Week 2: Vikings wait around for Lions to do something stupid...

And the Vikings were amply rewarded for their patience.

The Detroit Lions can play a very good quarter of football, but as most fans know, there are four quarters to every game.

Midway through the second quarter the Lions were up 10-0 on a team that many think is a super bowl contender in the NFC. Kevin Smith was running through large holes for good gains against what is proposed to be the #1 rushing defense in all of professional football. Matthew Stafford was hitting Calvin Johnson and rookie TE Brandon Pettigrew as the offense sliced and diced their way to two scores in three drives. 10-0 and well on their way to ending an 18 game losing streak.

And then...

Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson managed to put together a long 76 yard drive for a touchdown. 10-7 with just under two minutes left.

The Lions take the kickoff and...

Inexplicably, the game plan changed. Run. Run. Run (Penalty)....run out the clock. Half. Until the Favre drive all of the momentum was roaming on the Lions sideline. With less than two minutes left, the Schwartz buried it alive.

Why not take a chance to get something back? Show your young gunslinger that your not going to take away all of his bullets just because the game got close again.

First drive of the second half for Detroit, two sacks and a fumble. Within five minutes, the Lions were down 17-10 and Minnesota never looked back.

Jim Schwartz is a rookie head coach, but I still thought he had more intelligence than that. Football more than any other sport, except perhaps Basketball, is a game of momentum swings. When coaches play it too safe they usually destroy any momentum their teams have gained.

Turnovers can destroy your momentum. Pansy punts on make-able distance fourth downs kill momentum. Penalties sodomize your momentum.

Killing the clock in any situation except to end the game and solidify a victory emasculates your team and obliterates your momentum.

The Lions are in need of a totally different attitude. This is a team that has to put its foot to the medal until at least 25 minutes after the final whistle. They are too prone to making mistakes and giving games away.

For everyone who is calling for the Lions to bench Stafford and play Culpepper to ensure a win and end "THE STREAK", what are you thinking?

Now, I wrote that the Lions should have started the season with Culpepper and then planned to make the switch after the bye week. They didn't do that. Instead, the Lions are going to run the entire show with the kid at the helm. So be it. The choice has been made. You can't turn back now.

I am fully of the opinion that Schwartz always wanted to go with Stafford, but was going to go with Culpepper for prudence sake, until numerous interviews with Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman came out. Both great quarterbacks claimed that it would have never done them any good and only slowed their progressions if they had to ride the pine for a year or so.

And I tend to agree with them, why? Because this entire season is really just preseason for the 2010 season. In fact this shouldn't be headlined "Week 2" or even "Weak 2" as I played with the idea, it should Preseason game 6 of what will be 24 preseason games before the opening of 2010 and hopefully a QB in his second year with a year under his belt and an offensive line and defense which have just been bolstered by high 2010 draft choices. The idea of giving Culpepper ample playing time in our preseason when he's going to be gone when the games really count is moronic.

Wouldn't it be great if the Lions had Cheerleaders?

So the Lions now host the Washington Redskins in a game that will be blacked out in the Detroit area.

For once in a very long time, this is a game of real hope for the Leos. Going into this season most fans have pointed to the week 8 game against St. Louis as the first real "winnable" game for the Lions.

Last week the Skins barely managed a 9-7 victory over those same hapless Rams. So if you really believed that the Lions could beat the Rams, you have to believe they stand an above average chance to beat the Skins.

The Skins have only managed to score one offensive touchdown in the two games this season. Their starting left tackle is out with an injury. Clinton Portis is on the downside of his career.

We'll see.

Two more running items.

First, I will drag out of the closet a personal problem I have with the NFL as a whole, not just our own loathsome Lions. Third and three or less. The average running play in the NFL gains 3.5 yards. Hell, bad teams with awful running games still average 3 yards. Why then does every team decide to pass on this very make-able down and distance? What's more, you have two downs to do it really.

So I am going to track the Lions 3rd down and 3 yards or less plays.

In week one against the Saints, the Lions faced this down and distance twice. They ran once, on an end around to Calvin Johnson, for a first down. The second time, pass, incomplete.

In week two against the Vikings, the Lions again faced this down and distance twice. The first time, they ran the ball up the middle to Kevin Smith for a loss of four yards. Fourth down.

The second time they passed, incomplete...but were bailed out by a penalty. (So because the results of that play don't count for the nfl, they won't count for me.)

So, so far, the Lions 1 for 2 while running the ball on 3rd and short and 0-1 when passing it. As the season goes on, I believe that the stats will bear out that it is always better to run on 3rd and 3 or less.

Second running item.

The fade-stop.

I grew up watching Barry Sanders and Herman Moore during which was (sadly) the golden age of Lions football in my lifetime. During those years, through multiple iterations of quarterbacks, there was always "the fade-stop." It was a simple play designed for the 6'4 Herman Moore. Moore was significantly taller than most cornerbacks in the league, who average about 5'10 or 5'11. The idea was to drive into the endzone, stop come back and catch the jump ball the QB tossed his way. It worked like a charm. Has always worked like a charm. It is practically indefensible if you have a WR with a significant height advantage over the defender.

Enter 6'5 Calvin Johnson. Where is the fade-stop? I saw the Lions try it once, against the Saints. Johnson was double covered, still almost made the catch and subsequently the Saints were called for a penalty on the play.

The fade-stop should be a staple in the red zone for the Lions. We should see 60-100 touchdowns over the next 5-7 years from Stafford to Johnson on the fade-stop.