I really don’t read too much into statement games early on in the season. Sure the NFL is unique given that just about every game is crucial to the overall team’s success in the 16 week season but it’s just too early to get a gage on how good a lot of the teams are actually going to be.
Week two was a different story for the Lions though…
Sunday, Detroit welcomed in the Kansas City Chiefs who were coming off a bad loss at home against the Buffalo Bills in which they gave up over 40 points. With that said you would think that the Chiefs would come into Detroit, fired up looking to prove to the rest of the NFL that what happened in Week 1 was a fluke. Well as we all know now that didn’t happen, the Chiefs were absolutely manhandled on the field by the Lions who went onto a 48-3 victory over the beaten and battered Chiefs.
This was more than just a win though for the Lions. It was pure revenge.
Revenge for what though?
To refresh everyone’s memory who may have forgotten, the Chiefs wet their diaper when they accused former coach and current Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham of “tampering”. This stems from Cunningham apparently expressing his desire for the Lions to go out and get safety Jerrod Page who at the time was still a member of the Kansas City Chiefs (he since then has been traded to the Patriots). The Commissioners Office agreed with the Chiefs and had the Lions forfeit their seventh round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and swap picks with the Chiefs in the fifth round (Detroit would pick 23rd instead of 9th).
The Lions would later appeal and get to keep their seventh rounder but would still have to swap picks in the fifth round.
Eventually all this led to this past Sunday’s bloodbath at Ford Field.
Now Lions head coach Jim Schwartz says that Sunday was just another win for the Lions and did his best to convey the common coach talk to the media. It was however very apparent that the Lions were enjoying what they were doing to the Chiefs given everything that happened in the off-season.
According to Gregg Rosenthal of ProFootballTalk.com, Chiefs boss Scott Pioli (who the Lions were interested in hiring after the firing of Matt Millen) got “more than a few cold shoulders” Sunday afternoon, one of which came from current Lions GM Martin Mayhew who refused to shake Pioli’s hand after the game. Mayhew reportedly shook his head at Pioli and turned his back.
Furthermore, Gunther Cunningham got a Gatorade bath at the end of the game which is something you typically don’t see with any NFL team, the defensive coordinator getting the cooler dumped on them at conclusion of a week two game that is.
“This win was very important to [Cunningham]. It’s not bragging rights, it’s not winning — it’s just respect,” safety Louis Delmas said.
Re: ProFootballTalk.com, Detroit Free Press
