Interesting notes for Sunday and beyond...

Zach Follett should be back playing this Sunday, I know, you didn't realize he wasn't playing...

Jahvid Best is saying that everything looks good for him playing this Sunday against the Packers. I don't buy it. The Lions err on the side of caution with injuries. I will be pleasantly surprised if he plays at all.

The Franchize started throwing this week. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that he'll play next week against. Why? Because I think that's the best chance for the Lions to get a win and it's good for the organization the more wins they can notch next to Stafford's name.

Supposedly Amari Spievey is going to get more playing time at safety this week. It's about damn time. C. C. Brown should be banned from ever wearing shoulder pads.

One of my favorite stories of training camp was Randy Phillips, who started every exhibition game and seemed to look impressive with all of the playing time he received. Apparently, he wasn't impressive enough. The Lions waved Phillips yesterday to bring back Dante Wesley, who's primarily a special teamer. Hopefully, Phillips can make it through waivers and catch on to the Lions practice squad.

Get rid of Schwartz? Child, please...

The chances of the Lions winning this Sunday against the Packers in Lambeau are about 100-1 against, which means that The Schwartz will be saddled with the worst 20 game start in Lions history, 2-18. Even Marinelli did better....

It happens ever year, some team or two comes out of the blue and plays well above their heads, surprising the NFL world. This year that team is the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now the argument in the NFL is that any team, even an expansion team should be able to be respectable in three years time. Parity in the NFL is supposed to assure this...but parity can never account for the damage that Matt Millen did.

Your average expansion team starts fresh. No money against the salary cap, no "dead" money, no inherited wounds, and high draft picks--usually extra draft picks too.

Schwartz and Mayhew did not start off in that kind of situation. In fact Matt Millen left this team far worse off than any bad team before in history -- and eons behind any kind of expansion team. This team was saddled with a lot of "dead money" (money counting against the cap that is tied up in players no longer with the team). And no extra draft choices.

This is year two of an expansion team without any of the benefits of an expansion team. Not the least of which is the problem of the "Lions" persona in general. It is hard to attract valuable contributing players to a team with a 50+ year history of sucking. You can argue that players will go to where the most money is, but in truth every team is willing to pay good players. There's nothing really fresh or attractive about playing for the Lions. They are not an expansion team, they are far worse.

Only winning will change that.

And they are not winning this weekend...