Random Musings of a Lions Fan

At least there's one Lions team that can go out and win football games. The BC Lions are on a roll these days. After a pathetic start, they've rattled off four straight wins to climb into second place in the Western Conference with just five games to play, two of which are against a below-500 Argos team and two more against Edmonton who they've split the season series with so far.

In a nice change in the NFL this past week, the Detroit Lions also managed not to lose. Of course, the only way they managed that was to not play. From here on out, I don't see anyone on their schedule who shouldn't be favoured to beat them. Rest assured though, one of these weeks they'll come out and play a remarkably strong game and make everyone wonder why they haven't been able to win all year. The Bucs perfect season from 1976 (who can forget their 0-14 record?) will not be in jeopardy ... do you think they'll celebrate like the '72 Dolphins?

With the Leos on the sidelines this weekend, it turned out to be a tough slate of games to pick. Raise your hands all those who had the Chiefs winning a game. Chirping crickets ... it's all I hear. Skins over the Cowboys? Anyone? What about Bears over the Eagles? No one, eh? Oh well ... I'd like to thing that this coming week will make things easier, but as I look at the week 5 score board I grow timid ...

Skins at Philly - is Washington as good as they looked against Dallas?
Falcons at Green Bay - how bad is that shoulder of Aaron Rodgers'?
Titans at Ravens - both giving up nothing on D ... will either be able to score?

It just keeps going on. I think there's about 7 games that I'm tossing a coin on and I'm sure that won't work out well for me.

In brighter news, the NHL preseason has kicked into full swing and we're less than a week away from the regular season starting up. I'm looking forward to seeing the Wings try to defend their territory this year and to seeing how they hold up as a favourite when the favourites seem to collapse like a flan in the cupboard every year. The MLB playoffs are also set to begin, though we need an extra game this evening to decide who will win the AL Central since the Tigers stunk it up in their bid to eliminate the White Sox yesterday. It figures, of course, that the Tigers would finish dead last in the season when everyone picked them to win the World Series. I'm nto bitter about that at all. Of course, it could be worse ... I could be a Mets fan!

What's on Tap?

So USC lost to OSU, eh? But I thought that OSU just lost to USC a couple of weeks ago. What's that? Different OSU? Oh ... well at least they lost to the highly ranked one, right? Nope ... they lost to the unranked one. The one that lost to Stanford earlier on. Wow. I guess you just can't trust those 19 year old kids to travel up the coast and take care of business the way everyone expects. It's as though they're not professionals or something. Oh wait ... they're not?

And thus begins the 2008 season of college football. After all of the shocking upsets that we saw last year, I suppose this game last night shouldn't come as too big a surprise. But still, I was somehow blown away when I looked at the TV last night and saw the Trojans down 21-0 at halftime. I have no doubt that more surprises are in store this season with the uprising of the mid-majors (see: Boise State, East Carolina, TCU, and Fresno State all being ranked in the top 25 this week), the competitiveness of inter-conference play every season, and the sheer fact that college football teams are made up of a bunch of teenage (or just barely post-teenage) boys. I think that the unpredicatbility is part of what makes it so much fun to watch.

Speaking of predictions, here I go again with my picks for the NFL this weekend. I'm hoping to replicate my success from last week where I went 13-3!

Bengals over Browns - one of these two teams has to finally get a win this week because they can't both lose. I suppose they could tie. Can I pick that? Nah ... pick the home team.

Titans over Vikings - Tennessee just isn't giving up any points and Minnesota aren't scoring many either. It won't take much offense for the Titans to win this one.

Broncos over Chiefs - While I'm loving Denver's ability to put up points this year, I'm not sold on their D. However, KC is so lousy that it won't hurt the Broncos at all this week.

Saints over 49ers - I'm not totally sold on this one, especially with Shockey out, but I have little faith in the strength of the Niners' wins against a depleted Seahawks team and an inept Lions team.

Jets over Cardinals - In a battle of old QB's, I like Favre in his new home better than Warner travelling across the country.

Bucs over Packers - another game I'm not totally comfortable with, especially since Tampa could be missing their kicker. But I do like the way Tampa stepped up and faced some adversity in beating the Bears last weekend and will give them the benefit of the doubt at home.

Panthers over Falcons - Atlanta is going to have a hard time scoring on a good Carolina defence, especially with their rookie QB. I like the Panthers to bounce back from the loss to Minny.

Jaguars over Texans - This pick would be easy, except that Houston has had Jacksonville's number since they joined the league. However, I think the Jags are finally on track.

Chargers over Raiders - finally, an easy pick! I'll enjoy seeing the Chargers put up a pile more points against the only team with management as inept as Detroit's.

Bills over Rams - Can Buffalo actually wind up 4-0? It's really hard to believe, but I don't see St. Louis stopping them.

Cowboys over Redskins - speaking of unstoppable, do these Cowboys ever look good right now! Let's hope they can stay healthy and keep putting on a great show.

Eagles over Bears - Chicago could be 3-0 right now instead of 1-2 if just a couple more plays went their way. It just looks like one of those kinds of years for them.

Ravens over Steelers - This Monday night game will not be as high flying and offensive as the last two. If you like a ground out battle though, it'll be a great game to watch. I'm picking the Ravens because I think their D can hamper an injured Big Ben even more than Philly did last week.

Enjoy the weekend!

A Long Time Coming

I think the Associated Press article's opening line says it all ...

The Detroit Lions fired president Matt Millen on Wednesday, more than seven years after the former linebacker and TV analyst took over one of the NFL's most mediocre franchises and made it the worst.

Whatever pictures or dirty laundry that Millen has on William Ford Sr. must have finally come out because the inept GM couldn't continue to sink the ship any further. I fear that it's going to be a long rebuilding process, but as a Lions fan, I can have hope again. At least Ford announces who he's going to hire as his next mistake.

Ryder Cup to the US

Another prediction gone very wrong for me. But how could I guess that the European leaders would play as bad as the US guns have played in the last three cups? Garcia, Harrington, and Westwood got 2 out of a possible 11 points in the matches they played. That's just completely ridiculous and sounds an awful lot like the criticism of guys like Tiger and Phil over the last three cups. (Worth noting ... Phil only won one match and stunk it up big time on Sunday, too!)

In other news, how did New England get so completely destroyed by Miami? Ronny Brown goes for five touchdowns? Come on Pats ... you've got to play better D than that. True to form though, the Lions are getting their butts kicked at halftime. At least some things never change!

Week 3 Pickoff

So it's Ryder Cup weekend in Kentucky and for some reason, no one seems to care. This has been a strange golf season since Tiger was felled by the knee injury in June. Interest has been enormously down, even my own, and I think it has a very obvious tie to the fact that the only guy who seems to be able to step up and transcend the game is sitting on his yacht somewhere playing with a one year old. At least there will be some patriotic interest bubbling up this weekend, but that should also die quickly as the Euros kick the Americans' buts again.

In the NFL, week 3 brings us another interesting slate of games and some further definition of who is for real and who might have tricked us for a couple of weeks. Here's what I think is going to happen ... take it for what it's worth. My picks the first two weeks have been crap. Hopefully things start shaping up.

Falcons over Chiefs - KC is the only team Detroit has beaten since the middle of last season. They're that bad. Even with a rookie QB, Atlanta is going to be 2-1.

Bills over Raiders - Buffalo is looking great to go into their bye week 5-0 (who would have thought?!). Facing the Raiders with Kiffin on pink slip watch, then the Rams and Cardinals, you've got to like their chances!

Bears over Bucs - this is a tight one to call, so I'll go with the home team thinking Chicago's defense is going to give Brian Griese all he can handle.

Broncos over Saints - New Orleans' defense has not been good enough to stop this Denver team that's been scoring at will. Especially at Mile High, this one should send Denver to 3-0.

Cowboys over Packers - both are in the top 4 statistically on offense and the bottom half on defense, so this one should be high scoring, and possibly just as exciting as Monday night. I'm hesitant to pick the Boys on the road on a short week, but I just like Romo more than Rodgers to get the W in the spotlight Sunday night.

Titans over Texans - will Houston be well rested from the extra week off, or worn out from the stress of living in a hurricane? I'm leaning towards the latter and making the pick based on Tennessee simply being a better team and playing at home.

Jags over Colts - Jacksonville's season is on the line. They were a Super Bowl favourite early on and have failed me both weeks to open so this is their last chance in my books. I may be stupid, but I think they just might be able to pull off what has to be considered an upset at this point because Indy is completely decimated by injuries right now.

Panthers over Vikings - yeah, the Vikes are desperate and at home, but Gus Frerotte? Really? Carolina gets Steve Smith back this week and walks all over the Vikes.

Pats over Dolphins - When Joey Porter opened his yap to say how easy it was going to be to beat the Pats with Cassel instead of Brady, he signed the death sentence for this game. Pats by three touchdowns.

Giants over Bengals - Cincy can't score this year and facing New York's D isn't going to help any. This one shouldn't even be close, especially in the Meadowlands.

Eagles over Steelers - Gotta worry about Big Ben's shoulder in this one. It should be a great game and Philly's D worries me a bit, but I'll pick the home team in the battle of Pennsylvania.

49ers over Lions - You think Mike Martz is excited to have O'Sullivan go out and rip up the Detroit secondary to the tune of 50 points? This one could get ugly.

Seahawks over Rams - Seattle will get their first win, but not because they're playing any good. They're just lucky to face such a horrible St. Louis team at home this week.

Redskins over Cardinals - I thought long and hard about this one. I don't have a lot of faith in either team really, but Washington got a seriously gut check win last week in the last few minutes against NO, so I like them to win at home against Arizona. Besides, can anyone really see the Cards at 3-0?

Ravens over Browns - Cleveland could surprise me here, but if they don't stop dropping balls and playing generally lousy, they're not going to start winning games. Baltimore should be well tuned up coming off the extra week to prepare.

Chargers over Jets - SD has lost two heart breakers (and gotten completely robbed last week). If they still have Super Bowl aspirations, they had better step up Monday night.

Best. Game. Ever.

I'm limited in the depth of Monday Night Football games I've watched, since I grew up in the east where MNF lasted well into the night. But I can't remember ever seeing such an exciting contest as the one I just watched. Nearly 70 points, 7 lead changes, absolutely awesome displays of offense and a few mistakes mixed in to keep things interesting. It was an instant classic.

And what can be concluded from this affair? Dallas and Philly both have sick offenses and should be able to run up some serious scores this year. Their defenses? Maybe not so good. We'll find out more from both of these teams next weekend as Dallas heads north to Green Bay and Philly host the Steelers. I'll definitely want to set the PVR for both of those games!

What I've Learned from the First Two Weeks

I cleverly forgot to post my picks at the end of last week for week 2 in the NFL. I say cleverly because my picks, as it turned out, sucked. I'm 8-6 going into tonight's game in Dallas and will not be cracking the ten-win mark for the second week in a row. However, having had the chance to actually watch a lot more football this weekend than last, I think I may have learned a few things. Division by division, I'm going to run through the things I think I think after most of the teams have played an eighth of their games.

AFC East:
The Pats are still going to be a decent team because of the strength they've got on D and because of the genius they've got on the sidelines. Cassel will make sure he doesn't lose the games for them and the Pats will put up 10 to 12 wins. The Bills are a lot better than I ever believed, largely because their D is playing great! The Jets will hang around with Brett, but probably won't be a threat as the year plays out. And the Dolphins, while dramatically better than last year's 1-15 team, will still be the doormat of the division.

AFC West:
San Diego got totally jobbed this week. Can they bounce back from two straight heartbreakers? This next one against NE will tell us a lot. o-3 might be too big a hole to come back from. Denver, aided by the officiating, have jumped out to 2-0, but I'd be a bit worried about all the points they gave up. They're going to win a lot this year, but they're going to lose some too if they have to rely on being on the positive side of the shootouts every time. The Raiders are slightly better than I gave them credit for, but they're still going to lose most of their games. After all, the win yesterday was against the Chiefs who could threaten that 0-16 mark that the Dolphins were looking at last year.

AFC North:
We haven't seen enough of the Ravens to pass much judgement yet, but the Steelers appear to be the class of this division again. The Browns are in huge trouble as the only team to be 0-2 with both losses coming at home. The Bengals look pretty terrible again with their offense failing completely to come together. It's hard to infer much more from these first two weeks, but if I had to make a prediction, Pittsburgh will win the division and none of these other teams will be in the playoffs.

AFC South:
Great win by Peyton and the Colts on Sunday, but the injuries are going to make it hard every week for them to get W's. The Titans are 2-0, but with one of those against the Bengals, and with Kerry Collins now being the go to guy at QB, I don't have a ton of faith in the winning streak continuing for long. Who knows what to make of the Texans yet, with their game pushed back to November because of Ike. As for the Jags, I'm quite surprised at the start. They were widely selected as a Super Bowl contender but they've stunk it up for the first two weeks. Both of the teams that beat them are now 2-0, so perhaps they've just run across good teams, but Indy is going to be another tough opponent this coming week too. If they can't bounce back and get a W, their season is going down the tubes early. This division is still a toss up, but as Indy heals, I think they're still the team to beat.

NFC East:
How do you call this division before seeing the battle in Dallas tonight? I've got Dallas as the class of the division, but Donovan could show me otherwise tonight for sure. The Giants look great again on D with their offense good enough to win a bunch of games. And even Washington looked great this week after I wrote them off for a crappy week 1 performance. This division is completely stacked and too tough to call. But I'll be picking them an awful lot when any of the teams play outside the division.

NFC West:
As stacked as the East is, the West is bad. There's not a team in this division that I will have any faith in on any given Sunday. Kurt Warner has the Cards looking okay but who knows how long he can hang on. The Niners are a .500 team at best as J.T. O'Sullivan finds his way in his first year as a starter. The Seahawks, struggling with wide receiver injuries, have been pathetic on D and aren't going to stop anyone. And the Rams ... where to even begin. They'll battle the Chiefs for the basement this year. Is this the year the Cards finally make the playoffs? They've got a 2 game headstart on the Seahawks who I would have picked before the season. But there's a lot of football left.

NFC South:
The Panthers at 2-0 are a surprise to me, and getting Steve Smith back after his two week suspension can only make them better. The Saints looked pretty good to me both weeks, but their D let them down badly giving up two touchdowns in the last 6 minutes this week to lose by 5. That kind of performance is going to cost them big when they play better teams than SF. The Falcons game back to earth and will struggle this year with their rookie QB at the helm and teams clogging up the middle to stop the run. I'm not sure what to make of Tampa yet, but I don't think they're a playoff team. We'll learn more in weeks 4 and 5 when they play Green Bay and Denver. If I have to pick it now, the Panthers win this division and the Saints make a run at a wild card spot.

NFC North:
Evidently, the Packers are going to be just fine without Brett. Rodgers has played very solid ball the first two weeks, minimizing mistakes and letting the solid team around him take care of the rest. The Bears have been really solid on D, but the fact that they still have no QB will cost them in the long run I think. The Vikings look surprisingly inept. We all knew they were going to have QB troubles, but the performances these first two weeks were just pathetic. And speaking of pathetic, this division gets rounded out by the Lions. What other team could possible be losing by 21, leading by 1, and then losing again by 23, all in the same game. I look down their schedule and can't find a game where they should be favoured. They don't get to play the Chiefs or the Rams. Yet if history tells me anything, they'll win a couple of games they have no right to win. Maybe even enough to save Matt Millen's and Rod Marinelli's jobs again. Let's hope not. Pack win this division in a walk.

Same Old Lions

It's hard to believe that after another year of trying to make positive changes and reshaping the team; after years of changing coaching staffs; after years of changing styles of offense and defense; after years of trying to change the gameplan; the two things that remain in Detroit football are Matt Millen and a shitty team.

This year, Detroit will focus more on the running game that they haven't had since Barry Sanders left. Of course, that's going to be difficult when they start the games losing 21-0 five minutes in. Playing against a rookie QB, a rookie RB, and a rookie coach on Atlanta, the Lions trotted out their 4-0 preseason players to get their butts very quickly handed to them Sunday afternoon. I look at their schedule and figure that everyone's jobs will be on the line by Mid-October. Everyone of course, except Millen. I'm not sure what embarrassing things for the Ford family that he's got on tape, but how he has managed to not get fired is truly remarkable.

In other ridiculous headlines from the first Sunday of the season, how did Indy, SD, and Jacksonville all lose? Aren't those the guys that everyone said would battle for AFC superiority? And poor Brady. I actually feel sorry for every football fan out there because we are going to miss out on watching a guy who is a true pleasure to watch perform.

Finally, I hope to at least get those two games tonight right. I could feel a little better about my picks that way. Overall, it's been a tough first week and there's going to be a lot to re-evaluate for next weekend. Which of these first week games were true indicators and which were as misleading as the Lions' 6-2 start last year? I'm sure to guess wrong on Friday ... stay tuned to find out!

An Early Forecast

With the NFL starting up on Thursday night this week, I'm forced into making my bold predictions a little earlier than normal this week. With the return of fall and all of the sports goodness that comes with it, I will do my best to return to normal weekend forecasts and wrapups with additional posts in between as interesting issues arise.

At this point in the NFL season it's rather challenging to make any of these picks. The preseason is obviously meaningless since no starters see more than about four series of plays and teams are already hiding their injury reports, so I'm not sure how much faith I have in any of my picks this week. We'll see though ... I could surprise us all with a strong performance!

One interesting note that I found enjoyed in doing some research was the analysis one of SI's writers on the Lions ... "the problem I find with the Lions is they're fully capable of losing to any team on their schedule." ... sadly I see it the same way.

And now on to the picks:

Giants over Redskins - they're a bit banged up on the D-line, but it's hard not to pick the defending champs on opening night at home in any year.

Lions over Falcons - Atlanta could be the worst team in football. I think the Lions' D will actually be able to stop a rookie QB in his first start on a crappy Falcons team.

Seahawks over Bills - Seattle is actually going to be decent this year and will win the division again in the last year for coach Holmgren.

Jaguars over Titans - I have zero faith in Vince Young getting any better and Jacksonville is going to contend this year.

Dolphins over Jets - who will be more motivated? Favre in his Big Apple debut, or Pennington trying to prove that the Jets picked the wrong QB?

Patriots over Chiefs - NE has still only lost one of their last 19 (real) games. I'm picking them until I find out that they're going to amputate Brady's injured foot.

Saints over Bucs - there may be too much turmoil for NO to hang in there this year, what with the hurricanes and all, but I think they'll at least get off on the right foot.

Eagles over Rams - St. Louis is going to stink this year. Like, Lions kind of stink. No running game, no receivers. It's going to be ugly.

Steelers over Texans - Houston is the team that ruined David Carr by having no line for him to learn behind. Not much has changed.

Bengals over Ravens - Baltimore is the other team (besides Atlanta) starting a rookie QB in game one. Never a good sign for a team's fortunes.

Cowboys over Browns - Dallas' receiving corps is beat up, but Cleveland's defensive backs are lousy ... this should be a fair fight.

Chargers over Panthers - SD is going to be real good again. They'll be fun to watch this year.

Cardinals over 49ers - can I pick both teams to lose? Warner is going to be tough to predict this year because he's going to win some and he's going to give some away. I pick him in this one because the opposing QB is J.T. O'Sullivan ... heard of him? Neither has anyone else.

Colts over Bears - hard to believe the Bears were in the Super Bowl recently. They're going to be last in the division this year ... yeah, that's right ... in a division that includes Detroit. That's pretty bad.

Vikings over Packers - Minnesota is going to try to run all over everyone this year. And I don't like Rodgers to pick up where Brett left off.

Broncos over Raiders - Denver isn't going to be great, but you don't have to be to beat the Raiders.

I'm going to miss most of the action Sunday since I'm off to see the Yankees-Mariners game in the afternoon. We bought tickets when we thought the Yankees would be in the midst of another playoff run ... shows how much I know!

Wolverine fans more Blue than Maize

We got our first dose of Michigan football this weekend under the Rich Rodriguez regime and it was largely as expected. Without the personnel to make the system work, the Wolverines struggled to gain any yards, putting up just 203 total for the game and almost nothing on the ground. While the defense stepped up pretty well in the second half, they were terrible in the first half and gave away far too much to the Utes. It's going to be a long painful progression this season for Michigan with no QB to run the show and a group of young inexperienced players trying to learn the system. But there were at least a couple of positive signs in the defensive performance late in the game and even in the offense's ability to take advantage of a few short fields to at least keep the game interesting. A winning season will be a long shot, but here's hoping that the Maize and Blue can keep their bowl-eligible streak alive while the system starts to fall into place.