Week 16: Lions lose and Daunte Culpepper should retire

The smallest crowd in the history of Ford Field watched the Lions play abysmal for three quarters of a game on Sunday. The Arizona Cardinals destroyed the Lions, going up 17-0 in the first half, but then decided to put the game in cruise control in the third quarter.

The Schwartz pulled the aged one to start the second half and put in third year MSU nobody, Drew Stanton.

The media is going crazy about Stanton's play in bringing the Lions back from 17-0, to a 17-17 tie and another eventual 31-24 defeat.

Here is why I am totally unimpressed.

1. The first TD, a 101 yard INT return for a TD by Louis Delmas had zero to do with anything Stanton did. In fact, Stanton was on the sideline for the entire play. I watched it. Stanton wasn't even on the field.
2. The second TD, a 68 yard run by Maurice Morris was on the next Detroit offensive play. Aside from handing "Mo" the ball, he had nothing to do with the play, he didn't even throw a block.
3. Stanton only had one legitimate drive in the whole half. And he was largely inaccurate even on that one.
He can't throw deep and he's pretty bad at throwing short. Doesn't leave much.

That being said, he should still start over Culpepper. Culpepper is gone already. He has no chance of being here next year. Let's see if maybe Stanton can get better.

The only good thing about that second half was all of those good things actually happened while he was the "QB" of record. If that's even real. Maybe he has some "mojo" or something.

Here are some other things I think:

1. I was wrong about there not being a noticeable difference between starting Morris and the IR'd Kevin Smith. Morris is a lot better than Smith--with the top end speed to finish plays. He may be a feature back for the Leo's next year.

2. Drew Stanton didn't even appear to run the ball well.

3. Jim Schwartz actually knows the rules. I think that's 100% better than Rod Marinelli, because I'm pretty sure, he didn't know the rules. Schwartz screams at the refs at the right times. That's a very encouraging sign.

4. Delmas is a player. He always seems to be around the ball and now he's actually catching it instead of playing volleyball. His 101 yd TD was something worth watching.

5. I don't trust DE Jason Hunter, you never know what kind of play you're going to get when he steps out on the field.

6. If the Lions put out two or three tackling dummies to block for the Lions, I think they might actually be better off. The tackling dummies at least wouldn't jump offsides or be called for holding.

7. The Lions have so many needs it hurts my brain. I am all for the Lions spending any and all draft picks on defense this year...but I could also understand it if they wanted to rebuild an offensive line...or get a complementary receiver to play opposite of Calvin and try to stop the constant triple teams...or get a real home run threat running back.

8. But I would not pass up on Ndamakong Suh, DE, Nebraska. He looks to be the next great DL. Kiper, even though you have to take everything helmet head says with a mountain of salt, has stated that Suh is the best DL prospect to come out in 30 years...not sure but I think Reggie White and Bruce Smith both fit into that time frame.

Cheerleaders?

The Lions tortured their minimal crowd for another Sunday by denying fans the usual eye candy provided by almost every other NFL team.

3rd and 3 or less

Every team tries to get to a "manageable" down and distance on third down. 3rd and 3 or less is the goal of every offense. But what should they do when they actually achieve said goal? Run it! The average NFL rush goes for 3.75-4.25 yards...why not run it?

The Lions faced 3rd and 3 or less four times on Sunday, passing it three times and rushing only once. This was a good day for the Lions in this situation. They were actually 3 of 4 overall. 2 of 3 passing and 1 for 1 rushing.

For the the season, the Lions are 13 of 19 rushing and 11 of 24 passing. Or 68% success rushing verses only 46% passing.

Tales of the Inept

The St Louis Rams (1-13) played very well, almost beating the Houston Texans, 16-13, but managed to keep what now appears to be a stranglehold on the #1 pick in next year's draft. The question is whether they need a new QB more than they need the next great DL.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-12) put a major league whooping on the Seattle Seahawks, 24-7 and leap frogged our own Leo's in the draft rankings. Detroit now sits at #2 if the season ended today. The Bucs are now third.

The Cleveland Browns (3-11) are in serious danger of dropping out the annals of the inept. They've won for a second week in a row behind 2 kickoff return TD's by Josh Cribbs and an amazing 286 yard rushing day by Jerome Harrison. The Brown's beat up Kansas City in a 41-34 shootout.

Next week we can discuss how the Lions have NEVER won in San Francisco.