gowingsgo

The draft is where you get players you couldnt ordinarily bring in as UFA's. Pittsburgh will draft a WR or two because they cant get a solid #2 receiver to come in on the cheap and play in that offense. If Detroit has a similar problem like at OL, they need to draft those positions. Problem with the Lions is they have more needs than they have picks

Waste of a draft pick when you just signed two former starting QBs. If I'm Detroit I'm trying to build my OL or DL with the best player available and not try to bring someone in who can't succeed without protection.

You take Vince Young and you are doomed to repeat history. See Mike Vick for reference

Thats not much better. I would think they could pull off 8-8 and finish second to the Bears this year in the division.

Lefty leads going into the day with Tiger 2 back. Thats all you need to know. Tiger will be wearing his 5th green jacket later today

ouch I think you are cutting your new coaching staff and new QB(s) short.

8-8

Eva, if you believe that then please send me some of the kool-aid you are sipping because its got to be goot chit. Bonds head size has tripled since he entered the league. How is it that man PAST his physical prime by almost 10 years and had never hit over 40 homeruns all of a sudden packs on mounds of muscle and breaks the 70 mark? I dont know many pro athletes who can pack on pounds and pounds of muscle in between seasons the way Bonds has. Its certainly not natural. Bonds was a fine five tool baseball player. He was the best of this era by far. But he was not a great home run hitter. He was an above average home run hitter. It wasnt until after McGwire and Sosa's homer-fest in 98' that Bonds jealousy led him to get on the juice. I dont want to hear about there being no tests. You know why there are no tests? Because baseball didnt test for steroids. Baseball ignored it even though it was obvious to us fans not drinking kool-aid. He has denied using roids. There are no tests that we know of that indicate he has. But there is evidence under seal in a federal case that proves Bonds was indeed taking steroids as well as grand jury testimony from Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi indicating Bonds was on the juice.

Until they kick him out of the game, NO. Maybe throwing a syringe (it had no needle on it) at Bonds every night will show MLB that the fans dont want to see cheaters.

Game full of cheaters that I no longer consider a sport. I hear the Angels are looking damn good this year

The comment you are referring to was made by Alan Faneca and he has since eaten and retracted those words many times over since he made the comment. The 03' Steelers had a horrible year rushing the ball. That was the year we handed the starting job to Amos Zeroue (Zero) and he went on to do squat. We couldnt run the ball on anybody in 03' and finished 6-10. It wasnt until 04' when the line came together and Duce Staley came in as the starter that the team got back to Steeler football. Duce and Bettis both almost rushed for 1,000 yards a piece. The year prior we abandoned our run first philosophy and went with Tommy Gunn as our starter finishing 10-5-1. That was the year both Plax and Hines had over 1,000 yards receiving each. If Randle El was so damn good why did Pittsburgh let him go UFA? He is a glorified punt returner (a damned good one) and runs a few trick plays each year. ARE dropped many an easy catch for us. Second year in a row we've let our #2 WR go UFA. I dont know what Detroit's offense looked like when Joey was drafted but the Pittsburgh offense wasn't anything to brag about when Ben came to town. The core of our team is on defense. I'd put our defense against any offense anytime, go ask Cincy, Indy, Denver and Seattle for a reference.

Its too hard to compare the different systems. Harrington was in a west coast system where the offense relies on short high percentage passes to move the ball. With the weapons they put in place on offense for him, there is no reason other than his inability to make plays that he didnt succeed there. Ben doesn't have anywhere near the type of offensive weapons that Harrington had. As much as people like to point to the fact that Pittsburgh is a running team, it was the arm of Big Ben that got us to the Super Bowl. He played a crappy game in the actual Super Bowl. Our defense, Fast Willie and a little trickeration bailed us out. Ben had some great games his rookie year that he won with his arm, 4th quarter comebacks at Jacksonville, at Dallas, blowout wins v New England and Philly in consecutive weeks and at San Diego this past season. Pittsburgh usually tries to get a lead before it switches over to the run, run, run mentality. You saw it in the Super Bowl or in the AFC title game. If we get a 10 point lead we will run the ball down the opponents throat. It chews up a ton of clock and it wears out a defense, not to mention keeps the opposing offensive unit off the field.

the steelers made the XFL MVP a pro bowler. Joey would be a superstar if he was in the pittsburgh system. I dont remember Tommy Maddox making the Pro Bowl??? I do remember him going 6-10 in 03' giving us the 11th pick in the 04' draft. The rest is still history in the making! In fairness to Tommy, he was a gunner like Favre but without the mobility until he got knocked senseless in Tennessee. Not saying he was on the same level like Favre, but he would throw a pass into any type of coverage. Ever since then, he hasnt been the same guy on the field. To further that, ever since he got his elbow rocked at Baltimore in 04' and allowed Ben to get game action, Tommy hasn't been the same. If I had to choose between Joey and Kordell, I would have picked Kordell. And Kordell ruined many a great Steeler season in the playoffs. It pains me greatly to type this paragraph because the Kordell years need to be erased from memory...probably in the same fashion the Joey years need erased for you as well.

Thats debateable but the Pittsburgh FO didnt waste 3 first round draft picks on WR's and a 2nd (?) on a great RB to put around Joey and try to bring some game out of him. The Lions FO has really effed up on the players they bring in. Pittsburgh may or may not have had more offensive pieces in place for Ben, but Roethlisberger is a born winner. When we drafted Ben the only first round picks we had at playmaker positions were Plaxico Burress (bust) and Jerome Bettis (who was a backup to Duce Staley). Hines Ward is a 3rd round pick and Randle El I think was a 2nd. Our O-line has Faneca and Simmons as former first rounders, I cant speak for Hartings, Marvel Smith or Oliver Ross who were the other starters on the O-line. We got Hartings from Detroit UFA....come to think of it, we got Kevin Colbert our GM from Detroit as well....not everything that touches the Lions is bad. Some QBs just never progress from college to the NFL. I think Joey fits the bill here.

At least he lasted longer than Cryin' Leaf, Joey is officially a bust. Time for the Lions to move on

KC would be a good fit for harrington. He can be backup to trent green and learn how to be a real QB. Can't remember who it is but KC just signed a back up QB....I think Damon Huard...

If the stadium can still handle it maybe the Tigers will play one more home game there?

I dont know the exact number but Harrington is due a roster bonus this summer. Similar to the Terrell Owens situation in Philly, why would a team trade for TO when they know that the Eagles were going to release him to avoid paying the roster bonus. I believe the same to be true of Harrington unless that roster bonus isnt very large. Harrington will be a summer time cap casualty unless another team is dumb enough to trade for him when they can get him UFA during the summer.

Joey is as good as gone. He has ZERO trade value and the Lions have no leverage to try and seek a trade from another team. Very interesting move. Martz must like McCown. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2371034

double post. effing firefox issues on this web site

Much better post and not knowing the history of the game pre-dated the NFL as we know it would also give me the background on the game I lacked. The 3rd game is definitely the compromise the league has been wanting without yanking the game from the Lions or Cryboys. Hunt is going to get his Super Bowl in KC if they put a roof on Arrowhead though.

Those are really bad comparisons. Lambeau Field is home field advantage for the Packers. Every team should have home field advantage playing in their own stadium. I dont know what Detroit's is but in Pittsburgh you look up into the stands and literally have a sea of Terrible Towels waving at you not to mention a nasty open end of the stadium with strange wind gusts. Cleveland's Dawg Pound albeit one of the worst franchises in football is similar to the Raider's Black Hole. Its a group of fans sitting in a section of their stadium. Again, every stadium has a group of fans that draw attention, Washington has the Hogettes and their band, NY Jets have the firemen J-E-T-S guys, Indy has the Blue Crew, etc. And for Super Bowl rings, those aren't given, they are earned on the field. That has nothing to do with tradition. Does every team in pro sports deserve to play in the championship game? This would take away from the competition of the game. Scheduling a game on a certain date is a league deal. The NFL schedules games. Unless they have an agreement with the Ford's that is set they shouldn't be obligated to have a game on Thanksgiving with Detroit involved. I'd rather it be Detroit than Pittsburgh though. Playing a Sunday game and playing the next Thursday is TOUGH. Pittsburgh plays a brand of football that calls for more days of rest. I understand why the Lions fans would want this date, its the only guarantee you have with your team each year.

Its not like Rivers is exactly a standout defenseman. This is a trade for a 5 or 6 d-man for our 5 or 6 d-man.

I tend to believe this more than it being a "tradition." The NFL is turning more and more into a mega-entertainment juggernaut with concerts and events surrounding games now. It isnt all about football anymore. But the almighty $$$ holds true. If Ford uses advertising revenue to keep the game, then the NFL will probably keep the game in Detroit. This may be another reason they introduced a 3rd game at night. Either way, the new night game at least eases some of the pain from having to watch the Lions early in the day. Maybe with a new regime in there the Lions wont be so painful to watch this season.

Tradition doesn't mean the NFL is forced to have Detroit playing every Thanksgiving. The NFL is much bigger than that. It is only a tradition to those of you in Detroit. I think the games should rotate. The NFL has even added a 3rd game to Thanksgiving at night to be shown on NFL Network. At least they are giving us a better option now.