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Detroit Lions Week 2-The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Posted 09-16-2008 at 04:45 PM by chrisslabaugh
Two down, fourteen to go and the Lions sit at 0-2. My respect and condolensces go out to the brave fans who dared show their faces at Ford Field for the home opener. A few things caught my attention during the game and they are:
The Good: Calvin Johnson- Well Millen, you finally got one right. Fourth times the charm I guess but as a fan I'll take any bright spot I can get and Megatron (I refuse to call him Bolt) is exactly that. Johnson ended the game with 6 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns, including the go ahead 47 yarder in the fourth quarter. He started out hot last year as well but was injured in week three against the Bears so I'm crossing my fingers that he can stay healthy this year and continue his rise to superstardom.
The Bad: The Lions Pass Defense- It was evident that Rod Marinelli did not want a repeat of last weeks gaudy 300+ rushing yard performance by Michael Turner and Co., and to the Lions credit they did a pretty good job of stopping the run. The Packers were held to only 125 yards on the ground which is very reasonable. Unfortunately Detroit forgot about a little trick play called the forward pass. Aaron Rodgers torched the Lion's secondary for 328 yards and three touchdowns while completing 63 percent of his passes. How about a happy medium next week guys?
The Ugly Jon Kitna- You were so close to being the good this week. You played 56 minutes of above average NFL starting quarterback ball. You could've been a hero and saved what is now going to undoubtedly be one of the most forgettable seasons in recent memory (and there have been quite a few.) Why do you hate us all Jon? With five minutes and some change left in the fourth quarter leading the team down the field trailing 27-25 after overcoming a 21-0 deficit you implode. Not one, not two, but three interceptions in five minutes! All of them leading to Packers TD (two of them actually being returned for scores) and grasping defeat out of the hands of victory. That was so ugly of a performance you automatically get this spot again next week irregardless of how you fare against the 49'rs. Ughhh.
The Good: Calvin Johnson- Well Millen, you finally got one right. Fourth times the charm I guess but as a fan I'll take any bright spot I can get and Megatron (I refuse to call him Bolt) is exactly that. Johnson ended the game with 6 catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns, including the go ahead 47 yarder in the fourth quarter. He started out hot last year as well but was injured in week three against the Bears so I'm crossing my fingers that he can stay healthy this year and continue his rise to superstardom.
The Bad: The Lions Pass Defense- It was evident that Rod Marinelli did not want a repeat of last weeks gaudy 300+ rushing yard performance by Michael Turner and Co., and to the Lions credit they did a pretty good job of stopping the run. The Packers were held to only 125 yards on the ground which is very reasonable. Unfortunately Detroit forgot about a little trick play called the forward pass. Aaron Rodgers torched the Lion's secondary for 328 yards and three touchdowns while completing 63 percent of his passes. How about a happy medium next week guys?
The Ugly Jon Kitna- You were so close to being the good this week. You played 56 minutes of above average NFL starting quarterback ball. You could've been a hero and saved what is now going to undoubtedly be one of the most forgettable seasons in recent memory (and there have been quite a few.) Why do you hate us all Jon? With five minutes and some change left in the fourth quarter leading the team down the field trailing 27-25 after overcoming a 21-0 deficit you implode. Not one, not two, but three interceptions in five minutes! All of them leading to Packers TD (two of them actually being returned for scores) and grasping defeat out of the hands of victory. That was so ugly of a performance you automatically get this spot again next week irregardless of how you fare against the 49'rs. Ughhh.
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Comments
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Good blog, Mr. Slaubaugh. Well written, and painfully entertaining. Agree on Calvin, he is a man among boys when healthy.
I place blame for there defensive problems squarely on the D-Line. The Cover-2 depends on pressure from them without blitzing. There is only so much time before the coverage will break down no matter how talented the secondary is, and ours is at best average. They should give the younger guys like Fluellen, Cohen, Moore, Avril, and Alama-Francis a lot of playing time this year so they can find out what they have in them. Marinelli was a D-Line coach in the Cover-2 in Tampa before he got this chance as a HC, and he's had 3 years to get "his guys" (mostly ex-Bucs) to play this system. He is on very thin ice, while Millen will probably get another extension.
On offense, the O-Line is learning the Zone-Blocking scheme, and this will take time. Wasting many 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks at other positions have left the O-Line with little talent. Smith seems to be a talented back, but is given very little room to show it.
Just my .02 on what will be yet another frustrating season.Posted 09-16-2008 at 09:45 PM by FireMillen
