Week 1: Detroit Obliterated; Oven set to 450.

OK, it’s taken me two days to digest the sheer disaster that was week 1 of the Detroit Lions 2009 season.

And yes, it only took two quarters of play for me to make a run at putting my head in the oven…which is actually an improvement. Last year it was less than 10 minutes.

Could that really be considered improvement? I guess. If that is improvement, what then would the average Lions need to consider a week or the season a success?

A win? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Granted, wins and losses are what the rest of the league judges itself on, but that can’t be true in Detroit. If it were, we’d all have our heads in the oven.

No, we need a new standard to judge ourselves against.

Something new to try and hang our hats on.

And I’ve discovered it. Rookies.

First let me preface this whole idea with one fact. From the year 2000-2007, the Detroit Lions have had their hands on 71 draft picks, which via trade or picking netted them 57 players--more than a 53 man NFL roster. A grand total of 7 of those players remain on the team. Jeff Backus and Dominic Raiola (2001) are mediocre offensive lineman who have started almost their entire careers, neither having ever known even a .500 record. No players remain from 2002-2005. 2006 netted Ernie Simms, a potential pro-bowl linebacker and Daniel Bullocks who is on IR again for the second straight year. 2007, Millen's last year, brought Calvin Johnson, an All-Star reciever, Drew Stanton, a 3rd string QB, and Manny Ramirez, a backup guard.

So of 71 picks and 57 players over 8 years, the Lions have only managed four players starting for them, only two of the "potentially" special.

The jury is still out on Matt Millen's last draft, 2008. It potentially may have been his best one. Seven of the nine players selected are at least still with the team. Although, we are only a single year removed from that draft.

Round	Overall	Player	Pos.	College
1	17	Cherilus, Gosder (from Min through KC)	T	Boston College
2	45	Dizon, Jordon	LB	Colorado
3a.	64	Smith, Kevin(from Mia)	RB	Central Florida
3b.	87	Fluellen, Andre(from Cle)	DT	Florida State
3c.	92	Avril, Cliff(from Dal)	DE	Purdue
5a.	136	Moore, Kenneth(from Mia through KC)	WR/PR	Wake Forest
5b.	146	Felton, Jerome(from NO)	FB	Furman
7a.	216	Cohen, Landon	DT	Ohio
7b.	218	Campbell, Caleb(from NO)	LB	Army

Cherilus is the starting RT and was able to hold off Jon Jansen a 10 year NFL vet to keep his job. Dizon is a good special teamer and has vastly improved as a backup linebacker. Kevin Smith is the starting RB and has shown flashes of being an every down back capable of over 1000 yards rushing and 50 receptions. Fluellen is in the DL rotation and playing. Cliff Avril led the team with five sacks last year and is being counted on to provide some sort of pass rush. Jerome Felton is the backup full back and the short yardage back. And Landen Cohen is getting significant playing time at the DT position.

Again, these guys are at least playing which says a lot in comparison to Millen's other 7 drafts.

So here we are in 2009 with a new GM and a new coach and hopefully different results. The first and most important thing to notice about this draft is that every draft pick made the team. The top seven players are all on the active roster and the three seventh rounders all were good enough to make the practice squad.

PK(OVR)	NAME	POS	SCHOOL
1(1)	Matthew Stafford	QB	Georgia
20(20)	Brandon Pettigrew	TE	Oklahoma State
1(33)	Louis Delmas	S	Western Michigan
12(76)	DeAndre Levy	OLB	Wisconsin
18(82)	Derrick Williams	WR	Penn State
15(115)	Sammie Lee Hill	DT	Stillman
19(192)	Aaron Brown	RB	TCU
19(228)	Lydon Murtha	OT	Nebraska
26(235)	Zack Follett	OLB	California
46(255)	Dan Gronkowski	TE	Maryland

So, what do Lions fans have to watch...progress. We are looking at Calvin Johnson, Ernie Simms, and fourteen other players either in their first or second year headlined by the #1 overall pick Matt Stafford. This should be a team that is becoming very young and hopefully should improve by leaps and bounds over the year...and maybe one day...I don't know if I should even say it...maybe even win a game.