Raining on Detroit’s 2-0 parade

By Os Davis  |   Friday, September 21, 2007  |  Comments( 7 )

Detroit Lions
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Note to Detroit Lions fans (I know you're out there; I can hear you holding your breath): Do not read any further. Enjoy your team's 2-0 record, the first such start since 2004 and in fact the first time the team has won two in a row since, um, the first two games of '04. The following column is full of doom and gloom, the sort of which the Motor City has been force-fed during the Matt Millen Era, and you don't need to hear that.

Have all the Lions backers left the virtual room? Good. Now before the rest of you presumably more objective football followers start doing crazy things, like jumping on the Detroit bandwagon or even picking the Lions plus the six points at the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend, consider the shortcomings the record belies. After all, this is Millen's Detroit, where every silver lining has a dark cloud.

Turnovers. While managing to eke out the overtime win against the equally hapless Minnesota Vikings, the Lions turned the ball over a stunning five times. (Hey, this is a Mike Martz offense!) Slightly keeping down the distressing figure was Detroit managing to recover two of its runners' own four fumbles. Many teams would not be so forgiving.

Blown leads, one of two. In the opening-day win against the Oakland Raiders, the Lions' victory (or, more rightfully expressed, the Raiders' loss) required that the team stop the mighty Josh McCown from leading Oakland to tie up the score after Detroit led 17-0 in the third. Halftime adjustments, anyone?

Blown leads, two of two. Minnesota also came back against Detroit. Though not as grievous a choke job as in Week 1, the Lions built a 17-7 lead against the Vikes, which was a classic "leaving points on the field" early in the third. The Vikings then shut out the Kitna-less offense and tied up the game despite not scoring an offensive TD in the second half. Halftime adjustments, anyone?

Whom have they beaten? Second-year head coach Rod Marinelli has led the Lions to just a 1-5 record against playoff-caliber teams - assuming fairly safely that neither the Raiders nor the Vikings are contenders for the postseason this year - in 18 regular-season games. The good news is that the downsliding Eagles, surely not playoff bound, are on the slate this Sunday.

Hey, this really is a Mike Martz team! Check out a comparison of the passing stats in Weeks 1 and 2. Kitna and second-half replacement J.T. O'Sullivan went 35 of 56 for two touchdowns and three interceptions. Minnesota's QBs finished 20 of 37 for 192 yards and four picks. Tarvaris Jackson tried to hand the Lions an easy one here, and all they could manage was a three-point win in overtime? Sheesh.

It's still the sacks, stupid. After allowing "only" three sacks in the Raiders game, the Detroit O-line let Vikings rushers get to Kitna/O'Sullivan six times, thereby putting the Lions back on track to match the 63 sacks allowed in 2006. Marinelli & Co. reconstructed the line in the off-season by adding Edwin Mulitalo and George Foster (Didn't he play for the Big Red Machine in the '70s?) while seeing the return of Damien Woody, who went out in early October last year; it looks a bit like same-old line, though. "Kitna out with concussion" could become a catchphrase this season.

The Kitna miracle (or "And yeah, verily was his concussion healed"). All theological skepticism aside regarding the divine intervention reportedly made within Kitna's skull, the Lions simply can't use up their allotted share of miracles. If this is truly the gods' team this year, then perhaps Kitna should tweak his Christian name a bit and make it Job. Except that there are already several thousand folks under the age of 50 already bearing the name in Detroit.

All in all, you can't blame those outside of Michigan the grain of salt needed to digest the hype surrounding Detroit's 2-0. A solid, truly game-controlling win is the only thing that will truly sway the cynics. Until then (or, say, a 5-2 record), this team is still to be considered the Detroit Lions.

P.S.

Fire Millen.

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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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CommentsComments: 7  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Matt		09:16 AM
09/21/2007
Well the Eagles have lost to the Redskins in embarrassing fashion and have a myriad of injuries in their secondary. Meanwhile,...
No.2
Jeff		05:29 PM
09/21/2007
The Lions won two games and thats what matters. Nobody who follows the team thinks that this is a contender or that they are...
No.3
uelander		06:23 PM
09/21/2007
Saw the Lions play my Raiders two weeks ago. Lions are a decent football team. Better than average NFL team THIS YEAR, meaning...
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