Jay Cutler is looking surprisingly competent when his offensive line doesn’t false start three times in a row.
Best fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yeah!
ckessel
3103
The Lions are winning handily, going to 5-0, but they really look sporadic. Forte has had a good day rushing against them. Stafford had badly overthrown several times. Outside of the one Best run, nothing in the running game. It’s hard to tell why they’re 5-0. Living off explosive big plays I guess?
robsam
3104
My preseason joy about loving the Lions as my second favorite NFL team was hurt badly when Dallas lost to them in an almost impossible fashion.
I’m almost back on board, and I have picked the Lions in every game this year except the Dallas game.
AND WE SHOULD HAVE WON THAT ONE GODDAMMIT
C’mon, Calvin needs TD #2.
robsam
3106
I know this is obvious, but Detroit has built a damned good core of players on both lines, and speckled in some good receivers and one awesome receiver.
I think Stafford is no better than Cutler, but he’s got a great defense to cover up his mistakes.
I wish the Lions well the rest of the year, but they will eventually be undone when they run into a team that can score on them easily (Dallas) without giving the game back to them easily via turnovers (Dallas).
New Orleans and Green Bay are miles ahead of Detroit right now. And I’m a bitter old man.
Dammit.
Well, Detroit has a good running back, but I’m with you so far
I think Stafford is no better than Cutler, but he’s got a great defense to cover up his mistakes.
…and this is where I lose you.
Zuwadza
3108
I wouldn’t be too envious of NO or GB at this point. Both teams have elite offenses but have some pretty serious flaws on defense.
<singsong>The Liiiiions are five and oh and I have had eight beers</singsong>
Watched the game at a sports bar packed with Lions and Bears fans (Chicago and Detroit are both about the same distance from here), was a fuckin’ awesome evening :)
Yes. It’s a talented team that needed a leader and they finally have one. Harbaugh coaches them on being prepared, being aggressive, and never panicking. He changed the way the offense reacts against blitzes. Alex Smith has only thrown 1 interception all season. Harbaugh runs brilliant 2 and 3 TE sets where defenses can’t tell if the TEs are there to block or to get the ball. He found a great new RB in Kendall Hunter who is pushing Gore to play as hard as he can. The defense is playing better than they did under Manusky. The Niners lead the league in turnover differential. It is all Harbaugh but yeah, the players believe that the can beat anybody and not beat themselves.
Also: if you had asked me to lay odds prior to the season that the Niners and Detroit would be facing each other in week six with only one loss between 'em, I would’ve laughed at you. Hard.
Gonna be an awesome game – if we weren’t in the same division as the Packers, I’d be tempted to root for a tie :)
Just saw someone tweet this:
“Just like everyone expected: Lions, 49ers and Bills are now a combined 13-2.”
JonRowe
3113
Yeah, the only saving grace of the packer’s defense is that our secondary has some crazy ability to make picks and force turnovers. We give up a lot of yards, but make the big plays to stop the momentum.
The Lions front four is ferocious. If they get in the playoffs that defense could carry them. Suh looks like the best DT this year and for the next 10 years.
Stafford has a good arm but he missed some throws. I don’t think he handles pressure as well as some QBs but he looks good. Best reminds me of Reggie Bush – he can bust a play but you can’t really count on him to grind out yards. Megatron, though, is TO in his prime with better hands.
The best thing about the Lions is we will have a good Thanksgiving day game – yay!
He’s definitely a little rough around the edges yet; but when you figure he only had 13 starts prior to this season, you can see why Detroit fans are a little excited about him.
I have a hard time seeing the 49ers as Lions-style perennial sad sacks. I mean, they spent essentially the '80s and first half of '90s being an elite team. The Lions spent most of that time sucking, except for the glory years of Barry Sanders when they were just mediocre and eked into wildcard spots so that they could lose in the first round.
Lorini
3117
Tebow is starting for the Broncos. I see no problem with this scenario but ESPN does:
Next Tuesday is the trade deadline, but it would seem unlikely the Broncos would trade Orton to Miami and have him potentially start against Tebow.
Orton’s not going anywhere in Denver and Miami desperately needs a QB. What’s not to like?
You mean besides the whole “Tebow starting for your (general your, not Lorini’s) team”, right?
I’m not really enjoying the NFL as much this year. The rules changes towards the offense have gone way overboard. Some stats through 5 weeks:
[ul]
[li]7 QBs this season are averaging 300+ yds/gm. There wasn’t a single QB who finished last year with 300+ yards per game. It’s been done only 8 times in the history of the game. (Only 4 QBs averaged 300 yds/gm at the end of September last season, and none by the end of October)[/li][li]13 QBs are still on pace to break the 4000 yard passing mark this year. Brady, Brees, Rodgers, Newton, Romo, Rivers, Manning, Stafford, Schaub, Big Ben, Vick, Ryan and Kolb. 5 of those QBs are on pace to beat Marino’s all-time single season passing yard record (5,084). Brady is on pace to beat it by almost 1,000 yards.[/li][li]Wes Welker is on pace for a 144 rec, 2368 rec yd. and 16 TDs season.[/li][li]3 teams are still on pace to beat the Greatest Show on Turf’s record of the most yards gained record of 7,075 yards. This includes Green Bay who is on pace to put up 7,900 yards this season.[/li][/ul]
It’s insane. Many of these guys will fall off the pace when the weather gets bad, but still…it’s insane the numbers that are being put up.
If anyone was still deluding themselves about the changes being for player safety, go read up on Rule 12, Section 2, Article 8, Paragraph g of the NFL rule book and go look at Duane Brown’s hit that broke Harrison’s eye socket. No fine, of course…it’s because it wasn’t an offensive player.
Oh well. It’s still my favorite game, but I hope they do something to compensate for the imbalance in the rules. How about bringing back the bump-and-run (so long as the ball isn’t in the air)?
Zuwadza
3120
It’s almost as if the NFL is turning into the CFL!
