Just what are the Lions these days anyway? A professional football team or a reform school with a headmaster that appears quite willing to let the incorrigible kids run the joint? Let's take an objective look...
It's no secret (and even some of the players have publicly admitted) that a good deal of their roster consists of "cast-offs" from other teams. In other words, they weren't wanted elsewhere for one reason or another.
The guys that were high draft picks? Calvin Johnson is the best thing that happened to them in a very long time.
Matthew Stafford? At least he's stayed healthy this year. That's a start. Regarding potential -- it's just that. Potential. Contrary to what many Lions' fans (and local scribes) want so desperately to believe -- he's not quite Elway, Favre, Brees, Brady, Montana, Young, or pick a Manning, just yet. Sometimes Stafford shows flashes of brilliance. Other times, he has this bad habit of completing a lot of passes to the guys in the wrong colored uniforms. Time will tell how all this works out.
Nick Fairley? He can't stay healthy either. Louis Delmas is hurt, and only people in the Detroit area think this guy is some sort of fantastic safety. There's a lot of teams he couldn't start for, and probably a few others where he might not even MAKE the team.
An interesting stat.... Jeff Backus, the starting left offensive tackle for Detroit, is in the record books. Of all the players in the entire history of the NFL that have played at least 150 games, Backus has the distinction of owning the lowest winning percentage of ALL TIME. It's even below Brandon Inge's batting average after a "bad" year. That's low. Didn't look it up, but Dominic Raiola can't be far behind in the chase for ultimate futility.
Back to the reform school angle. Even without Ndamukong Suh, currently regarded as the dirtiest player in the NFL by a wide margin (a recent players' poll had him winning by a 4 to 1 margin over his nearest runner-up thug -- a landslide), the Lions showed their true colors once again in New Orleans against the Saints. Remember, that game had been switched from it's original afternoon slot to be the Sunday night showcase game of the NFL. That meant hundreds of millions of people were tuned in.
And what did the Lions do? What they're becoming notorious for. A total lack of discipline, much less professionalism. The incorrigible kids took over again.
Consider:
Nate Burleson, a wide receiver cast-off from another team, pushed off against a defender to make a catch. Sorry. Tweet. That's offensive interference. 10 yard penalty. OK, it happens. A while later he does the exact same thing. Tweet. Another 10 yard penalty. You'd think he'd learn, or at least a coach would take him aside and tell him this isn't working. Oh no. Fast forward. He does it a third time. Tweet. Another 10.
Not so special teams player Stefan Logan, who stands all of 5 foot 6, and weighs in at 180, got frustrated. Did he act like a professional? No. After all his much larger teammates are gathered around him, he flipped the ball into the face of a defender. Sorry. Tweet. That's unsportsmanlike conduct. 15 yard penalty.
Titus Young, a back-up receiver, punched a guy in the face. Tweet. Unsportsmanlike again. Another 15. Young's a rookie. Normally rookies keep a low profile while learning from their coaches and the veteran players. Is this what they've taught him? If so, this guy's in need of a serious attitude adjustment. This is the NFL, not South Central LA.
Tight end Brandon Pettigrew seems to be a mystery. Once in a while, he'll make a brilliant catch. Then there's other times when his Hands of Stone would have made Roberto Duran envious. And what did he do after a call he didn't like? The ultimate no-no in sports. Push an official. Tweet. Unsportsmanlike conduct again. Another 15 yards, and he likely should have been immediately ejected from the game. When the NFL bosses in New York review that, it's also likely that Pettigrew's next game check will have a major deduction included.
Who's in charge of this whole menagerie? Head coach Jim Schwartz, of course. As warden, he doesn't seem to care what his inmates do. In fact, by not being proactive and instilling some discipline, it could be argued he actually encourages such behavior.
Schwartz may indeed possess a brilliant football mind, but let's look at facts. This is his first head coaching job and his record currently stands at 15-29 -- a .340 percentage. For a major league hitter, that would be outstanding. The same power-play goal percentage in the NHL would probably set a record. That number shooting 3s on a basketball court wouldn't be too shabby either.
But a .340 winning percentage as an NFL head coach, while overseeing a team that appears to resort to being back in the 'hood when things don't go well? And collectively, they're swaggering?
Sorry. Tweet. That's conduct unbecoming of professionals.
No such rule, you say?
Well, there oughta be.
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