Motown Madmen - A Detroit Lions Blog

NFL Playoffs – Conference Championship edition

jettero2112 — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:41:16 +0000

Too much work, not enough play. Another short recap this week. Hoping things get back to normal around here sometime in the very near future.

The NFL Conference Championship games are Sunday. Four teams left. In the first contest of the day, at 3pm, the Jets come to Indianapolis to take on the offensive juggernaut that is the Colts and Payton Manning. The Jets have one of the leagues top defenses and will test Manning from the start. They will have to key on WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark to take away some of Peyton’s threat, put the pressure on Manning up front and make them try the running game a bit more. The Jets have a great ground game with Shonn Green and Thomas Jones but I think the Colts defense is up to the task. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez could have a rough afternoon if he’s forced to rely on the pass too much. Vegas has the odds at 8.5 in the Colts favor with the O/U at 40. I can’t bet against Peyton. Colts by 13.

The second match-up of the day brings the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre to the Big Easy to take on Drew Brees and the New Orlean Saints. Game time is 6:30pm. Favre wants a ring. Brees isn’t going to let him get one. The Saints looked like a Super Bowl team last week with their drubbing of the Cardinals. Their high powered offense should take the Vikings apart. The only worries for the Saints will be containing Jared Allen from the edge. Brees is quick to step up and get the ball away, though, so that could be a moot point. Favre will have a reasonable day though I think he’ll turn the ball over a couple times. Vegas has the odds at 3.5 in favor of the saints with the O/U at 53.5 points. I take the Saints by 10.

NFL Playoffs – division weekend

jettero2112 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:02:49 +0000

Here’s quick preview of this weeks games. There were a couple of surprises last week. I didn’t think the Ravens could beat the Patriots, even with Welker out, and in no way expected the shoot-out in Arizona. Wild game there. This week is the divisional playoff games, the winners moving to the conference playoffs and one step closer to the Super Bowl.

The Arizona Cardinals travel to meet the New Orleans Saints at 4:30pm Saturday. The Saints lost their last three games heading into the playoffs and will be facing a high powered offense in Kurt Warner and the Cards. The best way for the Cardinals to win this game is to get the RB’s more carries up front to open the field for Warner. Teams have been able to run well on the Saints in the latter part of the season. Brees, though, should have no trouble against the Cards secondary and should put up pretty good numbers in a tight game. Vegas has the odds at 7 in favor of the saints and the O/U at a whopping 57 points. I’d have to take the Saints to cover.

For the second game Saturday, the Baltimore Ravens travel to Lucas Oil Stadium to take on NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts at8:15pm . The Ravens would love to duplicate last weeks game against the Pats but Peyton Manning should be able to easily pick apart a poor Ravens secondary. Vegas has the odds at 6.5 points in favor of the Colts and the O/U at 44 points. I’d have to take the Colts to cover. I believe this game could be a rout with the Colts going ahead early and forcing Joe Flacco to attempt to catch up through the air.

Sundays games begin at 1pm when the Dallas Cowboys go to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. The Cowboys will need to establish the run early as Jared Allen will beat Flozell Adams all day long in the passing game and Romo could spend a lot of time running for his life. Adrian Peterson has not had a 100 yard game in 7 games and he will need to man up against Dallas to help Brett Favre open up the air attack. Vegas has the odds at 3 in favor of the Vikings with the O/U at 48 points.

The last game of the weekend sends the New York Jets west to take on the San Diego Chargers at 4:40pm. Jets RB’s Thomas Jones and Shonn Green sould have a big game against NT Ian Scott giving Sanchez a chance to make some plays. Expect Chargers QB Phillip Rivers to look for WR Malcom Floyd and TE Antonio Gates as Vincent Jackson will most likely be doubled up in coverage. Vegas has the odds at 7 in favor of the Chargers with the O/U at 42. This should be another good game.

NFL Playoffs Wildcard Weekend Rundown

jettero2112 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:47:49 +0000

Here’s a quick run-down of this weekends playoff games. They begin this afternoon at 4:30pm with the NY Jets (9-7) taking on the Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) at Paul Brown Stadium in Cinci. Both teams can run the ball and both have very good defenses. This will be a tough game fought in the trenches. Vegas has the odds at 3 in favor of the Jets and the O/U at 34.5.

In the second contest of the day, the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) travel south to play the Dallas Cowboys (11-5) at the new Cowboys Stadium at 8pm. The Eagles will most likely try and shorten the field and attempt to establish some rhythm early and try and control the pace of the game. Dallas and Tony Romo will need to limit turnovers and try and get the ball to Witten as often as possible. Philly will probably bring a lot of pressure against Romo so he will need to protect the ball. Barber and Jones could have a big game if Witten can’t get free. Vegas has the odds at 4 in favor of the Cowboys and the O/U at 45.

Sundays games begin with the Baltimore Ravens (9-7) going to Foxboro to take on the New England Patriots (10-6). Pats top receiver Wes Welker is out for the playoffs and Baltimore will need to double team Randy Moss to help render Tom Brady’s air attack useless. New England will need to stop the run or Ray Rice and Willis McGahee will eat them for lunch. Should be a good game. Vegas has the odds at 3.5 in favor of the Patriots and the O/U at 43.

The last match-up of this weekend brings the Green Bay Packers (11-5) to the southwest to take on the Arizona Cardinals (10-6). The Packers are the hottest team in the NFL heading into the playoffs and the Cardinals are coming in pretty banged up. The Packers should win this one easily. Vegas has the odds at 3 in favor of the Packers and the O/U at 47.5.

I’d like to see the Eagles beat the Cowboys and the Packers take out the Cardinals so that next weeks game has the Packers visiting Minnesota. Enjoy your weekend!

Stan Kwan is gone!

jettero2112 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:59:13 +0000

The Detroit Lions fired special teams coach Stan Kwan today. About damn time. Special teams were dismal this past season and Kwan was one of the major reasons. Adding depth to that position would help (trade for Josh Cribbs) as well as getting someone in there who knows what the heck they’re doing. Speaking of someone who knows what they’re doing, the Lions should be beating a path to the door of one Bobby April, who exercised a clause in his contract Tuesday that let him walk away from Buffalo with two years remaining. That would be a sweet, sweet deal and April is one of the top special teams coordinators in the NFL. Here’s a list of previous places Coach April has worked.

1978 – Southern Miss – Graduate Assistant
1979 – Tulane – Tight Ends Coach
1980-1986 – Arizona Wildcats – Defensive Line/Secondary Coach
1987-1990 – USC Trojans – Secondary/Kicking Coach
1990 – Ohio State – Secondary Coach
1991-1993 – Atlanta Falcons – Tight Ends/Special Teams Coach
1994-1995 – Pittsburgh Steelers – Special Teams Coordinator
1996-1999 – New Orleans Saints – Special Teams Coordinator
2001-2003 – St. Louis Rams – Special Teams Coordinator
2004-2010 – Buffalo Bills – Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator

Bobby also won two special teams coach of the year awards, one in 2004, and another in 2008. If they don’t hurry, he’ll be gone to someone else. Go get him Martin Mayhew!

Let’s make a deal!

jettero2112 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:49:59 +0000

Stud KR/PR WR Josh Cribbs is unhappy in Cleveland. Detroit is in dire need of a return man and another decent receiver. The Lions should make the Browns an offer for Cribbs now. Holmgren will attempt to resign him but it sounds like Cribbs may sit out if he doesn’t get what he wants. The guy is an animal in the return game.
Here’s his return line for 2009:

Punt Returns – 38
YDS – 452
TD – 1
AVG – 11.89
FC – 3
LNG – 67

Kick Returns – 56
YDS – 1542
TD – 3
AVG – 27.54
FC – 0
LNG – 103

The 2009 season had Detroit ranked 27th in the return game, averaging 8.3 yards on punts and 21.4 yards on kicks. Dismal. Hopefully the Lions will get rid of Stan Kwan and bring in someone (Bobby April?!) to help revitalize special teams play. Cribbs would also go a long way to helping out.

Just an idea. What are your thoughts?

Rumors and Rambling – What’s next for Detroit?

jettero2112 — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:37:56 +0000

The Lions signed nine free agents today including TE Dan Gronkowski and DT Terrence Taylor. They also signed WR’s Michael Ray Garvin and Kole Heckendorf, DB’s Jonathan Hefney, Paul Pratt and Jahi Word-Daniels, OG Kurt Quarterman and DE Robert Henderson.
I certainly hope the Lions can make a splash in free agency (scheduled to start 03/05/10) this year. The Ford’s will need to open up their wallets to get some quality FA’s during that time. There are a lot of needs, on both sides of the ball, and this could be a great opportunity for Detroit. There are some top quality player available and hopefully many will at least visit Allen Park.

I would like to see the Lions consider some of the following (short list) though I imagine that many if not most of these guys will resign with their current teams. On offense WR’s Brandon Marshall, Vincent Jackson and Miles Austin (will almost definitely resign with Dallas), RB’s Darren Sproles, Jerious Norwood and LenDale White, OL Jahri Evans, Donald Penn and Marcus McNeill. On defense DE Elvis Dumervil and Ray Edwards, DT Tony Brown (played for Schwartz) and DB’s Richard Marshall and Dunta Robinson.

These are among the elite FA’s this winter though, Dunta had an off year and I believe will improve next season, and I would like to see the Lions try for one or more of them. Jim Schwartz still believes that they Lions need talent over trying to fix any one position and I agree with that sentiment.

“We said last year in the draft that we had a lot of needs and our No. 1 need was talent, and that we couldn’t pass on talented players in order to solve one need,” Schwartz said Monday at his press conference to wrap up the season. “I think we’re still in that situation in a lot of areas. There aren’t many positions on this team that we can just sort of sit back and say, ‘Hey, we’re good the way we are,’ and that’s just a fact of life.”

Speaking of free agency, the 2010 season has the possibility of being an uncapped year. That would made UFA need 6 years instead of 4 years for eligibility. The NFL and Union are also discussing a rookie wage scale that would limit pay for new players and give that money to proven veterans. This would be a tremendous help for teams that are drafting high as right now they’re forced to spend ridiculous amount of money for guys that have never played an NFL down (see Stafford’s contract last year). I’m all for the wage scale or rookie salary cap or whatever they want to call it. Long past it’s time.

Lions lose again, get #2 pick in 2010 draft

jettero2112 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:21:22 +0000

Another disappointing season is finally over. The Lions were beaten by the Bears this afternoon, mostly in the 2nd half, which was the norm for the entire season. I’m not doing a recap as it was depressing enough the first time. With that loss and a loss by the St. Louis Rams, the Lions will end up with the 2nd pick in the 2010 NFL draft.

Who will be that player? Many Lions faithful hope the Rams pick a quarterback at #1 and leave Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh for the Lions. Time will tell. Free agency comes first and that could change a lot with an uncapped 2010 season.

There were some bright spots this year, most notably the 2009 draft class. Matthew Stafford has shown himself to be the future face of the franchise and a team leader, both on and off the field. TE Brandon Pettigew was coming along nicely before his season ending injury and should be a great TE for the Lions. Safety Louis Delmas was a stud and the only player that could actually perform in the Lions extremely poor secondary.

Linebacker DeAndre Levy started 9 games this season and look fantastic though he did occasionally make some rookie mistakes. Sammie Lee Hill performed well at DT and if he can keep it up will be a nice bonus for the Lions.

RB Aaron Brown showed flashes of greatness at times but made a lot of mistakes. he should be back next year, especially with the injury to RB Kevin Smith.

One of my favorite players and all around heat seeking missile, Zack Follett, played well on special teams and should be back next season.

WR Derrick Williams played poorly at WR and also in the return game. I don’t expect him to be on the team next season.

I’m not sure what will happen for back-ups for Stafford next year. Stanton still has a year left on his contract and Ramsey may be an ok fill-in. As long as Culpepper is gone, I don’t care.

A lot of us Lions faithful were drinking the kool-aid heavily in the pre-season and were hoping for a better performance from this team. That definitely didn’t happen. I’m pleased with the coaching staff except for ST coach Stan Kwan, who should be gone as soon as possible. Jim Schwartz has fire and determination and I believe is what the Lions need heading into the future. Coach Cunningham did not have the talent needed for a good defense this year but hopefully that changes this offseason.

This will be an interesting time leading up to the combine and 2010 draft. This is looking to be an uncapped season and will screw over many players who will become restricted instead of unrestricted free agents. I just hope that they put in a rookie salary cap in the next contract. With the bizarre costs of signing a top draft pick, it doesn’t help those teams that are drafting high because they don’t have a lot of money left over to get other good players. Something needs to be done in the next contract as parity in the NFL is slowly disappearing.

I’ll start up a series of scouting reports in the next few weeks and talk about where the lions are heading and what I think they need to do to win.

Happy New Year and, hopefully, a new start to the Detroit Lions.

Bears at Lions – Week 17 – End of the road

jettero2112 — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:28:23 +0000

Da Bears come into Detroit today for the final game of the season. And what a season it has been, for both teams. The Bears are coming off a great overtime win over Minnesota on MNF but will be missing the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row and some are saying they’re playing for Lovie Smith’s job next season. He’s got a lot of time on his contract and the Bears don’t like to pay off big contracts. I’d have to say Smith is around for at least one more season. The Lions are playing to see what draft position they get next year. The optimal scenario is the Lions lose and the Rams win – Lions draft Ndamukong Suh (pronounced En-dom-ah-ken Soo, learn it now).

As much as I want the Lions to draft Suh, I will be rooting for them to beat the Bears today. This would give the Lions a 3-5 home record (still 0-8 on the road). With next seasons road schedule, they should be able to get at least one road win. They played well at times this season but, unfortunately, at times wasn’t nearly enough.

Bears QB Jay Cutler has not played well this season. He has a league high 26 int’s and has not played like he did in Denver. I’m very glad the Lions did not trade for him in the offseason and drafted Stafford instead. The Bears will be playing without CB Charles Tillman, who was placed on IR with broken ribs, and probably without DB/KR Danieal Manning, WR Devin Hester and probably without WR Johnny Knox. Matt Forte will need to have a big game today for the bears to have any hope of winning this game for Chicago.

For the Lions, it looks like they’re going to let Daunte Culpepper start under center. Bad move as I don’t think he gives the Lions any chance of winning this game (planned that way on purpose?). They need to either let Stanton have another chance or throw Patrick Ramsey into the mix and see what he’s got (and a better shot at the #1 pick). If they want a chance at winning, play Stanton, if they want a shot at the 1st pick in next years draft, play Culpepper or Ramsey.

The Lions defensive front will need to step up today and stop bears RB Matt Forte from having a big game. There are several WR’s out for Chicago and the Bears will run Forte early and often. Detroit will need to air the ball out and take the opportunity against a non-Tillman secondary. CJ could have a big game if one of the Detroit QB’s can get him the ball. It would be nice to see one of the other Lions WR actually catch a dang ball today and to see him not call for a fair catch all the time in the KR/PR game.

Injury Report

Detroit Lions

OUT
LB Larry Foote
QUESTIONABLE
CB Phillip Buchanon, S Louis Delmas
PROBABLE
DT Joe Cohen, DT Grady Jackson, QB Drew Stanton, LB Jordon Dizon, DE Dewayne White, WR Brian Witherspoon

Chicago Bears

OUT
DT Israel Idonije, CB Charles Tillman
DOUBTFUL
S Al Afalava, WR Johnny Knox, S Danieal Manning
PROBABLE
S Craig Steltz, DT Tommie Harris, LB Lance Briggs

Vegas has the odds at 3 points in favor of the Bears with the O/U at 45 points. 90% of the people have been taking Chicago. This game could go either way, depending on who starts. I give the bears the win if Culpepper gets the nod and a victory for Detroit if Stanton is under center. I’d have to say 31-14 in Chicago’s favor as it sounds like Culpepper will be under center.

As usual, the best place for game time conversation and play-by-play game thread is over at SBNation’s Detroit Lions blog - Pride of Detroit.

Rumors and Rambling

jettero2112 — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:36:31 +0000

Daunte Culpepper has been taking snaps with the 1st offense. He’s the most offensive thing about that group. He needs to stay on the bench and they need to give Drew Stanton another shot.

The Lions real quarterback, Matthew Stafford, had successful knee surgery. The surgery was performed by famed sports orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews. Hope he’s back and healthy for the start of practices.
The Lions are close to a sellout for the last game of the season which is against Da Bears. They only have about 1000 tickets left. That would mean no blackout in the Detroit area, which seems to have been the exception and not the rule the past two seasons.

The possibility of a no-cap year in 2010 will be a detriment to many players in the NFL. There are seven Lions players (safety Daniel Bullocks, center Dylan Gandy, defensive end Jason Hunter, wide receiver Adam Jennings, guard Daniel Loper, safety Ko Simpson and linebacker Cody Spencer) who would be affected, turning them from unrestricted to restricted free agents. I’d rather they finalize a contract that has a rookie salary ceiling, including guaranteed money. people coming in who have never played a down in the NFL do not deserve to be the highest paid players in the league.

Lions rookie Louis Delmas didn’t make the pro-bowl, but Gunther Cunningham believes he should be rookie of the year. Delmas played lights out this year and is a leader and inspiration both on and off the field. His stats were amazing for a rookie, including scoring on a pick, fumble and safety. It’s only been done once before in FL history. That pick he returned? 101 yards, the longest by a rookie in modern history. He should at least be in the running.

An article in the Detroit News talks about player job security for next season. I agree with most of the selections but believe that Jason Hunter and Aaron Brown will be back next season.

Lions lose to San Francisco 20-6

jettero2112 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:50:16 +0000

Short and sweet today. The Lions lost, again, yesterday to the San Francisco 49ers 20-6. The first drive of the game for the Lions looked pretty good until they got into the redzone and couldn’t get the TD. They settled for a Jason Hanson field goal to go up 3-0. It all went down hill big time from there. Mistake after mistake. Very disappointing.

The D looked good at times. Delmas, Levy and Hunter performed well as did the Line and LB’s at times. Those yelling for Sims to be traded should shut up now. Thank you. The secondary still sucks and, except for Delmas, couldn’t defend my 9 year old. The offense looked horrible. 6 turnovers included picks by Stanton and fumbles by Calvin Johnson. The return game wasn’t much better. Witherspoon looked ok but Northcutt is a wuss and fair catches everything.

Cuplepper came in during the second half and looked like normal, old and washed up. Stanton should get the start next week unless they want to try and play Patrick Ramsey, who they signed a few days ago as insurance to replace Matthew Stafford who is finishing the season on IR..

Overall, this was an extremely poor performance by the Lions. They return home for the last game of the season this coming Sunday against the Bears. The Lions are guaranteed, at worst, the #3 pick in the draft. If the Rams win against the 49ers next week, the Lions could end up with the first pick and Suh. I seriously doubt the Rams would take anyone else but him at #1 so here’s hoping the Rams win.

Pretty soon everything will turn to draft discussion, if it hasn’t already. Hopefully the Lions will do as well in the ‘10 draft as they did last year and maybe they’ll get lucky in free agency. Looking forward to the offseason myself.