Some Sense, Finally
I don't always agree with Tom Kowalski, but his latest article is making some sense. Recently he wrote that the Lions should lock in Martz, even if it takes more money. The reasoning is that because we can easily lose Martz to another team as a head coach. I couldn't agree more with this logic. The reason? Martz is what is making the offense go.
Precedence, you say? This has been done many times. ND locked in Charlie Weis with an extended contract in the middle of the season last year. Many coaches have been locked in, to protect them from leaving, and it's done sooner not later. It needs to be done before the other offers are there.
Now, Martz will eventually leave, but I with the team having a few years with him, also with a few understudies in the coaching staff, I think the offense could do just fine. But not after one year. I think his value truly is in the next 2-3 years, developing a solid core of players.
Offense Clicking
Excerpts from an email I received. Great perspective. Read on:
"The Atlanta game Sunday was fun, no doubt. And the best part by far, was the team fire during the game, and the spirit shown after it.
However, given the back to back offensive penalties that killed drives twice, if not three times.... without two pro bowl catches by Roy, and the big run by KJ, this game could easily have concluded the way the Rams, Bears, and Jets game did.
Don't get me wrong. I'm happy, but not as content as I'd be if the mistakes were still not there and we walked away from the Falcons, score wise, the way good teams do.
The media is saying the Lions really improved both defensively and offensively because the D held back the big Atlanta run game, and O got both a long touch down run and a reception. Two characteristics of a good team not seen here in 5 years.
But you know what? The real improvement that allowed this to happen is being missed... this team is now converting on long third downs!
I'd want to give Mike Furrey the game ball for his plays to keep the drives alive. That allowed Roy & Kevin to get enough touches to finally break things open. Just keep allowing them more tries by completing first downs. Roy and Kevin have now surpassed last years total number of plays. And that adds up to allow them career high total yardage!
So, talk radio is rejoicing because on offense the big plays are finally happening, and the defense is not allowing big plays against us. BUT, what's really allowing both to happen is we are keeping O drives alive! The more downs the offense gets, the more chance they have of a good player breaking one all the way.
Look at what we did to Mike Vick. He can't break a big play sitting on the bench. It sure made our D look better, and their coming off our bench rested up sure helped.
Even though Kevin Jones and Roy Williams were on the team last year, they weren't getting the ball as many times. Long drives was something Joey Herrington could not produce because of bad offensive scheming by Mariuchi and dropped balls. So many drives were stopped dead it made me sick.
Martz' play calling is markedly better, and through Marinelli's discipline they are not dropping balls! Plus the addition of Mike Furrey. Thanks again Mr. Martz.
We can't lose that guy as a coach, he finds ways to move the chains!
I'm happy now believing that with this new coaching staff we may yet pull out of this stinking 5 year funk."
I think the key point here is, that the offense is clicking now, with every player pulling their weight. What it's creating, is that the talent now has an opportunity to creat big plays. Previously, there just wasn't the execution enough times in a row for the chance of having a big play occur.
Lions 30, Falcons 14
Geat Win! I almost predicted the Lions offensive output, and the Defense played better than I expected. Great job by the team in all phases. Kitna played well. He seemed to by off a little in the first half, but came on strong in the second. Roy and KJ were unstoppable. I think having the offensive line back to where it is had a lot to do with it. Jon just had more time, and Kevin actually had holes to run thru. Roy had probably his best game as a Lion. Furrey made some key, key catches. There were a lot of penalties attributed to just the OL, so there's still alot to work on this week.
It was great to see the Lions use up almost 6 minutes on that last drive and march down the field and get a field goal. That was a statement drive. I haven't seen that in probably 8 years.
The defense played remarkably well. Considering Vick was the Player of the week last week, and Crumpler the week before, I am very surprised at how well the D played. The LB's, except for one play, played very tough. The D line played great. I cannot believe how well Redding played as a DT. I wonder if he might win himself a starting position there. And the Safety blitzes. Where did that come from? Just overall containing Vick and the running game of the Falcons was excellent. The Falcons receivers dropped some open balls and Vick missed some receivers, but you expect that from the Falcons. They win by running, and we stopped them yesterday.
I was also happy with holding the Falcons without a touchdown at the end. The defense deserved the hold there, and deserved the score.
We also left some points on the field, but that's all part of playing in the NFL. Great game and great to see the crowd into the game.
My First Lions Post
Welcome to the first post of my Detroit Lions Blog. This Blog will focus on the Detroit Lions happenings, good and bad, and provide previews, commentary and general positive comments about the Lions future.
I've been a season ticket holder for 13 years. I've seen some good teams, and some not so good teams.
Now I know the Lions aren't that good right now. But we're starting a turnaround. We have all of our OL back for the Falcons game tomorrow. We just need some defensive support and we should be OK.
My biggest issue right now is the defense. If we could just learn the Tampa 2. If everyone could get on the same page and move together I think we would be OK. I really think the D was better last year under Jauron than it is right now. Same damn players! Oh well, I always thought the adjustment period was going to be 8 games. And we're playing game 7 now. I expect a turnaround tomorrow.
We will see. Lions 34, Falcons 27.
