Lions: Don’t leave the game in the hands of the refs… period
Jason Bray
Remember when Lions fans wanted to bury the ‘Same Ol’ Lions’ (SOL) sentiment last year? Remember those preseason predictions? Well Lions nation I’m here to tell you this team, so far this season has been nothing but SOL! Sure this can be seen as lazy writing, unfortunately the SOL moniker for this team is true.
The Lions literally invent new ways to lose games and leave their fan base on suicide watch. And yes this past Monday night was a total screw job by the NFL refs, especially when the goal line judge throws a flag and picks it up. We all now know Detroit should of had the ball on the half yard line. The simple solution to not getting screwed over by the refs is not to put the games in their hands, something the Lions have been taught many times before.
But let’s look at the elephant in the room, Calvin Johnson. At first I was mad at Megatron thinking he could have protected the ball better but I realize it was a great play by Kam Chancellor. Either way though the word is out, teams know the blueprint on Calvin which the league can thank the Chicago Bears, specifically Charles Tillman. Johnson does this a lot, reaches out to get that extra yard or holds the ball loosely while running.
Want proof?
Calvin Johnson has 14 fumbles in 123 games. To put that in perspective Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson have eight and 10 fumbles respectively in roughly 50 more games. I’m not trying to bury CJ here, it was a great play made by Chancellor, I’m just saying Detroit should maybe think about ball security which has certainly seemed to be an issue at times. Which by the way, if Megatron doesn’t fumble the ball, we don’t have BatGate at the end.
Another issue I have after the week is organizations take the shape of their owners and the front office. There is zero leadership here and it shows on the field, with the exception of Golden Tate. If you don’t want to keep being used as the NFL diaper then someone had to stick up for the team. The problem is no one in this organization has the balls to do it. Not the owner, the GM, the head coach or the star players. They all just bend over and take it.
Touching more on the game you at least have to tip the cap to the defense and perhaps use that as something to at least look forward to in the coming weeks. The Lions defense realized ‘Beast Mode’ was out and made Russell Wilson‘s day rough with six sacks. Plus Ziggy Ansah had a great game.
The Lions seem to be their own worst enemy at times. The Stafford defenders will tell you “did you see that last drive, he was perfect.” Yes homer, yes I did. I also saw the 54 minutes of football before that where he completed barely 50 percent of his passes and was a shade over 100 yards. If Stafford was close to the guy that lead that last drive the previous 54 minutes the Lions bury Seattle at home.
So Let’s look at how effective this field general was:
