betterREDthandead

Well, which is it, the system or the quarterback? If the system is unsuccessful, and Kitna's as bad as you say, how on earth did he end up with such gaudy-looking stats? The reason we ran the ball less than anyone has nothing to do with the system. Marshall Faulk got more than his share of carries under the Martz offense. We don't run the ball because we can't run the ball. That's a product of the offensive line personnel, not the system. Do you honestly think Blaine Saipaia and Rex Tucker are the answers for the line? We also abandoned the run because we were always playing from behind. 28th in the league and 30th in the league in yards given up and points given up, respectively. Sure, maybe some of those pretty good QBs might have ended up better than 3-13. Why, they might have been 4-12 or 5-11. BFD. Give us the offensive line that those QBs have, and we might actually be 9-7.

I pick Chargers and Eagles for the Super Bowl. I can't see anyone stopping LT in the playoffs. As for the Eagles, well, Bears have too many problems, and I can't see the Saints going all the way. That leaves one of the teams playing this weekend, and the Eagles are the best of that bunch. I'll be pulling for the Saints, though. Them and the Colts.

Win a national title of your own before you start hatin' on ours.

Specifically what you said is that Kitna "has never held a starting job in his NFL career" which is basically the same thing as "has never been a starting QB in his NFL career." Kitna's no diamond in the rough, but he can hold on to the QB job til we actually start upgrading the talent elsewhere on the team. You'd rather have Aaron Brooks?? He's not even in the top 30 for passer rating. 3 TDs against 8 picks. He was replaced by Andrew Walter who threw 3 TDs against 13 picks. Kitna was 17th in passer rating this year, which is nothing to write home about, but it's better than the following supposedly studly quarterbacks: Eli Manning, Matt Hasselbeck, Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger, Alex Smith, Matt Leinart, Rex Grossman, Brett Favre.....and Joey Harrington. No reward to Martz's risk-reward system? How about the fact that Kitna (you know, the Kitna you think sucks) was able to throw for over 4,000 yards, 21 TDs, and lead the league in completions? Either Martz's system sucks, or Kitna sucks....probably neither, but certainly not both. No, you won't win with Kitna as the QB. But he's not the cause of the 3-13 record, either. Out of the 11 starters on offense, he's like 9th on the priority for replacing. Rather have Aaron Brooks. Feh. Your evaluation of quarterbacks needs serious work.

Are you kidding? Kitna was a starting quarterback for two teams before he got here - the Seahawks and the Bengals. Kitna started for two years in Seattle and three in Cincinnati. Kitna's career path has followed a progression. He starts for bad teams because he's better than the usual bad-team QB (would you rather have Aaron Brooks, Bruce Gradkowski, or Cleo Lemon??? Do you miss Stoney Case and Ty Detmer??? I think not.) But he's not good enough to carry a good team, so those teams found their franchise QBs (Hasselbeck, Palmer) and dumped Kitna. Good enough to start for a bad team, bad enough to be dumped by a good team. Now, if I have my way, the Lions will trade for Matt Schaub, Kitna will sign with the Bucs, and the cycle will continue. But then again, it's blatantly obvious that there needs to be upgrades at every single position on offense before we need a new QB. We need a completely new offensive line (though I think that perhaps Jonathan Scott was showing some promise before his hip injury), we need a tight end that can consistently get open, we need a backup running back that's better than Arlen Harris or Aveion Cason (hell, we may need a starting running back if Kevin Jones can't go), and we need a receiver to complement Roy so Furrey can line up in the slot where he belongs. Most of which needs to happen BEFORE Kitna is replaced. The last thing we need is to draft yet another Holy Savior (especially if his name is Brady Quinn) and stick him under center right away. Kitna stays. (Though I'd have liked to see McCown and Orlovsky get a look.) Kitna is not a good decision maker under pressure, and he can't scramble. But the offensive line couldn't protect him if the defense had to count one-Mississippi-two-Mississippi-three-Mississippi.

Don't worry. I turned it off after Zabransky threw the pick with a minute left that was run back for a TD. Game over, I figured. Fate --> :punch: <--me

Well that's encouraging

GOOD. :beerbuddy: :colorbounce: Pick Joe Thomas. And I'm very glad to see that Lou has joined me on the Matt Schaub bandwagon. Been driving it around and honking the horn for a couple offseasons now. I want Schaub. And I want Furrey re-signed for however long he wants.

I'll probably have my '97 Champs tee-shirt with white sleeves underneath.

Got my tickets! Party!! My brother will be with me.

An online poll says Carr's job is in jeopardy, so it must be Only if Bill Martin voted. As for Carr, no, he shouldn't be fired. Bring him back.

If there's meeting-up before the game, I'll probably come, even though I don't have tickets. Yet. I haven't been able to win my eBay auctions - there's only so much I'll pay for tickets and $500 for 2 isn't in the price range. I may see if there are scalpers hawking tix.

I hope Ericsson is called up next time the Wings need a defenseman. You can't coach size into a guy like Ericsson's got. And he's the kind of prospect I like best: the one that doesn't have any hype but rises through the ranks. That way you know they came up on merit and hard work rather than potential.

For the record, I like Maryland even less than I did before the game, which is hard to do. Maryland fans are pricks.

But funny Anyway, even if I did watch more soccer, I couldn't really get into it properly without a team to root for, and I'd find it hard to attach myself to a particular overseas team. I mean, it's all pretty much the same to me. World Cup is different, because that's such an event, and of course there's an American team to root for, and I have teams to root against as well (Brazil, Italy, Mexico).

You're saying they're not going to win because they're the #1 or #2 seed? What kind of logic is that?

Soccer is entertaining for all the wacky s*** that goes on in those European leagues. A Romanian team made its players take lie detector tests following a two-game losing streak to make sure they weren't throwing matches. (Not a bad idea for the Lions.) One stadium has a moat between the field and the stands so fans don't run onto it. The fans decided to throw port-a-potties into the moat and then light them on fire. Two German dudes were arrested at the World Cup for filling soccer balls with concrete and leaving them out in the streets with signs on them that said "can U kick this?" I think soccer would be terrifically entertaining if it weren't for all the pansy-ass injury faking that goes on. I think if the trainer has to come out and see you, you sit for 15 minutes - you must need the rest. And if the stretcher comes out, you're done. I hate seeing some whiny little ***** get tapped on the back of the foot and go down screaming like he wandered into machine-gun fire, only to pop back up and play when he realizes he's not earning his opponent a yellow card. I think all it would take for me to actually get into soccer (besides the World Cup every four years) is an MLS team in Detroit.

I suppose Tunbo Batman would know all about "the best way to lose an argument is to overstate it." This, after all, from the same guy who claimed the bad teams are colluding with each other to make the playoffs and therefore we should get rid of the shootout.

Sometimes I think if Kara Yorio wrote a piece entitled "The Sky Is Blue" there would be LGWers going, "That stupid fool. It's gray sometimes." I mean, earlier, she writes a piece that's very complimentary toward the Wings and says EXACTLY THE SAME THING that we've been saying for months (Hasek's groin is a potential ticking time bomb) and she gets absolutely blasted for it. 'Cause she didn't bend over and kiss our shiny round asses or something. I swear, if she wrote this piece about the Wings there would be two reactions: "well i don't normally agree with her but that is a good piece" OR "she insulted us she said we didn't know when Christmas was" Look, the woman isn't the greatest hockey writer around, but it seems like the simple act of putting pen to paper is enough to get her smacked around here. It's getting stupid.

What's wrong with that article?

Nice to see Central take the Motor City Bowl last night. I always look forward to the Motor City Bowl for the Detroitiness of the whole thing. And they had some really nice shots of downtown in those spots between the commercials and the game. Either the News or the Freep, one of those two, reported that the MC Bowl would have taken Pitt or maybe Alabama instead of MTSU, but for a rule that says a 6-6 team can't be invited to a bowl ahead of a team with a winning record. Having 'Bama or Pitt would have definitely boosted the bowl's stature. Fun Fact: CMU is the 85th team to win a bowl game since the last time Notre Dame won.

That was ugly, that was. I'm none too impressed with my 'Hoos right now either. They completely embarrassed themselves at the San Juan Shootout, losing to Appalachian State and Utah, and narrowly squeaking past the host team, Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. Shades of Chaminade all over again. Two former UVA players that have since transferred made the all-tournament team. We have one last tune-up - American U. - before the Schedule of Doom starts. Gonzaga and Stanford come to town, and then the ACC schedule kicks off with UNC, Boston College, and Maryland. Stroke of very good luck: UNC and Duke are on the schedule just once this year. We need to take advantage and go 9-7, 10-6 in the conference.

It's gone now. It was a completely empty story that said "This is a test headline, article" with a Lions header.

I know there's been a lot of negativity surrounding the Lions lately, but here is a Free Press article about all the good things going on with them: Freep

You say it like it would be a bad idea.....