Teams Detroit Lions - Honolulu Blue

[Exe Gesis]

Calvin Johnson can equal Shannon Sharpe's record of most consecutive 2 TD reception games this week, of four in a row.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Suh tries to defend his actions

In the past, when Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has supplied his version of an on-field incident that resulted in a penalty or a fine, he seemed persuasive.

After Thursday’s Haynesworthy performance against the Packers, Suh’s effort to talk his way out of trouble comes off as pathetic.

“What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way that I felt in me being held down in the situation that I was in,” Suh said, via NFL.com. “My intentions were not to kick anybody, as I did not. [I was] removing myself, as you see, I’m walking away from the situation. And with that I apologize to my teammates, and my fans and my coaches for putting myself to be in position to be misinterpreted and taken out of the game.”

It gets better. Or, for Suh, worse.

“I was on top of a guy being pulled down and trying to get up off the ground, which is why you see me pushing his helmet down,” Suh said. “As I’m getting up, I’m getting pushed so I’m getting myself unbalanced. . . . With that a lot of people are going to interpret it as or create their own storylines, . . . but I know what I did, and the man upstairs knows what I did.”

What Suh did requires no interpretation. He aggressively pushed the head of Evan Dietrich-Smith into the ground, and Suh stomped on Dietrich-Smith’s arm as Suh started to walk away.

“I understand in this world because of the type of player and type of person I am, all eyes are on me,” Suh said. “So why would I do something to jeopardize myself, jeopardize my team, first and foremost? I don’t do bad things. I have no intentions to hurt someone. If I want to hurt him, I’m going to hit his quarterback as I did throughout that game.”

He needs to quit while he’s not ahead.

“If I see a guy stepping on somebody I feel like they’re going to lean into it and forcefully step on that person or stand over that person,” Suh said. “I’m going in the opposite direction to where he’s at.”

It’s an amazingly flimsy, and perhaps delusional, effort to explain what was obvious to anyone with eyes. Apart from the ultimate penalty that will be imposed on Suh by the league office — and plenty of people believe a suspension is coming — Suh needs to be concerned about the impact of his behavior and his lame explanation of it on his marketability. From Subway to Chrysler to any other company that has chosen to give Suh a lot of money to endorse its products, that money could be drying up, quickly.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Suh Out of Control, says former teammate

Criticism of Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is coming from all corners, including a college teammate of Suh’s who says it’s time for a suspension.

Jets guard Matt Slauson, who played with Suh at Nebraska, told Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post that the NFL should suspend Suh because fines haven’t curtailed his on-field misbehavior and, Slauson says, “he’s out of control.”

“Somebody needs to get him under control, because he’s trying to hurt people,” Slauson said. “It’s one thing to be an incredibly physical player and a tenacious player, but it’s another thing to set out to end that guy’s career.”

Suh and Slauson lined up against each other in practice, and Nebraska practices frequently featured problems related to Suh’s temper getting the best of him, Slauson told Hubbuch.

Although Suh was one of the best defensive tackles in college football history — being named Associated Press College Football Player of the Year and winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy in addition to being a finalist for the Heisman Trophy — Slauson says his teammates didn’t like him. And he says people at Nebraska like Suh even less now that he’s making the football program look bad with his tactics in the NFL, including stepping on an opponent on Thanksgiving, resulting in an ejection.

This isn’t the first time Slauson has indicated he didn’t particularly enjoy being Suh’s teammate. Asked about the then-rookie for the Lions a year ago, Slauson said, “I wouldn’t say me and Suh were best friends. There were times we got in fights during spring ball, during camp. Emotions go, you get tired and Suh just happened to be the guy I was going against.”

It seems that pretty much everyone is fed up with Suh right now. The next question is whether Roger Goodell is so fed up that Suh is suspended.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Even tho they didn't testify this at the scene, I'd believe their account because that's Suh to a T. Big egotistical show-off....

Passengers Dispute Suh's Account to Police

Two passengers in Ndamukong Suh’s car at the time of his crash last week dispute the account that Suh gave to police.

The police have amended the police report to reflect the new passenger testimony. Suh told police he lost control of his car while trying to pass a taxicab and no one was hurt. (Suh’s car hit a tree.)

One passenger says there was no cab, one of them was hurt, and Suh was just trying to show off.

“When the light turned green, he floored it,” one woman passenger told KGW 8 in Portland. “I just remember going so fast and it was violent and just getting thrown around like rag dolls.”

That woman says she suffered a black eye and a busted lip which required stitches. Suh told police no one needed to go to the hospital, but the woman said she asked Suh to call for an ambulance and he refused, telling her she was fine.

She eventually left the scene and called her husband, who took her to the hospital. Another passenger that called 9-1-1 verified that Suh seemed to be trying to “show off” with his car.

It’s hard to know what to make of this story. Perhaps there are grounds for a civil suit, but police don’t seem too bothered about it.

“At no point did anyone there tell an officer that he [Suh] was driving out of control,” said Sgt. Pete Simpson said. “The crash doesn’t meet our threshold for investigation which is vulnerable road user, DUI, or serious trauma injury.”

 

[Exe Gesis]

Scott Linehan rebuilding his reputation in Detroit

Click link for full article.

Scott Linehan's first go-round as an NFL head coach didn't end well.

Hired to replace Mike Martz as Rams coach in 2006, Linehan went just 11-25 and was fired four games into his third season amid player backlash and declining results on the field.

But in three years as Lions offensive coordinator, Linehan has re-established his reputation as one of the game's best play callers and his success developing quarterbacks could lead him to another job soon.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he got offers after this year," receiver Nate Burleson said. "He's an extreme talent, Russell Crowe, 'Beautiful Mind'-type. Sometimes you see him just thinking and wheels are churning, you know he's about to come up with something special.

 

[Woodson]

Feel good story from Detroit.

Another reason to admire Matt Stafford even more.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Ndamukong sued

Posted by Mike Florio on July 26, 2012, 9:03 PM EDT

AP
Yep, it was only a matter of time before we’d be able to use that headline.
A woman who was in a car with Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh during a December 3 automobile accident has filed a lawsuit in Oregon alleging that she suffered injuries as a result of the crash.
According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Saadia Van Winkle seeks damages for negligence, recklessness, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She wants more than $1 million in damages.
She claims among other things that Suh lied to authorities regarding whether anyone was injured in the accident. Van Winkle also contends that, the day after the incident, Suh showed up at her house and offered $700 “in an effort to buy her silence.”
“I think the important facts are that at the scene of the accident my client was bleeding from her head,” attorney Sarah Nelson told Birkett. “She had a laceration above her right eye that required sutures and when he called 911 he said that nobody was injured. He never reported to the police that anybody was injured, never reported to the police that my client was in the car. Meanwhile, she’s bleeding from her head and he’s screaming at her to get out of the car and telling her she’s not hurt.”
The incident occurred in Portland while Suh was serving a two-game suspension for stomping on Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith during a Thanksgiving game. Local police opted not to take a second look at the situation after allegations arose that Suh lied about whether anyone was injured, and whether he had been speeding.
The fact that no further investigation occurred shielded Suh from scrutiny of the league office. Information revealed through the litigation could change that, in theory.

 

[Skeppersap]

I have not been so angry at the dirtiness of a team as I was in the Lions vs Bears game last year. Detroit are so SO dirty, an absolute disgrace.

As much as I want to dislike Green Bay and Rodgers more than all others, I DETEST the Detroit Lions!!!!!

 

[DaSawx]

I'd rather smash the Lions ATM, which was fun last year, than GB, at least I respect GB, they're a very well run club which hurts to say, Detroit just a pack of w***ers, led by their HC.

Quote from Remember the Titans, attitude reflect leadership.

 

[Woodson]

 

[Exe Gesis]

Lions plan to treat quarterbacks like wolves treated Liam Neeson

Posted by Michael David Smith on August 6, 2012, 12:21 PM EDT

In The Grey, Liam Neeson and his colleagues battle a pack of hungry wolves in the Alaskan tundra. Spoiler alert: The wolves win.

Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham watched that movie, and it gave him some ideas: Cunningham told the Detroit News that he’s experimenting with a new formation in which defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley move outside to end, while the ends move inside to tackle, and he named the formation after the movie.

“Yeah, I call it Grey,” Cunningham said. “If you watch that movie you will know what I mean. Those wolves kind of tricked ‘em and that’s kind of what we’re doing.”

With franchise player Cliff Avril now signed, the Lions believe they have one of the deepest defensive lines in the NFL. Defensive end Willie Young and defensive tackle Corey Williams both said they believe the Lions’ second line would be one of the 10 best starting units in the league. That kind of depth gives the Lions the ability to do things that other teams don’t do, head coach Jim Schwartz said.

“I think we are an elite defensive line,” Schwartz said. “I wouldn’t compare us to anybody else. We’re not trying to be the New York Giants. We’re not trying to be anybody but the Detroit Lions. The talent that we have, if we play to our ability, that’ll be enough.”

It may be enough to make opposing quarterbacks as terrified as you’d be if you were surrounded by wolves in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Lomas Brown: I purposely missed a block to get Scott Mitchell hurt

Former Lions offensive tackle and current ESPN analyst Lomas Brown made a startling confession in a radio interview on Friday: Brown said that he once purposely missed a block because he wanted the man he was supposed to block, Packers defensive end Sean Jones, to injure Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell.

In an interview on ESPN Radio, Brown said that in a 1994 game, he purposely whiffed on Jones so that Jones could get a clean shot on Mitchell. Sure enough, Brown got his intended result, as Mitchell was knocked out of the game.

“We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee,” Brown said. “We were getting beat, 24-3, at that time and he just stunk up the place. He’s throwing interceptions, just everything. So I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center and I said, ‘Glove, that is it.’ I said, ‘I’m getting him out the game.’ . . . So I got the gator arms on the guy at the last minute, he got around me, he hit Scott Mitchell, he did something to his finger . . . and he came out the game. [Lions backup quarterback] Dave Krieg came in the game.”

Host Ryen Russillo expressed shock that Brown would admit such a thing, but Brown showed no remorse.

“As you can tell, I’m just not a big fan of Scott Mitchell. He’s just not on my Christmas list. He won’t be getting any Christmas presents from me this year,” Brown said.

The Detroit Free Press notes that while Brown misremembered some of the details of the game, his basic description of what happened adds up: Jones drilled Mitchell with a hit that broke a finger on Mitchell’s passing hand, and Mitchell was replaced by Krieg. As Brown correctly recalled, Mitchell was having a terrible game, but Krieg played well in relief for the rest of that game and played well for the Lions the rest of the season.

Brown seems proud of himself about being the one who caused the team to change quarterbacks, but he shouldn’t be. There’s never an excuse for a football player to step onto the field and not give his best effort, but to fail to give your best effort because you want one of your teammates to get injured is totally unacceptable. For Brown to laugh about it all these years later, as if he’s glad that his actions caused a teammate to suffer an injury, is disgraceful.

And for Brown, who is suing the NFL because he says the NFL didn’t do enough to protect players from concussions, to celebrate the fact that he once stood by and allowed an opponent to take an injury-causing free shot at a teammate, is pitiful.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Schwartz: Critics of Lions’ D don’t know what they’re talking about

Lions coach Jim Schwartz says he has no plans to change the alignment he uses on Detroit’s defensive line. And he says people who attribute the Lions’ rough season to that alignment are ignorant.

Schwartz told reporters today that he will not consider shifting from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense, and that he will continue to use the Wide 9 to give his defensive ends a leg up on rushing to the outside, and he doesn’t believe that makes the Lions any different from any other team.

“We didn’t have enough sacks this year,” Schwartz said, via MLive.com. “To be able to blame that on the Wide 9, the people that say that really don’t know what they’re talking about. Every team in league, when it’s third down, lines up exactly the way we do it. It puts guys in the best position to rush the passer.”

Schwartz said the Lions have the right personnel for the defense he runs, and he sees no reason to change.

“You always have a philosophy and the philosophy is behind your player acquisitions,” Schwartz said. “You always have a plan for every player. You don’t just pull names out of a hat and say, ‘Hey, this is where you’re going to fit him.’ . . . We predominately play a Wide 9, but we play other fronts. I think it depends on the personnel, how we go through our OTAs, everything. We’re always working to look at and tweak. You never say never, but that’s our base front.”

The Lions’ defense took a step backward in 2012, but Schwartz isn’t going to blame the scheme for that. The blame, apparently, lies with the players.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Jim Washburn headed to help Lions pass rush

Not only is Lions coach Jim Schwartz adamant about sticking with his Wide 9 alignment, he’s bringing in one of its main proponents to help him.

According to Mike Garafolo of USA Today, former Eagles assistant Jim Washburn will join the Lions as a defensive assistant, bringing his pass-rush expertise to a team that needs it. The Lions were 20th in the league in sacks (34), after finishing 10th in the league (41) the year before.

Washburn and Schwartz worked together in Tennessee, and Jim’s son Jeremiah was just promoted to offensive line coach in Detroit.

That at least makes it less likely he’ll call that particular co-worker insulting names.

According to Justin Rogers of MLive.com, Lions defensive line coach Kris Kocurek was still with the team, coaching defensive linemen at the Senior Bowl.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Titus Young threatens to quit football if he doesn’t get the football

The Lions may have been better off with the second-round pick they used on receiver Titus Young by simply saying, “Pass.”

Young, who was exiled from the team via an injured reserve designation after lining up “multiple times” in the wrong place during a Week 11 loss to Green Bay, now says via Twitter that, if he doesn’t get the ball thrown his way more often, he no longer wants to play.

Young summed up his position with an oxymoronic tweet, via Anwar Richardson of MLive.com: “Like I said I never been selfish but if I’m not going to get the football i don’t want to play anymore.”

He also clumsily disputes the notion that he ignored his assignment on a given play. “Never have I ran the wrong route, just put my self where the ball was going,” Young said.

After the season ended, the Lions seemed to be on the fence about Young. His latest tweets may be the thing that knocks the team to the “cut your losses” side.

When giving up on a talented young player, teams worry that cutting him will provide the wake-up call needed to get him to straighten up and fulfill his potential. Possibly with a division rival. At some point, though, the Lions need to realize that Young will simply never get it, and move on.

Maybe they can say, “All he does is catch touchdowns.”

 

[Exe Gesis]

Lions need to play it safe in NFL draft, says ex-NFL GM Gil Brandt

Detroit Lions GM Martin Mayhew during training camp Aug 2, 2012, in Allen Park.





NEW ORLEANS – Better to be safe than sorry, at least when it comes to this year’s draft.

That’s the approach NFL.com analyst Gil Brandt said he’d take this off-season if he were the Lions trying to return to the playoffs after a disastrous 4-12 season.

“I think you probably have to be safer,” Brandt said today at the Super Bowl. “When a team is really good and you can afford to gamble a little bit then you can take Titus Young. But if you’re a team that’s trying to get better then you better not take Titus Young.”

The Lions have hit on most of their high draft picks during the Martin Mayhew-Jim Schwartz era, finding success with quarterback Matthew Stafford (No. 1 overall in 2009) and defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh (No. 2 in 2010) and Nick Fairley (No. 13 in 2011).

But Brandt, the former long-time vice president of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys, said draft picks like Young and Jahvid Best have set the Lions’ rebuilding process back.

In need of a running back to diversify their offense in 2010, the Lions traded up into the first round to draft Best 30th overall even though some teams had him off their draft boards because of concussions.

A year later, the Lions spent a second-round pick on Young, who was suspended for most of a season at Boise State.

Best hasn’t played since October of 2011 and might never see the field again, Young was sent home from the team three times in a seven-month span this season for a variety discipline problems, and the Lions still have needs at running back and receiver.

“It’s easy to second guess, but Titus Young hurt them a lot,” Brandt said. “And then Best, with the concussions, there was some question about him coming in. I think they drafted guys with a lot of potential, but with Best it was a medical thing and the other guy it was always a character thing at Boise State.”

Publicly, the Lions have left the door open for Young to return, though a fresh start appears to be in the best interests of both parties. As for trading Young, Brandt said the receiver has soiled whatever value he had left.

“I think that there’s an old saying, sometimes you take your first loss, it’s your best loss,” Brandt said. “But you’re not going to be able to trade him, no.

“Everybody’s got too many connections now with teams so they call, whether it’s (San Francisco 49ers general manager) Trent Baalke as an example, he knows a couple players on the Lions and they call and say tell me about this guy. And I guess if you put him through the ringer, there wouldn’t be too many people in his favor.”

 

[Exe Gesis]

Titus Young recently boasted he’s better than Megatron

The Texans have learned the hard way that they shouldn’t have cut receiver Jacoby Jones. The Lions surely hope that they won’t have the same experience with receiver Titus Young.

But it has become increasingly clear that the 2011 second-round pick had to go.

The latest evidence comes from Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, who shares a conversation Young had with his high-school coach, E.C. Robinson, on Christmas Day.

“He did tell me he thought he was just as good Megatron,” Robinson told Birkett. “I said, ‘Titus, come on.’ I said, ‘Come on, man. Who you talking to?’ I said, ‘Come on, you’re as good as that guy? This guy is the real deal.’ And he really believes this. And he was sincere about it. ‘Ah man, I’m better than him.’ I said, ‘No you’re not. Be real man. Come on.’ So I don’t know, I’m hoping for the best for him.”

The best will come from a second chance with a team that claims him on waivers. The Chiefs have dibs.

The fact that Young failed in Detroit doesn’t mean he’ll fail elsewhere. The challenge for any team with a high talent/low character player is to put him in a locker room where there are enough high character players to hold him accountable and, ideally, to transform him into a higher-character person.

If that happens in his next stop, there’s hope for Titus Young. If it doesn’t, he’ll eventually be cut again.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Lions cut best WR in league
Rams just got another weapon.

Here's me hoping Rams draft DJ Harper (to replace SJax) and trade for Kellen Moore.

Reunite that offence again

 

[Dirty Bird]

I see Detroit have to resort to signing trick short specialists from Norway to fill their needs now

 

[Chadwiko]

Norwegian trick shot kicker >>>> Kellen Moore

 

[Dirty Bird]

http://www.troll.me/images/obama-isnt-happy/not-this-s**t-again.jpg

 

[Dirty Bird]

Shaun Hill injured. Kellen's time to shine and take the backup role
Then it'll take just the 1 iinjury and he's Tom Brady reincarnated

 

[Dirty Bird]

I see Kellen Moore has outplayed 1 QB out of town and the Lions had to go sign someone else who can actually push him

 

[Dirty Bird]

Moore has already shown improvement this year, and if that continues, his roster spot is all but assured.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Reports out of Lions Training camps indicate that Kellen Moore is the leagues best QB.
If players could perform as well as he is in the NFL, their team would be near on impossible to beat.

100% completion rate with them being medium-deep passes.
Drives would average 3-4 plays with touchdowns being certain.