Stanton starting a matter of time …

By Os Davis  |   Friday, September 19, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

Detroit Lions
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Remember way back in 2006, when much of the NFL hype was centered on Tony Romo, the heir apparent under center in Dallas? The Cowboys’ starting quarterback was Drew Bledsoe, your stereotypical declining veteran just barely dependable enough and essentially leading the team to a state of running in place at best. As the football world watched, everyone realized one truth (and were well bombastically bombarded by mainstream media): The team needs a change, the franchise needs a change, the owner and GM ain’t going nowhere, and, by the way, this head coach may no longer be right for this job.

This is essentially what is happening in Detroit Lions Land right about now. Except for the bit about the football world watching.

Commentary: The countdown would appear to be on for Drew Stanton to take over the starting quarterback role in Detroit. Heck, the former second-rounder out of Michigan State probably would have seen time when all was lost in Week 17 last season had he not been knocked onto the injured reserve in August.

Meanwhile, the Lions’ answer to Bledsoe, Jon Kitna, is surely one of the most infuriating QBs in the league (at least to his fan base). While the man was much noted for taking every single snap for Detroit in 2006 and even had the healing magic of Dr. God going for him in 2007, few actual positive results are being produced. His cumulative stats are crazy (do you realize he could go by Terry Bradshaw in career passing yardage this season? Terry freaking Bradshaw?) and Kitna has proven himself resilient enough to have taken 122 sacks (and counting!) in the last 34 games.

(Incidentally, do you suppose Lions fans are secretly wishing that he won’t come back into the game after the 124th hit? Or the 125th? Or the ...?)

However, Detroit has proven itself to be incredibly woefully inept on third- and fourth-down conversions during the Lions’ Kitna/Rod Marinelli era. In fact, given the stockpiling of weapons at receiver Detroit has finally achieved, the lack of improvement in this area is positively eerie.Check out the numbers: In 2006, the Lions managed to convert on 62 of 190 chances for a whopping 32.6 percent clip, “good” for the NFL’s 30th “best” in the category. In 2007, the team “improved” to a success rate of exactly 1/3 in going 65 of 195 and falling to 31st “best.”

Kitna and this team, as they say, just simply aren’t getting it done.

But can Stanton?

This might be one of the biggest question marks in the league right now if anyone were paying attention; by the same token, it may be utterly irrelevant, as Stanton will be starting by the end of the season. After all, appearances indicate that the sole factor keeping “Pickna” in the game right now is Marinelli’s ostensible loyalty. Because Sunday is, interestingly enough, Kitna’s birthday, he’ll probably be playing out what’s certain to be a sackfest and shootout against the San Francisco 49ers, and the decent showing he’ll seemingly inevitably put up against a weak 49er ‘D’ will probably keep him as starter for a couple of weeks thereafter.

But by then, the Lions will be about 1-4 and Stanton’s takeover will only be a matter of time.

Fantasy Football Impact: Though Kitna is still a numbers machine, fantasy owners know that his stats have been in recent decline. Surely few start the Lion these days, but, as is the contention, his term as a viable fantasy football backup may be up as well; start combing the waiver wire. Maybe “scout” Stanton until available. In deeper leagues. Waaaaaaay deeper.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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