How did this happen? Where did the narrative that “Gosder Cherilus isn’t that good” come from?

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Whether it is fans of the Detroit Lions or talking heads in the Detroit sports media, I get the sense that everybody is waiting and expecting Gosder Cherilus to be replaced at the first opportunity, especially now that LT Riley Reiff was drafted. My question for you is simple. WHY?

I don’t know what it is about Gosder, but he doesn’t seem to garner much love from fans or media even though he is a really good player. Do you doubt that? Well then, I have another simple question for you. WHY?

I don’t know whether it’s the fact that Cherilus was a 1st round draft pick that none of us expected, or that he isn’t a Pro Bowl player yet or maybe even it’s that he has a bulbous head and kinda looks and sounds like Biz Markie, but Detroit Lions fans underestimate the big guy greatly.

2010 was the make or break year for him in my eyes because he certainly had underwhelmed in his first 2 seasons. The thing about it is this though… Gosder Cherilus started playing VERY good football in his 3rd year. He was very impressive in pass blocking, he was one of our better run blockers but then he got injured against New England in the Thanksgiving Day game on November 25th 2010.

I remember thinking about how much of a shame it was that he got hurt when he was actually becoming the player he was drafted to be in the 1st round. Well evidently, some of you missed out on that observation and only absorbed the disappointment of the injury and resumed seeing him as the Gosder from years 1 and 2.

The injury Gosder Cherilus sustained required micro fracture surgery, a surgery that has ended MANY professional sports careers. It’s one of those surgeries that some guys simply can’t recover from. So going into the 2011 season, I was simply hoping that the guy’s career would continue and that he’d be able to be on the field for MOST of the season and do reasonably well.

What did Gosder do?

Besides one hugely idiotic personal foul penalty in the season opening game against Tampa Bay, this guy BALLED OUT! He cleaned up his penalties after that one mistake, I don’t even think I heard his named called again until week 14. All the while Gosder anchored the right side of an offensive line that was 11th out of 32 O-lines in the NFL in sacks allowed per pass play (5.5 pct) yielding 34 sacks on 641 pass plays.

And Cherilus can’t be blamed for the sucky run blocking either, when guys are busting through the middle and over your center, there’s not much you can do about it from right tackle.

Anyway, I say all of that to say this. Lay off of Cherilus and go back and watch some games on your DVR. Isolate him, watch him. This guy can play, so whoever started the “Cherilus sucks” bandwagon is wrong and can shut their face. Don’t be a sheep and just follow the crowd that bags on Cherilus. Lay off of Gosder. He does have a big old biscuit head though, lol! GO LIONS!!!!

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