Almost every game in the NFL is won by eight points or less. This is a league of parity, it is designed to keep games close and teams (and more importantly paying fans) hopeful.
When the game is on the line, good teams step up and make the plays that ensure victory. The Lions do not do that, instead they watch the opposing teams do that.
After recovering the onside kick against Philadelphia, did the Lions then stick the ball down the Eagles throat and grab victory by the balls? Nope, they ran four poorly designed plays poorly and gave the ball back, then crawled back to their slimey holes in defeat--as usual.
Against the Packers, with the defense actually playing remotely well, or the Packers offense just biding their time, the Lions had opportunity after opportunity to smack the almighty Packers down--in their own house--but instead they settled for field goal after field goal. When the game was on the line, after pinning the Packers deep in their end and needing a stop to get one last chance to take the lead...the Packers run out the last 6 and a half minutes...game...Lions crawl back into their slimey holes in defeat--as usual.
Against the Bears...ok, the Lions won that game, dammit! But still you have to wonder what kind of a psychological impact that having that game stolen from them by a poor call has had. Do the Lions have a new invigorating look if they start off the season 1-0 with a brilliant come from behind victory? Do they have the confidence to beat Philly? To down the Devil? To end the Lambeau curse? Who knows?
The point is that in each of those games if the Lions really were a different team, they'd have seized those moments instead of having the most important points in the game dictated to them by the opposition. That's the same old Lions.
How will the Rams batter the Lions into submission?
Just like last season, everyone has pointed to this game as a great chance to mark up a victory for the Lions. Last year, the Rams won...their only victory of the season. Why should this game be any different? Hell, the Rams are 2-2 and the Lions are the all too familiar 0-4.
Sam Bradford
Hey, the kid looks pretty damn good. And he's doing it without any real wide receivers. There was a lot of talk about whether or not the Lions should have waited on drafting the Franchize so that they could get Bradford. I don't know if that would have really worked out. I think Stafford has the much bigger arm and appears to be a much more outspoken leader than Bradford--but it's hard to argue with the results that St. Louis has seen so far. Bradford has been in four games and is 2-2. Stafford has been in 12 games over a year and a quarter and is 2-10...
Of course, St. Louis is playing in the NFC West which looks like it's teams might have a hard time in the WAC.
Stephen Jackson
Let me put this as simply as I can, when the game was on the line last Sunday at Lambeau, a nobody named John Kuhn carved up the Lions front and ran off the final six and a half minutes...JOHN "F'&^%&" KUHN!?!?
Who the hell was this guy? Well, I can safely say this, Kuhn is no Stephen Jackson. Jackson ran for something like a 150 yards last year in the Rams victory over the Lions. He's still there and he can still run.
Steve Spagnuolo and the Rams Defense
The former NY Giants defensive coordinator, the one who actually had a good Giants defense that caused havoc and racked up tons of sacks, is building a pretty formidable defense in St. Louis.
The Rams defense is giving up a meager 19 points a game and just held the Seattle Seahawks to a paltry 3 points...
This game is in no way a gimme. I always truly fear the games the Lions are "supposed" to win. Those are the ones that hurt the most to see them lose.
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