFAs so that thins the heard and the other UFAs want to sign with a team that is a player or two away from winning their division or making the playoffs. So the front office philosophy has been to build this team through the draft and sign affordable mid-level players to meet critical needs. So now you know and knowing is half the battle!

Our free agents that we have signed to date are CB Eric King, RB Maurice Morris, CB Anthony Henry through a trade for QB Jon Kitna, DT Grady Jackson, CB Phillip Buchanon, T Daniel Loper and we re-signed two of our UFAs RB Aveion Cason and LB Cody Spencer. I would venture a guess that we are good to go with our CBs and our secondary will not be a sitcom joke and God willing we won’t burn a draft pick on a CB and instead spend it on an extra LB or DE.

I really like the Cody Spencer pick up he had played under Schwartz in Tennessee and played the last three years with the Jets and is a big fella. One thing that must change is our linemen both DL and OL have to be bigger and meaner. Make other teams fear us. When other teams come to play us they must feel that they just ate their last meal, the Governor denied their last appeal and they are about to be executed.

Some of you might have heard that the Lions logo is going to change and or possibly team colors. Nothing official has come down as of today from the Lions front office but on the Lions home website for their online fan merchandise there is a fire sale going on and everything must go! Everything is marked 80% off. So you can connect the dots on that one. If they were to change colors I wouldn’t mind seeing a brown in there for one of the colors since a Lion is brown in color. For a logo something a bit more animated like what the NHL Nashville Predators have on their helmets. Here is a short article from MLive about the speculation.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/new_lions_uniforms_and_logo_co.html

OT Jason Smith who I would love to see in a Lions uniform and QB Matthew Stafford who I am starting to think will not be the end of us if we draft him have visited Allen Park recently since they are both leading candidates for the number one selection. and I expect other players will be coming for visits as well such as LB Aaron Curry and OT Andre Smith. Here are the links for those two stories also.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/jason_smith_visits_lions_facil.html

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/matt_stafford_drops_by_for_a_v.html

Last blog I mentioned the Jon Kitna trade and the impact on the Lions. I do wish him luck but I do need to share this little story about him with all of you. Oh by the way here is an interview he gave to Bill Simonson on the Huge Show.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/jon_kitna_on_the_huge_show_no.html

Anyways the Lions started this fan appreciation kick-off luncheon that benefits Detroit area charities through the luncheon ticket sales. Anyways one of the bestest, awesomest fans, Darin gave me an extra ticket to go and it was for the 2007 season kick-off luncheon. So as the luncheon was wrapping up the players and coaches were getting ready to leave for their last pre-season game and I wanted to snag a picture with Jon Kitna. So I ran up to him and no I was not tackled and asked him if I could get a quick picture which I did get. But here’s the thing he was VERY rude about it, he did not say thank you for being a fan and coming out to support the team, no I hope to see you coming out to support us at the games. He seemed very annoyed and like he was too good to be bothered. Well Jon you are no Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. So I am glad he is gone and the only reason I thought he might be back was to play that final year of his contract and then let him go as an UFA. He was not friendly or appreciative much like Matt Millen. That front office is guilty of murdering its fan base.

Moving on, RB Rudi Johnson was talking smack about the Lions being years away. He is just being a pris because he was not re-signed and he was demoted from the starting RB position because Kevin Smith is a far superior RB.

Here is that article

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/rudi_johnson_lions_are_years_a.html

Tom Killer Kowalski posted a rather dismal story on the Lions draft classes.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/good_news_bad_news_lions_are_c.html

When I think about all of our recent draft classes, it demoralizes me more than a kid who has dropped his ice cream cone or seen his favorite toy broken. Wow how can one person Matt Millen be such an incompetent in picking and evaluating players. Our draft classes have been tragically bad with a few exceptions. Hopefully that will change as the Lewand and Mayhew era grows from its infancy stage.

Last thing I want to mention is a prayer to go out to DE Corey Smith’s family for this tragic loss of such a hard-working player who loved this game more than anything. The Lions have been accustomed to loss and from this tragedy we need to sew the seeds of rage and revenge. We need to stand up as a team and fight these other teams hard because we are better than them and we just need to get it done! Here is that story and yes as you can gather MLive’s Lions section is one of my favorite places.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/03/add_loss_of_corey_smith_to_lis.html

Well my fellow Lions fans it is late, I am tired and I think I have rambled on enough! Until next time God bless and GO LIONS!

It's This And That With The #1 Lions Fan In The World

2009-03-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

Howdy to the outstanding fine human beings that you all are AKA, The Lionettes.

Well let’s see where do I begin? Lots of stuff happening with the soon to be super duper awesome Detroit Lions. QB Jon Kitna and QB Dan Orlovsky are no longer Lions but a Cowboy and Texan, respectively. Dan Orlovsky was an Unrestricted Free Agent who wanted to sign with another team after he learned that he would not be the starter in Detroit so he gets to be a backup with the Texans go figure. Jon Kitna still had a year left on his contract but was due a roster bonus this month and there was possible dissention brewing in the locker room with him.

We received CB Anthony Henry in exchange for Jon Kitna with the Cowboys but the report I heard said that we got a late round draft pick, which could possibly be our 7th rounder back that we traded to the Cowboys in the Roy Williams trade. We may not know that specific detail until draft weekend as well as the possible compensatory pick. I wish them both luck with their new teams and hope that they will get the chance to put on a Super Bowl ring.

I suppose the writing was on the wall and it was just a matter of time before they would leave the Lions for greener pastures. So that leaves us with Daunte Culpepper, Drew Stanton and Drew Henson for QBs. I do not have much faith in any of those three so this could mean a couple of things. We could pick up a free agent QB like JP Losman, Rex Grossman or Byron Leftwich. The alternative is drafting Matthew Stafford with that number one pick becoming the number two guy and if Culpepper is not getting the job done then Stafford becomes the starter. I wish I could tell you all how many more free agents we can shop for based on how much cap money is left but your guess is as good as mine. I do know the signings that we have made is minimal in money spent and could make a deal for one of the noteworthy players left in free agency.

I know a lot of critics are being hard on Martin Mayhew over his working the free agency period, but in his defense some of the quality players DID NOT want to come to Detroit, most of the good players were franchised tagged and others demanded a truckload of money like DT Albert Haynesworth. The Lions were not going to make a major risk and have it totally blow up in their faces. You have to take some risks but now is not the time to do it. I totally agree with their conservative dealing during this free agency period.

A couple of free agent signing that we have made are CB Eric King from the Titans, RB Maurice Morris from the Seahawks, WR Bryant Johnson from the 49s and have claimed WR Sean Conover off of waivers from the Jets. The experts may not think these signings are stellar but they are the smart ones. The Lions need to plug critical holes so that when the draft comes they can draft the ones they really want for the long term.

Drew Sharp from the Detroit Free Press wrote an article about a week ago about how the Lions need their own Ivan ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez. A player that comes in and gives credibility to a team that will attract other quality talent and galvanize a team to becoming a contender. He is somewhat correct that you need players to change the culture but his example is the cliché of comparing apples to oranges or in this case an aircraft carrier to a rowboat. The problem I have with his rationale is that Pudge is a baseball player where it is more individualized and not a team sport like football. A catcher works primarily with the pitcher and the basemen. Four other players vs. an entire defensive or offensive line is a lot more complicated. A catcher is not taking hits from 300 lb. lineman on a constant basis. So the Tigers could sign Pudge on that deal but the Lions COULD NOT sign Haynesworth. A totally different circumstance that would make the Lions roll the dice and pray for double sevens. Simply too many variables most of which are against the Lions.

Now I have always hated constant criticism with NO suggestions on how to fix a situation which is why I hate most of the NFL analysts and experts because they are always Lion bashing with very few suggestions on fixing the situation. So yes we need our own Albert Haynesworth and we will get them through the draft. Find those players that meet three criteria one they are phenomenal players, second they are of solid character and third they are players the fans will get excited about. Let’s go out there and find our own Troy Polamalu or Bob Sanders. We can do this if they just look right.

On a serious note most of you have heard that DE Corey Smith is missing off the Florida coast. Him and three of his friends one of them Oakland Raiders LB Marquis Cooper went out fishing Saturday and did not return as expected. As of mid-afternoon on Monday they found the boat with one survivor neither Smith nor Cooper. I know Corey Smith was on the worst defense this past season but he really tried and never gave up when things were at their worst. We can only hope and pray that they are found very soon so that they can be returned safely to their families.

Today the Redskins released DE Jason Taylor and I think the Lions should make a bid for him. He is an impact player who can immediately upgrade the defense. I think it would be prudent for the Lions to contact his agent and have him visit with the coaches and see the facilities. There are still lots of free agents available and hopefully there will be some more signings in the next few days. Well that’s it for now I will try to have another post by the end of the week if not then the weekend for sure.

Until next time GO LIONS!

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, I Want, I Want, I Want!

2009-02-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hidy Ho to all of my Lionettes,

Well it’s that time of the year again. No I am not talking about filing your taxes or thinking about plans for spring break. I am talking about Free Agency. Free Agency is set to start at the stroke of midnight Friday and will closely resemble the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, instead of Wall Street traders selling and buying shares of stock there will be agents burning up the phone lines getting better deals for their clients. Now the old saying goes a ‘team builds through the draft and not through free agency’. I completely agree with that statement. However, if you have cap room and the Lions do have A LOT of cap room roughly $35 million, you can burn a few bucks on bringing in a few free agents.

I am going to give you all a little story. A little boy gets $50.00 from his dear grandma for his birthday. This little boy is so ecstatic that he asks his mommy and daddy to take him to Toys R Us so he can spend his money. Sounds simple and easy right? Upon entering the store the little boy his overwhelmed by the wide variety of toys and games! Decisions, decisions, decisions! He goes through each of the aisles finally stopping at the action figure aisle thee best aisle at Toys R Us I might add. He has finally made his decision on Batman toys. But here is the little boys’ dilemma. Should he spend his $50.00 on the Batman Cave Action Playset for $50.00 or should he spend the $50.00 on five Batman action figures that cost $10.00 each?

So that is where the Lions are at. Should they dump pretty much all of that cap money on DT Albert Haynesworth from Tennessee? Or spend it on 3 or 4 mid-level players and fill a few critical holes so you can really target the players you truly want in the draft?

Now I wish I could give you all tidbits on which free agents the Lions are considering but this is a poker game and the Lions are playing with their hand close to their chests. Here is a ranking of the top 50 free agents by Pete Prisco

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/11425323

Here is a quick story from Tom Killer Kowalski about the Lions on free agency.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/expect_the_lions_to_strike_fas.html

A free agent QB I can see the Lions bringing in could be Jeff Garcia from the Buccaneers coming back or signing Byron Leftwich from the Steelers both possibilities are viable options. The Lions could snag a CB through free agency instead of drafting one like I have been advocating they do with one of the draft picks. Some notable free agent CBs are Bryant McFadden from the Steelers, DeAngelo Hall from the Redskins, or Jabari Greer from the Bills. A few LBs the Lions could target could be Jonathan Vilma from the Saints, Channing Crowder from the Dolphins, Marcus Washington from the Redskins or Andra Davis from the Browns. If they sign a few of these free agents this will free up the draft board a bit so they can look at some long term goals for the team not just plug holes. Well all of you fine outstanding human beings that are the Lions faithful that is my thoughts for this post. I will have another post by the end of the weekend or Monday at the latest when there is news on the Lions free agent signings. Until next time, GO LIONS!

This patient needs a whole new body

2009-02-21T18:07:00.001-08:00

Howdy to all of my Lionettes,

The patient has a ruptured spleen, swelling in the brain, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding, a broken collarbone, a broken femur, both arms broken, several cracked/broken ribs and a myriad number of lacerations. No I am not referring to the medical condition of an unfortunate car crash victim from a PSA on the dangers of drinking and driving, but the condition of the Lions roster and what parts/positions need to be addressed first. There are lots of needs but I have amended my wish list of position needs in the coming draft:

1 DT, 2 LBs, 1 TE, 1 CB, 1 OT, 1 S and 1 KR

That is a pretty solid list that address the most critical of needs and I look forward to all of your suggestions on what positions you would pick with our eight picks in the draft.

Well the first day of the 2009 NFL Scouting combine is done and some interesting tidbits from today. I think OT Andre Smith from Alabama stock just dropped like the first 5 picks after today’s shenanigans. I think it would be a bad idea to draft a guy who does not show up, lift or work-out. So I do not believe our Lions will pick him with that overall pick or I should hope that they won’t. WR Michael Crabtree from Texas Tech has a stress fracture in his left foot so a small glimmer of hope that we could trade that 1st Overall pick to the Oakland Raiders since they are head over heels in love with Crabtree has pretty much evaporated. But you never know we cashed in on Jerry Jones management of the Cowboys like it’s his own personal fantasy football team to our benefit so maybe we can cash in on Raiders owner Al Davis’ senility.

Here are my suggestions for the first round in the draft.

With the 1st overall pick since our likelihood of us trading that pick away is about as likely as me bench pressing a bus would be either ILB Aaron Curry from Wake Forest or OT Jason Smith from Baylor. For our 20th pick in the 1st round, it could be either ILB James Laurinaitis from Ohio State or LB Rey Maualuga from Southern Cal.

Here is an article from Tom Kowalski about Jason Smith whom I believe could be a very good value for our number 1 pick

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/in_terms_of_the_lions_top_pick.html

I am not going to waste mine or your time with possibilities for the second through sixth rounds. There are more drafting scenarios than I care to count. What will happen on draft day is the Lions will have the list of players they want and will select them in order when they are on the clock.

Well everyone I will have another post tomorrow night after round 2 of the combine when RBs, WRs and QBs are going through their combine drills. Until then GO LIONS!

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve

2009-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

Howdy to all of my Lionettes,

Today as I was on the bus ride home I was thinking about all of the different cars and trucks that were on the road. A wide variety of all types, makes and models on the road. It is something that has been on my mind lately because as most of you know I am getting a new vehicle late summer/early fall. I am trying to decide since I am a truck guy to those who know me what kind of truck should I get. The Dodge Ram, the Ford F-150, the Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra or get another Toyota Tacoma? Decisions, decisions, decisions! I know what you’re all thinking what the heck do my truck shopping comparisons have to do with the Lions? Well I am going to answer your enquiring minds right now. What do we do with our quarterback problem?

Right now we have 5 QBs on our roster; Drew Henson, Daunte Culpepper, Jon Kitna, Drew Stanton and Dan Orlovsky. We can assume that there will be three slots filled on the roster, the starter, the backup and the third stringer (unless they have a fourth on the practice squad) to complete the most important position on a team. Dan Orlovsky is a free agent and it is doubtful that he will be resigned. Daunte Culpepper just re-inked his deal so he will be returning next season. Tom Killer Kowalski is reporting that most likely Jon Kitna will be cut or traded in the next couple of weeks. So here are a few scenarios IF Georgia QB Matthew Stafford is drafted or not drafted by the Lions.

If Stafford is drafted then Daunte Culpepper would be the starter and Stafford and Stanton would battle it out during training camp for the back up spot. Another possibility would be to resign Dan Orlovsky to be the back up to Culpepper and Stanton being the third stringer in the event that Matthew Stafford is not drafted by the Lions. They could keep Kitna for his final year of his contract and have him battle it out with Culpepper for the starting spot. However, if he loses the starter job, Kitna could be in outright rebellion and become major problems in the locker room. So there are a million and one questions that the Lions front office is discussing with the coaching staff. I think Culpepper is serviceable given his past experience with Scott Linehan in Minnesota. I believe he can be a competent starter given the time to get in shape and know the Lions offensive system.

Here is a story from Tom Kowalski about the line up of pitchers for the Lions

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/how_about_this_lions_qb_scenar.html

Here is a story from Brian VanOchten on the Huge Show about Culpepper

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/vanochten_on_the_huge_show_dau.html

Here is another story on Culpepper

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/daunte_culpepper_is_banking_on.html
If Matthew Stafford is drafted I see it as a fifty fifty shot. He could be a Matt Ryan type leading our team to the playoffs or he could be a total bust. I don’t think he is another Joey Harrington which is good for us but the real question is can he deliver when all of the pressure is on and the kitchen is on fire? Your guess is as good as mine. He is expected to meet with the Lions and work out so we will know more in the coming days what the Lions will do. There will not be a surprise on draft day as to who the Lions will pick with that number one. It won’t be Roger Goodell making this breaking news announcement to the football world as to who the Lions are picking. The contract will be signed beforehand and the draft hoopla will just be a formality. So we will know who the Lions will draft with that number one in the next few weeks since the contract will already be hashed out.

If I were calling the shots on this I would let Orlovsky sign onto another team, keep Kitna, Stanton and Culpepper and trade Henson. I do not believe the Lions should spend that number one draft pick on Matthew Stafford. We should stick it out for another year with Culpepper and Kitna and look at the next draft class of QBs like Florida QB Tim Tebow, Texas QB Colt McCoy or Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford. Any of them would be great draft pick for the Lions considering we will most likely be snagging another top ten in the draft. We should spend this draft class on addressing the OL and DL. Those are critical to protecting the QB and keeping our defense off the field and getting pressure on the other team’s QB and forcing them to go three and out. If they are to stay true to their word about building from the inside out then that is how you do it build the lines to run the ball and stop the run.

Well I think that’s enough on the QB question for now. Moving on. The Lions have signed G Stephen Peterman to a five-year $15.5 million dollar deal. I am ok with this and he was one of the elite few free agents worth resigning. He is productive, young, and has a strong work ethic so keeping him on the OL is a good thing for our team.

Jason Hanson will retire a Lion after his four-year deal he just signed.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/lions_culpepper_restructures_c.html

Here are the positions I believe the Lions should draft this year since we have 8 picks in this coming draft: 2 Corner Backs, a Tackle, a Tight End, a Free Safety, 2 Line Backers and a Kick Returner. I believe that is a balanced draft class on position needs and hoping they find the right players to fill those needs.

I will have another post after this week’s scouting combine is over and information is available on this year’s draft prospects. Until next time keep the faith and GO LIONS!

Puzzle The Together Piecing

2009-02-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy to all of you outstanding human beings who are the ever Lions faithful,

Yes I know my headline is backwards but I did that on purpose to sound witty and clever. Did it work? Well let’s snap that ball. For starters Brett Favre has officially or should I say filed the paperwork to retire from the NFL. What this could mean for the Lions is this. The New York Jets quarterback situation is at a cross roads. With the Jets having the 17th overall pick in the draft they might be interested in obtaining Georgia QB Matthew Stafford. Would they be willing to take the number 1 pick in exchange for their first round pick and us surrendering either a 3rd or 5th rounder? Or maybe the Kansas City Chiefs having the 3rd overall pick in the first round might be interested in a QB and we can simply switch places with them in the draft order.

I have no doubt that the Lions organization will try to shop that first round pick. The first round is very exciting to have but that guaranteed money for the first overall is more of a burden than a help. If we could swap places with one of the other teams in the top 5 for the first round in the draft that would me a present wrapped up with a giant ribbon around it.

The Lions coaching staff has been fully assembled. Here is the story from MLive that you all can check out

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/lions_complete_coaching_staff.html

I am glad that Stan Kwan the Special Teams coach, Shawn Jefferson Wide Receivers coach and Sam Gash the Running Backs coach are staying on. Those men are good coaches who deserve a better shot under a new head coach and a system that produces. Coach Jim Schwartz has assembled a dynamic team of coaches that is night and day difference from the crop of incompetents we had this past season. You all know that I am the eternal optimist when it comes to the Lions but you all have to admit things are moving in a positive direction that gives us hope for this franchises’ future. With this crew of veteran coaches we will see better production from the players on special teams down to our dead last ranked defense.

Oh by the way a co-worker (thank you Jeff) mentioned something I failed to note in my last blog about the Pro Bowl having meaning. Another thing they can do with it is make it a skills test like the MLB has the home run derby and the NBA slam dunk contests. In the NFL have QBs throw Hail Mary’s, longest field goals kicked, etc. That would be something worth seeing.

So with the coaching staff put together, the next phase before the scouting combine is the roster cuts. There are still a lot of players that will not be back next season since some of them are Free Agents not worth re-signing with the exception of Kicker Jason Hanson. In September when they announce the final 53-man roster it will be very interesting to see who is left after these purges.

They say a team builds through the draft and the Lions will have plenty of opportunity to do so. FYI our draft picks are as follows: Two First Round Picks, One Second Round Pick, Two Third Round Picks, One Fifth Round Pick, and Two Sixth Round Picks. We had surrendered our Fourth and Seventh Round picks to Dallas which gives us 8 total draft picks plus a possible compensatory pick to be determined. 9 picks will give this team a huge face lift depending on what happens on draft day as far as moving up and down. Say I am open to suggestions to see who would be interested in having a draft day party on Saturday April 25th.

These are the positions I believe they should draft 2 OGs, TE, DT, 2 LBs and 2 CBs. We can meet all of those needs in this draft and in the 2010 draft target these positions QB, WR, RB, DE, TE and 2 LBs

Last but certainly not least GM Martin Mayhew has hired James ‘Shack’ Harris as Senior Personnel Executive. Here is the story from the Lions web site

http://www.detroitlions.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=481774

I like what Martin Mayhew is doing. He has been working really hard in trying to move this team forward from the disappointments of the past. He has over 22 years of experience as a scout and a player. His experience with the Jacksonville Jaguars will be a great help to us. I believe Martin Mayhew realizes that he cannot do this by himself and his seeking a voice to help guide him.

Well I have rambled enough. I am going to e-mail this link since some of you have requested that I do so. I hope to have another post by this Presidents Day weekend to discuss the upcoming scouting combine, more thoughts on the draft, free agency and roster cuts.

Until then GO LIONS!

No Bowl

2009-02-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

Howdy to all of you in Lions Land,

The Pro-Bowl! Can a game be any more insignificant than the Pro-Bowl? I used to have a boss at one of my old jobs that put it bluntly about certain workers being ‘useless’. He posted his definition of useless as being unproductive, uncooperative, unreliable, unfriendly and unprofessional. This is exactly how I feel about the Pro Bowl.

Unlike other sports, it is the last game played of the season after the Super Bowl. In other sports the All-Star game is played half-way through the season with it being meaningful. In baseball it determines who gets home field advantage for the World Series. For thirty years it has been played at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. Except the next one will be played at Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Florida before the Super Bowl.

I am going to pretend I rule the NFL and my word is final. This is what I would do with the Pro-Bowl to make it meaningful and fair. Alternate the stadiums like the Super Bowl, so fans from various cities can enjoy the experience. Make it a fan appreciation event with autograph signing sessions, fan challenge games and other events. Each conference would have 53 of the best players like a regular team and Alternates would also be named. An independent commission made up of former coaches, analysts and former GMs would vote on the best players to fill the positions of RBs, WRs, QBs and Linemen. Fans would vote on some of the players that the commission labels pro-bowler caliber so that the fans just don’t vote for the players from their team.

For those teams that have no pro-bowlers chosen, the team will be allowed to vote for a representative from their team to go to the Pro Bowl. This past Pro Bowl the Dallas Cowboys had 13 players when the Detroit Lions had 0 although Kicker Jason Hanson was an Alternate. I don’t mean to make this sound like redistributing the wealth of talent in the NFL for the Pro-Bowl but larger fan bases have more votes. The Giants, Redskins, 49s, Cowboys and Patriots have huge fan bases and those fans obviously vote for their own players.

To make it meaningful a few suggestions could be that the winning conference of the Pro-Bowl would determine home field advantage for the Super Bowl, the MVP of the Pro-Bowl from the team they are from get a compensatory pick on draft day, the winning conference's teams would get first choice in scheduling a Monday Night, Sunday Night or Thanksgiving game. Blackout rules would not apply and cheerleaders would also be welcomed from the various teams that have them.

Just a few thoughts to actually make this game worth something! Who knows maybe someday some of these suggestions will come to fruition.

Do all of you know that before Matt Millen became President and GM of the Lions that he was the heir to the throne of football broadcasting behind John Madden? Had he not taken the GM job he would have been next in line behind John Madden to be the voice for the NFL. Instead of Madden football the greatest football game ever made I might add there would have been Millen 2009, Millen 2010, etc. One of those what ifs of history that we will never know. Kind of like how OJ Simpson was considered for the role of the Terminator but no one could picture him as a ruthless killer so the role went to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Well my fellow Lions as Porky Pig would say “That’s all folks”. I will have another post by the end of the week in regards to the Lions roster cuts.

It's A Jungle Out There!

2009-02-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Howdy All in Lions Land,

Well let’s see where shall I begin? Let’s talk a bit about the Arizona Cardinals and their run to the Super Bowl. Here is a team, like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield would say “I can’t get no respect”. Even though they won their division and had a winning record they were never given any credit. I think Jim Rome and I were the only ones who believed in that team. They beat three teams that were favored to beat them. The Falcons, favored. The Panthers, favored. The Eagles, favored. The Steelers, favored. Although the latter did prevail in Super Bow XLIII. They were called the worst play-off team ever.

They were 2 minutes and some change from winning their first Super Bowl until a late game winning touchdown drive from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes sealed the deal. I have heard from various sources that the Steelers would lay a beat down on the Cardinals, some claiming by three touchdowns. They won by two safeties. Hardly a beat down. So kudos to the Cardinals for proving so many in the football world how wrong they were about how they didn’t deserve to be there.

You might be saying so what has this blog have to do with our ever lovable Detroit Lions? There are so many parallels between the Cardinals and Lions it is uncanny. When the Detroit Lions go to the Super Bowl I can only wonder the amount of trash spewing that will be said about our team by the so called experts. There was an article in today’s Detroit Free Press read it here about the parallels between the Lions and Cardinals and after reading it, I am feeling very optimistic about our future.

http://www.freep.com/article/20090203/SPORTS01/902030310/1049/Mayhew++Lions+could+look+to+build+like+Cardinals

There is not much in the way of news this past week because it is considered poor etiquette to make announcements during the Super Bowl weekend. Some of you may have heard that WR Mike Furrey will not be returning with the team and I can only wonder how many others have been shown the door which we will find out soon starting February 9th when the waiver process begins? If a sub-par receiver is going to be shown the door it only reasons that the players especially on the defensive side of the ball will be the terminally ill patients about to have their life-support plug pulled.

They are also still looking for an Assistant GM who would be the personnel director and could be former Jacksonville Jaguars Vice-President of Personnel James Harris. They do need to move on this hire as soon as they can because of two factors one they cannot hire anyone in this capacity who is currently employed by another team before the draft in April which would be like fixing the barn door after the horse has come home because we need that person in place before the draft and second because of the GM and coaching shuffling that is going on the candidate they want may hold out for another offer from another team. You can read Tom Killer Kowalski’s column at MLive on that here:

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2009/02/are_lions_delaying_announcemen.html

A couple of other tid bits are the Thanksgiving game is safe for the coming season at least and will not be taken away from us this year. There is talk of doing a rotation among all of the teams but my opinion is if they do that then let’s make the playing field level no pun intended. Every team gets a Monday Night or Sunday Night game. That is what the Lions ownership and the rest of the owners should demand from that butt face Roger Goodell. Another topic is the Lions are considering a logo and color scheme change. If they change the leaping Lion, I think they should change it to something a bit psychological like the logo for the Nashville Predators of the NHL. Colors I think could be changed to a light brown white or red.

I will have another post sometime this weekend so until then all of you take care and keep the faith. You do have to have faith as a Lions fan but I believe that faith will be rewarded someday.

If I Were King Of The Jungle

2009-01-27T18:13:00.000-08:00

Howdy to all of you in Lions Land,

I apologize it has been a few days since my last post. I have some thoughts on Coach Jim Schwartz’s picks for Offensive Coordinator and Defensive Coordinator and I want to give a few comments on both men.

Scott Linehan and Gunther Cunningham will be our OC and DC respectively. I am liking Jim Schwartz more and more. I believe he is a blue collar guy with blue collar values and that is a reflection of the team that he is putting together. Scott Linehan and Gunther Cunningham had some technical difficulties with being Head Coaches themselves but they have had good years as coordinators. They both bring a wealth of experience and unlike Jim Colletto and Joe Barry they were coordinators.

I do not believe there will be a huge emphasis on a passing offense but a stopping the run, running the ball philosophy which has worked for other teams. I believe we are heading in the right direction and so far the Lewand and Mayhew administration is reaching out to the Lions fan base by recently holding town hall meetings and the coaching hire along with the coordinators. Of course it seems like a million years until September and only then will we see the fruits of their labor. With our schedule coming which is a weaker one I do not see no reason why we cannot go 8-8 making it a goal to win half of the home games and the other half away along with winning our Thanksgiving game. Which by the way kudos to the front office by vowing to fight to keep that game in our schedule. I do not care one bit for these sports analyst hacks saying this game should be taken away from us. I believe their baby step approach is working thus far but much work still remains to be done.

Does anyone know why the lion is considered the King of the Jungle? In Africa where Lions are native they are the most ferocious and revered animal in the wild kingdom. A lion will tear your face off, eat it and ask for seconds. I think the scariest death in the world is knowing your some animals’ lunch.

A couple of weeks ago Bill Simonson on the Huge Show asked callers a question that if you ran into William Clay Ford Sr. at Meijer what would you say to him? Well my first question would have been why don’t you give the fans what they want a winning football team. So it got me thinking if I were owner what would I change about the organization? If I were King of the Jungle for our beloved Detroit Lions here is the list of things I would implement.

1. Hire a competent football guy as General Manager like Bill Parcells, Floyd Reese or Scott Pioli, giving them total control over coach hirings and player personnel.

2. Hire a personnel director/scout whose only job is to evaluate player talent and report directly to the GM on which players should be examined, interviewed and drafted.

3. Have a cheerleading squad. Most teams have them and are good to get the fans fired up along with mascot.

4. Host open tryouts for the fans to fill one position each year on the team think the movie ‘Invincible’.

5. Twice a year hold town hall meetings for season ticket holding fans at the beginning of the season and the end of the season. Taking fan responses into consideration and give straightforward honest answers on where team has gone, where it intends to go and how it is going about in getting there.

6. Fan appreciation games with a novelty such as bobble head giveaways or something of that nature.

7. A fan favorite novelty. The Steelers have the Terrible Towel; I would bring in something like the Terrible Claw, fan made claws that can tear a person’s throat out. Maybe not literally like that but you all get the idea.

8. Affordable ticket prices, EVERY game WILL BE SOLD OUT!

9. Push the league into giving the Lions a Monday Night or Sunday Night time slot.

10. Keep the fans actively involved in the off-season such as community service projects like building playgrounds and habitat for humanity with players participating. Keeping them informed.

11. Autograph signing schedules that are accessible and welcoming to the public along with selected open practices and opportunities for younger fans to be a Lions team member for the day.

12. Bring other players from other sports to games to show support like Red Wings, Pistons and Tigers players.

13. Have franchise players that fans are excited to see play, think of Barry Sanders that every fan can get behind and is the face of the franchise.

14. When someone purchases tickets they are automatically put on e-mail list. Keep fans up to date once a week with newsletter on events, player happenings, etc. I normally get the Lions e-newsletter but only during the season, fans need to be kept up to date.

15. Have Detroit Lions advertised on city buses that allow advertising.

16. A Christmas catalog with Lions merchandise for sale given at home games starting with Thanksgiving game and sent out to season ticket holders. Give discounts for fan loyalty such as buying tickets get 10% off on next order or something.

Those are just a few tid bits of what I would do if I were William Clay Ford Sr. and I was King of The Jungle. Well until next time GO LIONS!

Rebuilding From The Inside Out

2009-01-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Howdy All In Lions Land,

Hope. It is a word that is required to being a Lions fan. Hope for a better season but alas we have been saying that every season since 1957. During the election campaign we heard a lot of talk about hope and change. This is a time for hope and change for us Lions fans. I was very skeptical when Lewand and Mayhew were both promoted from their interim positions to President and General Manager respectively but like President Obama I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

I have to give high approval ratings to Martin Mayhew for the job he has done thus far. He got the Roy Williams trade resulting in 3 draft picks. He interviewed many candidates for the head coaching position leaving no stone unturned. He has picked a solid choice for Head Coach. He went to the East West Shrine game scouting talent. He has given Jim Schwartz free reign to pick his own staff. He is working on acquiring a personnel guy that has player evaluation experience.

Martin Mayhew has given us Lions fans hope. Yes he is a Millen guy but all through the bad decisions and hires I have to personally believe that he was privately seething over all of these bad decisions but had to be the Yes Man so that he could get the chance to turn this thing around. It is in their best interest to put together a winning franchise. Wouldn’t you want to be known as the one that took a joke of a franchise into a serious Super Bowl contender?

I have to believe they want a winning team. Aren’t they sick and tired of hearing from the entire sports world how bad they are? I believe they want to sincerely change this losing culture and so far they are on the right path. There is a still lot of work ahead. By the coming weekend we should know who the new Offensive Coordinator will be since Coach Schwartz has picked Gunther Cunningham as Defensive Coordinator.

I think this is a good season football coach that will work hard in a 4-3 or a 3-4 defensive scheme and that accursed Tampa 2 can go the way of the dinosaur. He will make this defense aggressive and rush the passer. We had next to nothing on sacks, getting to the quarterback, forcing turnovers and fumbles. That will change under Cunningham. One of the biggest decisions will be with the remaining 11 coaches on staff what to do with them? Keep some or get rid of them all? The inside track is that most will be gone but the biggest question will be what to do with Stan Kwan the Special Teams coach. He might be the only one worth keeping along with the Wide Receivers and Running Back coaches.

A couple of thoughts on the draft. I know I have not talked about it at all until this point but like the rebuilding phase I am taking baby steps and taking topics as they become relevant. The draft is in April and about a hundred things have to happen before the Lions coaching staff can look at which players to snag. The to do list is one fill the rest of the coaching vacancies with the offensive coordinator being at the top of the list, second get the personnel guy, third start evaluating our roster and determining which player will be cut and kept even before the draft because we have to know which positions are critical, fourth the evaluation process of the combine and fifth do tons of homework on strategizing other teams weaknesses and strengths to determine picking order for the draft with getting the best players available. Maybe not a hundred things to do but in the world of football that is a mountain to climb taking baby steps along the way.

I really cannot speculate on who and what position they should draft. A lot of factors need to be considered. If possible I believe they should trade down and see if another team wants the number one overall pick. If not then draft the strongest, fastest and most competent lineman that is out there. Whether it be Andre Smith from Alabama, Brian Orakpo from Texas or Rey Maualuga from USC. We need to anchor our defense and there are a few things that can happen. One is picking up DE Julius Peppers from the Panthers through free agency providing they don’t put a franchise tag on him and we wouldn’t have to surrender our draft picks, hope to God that Georgia QB Matthew Stafford and USC QB Mark Sanchez perform Tom Brady quality football and another team wants one of them providing one of them is the number one pick so that we can trade down and pick up an extra pick. I have real excitement over Ohio State’s LB James Laurinaitis, I believe the Lions should snag him if he is available with the 20th pick overall.

If you guys aren’t reading Tom ‘Killer’ Kowalski’s column on MLive.com you should. He has the inside scoop along with Brian VanOchten of the Grand Rapids Press. I know a lot of you are saying the same old Lions but there are some real positives that are happening. We can see the Arizona Cardinals historic run to the Super Bowl and that gives us fans encouraging news. Their situation was just as dysfunctional as ours and their drought in the playoffs were just as bad. No one gave them the benefit of the doubt. Just like the New York Giants last year. This can be a weird league and on any given Sunday the impossibilities can become the possibilities.

My next post I hope to have some information on Coach Schwartz’s staff picks and personnel director signing and some info on the coming Senior Bowl game.

Until next time, Go Lions!

May The Schwartz Be With You

2009-01-15T15:25:00.000-08:00

A very excellent evening to all of you in Lions Land,

Before I begin with Jim Schwartz becoming our new head coach let me share with all of you a few things.

Every season the Lions host a kick-off luncheon that benefits Detroit area charitites which is admirable. This past aseason like the one before I attended with my good friend Darin. This luncheon is sort of a rally for the team, the coaches and last but not least, us hardcore fans. You eat lunch, the food is good not very filling and depending on your table assignment a player may sit at your table. I had WR Brandon Middleton at mine, a really great guy. This luncheon is about what to expect with the coming season, they give awards to players for most improved, etc., coaches give speeches and also to encourage the fans. Lots of optimism and hope abounded.

This hope and optimism encouraged me to host a Welcome Back NFL season party and (sorry the venue was small everyone the next one will be bigger) which some of you attended. We quickly saw the Lions get smashed 34-21 by the Atlanta Falcons, down 21-0 before we started to put points on the board. As the season progressed we saw loss after loss accumulating into our now infamous 0-16 season with thee worst defense in the league.

Hope and faith are requirements if your a Lions fan. If the Cardinals can go to the NFC Championship one game away from the Super Bowl so can we! When Matt Millen was fired and Martin Mayhew was interim General Manager and Tom Lewand was interim President, I was counting the weeks until this terrible season was over and a 0-16 season would finally force William Clay Ford's hand to actually put together a solid football team. Lions fans would have sold their first new born's soul for a Scott Pioli or a Floyd Reese to be GM. When Lewand and Mayhew were promoted from their interim titles, I like many of you felt betrayed, discouraged and felt there was no hope. The sweeping changes we were all hoping for never happened other than Rod Marinelli and that joke of a DC Joe Barry getting fired.

This brings me to the concept of hope. Titans Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz has agreed to a four year deal as head coach of the Lions. He was the leading candidate but I was worried when they interviewed Miami Assistant Coach Todd Bowles that we were going to get stuck with another Rod Marinelli. He would be the sacrificial lamb as to why the Lions are as bad as they are. His resume is a solid one. In a league where coordinators get fired all of the time he has been with Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher for 10 years and Coach Fisher has given Jim Schwartz a ringing endorsement.

Everyone will agree that the French Army had a better defense against the Germans during WWII then the Lions defense and Jim Schwartz will strengthen our defense. Jim Schwartz has talent scout experience, served as DC for one of the league's top defenses, is a brilliant tactitioner graduating second in his class at Georgetown with a degree in Economics. Bill Simonson of the Huge Show and Tom Killer Kowalsky like this hire. I love this hire.

One question has been answered but others remain. Who will he bring on as DC, OC and other assistants? Will any of the other coaches be retained? Which players will stay and shown the door? Will he have any say in personnel decisions? What will be his strategy in the April draft with us having the number one overall? Lots of questions but there is hope where there was none. I am willing to give Mayhew the benefit of the doubt. He is off to a good start with the Roy Williams trade and the hiring of Jim Schwartz as Head Coach. Tonight when we put our heads down on our pillows and go to sleep we can dream of a better future for our Lions instead of the nightmares that has plagued us.

May The Schwartz Be With You and GO LIONS!

Lions Coaching Search Part II

2009-01-14T14:21:00.000-08:00

A very good day to my fellow Lions fans,

Well my first blog on the Lions coaching search demanded a sequel so I am calling this blog entry Lions Coaching Search Part II. I know not very original but then again neither was the defensive play calling this past season. As of this posting the Lions have not decided on a coaching hire which is good because they need to be very thorough. The new coach will have to focus on the basic fundamentals of a strong defense that stops the run and a offense that can run the ball. The linemen have got to be bigger, they need to tackle and they need to stop the run. Most of the failures on defense came from big plays we gave up and those were from the run. Big plays that we gave up resulted in other teams putting points up on the board. I know that is stating the obvious but these games of being down 21-0 before we even attempt a comeback has got to stop! There is a fan poll on the Detroit Lions homepage that asks what background the new coach should have and it comes as no surprise that the fans by a whopping 81% want a defensive background.

Jim Schwartz who has done two interviews with the Lions stresses strong defense after his eight years of being the Titans Defensive Coordinator. I personally like Jim Schwartz because unlike our past few coaches, Jim Schwartz has experience as a talent scout with the Cleveland Browns. The Lions have also interviewed Miami Dolphins Assistant Coach Todd Bowles for a second time and my personal feeling is that he is another Rod Marinelli, a great guy-position coach not a head coach. The Lions are scheduled to interview San Diego Chargers Defensive Coordinator Ron Rivera today and Minnesota Vikings Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier on either Thursday or Friday.

Last blog I discussed some of the competition around the league. That got a lot easier when the Broncos named Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDainels head coach and when Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy retired they kept it in-house and hired Jim Caldwell as their new Head Coach. It is unsure if the St. Louis Rams are sticking with Jim Haslett, so your guess is as good as mine. The new threat that has emerged is with the Kansas City Chiefs announcing Patriots General Manager Scott Pioli will be their new GM. On a side note when I heard that announcement I felt like the guy who dated the girl who got away and is now getting a wedding invitation that she is marrying someone else. I know the Lions could have gotten him as GM but William Clay Ford Sr. wants Yes Men and that ruled him out.

What this now means is that Herm Edwards days are much like the dinosaur, numbered. Scott Pioli will appoint a new coach but the question will be when. This now makes the Chiefs coaching vacancy much more attractive to other candidates although I have heard Jim Schwartz would not be considered for that coaching vacancy. I would suspect that Scott Pioli would want to talk Giants Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. A lot of the times when a potential coach interviews somewhere it is to make their own stock rise with another potential team. So being down to the Jets, Raiders, Chiefs and the Rams as competitors might seem a bit daunting but I believe we will get Schwartz especially if Frazier decides on the Rams.

There are good candidates out there and Lewand and Mayhew seem to be doing their homework. The question will be when it is exam time will this be another blanking out and totally missing the mark? Time will only tell. Like most of you I eagerly await the announcement which I thought could come at the end of this week but I am hearing that Rex Ryan of the Baltimore Ravens is a potential candidate and will have to wait until after this weekends AFC Championship game in order to talk to.

It can’t rain every day Lions fans and we will get our day in the sun. If the Cardinals can right their ship and host the NFC Championship game then that is hope we can claw onto. I hope to have another posting by the end of the weekend when more information is available.

Until next time GO LIONS!

The Lions Coaching Search

2009-01-08T08:36:00.000-08:00

Howdy to all of my fellow Lions fans out there :)

With this being my first Lions Blog posting I thought I would focus on the Detroit Lions head coach search.

As of this posting the Cleveland Browns have hired Eric Mangini as their head coach. Teams without head coaches are the Detroit Lions, the New York Jets and the Denver Broncos. Those three teams have vacancies based on the firings of Rod Marinelli, Eric Mangini and Mike Shanahan. The Rams are also looking for a head coach depending if they want to give their interim head coach Jim Haslett a go ahead. The San Francisco 49's are staying with Mike Singletary so with the competition getting thinner between teams the Lions are in a solid position to choose whichever candidate they would like.

The next hurdle we will face is who does the Jets choose as their head coach? This will be greatly determined on what will happen with their quarterback situation. The new head coach for the Jets even before he sits down in his chair in his new office will be "What is going on with Favre and do I need to bring on a new QB?" New York Giants Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnulo is a candidate for the head coaching positions for both the Lions and Jets. If the Jets go with someone else then Spagnulo is available for serious consideration especially if the Giants lose this weekend. If they win they cannot talk to him again until after the NCF Championship game.

This is the same situation with Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz from the Tennessee Titans. We will have to wait until after this weekend and the AFC Championship game. The Lions have already met with him and the inside track is that he is our next head coach but still depends on a variety of factors. I strongly believe the next Lions coach will be one of these two men who is defense minded. This will be great for us since we were dead last in total defense this season.

The Lions should snag the coach they want without the Kansas City Chiefs factor. Their situation is with Herm Edwards being replaced once they hire a new GM. I feel the Oakland Raiders are not a serious contender for coaching candidates because any potential head coach WILL take Detroit over Oakland because of the mental instability of Al Davis and of course if they stay the course with their interim head coach Tom Cable.

So onto the Denver Broncos. They are talking to A LOT of potential candidates. This team is our biggest rival in a coaching search. They are meeting with Leslie Frazier the Defensive Coordinator from the Minnesota Vikings and have met with Assistant Head Coach Bowles from the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett. All of these coaches are also being considered by the Lions.

If the New York Jets go with now former Boston College head coach Jeff Jagodzinski this virtually ensures the Lions just picking whomever is the best fit.

Well enough of me blogging. I hope you all enjoy my thoughts on potential outcomes for the new head coach. I welcome all of your comments :)

Kenny