Sunday, September 23, 2012
Game 3 @ Tennessee Titans
Blew it.
The Detroit Lions blew it, losing to the Titans 41-44 in overtime in one of the strangest games I've ever seen. The Titans scored a field goal in overtime first leaving the Lions a chance to win or tie it back up should they be able to drive down the field and score. They did drive down the field, then stalled, then while trying to draw the defense off sides on 4th down Raiola snapped the ball and a very surprised Hill (who was at Quarterback for an injured Stafford) tried a two man quarterback sneak that failed utterly for an immediate loss.
Coach Schwartz said that noise was a factor in the play. I assume that means that Raiola failed to hear that there was not supposed to be an actual snap of the ball. If so, he blew it.
I find myself unable to adequately explain all the blown plays by both teams, all the blown calls by the refs (I don't choose to use the word "replacement" since I've never been all that impressed with the full timers either), and then there's the coaches who I believe blew it as well.
My one point of criticism this week is why is this high powered offense with a quarterback who threw for over 5,000 yards last year being choked to death by called run plays which are only somewhat effective for 3 weeks straight? Who is it that is so afraid of going down the field via passing? That person may be doing what they are supposed to by the rules of their scheme, but if so, the scheme is in need of some serious adjustment as teams apparently have figured it out.
In fact, if the scheme, or play calling, or play execution, or whatever it is that is causing the Lions to blow these games instead of challenging teams (read as attacking) doesn't change immediately, then the Lions will have blew this season as well, they have roughly 12 hours from now to figure that out.
The 2012 season is in the balance... don't blow it.
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4 comments:
Look at Stafford the first three games this year and compare him to the games he played last year with the broken finger. He's hurt and nobody is addressing it. Finally a story in MLive today that refers to something being wrong but holy Moses--all it takes is basic observational skills to see tat SOMETHING IS WRONG. Now, is that all that's amiss? Nope. Coaching is so bad, words like "atrocious" and "embarrassing" do not justify the depths to which this team is unprepared.
It's sure looking like last year was a fluke--some good balls bounced our way--and that the coaches and all three phases of the team are deeply suspect. Meanwhile, Hanson, Johnson and even LeShoure get gameballs--everyone else just gets balls...
While I don't disagree with your assessment, I must say that the secondary is getting more egregious by the game (outside of Houston, of course.) Bentley had a bad game, Lacey and Wendling were embarrassing, and the game ended with Coleman, Wendling, and Spievey rotating in and out depending on who effed up the last play. Delmas, where out thou?
The entire secondary (sans Houston this one week) are the backups. I'm not entirely sure what people expected from the backups, but what we are getting from them is what I expect. The Lions need to outscore their opponents, not trust the backup secondary to stop the opponent from scoring. This conservative approach to scoring on the O isn't going to cut it season -long.
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