The 2009 Detroit Lions Are Creating a New Roar in Town

The time has come in Detroit for the Lions to be legitimate.  The Millen era has ended with last year’s 0-16 record.  Now under the power of the Schwartz, the Lions will have a chance to make Ford Field a location worthy of the magic that Comerica Park and Joe Louis Arena both share.

2009 will be tough, with the Lions changing everything except the team colors in an effort  to start anew. A fan base that could have easily walked has decided to still show support with record numbers attending the open practices. 

The first six games of the season will set the tone for the Lions.

These six games feature the second QB to pass for 5,000 yards (Drew Brees), the defending Super Bowl Champs (Steelers) as well as their first games verse the Bears, Packers and Vikings.

If they can make some noise with these games, the Lions will have turned the corner toward giving Detroit back its football team.  The matchups at least on paper or online do in a way favor the Lions if the Lions can just play.

WEEK 0NE – THE SAINTS

The Saints will be a tough test for the first game as the Lions will start on the road in the Superdome. The fans of New Orleans will cheer their team with an added intensity to insure that the Saints do not end the Lions losing streak.

The match-up of concern will be with the Lions defense.

The Lions will have four threats to defend against. Drew Brees and his 5,069 passing yards from last season will be in encore mode. Marques Colston, Lance Moore and Devery Henderson will be ready to help Brees get back to 5,000.   

Reggie Bush is a multi-tooled running back who will have every Lions defender on edge if he has the ball.  Jeremy Shockey and Billy Miller as tight ends are equally good as blockers or receivers.

Larry Foote and Julian Peterson will have the Lions 4-3 defense ready for the short stuff. The concern will be in the secondary. Phlilip Buchanon and Anthony Henry, along with rookie Louis Delmas, will not get a chance to sit even on the sidelines making sure those Saints receivers do not break for any long gains. 

WEEK TWO – THE VIKINGS

The main match-up against their NFC North rival will not be with the offensive side of the ball.  Even though the Vikings have the best running back in the world in Adrian Peterson, their quarterback concerns have not really been solved. 

The Vikings have one of the best defensive lines in football.  The Williams Wall of Pat and Kevin, along with Jared Allen, will be a big concern for the Lions offense.  These three are good enough that all five offensive lineman will be busy on every single down trying to reintroduce themselves to former Viking Daunte Culpepper or welcome Matthew Stafford to the NFL.

Calvin Johnson and the rest of the Lions receivers will have to get their routes right and catch the ball.  They can’t afford to make a lot of drops like they made against the Falcons in their first preseason game on Saturday. 

Kevin Smith will need his line, along with the tight ends Brian Pettigrew and Will Heller, to give him some space. Smith needs to create enough of a distraction on the ground so that Culpepper/Stafford will get the space they need to bring the first home victory to the Lions in over a year.

WEEK THREE – THE REDSKINS

The Redskins will be an intriguing match up in that the Lions will face them in Detroit.  The Lions have not beaten the Redskins in Washington.

The Redskins are built on a team concept, even though they have the likes of Clinton Portis and his outfits.  

The Lions will be equally busy on both sides of the ball.  Portis, receivers Santana Moss, Antwain Randle El, and tight end Chris Cooley will give the Lions defense a Sunday afternoon headache if they are not careful. 

However the Lions do have an ace in the hole in that Jon Jansen, who was on the Redskins offensive line last season, is now a Lion.  His knowledge of their system will aid the Schwartz and Cunningham in drawing up schemes to take down the Redskins.  

The Lions offensive line will have fits trying to stop all-world defender Albert Haynesworth. But the Schwartz was the defensive coordinator in Tennessee last season, so he should be able have some strategy for Scott Linehan to use to keep Hanyesworth from getting into the backfield. 

Rookie Brian Orakpo will also be watched as he is already No. 1 on the Redskins depth chart.

WEEK FOUR – THE BEARS

The Soldier Field faithful will be in a frenzy to welcome the Lions to Chicago.  The Bears are also a balanced team that creates serious concern on both sides of the ball. 

The Lions will be busy on this Sunday in October.

Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs lead this version of the Monsters of the Midway with a hard-hitting style that will continue the black and blue tradition  that defines the Lions-Bears rivalry. 

The Lions offensive line will have make sure these all-world linebackers don’t get to Culpepper/Stafford or flatten Kevin Smith.

Jay Cutler finally puts to rest the quarterback debate in Chicago. This is his team, as Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman are now gone. 

He has Devin Hester who is not the best receiver.  However since his kickoff return career seems to be over, he will be more focused on just being a receiver. 

Along with Earl Bennett and others, Hester and the Bears receivers will see a new Lions secondary that won’t give them any space.

WEEK FIVE – THE STEELERS

The Steelers are the only team besides the Lions to make fans at Ford Field cheer for them, as they won Super Bowl XL there. 

As defending NFL champs the Steelers are rewarded with a target on their backs.

The match-up that will be of greatest interest will be Larry Foote against his old team.  He was one of the Steelers’ best players on defense, and now he will face the only team he had played for in the NFL until this season. 

He knows their tricks on offense and their schemes on defense.  However can the Lions pick his brain well enough so that when the Steel Curtain comes to town, the light still gets through?

The Steel Curtain defense and the Steelers offense both have a great deal of talent for the Lions to face.  James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, and Troy Polamalu will give the Lions’ offense nightmares leading up to this game. 

They are not the type  of players a team can defend. They are the type of players you make sure haven’t found you when you have the ball.

On offense the only good thing is that the Steelers’ running game is not the most productive.  However, Willie Parker and others will still make noise. 

Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes are not the easiest receivers to defend. But with recent rule changes, Ward won’t be able to take runs at defensive backs like he use to. 

Foote and the Lions defense will have to key on Ben Roethlisberger. The need to force him to run so he won’t be able to pull some magic like he did in winning the Super Bowl in the last seconds back in February.

WEEK SIX – THE PACKERS

The Packers are Aaron Rodgers’ team.  He was a fantasy football hit last season as he put up a ton of yards week after week.  He also has Lambeau Field as a 12th man, as it has a rowdy crowd and lousy weather to torture opposing teams. 

Last season the Lions lost to the Packers in their final game to go 0-16. 

This season will be different as the Lions are not playing the Packers late in the season in Green Bay. They are playing instead on October 18—prior to their bye week—so it will only be cold. 

The Packers are also an equally balanced team.

Rodgers has proved his worth as a QB with Greg Jennings and Donald Driver to throw to and Brian Grant to run circles around opposing defensive players. 

The Lions defense will be busy in this match-up. Buchanon and Henry will have to stick to Jennings and Driver like glue all afternoon.  Foote, Peterson and everyone else will have to hit Grant quickly before he engages his jets.

On offense, Culpepper/Stafford will be careful as the Packers have one of the best corner combos in Charles Woodson and Al Harris.  They can match up with Calvin Johnson in speed but not in height. 

Running will be tough as the Packers upgraded their defensive line with B.J Raji. Nick Barnett offers the same intensity that Larry Foote does for the Lions. 

All in all, it will be a perfect game to play prior to a week off to complete the rest of the season.

 

 

 

 

The 2009 NFC North: Black and Blue All Over Again

The Detroit Lions will have their hands full with the NFC North in 2009.  The Bears, Packers, and Vikings did retool but not as extensively as the Lions. 

Therefore, they do not have to spend as much time as the Lions do in getting players used to a new front office, coaching staff, and systems on both offense and defense. 

However, the three other teams in the division do not know what this new version of the Honolulu Blue will be like compared to what was put on the field during the era of Millen.

The Bears, Packers, and Vikings have been rivals with the Lions as long as they have been in the NFL.  These teams always look forward to playing each other and dread it at the same time, but even if one is having a bad year it doesn’t mean the winning team escapes without bruises.  

For the Lions to think playoffs so soon after the 0-16 season may be too much to hope for.  However, the best test for the 2009 Lions is how they will match up against the North—in both the talent of the teams and that they play each other twice. 

Will the Lions learn from whatever mistakes they make in their first games with each team?

Doing so will be paramount to the Lions proving they are a different animal.

The toughest team the Lions will face in the North will be the Green Bay Packers.  They are the only team not in the middle of a QB change and their main draft picks, defensive tackle B.J. Raji and linebacker Clay Matthews, only make their defense that much tougher.

Meanwhile, Detroit will have either Daunte Culpepper or Matthew Stafford in a new system at quarterback.  Aaron Rogers, who was on fire for almost the entire 2008 season, will be back at the helm again in the post-Favre era. 

Running back Brian Grant, along with receivers Donald Driver and Brian Jennings, could be too much for the Lions to handle. 

However, Jim Schwartz built a great “D” in Tennessee and will be up to the challenge to defend these talents and break through that wall of green that makes up their offensive line. 

An advantage for the Lions is that their game in Green Bay is in October, which is like the summer when compared to the weather in November and December.

The Williams Wall of Kevin and Pat, Chad Greenway, Jared Allen, and the rest of the Vikings’ defense will once again be a force to contend with regardless of Brian Pettigrew’s blocking skills at tight end.

Even though the Vikings have one of the best NFL running backs in Adrian Peterson, there is still a problem at quarterback.  Tarvaris Jackson plays like a poor man’s Vick, which is why the Brett Favre show could arrive in Minnesota. 

Favre has the most all-time records for QB’s, though not all of those records are for good things.  Regardless of the yards he may put up with Bernard Berrian, Bobby Wade, and Percy Harvin, he will also throw a lot of interceptions. 

The newly rebuilt Detroit secondary will have to exploit Favre’s gunslinging nature or if it is Jackson, force him to the outside for Ernie Simms, Julian Petterson, and Louis Delmas to either knock him into next week or force him out of bounds.

The Metrodome crowd is always a factor in both the overall noise and that horn reminding the visiting team that they are in a different world. 

The Chicago Bears addition of Jay Culter does instantly upgrade their quarterback position to put the Rex Grossman years fully in the past.  The receiving corps did not have an outstanding performer last season, which could mean a multi-tooled attack that will be difficult to defend for the rebuilt Lions’ “D.”

If Devin Hester can rediscover confidence in his return game, they will have a dangerous combination along with Daniel Robinson on special teams.

Their Monsters of the Midway defense of Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Mike Brown, Kevin Payne, and Adewale Ogunleye will be a tough act to contend with even if Rod Marinelli is coaching the defensive line. 

Plus, the Lions play the Bears on the last day of the season which could be an issue if the Lions are on the bubble of the playoffs.

The Miami Dolphins qualified for the playoffs a year after 1-15.  However, for the Lions to qualify for the playoffs a year after 0-16, they will have a tough division of long-standing rivals who have also improved their teams on both sides of the ball. 

The true goal of the Lions is not an assumed path to the playoffs, but one victory followed by another and so on.  It is not that the playoffs are impossible, but the Lions must learn how to win before they can run away with the division.

The 2009 NFL Draft: Ooops…the Lions Did It Again

The 2009 NFL Draft has now been completed for the new-look Detroit Lions.  No team has ever approached the draft as the Lions have. The team needed people everywhere in moving away from last season’s 0-16 debacle. 

Yet the actual choices by the football brass of the Honolulu Blue present another year of the Lions passing up quality players to pick their guys instead.

The worst kept secret in the draft was the signing of Matthew Stafford.  Even though it was only known a day before the draft of the six-year deal with $47.1 million guarenteed of $72 million total, the decision to pick him was decided long ago. 

When the trade for Julian Peterson occured in March, the Lions paved the way for the Seahawks to pick up Aaron Curry.  

Matthew Stafford in truth may be a stroke of genius for the Lions.  Unlike the quarterbacks coming out next season, Stafford is not a spread QB so there won’t be a lot time spent teaching him to go under center. 

Since the combine, Stafford has been preparing himself to be drafted first and know who will draft him first.   He also doesn’t have the Heisman and or national championship clout that the QB’s coming out next season would have led to a lot more haggling for the contract.

Also with Culpepper signed, Stafford will not have to start immediately so he will have room to learn and grow as a pro QB.

The 20th pick was a shocker.  With a host of offensive tackles as well as Rey Maualuga and James Laurenitis still avaible, the Lions instead chose Brandon Pettigrew, tight end out of Oklahoma State.

He is massive at 6-foot-5, 263 pounds. He can line up along side Cherlius or one of the other tackles to keep people away from Stafford, lead block for when Kevin Smith is running his way and since he caught 42 passes last season for the Cowboys he can be another weapon for Culpepper now and later for Stafford. 

In reality, the Lions already have five TE’s on the roster.  Are the Lions trying to have a TE controversy?  They needed linemen and linebackers, not another guy to catch passes.

The 33rd pick was a surprise at first.  Maualuga and Laurenaitis were still on the board and the Lions instead went local and picked up safety Louis Delmas out of Western Michigan.  He is really a good pick since he had a whopping 111 tackles last season for the Broncos. 

He can take on the Troy Polamalu-Ed Reed Thunder & Lightning role.  The thunder is from his hard hits and the lightning is from his speed-4.5/40 is great for a position in which he will be facing the million dollar arms of Aaron Rogers in Green Bay and Jay Cutler in Chicago twice a year as well as catching Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson before he goes anywhere significant.

At No. 82, wide receiver Derrick Williams out of Penn State and later at #192, running back Aaron Brown from TCU will be part of a newly rebuilt return game. 

Derrick Williams had 1,095 return yards for the Nittany Lions in his career so he is more than ready to take on the role of returning the football back for the Lions. 

Williams will also compete for a spot on the receiving corps, however he is only 6’0″ and 194lb. so he will only be used when the Lions go to a four-WR set.  

Aaron Brown has too steep a climb to be the next running back.  However as a running back he will be built well enough to handle the requirements to be on special teams either in the role of blocking/tackling or even in receiving kicks or punts if Williams gets called up to be a starting receiver.

At No. 76, the Lions selected linebacker DeAndre Levy out of Wisconsin.  He is 6’2 236-pound which means he will probably start his career on special teams.  He did have good enough speed to be a quality blitzer for the Badgers. 

He will need to add on more weight to be able play linebacker in the pros.  His experience on the special teams in terms of tracking and attacking opposing kick returners will prepare him to take the reins in the future as an outside linebacker for the Lions.

At No. 115, defensive tackle Sammie Lee Hill out of Stillman may be the steal of the draft for the Lions.  He comes from a small school in Alabama but he is not small. 

At 6’4″ and 329 pounds, he will be a great presence as a tackle that the Lions are looking for.  He will learn a great deal from and compete with current DT’s Grady Jackson and Chuck Darby.

At No. 228, the Lions drafted offensive tackle Lydon Murtha from Nebraska.  He is 6’7″ 306 pounds whch puts him at nearly the same size as 6’7″ 319-pound Gosder Cherilus. 

At such a size he could be a bookend to Cherlius on the line if he beats out current tackle Jeff Backus who will then move to guard. 

He is a Husker and there is another Husker on the Lions, Dominic Raiola who will take him under his wing to help him adjust.  If Murtha doesn’t play right away, he will at least be on a learning curve to be the tackle of the future.

At No. 255, the Lions ended their weekend by drafting linebacker Zach Follet from California.  At 6’2″ 236 pounds, he, like DeAndre Levy, will start his Lions career on special teams.  He will need to add weight to be able to take on the added weight of opposing pro players.  

In review, the Lions did typical in their draft strategy.  They got their quarterback, but they passed on a quality inside linebacker to pick up a tight end who is not as important in the scheme of things. 

They did get a quality safety but then picked up another receiver, running back and two undersized linebackers.  Their choice for a DT came from a small school very late in the draft when they could passed on the TE and picked up a big school DT early on.

Time once again will tell how this draft works itself out.

Detroit Lions’ New Uniforms Just the Start of the Change Fans Need to See

The Detroit Lions ended the speculation today and revealed their new logo and uniforms. The changes were too minimal to set the league on its ear as one of those uniforms any buff should have.

A team that has left the greatest goose egg in pro sports history can only do so much to switch the impression that they have within Detroit and throughout the NFL.  

Yet the changes, which were really just a beefed up logo and different numbering, are a start. However, the finish is really the issue.

Chants of “Don’t Draft Stafford” and “Curry” at the unveiling may send the message who the fans want to first hold the new jersey come Saturday.

Having Calvin Johnson, Kevin Smith, Dominic Raiola, Ernie Simms, and Jason Hanson model the new uniforms does say a few things. 

The first thing is that these guys are staying, but not having Daunte Culpepper there may mean he is not the QB yet and someone else will model the new uniform come Saturday. 

However, no real direction is known where the Lions will go come when Roger Goodell announces who is going first. Is this a good sign? Tom Lewand, Martin Mayhew, and Jim Schwartz may feel the need to be secretive about who they are picking, but in truth it is not their team. 

The Lions do not have ownership over this team. The fans in truth are the true owners, which is not the same with the other Detroit teams. These fans have put up with too much futility to leave the team in their hands. 

The Wings, Tigers, and Pistons have had their own years of being lousy, yet they took it upon themselves to reward the fans with a quality product that fits the ticket price. The Lions actually raised their ticket prices before the 0-16 season. 

The Wings have done little to the Winged Wheel or the sweaters throughout their history, and they have 11 Stanley Cups. The Tigers won their four titles with an old English “D” that will never go out of style.

Even though one of their logos has the Tiger walking through the “D”, it is the “D” that defines the team either old or in cursive on the away in gray.

The Pistons won their three titles when they wore the red, white, and blue. These titles bookended an era of teal that the fans have forgiven them for.  

However, the Lions do not have this luxury. Instead, their changes were adding black accents and an all-black uniform that gave football fans the impression that the team was in mourning of themselves of year after year of mind-numbing draft decisions, a carousel of coaches and a record of futility that reached its apex last season with the 0-16 debacle.

The Lions fans are not calling for the Lions to reach Tampa on Feb. 7, yet what they are hoping for is a team that isn’t embarrassing in its own town when compared to the other pro teams, as well as the Spartans and Wolverines football teams. 

The Lions have to create a sense of relevance that far exceeds whatever the uniform will be.

Too many fans have taken the direction to give up on their season tickets and look elsewhere to find a football team worth watching and that is the greatest area where change must occur. The Lions brass can stand before the press and say whatever, but it is truly the fans they must answer to.

Saturday is really the day in which revealing by the Lions will set the team in a direction that will lead to a better roar by the king of the jungle.

Setting a new attitude is not made in speeches, but in action that will deliver a team that will not just fill the seats in Ford Field, but also not leave the national press hating life when they cover the team on Thanksgiving. 

Whether it be Aaron Curry or Matthew Stafford, fan support is the real change that will establish the new look that the Lions must truly be seeking if they want to be taken seriously. A new logo and uniform serves no purpose to a team if the roar from the fans on Sundays is still a crescendo of boos.  

Currently the greatest cheers from Ford Field have been for MSU’s amazing rise to reach the National Championship Game and concerts. Yet the original reason for its construction is still a work in progress. 

Change is the real currency the fans of the Lions want to see—a change that gives them a team that can stand on its feet and take notice from whomever they play on Sunday.

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