mannysBETTER3434

I agree on your 3-4 vs. 4-3 concerns. I have the same, but he has got to be better then whoever was there before right?! The one year deal is bad for the Lions but good for Foote. He is trying to max out his value for a final, loaded contract. I would bet if things go well with this he will stick around because of his love for the D.

Agree 100%. Give it up old man river. And Timothy that SI cover is epic!

I'm not serious on No. 1...I'm just saying You are right on about No. 2, but it would be interesting IMO if more people brought it up.

There are some good points listed above by you guys. How about I play devil's advocate here though. How about we just kick out Penn State from the Big 10? Let's face it every school was suppose to bow down to PSU when they joined the league. They have been good, but not as good as the PSU fans proclaimed. It also gives us 10 teams again, and we can play everyone. OR have college football remove all conference championship games. Mack Brown suggested it last season after he was hosed.

I like the way your are thinking starting this thread so early. I'm all for another team, but I would HATE a Big Ten championship game. For one, the OSU/U-M game is watered down. How much would it suck to beat OSU, and then play them in the championship game a couple weeks later, and lose? Or any scenario for that matter. What if MSU beat U-M during the year, and then lose to U-M in the playoffs? I hate those scenarios. It takes away from the rivalries. I know teams like Penn State probably don't care about this because they don't have emotion tied into rivalries, but I do and college football is special because of rivalries. What I would like to see is all Big Ten teams play each other. All you have to do is take out some garbage game (Like Delaware State), and fill it in with the missing Big Ten team. The games would be better. ND is clearly my first choice for a team joining the Big Ten. Everything makes sense. I wish the Notre Dame Broadcasting company would pull their plug on the TV deal. That would be a huge hill to get over, because since they are not going to BCS bowl games that money from a conference will look more appealing. Pitt would be my second choice. They fit the academics, have the sports, and location makes sense. I wouldn't be in favor to add Cuse, Rugters, Miami of Ohio, or anyone like that. You want my big time dark horse pick for the Big 10 (far fetched I know, but there was actually talks of it): Texas.

I agree with you. I would even put U-M lower then you think. I would say 20-25. I've said it before, but I think they are going to have a rocky start with a brand new PG, and having 2 big men on the floor at once.

Done

Foote would be nice. He won't be a long term solution, but he can stop the run, he's a leader, and has been an ambassador for Detroit his whole career.

Amen!!!!! That s**t pisses me off. Umass? Delaware State? Didn't App State teach a lesson? It's no win!!!! You get embarrassed, or get ripped on for beating a team 70-3. I understand they need 8 home games for the next X years to pay off the renovations, and that creates a bad scenario because big schools want home/home series, but that could have been prevented. Martin screwed up by agreeing to a 500 year extension with Notre Dame. Maybe if Martin said no ND would actually join the Big Ten. Martin has done a lot of great things for Michigan, but judas priest I'll admit I'm jealous. I want to see USC come to town like OSU, or anyone else. Seriously how much hype would start if WVU came to Ann Arbor? I would love to play Georgia, Texas, WVU, or USC.

Not Lions related, but NFL draft related. I love Mike Leach... http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4105406

Here is my draft. 1. Stafford. Don't know what to think about him, but I understand we were 0-16, and need a face for the franchise. 20. Oher. Did you see that guy when he got drafted? Kid has been to hell and back, and that doesn't mean he is a lock to be good, but you know he'll give it his all, and it gives us 2 first round picks on the OL. 33. Manaluga. We get a real good LB to join Peterson, and Sims. I agree with Timothy here. Getting a guy like this in the 2nd round is a crime. 76. Rashad Johnson from Alabama. Then we have our safety, and he is real good value at the pick. 82. Derrick Williams. Like I said I think this pick is intriguing. We could have a poor man's Hester here, and I think he fills the spot where Furrey was. 115. I have no idea about this Sammie Lee Hill guy, and I think everyone else is in this boat as well. So I guess keep him there. I do think if they wanted this position a guy like Terrence Taylor would be smarter, but Lee Hill has 20+ pounds, and a good 3 inches on Taylor. On the other hand Taylor played in the Big 10, and Lee Hill is from D2. 174. This Aaron Brown sounds like another Derrick Williams except more injury prone. Why not trade up a round, and draft Javon Ringer? Then you got a change of pace RB that can compliment Smith's speed. I will say if he doesn't get hurt it could be a interesting pick. He was very good his freshmen/sophomore years of college. The other picks are a crap shoot so I guess I have no complaints, because everyone at that point is looking for diamonds in the rough. This is just my opinion here. I understand a single guy has not played in the NFL, and the Lions draft could end up 100 times better then my opinion. Just thought I would share.

You are right. Thing that sucks though is there are not many good UFA's this summer. Boozer, and Gordon are the 2 biggest out there if I remember correctly. The thing that doesn't get brought up though is the financial situations with many NBA teams this summer. There will be some teams that will probably have a fire sale to save money, and we would be in great shape to take the contracts.

I agree on giving coaches, players, management a chance. I will do that, BUT I think it is fine to criticize this team. With Marenelli, and now Schwartz we were promised we would be "blue collared", "pounding the ball", and "mean". If you want to do this you need to build from the trenches, and go out from there. They have hardly addressed this at all over the past several years. Instead of getting the hard nosed big fellas every year we fall in love with the "can't miss" QB, and "game changing WR's". I understand the Lions could draft any position this year since every place on the field needs help, but if you want to put your stamp on the future you need to do things different IMO. Like I said above Schwartz said he wanted a big time LB, and not only do we skip out on Curry, but also Manaluga, Laurenitis, etc later on. Yes, we got Follet, and Levy but I would rather have the others listed above.

I HATE these picks!!!!!! I agree on Red's arguments on Stafford 100%. What a joke! The pick that pissed me off the most is that safety from WMU. Schwartz was talking about getting a key LB in the draft, and then you take a friken TE, and safety when Big Rey is sitting right there! Yeah we took that Wisky LB, but I've never heard of him hardly, and I follow Big Ten football pretty darn close. It just really pisses me off we are going to waste our time with another QB for that much money when we could have signed Curry (another need) for way less money. I will say Derrick Williams is an intriguing pick.

Because Ford loves Stafford apparently. Once again he's the one you need to point the finger at. I think Curry is the way to go. He should be a safe pick, and will save money. You can get a QB next year, or if they are lucky (and like him) they could possibly get Freeman at 20. I don't know anything about Freeman so I don't have an opinion on him. He was under the radar because he played against Bradford, McCoy, and Harrel.

Got that right. Like Barkley said last night during the game: "You can't fake hustle" Another reason Curry should get lost. I don't care if they have a team full of D-league players. There is no excuse for not giving it your all.

You really think that about next year's QB's? I'm not sure about that besides Bradford, but heres how I look at those 3 guys. -This isn't really fair to say, but who is a good pro QB from Oklahoma? People also bring up his "system", but I disagree with that. -I do not see how Tebow will be a first round pick if guys are saying he will play someplace else in the NFL. Unless Loeffler really changes his slow release. I'm not sure if there is enough time for that because it took Loeffler over a season to change Henne's. -I'm a big McCoy fan (he reminds me of Forcier). With that said I've never seen him throw a pass over 15 yards. He is very accurate though

I'm with you there. I liked our old numbers, but I can see these new ones growing on me. I know earlier I said I didn't care if the logo/jerseys got a huge makeover, but now that I see these they are perfect. It doesn't change drastically, and the colors stay the same. Good idea.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/sports/lions_to_unveil_logo

I just watched the presser. It is the logo that Matt made bigger a page or two back.

I read a Lions article in the Freep today and I have to agree with it. It talked about how the draft gets closer it just seems like a no win situation. -Stafford excites me, and on the other hand he doesn't. My one side tells me if he would have stayed in school he would probably be drafted above Bradford, McCoy, etc. He also reminds me of John Elway. My other side tells me he has had one good season (remember Akili Smith?), and well the Lions have been a death trap for these kind of guys (Ware, Harrington, etc). -Smith from Bama has red flags all over him. I would be pissed if they took that fat boy. According to most those other OL's are good, but don't compare to Jake Long, Joe Thomas, etc so it seems like you are not getting full value. -Sanchez reminds me of Matt Leinart in every way possible. -I would love Curry, but who drafts a LB at number 1? Uggghhhh Lions!!!!!!

I am not aware of this news. Where did you read or hear that? EDIT: Never mind...I found it.

I really believe it is all mental with JV.....

Double post...

^^^I never like judging your wins with the NFL just because a team can rise or fall so fast. Who knows, St. Louis could be this year's Miami, or Atlanta, and kill us. Or here's a better thought: Maybe Detroit is this year's Miami/Atlanta (-: