Why the Lions will beat Oakland on Sunday

By Os Davis  |   Thursday, September 06, 2007  |  Comments( 27 )

Detroit Lions
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As though the first Sunday of the NFL season weren't exciting enough, league schedulers this year were even able to make the most of a couple of sad-sack cases that may not get much attention at all in 2007: namely, by matching the Detroit Lions and the Oakland Raiders for Week 1.

It's a perfect time for last year's worst and second-worst teams to meet; one of these teams will walk away with a sense of optimism (and, let's face it, a winning record) that neither has experienced for quite some time. Lots of intriguing questions beyond "Whom are they going to take with their high-round draft pick?" confront these teams, and lots of answers are to be had come Monday morning.

Who wins the Low Bowl, then? OK, I'll say Detroit.

Why? The following reasons.

The Detroit offense will surprise. Not that Mike Martz's unit is one-fifth as hypeworthy as a media's worth of bandwagon would have you believe, but Calvin Johnson should be able to put the shock and awe into opponents for his rookie season. Mike Furrey, he of the 97 catches last season, won't surprise anyone, but C.J. figures to have that unknown-quantity factor on his side along with oodles of sheer natural ability.

Almost as good an acquisition as Johnson may well turn out to be Edwin Mulitalo at left guard. If left alone long enough to throw - Detroit allowed 63 sacks last season, second only to Oakland - this offense could actually score points instead of mythically "leaving them on the field," as Kitna and smilin' Roy Williams are wont to declare.

Josh McCown. You're kidding, right? Seriously, Lane Kiffin's gonna start this guy? A career backup with a 72.12 career QB rating? OK, Daunte Culpepper can't hold onto the football off the snap, but career backup McCown has thrown more than one pick per TD (29 interceptions versus 25 touchdowns lifetime). McCown? Has Kiffin forgotten that this guy didn't call a play under center for the Lions last season? Was he not watching when McCown had a worse preseason than Culpepper? Did Lane flip a coin here or what? Worst. Opening-day starting QB choice. Ever. (OK, other than maybe Chris Weinke.)

The Raider O-line. Just as the 2006 Raiders were all about the (warning: serious understatement follows) lousy line, so the start of the 2007 season will as well. And wow, is it thin. Blocking machine TE Zach Miller was a nice addition for the strong side, but there's still a lot of question marks here. Is Cornell Green (eight career starts in seven seasons) really the starter at right tackle? And how much does Jeremy Newberry, the center, have to do with fumbled snaps?

Here's my theory: When forced to choose between a guy who is questionably mobile (Culpepper) and a guy who can take 56 sacks in 22 games (McCown, specifically with the Arizona Cardinals of 2003 and '04), Kiffin went with the tackling dummy just in case the whole Green thing doesn't work out. Though the buzz has been good based on preseason play, we simply don't know if Oakland will have a line this year. And if the Lions can exploit these guys with their steady-pressure Cover 2 defense, it's going to be another long season in Oakland.

Coaching. It's not that Rod Marinelli will necessarily out-coach Kiffin in the latter's first game as head coach: After all, the Lions' three wins last season came not from cerebral genius but rather merely outlasting the mediocre Buffalo Bills, the imploding Atlanta Falcons and the self-destructing Dallas Cowboys. Marinelli is conservative to a fault for a team that really needs to air it out and the frankly predictable play-calling is just short of seriously disturbing. (And anyone who watched the Thanksgiving Day game against the Miami Dolphins last year knows the veracity of this one...)

However, if this one is close and comes down to play-calling, you have to go with the guy who's never headed up a football team on any level against the guy who had never headed up a football team on any level last year. We may end up praising Marinelli after this one, and that's a bit of a scary prospect.

Finally, the half-reason why the Detroit Lions will win on Sunday ... because somebody has to.

P.S.

Fire Millen.

Giving reasons all year-round at RealFootball365.com
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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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