The Jets... c'mon

I did not think a Roger-less D-Line would hurt THAT bad. Cody being out sure didn't help the situation.

Our defense is pathetic at best. We are looking like the Kansas City Chiefs two years ago... or the Colts a few years back, except our 'high powered offense' is no where near the caliber of those teams. We are on the right track as far as Offense but we are a few miles away.

Personally I am a defensive guy. I remember the day that I switched from favoring offense like it was yesterday. When Tampa beat the hell out of Oakland in the Super Bowl, I became a believer. Defense wins games.

We don't have a defense. I would say we are getting better compared to last year. But last year we had more than one win at this point!

Almost half way through the season and all I can think is, "Damn I wish I liked baseball."

What impressed me about Sunday...
- 2 for 2 on 4th Down Conversions
- giving up only 1 sack. (*against the Jets though guys)
- Kitna threw more TDs than INTs that day... great now he is 9-9
- Furrey putting up over 100 yards... this guy wants to play.
- Ernie Sims seems to be a good pick up
- We outscored an opponent in the 4th quarter.

What made me nervous...
- 9 penalties for 60 yards, this is not the disciplined team I thought our coaches would bring.
- Our defense giving up 129 yards to whom? Washington? C'mon
- 221 Yards rushing on us.
- Not getting enough pressure on Chad, he completed 73% of his passes.
- Our record.

Next week. Bye.
Roy Williams is going to hold a team meeting. The topic will be on hope. If the meeting goes well, you can bet on all the Lions guaranteeing victories against Atlanta.

Next game.
Atlanta. Here is a scary SCARY thought for everyone. The Jets were like 29th or 30th in rushing before beating up our Lions, and they totaled 221 yards rushing on us.
Atlanta... that’s a different story:
1st in Rushing yds/game
1st in yds / carry
1st in rushing 1st downs
...in the most polite way I'm going to have to say we are F. #. C. *. E. D.

Lions play 4 full quarters!

Jones got his 100+ game and we won the turn over battle... like I said last week, and we won! But in addition to my request, the boys went ahead and got Roy Williams a 161 yard game, 3.5 sacks for Hall, and 67% pass completion for Kitna!

What a day Mr. Hall. And our Defense against the run in general. Can you imagine what it would be like if Hall and Rogers had a great day?!

Even though Jones had a good game we really need to work on our short yardage downs. There should have been 7 more points on the board pretty early but somehow we failed to get it into the end zone from a yard out.

Overall I would say the thing I am the most excited about is that we played for 4 quarters! Instead of playing 2 or 3 great ones... we actually played a full game.

Fun Stats.
On this pace Kitna will have 4,224 yards at the end of the season.
Roy Williams, pretty much didn’t play last week, leads the NFL in Rec. yards.
90..9... Pennington's QB Rating
30th... Our pass defense rank in the league :(

What impressed me about Sunday...
- The ability to close out the game. Played the full 60 minutes.
- Roy Williams 161 yards on 10 catches.
- Kevin Jones averaging 5.5 yards a carry for 127 yards!
- Hall with his big bad self... 3.5 sacks, forced fumble!
- Stopping the run! Keep that up guys.
- Getting pressure on the QB, this needs to be done next week!

What made me nervous...
- Our inability to punch it in on such short yardage.
- While we won the turnover war, we still need to work on holding onto the ball.
- Our secondary is still giving up some of the big plays, I think we get one of our starters back Sunday but I have to check.
- Red Zone efficiency for this game was 1-3... that has got to improve.

Next week. At the NY Jets.
Not having Curtis Martin will be good news for us; however I do believe we can stop the run no matter who is carrying the ball. The bad news for us is now there is a bigger chance for them to go to an air attack, and Chad can get it done. Overall I think we are a better team. Right now Vegas thinks the Jets are a 3.5 point better team.

Final Thought
The Jets at home is the advantage they have. I was so hoping they would beat Miami but just barely... for some reason I think that changes the attitude of the players. The Lions getting their first win hopefully sparked the taste and desire for another. If they can pull this game off and go into the bye week winning our previous two, that would be a very good thing.

0-5... and the hits just keep coming.

I was in the wonderful town of Okoboji, IA for a wedding this weekend. It was around 1pm when I realized, 'oh crap, I'm 2 miles from the Minn. border! The game is on TV here!'

So I quickly flipped on the TV and to my delight and surprise the Lions were winning! 10-3... niiice. What's this? ANOTHER TD? 17-3. And then it happened. Our boys in blue looked up at the scoreboard and though, 'what if we win? what happens then? we are not use to that... hmmm' and they walked over to the gun rack. Loaded a weapon. And each one of them did their part to shoot themselves in the foot.

Wow... blowing a 17-3 lead all in the fourth quarter. ONLY the Li-downs can do that.

Fun stats.
31. Our rank in Fox Sports power rankings.
24. Our rank in the DVOA rankings.
4. Our rank in the NFC North.
25%. Chance a player listed as doubtful will play. R.Williams is listed as doubtful for week 6.

What impressed me...
- Ohh I don't know. The first 42 minutes of clock time.
- Eddie Drummond's returns, looking good kid.
- Red-Zone Efficiency, 2-2
- Our special teams overall. Blocking an extra point with a normal team in that same situation would have been the game winning play... but this is the Lions.

What made me nervous...
- Long before I turned on the TV... we had multiple players off the field injured.
- Kitna's turn overs... not that he has them. I understand you're going to give up more than average under the 'Martz system' but WHERE and WHEN he does seem to be just AWEFUL! Two of which in THIS game were instant touchdowns. Other times it seems to start the other team in the red zone.
- Kevin who? Wow. 0.8 yards average. You have got to show me something man. If I had my pick I would upgrade our secondary but running back isn't far from it.
- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. 5! And we were the visiting team.
- Hakim continues to drop passes! He can make a play every now and again, but he needs to start holding on to the ball when it's 2nd and 8.

Next week. Buffalo Bills
Losman had a similar game to our Kitna. 1 TD with 3 INT and not a bunch of bragging yards. Their RB, McGahee didn't have a great day but lets not kid ourselves guys, they were playing AT Chi-town. Evans had 9 Receptions, Price had 1... thats the WRs catches (their RB had 4) but if he does not spread the ball around, I think this is an offensive attack that the Lions can hold. Our offensive line is about as strong as wet-toilet paper, hopefully we try out a shot gun

Final Thought.
The Bills have beat the Dolphins and the Vikings... but lost to the Bears and Jets. I think after the brutal beating in Chicago the team that wins games will show up to Detroit. It's obvious but if Jones can get his first 100yd game, and we win the turnover battle... it's a win. I'd take the Bills and give up a point though.

Who has the ball last? Detroit or St. Louis

"Sometimes in a game like this, it's who gets the ball last" -Marc Bulger.
Bullsh*t

In a game like this, if you win the turnover war by 3... you win.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I do not mind giving up some INTs in Martz's offense... but doesn't it always seem to be either returned for a TD or put the opponents in the red zone for their first set of downs?

Now I don't get the games. I read there was a pass interference called and then retracted after a 'ref huddle.' That would have given us a fresh set of downs on the 1... ahh makes me remember last year when we lost the game 3 times because of HORRID game changing calls. But like I said. I did not see the play, could have been clean.

The stat that I like the most...
13 pts against the Bears + Seahawks
58 pts against the Pack + Rams
Anyone else think that the Martz system is starting to sink in?

What impressed me...
- We officially know where the End Zone is!
- 4 Penalties, not to shabby! (but for 70 yds... grr)
- Kitna completing 67% and a respectable 277yards
- Eddie, gooooood old Eddie Drummond. He's back! 210 yards! WOW.
- Roy Williams. Way to go stud, you keep calling those first downs.

What made me nervous...
- DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE... what on earth has happened? We have great WRs. And an injured secondary. What does the coach do? Hires another WR with a lot of dropped passes in his career. I love ya Az-Zahir but we have upgraded since you been home.
- We are committing a LOT less penalties... good thing... but we are doing the BIG ones... bad thing.
- Turnovers. Again -3. Sorry but in the NFL, if the visiting team gives the ball up 3 times and doesn't get any turnovers themselves... that is a Loss, period.
- Our standings.

Next week.
Good old Vikings. I'll be 100% honest with everyone. I have hated this team before... recently in fact. However I am very happy for them. Got an old QB... like 42nd paid in the NFL. Got a coach that will enforce the 'we are going to be good people before good players' mentality. They fight for their wins... I dunno. I'm softening up to these guys. I sure hope they loose their next game. They are favs by 6.5 as of Oct 3rd. While they are at home, Detroit has it's back against the wall. I would say take Detroit and the points again. I know I know... I haven't been right yet... but neither has our team!

Final Thought(s)
-Never have I been so excited for a baseball series... c'mon and force the Football game to Monday night Twins!
- The Colts are favs to win by 19! 0 . 0
- We have got to beat the Vikings on every front. Seriously guys... 0-4 and we had two games that should have been wins. Defense get healthy and get your head out of your a$$es. Get the ball... get some pressure on the QBs... knock a player out!

Yay! More pain on Sundays!

For those fellow Lions fans that do not live in the area... I know there are at least 2 of us. And you still want to listen in on the game. The Burton Report has been so kind to post some Detroit Lions Radio Links.

You can see his post
here!

Lions at Rams Preview

Welcome home Martz.

Some numbers for you... Marc Bulger is 21-4 at home as a starter. The Rams are +7 in turnovers. We have not had a sack in the last two games. Isaac Bruce is two receptions away from being 10th all time... and he will get those in 4 days.

I fully believe our D-line will stop the Rams on the ground. But I also know that we will give up big yards in the air.

Prediction...
If Jones can get over 100yds and we only loose the ball, lets say... twice... we can win this game. We have GOT to get some preasure on the QB though!
If you are picking on the spread, take the Lions and 6!

Sometimes you wish you could stop giving a damn...

They lost. Again. To a team that is one of the worst in the NFL. Do you know what that makes the Lions?

What impressed me...
1. Kitna again. Had an even better day than last week. Putting up 342Yds 2 TDs and 1Int.
2. Roy Williams. Monster day with 138yds and 1 TD
3. Jones had a decent day with the total yards... still want to see him break 100yd rushing.

What made me nervous...
1. Kitna's 1 INT. Normally I don't mind an INT in a game like he had. But that one was returned for a TD. Everyone... look at the final score and take that 7pts away from Green Bay and tell me what you get?
2. NO SACKS AGAIN! Wow.... TWO weeks in a row with 0 sacks. While I would like to say the D-line is doing well stopping runs... they really need to wake up!
3. NO INTs for the Lions, against Farve... good game Farve.
4. Giving up a 75 yd pass to Jennings. How bad is our secondary with the injuries?
5. Letting the Pack get 7 - 15 in 3rd down attempts.
6. 14 PENALTIES?!
7. Getting sacked 3 times for -23 yards.

Next week.
St. Louis. The rams beat a much improved Arizona team, in a very very odd ending game. I think both Arizona and St. Louis could beat the hell out of the Lions right now. Look for Holt to have a big game Sunday.

Final Thought.
The only thing we have going for us right now is our backs are against the wall. I seriously think that we are in trouble. Our schedule is medium at best and we are 0-3. Now, I thought it was most likely going to start 0-2, but we really need to get it together. Hell, next year we have to play all the NFC East and AFC west teams... that is going to be a HARD year.

Great video!

AWESOME