Tag Archives: Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions 34, Miami Dolphins 27

Posted by on March 3, 2011 No comments

The Detroit Lions scored 17 points in the last 4:37 of this game to pull a impressive victory out of their hats in Miami Dolphins.  Shaun Hill returned to action in this game and he was solid.  Hill completed 14 of 26 passes for 222 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 INTs.  He also carried the ball 1 time for 10 yards in this game.  Jahvid Best led thew ay on the ground for the Lions in this game with 6 carries  for 24 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also caught 1 pass for 53 yards and it went for a TD.  Maurice Morris only rushed for 22 yards on 12 carries (1.8 ypc) with a TD run and he also caught 2 passes for 13 yards.  Brandon Pettigrew (4 rec, 74 yards, TD) and Calvin Johnson (4 rec, 52 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Lions.  The Lions finished up with 67 yards on 21 carries (3.2 ypc) and they also completed 14 of 26 passes for 208 yards as they had the ball for only 22:45.
The Lions gave up a ton of yards but they also made some big plays on D when it really counted.  LB Bobby Carpenter (9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and CB Nathan Vasher (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception) led the way for the Lions; D in this game.  LB DeAndre Levy made the biggest play on D for the Lions in this game when he picked off a Chad Henne pass which he returned 30 yards for a TD with only 2:11 left.  He also made 4 tackles and defensed 1 pass in this game.  NFL .The Dolphins finished up with 154 yards rushing on 37 carries (4.2 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 44 passes for 271 yards.  The Lions are now 5-10 on the year and they are on a 3-game winning streak.

NFL Draft Needs: Buffalo Bills

Posted by on February 22, 2011 No comments
For the fourth time in the past decade the Buffalo Bills entered the season with a new head coach and effectively began the rebuilding process once again. Along with the Detroit Lions, the Bills own the longest playoff drought in the league at 11 seasons and counting. Early in the season, Ralph Wilson issued a public apology to the fans of the franchise and admitted that the rebuilding process will probably take another three to four years. The 92 year old has owned the franchise since its inception in 1959 and has never seen a  postseason drought that’s lasted this long. With Toronto knocking down the door to own an NFL franchise and the Bills already playing one regular season home game a year at the Rogers Centre, the future of the franchise in the Queen City looks bleak.
As grim as things currently look for the Bills, they did make strides this season and found themselves contending in almost every game. The Bills have found budding stars in late round picks like Kyle Williams and Stevie Johnson, but have failed miserably at finding first and second round picks that can be consistent contributors to the team’s success. First rounders like  Aaron Maybin and Mike Williams have been monumental busts while Leodis McKelvin and Donte Whitner have been marginal at best.  Buddy Nix and Chan Gailey have their work cut out for them over the next few years but here are the Bills’ biggest needs for 2011.

Wild turkey: Pats come back, Saints steal win in Dallas, Jets roll

Posted by on November 27, 2010 1 comment

NFL fans were treated to a football feast on Thursday, with three competetive games, one of which featured the wildest Thanksgiving finish in years. A rundown of the day’s action:
The appetizer: New England Patriots 45, Detroit Lions 24
When this game was announced in March, we ran the following headline about the game: “Patriots get to maul Lions on Thanksgiving.” Judging by the score of Thursday’s game in the Motor City, you’d think we were a mix of Nostradamus and Jimmy the Greek. But despite the 21-point margin of victory, this game was a pretty competitive affair that was in doubt for the first 45 minutes.
The Pats only pulled away after a 79-yard touchdown on third down tied the game and broke the Lions’ spirits. Second-year veteran Alphonso Smith(notes) played the role of turkey on that play, getting burned by Deion Branch(notes) and wildly flailing all over the field in his pursuit.
Tom Brady(notes) finished the game 21 for 27 with 341 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions, giving him a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3 (the second time in his career he’s achieved that mark).
Detroit lost its seventh straight Thanksgiving Day game, the longest streak in franchise history. The team has been outscored by an average of 23 points in those games.
The main course: New Orleans Saints 30, Dallas Cowboys 27
New Orleans stormed to an early 17-point lead and it looked like Thanksgiving in Dallas would be as exciting as your typical Turkey Day in Detroit. But a late first-half field goal gave the Cowboys a bit of momentum headed into the locker room and the team rallied in the second half to take a 27-23 lead.
It was to be one of Dallas’ great Thanksgiving comebacks, on par with Clint Longley’s 1974 miracle against the Washington Redskins. When Roy Williams snagged a key third-down catch, the game appeared all but over. New Orleans had one timeout and Dallas could have run down the clock to under a minute. But before Williams went down, the Saints’ Malcolm Jenkins(notes) somehow wrestled the ball away from him (above). The Saints recovered and Drew Brees(notes) quickly led the team 89 yards en route to a touchdown and a 30-27 lead.
New Orleans left 1:55 for Dallas to score, but the team mismanaged the two-minute drill (maybe it was poor cardiovascular endurance) and couldn’t get close enough for kicker David Buehler(notes), who yanked a potentially game-tying 59-yard field goal a little left. That let Saints coach Sean Payton breathe a sigh of relief. The coach has tried to take one of those pesky pre-field goal timeouts, but it went unseen by the refs. Had an official seen it, Buehler would have had another chance to win the game. Instead, the defending champs got a much-needed victory in their battle with Atlanta for the NFC South crown.
The dessert: New York Jets 26, Cincinnati Bengals 10
An ugly first half, possibly affected by too much turkey and stuffing, was followed by an explosive second. The lowly Bengals took a 7-3 lead into the locker room, but two Brad Smith(notes) touchdowns — one of an end around to start the third quarter and another on a kick return in which his shoe popped off — helped the Jets to what became an easy victory. At 9-2, Rex Ryan and the Jets are living up to the preseason expectations they helped set.
It’s the second-best start in team history.

Matt Millen is not winning any popularity contests

Posted by on November 20, 2010 No comments
Former NFL linebacker Matt Millen is probably best-known for his tenure as the Detroit Lions‘ president and CEO from 2001 through 2008, when he was the man primarily responsible for the team’s 31-97 record — the worst won-loss total over such a time in the modern NFL. Millen’s catastrophic incompetence as a personnel executive masked his previous career as a blowhard in the booth; he was actually a somewhat well-regarded color analyst in the 1990s, back when every network wanted their own version of John Madden and didn’t stop to see whether the clones could match Madden’s football acumen. “Big guys who yell a lot” generally sufficed as a general job description.
Freed from the constraints of terrible drafts and awful free-agency pickups, Millen was once again ready for the booth, and several networks were interested. He currently provides analysis for the “Monday Night Football” pregame show and calls college games for ABC. But it is his time with the NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football” package that’s getting Millen the most notice these days, and this ramped up when the network matched Millen with Joe Theismann and Bob Papa for the 2010 season.
Papa is known as a pro’s pro. Theismann’s 100 mph shtick rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but he seems to be seen as a day at the beach compared to the Millen experience. In Thursday’s Chicago Bears-Miami Dolphins game, Millen brought out all of his chestnuts — blowing player names, misidentifying what was actually happening on the field, stepping on the lines of everyone else in the booth — and throwing in a couple new ones for good measure. Millen wouldn’t shut up about his alma mater Penn State for a time, and he called Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli “one of the best coaches I’ve been around.” Marinelli was Detroit’s head coach in 2008, when the Lions had the worst single season in NFL history — the only team ever to finish a season with an 0-16 record.
Noted TV critic Norman Chad recently called the Millen-Theismann combo “a social experiment of potentially apocalyptic consequences,” and it seems as if the viewers agree. Millen’s disconnect from reality brought forth a Twitter hatefest the likes of which this writer has never seen — not even during a Tim McCarver World Series broadcast! The comments were in the four figures, literally none of them were positive, and the NFL Network should pay attention; it seems that its brand could be seriously diluted if it doesn’t do something about this.
Website :  http://www.nfljerseys101.com

Matt Stafford visits Dr. James Andrews

Posted by on November 16, 2010 No comments
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford visited with noted orthopedist Dr. James Andrews on Monday and will continue to rehab his separated shoulder, but a source told ESPN that surgery has not been ruled out as an option.
The source also said that Stafford could opt for a cortisone injection after rehabbing the shoulder during the next two weeks to see if he could return before the end of the season.
The Lions (2-7) released a statement Monday confirming Stafford’s visit to Andrews, but said only that Andrews’ diagnosis was “consistent with the evaluation and diagnosis” of their own medical staff.
Sources confirmed to Mortensen on Sunday that Stafford originally injured his right shoulder early in the second quarter of Detroit’s Week 9 loss to the New York Jets. Stafford continued to play effectively until suffering a game-ending Grade 3 shoulder separation with six minutes left in the game.
Stafford grabbed his right shoulder initially when he was tackled near the sideline trying to evade a sack by the Jets’ Bryan Thomas at the 14:11 mark of the second quarter. Ten minutes later, after throwing a pass, he winced and grabbed his shoulder without any physical contact. Finally, Stafford left the game with 6:06 left in the fourth quarter when Thomas tackled him from behind on a scramble.
It is unknown if Stafford suffered any serious damage on the second-quarter hit, but Stafford continued to play and made some effective throws, cheap football jerseys completing 20 of 36 passes for 240 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on the day. He did not report any significant concerns to the medical or coaching staff at the time.
After consulting a preliminary MRI last week , Andrews informed Stafford and the Lions that he believes Stafford’s injury is not as severe as what Sam Bradford suffered last season at Oklahoma, according to sources.
Andrews operated on Bradford’s shoulder last October and after intensive rehab, the Rams’ No. 1 draft pick has emerged as a leading candidate for the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year award.
Stafford was Detroit’s No. 1 pick in the 2009 draft. He had no durability issues in 36 starts at the University of Georgia but he has only played in 13 of 24 games since he joined the Lions.