Week 7: Did the Lions lose the bye?

The Lions have had a brutal schedule the beginning of this season. Their five losses have been to teams with winning records: Saints (5-0), Vikings (6-0), Bears (3-2), Steelers (4-2) and Packers (3-2). They're only victory came against the Washington Redskins who are developing a penchant for giving winless teams everywhere a shot of hope for victory.

But the next few weeks look different. In the next four weeks the Lions will play St. Louis (0-6), Seattle (2-4), and Cleveland (1-6). These may be the last chances for victory all season. Sandwiched in between Seattle and Cleveland, the Leos must make a trip to Minnesota (6-1). The following stretch to end the season has the Lions facing off against Green Bay (4-2), Cincinnati (5-2), Baltimore (3-3), Arizona (4-2), San Francisco (3-3), and then closing out with Chicago (3-3). Currently, not a loser in the bunch.

It is imperative that the Lions capitalize on the next quarter of their season or else they will once again be picking in the top 5 of next April's draft.

Did the Lions lose the Bye? We won't know until next Sunday against the team most pundits had penciled in for the Lions first win of the season, the Rams. If Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford have recuperated enough to play, it can be considered that they've "won" the bye. If not...

They certainly didn't get anything out of the trade deadline or by way of waiver wire pickups. So the only hope for improvement during their week off...did CJ and the Franchise Savior heal up enough to play?

We should probably know that some time this week, although the way Schwartz likes to keep his injury report hidden away from the world like the Ark of the Covenant...maybe we won't really know until Sunday.

In the meantime, let's talk about The Sanchize, Mark Sanchez, the other quarterback chosen in the first round. He will be forever linked with our Franchise Savior, just like Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf, Drew Bledsoe and Rick Mirer, Philip Rivers and Eli Manning...and so many others.

Sanchez started the NY Jets off with three straight wins...and the world pronounced him King of New York...since then, he has led the Jets to three straight losses...

Player	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp	TD	INT	Rating	Games
M. Sanchez	178	94	1178	52.8	6	10	61.5	7
M. Stafford	139	79	894	56.8	3	6	65.5	4

Maybe the most important statistic isn't shown in the above table--wins. In that category, The Sanchize leads The Franchise Savior, 3-1. But wins is more a team statistic, the Lions don't have the Jets' defense, especially their secondary.

Ok, so the first thing we look at is "Rating", the modern definition of how well quarterbacks are playing. The QB rating statistic ranges from 0-159. Now Stafford and Sanchez are ranked 29th and 30th respectively of the 35 players who have thrown at least 14 passes in an NFL game. Those aren't good numbers...but who's better?

Sanchize has played in 3 more games than the Franchise Savior. One because of the Bye and two because of Stafford's knee injury. Now, because Stafford's played two fewer games, it stands to reason he's missed out on his chances to throw more picks. But lets look at how things were "trending." In the first two games of the season, Stafford threw 5 of his 6 interceptions. Two weeks ago, the Sanchize threw 5 pics against the Bills.

So Stafford had 1 pick in his last two games...Sanchize had five...

What does it all mean? Nothing. Nada. Squat. It' just something to think about. Sanchez probably just had one really bad day, much like Stafford did when he threw 3 against New Orleans.

These two QB's are tied together throughout time and week 7 of year one is not the time to start making comparisons. So why write about it? To point out the ludicrous way many sportswriters are jumping on the story.

Probably the most noteworthy part of the comparison isn't in these numbers at all...it's in the fact that Sanchez has played 3 more games...and Stafford got injured. Now, granted, that has to be considered an "unlucky" break for Stafford, but in Lionsland where Lions luck prevails that is possibly the first sign of an injury prone player. We'll see.

Why don't the Lions have cheerleaders?

Also, I'd like to apologize, this column comes out about a half hour later than I had anticipated, because as I was searching through the Sanchize's statistics at the New York Jets web page, I was side tracked by "The Flight Crew."

I am particularly impressed with how it seems like this particular dance crew is either wet or sweaty. Either way...bravo!

The plights of the fallen

The Tennessee Titans (0-6) had a merciful Bye week. The Titans host the Rams in week 14 of the season, so no matter what, one of these teams will finish with a win or tie. Imagine how epic a battle it would be to have two 0-13 teams punching it out that late in the season...

Indianapolis beat the snot out of St. Louis (0-7) 42-6. Now, this is a scary team. Why? Because from before the preseason this was the game that Lions' fans pointed to as the best possibility for the Lions first win of the year. The Lions will be favored in this game. What does that mean? Upset. The Lions are NEVER favored in a game. This is a major league trap game.

In the land of Tea and Crumpets, the New England Patriots wiped the pitch with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-7), 35-7. If you take a look at the rest of the scores this weekend in the NFL what becomes increasingly more clear is the huge disparity between the have's and the have-not's in the league that continuously boasts of its "parity."

There are currently 11 teams with 2 or fewer wins and seven teams with 5 or more over seven weeks. That's 18 of 32 teams either at the top echelon or bottom tier. That leaves 14 teams in the middle, in no man's land. Typically, the NFL will have roughly five teams at the top and five at the utter bottom, leaving most teams with some hope of making the playoffs, right now a third of the NFL is already pretty much eliminated from post season contention.

Parity is taking a beating.