The Football Diner Big Top 5
The Imperfect Season
by Jody Jamieson
14/11/2008
 
Last year, after a victory over the Indianapolis Colts, I wrote about how I felt the New England Patriots were going to run the table and go 16-0. This year there is another team going for perfection. No I'm not talking about the 9-0 Tennessee Titans, but the 0-9 Detroit Lions. Detroit are trying to succeed where Miami failed last year by finally picking up a win against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14. This time round the Lions may be more prepared for the ultimate losing season than the Dolphins were, and on Top Fives it's time to analyse the possibilities of the imperfect season.
 
5. The Curse of Bobby Layne
 
I wrote about this during the off-season, and if you believe in curses, this should have been the year that the Lions won the Super Bowl. Some curses are made to be broken, and some are invariably broken at the perfect time. But this is the Detroit Lions, so what better time to have the worst season in their history in the year that the curse should have been broken!
 
For more information on the curse visit my previous article and click on the link for the website to see some pretty good stuff about the curse that may not be broken this year after all. Who would have thunk it?!
 
4. When you become a loser...
 
...you stay a loser. The New York Giants are having the opposite effect right now. They're not always playing great football, but they know how to win, and they get it done. Everyone wrote off the Patriots after they lost Tom Brady, most of their backfield and Rodney Harrison, but it's hard to keep a good team down. The Lions are so used to losing right now it's become an epidemic. After the 10 win prediction from Jon Kitna before the 2007 season, and the subsequent giggles from everyone who heard it, the 6-2 start certainly raised a few eyebrows. The 1-7 finish probably raised even more eyebrows. Since the midway point of the season last year they are 1-16, with only a 44-7 win over Denver to show for their struggles.
 
Nothing highlighted this more than Week 2 against the Packers. After showing a bit of character to come back from a large deficit, they managed to turn a small lead into a large defeat in a ridiculously short period of time. That takes some anti-character.
 
3. Daunte Culpepper
 
Now let me get this straight here. Daunte Culpepper in my opinion is better than any option that started the season at quarterback for the Detroit Lions. But while I have little time for Dan Orlovsky or Drew Stanton, Jon Kitna probably gave this team it's best chance of actually winning a football game. It's not as if Kitna isn't used to getting crushed behind this offensive line, as he spent more time on the turf than most last year, and won 7 games. Kitna gets sacked a lot and can throw too many interceptions, but he knew the offense and had proved he could win games even if he was getting banged up. His injury almost ended any hopes for the Lions to do anything.
 
I am a big fan of Culpepper, but can he pick up the playbook quick enough to be effective? I have my doubts. If he still had Roy Williams there then I may say yes as it's simple enough to just throw the ball up to two stud receivers and hope for the best. Calvin Johnson is still there and Culpepper connected with Johnson on a 50 yard bomb early on on Sunday. But Culpepper's lack of grasp of the playbook was shown when they brought Drew Stanton in on the goalline. Obviously no-one is going to pick up a playbook in a few days, but can he pick it up enough over the next 7 weeks? Possibly, but Culpepper to me is a 2009 project, and once he does have a firm grasp on it, he should be able to lead this team well. Till then though it's going to be a struggle.
 
2. Defense
 
Offense is a problem obviously, but as mentioned before they have a few bright spots. Defensively however it's a different story. Ranking 31st in Total Defense giving up 406 yards per game. Only Kansas City rank lower than that, and it's by less than a yard per game. Only the Rams can beat their 30.8 points per game allowed. No-one can rank as low as the Lions do in interceptions (2 picks, for a combined MINUS 2 yards in returns) and only Kansas City can match the 6.3 yards per play they give up.
 
Yes it's going to be a daunting task for Daunte and the offense. After the Patriots passing fiesta last year, teams are going back to establish the run more this year. When the Lions can't stop the run they're always going to be under pressure.
 
1. Schedule
 
In order they get Carolina away, Tampa Bay at home, Tennessee on Thanksgiving, Minnesota at Ford Field, Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium, New Orleans at home, and then they finish at Green Bay.
 
How many wins do you see from this? Panthers, Buccs, Titans? No, no and absolutely not. Minnesota? Possibly but the Vikings have been much improved, and can they conceivably stop Adrian Peterson? The answer to than is likely no? Indianapolis? Manning is getting back to his best and will tear them apart? New Orleans? Likely a shootout but one Drew Brees will win. Green Bay at Lambeau? I doubt it.
 
After all this I give the Lions a small shot at beating New Orleans and that's it. And I don't even fancy them to do that. It's going to be 0-16 people. At least they can use yet another early first round pick on a wide receiver in Texas Tech superstar Michael Crabtree. But now that they've finally got rid of Matt Millen, maybe the approach will change and they can start to rebuild properly.
 
Random Thoughts
 
Do the Oakland Raiders have a plan? We all laughed when they spent zillions of dollars last off-season on reasonable at best players, but while some thought DeAngelo Hall was overrated, the consensus was that he might fit in well in Raiderland. The outcome? Released after 8 games and yet another colossal waste of money is complete. Even when you look at the 0-9 Detroit Lions you see hope there that while they will likely struggle next season too, they have something to build on with some young kids like Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith. It's hard to see the Raiders putting together a winning season before 3008 at this rate. They have Nnamdi Asomugha who is great, and then after that? It's a bad time to be a member of Raider Nation.
 
If you were working early on Tuesday and decided to stay up for the Niners-Cardinals game, I hope you didn't give up on it when it became a bit of a penalty strewn mess at the start of the fourth quarter. The game did get a little frustrating with a flag being thrown on almost every play, but what a fabulous game it became. I always like it when Sunday and Monday Night Football go "out of the box" with their game selections, and San Francisco-Arizona is a lesser divisional game in the eyes of the media. Both teams come out of the game with huge credit, and Mike Singletary may be one step closer, despite the loss, to getting the head coaching job on a personal basis. That was easily one of the most enjoyable games of the season for me, with possibly only the Bears-Falcons from a few weeks ago topping it.
 
And Finally...
 
The problem I have with the challenge in the Giants-Eagles game where Eli Manning being called for an illegal forward pass was overturned on replay wasn't the fact that it was the wrong call. Going by the rule book, they seemed to get it right. What didn't make sense to me was the rule in itself. I would think that the release point of the ball coming out of the hand would be the sensible way to apply the rule, and this seems to be the one rule in spotting the ball that is independent from every other way of doing it. The only other rule is getting both feet in bounds on a catch. So in this instance shouldn't both feet be BEHIND the line of scrimmage when the pass is made?
 
The feet shouldn't be the issue and it should be all about the ball, like it is on every other play. The ball was over a yard across the line of scrimmage when Eli let it go and it opens up the unlikely scenario that either a first down or a touchdown can be accomplished on a passing play before the pass leaves the quarterbacks hands. On the touchdown play it would likely be awarded for crossing the line, but what would be the ruling on an incomplete pass? 3rd and inches, play action, rolls out and then forward. Could run for the first down, but a receiver is wide open. Ball is thrown, foot behind the line of scrimmage, hand in front of the first down line, and the pass is off the mark and incomplete. What is the ruling? The officials on the field got it right on Sunday, but the actual rule needs to be amended.