Gentle Lion’s fans,

A very special family event prevented me from watching or listening to the game. The reason: my father-in-law was celebrating his 101st birthday. On the previous Saturday evening he was honored at the 2018 U.S. Navy Ball & Awards Banquet at the Motor City Casio. Retired and active ‘brass’ were in attendance and respectively participated in honoring Dad. On Sunday, his birthday, he was honored at a gala hosted at his assisted living facility with full honors from VFW honor guard and the city mayor. Truly days to remember by all the ‘kids’, grand kids, and great grand kids who participated.

Now the Lion’s game. The salient statistic was that Stafford made only 22 passing attempts. And out of nowhere, a running game finally showed up. Only time will determine if this was a fluke. Remember we’ve been down this road before. Seattle will be a good validation test.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Well you saw the unbelievable. A vaunted kicker missing four field goal attempts and an extra point. Just a ‘small’ donation of 13 points on the scoreboard favoring the Lions. Thank you Packers. On the performance side, the Lions ‘only’ gave up over 500 yards of Packer offence. Rodgers had more time than Prescott during the Dallas game. Green Bay pass receivers ran around like squirrels trying to get open. Meanwhile the Detroit defensive rush was playing patty-cake with the Packers offensive line. Credit to the Detroit pass coverage protection.

Lions allowed 30 first downs and but manged to generate 16 of there own. How’s that for defensive ‘stopping’ power? Even though Green Bay donated and extra 50 yards on penalties, they maintained a time of possession advantage. “Stats like this are a contender do not make”, with apologies to Yoda. Take the win with a ‘grain of salt’.

Hooray for the ‘bye’ week and time for peptic ulcer to heal.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

When Stafford led the team to a touchdown and left 1:50 left on the clock, in your gut you just knew what was coming. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory is the Lion’s well earned albatross. Elliot is in deed a great running back but the Lions make him look spectacular. Somehow the secondary defense forgot that running backs are also eligible receivers. Dallas opened up running lanes for Elliot big enough to move 3 abreast 18 wheel semis through.

In addition, “stupid penalties” are back in vogue. Of particular note is the defense lining up off-side on a critical down assisting a Dallas drive. Eight penalties negated any effectiveness of a lethargic 96 yard running game. Dak Prescott could have installed a ‘porch swing’ for sun tan purposes since he had plenty of time to locate his pass receivers. If this performance was a harbinger of things to come, games against Green Bay and Chicago might require a semi paralytic anesthetic to prevent muscular spasms just to endure watching.

Please, no more ‘code’ worded speeches. We all saw the game and it was unacceptable. Fix it.

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Wow. Did the Lion’s improve or have the Patriots lost their edge? Doesn’t matter. This satisfying win was a long time coming. Admittedly, apprehension was ever present for the Lion’s to do one of their spectacular “shoot yourself in the foot” moments and blow the game.

Now onto the good ‘stuff’. Time of possession was lopsided and mainly due to the resurrection of a running game. Johnson and Blount mitigated previous Lion’s single dimension offense. Kudos to open field tackling and the smother job done on the Gronk. New England graciously contributed with dropped passes and errant throws by Brady who may actually be mortal. And, really stupid penalties were notably for the most part absent in this game.

After watching how the Packers and Vikings played in their respective game, this season could be real interesting in spite of the 0-2 start. Let us not be overwhelmed with joy because based on the past 60 years, reality may be lurking in the shadows and can be a ‘bitch’ when offended by blind optimism. However, the after glow was earned by loyal Lion’s fans suffering for what seemed forever. May the ‘ghost’ of Bobby Lane be finally laid to rest.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Here we go again. The ‘almost’ comeback after allowing the competition to forge a substantial lead. As stated before, pro football is a four quarter game. The Lion’s managed to ‘gift’ the 49ers ‘out a hole’ at every critical time. Stupid penalties were the offence champion of choice every time. Sarcasm intended. Predictions of a 9-7 season look very optimistic at this juncture.

Hey guys, forget ‘stripping’ the ball from the ball carrier or receiver and put his posterior on the ground. Arm tackling is not going to ‘cut it’. And yes the ‘run’ game is still being incubated. I’ve got my brown paper sack readily available for use next to the TV for the next game. The three games before the ‘bye’ week will be brutal and satisfying to any masochistic. Oh look, that depicts a Detroit Lion’s fan.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

If you watched the game, it is best to pretend it was just a bedtime nightmare. Animal House football on display with apologizes to Bluto and the boys. We were promised a ‘work in progress’ and did we get it. How many sub-basements does this organization have and where are we? Maybe after 60 years we finally reached ‘football hell’. Pathetic does not even begin to describe this game. Enough venom, on with observations. Sixty years of disillusionment toughens up a fans’ reality threshold over result fantasies.

Patrica and company should have donned brown paper bags over their heads during half time. Stafford forgot to pack his ‘superman’ cape and should have sat the bench for the entire second half. Risking your franchise player for a lost cause is plain stupid. As far as other team components, more of the same repetition from previous years. Even special teams got in on the debacle.

In summary, no coaching, no disciplined execution, no inspired play calling, no pass protection, no running game, no defense, and abhorrent offence. What is there to be improved upon! Oh, let’s not forget the new stoic ‘deer in the headlights’ look by coach Patrica on the sidelines. We have the makings of a long ugly season.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Up front I understand that preseason football is not the ‘real’ thing. Last Friday evening as I am wont to do, channel surfing was in full mode. As curiosity won out, the Lions preseason game with Tampa confronted me. Yes, random viewing was involved for the first half and start of the third quarter but what was revealed could only be described by Yogi Berra. It was “Da Ja Vouse” all over again. Saving time and your exasperation, not much has changed from prior seasons.

Highlights(sic) included: Stafford running for his life, passes dropped, ugly running game, sloppy tackling, and pathetic special teams play just for starters. Coach Patrica’s ire was on display when the 1st string offence started the second half.

Stay tuned but keep your supply of Tums handy.

marvinudy

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Sunsets can herald a beautiful ending or portend a warning of what is to come. “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky at morning sailors take warning”. Unfortunately, Lion’s history is more of the latter.

Back to the Green Bay game. A perfect example of how a single element, quarterback in this case, can alter strategy and tactics of a game. No doubt our Lion’s feasted at Green Bay’s expense. No better example of a tormented season was the ‘Oh what the hell’ two point conversion play.

Now that Caldwell has joined the plethora of previous coaches in the Lion’s graveyard of NFL coaches, we are again facing a choice between reality or optimism. A few points of reality include: healthy/improved offensive line, north-south running back, secondary defense past the line of scrimmage, third down execution and discipline regarding ‘stupid’ penalties.

Tamping down optimism is a hard objective when you have an exceptional quarterback paired with a host of experienced and developing receiving corps. Injuries aside, there is no reason why our 60th year of rebuilding should not succeed if some existenting weaknesses are rectified.

So, I’ve come down on the side of optimism.

Gentle Lion’s fans,

Whoever is responsible for the well worn quote about the insanity of repeating the same actions and expecting a different outcome apparently envisioned the Detroit Lions. The “stench” from this game in Cincinnati wafted all the way back to Detroit and required emergency use a “barf” bag. No need to bother ‘highlighting’ the stats. Flat out ‘ugly’ by any measure.

We’ve seen enough to justifiable demand a new beginning starting with the coaching staff. Other than a few consistent performers, all others players are subject to displacement. True character will be on the line in the upcoming Green Bay game even though the outcome is of little consequence.

Gentle Lion’s fans,

This ‘gift’ was so bad it should have come with a ‘gift return tag’. Ponder this. A team with a rookie QB racks up more total yards, more first downs and more passing yards and still looses the game. Yep, the Lion’s ‘prodigious’ running game managed to surpass Chicago’s run game. Yes you can legitimately point to important interceptions as a primary cause but in an overall perspective, secondary defense was ineffective based on a fore mentioned stats. However, Chicago did ‘chip’ in a few extra yards via penalties.

The Lion’s remaining two games should be only slightly more entertaining. If Green Bay’s A. Rogers regains full form keep your ‘barf’ bag close at hand. Oh well, the “sunrise” of our 60th year of rebuilding is only two games away.