betterREDthandead

I'd like to have Shanahan as Lions coach, but it'll never happen. WCF's not smart enough to offer and Shanahan's not stupid enough to accept.

Here's the list of players Jamie Samuelsen at the Freep thinks are "worth something." I think that "something" might simply mean "seventh round draft pick" especially in the case of Redding and Raiola, but still. Calvin Johnson Jason Hanson Nick Harris Kevin Smith Gosder Cherilus Cliff Avril Ernie Sims Cory Redding Jeff Backus Dominic Raiola Jared DeVries Dan Orlovsky Dewayne White Johnson, obviously, is a stud. Kevin Smith has got to be a superstar, running for nearly 1,000 yards behind this s***pile of an offensive line. Speaking of s***pile offensive lines, that ought to remove Backus, Raiola, and Cherilus from this list. Raiola is a symbol of our problems. The guy is backup talent that for years the Lions have considered starter talent. When the team is looking at linemen and using guys like Raiola as a measuring stick, that tells you they'll never have an NFL quality O-line. Smith, as a matter of fact, would have been the fourth-leading rusher in the league this year if he'd carried as much during the first half of the season as he did the second half. I don't know how they did it, but Matt Millen managed to blindly stumble into a feature back. But c'mon...Orlovsky? I'd be fine with him as a backup (which I guess means he is in fact "worth something") but not as a starter. Cory Redding? Dude's a bum and a half. If these are the players that are "worth something" then the Lions oughta find out exactly what kind of draft pick they can get for 'em.

I hated the Charles Rogers pick. I'm admittedly a little biased, but I watched three or four MSU games that year and Rogers was dropping passes in all of them. At the time we had some pretty fair WRs (this was before Bill Schroeder put Football Repel-O on his hands and when I still thought Az Hakim was any good) and complete ass for cornerbacks. Hated the BMW pick too. Harrington, I thought would be good, but nope, sucked too. I was real excited about Kevin Jones and Boss Bailey. Hated the Artose Pinner pick. Liked Teddy Lehman. The Cherilus pick was infuriating - they could have had Brandon Albert, who is actually good.

Rookie or veteran, there's only four players that clearly don't suck and maybe two more. Hanson, Harris, Megatron, and Kevin Smith are the only players that you can definitely say belong on NFL rosters, and I'm willing to also say maybe Ernie Sims and Cliff Avril (five sacks as a rookie isn't too shabby.)

If it weren't for Al Davis I'd say Ford would have the title by ten lengths. But then again, the Raiders have gone to Super Bowls and stuff. Also, what Blak said......aw, who am I kidding? That's exactly what the Lions did this year: OL and LB with their first two picks. And Cherilus and Dizon suck. I'm not even looking forward to the draft. And I'm not really looking forward to next season, because why would you look forward to 3-13? If the Lions can even reach such lofty heights.

I'm not sold on Stafford, and I'm definitely not sold on Bradford, and I'm not even sure Tebow is an NFL guy. I don't want a quarterback. I want to trade the pick, but otherwise I want linemen and defense, not glamor picks. And I'm honestly surprised Marinelli is fired. I really expect WCF to do the stupid thing every time, and that means keeping Marinelli. Surprised he's gone. Not at all surprised that WCF won't fire the sub-architects of this mess nor hire anyone who knows what they're doing.

I feel bad for the players. They may be a bunch of no-talent hacks for the most part, but if Lions management had even a fraction of competence, they'd be filling out practice squads and benches and be spread around the league quietly collecting paychecks. It's not their fault MM and WCF decided to assemble all the s***ty players in the league on one team. Who wants to bet me that Rod MarineLLLLLLLLLLLLLLi will be back as coach next year?

I'd say it's a lot more than 5%. Flyers fans care way less about the Wings than about the Rangers or Devils. For some reason Wings fans seem to see anti-Wings bias in every kind word spoken about another team.

Again though: Everywhere else, there's flame wars about him, which means there are defenders and detractors. Here there are very, very few defenders.

It's just that any time I see a coach say he'll stay somewhere for a long time, I don't believe it until he's stayed there for a long time. That's not an RR thing either.....it's an everybody thing. Maybe Dantonio has the best of intentions, but those might be sorely tested if next year some very glamorous job opens up and that school comes calling with a $3 million a year offer.

Didn't RR sign an extension with WVU two years ago?

That would be a neat trick. Boston and Montreal are in the same division. So in other words, the answer is "yes".....because the perception that the West is soooooo much better than the East is outdated and completely false.

I think that proves my point then "combined" was an exaggeration but around here, no thread with Crosby in it erupts into a bash/defend war because there's hardly anyone defending. Jealousy. Especially on the part of Blues fans. Every time they have a halfway decent team, we knock them out of the playoffs. Since the Wings began their current playoff streak, we haven't ever seen them lose to the Blues in like four or five tries. The fans don't care about that stuff about putting butts in the seats. That's for the owners to worry about.

I think there's more anti-Crosby stuff here among Wings fans than in most of the rest of the league combined. Wings fans seem to have this thing like people should pay attention to us instead of Crosby.

I think Blues fans hate us ever so slightly more than the Hawks fans do. It's close though. A playoff series win over either team would push it over the edge.

Congrats Jacqui! Santa giveth and also taketh away (the pounds.) Are we going to need a smaller RGDT soon? I just hope I get through this Christmas without too much damage on the scale. Damn Christmas cookies. (and cheesecake and meat pie and more cookies and cake and ham and more cookies.....)

There are not five West teams better than Boston or the Rangers. Who....the Flames? Ducks? Canucks? Blackhawks? No.

40 points! Damn is this kid the future or what.

Even though WCF isn't cleaning house, there is one good thing that has come out of this season: Now the entire country and not just Detroit knows that Rob Parker is an ass.

He could probably use a little bit of "growing as a person" given all the lying he did to reporters and coaches about his commitment. The decommit doesn't bother me - we certainly could have used him, not gonna pretend otherwise, but repeatedly telling people that you're "a thousand percent Michigan" and, oh yeah, having "those who stay will be champions" on your Myspace, all the while planning to book it for Tulsa.....no, that isn't Michigan Man material. Or MSU, most years in this decade.

After they lost to the Saints 42-7, still think the Lions can beat the Packers? I don't think they have even the slightest chance. I guarantee a Packers win. I wouldn't take the Lions if you spotted me three touchdowns. If I have to eat my hat for that by them beating the Packers, fine, but I don't see it ever happening. I don't think you understand how completely devoid of talent this team is. The Lions are terrible players, poorly coached. The Lions have a better wide receiver, a better kicker, and I'd say a better punter but his leg is probably tired from so much work. That's it. And I'll be pulling for Green Bay anyway. In fact, after WCF announced that the architects of this s***pile will be back next season (in other words forget about Scott Pioli or Floyd Reese or anyone) I sincerely doubt we'll even have a new head coach next season, I honestly would bet on MarineLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLi being retained, and I'm starting to hope the Lions never win a game again as long as WCF is alive. He doesn't deserve it.

Friday: Ottawa @ New Jersey Los Angeles @ Buffalo NY Islanders @ Minnesota Chicago @ Calgary Anaheim @ Edmonton Saturday: Carolina @ Boston Washington @ Philadelphia Buffalo @ Montreal Dallas @ Ottawa Toronto @ Pittsburgh Tampa Bay @ Atlanta Los Angeles @ Detroit NY Islanders @ Nashville Minnesota @ St Louis Columbus @ Phoenix Chicago @ Vancouver NY Rangers @ San Jose Sunday: Philadelphia @ New Jersey Colorado @ Florida Boston @ St Louis Carolina @ Montreal

The Lions would have to do something they haven't done in 17 years. Part of this is because the schedule makers always screw the Lions and give them their Lambeau trip at the coldest time of year. (Honestly, this is always the first thing I look for on the schedule. Well, second - Thanksgiving opponent is the first. It happens every damn year. Packers home game is in the warm part of the year and road game is in December. It's ridiculous.) But seriously. Even if the Packers' coaches aren't playing to the DB's strengths, at least the DB's have strengths. Calvin Johnson might run wild, but I'm not sure his quarterback knows how to find him any more than he knows how to find the back of the end zone. (Actually scratch that. He found it when he wasn't even looking.)

I really. Really. Hate. This. Team. At least, I hate the defense. Bunch of useless sacks of..... I already was very pleased to see they cut that worthless bum Brian Kelly, who sucked, and I am looking forward to the offseason when more worthless bums, who suck, are cut as well. There was a graphic in the paper after Thanksgiving that showed the 50-some yard run by the Titans' RB, whoever it was, and it had an arrow representing the RB and posts for the defenders. The arrow weaved around the posts. Very apt description. Couldn't have put it better in a thousand words, unless at least nine hundred of those words were R-rated. I talk to people who are not Lions fans and they ask me something along the lines of who do I think we should take with the first pick, Tebow? and I tell them I hope we trade the pick. "but you need a quarterback, right?" Yes, and two offensive tackles, two guards, one center, two or three wide receivers, two defensive tackles, two defensive ends, two or three linebackers, two cornerbacks, and two safeties, and that's just for the starting lineup, can you imagine how s***ty the backups must be if they can't even crack the Lions starting lineup?

I agree it would be better at 3-2-1-0, but I'm not sure why the current system is "BADLY" flawed. It's served pretty well so far. I don't think the overtimes are particularly hurt. Some pretty decent hockey gets played. You say this... ...as if having a lot of teams hit 100 points is a bad thing - but you realize a hell of a lot more teams would get to 100 if wins were worth three, right? Edit: Also, this: Spot on. If you're just five minutes away from that precious point, why jeopardize it? It's the last two or three minutes of regulation that suffer, not overtime.