Thanks to the NFL's stupid blackout rule, I was only able to hear the game live, (I have since watched it on NFL replay, which should be available until midnight Wednesday) but I was riveted to the radio for what turned out to be a finish that only a hokie Hollywood writer could come up with.
A pass interference called on Cleveland in the endzone on the last play of the game? Stafford drilled under a 320 pound DL smashing his shoulder--that hit couldn't have been more destructive if it included a Micheal Bay explosion. Then the Cleveland Browns call an inexplicable timeout...then William Clay Ford calls down from his luxury suite to Stafford, who's being restrained by the medical staff who are trying desperately to find out how much bone is left in the Franchise Savior's disintegrated left shoulder. Ford tells Stafford, "just sit it out kid. I hate to win. If you go back into the game...I'm sending you back to prison! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" But Stafford hears the PA announce the Browns timeout and knows he can go back in.
Stafford hands the phone to one of the doctors and asks Jason Hanson, who's been here since before the Ford's made cars, "You've been here a long time, how bad is it here? In prison?"
"Not too bad...you get used to it."
Stafford breaks free of the medical staff and rushes back onto the field. His left arm hanging loosely out of his broken shoulder pads. He takes the snap with one hand, drops back...and hits Brandon Pettigrew for the winning touchdown with all 0's on the clock! The crowd goes wild!
The Ford's seethe in their luxury box....credits roll..."We are the Champions" plays...
OK, maybe it didn't happen exactly like that...but it was close.
Here are 10 things that I know really happened..."We'll keep on fighting till the end...."
1. The Detroit Lions gave up 37 points to a team that hadn't been able to get a touchdown from a running back or wide receiver for over a year....Brown's wide receivers caught four on Sunday.
2. The Lions continue to turn every opposing quarterback into a Hall of Famer. Brady Quinn was 21 of 33 for 304 yards and 4 four TD's with no interceptions. That's a QB rating of 133.1.
To put this into perspective, Brady Quinn's QB rating now--including his day against the Lions--is only 70.4. That puts him at 27th of the 33 players who have thrown enough passes to become eligible for the stat. Another ugly note, Stafford is 28th with a 66.9.
3. Mangini is a complete moron. The Lions should have never had a chance to even try the hail Mary pass interference play. Mangini called three passes on his last drive, one led the WR out of bounds stopping the clock and another fell incomplete, stopping the clock and giving the Leo's the ball back with 1:48 to go. Throw two runs in there, the Lions get the ball back after the punt with 20 seconds. Furthermore, not only did he pass the ball on that 3rd down, he did it from an empty backfield so there wasn't even a chance of a play fake.
4. Mangini has now come out and said the Lions were faking injuries in order to stop the Brown's no huddle. He obviously hasn't seen a lot of film of our Leo's. There isn't a play that goes by where at least one player isn't taken out.
5. Another thing about Mangini, he's arguing the pass interference penalty on the last play. Why? Because he apparently doesn't know the rules. Strange for an NFL head coach to not have a handle on the rules of the game, but it appears so. Both Mangini and Hank Poteat, who was called for the PI, have been quoted as saying that once the QB leaves the pocket the DB can do whatever they want to the WR. As if, once the QB scrambles, the field becomes Thunderdome or something. Which is blatantly false, once the ball is in the air the DB has to keep his hands off the WR--not see if he can drive him out of bounds, which is exactly what Poteat did. What's disturbing about this is, not that the flag was thrown--because usually when the Lions are involved, it's a missed call--but that the quotes from Mangini and Poteat are in complete lock step. In other words the coach has been teaching his players the wrong rules from the start...maybe the Browns do have it worse than we do.
6. Once again, the Leo's got the ball with about 2 minutes left, needing a touchdown to win--not a FG. If Lions fans know anything, we know that that is not a sound recipe for victory. On Sunday it worked. Now, the Lions are officially like 1 for 45 in this situation.
7. Matthew Stafford is the Franchise Savior. What he did on Sunday took gut and grit and all those other "toughness" words. He is undoubtedly the unquestioned leader of this team now and when the Lions come from the Harrington era (a QB that was actually quoted as saying "Why does the QB have to be the leader of the team?") that is incredibly refreshing.
8. I was wrong about last year's draft. There is no way that a LB like Aaron Curry could have this much of an effect on the Lions roster.
9. Martin Mayhew has to have at least two or three more drafts like this year's to give the Lions any chance of being relevant again in the NFL. Five players from this year's draft played huge roles in this victory. Obviously Stafford, but also Pettigrew and his winning touchdown, Aaron Brown and his touchdown, Zach Follet was great on special teams, and DeAndre Levy was everywhere playing LB for the injured Ernie Sims.
10. If Stafford and Calving Johnson don't play on Thanksgiving...there is no hope.
Why the Lions might have hope against Green Bay on Thanksgiving
1. Al Harris, half of a probowl tandem of CB's is out for the season.
2. Aaron Kampman, another probowl LB and sack master was also lost for the season on Sunday.
Why don't the Lions have cheerleaders?
Just a little something to help my readers as we continue to suffer under the tyranny of the Ford's and their incomprehensible aversion to professional dance teams.
Currently only six of the NFL's 32 franchises have chosen to go without the all important cheer brigades--Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, and the New York Giants.
The Packers haven't had official cheerleaders since 1988, however cheerleaders from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and St. Norbert College appear at home games throughout the season.
3rd and 3 or less
The Lions only faced 3rd and 3 or less twice on Sunday and, contrary to my theory, they were successful passing once and failed once on a rush. Looking at the season long stats, this is an anomaly. So far this year, 8 of 11 rushing, and 7 of 14 passing. That's an 72% success rate rushing, versus only 50% passing.
More tales of the inept
The Cleveland Browns (1-9) lost to our home town boys, mostly because they don't know the rules of football.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-9) were pounded into jelly by the #1 offense in football, losing to the New Orleans Saints, 38-7. If I were Rahim Morris, the Bucs' rookie coach, I might be getting a little nervous.
The St. Louis Rams (1-9) gave the NFC reigning champ, the Arizona Cardinals everything they could handle, before finally losing 21-13.
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A little extra bit, since I listed the Tennessee Titans in this spot, when they were 0-6, the Titans have switch QB's bringing back an allegedly once suicidal Vince Young to lead the franchise and run off four straight victories. At 4-6, they are still mathematically in the playoff hunt and a still a very exciting team to watch. Plus, they have hot cheerleaders.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
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