Detroit Lions week 1 in review
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by user Demonboy
As a season ticket holder to the Detroit Lions (save the comments peanut gallery lol), on the way to the game with my brother in-law and 2 other friends, we were all expecting a trouncing that the Seattle Seahawks were gonna give to the Lions. I think that the LOWEST prediction was Sea 28 Det 10.
However, that was not quiet the case this week. In the first quarter, Seattle drove the ball downfield to the Lions 23 yard line - Field goal gets blocked by "Big Baby' Shaun Rogers... errr, did my eyes just decieve me? The Lions BLOCKED a FG???
Lions 1st possession, drive is capped off by a Jason Hanson 44yrd FG Detroit ACTUALLY beating Seattle temporarily 3-0!?!?
Seattles next drive - Pro bowler Shaun Alexander fumbles the ball - Cory Redding recovers.
HOLY SH**!!!! The Lions actually have a defense!?!?
While the game was pretty bad for both offenses', it was actually a very enjoyable game. What impressed me the most was the Lions defense. They held Alexander to a mere 51 yards rushing!! Was the loss of Steve Hutchinson that much of an impact??
There were four plays that just irked me (in order of ticked-offedness):
- Seattle punts the ball to Eddie Drummond late in the 4th - there was an OBVIOUS early hit AFTER Eddie called for a fair catch... did the ref's call this penalty?? NO!!
- Seattle's last drive - on Det's 41... 1st & 10 - Maurice Morris busts through for 17 yards and gets knocked OUT OF BOUNDS! First off - why allow a 17yrd run? Second - why knock him out of bounds to stop the clock? Just tackle in bounds and it would have forced Sea to use thier last timeout earlier.
- Det has 3rd down & 11... Kitna out of the shotgun, throws pass deep to the left towards Roy Williams - Seattle defender Kelly Herndon does an OBVIOUS Defensive pass interference - ref's DO NOT CALL it!
- Det has 1st & 10 on the Sea 19 - Jon Kitna is called for intentional grounding!? WHAT??? That was NOT intentional grounding! Kitna was pressured & Kevin Jones was in the area - Kitna threw the best he could to Jones but the ball fell short... 11 yard penalty - Det settles for a FG... Without the penalty, it's very possible Det could have made a TD.
Defensive highlights
- Rookie Ernie Sims was all over the field... he had 7 tackles & 2 assists - always near the ball. He's going to be a great MLB for the Lions... maybe not great in the definition of a Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher but, one of the better ones the Lions have seen in a VERY long time!
- As stated already, defense holds Alexander to 51yrds (2.7 per att) and NO TD'S!! - fantasy owners are ticked off today! Oh well - I don't have him any any of my leagues so I don't care lol
- Fernando Bryant - 8 tackles 0 assists... all over the field.
- Shaun Rogers - 1 blocked FG, 5 tackles & 2 sacks!
- James Hall - 2 tackles & 2 sacks.
- Blocked 2 FG's
Offensive highlights
- No INT's thrown
- No bad decisions made Kitna... just WR's not able to catch - Lions problem for years - no surprise there!
During today's press confrence with Coach Marinelli, he did not "beat around the bush". Instead of coming out with the "Things we did great & I'm happy with" speach, he came right out and said "there are no excuses. This was a very winnable game. Our job is to win the game and we didn't do it."
The more I hear Coach Marinelli, the more I like him. I think that this was the right hire for the Lions right now. Was I disappointed that the Lions didn't win this game?? Sure... but I'm also very happy with the progress that they've made. They held the NFC Champions to ONLY 9 points!! If they can keep this kind of game up (especially defensively) I think that it's a very real possiblity that they can win 7-9 games. Playoffs?? NO! I'm a 'cornbread' eater but I don't think that anyone can eat that much!
I agree with the Coach, there are some things that need to be worked on - especially on the offensive side of the ball. Details, details, details & execution needs work. I sure hope that the Lions can actually pull of a 'Greatest show on turf part duex'.
Game ball IMO goes to Shaun Rogers & Ernie Sims.
Date
Mon 09/11/06, 12:33 pm EST
