Offensive Player of the Week- Matt Stafford. Yeah, I’ll suck it up and give it to him. Those two picks he threw was just atrocious decision making but he made up for it with some great TD throws. Anyway, I’m going to get into the Stafford thing in the Lions Section so we’ll leave it be for now.
Defensive Player of the Week-Leigh Bodden. This guy is a really good cover corner and always has been. Doesn’t it sting knowing we have the worst secondary in football and we just straight up cut this guy? Last year, they used him in a Cover 2 defense where his main objective was to tackle and protect the short zone. He would’ve done great under Gunther and he’s proving his worth with the Pats this year.
Ten Things I Think
1. I don’t care that Dallas looked horrible today. I don’t care that Roy Williams didn’t have a catch. I don’t care they only won by one. I don’t care that the Redskins are brutal. If the Cowboys can squeak into the playoffs, they are one team I wouldn’t want to play.
2. I”ve loving the fact Mark Sanchez is coming back to reality. He was never really that good with USC and I always thought he was extremely over rated. Although I’m still not sold of Stafford, I do think he’s the better quarterback.
3. For a team that has as much turnover as the Redskins, it seems they have had their three running backs for 20 years. Who knew Rock Cartwright was still in the league!
4. Peyton Manning is one tough SOB. In the first quarter of the game today, he dropped back for a pass and the Ravens had a delayed blitz on. Ray Lewis came in and had a ten yard run at Manning. Manning saw him coming and delivered a strike to Wayne for about a 20 yard gain. The hit Lewis made on Manning was a text book tackle and it was, to say the least, a monster of a hit. I thought Manning was done but he got up and just kept going. Not sure if you can find the hit but if you can, man, it’s impressive.
5. San Fran, what in god’s name are you thinking?!?! Frank Gore’s 1st quarter stats were four rushes for 50 yards. His stats mid way through the third quarter were four rushes for 50 yards. You have one of the best RB’s in the league and you stop giving him the ball?! Makes no sense at all.
6. Oakland beats Cincy today?!? Geez, I guess you really never know what you’re going to get with the Raiders.
7. San Diego is heating up at the right time. They simply dismantled the Broncos today. Don’t be surprised if the Bolts go undefeated the rest of the season.
8. I’m simply shocked by how bad the Seahawks are this year. I expected a lot more from them this. On paper, they have one of the best defenses in the NFL and with a healthy Hasselbeck and the addition of T.J. Housh, I expected them to be a playoff contender. Expect some changes in the coaching staff this off season if this continues.
9. Great game today in New York. The Falcons had a nice comeback but just couldn’t finish. The thing I love about Eli Manning is how he spreads the ball around. Four receivers had 65 or more yards receiving which makes it virtually impossible to direct coverage to a certain player. Well done sir.
10. My favorite stat line of the week. Robert Meachem 2 catches for 10 yards and 2 TD’s. Too Good.
Top Ten List
1. New Orleans Saints
2. Indy Colts
3. Minny Vikes
4. New England Pats
5. San Diego Bolts
6. Arizona Cards
7. Dallas Cowboys
8. Cincy Bengals
9. New York Giants
10. Houston Texans
Lions Thoughts of the Week
Matt Stafford
Alright, before we put the kid in the hall of fame, let’s keep in mind this was against the Cleveland Browns so let’s not over analyze this. Was it an impressive performance? Absolutely. Was it a gutsy performance? Absolutely. Is this game we’re going to look back on and say it was the beginning of the Matt Stafford era in Detroit like many people are suggesting? Not a chance.
The Lions will not win another game this year and Stafford will be playing against some darn good defenses these last few games. I’m not going to get over excited because again, it’s one game against the worst team in the NFL! Let’s see him do this against a team that has even a decent defense and then maybe I’ll get a little excited.
I’m not trying to be a major buzz kill here. I’m just trying to be realistic. Look, the kid impressed the hell out of me with his heart and passion. I promise you that there are only one or two other guys who would’ve been able to come back at the end of the game after that kind of injury and make that play. He’s tough, there’s no doubting that. He has the passion and the heart, there’s no doubting that. I’ll just have to say it again, it was against he Browns.
He’s still making the bone head throws that kill a teams chances. I like the fact he threw the ball down field a little more but why the hell is he throwing to Calvin in TRIPLE COVERAGE?! Sure Calvin can make that catch but if you’re going to throw that, you have to throw it up like a jump ball, not a on a rope like he did. I’ll be willing to over look that today but he needs to start making better decisions in order to bring him to the next level. I just hope he’s not seriously hurt because he is making strides and it needs to continue. The way he went down thought, I don’t have a good feeling. Don’t be surprised if he’s out for the year with torn ligaments in his shoulder.
Defense
Congrats, you let the worst offense, potentially in NFL history, light you up. Will James has to be the most inconsistent player in the NFL. On Quinn’s second TD pass, Stuckey ran a straight fly route. It wasn’t a stop and go, it wasn’t a post-corner, it was a simply fly route and he got burned by 20 yards. These collapses in the secondary need to stop.
Sure we got some pressure when we blitzed, which was nice, but we need pressure from our front four without having to blitz! The game I keep looking at that scares the crap out of me is against the Cards. Can you imagine what Warner will do to us? I keep picturing the Saints game at the beginning of the year and I can see the Cards throwing for 6-8 TD’s against us now that they have tape to watch.
THE LIONS WIN!!
All that being said, who freakin’ cares. THE LIONS WIN, THE LIONS WIN, THE LIONS WIN!!! That’s something we don’t get to say to often. This was the most exciting game I’ve seen the Lions play in a long time and how great was it to get to watch a good, exciting game? I just feel bad for the people who live around Detroit who didn’t get to see the game because it was blacked out. We won two games this year and that alone should put Schwartz, Cunningham and Linehan in the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame!
The biggest thing about this win is it’ll save us from the first overall pick in the draft again. I can’t see St. Louis winning another game so it looks like we’ll be picking 3-6 which is perfect for us. But again, who cares about all that, today was a GOOD DAY because THE LIONS WON!
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL PICK
Houston 34 Titans 24
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and thanks for your support at the Church of Schwartz.
No related posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2LfAjhsvE
“I’ll just have to say it again, it was against he Browns.”
F—ing A Deac. Right on. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all smiles today. Even if it was against the Browns, it still felt damn good to win one. It felt really good to win one on the last play of the game. From a player that had a pretty serious injury.
With this game, & Zach Follet’s hit, I feel like the season is complete. Is that pathetic or what? How low have the Lions sunk so that I feel like I got the most out of a 2-14 season?
F— it. I’m just going to enjoy it until the Packers harsh my mellow. Who knows, maybe culpepper will pull something out of his behind, and someone on the D Line will make a few plays (probably not, but, hey, what is life without hope?)
I hope someday we can move up and play in the big leagues and Stafford can win some consequential games.
Thanks for the tune duffman. I’m going on limewire to see if I can find it tonight.
So true RGL. So true. I was actually thinking to myself last night, “Am I really thrilled about a 2-14 season???” And my answer was YES!!!! YES I AM!!!!!!!!!! There is so much wrong with that it’s not even funny but thus, the joy of a Lions fan. Against Green Bay, I know we don’t stand much of a chance on defense but the loss of Lions Killer Al Harris and Aaron Kampman give me some hope for the O, even with Culpepper under center……(OH GOD, i have to stop with all this optimism)
Say what you want about it being the Browns and all that crap and blah blah blah, but has anyone else done that against the Browns? Aaron Rodgers came the closest.
Brett Favre 14/21, 110 yards and 1 TD
Flacco game 1-13/18 155 yards and 0 TD
Flacco game 2-25/35 342 yards and 1 TD
Big Ben 23/35 412 yards 2 TD’s and 1 INT
Carson Palmer 23/44 230 yards 2 TD’s and 1 INT
Jay Cutler 17/30 225 yards 0 TD and 1 INT
Aaron Rodgers 15/20 326 yards 3 TD’s and 0 INT
Kyle ORton 19/27 263 yards 1 TD and 0 INT
MATT STAFFORD 26/43, 422 YARDS 5 TD’S AND 2 INT
So go ahead and say it was the browns and don’t get excited. I am pretty sure everyone knows you don’t like Stafford and take your articles with a grain of salt as it is.
Staffordfan,
Again, I said it was a nice performance and sure, I understand no one else did it against the Browns…BUT if you want to play that card, so will I.
Minni- L 34-20
Denver- L 27-6
Baltimore- L 34-3
Cinci- L 23-20
Buf- W 6-3
Pitts- L 27-14
GB- L 31-3
Chi- L 30-6
Balt- L 16-0
Det- L 38-37
Now what’s the difference between the scores of the games and that of the Lions game? Well in every game except the Cinci game, teams ran the ball over 65% of the time!!!!!!!! By the time half time came up, teams literally ran the ball almost every down…..
Against the Lions, they were behind and had to play catch up and as a result, the Lions were stuck passing over 75% of the time….
I understand you’re point, but you can’t take it as simple as stats….If teams had to throw the ball most of the game, you would see stats very similar to those of Stafford…So again, I have no problem saying “it was just the Browns…”
love the post bone, some reactions to your 10 thoughts.
1. I agree that Dallas is a superbly talented team, pure talent at every position they may seriously be the best in the league, and are without question top 4. But how can you honestly say that you’d be scared to face Wade Phillips in any game? The man could be outdueled by the drunken infant bastard son of Marty Morningwheg.
2. So true. I like Mark Sanchez but I see his ceiling as a Chad Pennington type, Stafford’s ceiling might not exist.
4. It’s easier to be tough after one hit when you only receive one per month.
5. Amen, Cowboys did the same thing with Barber week before, they were down 3-0 in the 4th and Barber had 4 touches for 26 yards. You haven’t scored a point, you’re getting good ypc, why not run more?
This is an epidemic to me, it’s like every team with an above average qb tries to run the offense of the ‘07 pats, the ‘08 Saints or the first half of the decade colts. IT’S OK TO RUN THE BALL FOLKS!!!! Not ever team has Peyton Manning.
7. Either way, I’m nervous when Norv is in charge.
8. It’s mind-blowing, the loss of Walt Jones aside, they’re running an offense appropo for a team that has an all-word O-line. Every play has like 3 deep crossing patterns, with poor Hasselbeck left scrambling whilst begging for a dump off option better than Justin Forsett. All their struggles should mean John Carlson gets even better, but Mora and co. simply haven’t adjusted a thing on offense since week 1.
Regardless of Stafford’s decision making, his insistence on throwing lasers in touch-pass situations, and also regardless of all the great things he did today, it just feels good to have a QB with a good attitude. What I liked most of the Lions W v. the browns: the fact that every player on the offense is having fun, and they seem to rally around Stafford. Take all the numbers and highlights/lowlights you want, you can’t teach leadership, and no. 9 has it.
-Booty out