tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79743516241051355832024-03-12T21:12:25.539-07:00Detroit OnLion - Detroit Lions Blog and AnalysisWhy are you even here? Go to DetroitOnlion.comAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-75215216728047854822013-12-01T21:48:00.001-08:002013-12-01T21:48:09.446-08:00How the Detroit Lions Saved the World<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Heroes (via FOX's broadcast)</span></div>
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At halftime of the Detroit Lions' Thanksgiving game against the Green Bay Packers, their doomsday clock was at 11:59 and 30 seconds, and I was the man with the trembly finger over the big red button. Though they led 17-10 at the break, their execution left a lot to be desired. Three turnovers, a missed 31-yard field goal, and just a seven point lead despite complete dominance in every non-turnover aspect of the game.<br />
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The Lions were just as we left them against Tampa, a wildly superior team that couldn't get out of their own way. It started to take a toll on me. As the second quarter continued the game's unbelievably frustrating momentum of blunders and gaffes, I started to lose it. My eyes may have been directed towards the television, but all I saw was <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/406125905694580736" target="_blank">what this team was doing to me</a>. I saw myself 10 years in the future, corrupted by the years of wasted opportunities and myriad of hilariously awful moments. I was a sad, pathetic man. Watching Lions games only to smugly denounce the team at every opportunity I got. I watched each game shirtlessly by myself -- my friends having abandoned me after several failed attempts to get me help. The words "Same Ole' Lions" tattooed over my rotund abdomen.<br />
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As the hallucination briefly wore off and I, through my glassy eyes, witnessed Stafford's first interception of the game (and the Lions third turnover), I time-traveled 20 years ahead. I was <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/406128061801709568" target="_blank">a monster</a>. My eyes were now forcibly sewn shut. My ears were mere nubs with drums resembling spoiled deli meats. My gruesome face was lit only by two objects: a monitor displaying a Lions game and a glass vial of some glowing, radioactive substance. My face wore a sadistic smile, but I said nothing, my tongue having been cut out years ago. My mangled fingers furiously scribbled down my final manifesto on cracked floorboards; mostly nonsensical ramblings about an obese dolt only identified as "M***en."<br />
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Just as I was lowering the vial into some sort of warhead, I snapped out of it as Ndamukong Suh was laying Matt Flynn to sleep in the endzone in a way that was frighteningly similar to <a href="http://youtu.be/bONBlJNt0I0?t=5m15s" target="_blank">Wayne Brady setting down a slain cop in the middle of the street</a>. From there, the Lions dominated the Packers with no turnover or penalty caveats. In all three phases of the game, Detroit forced their will and beat Green Bay into submission...then beat them some more. No asterisks, no "almost blew its." They won in a manner so decisive that, in a moment of complete disgust, Aaron Rodgers <a href="http://25.media.tumblr.com/2f31b6553253dbd9a2c8a639eac9357d/tumblr_mwzs6jj4eN1rvn2ylo1_400.gif" target="_blank">disposed of his contract with the Packers</a>.<br />
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With Chicago losing to Minnesota on Sunday, the Lions have now taken a commanding lead of the division. They are in prime position, and anything less than a division title at this point would be a huge letdown. But most importantly, they saved a soul like me. The last two weeks of countless foot-shooting and face palming would be enough to break a normal NFL franchise's fan. But we Detroiters have developed an amazingly high tolerance for incompetence. Still, another half of that against Green Bay, with division hopes on the line, in front of a national audience, with Joe Buck reading the Lions' obituary, would have likely been the end of me -- and all of you. And that's how the Detroit Lions saved the world.<br />
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I'll have more on this game later in the week.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-74807954641597244372013-11-30T12:16:00.002-08:002013-12-03T08:48:25.311-08:00Six Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions vs. BuccaneersI apologize for the further lateness of this, but holidays and a short week pushed this down the priority list. Because I'm already a game behind, this will be briefer than usual, which is probably a good thing.<br />
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<b>First quarter:</b><br />
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14:13 - Lions quickly go 3-and-out. The offensive line is struggling early, specifically LaAndrian Waddle, who was responsible for a TFL and a pressure on the first three plays.<br />
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13:14 - Lions respond with a three-and-out on defense. Likewise, it was the defensive line that forced the punt. Ndamukong Suh with great penetration on the first down rush, and Nick Fairley with the pressure on third down...and what was that thing Jeremy Ross did after catching the punt? You're allowed to run downfield after catching a punt? Why didn't anyone tell the Lions this sooner?<br />
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11:24 - I don't know the play call on Matthew Stafford's interception, but it looks like at least some of the blame should be on Nate Burleson. At the moment Stafford throws the ball:<br />
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...he is leading Burleson where there's room in the Bucs' zone. However, Burleson sits at the end of his route, allowing the safety to get to the ball first and tip it. Burleson needs to find the hole in the zone and get there.<br />
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9:24 - Brutal roughing the passer penalty.<br />
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Fairley is clearly getting pushed into the quarterback, and as he stumbles that way, he has no choice but to come into contact just below Mike Glennon's waist. Nothing else he could've done.<br />
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7:05 - Unbelievable read from DeAndre Levy on the end around.<br />
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5:30 - Tampa picks up a couple of third down conversions. Coverages on both were decent, not great. Good throws by Glennon.<br />
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5:21 - Ziggy Ansah does a great job shoving the left tackle to the side and picking up a big sack on first down. Nice to see some strength to go with that speed.<br />
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2:05 - Ballsy play by Stafford. Does a great job escaping pressure. He had Reggie Bush on his side of the field with a step on his defender. But Stafford opts to throw against the grain and finds an open Burleson for a first down.<br />
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0:00 - Beautiful set-up and execution of the screen to Burleson. The Lions get a little lucky, as the play-side safety sprints backwards at the snap to play deep middle.<br />
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But the play is made by Riley Reiff, who disposes of the defensive end, throwing him aside immediately, then takes out a cornerback in textbook fashion. But, hey, Nate. No fumbling.<br />
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<b>Second quarter:</b><br />
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14:50 - I call this piece: Calvin Johnson: Epic Distraction.<br />
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14:15 - Weak call on Waddle, but he probably should have been for a personal foul after the play, anyway.<br />
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11:52 - Nate does a great job selling the run-block on his touchdown. The safety completely bites, and Burleson is way too quick for the hesitant cornerback.<br />
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11:50 - Rashean Mathis gets victimized by a double move, takes a smart illegal contact penalty, then allows Vincent Jackson to make the catch anyway. Harumph.<br />
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11:21 - Suh beats the wham play with his speed. Remember when this use to be his fatal flaw?<br />
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9:59 - Not enough pressure from the front four allows Glennon to improvise and pick up a third and long. That one is on the line, not the secondary.<br />
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7:56 - THE NATE BURLESON END AROUND!!! How I haven't missed you.<br />
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7:14 - To remain impartial, this was also a terrible roughing the passer call. In fact, there's very few roughing the passer calls that I agree with any longer.<br />
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4:38 - I am still not convinced Joseph Fauria got two feet down after having possession of the ball here, but it was too close to overturn.<br />
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4:21 - Great blitz (!!!!) by Glover Quin. Got a round the blocking running back, and finished the play.<br />
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3:33 - Tampa continues to run on second and long against the Lions. I don't think they read the scouting report correctly.<br />
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2:07 - You may think I was mad about the Lions not using a timeout here, but you'd be incorrect. The Lions were still getting the ball back with two minutes and three timeouts. That's plenty of time to go downfield and score. Calling a timeout in this instance opens the opportunity of giving the ball back with too much time.<br />
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Also, not sure how the Lions escaped without a roughing or running-into-the-kicker penalty. Lately the refs have cut down on roughing the kicker penalties with the same amount of vigor that they have enforced roughing the passer. It's weird.<br />
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1:01 - A stunt confuses Larry Warford and especially Waddle, leaving Gerald McCoy free to pressure Stafford. Still, that was a poor throw regardless of the pressure. Brandon Pettigrew was too late to look back for the ball and his instincts caused him to flinch when he turned only to see a missile flying towards his head. Blame: 40% Waddle; 50% Stafford; 10% Pettigrew.<br />
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<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
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14:27 - Another second-and-long rush from TB. Strange coaching.<br />
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11:45 - I have no idea what's better: the pass or the catch.<br />
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I love these two guys.<br />
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10:22 - The Lions' Almost-Touchdown of the Game:<br />
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The Lions' Almost-Touchdown of the Game is brought to you by Bacon-Flavored Foods. Bacon-Flavored Foods: "All of the potential, rarely executed well."<br />
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9:41 - What a great catch by Pettigrew. This has got to be his greatest stretch of football in his professional career.<br />
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8:34 - Great job by Rob Sims clearing out McCoy to open a huge lane for Bush. 39 yards later. The Lions are rolling with the lead.<br />
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7:10 - Lions get double lucky on this play. McCoy splits Sims and Dominic Raiola and probably should have drew a holding flag. Instead, the Bucs get called for a pass interference penalty on a route that was a good six yards short of the first down.<br />
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5:43 -<br />
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At this point, Calvin looks wide open. However, the safety makes a very quick play on the ball, and Johnson's route is too horizontal and not enough vertical. If he runs more of a seam route, and Stafford throws it away from the safety, it may be a touchdown. But the post route was run directly towards the safety and it was picked.<br />
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This is the second time the Lions had a great opportunity to go up two possessions and take control of the game. Both drives ended in interceptions, and this one frustratingly happened on first down.<br />
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3:45 - 2nd-and-22 for the Bucs. Anyone want to guess the play call? It rhymes with "run."<br />
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2:29 -<br />
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Reggie Bush only picks up 4 yards on this play. I don't know how that's possible.<br />
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1:44 - Burleson with a solid effort to get the first down, but comes up half-a-yard short. For the record, I would not have been against going for it here, though I don't feel strongly either way.<br />
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<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
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14:17 - This long touchdown has to be on Louis Delmas.<br />
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The Lions are very clearly in man coverage, with Quin playing deep coverage on half of the field. This means with almost certainty that Delmas had deep coverage on the other side of the field. However, he tries to read Glennon and jump the tight end's route. Houston gets burned overtop without help from Louis, and then flubs the tackle.<br />
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10:38 - Stafford takes a sack on third down after Joique Bell fails to hold his block on the blitz. Stafford was looking for Calvin on the post route, who likely would've broken open.<br />
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9:58 - So if people are blaming Akers for blocked field goals, can I blame Sam Martin for this blocked punt?*<br />
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9:11 - Ansah with another sack. First, he used his speed to get the edge on the left tackle, then used his strength to fight through the tackle's last ditch effort to keep him at bay.<br />
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7:48 - Nice to see the opponent miss a field goal. I was beginning to think it was impossible to miss field goals in Ford Field.<br />
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7:35 - What an effort by Kris Durham to fight for the extra yard and a half. I thought he picked up the first down, but he got close enough for Stafford to sneak it on fourth down for the conversion. Love this Durham kid. I don't think he could do anything wrong to change my opinion of him in the next four plays or so.<br />
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5:43 - BURN DURHAM AT THE STAKE, HE IS A FUMBLING WITCH.<br />
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4:41 - No idea why Glennon took that sack on a play he could have easily thrown the ball away on. I'm sure those extra yards lost will have no impact on the gaOH MAN, HE MISSED IT AGAIN!<br />
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2:00 - Really don't like Stafford forcing this ball to Calvin on 2nd and 7 with the Lions on the edge of field goal range.<br />
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1:06- Really don't like Stafford forcing this ball to Calvin on 2nd and 12 with the Lions on the edge of field goal range.<br />
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1:00 -REALLY DON'T LIKE STAFFORD FORCING THIS BALL TO CALVIN ON 3RD AND 12 WITH THE LIONS ON THE EDGE OF FIELD GOAL RANGE.<br />
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This last one is a little more forgivable because Stafford was pressured, but Bell and Fauria were both breaking open and were much safer options. Of course, this ignores the fact that Calvin probably should have held onto it, and the Lions would have won the game if he had. But, still, this is insanely frustrated.<br />
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BUT WHO CARES, THE LIONS CRUSHED THE PACKERS! THIS POST WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN THREE.....TWO.....O-<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*I realize this snark carries less weight after Akers missed a 31-yarder on Thanksgiving, but I don't like punters nor do I like people blindly hating Akers because they wanted a youtube star on their team.</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-33118022979588763902013-11-28T13:27:00.000-08:002013-11-28T13:27:05.761-08:00Lions Victory GIF Dump: THANKSGIVING BLOWOUT EDITIONWhen we last left the Detroit Lions....(via Fansided)<div>
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Oh God, no....</div>
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But then... (via Fansided)</div>
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And then... (via GIFD Sports)</div>
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And then.... (via GIFD Sports)</div>
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I did this a lot... (via SBNation)</div>
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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. And I finally mean it.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-68782602920576317352013-11-25T09:58:00.002-08:002013-11-25T09:58:58.032-08:00One Minute to Midnight<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Thanks to LiveScience.com for <a href="http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/016/690/original/doomsday-clock-110516.jpg?1305581278" target="_blank">the original image</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span> </div>
With Sunday's disastrous loss against the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Lions edged their doomsday clock forward, and now sit on the brink of losing their season, and squandering their best opportunity at the division title in well over a decade.<br />
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After defeating the Chicago Bears for a second time, the Lions had seemingly made a statement as legitimate contenders for the NFC North crown. As the Bears and Green Bay Packers slowly began to concede and put down their arms, all the Lions needed to do was avoid shooting themselves in the foot and hegemony would finally be theirs.<br />
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But shoot themselves in the foot they did. To the point of 8 turnovers in two weeks, while forcing none of their own. And now, though the Lions' reign atop the division continues, the forces in Chicago and Green Bay are slowly regaining their footing. Their warriors' wounds are quickly healing. And if the Lions don't come together soon and deliver the death blow in the next week or two, they will soon find themselves in an apocalyptic world with no kingdom to rule and peons <a href="http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2013/11/24/5141438/lions-bucs-2013-quotes-jim-schwartz#199776041" target="_blank">calling for their heads</a>.<br />
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I don't know how much more frustrating this team can get. This game was exactly the Dallas Cowboys game, just without the goal line leap. The Lions once again dominated their opponent all over the stat sheet. The Lions gained nearly 70% more yards than Tampa (390 to 229). They gained more yards per play (5.4 to 4.7) and had over 20 more offensive plays than the Bucs. They were better on third down (8/15 to 4/14), they had more sacks (4 to 2), and even were penalized less often.<br />
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Every moment in which the Lions felt like they were going to get over the hump and just win this game, they absolutely killed themselves with mind-blowing ineptitude.<br />
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The defense played perhaps their best game all season. They got off the field on third down, they held a good Tampa running team to just 22 rushing yards on 24 carries. They finally got to the quarterback and tallied a season-high 4 sacks. But just as they were given a great opportunity to keep the Bucs deep in their own zone potentially giving the Lions good field position, they broke down for one play: 85 yards and a touchdown. In just two pass plays in the game, the Buccaneers gained 57% of their total offense for the day. <br />
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People will clamor that the defense was horrible because the rookie Mike Glennon threw all over them. That is not the case at all. Sure, if you look at his final statline of 14-21, 247 and 2 TDs and a 138.4 passer rating, you can easily come to that conclusion. But if you watched that game, Glennon was hardly efficient in those yards. Take away those two big plays, and he's left with 12-19, 115 yards and a TD. And 23 of <i>those </i>yards came on third-and-long situations that did not pick up first downs. <br />
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Of course, you can't take away those big plays, because they happened, and they continue to happen. The Lions have forfeited 12 passing plays of 40+ yards this season, which is only topped by the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens.<br />
<br />
And the offense...what can I say? There is no reason a team with this much talent should be struggling like it is. Five turnovers. That's the only relevant stat in this game. The offense had every chance to win that game on Sunday, and squandered every single opportunity. Of the five interceptions, three happened within the Bucs' 20-yard line, while the other two happened just as the Lions were crossing into Bucaneers' territory. By conservative estimates, the Lions gave away at least 12 points, while handing the Bucs 7 of their own.<br />
<br />
Sure, Tampa deserves some credit on defense for pressuring Stafford all day and forcing him into some of his mistakes, but some of these turnovers were just plain, stupidity on the Lions' behalf. Calvin Johnson should have held onto that final ball, and he would've played hero again. If anyone could offer an explanation on Kris Durham throwing the ball away or Brandon Pettigrew ducking out of the way on a poorly thrown ball, I'd love to hear it.<br />
<br />
All of this is terribly embarrassing, extremely frustrating, but mostly self-inflicted. And that's what gives me a glimmer of hope in the face of impeding doom. It's the handful of plays every week that sink this otherwise extremely talented team. At the beginning of the year, it seemed they had these breakdowns under control. They only had 8 turnovers through their first seven games, and Stafford was a calm, calculated killer. But in the last four games, they've turned it over 12 times, while Stafford's accuracy and composure have plummeted. Through five weeks, Stafford completed 63.8% of his passes. In the last six, that number has fallen to a mere 55.4%.<br />
<br />
There's no rhyme or reason for this drastic change. The Lions are playing the same game they did in the first half of the season, and for the most part, their opponents aren't playing them any differently either. The Lions proved they can play fairly clean ballgames earlier in the season, and I want to believe they can return to form for the last stretch of the season. But staring down the barrel of another season gone awry, it's hard to have true confidence in this team any longer. Judgement day comes early this week, so they'll have little time to eliminate the mistakes. If they don't right the ship by Thursday, you can find me in a bunker for the rest of the year.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-58254212512111010182013-11-20T10:59:00.002-08:002013-11-20T10:59:59.679-08:00Three Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions at Steelers<b>First quarter:</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
13:53 - Great third-down play to Reggie Bush, but that's an awfully ominous sign seeing him fumble it away. The Lions were probably lucky to have him called down by contact here.<br />
<br />
13:05 - Here's another brilliantly designed screen pass that failed to pick up the yardage it should have.<br />
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<br />
It's an end around fake to Bush that gets more than half of the defense going in the wrong direction. Joique Bell has all sorts of room to take it down field.<br />
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<br />
But Bell is weary of Larry Warford's block and tries to cut it back inside. That cut allows the defender catch him from behind. With his back turned to the play initially, it's hard to fully blame Bell here, but it's pretty clear he could have beaten everyone to the outside and taken the play for at least 20+ yards.<br />
<br />
11:10 - Man, they've been saying that Joseph Fauria has been a liability in terms of blocking. They're right:<br />
<br />
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<br />
Fauria should be taking care of the safety in the second level. Instead, he....well, I don't know what the hell he's doing. <br />
<br />
10:25 - That third down overthrow to Reggie wasn't going to be a touchdown, but it certainly should have been an easy pickup.<br />
<br />
10:22 - Then a drop by Calvin Johnson to end the drive. Wonderful. <br />
<br />
<b>Thing I learned from this drive: </b>the Lions had plenty of chances to make big plays on this drive, but failed to execute.<br />
<br />
8:46 - Poor awareness by Stephen Tulloch, dropping three yards beyond the first down line on a 3rd and 8.<br />
<br />
7:05 - Two big mistakes on this 3rd and 11 converstion by the Steelers. First, Don Carey evades a block on the wrong side of the blocker, taking himself completely out of the play. Meanwhile, Tulloch does a good job evading his block, but then misses the speedy Antonio Brown completely.<br />
<br />
6:28 - Glover Quin quickly identifies this pass to Brown, but completely whiffs on the tackle. Chris Houston, enamored by the play of Quin, quickly follows suit and it's 7-0 Pittsburgh.<br />
<br />
By my rudimentary counting skills, all but one of the passes on that drive were thrown within two seconds of the snap. Good luck, defensive line.<br />
<br />
5:28 - And the Lions respond with a quick three-and-out, after Matthew Stafford overthrows an open Kevin Ogletree for a likely touchdown. This....is frustrating.<br />
<br />
4:08 - Oh, Delmas. My sweet, sweet Delmas. He lines up trying to disguise coverage by lining up directly over the inside receiver. In reality, he is covering Brown, the outside receiver. At the snap, he strangely tries to jam them both. But ends up whiffing on the two.<br />
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<br />
Already in desperation mode, Delmas (bottom of the screen) tries to hold onto Brown and give himself a chance to recover, but he's lost all of his leverage and Brown blows by him.<br />
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<br />
The defensive line did what they could and forced Ben Roethlisberger out of the pocket, but he had an easy read from there.<br />
<br />
1:59 - Bell showing some speed there, outrunning Troy Polamalu to the outside.<br />
<br />
<b>Second quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:10 - YES YES YES, HE'S SO OPEN<br />
<br />
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<br />
YES YES YES, HE'S THROWING IT TO HIM<br />
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<br />
<br />
oh, hamburgers.<br />
<b> </b><br />
That's all on Stafford. The defense didn't force a high throw. In fact, Stafford could have thrown this ball anywhere and it likely would have been caught. But a fully-extended Brandon Pettigrew could only get his fingertips on it.<br />
<br />
14:05 - It's absolutely unreal how fast DeAndre Levy sniffed out this end-around, blowing it up for an 8 yard loss. This dude's instincts are off the charts.<br />
<br />
12:41 - I'll just go ahead and quote myself after this Bush fumble on first down (with good field position): <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"For someone as valuable to the team as Reggie Bush, he sure does a lot of things that annoy me."</blockquote>
12:31 - Pressure finally gets to Roethlisberger, and of course he pulls a play out of nowhere and shovels the ball for a first down.<br />
<br />
10:34 - Good pressure by Israel Idonije to force the incompletion on third down. Nice to finally say that guy's name, too.<br />
<br />
10:27 - Another excellent play design from Scott Linehan: <br />
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<br />
After the play-action to the left, Stafford bootlegs to the top of the screen. This
gets the defense, whose original momentum was taking them in the direction of the run, to
scramble back to the top of the screen, where all of the routes are being
run....except one. Johnson appears to be running a fly, but then cuts his route against the grain of the defense. The safety does not see this and tries to undercut a crossing route. And Calvin does the rest.<br />
<br />
9:07 - Levy just got Reggie Bush'd by Le'Veon Bell.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Again, pressure was ALMOST there from Willie Young, but Ben got rid of the ball quickly.<br />
<br />
8:11 - NICK FAIRLY HEEL-CLICK. NICK FAIRLY HEEL-CLICK. NICK FAIRLY HEEL-CLICK.<br />
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<br />
<br />
5:27 - Bush showing his value on a play he isn't targeted on. His crossing route swallows up a few defenders leaving Pettigrew wide open for a big 31 yard gain.<br />
<br />
3:58 - And Stafford finishes the drive with ease, hitting two wide open receivers for 25 and 19 yard gains. Football is easy again!<br />
<br />
3:22 - OoooOOOooo. A defended pass. That's new.<br />
<br />
2:31 - Stafford's near interception is forgiven because Calvin was getting held pretty bad on the play. Uncalled.<br />
<br />
2:00 - A strangely-conventional screen pass from the Lions, and Joique takes it for 37 yards. That's just great downfield blocking. Finally, some good execution!<br />
<br />
1:29 - THE DETROIT LIONS USED A DEFENSIVE TIMEOUT. THE DETROIT LIONS USED A DEFENSIVE TIMEOUT. THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, THE DETROIT LIONS USED A DEFENSIVE TIMEOUT.<br />
<br />
1:11 - I don't even have to say it anymore:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
Oh no, not <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion">@DetroitOnLion</a> biggest pet peeve! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SpecialTeams&src=hash">#SpecialTeams</a> penalty.<br />
— PJ Jaskowski (@AZbadger03) <a href="https://twitter.com/AZbadger03/statuses/402159565711474688">November 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
0:52 - That is a rough timeout to take. I sure hope it doesn't come back to bite them.............<br />
<br />
0:21 - OH LOOK, it came back to bite them. First and goal from the Steelers' 4 yard line with no timeouts. That pretty much means you can't afford to run it once. A run means you likely don't get three plays off, and puts even a field goal at risk. The Steelers know this and it severely limits the Lions' options here. Three plays later, the Lions are forced into a field goal.<br />
<br />
<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
<br />
13:41 -<b> </b>Consider this my obligation to point out that Delmas made a good play here.<br />
<br />
12:23 - That's a bunk roughing the passer call on C.J Mosely. Also, the word bunk isn't used enough.<br />
<br />
12:18 - THAT'S WHY LEVY PLAYS DEFENSE, HARHARHARHARDAMNIT. Seriously, bud, you have to catch that.<br />
<br />
10:31 - Dropped pass, Bush slip, sack. Looks like the offense's third quarter slumber is in effect.<br />
<br />
9:13 - Houston has his hands full with Brown. Houston got turned around several times on this play, allowing Brown to pick up 21 easy yards.<br />
<br />
6:07 - Strange play on this should-have-been-touchdown from the Steelers.<br />
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<br /></div>
Ashlee Palmer and Delmas are in coverage. First, Palmer jabs his man, but then releases him and chases down Heath Miller, who Delmas also rushes to cover. This leaves the other tight end wide open. I don't know whose responsibility that man was, but Delmas and Palmer were chirping at each other after the play.<br />
<br />
4:39 - That is just an unreal throw from Stafford on the run.<br />
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<br />
The ball actually gets tipped slightly, but still hits Jeremy Ross in stride.<br />
<br />
<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
<b>(leave while you still can) </b><br />
<br />
15:00 - This was not a designed quarterback draw. The receivers are clearly running routes, though there may have been a draw option. Rob Sims makes a huge block down field and Stafford picks up the first.<br />
<br />
13:44 - It's really tough not to have Bell in this situation. He had been rushing the ball extremely well on this drive before going down with an injury. Bush does an okay job replacing him, but this slip on 2nd and 4 was killer.<br />
<br />
12:56 - I'm not going to say anything more about the decision to fake the field goal, but here's where the play broke down. It was Don Muhlbach and Riley Reiff who messed up the play.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Their job was to seal their guys from the inside to prevent any defenders from the backside of the play to get involved. At this moment, they are in good position...<br />
<br />
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<br />
Unfortunately both failed to keep this containment. Credit to both Steelers defenders, who sniffed out the fake pretty quickly, but if Reiff and Muhlbach hold those blocks, it's an easy first down. <br />
<br />
11:25 - The Lions with a big opportunity to get off the field with the Steelers deep in their own zone on 3rd and 9. But Houston whiffs on another jab, then DeJon Gomes is way late in recognizing the play and Brown picks up an easy 16.<br />
<br />
9:44 - Mosely with a great swim move to pressure Roethlisberger, but he got no help from Don Carey, who was extremely soft and hesitant in coverage.<br />
<br />
7:30 - Hesistation by Rocky McIntosh on the play-action allowed the Steelers to pick up the fourth-down conversion with relative ease.<br />
<br />
6:16 - Carey does a good job of avoiding the natural pick play from the Steelers...but then he overruns his man and misses the tackle, resulting in a near touchdown. <br />
<br />
4:50 - I think the Lions can expect a lot of goal line passes on defense from now on. To their credit, Detroit is stellar in run defending on goal-to-go situations. But that leaves them woefully unprepared to defend the pass. It burned them twice here. Once, resulting in a holding penalty. The other, resulting in a touchdown...and we aren't done yet.<br />
<br />
4:36 - Killer drops by Theo Riddick and Ross to start the drive. Ross' drop was inexcusable.<br />
<br />
4:28 - I'm not sure I like the design on this play that resulted in an interception. It looks similar to the roll-out that resulted in a touchdown earlier, but there are some key differences.<br />
<br />
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<br />
First, there is no play-action on the play (it was 3rd and 10, so that makes sense). As you can see, the defense is not scrambling to recover from anything. Everyone on defense is right where they want to be.<br />
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<br />
<br />
The second issue is Kris Durham's route. Rather than crossing over the middle of the field, he runs a post-route designed to draw the safety over to his side. Here's the problem: with Stafford rolling way to his right, that makes the post route on the opposite side an impossible ball to throw. Therefore, the safety doesn't go with Durham, but rather reads Stafford and stays back.<br />
<br />
Even though Calvin burns the safety on his side, the backside safety easily makes the play. If the play was designed to have Calvin's route a little more vertical, Stafford may have been able to slip the ball in before the backside safety could have recovered, but the route basically went exactly to where the safety was waiting. <br />
<br />
2:35 - And Don Carey drives the stake through the heart by trying to jump the bubble screen that never was. Hurry back, Bill Bentley.<br />
<br /><b>Quick thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
<b>-</b> Even though that fourth quarter was brutal, this game wasn't as bad as I thought. There were some early, silly mistakes, but the Lions really controlled a lot of the game from the second to third quarter.<br />
<br />
- Mistakes from backups really killed the Lions at the end of the game. See: Riddick, Ross, Carey, McIntosh and Gomes.<br />
<br />
- Aside from the strange 3rd down call that resulted in an interception, I had no qualms with the coaching. The plays were there; the players didn't make them.<br />
<br />
- I stand firm on my belief that the Lions defensive line played a good game. They can't control how quickly Ben is getting the ball out. And they actually pressured him a good amount given how little time he held onto the ball.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-59078734864985917042013-11-18T09:52:00.002-08:002013-11-18T09:52:41.816-08:00Narratives aplenty! There are a billion narratives I could choose from to recap the Steelers game. I could go on about the coaching decisions, especially the fake field goal, that could easily be described as the "turning point" in the game. I could rant and rave about the offense's appearing and disappearing act that resulted in 27 second quarter points and nothing more. Or I could talk about the defense, or the lack thereof it. But I don't want to boil the game down to just one narrative, because that would be the most dishonest way to recap that game. So...let's just talk about them all. <br />
<br />
Let's start with the fake field goal just to get it out of the way, because it sounds like that's all anyone wants to talk about. My opinion at the time of the fake was this:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Wow. I don't know what to feel.<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/402177040213741568">November 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Now that I've had a night to think it over, here's what I think: I don't know how to feel. I <i>do </i>think the benefit of potentially going up 10 instead of 7 outweighs the cost of being up 4 instead of 7. However, I'm not sure it was the right time and place to pull that maneuver. Actually, it's obvious it wasn't. But I only know that information in hindsight. Overall, it was a gutsy call that didn't work out. The head coach is always going to take the heat for that. But, personally, I won't lose any sleep over it.<br />
<br />
The fake field goal doesn't concern me much, because my personal mission as a fan/blogger isn't to find out who's to blame. The loss happened. That's the reality we live in. No amount of second-guessing and scapegoating will bring back that win. YOU NEED TO FORGET ABOUT PITTSBURGH, CHERYL, AND <i>LIVE YOUR LIFE</i>! The fake field goal will not lose this team the division. They are still in first place and still control their own destiny. So let's start a more meaningful discussion and focus on what may affect that destiny going forward.<br />
<br />
The secondary. Oh boy, the secondary. Going into this game, I thought Ben Roethlisberger would be Ben Roethlisberger and hold on to the ball forever and get eaten alive by the front four. But Big Ben came out slinging that ball as quickly as he could, and no one in the back seven could stop him. The defensive line did all they could, but the secondary never gave them enough time to get to the quarterback.<br />
<br />
No one in the secondary is playing consistently good football. Not one soul. The closest thing that unit has to a good defender is Glover Quin. And of course, he went out with an injury late in the game, at which point the Steelers drove down the field with no resistance. Louis Delmas is playing the worst football of his career right now. Chris Houston has been much more Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll lately. Rashean Mathis has been just about as good as you can expect a mid-preseason acquisition to be. But the nickle corner position is a mess with Bill Bentley out. Darius Slay is obviously not ready, while Don Carey is clearly not the man for the job.<br />
<br />
The Lions are getting worse at defending the pass as the season rolls on. Through the first four weeks, quarterbacks were averaging just a 69.1 passer rating. Since then, they are averaging a rating of 103.6. Opponents are learning that the best way to neutralize the pass rush is to get rid of the ball quickly. It worked for Cincinnati, it worked for the the Cowboys (in the second half), and it certainly worked for Big Ben, who put up season high numbers in touchdowns, passer rating, and QBR against the Lions.<br />
<br />
But secondary aside, another huge problem with the Lions is their inconsistent offense, and it all boils down to execution: the dropped passes, the fumbles, the overthrows. The Lions had every opportunity to march down the field but opted to trip over their own feet instead. The most disappointing -- and simultaneously frustrating -- part of it is the people that are shooting themselves in the foot are often the same people that carry this team on their back. Reggie Bush has given the offense a much-needed extra dimension, but his fumbles and drops always seem to come at the exact wrong time. Matthew Stafford is a hero and our Lord and Savior...until he throws a ball needlessly off his back foot and airmails it directly into the arms of a safety. Even the untouchable Calvin Johnson managed to drop a fourth down pass in this game.<br />
<br />
But these inconsistencies are nothing new. They were there last year, culminating in a 4-12 season. They were even there in 2011, when the Lions went to the playoffs (remember the first halves of nearly every game?). The Lions have proven that they can both win <i>in spite</i> of these problems and<i> </i>lose <i>because</i> of them.<br />
<br />
The difference this year is that the Lions have more weapons than they have ever had. Last year, they collapsed after losing receiver after receiver. The offense remains relatively healthy at this point in the year (yeah, yeah, knock on wood), and they should be getting Nate Burleson back very soon. Hopefully with him comes some stability and consistency.<br />
<br />
The defensive problems are much tougher to fix. We can hope that Bentley's imminent return will help turn things around, and we can cross our fingers that Quin is okay. But if we're being honest with ourselves, it is clear this will be the Lions' Kryptonite. That doesn't mean they won't win any more games; they've proven they can do so with defensive breakdowns (see: Cowboys game). That does mean, however, that there will be no cakewalks for the rest of the year, despite the easy schedule. As long as the opponent has that speedy receiver that can make defenders miss or a quarterback who can bait the secondary into a mistake, the Lions will struggle. They may still win, but they'll struggle. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-39756442772419626742013-11-13T09:29:00.002-08:002013-11-13T09:29:15.321-08:00Three Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions at BearsFilm note: The coaches film at Soldier Field is <a href="https://twitter.com/SI_DougFarrar/status/387597239033413633" target="_blank">notoriously</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PFF_Sam/status/245654253727805441" target="_blank">horrible</a>.<b> </b>Unfortunately, that makes analysis a bit tougher than normal. So if I'm lighter on observations this week, that's why.<br />
<br />
<b>First quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:16 - Not terrible coverage by Rashean Mathis on Chicago's first third-down conversion of the day. It's a bit of a mismatch between him and Brandon Marshall, but give a lot of credit to Jay Cutler for putting that ball in a perfect spot where Mathis has no chance of batting it down.<br />
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12:45 - On the touchdown, Chicago designed a very nice fake that opened up a lot of field for Marshall.<br />
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The play looks very much like a quick wide receiver screen. Marshall fakes blocking down field, while Cutler looks immediately for the quick pass. This brings Louis Delmas way down the field.<br />
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The result is Marshall in one-on-one coverage with Darius Slay and a whole lot of empty field ahead. Marshall gets inside leverage on Slay, and makes an athletic catch. I don't blame Slay, as he was actually in very good coverage, but he couldn't knock the ball away from Marshall.<br />
<br />
Still, a very poor way to start the game.<br />
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11:59 - In case you blinked and missed him, here's visual evidence that Montell Owens played a down for the Detroit Lions once.<br />
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9:29 - Excellent blitz pickup by Joique Bell on third down. Two Bears linebackers threaten to blitz up the A-gap before the snap. Only one comes blitzing, and Bell immediately notices and clears out a big path for Matthew Stafford to step up into. Good to see Stafford not panic immediately with an A-gap blitz, like he has in the past.<br />
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8:49 - Dominica Raiola is having a rough first drive, especially in run blocking.<br />
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6:48 - You guys think Reggie would have scored here?<br />
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6:01 - Kris Durham with a dirty move for the touchdown. He faked a quick slant, than swam over-top of his defender and ran an uncontested post-route.<br />
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Good to see the Lions answer quickly and not let the lead ever grow any bigger.<br />
<br />
5:11 - Weird wrinkle that may only interest me, the Bears lined up with 6 offensive lineman on this play. The sixth man, who is <a href="http://www.chicagobears.com/team/roster/Eben-Britton/8f6f87d0-f26b-46c1-b26c-d4cf767bd7a5" target="_blank">listed as a guard</a> on Chicago's official website, was lined up outside the left tackle and actually ran a route. The ball wasn't thrown to him, but I enjoyed watching a 300+ pound man run a seam-route up the middle of the defense.<br />
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5:07 - Bad luck for Ndamunkong Suh with the facemask. Willie Young was about to sack Cutler anyway.<br />
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4:42 - DeAndre Levy: Screen Killer. Just look how quickly Levy notices the play.<br />
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Cutler hasn't even cocked his arm back to throw the ball, and Levy is already booking it to the intended receiver. His quick recognition allows him to get to the receiver before a lineman can block him, and although he doesn't ultimately make the tackle, he blows up the play enough to let his teammates catch up.<br />
<br />
4:00 - And Levy follows up that play by forcing an end around to go extremely wide and eventually out of bounds. The guy is playing out of his mind.<br />
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2:19 - 3 things:<br />
1) I don't know how this ball was not intercepted after deflecting off of Calvin Johnson's hands.<br />
2) This was a pretty awful throw by Stafford.<br />
3) Although a pass to Calvin is never a bad idea AND he was open, a pass to Reggie would have been easier, and probably would have picked up more. The linebacker that was on him, bit on the play-action, and Calvin cleared that side of the field. <br />
<br />
1:26 - I know the offensive line got a lot of credit for this game, but they were not good in the first quarter. The Lions only averaged 3.0 a carry on six rushes in the first stanza.<br />
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<b>Second quarter:</b><br />
<br />
11:51 - That is an absolutely huge tackle by Chris Houston. He gets around the offensive lineman and gets just enough of Matt Forte, who is not easy to bring down, to tackle him before the sticks.<br />
<b> </b><br />
...why are they bringing in Rocky freaking McIntosh?<br />
<br />
11:04 - ROCKY FREAKIN MCINTOSH!!!!<br />
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Also, congratulation to the referee crew for the worst measurement ever. They said it couldn't be done.<br />
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10:24 - That was an awfully generous first down given to the Lions on a Bell run that looked at least a yard short of the sticks.<br />
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8:23 - Alright, let's talk about the fourth down decision. The Lions basically had three choices: Attempt a 49-yard field goal, go for it, or punt. If you think punting was the best option here, click the "x" at the top of your browser and never come back. I think a field goal here is probably a 50/50 proposition. Not to take anything away from David Akers, it's just not an easy thing for kickers to do. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/sports/football/21kick.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0" target="_blank">According to the New York Times</a>, from 2000-2005, kickers at Soldier Field had the worst kicking percentage of any venue and a 49-yarder is no gimme. <br />
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Going for it on 4th and short has the highest probability of success. I've seen estimates <a href="http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/62665328/" target="_blank">as high as 62%</a>. I think going for it here was a no-brainer. If you want to argue with the play call, that's a bit more understandable, but remember that the Lions had nothing going on the ground at this point, and Calvin was open:<br />
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6:42 - The Bears have now converted a 3rd-and-6, 3rd-and-10 (via penalty), third-and-8, and another 3rd-and-8. That's insanely frustrating as a fan, and I don't think it's too fun for Gunther Cunningham. The issue is a mixture of the pass rush getting there a moment too late, and the secondary not playing tight enough. On this conversion, it was Delmas as the culprit again:<br />
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As Alshon Jeffery made the cut in his post route, Delmas turned his back to run with him, thinking he was running a fly route. Delmas is forced to turn around, giving Jeffery a huge cushion and an easy first down.<br />
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5:13 - GRRRRRR. Add another 3rd-and-8 conversion to the list. This is just a huge mismatch of Slay on Jeffery.<br />
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2:00 - Ok. This is enough. Someone really needs to tell Jim Schwartz he can use his timeouts on defense in the first half. It's the two minute warning and the Bears have the ball 2nd and 5 at the Lions 14 yard line. The Lions have three timeouts. The Bears can only run, at the max, five more offensive plays (2nd down, 3rd down, 1st down, 2nd down, 3rd down), assuming there are no penalties. Chances are the Bears are going to try and throw it at least a few times trying to get a touchdown. So it makes sense to start using some timeouts when the Bears are running the ball to stop the clock and give yourself time to respond before the end of the half. Here's how it should have played out:<br />
<br />
2nd and 5. Bears run for 7 yards. Lions call timeout at 1:54.<br />
1st and goal. Bears run for 3 yards. Lions call timeout at 1:48.<br />
2nd and goal. Bears throw interception. Lions get the ball with 1:41 left and a timeout.<br />
<br />
Instead, the Lions failed to call a timeout in BOTH situations, letting NEARLY 80 SECONDS run off the clock unnecessarily.<br />
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Thankfully, it seems like I'm no longer screaming to myself about this overlooked issue. <a href="http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/82072/thank-you-for-not-coaching-week-10" target="_blank">Grantland crucified Schwartz</a> for this, too. Thanks to Sean Yuile at Pride of Detroit for <a href="https://twitter.com/PrideOfDetroit/status/400530346250235904" target="_blank">giving me the heads</a> up about that. <br />
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Side note: on this drive Suh had two hurries, one tackle for loss, and a batted pass that resulted in an interception. Beast.<br />
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<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
<br />
15:00 - True story, I missed the opening kickoff to the second half due to some poor remote time management from my friend. Therefore, I didn't actually believe the Lions had a 34-yard kick return until this moment right now.<b> </b><br />
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13:35 - Huge blocks from Ladrian Waddle, Rob Sims and Larry Warford on the long Bush run:<br />
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13:02 - I can't believe they took so long to review this touchdown. Wait, did I say "I can't believe...?" I meant to say, how awfully predictable.<br />
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11:25 - Offensive touchdown then a defensive three-and-out. Not a bad way to start the second half.<br />
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9:52 - It's nice to see Devin Taylor create some pressure from the outside. Young man's got talent.<br />
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9:48 - I can't know this for sure, but it looks to me that, again, Delmas tried to jump a short route, leaving his assignment. This left Marshall one-on-one deep, which is trouble for Mathis.<br />
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This was not a very good game for Delmas.<br />
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Side note: Austin Lane was tackled on this play in the backfield.<br />
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8:56 - Highly ineffective blitz: DRINK!<br />
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8:11 - I really like this third-down play by the Bears. The shovel pass completely fools Suh in the backfield, but once again, it's Levy who saves the day.<br />
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Levy has such a jump on the play, that he draws two linemen. This frees up Stephen Tulloch (who also had a monster game) to make the tackle before allowing a first down.<br />
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4:43 - What an outstanding play from Don Carey. He shows his speed and elusiveness quickly closing in on Matt Forte, while avoiding a block from the pulling guard. Impressive athleticism overall.<br />
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<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
<br />
15:00 - Interesting third-down call from Scott Linehan. The Lions have Bell and Bush in the backfield. One of them is getting the ball:<br />
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<b> </b><br />
Both players immediate release into the same routes on opposite sides.<br />
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The wide receivers basically run dummy routes away from the sidelines, hoping to create space for the two backs. Stafford looks to Bush and overthrows him. I think this is the wrong read. At the bottom of the screen, Calvin is clearing all sorts of room for Bell, who could have easily picked up the first down here.<br />
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14:11 - Here's where things start to get chippy. Nick Fairley may have crossed the line with bringing Cutler down late, but he was also being pushed towards him, and did not slam Cutler down nor come down with all of his weight. Then Kyle Long comes in and throws a forearm at Fairley and somehow avoids a penalty. The FOX announcer then proceeds to praise Long for the obvious personal foul.<br />
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14:07 - Good coverage by Carey, but a better pass and catch by the Bears.<br />
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11:59 - Stafford passes on an open Joseph Fauria to try and thread a needle to Calvin. It does not work.<br />
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11:08 - Stafford's interception was nothing more than a bad pass. It was a tougher throw than it looked, but Matt airmailed it to a point where a fully-extended Megatron couldn't get it. That's no good.<br />
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10:57 - Once again, it's Levy who makes a great play, forcing the Bears into a holding penalty:<br />
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Levy comes on a well-timed blitz.<br />
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He happens to be attacking the exact position of the running lane, and the Bears lineman has no choice but to hook him and hope the ref doesn't see. Luckily for the Lions, he does see.<br />
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9:30 - To me, this doesn't seem like the same rule that screwed Calvin out of a touchdown three years ago. As Jeffery went to the ground, contact with the defender and the ground caused possession to be temporarily lost. That makes sense to me as an incomplete pass.<br />
<br />
Calvin's non-TD was different. Calvin corralled the ball, hit the turf, maintained possession, and AS HE WAS GETTING UP, he put the ball on the ground. This is where the rule makes no sense. There is nothing clear about when "the process of the catch" is completed. Is it when you hit the ground? Is it when you stand back up? There is no clear rule.<br />
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7:53 - The facemask giveth...<br />
<br />
7:23 - ...and taketh away.<br />
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6:33 - Greedy Stafford. As the play breaks down, Bell is wide open underneath. He is almost guaranteed 5-10 yards, which wouldn't be enough for a first down, but it would be valuable yardage to shorten Akers' field goal attempt.<br />
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Instead, Stafford opts to throw a low-percentage, across-the-body, jump ball to Calvin. Not only is this a tough play to make, but it is also a big risk in throwing an interception, which would obviously take a field goal attempt completely off the board. This is where Stafford's over-reliance on Johnson can hurt the team.<br />
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6:25 - Akers haters. Come out and playyyyeyyayyyyyy. <br />
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5:28 - I love seeing the Lions come out on this drive with play-action. The Bears bit hard, leaving plenty of space for Jeremy Ross to get open.<br />
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4:05 - Excellent protection gave Stafford the time to check down to his third read on this crucial third down play.<br />
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2:28 - As hard as I've been on the coaching staff for their mangling of time management at the end of halves, I have to give them credit here. They could have ran the ball three times to end the drive, but they came out throwing. They knew the Bears could stop the clock anyway, so why not try and get into the endzone. And what a gorgeous pass that was from Stafford.<br />
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2:18 - Never have I ever feared the words "Josh McCown" as much as I did in this moment.<br />
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2:13 - Stupid Nick Fairley.<br />
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2:07 - Good Nick Fairley. This is the world we live in, I'm afraid.<br />
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1:50 - Fourth-and-1 and the Lions decide to call another ineffective blitz. Credit goes to Long for picking up Levy, but the Lions' inability to get a free pass-rusher on the blitz is absolutely frustrating.<br />
<br />
0:52 - Good pressure by Andre Fluellen and Willie Young to force a throw-away.<br />
<br />
0:47 - Blerg. McCown smartly steps up in the collapsing pocket and Mathis can't keep up with Marshall for that long. This is why I was afraid of McCown.<br />
<br />
0:40 - There is no good, definitive replay of the helmet-to-helmet contact from Young here, so I have no opinion on it. I will say that there was no way Young could have stopped himself from hitting McCown, but if he <i>did</i> go high, that's on him.<br />
<br />
0:40 - Stupid Nick Fairley: 1. Good Nick Fairley: 2.<br />
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Ballgame.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-58583730212008067062013-11-11T09:58:00.001-08:002013-11-11T09:58:20.446-08:00Cool Guys Don't Look at ExplosionsI woke up this morning and the Detroit Lions were still in first place. It wasn't a dream. The Lions weren't disqualified in the middle of the night by some technicality. Yesterday actually happened. <br />
<br />
Yet my damn subconscious cannot seem to come to terms with this fantastic reality. Literally my first thought when I opened my eyes this morning was that Matthew Stafford had somehow broken his collarbone, too. I don't know why this thought popped into my head, but I just knew that if I opened up twitter, my timeline would be filled with villagers screaming and gouging their own eyes out as the town burnt to the ground. This team has done a number on me.<br />
<br />
But screw that. I'm done with that. The last time the Lions were in first place this late in the season, I was <strike>enjoying</strike> awkwardly experiencing my first year as a teenager. The horrors and monstrosities that followed for the next decade happened to a different team. They were witnessed by a different me. This is different. This is now.<br />
<br />
I know the Murphy's Law part of my brain will always be there, spreading panic and lies at every opportunity it gets. But, today, I am performing a symbolic lobotomy. No more worrying. No more doubt. No more irrational fear. This is a team that should, and <i>will</i>, win the NFC North this year.<br />
<br />
I'm not just baptizing myself in the Honolulu Blue River this week, I'm doing a cannonball in that mother-effer. I'm swallowing gulps by the mouthful in a way that would make Augustus Gloop look at me shamefully. I'm all in on this team. I'm buying playoff stock. I'm doing whatever metaphor it takes to let you know: I believe in this team, and I'm not looking back.<br />
<br />
A fun thing for fans to do when their team wins, especially against a rival like Chicago, is to go to their fans' website and partake in a little schadenfreude. But, today, I get no pleasure watching the Bears fans devour themselves. That is beneath me, beneath us. They are the explosion we are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo" target="_blank">walking away from without turning to watch</a>. Everyone else in the league will be shocked and horrified by the carnage we left in our path. They will speak of broken collarbones and groins torn to pieces. They will <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131110132816AAzNBat" target="_blank">criticize our savagery</a>, and <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9658836/ndamukong-suh-detroit-lions-fined-100k-block" target="_blank">try to take our earnings</a>. But we will continue to walk forward. Because we're walking towards something greater, and we've got another building to blow up. <br />
<br />
_________<br />
<br />
Game notes:<br />
<br />
- This wasn't a particularly satisfying game in any way. There were no big plays on either side of the ball for either team. The Lions did not win in a convincing fashion by any means, and it was disappointing to see their inability to put away the Bears when they had several chances.<br />
<br />
- None of that really matters though. It was a division win on the road against an above-average team. That's big.<br />
<br />
- I was pretty disappointed to see Stafford fall into some bad habits in this game. Specifically, his over-reliance on Calvin Johnson. Calvin saw almost exactly half of Stafford's targets in this game (17 of 35). Matthew went 6-17 for 83 yards, 2 TDs and an INT when throwing to Megatron. That's a passer rating of 66.5. I know Calvin pretty much won the game, and I know he's the best receiver in football, but the Lions offense is unstoppable when Stafford is spreading the ball.<br />
<br />
- Expanding on that point, in the Lions' three scoring drives, Calvin had just five catches for 64 yards. <br />
<br />
- After a disappointing start, the Lions really got things going on the ground in the second half. Their final scoring drive was perfectly balanced: 4 rushes for 29 yards, 5 passes for 45 yards.<br />
<br />
- The Lions were clearly the benefactor of an ailing Jay Cutler in the second half. Cutler completely stopped throwing anything further than 10 yards down the field late in the game. But a lot of credit goes to the Lions defense for rendering the Bears' running game completely moot and turning the Bears' offense into a zero-dimension threat.<br />
<br />
- DeAndre Levy continues to have a Pro Bowl-worthy year. Not only was his interception huge, but he also drew a holding in the fourth quarter, negating at touchdown. This guy has made huge strides this year, and is on his way to becoming a household name.<br />
<br />
- Coaching notes: I'm going to get more into this in my "Live" blog, but coaching decisions this week were again a mixed bag. I was for the Lions going for it early in the game, but for the second straight week, the Lions failed to use timeouts on defense at the end of the first half. Again, it was clear they were geting the ball back, and they could have saved at least 40-60 seconds with timeouts. Instead, they got the ball back with less than 30 seconds and sat on it.<br />
<br />
- However, I was absolutely delighted with the offensive play-calling for the Lions' final drive. At the end of the drive, the Lions could have ran the ball three times, forcing the Bears to use all of their timeouts, but the Lions made their priority six points rather than bleeding the clock. As it turned out, those points were much more valuable than bleeding clock, as the would have had plenty of time to score even without those timeouts. <br />
<br />
- Nick Fairley's stop on the two-point conversion attempt was both the biggest play and the entire story of the game.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-83808396669145422382013-11-10T13:53:00.002-08:002013-11-10T13:53:32.005-08:00Lions Victory GIF Dump: Bears Edition...AGAINIt was a pretty ugly game. Not a lot happen. So let's just watch Nick Fairley stop his way to FIRST PLACE until the end of eternity. (via SBNation)<br />
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And it's time to bust out the Solo-First-Place-In-The-Second-Half-of-the-Season champagne....</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-36107721390490652962013-11-06T11:32:00.001-08:002013-11-06T11:58:23.199-08:00These Are Confusing Times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G9K9jJmlHG0/UnqWvwqOUpI/AAAAAAAABFI/RyyuXOD7nOA/s1600/mass+confusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G9K9jJmlHG0/UnqWvwqOUpI/AAAAAAAABFI/RyyuXOD7nOA/s320/mass+confusion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
From the moment Matthew Stafford leaped over the unsuspecting Cowboys defensive line, it has been a strange time to be a Lions fan. Just digesting the victory alone proved to be a puzzling experience. Was I supposed to focus on the dominant yardage totals or fear the repetitive mistakes and turnovers as ominous foreshadowing?<br />
<br />
In the heat of the moment, <a href="http://detroitonlion.com/never-a-doubt/" target="_blank">I consumed every smattering of optimism I could find</a>. I was manic in every sense of the word. My eyes were dilated, my heart soared, and my expectations were endless.<br />
<br />
But as the week wore on, I finally stopped clicking on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf2LfAjhsvE" target="_blank">Stafford youtube videos</a>. The euphoria of Stafford Magic slowly left my blood stream. The Lions were still 5-3 with a winning record in the division. But the NFC playoff race looked dim. The Panthers had actually usurped the Lions for the final wild card spot, and the Lions were on the outside looking in. The situation in the division looked even more bleak. The Packers, already with a win over the Lions, had the second-easiest schedule going forward. And the Bears, <a href="https://twitter.com/mortreport/status/397532276256288768" target="_blank">reportedly</a>, were getting back Jay Cutler earlier than expected. My heart sunk knowing that the Lions' work was nowhere near done.<br />
<br />
Then there was the issue of the Monday Night Football game. The Lions fandom was split on who to root for: the division-leading Packers or the streaking Bears? I vehemently <a href="http://detroitonlion.com/why-im-rooting-for-the-packers-tonight/" target="_blank">screamed to the masses</a> that the Lions should be targeting a wild-card spot first and foremost, and if they were to really catch the Packers for the division (which I didn't think they really could), they could do so without a Chicago victory. The Bears must be sacrificed in front of a national audience for the good of the land.<br />
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But that did not happen. The Bears emerged victorious and created this mess:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">via <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings">http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings</a></span></div>
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A three-way tie for the division lead. It's both beautiful and mortifying. This is the latest in the season the Lions have led the division <a href="https://twitter.com/ttwentyman/status/397736633023201282" target="_blank">since 1999</a>. But it also makes this week's game in Chicago extremely crucial. And no one likes to rely on a game at Soldier Field when the stakes are so high.<br />
<br />
Most fans, however, have met this develop with wide-eyed optimism. They just look at the word "Detroit" atop the standings and become hypnotized by it's beauty. It's hard not to. It's a glorious vision that we are not accustomed to as Lions fans.<br />
<br />
But I spent the immediate hours in the aftermath of the Bears victory warning that the current standings, while undeniably beautiful, was fool's gold. The Lions still had two extremely difficult division games that could not only bury them in the division standings, but in the wild card race, as well. I went person-to-person and tried to shake them from the spell that the words "division leader" had cast upon them.<br />
<br />
Then the Aaron Rodgers news came about. One cracked collarbone and everything changed. The Packers now find themselves without the best player in the NFL for 4-6 weeks. The have a very real risk of dropping out of contention before he can return. Though the upcoming schedule isn't very daunting (vs. Eagles, at NYG, vs. Vikings), Green Bay is nowhere near the same team without Rodgers behind center.<br />
<br />
And now the Bears game has a completely different look to it. Rather than a chance to lose the tiebreaker and a game on a potential wild card opponent, it's now a game where the Lions could essentially take a two-game lead on, perhaps, their biggest challenge to the NFC North crown. Even better, early reports of Cutler's return <a href="https://twitter.com/JeneBramel/status/398104947440373760" target="_blank">may have been a bit premature</a>.<br />
<br />
I have to admit, I don't think I have ever <i>truly</i> given this team a chance to win the NFC North. But I'm starting to get a whiff of that intoxicating blue kool-aid. I can feel its pheromones running through my veins. And while my untrustworthy psyche -- built from decades of losses and disappointments -- tries to fight back, it's starting to lose that battle. I'm edging towards the banks of the river, and I'm licking my lips. There's a voice in the back of my head screaming "DON'T, YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE GOING TO DROWN!" But there's an equally loud voice coming from further back yelling, "WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR ONCE AND DRINK?!?"<br />
<br />
These are confusing times.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-47992552905453101522013-11-04T08:08:00.001-08:002013-11-04T08:08:00.981-08:00Why I'm Rooting For The Packers TonightI love the bye week. It's one of the few weeks of the year I can watch football 100% stress-free*. I can sit back and watch the game with little-to-no rooting interests and just marvel at the wonders of my favorite game in the world. I can watch with glee as Dallas chokes the game away against a poor Minnesota team. And I can feel just as good when Tony Romo pulls the team back in improbable fashion.<br />
<br />
But tonight's Monday Night Football game is a bit different. The game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears has huge playoff implications for the NFC North. The Packers sit atop the division with a 5-2 record, with Detroit a half game back at 5-3 and the Bears just behind them at 4-3. A Packers win puts them a full game ahead of the Lions, and two ahead of the Bears. While a Chicago victory creates (essentially) a three-way tie for the division lead.<br />
<br />
A wide majority of Lions fans are pulling for the Bears to win tonight. Just look at this poll by the official Detroit Lions twitter account:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Big <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NFCNorth&src=hash">#NFCNorth</a> game tonight on <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNMondayNight">@ESPNMondayNight</a>. Which team are you pulling for? <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CHIvsGB&src=hash">#CHIvsGB</a>
RT - <a href="https://twitter.com/packers">@packers</a> (5-2)
FAV - <a href="https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears">@chicagobears</a> (4-3)<br />
— Detroit Lions (@DetroitLionsNFL) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitLionsNFL/statuses/397381519754280960">November 4, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
For those that aren't twitter-literate (twitterlate?), the amount of "favorites" represents those pulling for Chicago, and the amount of "retweets" represent those hoping for a Packers victory. <br />
<br />
I think most Lions fans are being short-sighted. Sure a Bears win would put the Lions at a tie for the division lead, but, overall, a Chicago victory is more harmful for the Lions' playoff chances. I think a Packers win would be the best possible outcome tonight (outside of a tie).<br />
<br />
Let's start with the Packers. Green Bay looks to be the best team in the division. They are ranked in the top five in three of the four major dimensions of the game (pass offense, run offense, run defense). They are an extremely well-rounded team, and despite their injuries, have been racking up wins lately. They are on a four-game winning streak, including two games on the road. They have the highest point differential in the NFC North by a huge margin. By all means, they should win the division. It also helps that they have the second-easiest schedule remaining, <a href="http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2013/11/1/5051782/five-questions-detroit-lions" target="_blank">according to Pride of Detroit.</a> While the Lions have the easiest schedule remaining, it's hard to imagine them keeping pace with Green Bay.<br />
<br />
If the Packers were to lose this game, the Lions would pull to an even record with Packers. However, they would almost <i>have</i> to beat the Packers on Thanksgiving to keep the edge. With a Thanksgiving win, the Lions would gain a game on Green Bay, and also tie up the head-to-head tie-breaker with the Packers, having lost to them earlier in the year. But with a Thanksgiving loss, the Lions would fall a game back, and also lose the tie-breaker to Packers. They could still be two games behind the Packers, despite the Bears winning the game tonight. I don't want to count Thanksgiving as a loss for Detroit already, but the Packers have won 15 of their last 16 games against the Lions.<br />
<br />
And a Chicago victory could be disastrous in terms of the Lions' matchup with the Bears. If the Bears win tonight and defeat Detroit at Solider field next week, Chicago
would then be a game <i>ahead</i> of Detroit, putting the Lions in a huge hole to crawl out of. Sure, a Lions win in Chicago would push the Bears two games behind (one by record, another by tiebreaker), but the Lions haven't won in Chicago since 2007. It won't be easy.<br />
<br />
The advantage of a Packers victory would be much bigger for the Lions. The Bears are a bit of an enigmatic team. They seem to have lost their strong defensive identity but are improving on the offensive side of the ball. Injuries and inconsistencies have made them a terribly hard team to predict. They beat an impressive Bengals team, but they barely got by the lowly Vikings at home, and dropped a game in Washington. They've got about the same amount of talent as the Lions, but they have yet to play to their potential.<br />
<br />
A Bears loss would be huge for the Lions. With a loss, the Bears would fall to a full game behind Detroit heading into their week 10 matchup in Chicago. That would mean that even with a victory over the Lions, Chicago would only be tied with Detroit at 5-4 with the tiebreaker still pending. <br />
<br />
And, even better, if the Bears lose tonight, then lose to the Lions next week, that essentially buries Chicago for good. The Lions would then be 6-3, with the Bears at a lowly 4-5, plus the Lions would have the tiebreaker over Chicago. That puts the Lions three games ahead of the Bears with only seven weeks left. That's a high mountain for Chicago to climb, espeically considering the Lions' easy schedule.<br />
<br />
And in that scenario, the Lions are a mere one game behind the Packers (assuming Green Bay defeats the Eagles next week). If the Lions are truly going to compete for the division, they'll need to beat the Packers on Thanksgiving regardless of what happens tonight. In this scenario, that win would potentially bring them to a draw with Green Bay. If the Lions are good enough to do that, they are good enough to win the division without the Bears' help tonight.<br />
<br />
So let me boil this down into simpler terms:<br />
<br />
<b>If the Bears win:</b> The Lions get a better crack at the division, but still need to beat the Packers on Thanksgiving to give themselves a shot. Meanwhile, a subsequent loss to the Bears would give the Lions an uphill battle to catch even a wild card spot.<br />
<br />
<b>If the Packers win: </b>The Lions create a little space between themselves and the Bears. That lowers the stakes slightly for the game next week at Soldier Field. A win against Chicago basically puts the Bears in the rear view mirror for good, while a loss creates a virtual tie between the teams. And though a Packers victory pushes the Lions further away from a division crown, they would still have an opportunity to make up that ground on Thanksgiving (a game the Lions likely need to win either way to claim the division title).<br />
<br />
It's also worth noting that the NFC is going to be a tough conference to come out of. At the moment the Panthers, Eagles, Bears, Lions and Cardinals are all in close contention for that final wild card spot. That's another reason why I believe burying a team like the Bears as early as possible would benefit Detroit most.<br />
<br />
I understand fans wanting the Lions to contend for the division. They have never won the NFC North, and the last time they won <i>any</i> division was 1993. But my priority is to just get into the playoffs. Get into the tournament and anything can happen. A Bears win gives the Lions the best chance to get into the postseason. <br />
<br />
So...go Packers. Ugh. <br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*what is college football?</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-19777544228270396932013-10-31T09:00:00.003-07:002013-10-31T09:00:48.568-07:00Four Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions vs. Cowboys<b>First quarter:</b><br />
<br />
15:00 - These were my exact words when Ryan Broyles caught the Lions' first pass of the game: "Looks like they're going to Broyles early and often this week. I'm excited." This would be his only catch in the game. He also suffered a season-ending injury later.<b> </b>I am the worst.<br />
<br />
14:28 - Matthew Stafford airmailed this pass to Brandon Pettigrew on what should have been an extremely easy first down pick up. Instead, the Lions went three-and-out to start the game, much to the dismay of the "Defer the coin toss" crowd.<br />
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14:15 - Of course Sam Martin begins the day with a punt that travels 64 yards <i>in the air.</i><br />
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11:30 - I've been wondering where Nick Fairley has been in the past few weeks. Apparently, he was making a reservation to meet with Mr. Tony Romo in the backfield. He absolutely crushed Romo on this play. I can't help but think if it had been Ndamukong Suh, we would've had at least four more replays, searching for something illegal about the hit.<br />
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8:20 - This was a valiant effort by Scott Linehan on a good third-and-long call. However, the play is just a little too slow developing, and it was a great play by the Cowboys defense.<br />
<br />
First the Lions faked a bubble screen to Reggie Bush. This does a great job at making the left side of the defense overcommit to that side. However, look at the back side of the defense.<br />
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No one is committing to the Bush fake and all the defenders are staying disciplined. Regardless, when Theo Riddick gets the ball, things still look very promising.<br />
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However, the defensive tackle gets a little lucky and finds himself in the exact right spot to make the play despite getting pushed around on the play. Riddick probably should have ran his route a little more vertical, but overall, I wouldn't be surprised to see that exact play work better in the future.<br />
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7:41 - The Detroit linebackers are getting pushed around in the running game. Both DeAndre Levy and Stephen Tulloch have trouble shedding blocks.<br />
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6:20 - Experiment: Drop Ziggy Ansah into coverage on third down. Results: Utter and compete failure.<br />
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4:46 - The Lions seemed to have picked up a tendency from the Cowboys on tape. At this point, the Cowboys have run the ball three of four times on second down. The Lions sent defensive backs on blitzes on all three of those plays and stopped Dallas for -6 yards.<br />
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2:44 - A lot of people are giving Calvin Johnson most of his credit for breaking tackles on this quick slant, but the play is actually won much earlier than that.<br />
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Calvin manhandles his defender off the snap and gets great separation with his physical play. You can see from the defender's posture that he has been pushed off-balance by Johnson. That cushion is all he needs to make everyone around him miss. <br />
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1:05 - Stop using Reggie Bush as a goal line rusher. Now. On the first run, he makes an unnecesary cut in the backfield, which rarely works in any red zone situation. The run stuff on second down isn't his fault (that would be on Jeremy Ross, who couldn't find his player to block, even though he was right in front of him). But Bush didn't do much to break any tackles on the goal line. You know who can do that? Joique Bell. Give the man the rock.<br />
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0:56 - Lesson #1 of defense: Don't take your eyes off Calvin Johnson.<br />
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#32 of Dallas: you fail.<br />
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0:42 - Oh my. Fairley is back. And he is out there straight up murdering people.<br />
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Willie young takes out two linemen, while Fairley loops around them all. And he makes Romo pay:<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>Second quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:26 - On his first interception of the day, Stafford does a great job escaping pressure (caused by Joseph Fauria's man). He puts the ball in a pretty good spot considering the circumstances, but Calvin drops it. Extremely unfortunate for a 2nd-and-3.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
13:29 - The unsung hero on this play is Bill Bentley, who almost literally flies over Romo on a delayed blitz. He comes up limping, which gives Detroit enough time to consider throwing the challenge flag, which they eventually do,<br />
<br />
13:22 - More pressure from the defensive line on third down forces an inaccurate throw. Finally.<br />
<br />
12:50 - You want to know why Dominic Raiola is one of the highest graded centers in the league, according to Pro Football Focus? Check this out:<br />
<br />
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<br />
He needs to get leverage on the defensive tackle's right side for this play to work, which is a challenging task with little help from his guard.<br />
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<br />
At this point, Rob Sims is done helping him, and Raiola is still far away from where he needs to be. But his strength, leverage and determination get him to the point where he needs to be, and Reggie picks up 18 on the play.<br />
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<br />
<br />
1:56 - Holy crap. Fauria got embarrassed on this play by the defensive end he was lined up again. He got too high on his block and immediately got pushed backwards and off balance. <br />
<br />
10:33 - This seemed like a wasted opportunity on third down. The Cowboys sent an all out blitz, leaving each receiver single-covered with one-high safety. Bell does an excellent job giving Stafford that extra second to find a receiver, and he tosses one up to Calvin. This isn't a <i>terrible</i> decision, since the safety was too far away to get there in time, but Brandon Pettigrew had beaten his man over the middle.<br />
<br />
7:34 - Superb recognition by Tulloch on the end-around. He also did a great job persuing him and not allowing him to get up the sideline. As a bonus, the Lions were actually also great in coverage, in case the Cowboys were thinking about adding a pass as an extra wrinkle in that play.<br />
<br />
7:04 - Jason Witten just caught his second pass of the day: a 2 yard check down. This would be the last time he touches the ball all game.<br />
<br />
4:56 - Calvin with another great physical play against the corner. If there has been anything to knock on Calvin's game it's been his ability to play physical (see: pick six in Washington). He seems to be improving in that aspect. That's right, Calvin Johnson is <i>improving</i>. How scary is that?<br />
<br />
2:08 -This is great example of the kind of polarizing play that Scott Linehan dials up consistenty. In this instance it lost 7 yards, but looking at the replay, it's easy to see this play succeed in the future.<br />
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<br />
The play is a play-action, fake end around. Bush's initial rush towards the quarterback gets all of the linebackers shifting that way. At that point, Bush cuts it back upfield, to a hopefully empty side of the field.<br />
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As Stafford releases the ball, almost every Dallas defender is below the right hash mark. This play has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the one man Detroit has to account for gets by Pettigrew before he's able to take him down. This blows up the play completely and makes it look embarrassing. But I'd like to see them try it again at some point. <br />
<br />
1:58 - Linehan followed up that disaster with a brilliant play. Bush runs an inside route, that looks very much like the middle screen that the Lions commonly run. A quick pump fake by Stafford gets the linebacker matched up against Pettigrew to jump the Bush route, and leaves Pettigrew open for a big 17 yard gain.<br />
<br />
1:51 - And then Stafford completely overlooks the Cowboys' best linebacker. Yeesh. That was a very hot-and-cold drive for the Lions.<br />
<h3>
Time Management Gripe of the Week</h3>
<h3>
</h3>
This is not debatable. The Lions coaching staff made a huge blunder in time management at the end of the half. Here's the situation:<br />
<br />
The Cowboys are first-and-goal with 1:38 left in the half. The Lions have three timeouts. Assuming the Lions do not commit a penalty giving the Cowboys another first down, they can guarantee themselves the ball back with at least 1:20 left (assuming each play takes about 6 seconds long).<br />
<br />
The Cowboys run it on first down. The Lions do not call a timeout. The Cowboys run their next play with 0:55 seconds left. That's already 25 seconds less than the Lions should have left on the clock after the Cowboys' <i>entire drive</i>. The Cowboys throw the ball on the next two downs, leaving 46 seconds on the clock for the Lions and three timeouts. <br />
<br />
However, if they had used their timeout on first down, they would have had 1:24 seconds left AND two timeouts. That's almost a full 40 second difference. And if you don't think 40 seconds is signficant, you probably missed the end of the game.<br />
<br />
0:38 - Credit goes to the coaching staff for at least trying to get points at the end of the half, but the offense wouldn't have been so desperate had the coaches made the right decisions when the defense was on the field.<br />
<br />
<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
12:49 - The Cowboys opened up the second half with five straight passes, but with little success thanks to great coverage from Rashean Mathis and Chris Houston.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
9:58 - For someone as valuable to the team as Reggie Bush, he sure does a lot of things that annoy me. My contempt for his poor hole-reading abilities is well documented, but you can go ahead and put the way he carries the ball at the top of my list. <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelDavSmith/status/394540178498269184" target="_blank">This</a> is unacceptable. I have no idea how that was his first fumble lost all season.<br />
<br />
8:05 - This time it's Levy with the great read on the end around. It's hard not to love these linebackers.<br />
<br />
7:05 - Again, Bush is the decoy on this play, and it pays big dividends.<br />
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<br />
Look as almost all of Dallas' defenders are squared up to Bush, leaving a huge chunk of field empty. Bell takes the screen for 22 yards.<br />
<br />
5:42 - "Stafford with a little bit of elusiveness," I said for the very first time.<br />
<br />
4:16 - Fumbles are stupid. I say we start a smear campaign against fumbles saying they cause concussions and get them banned from football.<br />
<br />
3:18 - Fairley with his <i>third</i> big hit of the day on Romo. Welcome back, big fella.<br />
<br />
3:02 - Just so we're clear, the score right now is 13-7. Dallas' three scoring drive totaled just 49 yards. Detroit, at this point, has drives of 26, 53, 35 and 56 yards, all resulting in 0 points. <a href="http://youtu.be/ea68K-QDeRI?t=2m48s" target="_blank">Life's not fair</a> (don't click that).<br />
<br />
0:07 - I have never seen Stafford so patient in the pocket. I don't know whether he's oblivious to the pressure or unafraid of it. Either way, it looks good on the stat sheet.<br />
<br />
<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:54 - Calvin being Calvin.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
14:41- STOP USING BUSH IN GOAL-TO-GO SITUATIONS. I'm going to bring a rolled up newspaper to the next Lions game I go to. And if Linehan does this again, I'm going to run onto the field and smack him with it. BAD DOG.<br />
<br />
13:17 - Unlike what the announcers were saying, I think it was Stafford who made the mistake on third-and-goal.<br />
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<br />
Calvin was running a route that looked like he was just clearing out room for Ross' out-route. Stafford, for some reason, threw a fade. If he throws an "out", it's probably a touchdown.<br />
<br />
11:43 - Darius slay. :( :(<br />
<br />
10:13 - That was a terrible pass interference call on Dallas. In Detroit's defense, it was a 2nd-and-1, so the Lions were likely to keep the drive going anyway. But, still. Terrible call.<br />
<br />
8:15 - A lot of people complained about Fauria not getting the ball at all this game. If I'm going to complain about anything, it's the fact that Bell didn't get enough touches. He had five touches all game and turned those into 54 yards and a touchdown. Give the man some love, Linehan.<br />
<br />
7:28 - Here is the verbatim call of Dwayne Harris' 56 yard kickoff return by Dick Stockton:<br />
<br />
"And running it out...Harris.....HARRIS.....<span style="font-size: large;">HARRIS</span>..." This is just a reminder that he gets paid to do that, and I am doing all of this for free. #HardOutHereForABlogger<br />
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6:45 - If we're playing the blame game on Dez's second touchdown of the game, Louis Delmas is your winner (loser?). Both he and Mathis make extremely aggressive plays on the ball, but at least Mathis comes close to disrupting the play.<br />
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Delmas, on the other hand, appears to want to make a play on the ball, but when he realizes he won't make it there in time, he tries to lay a hit on Bryant, but doesn't hit him squarely.<br />
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6:36 - Okay, let me get this out of the way. I'm glad that Calvin caught this ridiculous bomb in double coverage, and it was a great throw from Stafford. But this was a terrible decision. On the very first play of a drive in which you absolutely need points, throwing a jump ball into double coverage is not good game-planning. Against mortal wide receivers, that ball could have easily been picked off. Granted, you have Calvin for reasons just like this, but Stafford has thrown interceptions like this all the time.<br />
<br />
Side note: Stafford did an excellent job escaping the pocket and finding room to step up into. This has been the biggest thing he has improved on since last year.<br />
<br />
4:00 - Speaking of Stafford's pocket presence, this was another perfect example of him stepping into space, then realizing he had room to pick up the first down. Dude needs to work on his slide though.<br />
<br />
3:33 - Reggie Bush goal line rushes are only allowed in no-huddle situations. You are exempt for this one, Linehan.<br />
<br />
3:20 - Holy crap, Levy. DeAndre recognizes this play extremely quickly. If he hesitates at all, the window into the backfield will close before he can get there, but Levy sees the play coming and destroys Randle in the backfield.<br />
<br />
2:38 - Hey, a good use of your timeouts! Nice job, Jim!<br />
<br />
2:24 - Outstanding defensive drive from the Lions. They lost no field position, the Cowboys only ran a minute off the clock, and the Lions only had to use one timeout. I was pretty damn confident at this point that the Lions would win.<br />
<br />
2:20 - ...then that sack happened. It was a delayed stunt from the defensive tackle that neither Raiola nor Rob Sims identified in time. Stafford held on to the ball a little too long, as well.<br />
<br />
1:30 - People want to hate on Pettigrew for dropping this pass, but that's unfair. I get it: he's an easy target with a knack for dropping big passes in the past. But this ball is clearly tipped right before getting to him. You'd like for him to catch it anyway, but it's an insanely difficult one to make.<br />
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1:24 - This was a rough time for Stafford's poor pocket presence to show up again. He escapes the pocket to his right, despite there being some time left to look at his reads. When he scrambles to his right, he cuts down his receiver options to one, and he isn't open.<br />
<br />
1:24 - 1:14 - Total times announcers either credited this as a Lions loss or a Cowboys win: 7.<br />
Total times they hinted at the game not being over yet: 2.<br />
<br />
Here's why this is ridiculous and highly unprofessional to declare the game over at this point. Even without the holding penalty, the Lions had enough time to get the ball back. Perhaps instead of talking about updated standings, they could have been talking about the potential dilemma facing the Cowboys on fourth down. Had the Lions stuffed them on all three downs, there would have been about 25-30 seconds left. The Cowboys would have to either attempt a 50+ yard field goal, potentially pushing the lead to six (but a miss would mean the Lions would have the ball at the 40+ yard line down only three) or the Cowboys could (and probably would) have punted the ball, trying to pin the Lions deep. The issue with the latter is the Lions would still only be down three with 20+ seconds. If you've watched enough football, you'd know that going 40 or 50 yards in 20 seconds without any timeouts is difficult, but not unheard of.<br />
<br />
Instead, the announcers saw that the Lions failed to convert a fourth down within two minutes left in regulation and figured the game was over. It wasn't hard math to figure out the Lions were likely getting the ball back, and it wasn't a leap in logic to consider that the Lions still had a <i>chance</i>. But perhaps more importantly, you're working for the network playing the football game. You're supposed to be keeping the game exciting. If you declare the game over, people are going to change the channel and start watching the late games. Hype the game we're watching. That's your job. [/rant]<br />
<br />
0:40 - Let me use math to describe how awesome Stafford's sideline pass to Durham was. Stafford released the ball from the Lions' 28 yard line and hit Durham perfectly in stride at the Dallas' 30 yard line. That's a perfect 42 yard pass. But, in reality, it was even longer than that. GEOMETRY POWERS, ACTIVATE!<br />
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<br />
For the hardcore mathematicians out here, please forgive the simplicity of this. I am not figuring arc into this at all. Pretend we're living in a 2 dimension world for now. Alright, so we need to find the length of "C", the direct path of Stafford's pass. Length "A" is easy to figure out, in fact, I already figured it out above. It's 42 yards. "B" is a little trickier. Stafford throws the ball from the right hashmark. According to <a href="http://sportsknowhow.com/">SportsKnowHow.com</a>, the length from the right hash mark to the left sideline is 89 feet and 3 inches or 29.75 yards. The ball lands about 2 yards from the sideline, so lets call "B" approximately 27.75 yards. <a href="http://www.algebra.com/calculators/geometry/pythagorean.mpl" target="_blank">Thanks to Mr. Pythagorea</a><a href="http://www.algebra.com/calculators/geometry/pythagorean.mpl" target="_blank">n</a>, we know that A-squared + B-squared = C-squared.<br />
<br />
So, plugging in the numbers,"C" equals.................50.34 yards! Stafford threw the ball over 50 yards in the air, hitting his target directly in stride. Oh, and the play took just seven seconds off the clock. Impressive.<br />
<br />
0:12 - People want to talk about Stafford's fake-snap "leap of faith" as his defining moment or his next step into elitism. I disagree. Stafford has already had a handful of defining moments: his 98-yard drive in Oakland, his 24 point comeback in Dallas, his heroics against Cleveland as a rookie in a meaningless game. If you think his ballsy decision on Sunday was his first step into elitism, you're late to the party. <br />
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That being said, sit back and enjoy that final drive over and over again. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-47989010839331118872013-10-27T20:21:00.001-07:002013-10-27T20:21:06.675-07:00Never a Doubt<div style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Posted because I'll never get sick of it. We've been there, man.</span></div>
<br />
Looking over at the <a href="http://live.advancednflstats.com/index.php?gameid1=2013102700" target="_blank">win probability for the Detroit Lions against the Dallas Cowboys</a> on Sunday, it looks like the Lions didn't have much of a chance for most of second half. After Dallas' two long, fourth quarter touchdowns, the Cowboys' win probability grew to 90% and higher. After the Lions failed to convert their fourth down attempt with less than two minutes to go, that percentage peaked at 99%.</div>
<br />
But I never had a doubt that the Lions would lose on Sunday. Seriously.<br />
<br />
The Lions were absolutely dominant against the Cowboys. They tallied over 600 yards, while the Cowboys couldn't manage 300. The Lions gained 3.3 yards MORE <i>PER PLAY</i> than the Cowboys did. To put that in perspective, the 49ers defeated the Jaguars 42-10 on Sunday. The 49ers only had 80 more yards than Jacksonville, and only gained 2.8 yards more per play. Dallas punted eight times, the Lions twice. By any statistical measure, the Lions were destroying the competition.<br />
<br />
...except for turnover margin, of course. The Lions turned the ball over four times. All four turnovers occurred in Cowboy's territory. One happened on first down. Two occurred as the Lions were likely picking up a first down. The Lions would have almost certainly scored on each of these drives. At the very least, that's 12 points taken off the board.<br />
<br />
While everyone was panicking and calling for coaches' heads, I remained <i>fairly</i> calm and collective<i>. </i>A team that has committed a turnover in a game is no more likely to commit another one. Research is well-documented that turnovers are <a href="http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/How-turnover-differentials-can-predict-the-future.html" target="_blank">basically random</a>. Sure, only one of the past 56 teams had won games with a -4 turnover margin, but how many of those losers outgained their opponent by over 350 yards? I'm willing to bet exactly zero. Turnovers are important because they affect the game so much, but they don't tell much about the future. But if a team has been moving the ball all day with almost no impotence, it stands to reason they'll continue to do so all game.<br />
<br />
So when the Lions were faced with a 10 point deficit in a game they had already committed four turnovers in, I had no reason to be worried. The offense had moved the ball all game, and the defense had held Tony Romo to less than 100 passing yards through three quarters.<br />
<br />
This was why I wasn't afraid when the Lions had only scored seven point through three quarters. When the Lions' turnover rate regressed to the mean, they would start scoring points. I knew they would.<br />
<br />
Maybe you guys don't believe me. Well, thanks to the internet, I have proof.<br />
<br />
At halftime:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the reason I think Lions still win, but infinitely frustrated right now. MT <a href="https://twitter.com/paulapasche">@paulapasche</a>: Total yds Detroit 254, Dallas 96 yds<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/394533711015714816">October 27, 2013</a></blockquote>
After the Lions' fourth turnover of the game:<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The most frustrating part of this is the Lions are clearly the better team. And it's not even close.<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/394543073830514688">October 27, 2013</a></blockquote>
Later:<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Lions are gaining 4.6 more yards PER PLAY than the Cowboys. Anyone else want to argue that they aren't the better team?<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/394545759124602880">October 27, 2013</a></blockquote>
After the Lions turned it over on downs, and the announcers were already giving the Cowboys their fifth win (Mind you, this was <i>before</i> the holding penalty was even called):<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is terrible announcing. Game isn't over yet.<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/394558222024966144">October 27, 2013</a></blockquote>
But the point of this isn't to show how smart I am (but, seriously guys, I'm pretty smart). The point is that the Lions are a good team. Like, a really good team. They're a team that can make four terrible (but fluky) mistakes on offense and have two horrible breakdowns on defense, and still come out with a win over a division leader. They've got so much talent that they can overcome 99% loss probabilities. They can spit in the face of the past 55 teams who couldn't win after losing the turnover margin by four, and scream, "We are not you! We are not a normal team! WE'RE <i>SPECIAL!</i> WE'RE <i>GOOD!</i>"<br />
<br />
Did they need a little luck? Absolutely. But that's the game of football for you.<br />
<br />
The pessimists will look to the mistakes and forebode terrible things. Don't listen to them. They're the people that left the stadium with eight minutes left. They are the people who had to be told that the Lions won today, because they shut their televisions off when Dick Stockton told them to. Those people are <i>wrong.</i><br />
<br />
The Lions are good. The offense is lighting the league on fire right now. The defense has problems, but they just shut down a top-five passing offense without even forcing a turnover. The Lions are going to win more games this year. Maybe a <i>lot</i> more. And I'm damn excited.<br />
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-24313954610357977422013-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:002013-10-27T14:10:53.404-07:00Lions Victory GIF Dump: HEART ATTACK EDITIONFJIOJQFIOFJSDALKNVASFJSA (via <a href="http://www.diehardsport.com/2013/10/27/dez-bryant-remarkable-one-handed-td-catch-lions/" target="_blank">DieHardSports</a>)<br />
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Then, THAFJSDAPIXFPUIEWPRFANSFK (via<a href="http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/229/files/2013/10/argue1.gif" target="_blank"> Fansided</a>)<br />
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Which resulted in EDJFIEYJAFLDNAZDJLAS (via <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldofIsaac" target="_blank">@WorldOfIsaac</a>)<br />
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Then, of course, Jim DAKJVAPOIREPWAIJF DFJAF KASDF;J (via @WorldOfIsaac, again)<br />
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I've never needed a bye week so bad in my life. Go Lions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-64215130997274321412013-10-23T09:33:00.002-07:002013-10-23T09:43:10.862-07:00Three Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions vs. Bengals<b>First quarter:</b><br />
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12:17 - Not a very good play design nor pass from Matthew Stafford on Detroit's first failed third down of the day. The play is 100% designed for Brandon Pettigrew, who runs a quick out while the two receivers on that side of the field block to create space. Unfortunately, Pettigrew isn't athletic enough to beat his man, Vontaze Burfict, to the outside. Stafford's pass also turned Brandon around, making the play insanely easy for Burfict, but I'm not sure this play ever had a chance.<br />
<br />
12:04 - What a huge kick from Sam Martin to pin the Bengals deep in their own territory. He must be feeling it today!!!<br />
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11:12 - I, for one, have been giving the Lions a pass on all of the defensive offside penalties this year. But it is absolutely unacceptable on third-and-short.<br />
<br />
10:59 - I'm having a tough time figuring out what exactly went wrong on the long touchdown play. The obvious answer is Chris Houston bit on a double-move. But, certainly, he should have been given some sort of help. Glover Quin almost immediately jumps into the box, so it looks to me like the Lions are playing with one high safety.<br />
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<br />
However, Delmas jumps the crossing route over the middle of the field, and would have had a tough time coming from the opposite side of the field to help Houston with A.J. Green.<br />
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It's possible that the Lions were in cover two, but if that were the case, Quin left his responsibilites WAAAAYYY too early, which is uncharacteristic of him.<br />
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8:45 - Reggie Bush with an impressive one-handed catch in stride. He's also was able to keep his momentum going forwards without losing any speed, which is key to picking up this first down.<br />
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8:01 - And Joiuqe Bell one-ups him with an even more impressive one-handed snag.<br />
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6:29 - I love how Bell runs on third-and-short. He's now converted his last five third-and-short opportunities. That's his money down.<br />
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3:47 - Strange miscommunication here. Pettigrew is open, but Stafford doesn't throw it immediately. So Pettigrew turns it upfield, and just as his eyes leave Stafford's, Matthew throws the ball to where Pettigrew <i>was </i>headed, almost resulting in a pick-six. Bummer since Calvin was wide open.<br />
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3:36 - Another website <a href="http://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2013/10/21/why-matt-stafford-is-a-polarizing-quarterback/" target="_blank">did a great breakdown</a> just how amazing this play was from Stafford. He was absolutely draped by the defensive end who beat Riley Reiff easily, yet somehow managed to get a clean release on the throw. Amazing first down pickup from Stafford. <br />
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3:06 - Fade to Calvin, in which Megatron mistimed his jump. Fade to Fauria, who cut inside for some reason. These plays are going to work this season, but gotta get the kinks out first. Doesn't matter anyway, because Pettigrew(?) saved the day.<br />
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2:28 - MAAAAAAAAN. That is sooooooooo close to just a good jump on the play.<br />
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I fear that refs just throw the flag for anything that looks like offside, but this is too close to call upon replay. It's really a bummer, because I think Ziggy and Fairley just got a great jump on the play and were definitely not drawn offside. <br />
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2:22 - Lions brought pressure on both 3rd-and-10 and 3rd-and-5. That forced Andy Dalton to get rid of the ball quickly and the receivers hadn't broken open yet. This is good strategy. Now do it more, please.<br />
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2:07 - Kris Durham doing a good job making his first defender miss and picking up the first down. <br />
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0:45 - Another "Wow" moment from Stafford. Two defenders are directly in the path of his target with their hands up, Stafford somehow throws it past them. THEN, his pass is quick enough to get by the breaking linebacker, and reach its target. I don't think there's more than five people in the world who could have made that throw<br />
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0:00 - Time for another edition of "Hole-hitting with Jeremy!" This time, I'm going to let the viewers play at home! Ready? Here we go:<br />
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Which hole should Bush run into on this play, 1 or 2?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEdBL8Cx3h8/UmdlUxPnzRI/AAAAAAAABA4/6t3Rj5C5H_w/s1600/hole+hitting+w:jeremy+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eEdBL8Cx3h8/UmdlUxPnzRI/AAAAAAAABA4/6t3Rj5C5H_w/s400/hole+hitting+w:jeremy+1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8Fv0AJA4" target="_blank">I'll let you think about it for a second.</a><br />
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Ok, time's up! Let's see what you wrote down.<br />
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If you picked hole 2, you're a winner! You see, Larry Warford will be heading to the second level to take care of the unblocked linebacker roaming about. If you head to hole 1, that linebacker remains unblocked and will make you eat turf. I hope you made the right decision. Let's check in with Reggie and see what he chose:<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Is5XrsRH4c" target="_blank">OOOOOO</a>. Looks like he went off the board and chose "Run into Raiola's back." Sorry, Reggie, that was also incorrect. But don't worry, you won't be going home empty-handed. Here's a copy of the home-version of "Hole-hitting with Jeremy!" Thanks for playing.<br />
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<b>Second quarter:</b><br />
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14:19 - At first, I was not very happy with this hit on Calvin Johnson. I needed to protect my baby. But after watching it again, it was not against the rules. From the rulebook:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
(b) Prohibited contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture is:<br />
<ul>
<li>(1) Forcibly hitting the defenseless player’s head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder, regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him; and </li>
<li>(2) Lowering the head and making forcible contact with the top/crown or forehead/”hairline” parts of the helmet against any part of the defenseless player’s body. </li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Calvin is definitely in a defenseless posture, and the defender definitely lowers his head, but the majority of the contact comes from his shoulder, and none of his body comes into contact with Calvin's head. Take a look:<br />
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This is a brutal hit, and it's definitely as unsafe as an illegal hit, but it does not appear to be against the rules.<br />
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12:38 - Durham with a good route to get inside position on the corner. Unfortunately, Stafford throws it to his back shoulder. With an accurate throw, it's 14-7 Lions.<br />
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11:53 - Stafford's throw to Fauria was a bit dangerous, but it was really his only chance at a completion. Everyone else seemed to be running routes directly towards a defender.<br />
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11:01 - The Lions were trying to get a little cute on defense by faking Ashlee Palmer on a blitz. Instead, he dropped into coverage....on A.J. Green. I think this is an instance of being a little too cute.<br />
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9:00 - The Lions got cute again on third down. They lined the defensive ends on the interior of the line, then had them loop aroudn the edges to get pressure. It works in freeing up both rushers, but it takes way too long for both to get to Dalton. Meanwhile, the linebackers dropped into coverage BEYOND the first down marker and gave up an easy conversion.<br />
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7:29 - Ndamukong Suh with a great bullrush from the defensive end position to force Dalton out of the pocket on third down and force the field goal attempt. A rare moment of pressure from the defensive line.<br />
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7:17 - What an insanely frustrating overthrow by Stafford on a perfect play.<br />
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Stafford looks down Durham's route on the right and draws the safety over to that side of the field, leaving Johnson in one-on-one coverage. He beats his guy and the safety struggles to get back in the play. A pass anywhere where Calvin can get his hands on it either results in a catch or pass interference. Johnson had beat his guys so clearly that an underthrow would have been just as good, as neither defender was in any position to look back on the ball. If Calvin stops to get the ball, the defenders run through him and draw the easy pass interference call. Instead, Stafford airmails it and misses a big opportunity.<br />
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6:16 - More magic from Stafford on third down as this middle screen is read the entire way. But Matthew slips the ball into a tight window (and Dominic Raiola gets away with a crucial block-in-the-back) and the Lions convert again.<br />
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5:00 - Stafford, why must you make it so hard for me to love you? This time, the safety is cheating to Calvin's side, leaving him basically doubled. Durham just plain beats his guy and Stafford overthrows him again, causing us both to do this:<br />
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4:48 - Just a perfectly timed screen pass dialed up by Scott Linehan. If Joique was a little more patient on the play, he may have scored, but I think his mindset was on just getting the first down.<br />
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2:45 - Stafford with another overthrow, although this was a pretty challenging throw to make. He had to clear the linebacker while laying it in there in the receiver's breadbasket. This has never been Stafford's strength. Still, insanely frustrating.<br />
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2:18 - Blocked field goals shorter than 40 yards are 100% unacceptable. That is all.<br />
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This drive alone is enough to drive any Lions fan mad (well, mad<i>der</i>). Stafford made some brilliant plays, Linehan dialed up some well-timed calls. But all that sticks out are the missed opportunities, the sniffed out screen, and the blown field goal. The Lions should have had a lead (maybe even a two-score lead) going into the half, but instead blew a huge opportunity.<br />
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0:46 - Not sure what to say on this defensive drive. Occasionally, the Lions were a little soft on their coverage (Houston), but overall, Dalton just made some great throws, especially on that touchdown pass to Marvin Jones. <br />
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0:00 - Two things about the Lions running the clock out. 1) I don't think they should have. 2) If they were just going to run out the clock, there was no reason to run the second play. A draw was not going to pick up enough yards to change their mind, especially when everyone knows it is coming. The only significant thing that could have happened on that second running play was a fumble or an injury.<br />
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<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
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14:00 - Willie Young sooooo close to getting a hand on that play. <br />
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11:51 - Bill Bentley finds himself in no-man's land when the ball directly comes to where he <i>should </i>have been on this third and long. Costly mistake.<br />
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10:49 - The Bengals line up with a tight end on both sides of the formation. The Lions decide to send a blitz on the right side of the offense. The tight end and the fullback easily pick this up. Meanwhile, on the <i>other</i> side of the play, Ziggy Ansah actually drops into coverage. The only player on his side of the field was Tyler Eifert, who runs way downfield, leaving Ziggy to cover nobody. It was a very unfortunate play call that didn't work at all. Rashean Mathis does a valiant job trying to cover Eifert, but it's a big mismatch and a perfectly thrown ball. If the defensive playcall was flipped, it would have worked perfectly, but the Lions just got a little unlucky there.<br />
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10:37 - I didn't like the chop block call here. I don't think Warford was engaged with the linebacker when Bush took out his knees. What is really frustrating is the lineman that threw the flag was much further away from the play than the back judge who did not throw a flag on the play.<br />
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10:00 - This is why I can't get mad at Stafford for his earlier misses. He throws a bullet to Kevin Ogletree that hits him in stride. He can thank Calvin Johnson for drawing the safety over and leaving him wide open.<br />
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8:23 - Amazing back-shoulder throw by Stafford and brilliant concentration from Johnson, who was absolutely blanketed, to haul in the TD pass. But my favorite part of the play was Fauria escorting Johnson to the goal posts for a dunk.<br />
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6:32 - Darius Slay wasn't bad out there, but I have to admit, it was hard watching him out there giving up third down conversions when a perfectly healthy Chris Houston was on the sideline.<br />
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5:00 - Dalton with another perfectly laid pass, but Tully made it easy for him.<br />
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4:23 - This may have been the best defensive play all day for the Lions. Delmas shoots up and makes a HUGE open-field tackle. Without this aggressive play by Delmas, the Benglas not only pick up a first down, but it's first-and-goal, at least, for Cincinnati.<br />
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2:17 - Though that was probably interference by Burfict on third down, I have to give him credit for coverage anyway. He didn't bite on Bush's fake to the outside, and was in position to make a play, with or without pass interference.<br />
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2:12 - Martin with another punt downed inside the 20-yard line. Man, he's having a great game! What a draft pick!<br />
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1:24 - Eifert just blew up Devin Taylor on a chip block, then picked up a 2-yard reception to boot. He also had quite the shit-eating grin afterwards.<br />
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0:43 - Great challenge by Schwartz here, but I'm guessing Delmas will be getting fined for this play. He got a piece of a quarterback's helmet, which is punishable by death in today's NFL.<br />
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<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
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12:14 - Protection is starting to break down as the Bengals send a well-disguised blitz on 2nd and 8. The blitz gets by Larry Warford (and Waddle get's beat on the left side as well). Kudos to Stafford, who was clearly acting to avoid a grounding penalty when he was trying to tell Johnson that he was supposed to break outside on his route. Not convincing enough, unfortunately.<br />
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<b> </b><br />
11:59 - What else can I say? This was awesome on every level. It had the scrambling desperation of Stafford's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugA8G4rv_8g" target="_blank">Hail Mary against Cleveland</a> plus the unbelievability of Calvin's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8tCdCWB1LM" target="_blank">triple coverage catch in Dallas</a>. This was the best play ever. Also, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P80v-UN-7Q" target="_blank">check out this video someone made of the play</a>. <b></b><br />
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11:04 - Green in single coverage on a deep pass, AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. But Houston makes a good play on the ball, and gets an invisible offensive pass interference penalty, to boot.<br />
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10:24 - OH GOD ANOTHER DEEP PASS TO GREEN. But Glover Quin makes a beautiful play on the ball and almost gets an insignificant interception (insignificant, because it would have given the Lions near-identical field position).<br />
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8:15 - Lions got semi-jobbed here. Calvin gets flagged for running his route, which just so happened to go through a defender, who he clearly tries to go around. The Bengals get called for something else, too, but the Lions would have declined it, since Bell got all the way down to Cincy's 35 yard line. The penalties may have offset, but it ended up costing the Lions nearly 20 yards. This was huge in retrospect.<br />
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7:08 - Protection is really starting to break down at this point, but Stafford is doing a good job escaping it. Unfortunately, he almost threw this right into a Bengal's hands. <br />
<b><br /></b>
6:19 - Miserable execution on this third down play. The play is a screen to Bell, and it's actually set up fairly well.<br />
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But the entire play is thrown off by one pesky Bengals lineman, who disrupts Bell's route (legally, because it's within 5 yards).<br />
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Bell is thrown completely off balance and doesn't hit his mark when he needs to. Because timing is key on this play, the wide receivers are all illegally blocking down field as Stafford is forced to hold onto the ball longer. Bell abandons his route, but it's too late, the play has failed. Key third down blunder.<br />
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4:58 - I know it's no fun giving the Bengals credit, but their offense is quite underrated. They have a bunch of threats, one being Jermaine Gresham, who is a mismatch against any linebackers. Even though Levy and Tulloch had been good in pass coverage this season, they were burned by Gresham for big plays on Sunday. These 22 yards ended up being huge in terms of field position.<br />
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3:10 - Think the Lions were expecting run on this play?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4wrECzGb-Q/UmdqDWjZN5I/AAAAAAAABB4/b03l5tEkUb0/s1600/lions+10+man+box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H4wrECzGb-Q/UmdqDWjZN5I/AAAAAAAABB4/b03l5tEkUb0/s400/lions+10+man+box.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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That's 10 guys within 2 yards of the line of scrimmage.<b> </b>It ended up working, as the Bengals lost 4 yards on the play.<br />
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2:00 - Obviously that was a huge stop by the defense and a great play from Suh. But the damage was done. The Bengals gained 40 yards of field position on the drive, and the tight ends tallied at total of 46 receiving yards. Tough day for Lions linebackers. <br />
<br />
0:34 - My thoughts on how the Lions managed their last drive of the game can be read at the bottom of <a href="http://detroitonlion.com/achievement-unlocked-losing-like-a-good-team/" target="_blank">my recap from Monday</a>. But to quickly summarize, I thought Schwartz did mostly the right thing. An argument could be made that he should have run out the clock once they got a first down, but I had no problem with them going for the win at that point. I don't blame him for failing to account for the possibility of a 28 yard punt.<br />
<br />
0:34 - Speaking of which, Martin, we are not on speaking terms.*<br />
<br />
<b>Overall thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
- I think we need to credit the Bengals offense a bit. They are an increasingly talented team with a lot of weapons. Dalton may not be amazing, but he made some big throws on Sunday. The Lions need to do a better job of getting pressure on the quarterback, but this problem wasn't as bad as I thought it was on gameday. The Lions tried a wide variety of things, and occasionally were just milliseconds late. However, I remain fairly unimpressed with Ansah's pure pass-rushing abilities right now.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>- </b>Outside of the drive that ended in the field goal block, I thought Stafford played a phenomenal game.<br />
<br />
- Of course the week I go on <a href="http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2013/10/18/4852242/detroit-lions-cincinnati-bengals-on-paper-preview#191703333" target="_blank">a rant about how special teams doesn't really matter anymore</a> it just so happens that two crucial special teams plays sunk the Lions on Sunday. <br />
<br />
<i>*We have never been on speaking terms, as he is a punter. I will never like punters. They represent forfeit and failure.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-77488759410804128212013-10-21T10:36:00.002-07:002013-10-21T10:36:29.092-07:00Achievement Unlocked: Losing Like a Good TeamYesterday was frustrating. The Lions lost a close game against a good opponent at home. It was a game they certainly could have won, but didn't. This isn't exactly new for this team, but the frustration felt different. I wasn't frustrated that the Lions made several mistakes that cost them the game, even though they most certainly did. I wasn't frustrated that the coaching staff made some questionable choices, even though I think they may have. I wasn't even frustrated with Sam Martin's poorly-timed shank. (<a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/392021736415174656" target="_blank">Okay, I'm lying on that last one.</a>) But, still, my overall frustration wasn't with the Lions at all. They played well enough to overcome all of those small mistakes. My frustration was with the game of football and the NFL. A game in which there is almost always a winner and a loser, and the difference between the two often has nothing to do with talent.<br />
<br />
The Bengals and the Lions went toe-to-toe with each other all game. Each team made huge plays in huge situations. Both teams' offenses were on fire, putting up almost identical numbers (Lions: 434 yards, Bengals: 421) while neither team turned the ball over all game. It was a clean game, with very little interruption/mistakes from the refs (with one <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20131020/SPORTS01/310200166/detroit-lions-jim-schwartz" target="_blank">outrageous, but not exactly game-changing exception</a>). But the Bengals came out on top, and the Lions only got an "L" for their efforts, and fell out of first place.<br />
<br />
This represents a new achievement as a Lions: losing a fairly well-played game because football is a game that's played on a razor-thin edge of wins and losses and they just so happened to fall on the losing side this week. The Lions are no strangers to losing close games, but in the past it has felt like there was a laundry-list of mistakes and comical errors that cost them the game. They were losing games because of mistakes that are typical of bad teams: drops, turnovers, penalties, etc.<br />
<br />
While there were some missed opportunities on Sunday, they weren't of the normal variety. They only committed four penalties all game. No terrible drops or fumbles come to mind. They didn't turn the ball over once (and have no only turned the ball over once in three weeks now). Sure, there was an overthrow by Stafford here and there, and the defense gave up another few big plays. Those are things that happen to every team, good and bad.<br />
<br />
What really cost the Lions the game was the cruelty of NFL luck. Perhaps the biggest play of the game was the blocked field goal; a play in which injury forced a change-up in the formation. Though Schwartz <a href="http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/10/detroit_lions_corey_hilliard_f.html" target="_blank">denies that the change in personnel had any effect on the block</a>, I remain unconvinced. And then there was the shanked punt. Nothing could have been more random, yet devastating. The rookie had been kicking the hell out of the ball for the past few weeks, and chose the most devastating time to make his biggest blunder of the season. An average kick from him in that situation almost certainly results in overtime.<br />
<br />
But that's the way it goes in the NFL. Good teams lose all the time. Look at how the Patriots lost yesterday. <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/10/20/chris-jones-said-was-unaware-rule-violated-patriots-loss-jets/UI5DSxf8arkhkQscMeWG2N/story.html" target="_blank">A new rule</a> -- that I'm sure no fan had even heard of -- gave the Jets a second chance at an overtime field goal for the win. Without the penalty, New England would have had great field position and almost certainly would have won that game.<br />
<br />
So many tiny errors can have seismic affects on the outcome of a football game, that every team is bound to fall victim to one during a season. That's why it's so unbelievable that a team can go undefeated (<span style="font-size: xx-small;">or winless</span>) in today's NFL. But it's why the Lions lost on Sunday.<br />
<br />
-------<br />
<br />
Since most people find it unsatisfying to put the blame of the loss on seemingly random misfortune, I'd like to address the most common scapegoats from Sunday's game:<br />
<br />
- <b>Matthew Stafford and his overthrows. </b>Did Stafford miss a few potentially big plays? Absolutely. Could they have swayed this loss into a win? Possibly. But it's hard to fault a guy who threw for 350+ yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions against a defense that Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers couldn't crack. It was the first time in 20 games that a quarterback had thrown for 300 yards against the Bengals defense, and Stafford did so with impressive efficiency (8/14 on third down conversions).<br />
<br />
- <b>Jim Schwartz's ineptitude at the end of the game. </b>The Lions were in a awfully tough spot at the end of the game. They were 1st-and-10 at their own 6 yard line with 1:43 left in the game. Each team had two timeouts. <a href="http://www.advancednflstats.com/2010/01/expected-points-ep-and-expected-points.html" target="_blank">According to Advanced NFL Stats</a>, the Lions expected points starting from their own 6 yard line is roughly -0.5 points. In other words, the Bengals were more likely to score next, despite not even having the ball. So, ideally, the best situation would be to run out the clock, and see a better scenario in overtime. Unfortunately, the Bengals had two timeouts, so running the ball three times would have resulted in Cincinnati getting the ball back with about a minute left with a short field ahead of them.<br />
<br />
Instead, Schwartz showed a little aggressiveness by throwing on second down. And it worked. The Lions got a first down. If there is an argument to be had, it would be that he should have been more conservative at that point and just ran the clock out from there. Instead, the Lions threw it three straight times. Still, I think even this was the right move. The Lions were looking for short, safe passes up the middle. This way, they could still bleed some clock, while giving their players opportunities to get some yards after the catch and potentially get them in field goal position. As it turns out, Calvin got his feet tangled with a defender on second down, Stafford failed to account for a blitzer on third down, and the Lions threw two incomplete passes.<br />
<br />
Still, with a decent punt, the Bengals would have likely had to go at least 30 yards in 20 seconds with only one timeout. Instead, Martin choked. It's not on Schwartz for failing to account for that anomaly. <br />
<br />
I do, however, have a problem with Schwartz's forfeit of a possession at the end of the first half (again). 41 seconds from your own 20 yard line with two timeouts is plenty of time to go out and try to get into field goal range. Stafford has been extremely safe with the ball lately, so there's no reason to play scared of a deep turnover. I know the Lions offense has been more of the long, elaborate drive variety lately, but this roster is good enough to execute a two (or one) minute offense at the end of halves. <br />
<br />
<b>- Scott Linehan's play calling. </b>434 yards of offense, 24 points, no turnovers, no sacks. All against a top 10 defense who hadn't given up over 400+ yards of offense all season. The offensive gameplan worked.<br />
<br />
<b>- The defense. </b>This is the best argument for a scapegoat you can have. Andy Dalton had no trouble all game moving the Bengals up and down the field. However, the defense forced the Bengals to punt on three of their last four possessions, and the last possession is hard to fault the defense on. They ceded 15 yards total. Still, if you <i>really </i>have the need to find a scapegoat, the defense is probably a good place to start.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-72440126111518417962013-10-17T18:29:00.005-07:002013-10-17T20:03:39.925-07:00Joseph Fauria Dance WishlistIt has recently come to my attention that Joseph Fauria is asking his fans and twitter followers for touchdown dance celebrations. If you didn't know already, Fauria has quickly become a national treasure for each of his five <a href="http://detroitonlion.com/lions-victory-gif-dump-browns-edition/" target="_blank">touchdown celebrations</a> this season. <br />
<br />
Like most non-terrible people, I am a big fan of all of this. In fact, last year <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/244228701133369344" target="_blank">I begged for Tony Scheffler to Gangnam Style dance</a> all over the endzone. Unfortunately, Scheffler only scored one touchdown all of last season, and my campaign for a little Detroit Lions K-Pop went unfulfilled. This year, I will not let my wishes go ungranted. So Mr. Joseph Fauria, king of the touchdown two-tap, here is my list of dances I'd love to see:<br />
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<h3>
1) Elaine's dance from "Seinfeld":</h3>
<h3>
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<b>Degree of difficulty: 1/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level : 9/10</b><br />
<br />
The Elaine dance offers the highest awesomeness-to-difficulty ratio of any dance ever. While the movements look awkward -- and lesser humans may not recognize it -- the "Seinfeld" die-hards will love you forever for its execution. All it takes is two thumbs, an awkward kick, and a head-whip. Easy, rewarding, and I know you'll get the attention of NFL Network's Rich Eisen, who is <a href="https://twitter.com/richeisen/status/381077248482095104" target="_blank">a huge Seinfeld fan</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
2) Any "Arrested Development" chicken dance:</h3>
This would be especially perfect if you could pull one of these off against the Eagles or Ravens later in the season, but any time is a good time to reference "Arrested Development." Let's break it down further (thanks to the <a href="http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/mixmaster/2013/05/the_bluths_chicken_dances_an_a_1.php" target="_blank">Dallas Observer Blog</a> for the GIFs):<br />
<br />
<b>Gob, The Original:</b><br />
<b>Degree of difficulty: 4/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level: 7/10 (+2 bonus points if you grab your ankle)</b><br />
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The Gob chicken dance is a classic, and frankly I'm shocked it hasn't been used as a celebration to date. I've personally <a href="http://i.imgur.com/ujnlT3p.jpg" target="_blank">pulled this dance off before</a>, and it's not quite as easy as it seems. It requires a certain stiffness, yet fluidity. I suggest you study the film by watching seasons 1-3 immediately.<br />
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<b>Lindsay:</b><br />
<b>Degree of difficulty: 2/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level: 4/10</b><br />
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Like Linday's character herself, I was never much of a fan of her rendition of the chicken dance. I wouldn't suggest picking this one. I feel like the hand over the helmet would look like some sort of weird, racist hand-signal. Still, it's a solid reference, and a bit of a deep pull.<br />
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<b>Lucille:</b><br />
<b>Degree of difficulty: 1/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level: 5/10</b><br />
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This requires little leg movement, which would be a positive if you've got a bum ankle. But this won't look like much unless you're mic'd up. One issue with all of the "Arrested Development" dances is that they require some audio to pull off perfectly. Without vocals, the Lucille dance just looks like something DeSean Jackson may do.<br />
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<b>George Sr.:</b><br />
<b>Degree of difficulty: 4/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level: 7/10</b><br />
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George Sr.'s dance gets a higher degree of difficulty because there is no real set form to it. I think that's what makes it awesome. The arm movements are seemingly random, yet make so much sense together. Plus, there's a leg kick in there somewhere. Where? I'm not sure. Why? Why the hell not. Erratic, yet beautiful.<br />
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<h3>
3) Peanuts dances:</h3>
<b>Degree of difficulty: 5/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment level: 6/10 (10/10 if you do it on Thanksgiving)</b><br />
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This is another one that may be a little hard to recognize while wearing pads and a helmet. But look at that nasty footwork. But if you practice this one and get it down perfectly, the results could be amazing. A side-by-side GIF of you two would likely blow my mind. And look how popular <a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/q3x05fz" target="_blank">a Real-Life Peanuts gag</a> was earlier this week. However, if this is too difficult to pull off in a recognizable fashion, I'd recommend the girl instead:<br />
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Silly, recognizable, quick, and fun for the whole family. <br />
<br />
<h3>
4) Stephen Colbert's GREATEST DANCE EVER</h3>
<b>Difficulty: 10/10</b><br />
<b>Entertainment: 10/10</b><br />
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Mr. Fauria. I don't mean to talk down to you, but you may want to just stay away from this one. Many have tried to emulate this dance. There have been no survivors. I'm sure you are up for pretty much any challenge, but no one would fault you for passing on this impossible feat. If you are feeling frisky, please study this film for a few months before pulling this out in the season finale.<br />
<br />
But I must say, if you ever <i>do</i> pull this off, your fame will know no limits. Colbert would undoubtedly catch wind of it, and you'd probably find yourself in his studio a few days later. A Fauria/Colbert dance-off would break every awesome-meter in existence.<br />
<br />
So those are your options, Mr. Fauria. Choose wisely, and never stop dancing. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-92229232900655374682013-10-16T12:39:00.004-07:002013-10-16T12:39:41.849-07:00Three Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions at BrownsFair warning, this is going to be very bipolar:<br />
<br />
<b>First quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:00 - If there's one thing that's always worried me about the Lions offense, it's their 3rd-and-short gameplan. But Joique Bell has proved invaluable in these situations. He's perfect. Strong runner with great vision. Browns loaded the box on this play, but Joique just lowered he head and got the job done. <b> </b> <br />
<br />
12:46 - Matthew Stafford with a good progression of reads, with minimal panic in the pocket (but he still threw off his back foot).<br />
<br />
12:04 - The Lions (and I) love using Reggie Bush as a decoy and deploying Bell instead. This screen to Joique would have gone for a lot more if Warford hadn't missed the block downfield that is getting jumped over in the picture below.<br />
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<br />
10:02 - Third-and-two with Bush in the backfield. That's pretty much telegraphing the defense that you intend on passing. Would love to see Bell back there. At the very least that would open up some play-action possibilities.<br />
<br />
...and for the record, I was slightly hoping the Lions would go for it here. Fourth and 2 from the opponent's 38 is a high-reward, relatively low-risk situation. Putting on my offensive coordinator hat on for a second, I would have run it on third down. If I came up short, I'd call for the offense to hurry to the line and do it again (with Bell).<br />
<br />
As it turned out, Sam Martin (in his best game of the season, in my opinion) pinned them deep and the Lions' next offensive possession had good field position because of it.<br />
<br />
9:30 - I obviously don't know each players' defensive assignment on this play, but it sure looked like Stephen Tulloch abandoned his responsibilities trying to get a jump on the play. <br />
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<br />
9:20 - Suh spinning out of a double team to meet the running back in the backfield. Ho-hum.<br />
<br />
7:14 - Stafford zings a perfect ball just over the linebacker in time before the safety gets to Durham. Beautiful play.....except Durham dropped it.<br />
<br />
4:18 - Bush gains two yards, loses four, then gains two all on one play. It was cute, but extremely dangerous. Reggie could have easily had a third-and-inches or even a first down. But he got cute and almost put the Lions in a third-and-long.<br />
<br />
3:43 - Joe Haden had a handful of jersey on that pass interference call, but it was still pretty weak. It didn't seem to affect Kevin Ogletree much.<br />
<br />
3:37 - THAT pass interference was legit.<br />
<br />
3:33 - Calvin gets an incredible amount of separation with almost no effort, but drops it. Stafford could have laid it in better, but Calvin makes that catch nine out of 10 times.<br />
<br />
3:31 - The Lions now have Joseph Fauria and Calvin Johnson to cover in the red zone. Good luck, defenses. Try and double them both? It's Joique Bell time.<br />
<br />
2:47 - Ndamukong Suh is getting reviewed for a possible fine on this play. To be fair, it is very close to head-to-head contact. But it doesn't appear he got Brandon Weeden in the face.<br />
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<br />
2:42 - Cleveland punts from their own 26-yard line. Lions start on their own 12 because of a penalty. That's the equivalent to a 62-yard punt with no return. Special teams penalties are the silent killer.<br />
<br />
2:29 - Mikel Leshoure with a nice 5-yard carry. No snark here, that was good to see.<br />
<br />
1:29 - Order of people to blame for the 45-yard end around play:<br />
<br />
1) Tulloch - fooled by play, then took a bad angle.<br />
2) Bill Bentley - gave up on the play when he saw two offensive linemen around him. <br />
3) Andre Fluellen - shot into the backfield then quickly turned his back to the actual ball carrier.<br />
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12:57 - I'll be honest, I still have no idea who blew their assignment on the Browns' first touchdown. If they were in a zone, it was Rashean Mathis's fault for following the wide receiver's route too far inside. If they were playing a mixture of zone and man, it was on Louis Delmas, who gave up on the running back after realizing it was a passing play. This seems a little more likely given how unnecessarily overcrowded the middle of the field was.<br />
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<br />
<b>Second quarter:</b> <br />
<br />
12:13 - Stafford overthrows Ogletree. Must have thought it was Calvin.<br />
<br />
11:58 - Browns almost caught Delmas cheating towards the inside seam route like the Packers did last week. An accurate pass may have resulted in six.<br />
<br />
11:40 - Levy sniffs out the screen (again), but misses the tackle, turning a 2-yard loss into a 9-yard gain. It would take some sort of miracle 2 interception game for me to forgive him of this.<br />
<br />
11:10 - Tough luck for the Lions on third down. They send a good, delayed blitz. Chris Houston does a great job taking away the easy pass to Jordan Cameron, but Weeden lays a perfect pass to Josh Gordon JUST before Delmas gets there.<br />
<br />
8:50 -<br />
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<br />
REMINDER: THIS IS A LINEBACKER<br />
<br />
6:53 - Cleveland has balls.<br />
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<br />
Stafford immediately goes to Calvin (at the bottom of the screen), who drops another good pass. <br />
<br />
1:20 - Not a lot to say on Cleveland's second touchdown drive of the game. The Lions were close to stopping Cleveland on a few situations, but overall, it was just a well formulated drive from the Browns. Sometimes you just got to tip your hat to them, even if "them" is the Browns offense.<br />
<br />
One thing I will say is that it was idiotic for the Lions NOT to use their timeouts after the two-minute warning. They could have easily gotten the ball back with 1:50, but instead they only had 1:16 left. Of course, the Lions went three-and-out anyways (after two drops) and the Browns ended up tacking on a field goal, but my point still stands.<br />
<br />
0:43 - Houston has great coverage here, but just misses knocking the ball down and in the process misses the tackle. Gordon has a bunch of field in front of him and the Lions are lucky he didn't score.<br />
<br />
<b>Third quarter:</b><br />
<br />
12:52 - When Bush dropped this pass to start the second half, I threw my hands in the air so hard, I wouldn't have been surprised if they had detached from my body. That moment was definitely the peak of my frustration.<br />
<br />
11:56 - Stafford scrambles for a first down, then slams the ball into the turf, probably out of amazement of his own mobility. It cost him five yards to blow his own mind. <br />
<br />
11:48 - If Bush always hit the holes with that much decisiveness, he'd be leading the league in rushing yards. <i>This has been this week's edition of "Hole-Hitting with Jeremy."</i><br />
<br />
9:13 - Perfect play call against the blitz. I love the middle screen just about any time in the game, but Linehan dialed this one up at the perfect time. Credit goes to Rob Sims for laying down a huge block that sprung the touchdown.<br />
<br />
8:50 - Levy with a great read on the end around, but if Nick Fairley had seen the play coming, he probably would have forced a fumble and planted Gordon a foot deep into the turf.<br />
<br />
8:00 - Lions force a three-and-out despite ANOTHER offside penalty.<br />
<br />
6:04 - Calvin with an underrated catch. The ball was tipped just before reaching him, and he made it look pedestrian. Huge play on third down.<br />
<br />
3:50 - Bell with two consecutive runs in which he got at least six total yards after first contact. He is of huge value to this team. I feel like I need to keep reminding everyone of this.<br />
<br />
2:20 - What an amazing pass by Stafford. He has to throw uncomfortably high over Rob Sims, who was driven backwards into Stafford. Matthew lays it in nicely and Megatron pushes for the first down.<br />
<br />
1:49 - And of course after three consecutive, gritty third down conversions, the very next play is a fluky interception. You'd like to see Patrick Edwards fight for that ball more, but that was a very good defensive play by Cleveland.<br />
<br />
0:50 - Here's something the Lions haven't done very well in the past, but managed to do well on Sunday: disguising blitzes.<br />
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<br />
Levy is showing blitz, jumping from gap to gap, while Tulloch remains completely stationary. But at the snap...<br />
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<br />
...Tulloch comes blazing in and gets to Weeden untouched. Weeden gets of a slow, wobbly throw that allows the defender to catch up in time to force a loss of two yards.<br />
<br />
0:00 - Three Cleveland possessions in the third quarter, 6 yards. <br />
<br />
<b>Fourth quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:00 - There needs to be a "Reggie Bush Destroying Linebackers in Coverage" tumblr page. <a href="http://holyschwartz.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/reggie.gif" target="_blank">Nate Washuta, get on it</a>. <b> </b><br />
<br />
11:47 - Not to jinx anything, but we've now seen Good Brandon Pettigrew for two weeks straight. Granted, he's been used sparingly, but maybe that's the best way to utilize him. Huge play by him here to make the first guy miss and pick up a big first down.<br />
<br />
10:41 - Fauria's Tony Scheffler transformation is complete. This seam-route touchdown was classic 2011 Scheffler. I can't wait to see more of this kid. I know he has knocks on his blocking ability, and we don't really know how much separation he's capable of, but he's making some great catches in traffic. And with a quarterback like Stafford, who is unafraid of fitting balls into tight windows, that's all the Lions really need.<br />
<br />
9:49 - It's really a shame that FOX couldn't get their shit together for this replay. We got 1.5 replays before the challenge ruling was in and the announcer didn't even get their analysis in before we knew the play was remaining incomplete. We got no sideline view, which could have really helped. It looked like this left heal may have come down out of bounds before his right foot came down, but we had no idea. Either way, Darius Slay cannot let that happen on a 2nd and 25. <br />
<br />
8:17 - Stafford doing a great job looking off receivers and helping them get open. Exhibit A:<br />
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<br />
6:11 - Calvin with another drop. I'm blindly chalking up this game to his knee injury, accurate or not.<br />
<br />
6:04 - David Akers with a clutch 51-yard field goal. Anyone ready to apologize about the ridiculous Kickalicious saga yet? I'll wait.<br />
<br />
Here was my actual <i>live </i>reaction to the kick.<br />
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meanwhile, I bet Kickalicious is making a killer Vine right now.<br />
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/statuses/389477782591266816">October 13, 2013</a></blockquote>
Only 2 retweets? You guys really need to let go of the guy. He's not playing football for a reason (that reason being: he's not a football player). <br />
<br />
5:37 - Oh, Bill Bentley. You wish you had Levy's hands. Cue the announcer's go-to line of how "this is why he plays cornerback not wide receiver." Oh so clever.<br />
<br />
4:36 - Sure that was a terrible play by Weeden, but great job by Levy closing in on that route and making the easy catch. Yeah, never mind, that was mostly just a terrible decision by Weeden. <br />
<br />
3:09 - Great downfield blocking by the wide receivers on this bubble screen. <br />
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<br />
Oh, you need a receiver for a bubble screen? Darn.<br />
<br />
2:58 - The roughing the passer was borderline. Straight from the rulebook (emphasis added):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after <br />throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down <b>and land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight.</b>"</blockquote>
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<br />
I'd say that falls under the definition of most of the defender's weight. He does let up a bit and doesn't have him wrapped all the way down to the ground, but he still lands with most of he weight on top of Stafford. I don't like the rule, but by the book, it wasn't a terrible call. And there was an uncalled pass interference on the play, so Cleveland fans don't have much of a case here.<br />
<br />
2:05 - REALLY happy to see the Lions pass on 3rd down here. A running play, while safe, would have run almost no time off the clock with the two-minute warning looming. You could essentially run the same amount of time off the clock with a passing play, and the upside of a passing play (first down, or in this case, touchdown) is much more likely than a running conversion. Oh, and any extra opportunity to see Fauria celebrate is positive in my book.<br />
<br />
<b>Overall Bullets:</b><br />
<br />
- This was a lot less frustrating the second time around. While the second quarter was disastrous on all sorts of statistical levels, it didn't really seem that way watching with emotion removed. I give a lot of credit to the Cleveland offense on how well they played in that quarter (especially at offensive line). And if the Lions offense hadn't had some untimely drops, that entire quarter would have been much different.<br />
<b> </b><br />
- My favorite part of Fauria's success was that the Lions called his number on big plays. His last touchdown was a huge play, and it was designed to go to him from the get go. Both Linehan and Stafford are clearly gaining more trust in him, and Fauria is giving them no reason not to.<br />
<br />
- While both linebackers (I'm not including Ashlee Palmer here, because he barely sees the field with as much nickel as the Lions play) deserve a TON of credit in the passing game, neither have been particularly good in the running game. They both seem to struggle to get off blocks, and they're both susceptible to leaving cutback lanes open.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-61808402310861436542013-10-14T08:52:00.002-07:002013-10-14T08:52:40.082-07:00Three Out of Four Ain't Bad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Up your game, Meatloaf</span> </div>
<br />
After the Lions went three-and-out on their final possession of the first half, my psyche was in an awful place. I was ready to give up on the team. Utterly defeated from one of the worst quarters this team has ever played, I was welcoming the waves of mediocrity to flow over the shell of what used to be my body. My patience was gone, my excitement was gone, and it just wanted it all over. Give me a 6-10 season, a new coach, and let's start gunning for 2014. I was a bad fan.<br />
<br />
But then the second half happened. The Lions scored on every drive but one (an unfortunate, fluky interception when the Lions were already in field goal position). The Browns started the half with three three-and-outs, threw an interception, and failed to score a second-half point. The Lions made halftime adjustments and came out the other end the clear superior team. They handled the Browns in their own house and...well, made them look like the Browns.<br />
<br />
It was refreshing to see the Lions come out and just absolutely dominate their opponent for a half, but how do we come to terms with that ugly second quarter? A quarter in which the Lions were outgained 198-27 and outscored 17-0. A quarter in which the Lions had more three-and-outs (2) than first downs (1). A quarter that would have been much worse if it weren't for an incredibly athletic interception from DeAndre Levy. Do we just ignore it and pretend it didn't happen because we won? Do we excuse it because the Lions offense was struggling with injuries and no team is perfect? Or do we start panicking and warn our brethren that when the good teams start coming, we can expect more of that? <br />
<br />
Well, I wouldn't start panicking, but I'm not at a point where I can just overlook what happened because the Lions are now 4-2 and still in first place in the NFC North. There are some flaws on this team that cannot be ignored. The Lions defensive line is not as good as advertised. The Lions have one of the worst run defenses in the league (currently ranked 29th by yards, 32nd by yard per carry) and they have just 12 sacks on the season (26th). And while we're all excited about Ziggy Ansah's 3 sacks, he goes through long periods of time in between sacks where he's basically invisible (see: entire Browns game).<br />
<br />
And the Lions offense continues to go through some familiar hardships. The wide receiver position is terribly thin...again. The running game is inconsistent at best. And balls are getting dropped at the worst possible times.<br />
<br />
But, overall, I am going to take this game as a positive. Against a fairly decent Browns defense, the Lions were able to move the ball consistently for three quarters. In fact, all but one non-second quarter drive went for 25 yards or more, and they only punted twice. And remember how we were all upset that Matthew Stafford wasn't <i>making</i> his receivers better, a la Tom Brady? Well, he sent fantasy football owners scrambling to snatch Kris Durham and Joseph Fauria from waivers on Sunday. And while the defense gave up a concerning amount of yards to a weak Browns offense, they also continued to make big plays at the impressive hands of DeAndre Levy. Levy probably just had his best game of his career, which is on top of an already spectacular year for the guy.<br />
<br />
This is the NFL, and you take wins however you get them. In the end, the Lions got a road victory over a team with a winning record, and manhandled them for three quarters. While there are flaws in this team that are obvious and worrisome, there are just as many playmakers in Detroit who can pull the team out of an awful quarter. That's good enough for me.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-49309070108321262682013-10-14T07:44:00.000-07:002013-10-14T07:44:03.685-07:00Lions Victory GIF Dump: Browns EditionThis week, there is only one man who is appropriately GIFable (<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/10/13/4834282/joseph-fauria-td-dance-gif-lions-vs-browns" target="_blank">via SBNation</a>):<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/3381043/fauriaugh_medium.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/assets/3381043/fauriaugh_medium.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />But he was far from done (<a href="http://fansided.com/2013/10/13/joseph-fauria-scores-windmill-dunks-goal-post-gif/" target="_blank">via Fansided</a>):<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H6m0vBZwdTE/Ulr06yE7z2I/AAAAAAAACJs/xGqsDbtY8ZU/s400/windmill1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H6m0vBZwdTE/Ulr06yE7z2I/AAAAAAAACJs/xGqsDbtY8ZU/s400/windmill1.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Then he did this (<a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1809357-detroit-lions-tight-end-joseph-fauria-has-another-interesting-touchdown-dance?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national" target="_blank">via Bleacher Report</a>):<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/47464/318784/tklhwrfg7a7mvst/Fauria3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hipchat.com/47464/318784/tklhwrfg7a7mvst/Fauria3.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
...which resulted in me doing this:<br />
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<a href="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18zjy53bb0lccgif/ku-xlarge.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18zjy53bb0lccgif/ku-xlarge.gif" width="400" /> </a></div>
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I like this guy. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-60227007836188793212013-10-08T11:19:00.001-07:002013-10-08T11:19:07.760-07:00Two Days Late "Live" Blog: Lions at PackersSorry I missed last week, I was with family. I will likely go back and do the Bears "Live" Blog during the bye week. Partially, because I want to be thorough. Mostly, because I can't wait to watch that game again.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>First Quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:55 - First play of the game is a triple option!<br />
<br />
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I guess I should clarify and say it's a triple option "look." Matthew Stafford makes no read here. The play is to Joique Bell from the get go.<br />
<br />
Shockingly, the Packers linebacker believes Stafford is running the option with Bush to the left. He leaves the middle of the field wide open, giving Bell plenty of room to pick up 9.5 yards. It'll be interesting to see if Stafford actually ever keeps the ball on this play. If he does, I'm sure he'll be pitching the ball to Reggie Bush immediately. <br />
<br />
13:37 - Patrick Edwards with some good yards after the catch on the bubble screen. Maybe this whole thing will work out without Calvin Johnson!<br />
<b> </b><br />
10:51 - On Green Bay's first sack of the day, the Lions had 8(!) players in pass protection. But Brandon Pettigrew was late picking up the blitzing linebacker and Stafford had nowhere to scramble to. The only two receiving options were running long routes and hadn't even made their break by the time Stafford was on the ground.<br />
<br />
7:30 - Do I really have to go into detail on how awful this tripping call on Ndamukong Suh was? He was ridiculously held on the play, and was just reaching out to try and get away from it.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDY4Y7OW3lE/UlRHTGbvP4I/AAAAAAAAA9A/6QTH1xJWkPc/s1600/suh+held.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZDY4Y7OW3lE/UlRHTGbvP4I/AAAAAAAAA9A/6QTH1xJWkPc/s400/suh+held.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Oh, and Ziggy Ansah was held on the play, too.<br />
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<br />
6:19 - Another terrible call. Fairley jumps offsides, but settles back into his stance. By the time he does, the Packers offensive guard purposely false starts. But because the guard's jump was not immediately following Fairley's jump offsides, this is, by rule, a false start. Another wrong 3rd down penalty extends the drive for the Packers.<br />
<br />
5:17 - Bill Bentley making an impact early. Two tackles on the opening drive on passing plays. One for a two yard loss, one for just a two yard gain.<br />
<br />
4:25 - Nothing you can do there. Randall Cobb made a fantastic grab, and Rodgers laid a perfect ball in decent coverage.<br />
<br />
1:35 - Bentley with more good coverage on Cobb to force a field goal attempt. Overall, it was actually a pretty decent defensive drive. The Lions forced four third downs. The Packers converted three, but two of those were handed to them by the refs, and the third was a miraculous pass and catch on a well-defended play.<br />
<br />
0:25 - Aaaand, the Lions respond by going three-and-out, finding themselves in a second-straight third-and-long without Calvin Johnson.<br />
<br />
<b>Second Quarter:</b><br />
<br />
12:13 - Weak call by the ref on the defensive hold on fourth down, BUT AMAZINGLY STRONG ARM.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdTbnz8SiSY/UlRH1hEMU_I/AAAAAAAAA9Q/MwG_XR_ftaI/s1600/ref+cannon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RdTbnz8SiSY/UlRH1hEMU_I/AAAAAAAAA9Q/MwG_XR_ftaI/s400/ref+cannon.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sign him up!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b> </b>11:34 - Delmas got caught with his eyes in the backfield again.<br />
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<br />
After the play action, look at his depth compared to Glover Quin's. The seam route blows right by him, and Rodgers just misses him.<br />
<br />
11:29 - The very next play, Quin plays perfectly and breaks up the pass. Perhaps I have the wrong safety's jersey...<br />
<br />
9:13 - Stafford missed a chance at a big play on third down. His eyes all game have been on the intermediate routes, but Kris Durham is wide open deep with no safety help. <br />
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<br />
<br />
8:40 - JESUS CHRIST HOLDING SUPERSTAR. Israel Idonije gets held in the endzone, tries to trip Rodgers like Suh did earlier in the game and nothing is called.<br />
<br />
8:14 - Delmas with another great tackle in the running game. We see where his priorities lay.<br />
<br />
5:53 - Man oh man. The Lions defense just got terribly unlucky. After a huge hit/forced fumble on first down by Ziggy Ansah, then a beautifully read screen by DeAndre Levy, the Packers were forced to throw a prayer to Jordy Nelson on third and long. Quin, again, played it just about perfectly, yet Nelson managed to hold onto the perfectly thrown ball. Devastating (and a huge swing in field position).<br />
<br />
1:48 - It's passes like this that make you love Stafford:<br />
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<br />
<br />
0:39 - Durham, fearful of the oncoming hit, drops the pass on the 5-yard line. /pours a drink out for Calvin.<br />
<br />
0:20 - <br />
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/sucks the drink I just poured out of the carpet.<br />
<br />
<b>Third Quarter:</b><br />
<br />
10:35 - There's that triple option again. Stafford not doing a very good job selling that he still has the ball, but who's going to believe that anyway?<br />
<br />
8:12 - On the sack, Riley Reiff's man got a very good jump and Reiff never recovered.<br />
<br />
7:24 - Randall Cobb's big run is sprung by <a href="http://i.imgur.com/5NwW6S7.jpg" target="_blank">a hold on Suh</a> (of course), and Delmas gave up the outside. Luckily, Quin is quite speedy and saved the Lions four points.<br />
<br />
3:23 - The long TD is all on Delmas. He tried to jump the seam route, but his responsibility was deep right. Rashean Mathis is clearly playing an intermediate zone at the bottom of the screen, so it's fair to assume Chris Houston was as well. This means the receiver was not his responsibility once he started running a deep route.<br />
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Though the seam route looks open, it would've been a tough pass to make in between Bentley and Levy. If Delmas had stayed true to his assignment, Rodgers likely would have tried to fit it in there. And while he may have completed it, it wouldn't have gone for anything more than 15-20 yards with Quin near the play. Instead, there's nobody on James Jones and its an easy touchdown.<br />
<br />
3:12 - If Bush doesn't slip there, he scores a touchdown.<br />
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0:30 - The frustration continues. Edwards runs a good route, Stafford throws a perfect ball, the safety BARELY gets his fingertips on the ball to prevent the long touchdown. Glimpses of Titus Young there. :(<br />
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<b>Fourth Quarter:</b><br />
<br />
14:15 - I don't know how Nelson can make those sideline, toe-tapping catches week after week, but they're incredible. Good coverage by Mathis, but it's not enough.<br />
<b> </b><br />
12:29 - The Lions defensive lineman are running around everywhere, and Rodgers somehow manages to slip by and pick up the first down on another infuriating third down. Never have I seen a defense play so well on third down, yet give up so many first downs. My frustration knows no limits.<br />
<br />
10:16 - Here is how missing Calvin Johnson hurt the run game. The Lions are down 16 with 10 minutes left. They are trying to catch the Packers off-guard by running it. But because Durham is the #1 receiver (at the bottom of the screen), the Packers sneak a safety in on his side, putting seven men in the box. Bush loses 3 on the play.<br />
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7:11 - Oh, Tony. I'm really trying to still like you, but at this point, you're worse than Pettigrew. Seriously. Pettigrew had a good game. You haven't in two years. Sorry, bud. It's Fauria time.<br />
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2:42 - No excuse for Reiff on that one. Just got beat.<br />
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2:17 - Three straight targets for Scheffler. You're just messing with me now, Stafford.<br />
<br />
2:10 - The ease with which Stafford made that touchdown pass to Durham just made me sad. What could have been...<br />
<br />
<b>Overall thoughts:</b><br />
<br />
- I think the defense played better than I originally thought. If it weren't for some bad luck and some poor officiating, they would have gotten off the field earlier and more often.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>- </b>This was not a very good game for Stafford. He made some poor reads, and while his receivers didn't really help him out too much, there were plays he left on the field.<br />
<b> </b><br />
- Overall, I came out more optimistic than I came going in. The Lions had several opportunities to turn this game around, but a dropped pass here, a slip on the field there, an erroneous flag there, and the Lions continue to be extremely unlucky in Lambeau. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-59249452072246650542013-10-07T09:41:00.000-07:002013-10-07T09:41:26.759-07:00MehI don't want to say I gave up on the Lions beating the Packers in Lambeau the moment I heard Calvin Johnson was out, but on the way to my friend's house before the game, I was already mentally writing the opening narrative to this post using the "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" lyric "cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head." Don't worry, I've won't be moving forward with that idea.<br />
<br />
Instead, this is the narrative of this post: Meh. Whatever.<br />
<br />
Last year, we saw what the Lions offense looked like with a decimated receiving corp. It was not pretty. Yesterday, we were given a haunting reminder of just how essential both Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson are to the team, even with Reggie Bush on the roster. None of this was particularly surprising, but, regardless, it was not fun to see.<br />
<br />
Luckily, the stakes were not very high for the Lions. There was little-to-no expectations for Detroit to win this game. With the Bears falling to the Saints, the Lions still remain in first place in the North. And the Lions still have a winning record, both overall and in the division. <br />
<br />
I don't think I learned anything particularly interesting about the team this week. People will point to the offensive line and start worrying about the true nature of their talent. But the truth is, the biggest reason Matthew Stafford was kept relatively clean through four weeks was because he was getting the ball off quickly (in fact, <a href="http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/10/matthew_stafford_edges_peyton.html" target="_blank">quickest in the league</a>), not because of particularly amazing pass protection. When his receivers weren't getting open against the Packers and he was forced to hold onto the ball longer, the line couldn't hold up. This isn't particularly shocking to me. Riley Reiff has been giving up pressures all season long, but Stafford's quick release <a href="http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2013/09/detroit_lions_second_look_rile_2.html" target="_blank">has bailed him out</a> several times. Now he's given up strip-sacks in two straight games. He hasn't been terrible, but he's been worse than most people are giving him credit for. The honeymoon period of our relationship with Reiff after divorcing Jeff Backus is nearing its end.<br />
<br />
As for the defensive side of the ball, it was a mixed bag. They gave up several big plays and were poor against the run. However, these are things that have already been happening all season. They've given up the most rushes of 40+ yards (3) all season, and the fourth-most passes of 40+ yards (4). And prior to Sunday, they were already giving up 5.2 a carry (now 5.3). But they also held the Packers to just one touchdown and 22 points, well under Green Bay's season average (29.5). So that was cool, I guess.<br />
<br />
In the end, the Lions lost to a good team while short-handed, in a stadium they have trouble winning every year. The team committed some of the same errors that they have all season. It's just a lot more noticeable when the end result is a loss. So, excuse me while I take almost nothing from this game and move onto Cleveland for next week.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-83070616219545480652013-09-30T09:17:00.001-07:002013-09-30T09:17:53.716-07:00The Best Eight Minutes in FootballI haven't had much of a chance to mull over the Detroit Lions' victory of the Chicago Bears on Sunday. After stressing over the somewhat frightening near-comeback in the fourth quarter and spending the rest of my evening <a href="http://detroitonlion.com/i-didnt-like-the-breaking-bad-finale/" target="_blank">trying to digest the <i>Breaking Bad </i>finale</a>, I've lost sight of how much fun the first three quarters of that game was. I had to go back and re-watch a condensed version of the game just to remember what exactly had happened.<br />
<br />
The first quarter of this game was not much fun. The Lions drove deep into Chicago three times, and came out with nine points. The defense gave up a 30-yard pass on the first drive, and a 53-yard rush on their third drive.<br />
<br />
But, of all things, it was a <i>special teams play</i> that kick-started one of the most entertaining eight minutes of football I've ever watched this team play.<br />
<br />
After receiving a line-drive punt, Michael Spurlock side-stepped one of the gunners, and the rest was history. The Lions started that drive on the Chicago 22-yard line. 3 plays later, they were on the goal line.<br />
<br />
Then the Lions hit a crucial fork in the road. In a much crueler universe (one that we've experienced more than our fair share of times), Matthew Stafford would have been punished for his reckless goal line reach of the ball. But the Football Gods were merciful for an afternoon, and the ball landed right back in his arms.<br />
<br />
The next play from scrimmage: Glover Quin takes a beautifully-read interception down to the Bears' 2-yard line. The next play: touchdown. <br />
<br />
Two touchdowns in nearly 20 seconds. But the Lions weren't done there. The defense forced a three-and-out, including two plays for negative yards.<br />
<br />
After another poor Chicago punt, the Lions had just 51 yards to go to score their third consecutive touchdown. It took all but two plays. After another wink from the Football Gods (in the form of a Calvin Johnson fumble recovery), Reggie Bush made amends on the next play by scoring the Lions' most impressive rushing touchdown since Jahvid Best's 88-yard scamper against the same Chicago Bears on a Monday night two years ago. Three touchdowns in just over three minutes.<br />
<br />
And the Lions <i>still </i>weren't done. In a typical game, you'd see the Bears go down and maybe get a field goal on the next drive before the half. But the defense forced <i>another </i>three-and-out, led by a monster Ndmaukong Suh sack. Side note: let's face facts, Suh is the front runner for defensive player of the year right now. Status level: unstoppable.<br />
<br />
Anyway, the Lions wasted no time in using their good field position (again) in trying to build on their 20-point lead. Unfortunately, after driving another 30-yards with ease, the Football Gods decided the Bears had had enough, and granted them one measly field goal after a Julius Peppers strip-sack.<br />
<br />
Still, the Lions had turned 10-9 deficit with 8:30 left to go in the half into a 30-13 halftime lead. That was pretty impressive and insanely fun.<br />
<br />
-------<br />
Quick Notes:<br />
<br />
It might sound weird to say in a game whose final score was 40-32, but the Lions defense really deserves most of the credit for the win. They had three sacks, four turnovers, five three-and-outs...and six points. They gave the offense good field position all day. The defense still gave up too many big plays, but they created enough big plays on Sunday to a point where it didn't matter.<br />
<br />
The offense was a little disappointing considering how well the running game was working. Stafford was off, and the red zone offense continues to struggle (5 opportunities: 2 touchdowns, 2 field goals, 1 turnover).<br />
<br />
Hey, just three penalties for 25 yards! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-29313439965664068022013-09-30T07:00:00.000-07:002013-09-30T07:00:04.713-07:00I'm Sorry, I Didn't Like the Breaking Bad FinaleI didn't like the finale of <i>Breaking Bad </i>tonight. And I'm not sure how to process that.<br />
<br />
Let me begin by saying this isn't an attempt to be a contrarian or play devil's advocate. I was a fan of this show since it's very first episode. I can fondly remember huddling near the television in my cramped college apartment with my two roommates and being immediately enamored with the unique show. Since that moment, I have been constantly awe-struck by the writing, stylization and execution of the show through five amazing seasons of television. I was with the show every step of the way, and believed the show could do no wrong.<br />
<br />
That's what makes Sunday's finale so shockingly disappointing for me. There's nothing more that I would like than to love this episode. And I figured there wouldn't be any sort of effort involved in reaching that goal. But I've sat on this episode for three hours now, and no sort of mental gymnastics have been able to spin that episode into what I had hoped.<br />
<br />
Let me add one, large caveat before I get into my issues with "Felina". The execution of the finale was perfect and the ending worked. Walt's maneuvers were clever, the story was neatly wrapped, and, as always, it was beautifully shot and edited. It was a good, maybe even great ending.<br />
<br />
But it wasn't the ending I wanted.<br />
<br />
The first few seasons of <i>Breaking Bad </i>were kind of a fun romp (at least compared to the last). It was a fish-out-of-water storyline that had a nerdy school teacher mixed with some crazy, bad guys. It had some dark moments, but the show was a <i>lot </i>funnier back in those simpler times.<br />
<br />
However, Walt soon found himself in some serious trouble, and the final season promised all of his wrongdoing would come to haunt him in the end. As the season grew darker and darker, and the death count slowly climbed, it became more apparent that this was not heading for a happy ending. Walt's family was in disarray. Hank was dead. The jig was up.<br />
<br />
But the season finale undid all of that, and Walt was let completely off the hook. By the very end, not only had he succeeded in his original goal (providing wealth for his family), but he also mended his relationships with his wife (and shortened her prison sentence, to boot!) and saved Jesse before valiantly falling on the knife himself.<br />
<br />
As the puzzle pieces slowly fell into place, I found myself in disbelief. I tried to convince myself Vince Gilligan was setting us up for the fairy tail ending only to pull the rug out from underneath us like he did in the half-season finale or at the end of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Freight" target="_blank">"Dead Freight"</a>. But as the last minutes of the episode ticked off, and it became clearer and clearer that Walt's final plan would work to perfection, I fell back on the couch in disappointment.<br />
<br />
I thought this final half-season was about Walt finally getting his comeuppance for his four-and-a-half seasons of misdoings. I thought it was Gilligan's way of saying, "I know those five years were a blast, but this is what <i>really</i> happens when a terrible person does terrible things." It would have been amazing and unprecidented to see Walt, in a last ditch effort to save his family future and his own legacy, come up short one last time, because happy endings like that aren't real. To end this episode on a heavy, dark note would have provided a much stronger punch. Because. while the last few episodes have been extremely hard to watch, they have been this show's best, most unforgettable work.<br />
<br />
But what the final half-season was <i>really</i> about was making Walt the fun cowboy again. It was about bringing Walt back to a place of desperation and making him as pathetic and beaten up as he was in the pilot episode. It was about making him hit rock bottom, so that he could stoll back into the town he was banished from for one, final showdown and a chance to make everything right.<br />
<br />
And I get it. It's a fun play on the common Western trope. And it's not even the fact that it was predictable or overused that bothered me. It just didn't seem like Walt, nor the viewers, deserved a happy ending.<br />
<br />
Walt doesn't deserve a happy ending because there never was a real moment of unhappiness since he adopted his Heisenberg side. As he finally admitted in the finale, all of his actions weren't really for his family; they were for himself. And he loved it. You could say Hank's death was a severe consequence he had to face, but the truth is, he always hated Hank. Just go back and watch season one and watch Walter seethe at Hank in every scene they're in together. He may have lost the eternal legacy with his son, but he never respected his son in the first place. And who cares what Flynn thinks? He's going to college now!<br />
<br />
We didn't deserve the happy ending, because we were complicit in Walt's actions. We were in Walt's corner from the get-go, and many of us stayed there to the bitter end. We were guilty by association, and we didn't deserve seeing Flynn get an education or watching our best friend Jesse drive away with wild glee from his own personal Hell.<br />
<br />
While we and Walt were left unscathed from his unthinkable actions, everyone around him took the brunt of his punishment. His wife, his son, Jesse, poor, poor purple-less Marie. And the collateral damage of Walt's decisions is endless. Lydia, Andrea, Brock, Jane, Jane's father, everyone on the two 747s, Madrigal's president, Drew Sharp, etc. All of these people suffered because of Walt, and who had to foot the bill for all of that strife? No one. Walt won.<br />
<br />
To me, the finale seemed to be one last ditch effort to get Walt back on our side. I'll admit, it almost worked on me in the last moments of the episode last week. The theme song, the final donning of the Heisenberg hat, the empty glass at the end of the bar. It was a badass scene that got me ecstatic for the finale. But as the week rolled on, and I considered what I actually <i>wanted </i>in the finale, I realized I was still not on Walt's side. But the temptation continued early in the finale. First, Walt out-witted Mr. and Mrs. Gray Matter. Then he came 100% clean with Skyler. And, finally, he even pulled out his endearing McGuyver side again. I was briefly considering joining team White. But it wasn't long before that all faded away, and I remembered that Walt had passed the point-of-no-return long, long ago. He needed to lose.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, that never happened, and Walt got to end his life just the way he had hoped. He had built and sustained an empire and his own legacy. He had supported his family's future. He had lived the last two years of his life in a wildly fulfilling manner. I guess it's a happy ending for everyone...except me (and the hundreds of other people whose lives were ruined by Walt).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7974351624105135583.post-87876245193490529422013-09-29T14:25:00.002-07:002013-09-29T14:26:13.792-07:00Lions Victory GIF Dump: Bears EditionFIRST PLACE GIFS!<br />
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Via <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2013/9/29/4783670/matthew-stafford-calls-this-one-the-falling-pizza-touchdown" target="_blank">SBNation</a>:<br />
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YESSSSOHJESUSNOOOOOOOOOOYEAAAAAAHHHHHH</div>
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Over at <a href="http://www.prideofdetroit.com/2013/9/27/4776004/on-paper-detroit-lions-chicago-bears-preview" target="_blank">Pride of Detroit</a>, I specifically warned the Lions against pulling this BS:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"What the Lions cannot afford, however, is to turn the ball over on the ground. So no more reckless stretching the ball out for a few extra feet."</blockquote>
I am sad to learn Matthew Stafford does not read my previews.<br />
<br />
BUT THEN: REGGGGGGGIEEEEEEE<br />
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No. Not that Reggie.<br />
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NO, DAMNIT. NOT REGGIE WATTS...although I could watch Reggie Watts GIFs all day. Seriously, guys, Watch "Comedy Bang Bang."<br />
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<i>THIS</i> REGGIE (via <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/9/29/4783720/reggie-bush-touchdown-run-gif" target="_blank">SBNation</a>)<br />
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Ohhhh yeah. That's the stuff. I get the feeling Jim Schwartz's wife may bust into his bedroom, and Jim will frantically cover himself up, with only the glow of his computer lighting the room. When his wife asks, "What were you doing?!?!" He'll only be able to respond, shamefully: "Watching tape."<br />
<br />
A lot of football fans get excited over fat guy touchdowns, but I think that's petty and immature. I, on the other hand, love FAT GUY CELEBRATIONS! (via <a href="https://twitter.com/bubbaprog" target="_blank">@bubbprog</a>:)<br />
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THIS JUST IN: NFL fines Nick Fairley for unnecessary roughness. However, upon checking the tape and realizing it was Ndamukong Suh he knocked over, NFL actually awards Fairley $50K.<br />
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The Lions are now 2-0 in the division after going winless last year. Next week: Lambeau. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07438365327432474582noreply@blogger.com0