The Lions Den

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Mock Draft (Movie Edition)

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!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Ready For Round 2?

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!

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Lion Man’s Burden

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!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Training Camp Links Round Up

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Lions Uncaged!

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

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Land O Links III

An article from Tom Kowalski on Matthew Stafford.

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

Monday, August 3, 2009

Bigger and Stronger

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!