Sunday, December 27, 2009

Game 15 - 2009 @ SanFrancisco 49ers

Too many turnovers!

Lions lose number 20 in a row on the road and fall to 2-13 for the season and this time it was because of too many turnovers.

Yeah, there were a few of the individual mistakes here and there. Even a penalty or two. But for the most part, all of that was kept to a minimum. However, the Lions kept turning the ball over. If Stanton didn't do it himself, then one of the players would. Of course, I had the 49ers defense in my fantasy league superbowl and won because of them, so I can't help but be a little bit happy about the turnovers... but as a Lion fan first and foremost I can still complain about them.

The front office may have found out a few things in this game, like that Cohen will be able to help the team and that without their #1 TE and #1 RB they need more depth on the offense... but I think they also found out something about their QBs. What they intend to do about it (if anything) I do not know, but should they actually improve the roster and start winning next year and should Stafford go down then they may need to be a little concerned about depth at QB. What with the defense and offense still not running on all cylinders even after 15 games this season there is something I foresee from the front office this off season... more turnovers, as in more roster turnover and shuffling of players on or off the team.

The coaching staff couldn't have been happy with the turnovers either. Here they fix this or that problem to some extent by benching various players and then something new rears it's head. I bet that flight home wasn't nearly as pleasant as it could've been. Neither will it be all that pleasant on Monday I suspect. So I expect to see a little more turnover of the starting roster come next week.

The players themselves are starting to divide themselves up into three groups... those that have "it", those who do not, and those who can't play consistently enough to fall into either category. Those that have "it" will be the core of the team next year. Those who have "it" one week or one play and not the next will probably be back but will have a fight to make the roster. Those that don't have "it" and have proven so will be turning over their playbooks in about a week and day or two.

As we enter the upcoming off season it'll be interesting to watch the moves the team makes (as usual). There may be a few twists... the Lions coaching staff may end up coaching the senior bowl at the end of January... the Lions will likely draft 2nd or maybe 1st... and there may be no CBA in which to concern the front office with a salary cap... so guys like Bryan Johnson, Dennis Northcutt and some others may need to prepare for another turnover of their own, that being from the NFL to the non-football life.

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