"Have at it” – ESPN.com Fields Suggestions on How to Fix the Lions

ESPN.com’s NFC North blogger, Kevin Seifert, threw up a post asking his readership to lay out their blueprint for the Lions’ future.  He received just about every conceivable suggestion, from pumping up the offense, to ignoring the offense and fixing up the defense, and everything in between.  This morning, Kevin collected some of the best answers and supplied his own.

He generally supported the no-job-is-safe approach that Schwartz has taken, though cautioned that sometimes, consistency is a virtue in and of itself.  He also advocated a long-term strategy of addressing both the offensive and defensive lines—something almost every Lions fan can get behind.

Frankly, the most dire situation isn’t the OL, whose play has been somewhere between “okay” and “pretty good”.  Nor is it the DL, where injuries have either felled or limited Jared DeVries, DeWayne White, Cliff Avril, Jason Hunter, and Sammie Hill.  That’s the top two DEs at each position, and three of the four projected starters on the defensive line.  Once the DL gets healthy, the front seven should be moderately stout.

However, the secondary remains a completely unfettered disaster.  Theoretical #1 cornerback Anthony Henry started off solid, but is starting to show why the Lions have wanted to switch him to safety.  Phillip Buchanon has the talent to be a #1 corner, but his play has been wildly inconsistent.  Will James, would be an excellent nickel corner, and an okay complement opposite a true #1.  However, he’s currently the Lions’ best corner, and that is not good.  Ko Simpson has played very well next to Louis Delmas, but Simpson’s been dinged up, and Delmas is playing like the very talented rookie that he is: talented . . . but a rookie.

Don’t forget, Gunther Cunningham’s aggressive blitzes can’t work, and won’t be called, if the secondary can’t hold it down behind them.  As long as the defensive backfield is in such disarray, the Lions won’t be able to run their defense like they want to.  Minimally, the Lions will need to either acquire a veteran starting corner, or spend a weekday draft pick on one.  After that, they’ll have to either settle on Ko Simpson or scout out his replacement.  Finally, they’ll have to rebuild the depth at corner with a mid- and/or late-round pick or two.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

I WANT TO BELIEVE

For those of you who were fans of the (mostly) excellent science fiction/fantasy/thriller/suspense show The X-Files, I have an excellent link for you.  A moderator at Lionbacker.com, a Lions blog and forum site, thought he saw something unexplained in the video replay of Johnny Knox’s gamebreaking 102-yard kickoff return for a TD.

What he saw was no touchdown at all.  Take a look at the evidence for yourself.  Was it a touchdown, or an illusion?  A critical failure of the Lions’ special teams, or a league conspiracy to ensure the status quo in the NFC North goes unchallenged?  Tell me, Lions fans—is the truth out there?

Discuss it here, in The Den!

Lions cutting it thin on the DL

With John Niyo’s Twitter report that the Lions have released DT Orien Harris to make room for DE Turk McBride, the Lions have only three named DTs on the roster: veteran run-stopper Grady Jackson, fourth-round rookie Sammie Hill, and 2008 seventh-rounder Landon Cohen.  As Jackson is considered a 10-20 snap situational player, the Lions now have, quite literally, no depth at the tackle spot.

Even if Andre Fluellen, who has shifted from DE to DT and back again several times already this season, flips back to DT, both depth and production at the DT spot are alarming.  Jackson is now the only player on the roster who’d started an NFL game at DT before last Sunday.  With true big-bodied DTs always in high demand, and the season already underway, it seems impossible that the Lions could do much of anything to bring in reinforcements--save re-sign one of the veterans they’ve already cut.

Keep an eye on the waiver wire as the week winds on . . . and discuss it here, in The Den!

Culpepper makes a statement

Daunte Culpepper has spent most of the offseason far away from the media, rarely making himself available for questions.  In the wake of the announcement that Matthew Stafford is the Lions’ new permanent starting quarterback, Culpepper has issued the following statement to the media, through the team’s website:

“My position is that if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Coach Schwartz gave me a fair opportunity to compete for the starting job and now the decision has been made that Matt is the best quarterback in Detroit. I support the decision and I am ready to settle into my role.”

It’s an extremely classy statement, and it speaks well of Daunte.  The absolute worst thing that could happen for the Lions now is for Culpepper to publicly challenge the Lions’ leadership, or privately incite mutiny.  Still, it’s no secret that he went all-out in recommitting himself to football, in hopes of winning the job.  That his effort was in vain hasn’t gone unnoticed by the veterans.

Perhaps it’s an unnerving glimpse into the future for these players; a preview of the day when working their butt off ensures only a spot for that butt on the bench.  Perhaps Matthew Stafford under center is a reminder that no matter how hard they work, how well they execute, or how polished their technique, a day will come when a bright-eyed youngster with fresh knees and an explosive bank account balance takes their job away from them.

However, all of that will go away when the kid performs, and the Lions win.  Coaches Schwartz and Linehan have the ability—and responsibility--to ensure that their bold decision looks like a smart decision come December.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

Lions Preseason Blog Buzz

With the credentialed media folks gathered in Allen Park, I thought I’d take a moment to point out some of the great work being done by our fellow bloggers:

• DetFan1979, who some of you may know from his Blogspot blog, has a new blog up, Roar of the Lions.  He visited training camp, and posted an outstanding diary of his visit.  He got a lot of good looks at the offensive and defensive lines, as well as a great view of some linebacker drills.   He wraps it up with a touching story about his small daughter and Charlie Sanders.  Great stuff.
• This one’s not for the faint of heart—or pure of mind!—but Neil at Armchair Linebacker wrote a brilliant piece that, in all its profane, Gonzo glory, completely captures everything that it means to be a Lions fan.
• For an outside perspective, Steelers blog Steelers N’At is working their way through a 32-team preseason preview.  They just posted their Lions breakdown—and while their predicted final record (2-14) won’t make most Lions fans swoon, they definitely did their homework, and made solid observations.  It’s a good look into what other teams’ fans think of the changes made by the new Lions brass.
• Yardbarker’s doing a series called the “Juggernaut Index”, a look at every team’s offense in terms of overall fantasy football potential.  The Lions, in their estimation, rank at a position that doesn’t start with a “3”!  Predictable praise for Megatron is mixed in with some surprisingly nuanced, in-depth work.  It’s a nice read.
• Finally, DrewsLions over at Pride of Detroit put up a nice piece trying to cover both extremes of the 2009 Lions: first bathing them in a warm, optimistic glow, then casting a deathly pallor over them, then giving you an honest piece of his own mind.

Of course, stay tuned here at the Blue Blog for all of the very latest news, insight, and analysis—and hit the jump to The Den to discuss it all with the largest Lions community around!

DT John Thornton – the one that got away

On Sunday evening, SI’s Ross Tucker reported, via Twitter, that former Bengals DT John Thornton had verbally agreed to terms with the Lions—but then backed out, due to not feeling “comfortable” with the deal.  Immediately, I wondered if Lewand and/or Mayhew had insisted on a very short deal, or a very low amount of guaranteed money.  Something Mayhew has been very firm on is getting the “right player for the right price”—meaning that even if he has a chance to acquire a player who’d be a perfect fit on the field, he won’t pull the trigger if the price is too high.

I asked Tucker if it was the money or the terms that were the sticking point, and Tucker replied that he was “not exactly sure but it probably came down to guaranteed money.  Thornton is a smart guy with a lot of things going in life.”  This essentially confirmed my earlier suspicions.  As with Culpepper, Foote, Jackson, et al., the Lions don’t want to be paying for Thornton for three or four years—they want to be able to completely wash his hands of him as soon as it becomes expedient.  Thornton probably looked at the proposed structure of the deal and concluded that if any of the Lions’ young DTs perform, he’s almost certainly being given a handshake and bus ticket at the end of the season.  If he really does have a lot of irons in the fire, he can afford to wait and see another team offers more . . . because my guess is, the Lions’ best offer is already on the table. Discuss it here, in The Den!

Atticus: Delmas, Pettigrew Could Be Great

We love sharing the insightful opinion from knowledgeable fans, and it typically doesn't get any better than The Den user Atticus, who shared the importance of Detroit Lions rookie safety Louis Delmas and tight end Brandon Pettigrew in what has become a hot topic on the message board.

First -- let's talk ... baseball.

LOL.

There are some rare commodities in baseball -- used to be even more rare -- but still pretty rare.

I'll list 2.

A shortstop who is a notably good fielder AND a notably good hitter with good power. A catcher who is a notably good fielder AND a notably good hitter with good power.

It's just such a plus for a team to have such a Shortstop or Catcher. You don't have to put up with mediocrity in one area to have the other area. A good hitting catcher who's crap in throwing out runners or calling the game. Or a great fielding catcher who barely hits his weight and who has warning track power. Same for SS. Pettigrew. There are perhaps 15 notably productive TEs in terms of receiving numbers. So getting a TE who can give you that -- is itself not that easy to find. The number of TEs who are notably good in both blocking AND receiving production?

Count them on one hand. I'll list Witten as my example guy. He helps Dallas in so very many ways. He's a very rare guy to have on your team.

That's what Pettigrew hopes to become, I think. A really good all-around TE -- similar to Witten. I think most folks think he'll do exactly that. Perhaps not get quite the receiving numbers -- though Witten's not really all that fast and wasn't a guy with big numbers in college either.

Pettigrew is a version of Alex or Pudge Rodriguez. Rare talent. Great value to his team (leaving aside Alex's problems in the post-season of course).

Delmas. He's a safety who we believe has the tackling/run-help ability of some of the better safeties AND he has cover abilities that rival many of the better safeties. So -- using the above analysis -- he's got it all as well (we think). And it's fairly rare. Thus -- Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Bob Sanders are extremely valuable to their teams.

And that's what we've seen in the NFL -- the emergence of Safeties as bigtime values to their teams -- the really good safeties. There aren't that many of them. The Lions have floundered at safety (along with lots of other positions) for years and years. Certainly throughout the Millen era. And I'd actually go back to Blades in the early 90s.

In today's NFL, safeties can be a great and valuable asset to a team and defense. The all-around guys will fit any system. The main problem with such guys is that a team is likely to take them for granted. Then pay a huge price if the guy goes down to injury. The drop-off will be glaring -- that's how rare they are -- and how valuable they can ultimately be to their teams.

Is Delmas in the class of Polamalu, BobS and Ed Reed? Again -- I think the brass think so ... and a lot of draft sites agree.

I grump around about the DT situation and CB2 -- but that's more a failing overall of the draft and free agency efforts (and the inability to deal with every need in one year -- an understandable situation). I have NO issue at all with Pettigrew or Delmas. BPA's at the time? Certainly among the BPAs IMO. NEED? Yes. I think clearly they also help us in areas where we clearly needed help.

Rare talents -- and we got them at 20 and 33. In the same year. I think we got Spielman and Blades at 29 and 3 in 1988. I think these guys -- Pettigrew and Delmas -- will prove to be just as great as Lions in the NFL. Toss in that guy we took at #1OA ... and the 2009 draft of Mayhew/Schwartz may well prove to be the best in Lion history. But only time will tell.

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First Look at the New Lions

The Lions’ new coaching staff has had some chance to evaluate their holdover stock, and their new acquisitions, through OTAs, film sessions, quarterback school, independent weight-room work, etc.  Moreover, up until this point, the rookies and veterans have been segregated—rookies against rookies, vets against vets.  This means that the key rookies are competing against dozens of “camp fodder” guys that almost certainly won’t make the team—and the veterans aren’t playing with or against several players who are sure to see plenty of playing time.

Now, however, the Lions’ new staff—charged with the Sisyphean task of making the worst team in the history of the NFL competitive—will get their first look at the complete, overhauled, roster today.  Since there won’t be any live TV, live radio, scoreboard, box score, or any other traditional metric of football success, Lions observers looking for concrete improvement will have to focus on a few key areas:

• Calvin Johnson vs. Cornerbacks: One of the only absolutes on the Lions roster is Calvin “Megatron” Johnson.  The 6’-5” wideout managed to haul in 78 balls for 1,331 yards and twelve scores last year--despite subpar quarterback play, and a lack of complementary threats to keep defenses honest.  It is probable that he'll be successful against both free agent CB signee Patrick Buchanon, and CB Anthony Henry, who came to the Lions via trade.  However, whether he is merely “successful”—as opposed to “unstoppable”—could reveal whether the Lions’ secondary can slow down the likes of Bernard Berrien and Greg Jennings . . . or not.
• Interior OL vs. Interior DL: The Lions have struggled for the better part of a decade to find stalwart guards to bracket smart, gritty veteran C Dominic Raiola. This offseason, the Lions re-signed Stephen Peterman, brought in Titans T/G Daniel Loper, claimed ongoing reclamation project Toniu Fonoti, and signed a pair of tackles--Ephraim Salaam and Jon Jansen--all of whom could compete for the two starting spots.  Peterman is the returning starter on the right; the Lions think his game is more suited to this run-first offense than the outgoing Martzian zone scheme.  Loper, who came to Detroit with Schwartz, has the inside track on the left guard spot—though his 6’-6”, 320-pound frame makes him a more natural tackle.  All will compete against an extremely young and raw defensive line.  With FA acquisition Grady Jackson taking most of the summer off to keep his legs fresh, fourth-round rookie Sammie Hill and second-year vet Andre Fluellen will get a lot of reps in this minicamp.  Both are athletic, yet extremely raw prospects.  Fluellen looked good in what very little time he played last season, but has been asked to bulk up in this new defense.  Hill needs little bulking up at a lean-looking 330 pounds--but having played for tiny Stillman College, he has nearly zero coaching in fundamentals or technique.  How these two fare against the rotating cast of outsized veterans will show how much the Lions have improved a run defense that allowed over 2,700 yards rushing in 2008.
• The linebacking corps: What was the Lions’ greatest weakness in 2008—the linebackers—just might now be their greatest strength.  A trade brought former MSU Spartan Julian Peterson in from Seattle, and Steelers run-stuffer--and Detroit native--Larry Foote, came home after becoming a cap casualty in Pittsburgh. Adding third-round rookie DeAndre Levy to returning starter Ernie Sims and second-year vet Jordon Dizon, the Lions’ new-look LB corps features a lot of speed and athleticism.  In coordinator Gunther Cunningham’s new blitz-heavy scheme, the Lions will be asking these players to create a lot of pressure—and in turn, relieve a lot of pressure from the defensive line and secondary.  Given the Lions’ well-documented troubles in pass protection, word from camp should be that these linebackers gave the offensive line fits—if not, the Lions’ defense could again lack fangs come autumn.

There will be many other interesting positional battles waged, and the performance of many other players will be closely watched--of course, all eyes will be on Matt Stafford and Duante Culpepper.  However, determining when in the next 12 months Matt Stafford will take over won’t answer the real questions surrounding this team: Can they run?  Can they stop the run?  Can they rush the passer, and can they cover opposing wideouts?  The answer to at least some of these questions being "yes" will be the keys to the Lions winning . . . well, any games in 2009.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

Larry Foote: Class

Sam Farmer of the LA Times wrote an excellent article this weekend--well, several, really--but one of them focused on Larry Foote's arrival in Detroit.  While the article won't be completely unfamiliar to the Lions-obsessed, there are a couple of notes on his character in there that will definitely make any fan proud to have Foote on the roster.

During the runup to the draft, I made an impassioned plea to the Lions' brass to draft Aaron Curry.  One of the primary reasons was that the Lions' roster, during the Fontes "glory years", was stocked with high-character players; men with deep ties to the city.  Guys like Herman Moore and Robert Porcher were not only Pro Bowl-caliber players on the field, they became pillars of the community.  Given the state of Detroit's (and Michigan's) economy, is there an NFL city that more desperately needs its team to be not only a source of civic pride, but an actual agent of growth and change?  I felt that even if Matt Stafford panned out as a quarterback, Aaron Curry--a kid who came from nothing, whose single mom worked like a dog to support her three boys--would be a much better avatar of the franchise than a kid from one of Dallas' most privileged suburbs.

Yet, in the post-draft free agent market, the Lions have added two players--Foote, and Jon Jansen--born and raised in the Detroit area, schooled at U of M, and absolutely thrilled to be back home.  Moreover, they'll help bolster two of the Lions' weakest positions from last year: linebacker and offensive line.  As the Lions rebuild their team with fresh young talent from around the nation, it's great to know that they'll be taking their cues from high-character leaders who love the city as much as the city loves them.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

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The Lions WANT YOU BACK

The Lions, moreso than any time in recent history, are appealing to their fans.  According to Nick Cotsonika of the Free Press, yesterday the Lions sent an email to former season ticket holders, saying they "WANT YOU BACK".  It invited those who'd cancelled their season tickets--from all the way back to 2002--to an exclusive minicamp session on the 24th.

It's quite interesting to see the continuing committment that the Lions' leadership has shown to the fans . . . of course, the cynical person says, "that's because they want the money", and that's certainly true.  However, it would be one thing to run some ill-advised TV spots and call it a day--it's quite another to hold town all meetings, send personal letters from the head coach, and hold exclusive practice sessions . . . after decades of not only not reaching out to fans, but practically bending over backwards to spite them, the Lions are now working overtime to mend fences.

Whether these measures result in more season-ticket packages being sold or not, no one can say.  However, if it took forty years of mediocre capped by ten years of absolutely wretched to drive the fans away, these outreach measures--plus a little bit of winning--should at least melt the ice encasing many fans' hearts.

Discuss it here, in The Den!

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Jim Schwartz's State of the Team letter

Sean Yuille over at the Pride of Detroit blog has obtained a "State of the Team" letter written by Jim Schwartz, and sent from the Lions to, it's presumed, employees and season ticket holders.  Nothing Earth-shattering is revealed in the letter; Schwartz essentially praises his staff and the front office for the changes they've made to the personnel, praises fans for their passion, and exhorts the Lions faithful to show up to Ford Field in droves and make lots of noise.

The letter is a transparent attempt to reach out to fans and inspire them to return; that's fine by me.  For an organization that often treated its fans as burdens to bear, obstacles to overcome, or scenery to be ignored, these kinds of things are critical.  Any time the Lions proactively reach out to the fans that continue to ensure they exist, it's a step in the right direction.

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