NFL Blogging: I Am Not Ready For Some Football

With Dan “Two Points” Orlovsky hurt, the Lions are going to pin their hopes on the latest savior to take the snaps, Daunte Caulpepper.

You know, I'm glad this game is blacked out.

NFL Blogging: The Wages of Defeat

This is how bad the Lions are: they can't even sell out their home games any more.

This isn't a minor thing. Detroit is, frankly, a sports mad town. We support four major teams and a half dozen colleges besides whether it's Big Blue or something closer to home. The Lions have not failed to sell out their home dates once since moving to Ford Field from the cavernous Silverdome. Blackouts and less than full seats were a common sight back then but, really, the Silverdome was huge. 70~80k in seating and they still sold out more often than most. When the team moved to the cozier confines downtown, they haven't had much of a problem filling the seats.

Think about that. For all the losing. For all the pathetic displays. For all the ineptitude that this team has shown in amassing little more than a handful of wins as the losses mounted up. The fans still packed the seats.

Like they have for years. More than fifty. Supporting a futile team with lackluster results. With passion. With fervor. With hope for a return to former glories that has never come. But they've been there. Cheering, waiting, hoping all along.

Oh, there've been a few close calls. Weeks when the NFL had to extend its deadline for some last minute sales. Time when one business sponsor or another had to step in and save that streak by snapping up a large block of seats. The rumblings were there. But it was never really in doubt.

Now? That dam has, perhaps, broken. The final straw snapped across the back of the downtrodden and the downcast. That hope is gone. That lingering, persistent, pathetic belief that somehow, some way things will get better. And if that's gone and with everything going on, with the team as pathetic as it is, why even bother?

Because they haven't sold out, the Lions won't be on television this weekend. Not mine, anyway. Nor that of any bar in the metro area. I've never understood this blackout rule, concerns gate receipts and attendance seem so antiquated in this day and age. But it is what it is and at least we won't have to watch the latest blowout of the Lions.

And the thing is, I can hardly bring myself to care.

Oh, and, yeah, the latest Farve thing. Right. I can't really care about that, either. I mean, it's not like it's something that doesn't go on all the time or even violates league rules. But I bet there are some folks in Green Bay right about now who are feeling their loyalty rather abused.

NFL Blogging: An Observation

You know, if you take away the fact that they keep spotting teams a three touchdown lead and haven't managed to score in the first quarter (I'd have to check but I'm not sure they've so much as gotten a first down), the Lions are still playing really bad.

NFL Blogging: Megatron is Lonely

I was never sure if should be called Starscream or Galvatron. Guess I'll never know since Roy Williams has been traded.

In a trade that had been widely choreographed beforehand, the former Longhorns standout was shipped off to the Oh-no-Romo Stars for a package of draft picks. Can't say I'm shocked since it's a deal that had been rumored for a while now. And tandems of star receivers don't last very long - it happened with TO and Rice, after all (Might be so poetic justice on the way there, by the way. Dallas is looking fierce, though. But they'll have to hold on until they get their signalcaller back from his broken pinky finger. Detroit, on the other hand, not so much. Losing Williams turns an already one-dimensional offense even thinner. The Lions can't really run the ball so now teams will be free to tee off on Johnson and whichever of the rookie QBs is taking the snaps. No, losing their only semi-probowler isn't going to help. But, then, it's not like this season was going anywhere anyway.). So, either Williams or Johnson was going to go, one way or the other. At least this way the Lions get something out of it beyond the usual addition by subtraction. I take it what clinched the deal was that Dallas finally threw in a first round pick.

No, what's surprising here is that the Lions did the smart thing here, picking up a raft of draft picks. Some valuable ones in the early rounds, including a first overall. But that's like giving more money to your junkie friend – you just know whatever the wad, they're going to blow it and be right back where they started.

What the Lions need more than anything is an infusion of talent but their drafting recently has been horrendous. That's really where losing Millen helps. Although it all depends on the team replacing him. If it's the same braintrust that's been spinning their wheels for the past decade then all the high picks in the world aren't going to help. But that thread of hope is a strong one. If the Lions can be smart about the draft, too, it's not like teams can't quickly climb out of the cellar in the NFL. And maybe, just maybe this team can turn it arou---

Yeah, I can't believe it, either.

NFL Blogging: The Era of Orlovsky

Kitna headed to injured reserve. Which will keep him off the field for the rest of the year, much to the sorrow of opposing Dbs everywhere.

They'd been trying to work out a trade but I guess his injuries worse than they were letting on or they've been watching some of Kitna's gametapes elsewhere in the league. Also, this means that Dan “Safety Dance” Orlovsky is the starting quarterback. Which is... good... I guess? Maybe?

Except, of course, there's Drew Stanton, the young rookie stud who was...mediocre...at State...

That's a freaking quarterback controversy!?

Sigh. Sometimes it's really hard being a Lions fan.

NFL Blogging: Typical

And the Lions lose. They lost at the last minute. They lost to a field goal. They lost because they got jobbed by the officials. And, yes, they lost by a respectable margin for once. But they still lost by the margin of the safety they let up earlier in the game.

NFL Blogging: Who'd Have Thunk It?

Reliable sources inform me that the Lions are actually winning. When asked what controlled substances they were using, sources informed me that they were completely serious and the Lions may well have the lead in a game. This rare and mythical event obviously requires further investigation.

...and as soon as I turn the game on, the Vikings score and Detroit's offense reverts back to form. Lovely.

NFL Blogging: Dirty Birds (Game One)

Professional football also kicks off this week, having already gotten underway with a perfectly timed Giants victory over the Redskins that led into McCain's convention speech. This Sunday is when my hometown team and perpetual embarrassment, the Lions first take the field after going unbeaten in a meaningless preseason.

Frankly, I don't see them doing much better than last year and will consider an 8-8 record an accomplishment. The passing game looks solid. Kitna's...well, Kitna's Kitna but the receiving corps looks pretty solid with the young guns looking to break out before free agency breaks them up (With both Johnson and Williams, they have two good threats to help stretch the field. Which is good. But that means two star receivers and that's not a situation that lasts very long once it comes time to pass around the contracts - one or the other is gone in the space of a few years, mark my words.). And the defense promises to be better, too, if only as a case of addition by subtraction. The question mark is the running game. And, no, the question isn't "Are you sure your property is properly labeled with your name and address and a in case of lost found, please contact sticker?" It's whether the green platoon of backs will be able to carry that load coaching staff's commitment to the run could or should waver, should it be proven they can't.

Even if everything goes right, the Lions are still suffering from a serious talent deficit. Which is amazing considering how long they've been bad and all the high draft picks they've gotten over the years (*cough*Millensucks*cough* and most of those were busts, of course.) but it means they really have to play above their potential if they want to compete. And, really, I don't think they can.

They get rather lucky this week, though, with a visit to the Atlanta Falcons who've cut Joey Harrington and are at the start of the Matt Ryan era. I expect that a rookie quarterback will struggle. And as woeful as the Lions are I expect that even that can capitalize on that.