okay, i just watched that hootie guy sing the anthem before the detroit lions
opener.......he didnt impress me...will the lions? lets talk pro football..:)

36 responses total.

The Lions are never impressive early on in the season, but they'll pick it
up in a few games.

The first part of that is a massive understatement. The Lions suck until
mid-November. They do this every year. I don't get it.

Umm..your reply didn't show all the way..actually, past the first line.
I think they need to give Barry the ball at the goal line, not Lynch.
I never did like Scott Mitchell, even if he did have a good last season.
Seems like the backup always does better..Krieg kicked ass, then he left,
so did Kramer, and Makowlski (sp?) did good last season when he had the
chance.  I think they should use him more often..he wasn't half bad when
he played for Green Bay.

Lions are up to their old tricks.  They may not do better than 9-7 with their
schedule and inconsistent play...

yup. the Lions look like a good team that is not even coming close to 
playing at their potential. Last year they did overcome this partway 
through the season. Will they do it again?

With their current schedule, I surely don't see them winning 7 in a row...

Excellent point. I agree completely, but they will beat up on some weaker
tems.

The lions are a good team, but the team to beat this year is the Green Bay
Packers.  They are a complete team now and it is going to be very hard for
any team to beat them.

The Packers are indeed very good. Better than the Lions, although the Lions
should have no trouble beating the Giants this week.

The Lions stink.  If there is any doubt as to why the new stadium proposal
should *not* be passed, just look at the current inept ownership and lack of
any real commitment to reaching championship caliber in the foreseeable
future.  I was born in 1957, the last time the Lions won anything...

Looks like I have to eat my words about the Giants. The Lions 
*should* have been able to beat the Giants. They have the talent. 

The Lions technically aren't out of it, I must admit:  *If* they could beat
the Chargers at San Diego - the Chargers don't look as great as they might have
once - the Lions would be 5-5.  If they won their 4 remaining home games *and*
won at either Chicago or San Francisco (not likely) they would be 10-6, which
would probably be good enough to get into the playoffs as a wild-card team.
But the thing is, the Lions haven't shown that they're capable of or even
likely to do these amazing 6-1 things; their 4 wins so far have been against
Tampa Bay (twice), Atlanta, and Chicago - all losing teams - *and* lost to
the Giants.  I suppose we ought to share "good vibes" with 'em until they're
actually eliminated from the race...

I saw the Lions on MNF this week.  I also saw them play part of the game
against the Giants.  I don't look for them to put on any end of season
rush this year.  I think there is something dramatically wrong with this
team.  Outside of Detroit, (in NY, for example) they are fond of
questioning Detroit's overall talent, and that may be somewhat valid, but
doesn't explain the difference in heart I see from the team I watched last
year.  They put on a lot of histrionics, which seem to be all flash and no
heat.

I'm afraid that once (if) Detroit is actually eliminated from playoff
contention one of the Bill Fords will finally lower the boom on Wayne, and
his run as coach will be over...

Well... the season's over. Will Wayne be back? (The perennial question)

In the past, I think most of the players have supported Wayne. Do they
still?  Does it matter to his fate as coach?

The season is *not* over.  The Lions could still finish 10-6, which would
probably make the playoffs.  9-7 *might* make the playoffs, but unlikely. 
Do I think the Lions *will* finish even as high as 9-7?  Given their
performance(s) to date, not a chance!  But until they're definitely dead as
a duck, don't look for Ford(s) to make a change.  You probably won't see a
change until after the season, in any case.

  Bill Ford should can Wayne. He has been here for God knows how long, and
is now the same as the people who came before him, like Forzano. We need a
decent quarterback, and sadly cannot find one. We need a new team. 
 We should just fire the whole lot of them and start fresh.

Oops. Pardon me. I hadn't read the standings right. Didn't realize that 
they could still finish 10-6 if they win all the remaining ones. 

They won today at the Silverdome 17-16 when Seattle's last-second field goal
try from 42 yards went just wide.  This makes the Lions 5-6.  I predict they
finish 7-9 or 8-8...

That's probably a good guess, but I didn't want to write them off in 
advance of their demise. 

  What the Lions should do:
  
 Fire Wayne. Now.  Hire Lou Holtz, and pay him what he wants. Let Mr. Holtz
have complete say over who stays and who goes, and I will guarantee a winner
within 4 yrs.

 What the Lions will end up doing:
   Keep Wayne and sign him to another multiyear/million dollar package and
they will end up in last place year after year. The only way that the Lions
will ever see a super bowl is on TV.

Careful now:  Lou Holtz, after a successful coaching tenure at Arkansas, was
hired by the New York Jets.  Things didn't pan out so well there.  Several
years have gone by since then, but college coaches, even successful ones,
don't necessarily do correspondingly well in the NFL...

 George Perles won in Pittsburgh before Michigan State, and he took em to the
Rose Bowl and won. Holtz could be an asset, but no one around here sees that.

 I've been around the Lions all my life. They have been close to the Super
Bowl only a handful of times only to blow it against some powerhouse. Better
to spend your efforts on winning teams and leave the Lions to themselves.
I really, really wish that they would can Wayne. I would have done it after
San Diego. 

Like I said, Ford(s) will not fire Fontes until/unless the Lions are actually
eliminated from making the playoffs (and they *aren't* yet), and most likely
will not be fired during the season in any case.

The Lions have been "close" to the *Super Bowl* only once:  When they followed
a 12-4 regular season with a home trouncing of Dallas, only to be trounced
in the NFC championship game at Washington.  That was 4 or so years ago, and
Wayne *was* at the helm, FWIW...

Well they lost again. If they aren't mathematically eliminmated by 
now, they are certainly eliminated in any practical sense.

I don't think Holtz would be a good coach for the Lions.

Don't forget that in 1985 the Lions hired former Michigan State coach Darrell
Rogers (who turned MSU into a factor in the Big 10).  Three years later, after
a very disappointing won-loss record, he too was fired as Lions head coach.

  Not that I'm actually going to foster any unnecessary babble about Bobby
Ross, I'm interested in what y'all think of the Lions chances now?
  
 How could I forget a loser like Darrell Rogers? I hated his style, and the
Lions became even bigger doormats than they were. Let's hope that Mr. Ross
will weed out the egos, and all the nonsense and turn the Lions into a 
power to be dealt with.

I don't feel strongly one way or the other about Ross.

I do feel strongly that the Lions should trade their front office for a 
new one. I think that the coaches keep getting blamed unfairly for 
problems that can be traced back to poor drafting, poor trading, and 
poor free agent acquisitions.

   That is the head coach's problem. With the Lions, the Head coach is the
person who aquires players, hires staff, etc, so the Front office has little
to do.
   Maybe Fontes got bogged down. It can happen to the best of people.

Until or unless Billy Ford sr. fires himself as owner, we can only hope that
someone with legitimate good football smarts will be hired to run things. 
Ross seems like a reasonable choice in that regard...

  Well by giving the coach the autonomy to hire and fire at will, I think 
this is the way football and moreover all sports teams should be run. Mr Ford
is a visionary in his own way. 
  I never relished Steinbrenner and his fire from the lip style. Billy Martin
was an expert at baseball, and should have been left alone to develop his team
his own way. Billy just needed more time.

I don't know what you base attributing "visionary" to Bill Ford upon, but any
visions that don't produce championships for 40 years aren't ones I wish to
share...

  I use that term because of his hands-off style of management. Granted his
choices of coaches has left much to be desired, going back to the Forzano era
when the Lions truly stunk. I remember my dad being extremly upset at his
coaching style. But I think that things will be different with Bobby Ross.

Gee, all this time I thought the general manager was the one who made those
decisions (with input from the coach, of course). Lions coaches are not GMs.

  Scotty Bowman, and Brian Murray do/did the same. Jacques Demers had to
contend with Jimmy Devillano. 

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss