(Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Something happened today in the #20 Lions lounge on Facebook that really ticked me off.

It brought back memories of all the hater fans that I had arguments with over the last 12 years or so while I tried in futility to defend my beloved Detroit Lions against friendly fire.

Back when I had these battles, it wasn’t that I was trying to convince anybody that the Lions were good because they weren’t and I knew it. I just couldn’t understand for the life of me how someone could call themselves a true Detroit Lions fan, but be oh so happy to throw dirt on the Lions and laugh and jeer at their own hometown team.

But never mind the past, here’s what happened today in the Lounge…

One of my fellow Lions fans posed the question “how many wins do you predict the Lions to get this season?” Now of course, having over 800 diehard Lions fans in the #20 Detroit Lions Lounge the answers were quite predictable for the most part. You’re going to see the majority of the guesses and approximations be on the high side, most predictions came in between 10 and 13 wins.

Yes, we are a bunch of slappies but if there is ever a year to be a slappy it’s THIS year!

One member of the Lounge, created a bit of a stir though. One of the members (who shall remain nameless) predicted that the Lions will go 6-10 this year because they have the “worse secondary in the league” and because “these are the Lions.”

What the what???

I can half-way accept the doubt about the secondary, even though saying they will be the worst in the league is reaching, the thing that got my goat was the quote about “these are the Lions”.
Continue reading “Help Me Understand “Hater” Detroit Lions Fans…” »

When you draft elite-level talent, your team will have highly-talented players that produce immediately and elite-level players that breakout after a delay in progression or unfortunate injuries. The Detroit Lions have had plenty producers on the field the last couple of years, but it’s really intriguing how many difference makers are waiting at bay.

Willie Young (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

I looked more into this after former NFL GM Bill Polian gave his list of 10 pivotal players in the NFL this season and sitting at #3 on that list is Detroit Lions’ defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

So, before I get into our other potential season-changing breakout players for the Detroit Lions, here is what Polian wrote about Fairley:

“Fairley could be the missing piece in making the Detroit defense dominant. If the big Auburn alum can reach his potential, a trio of him, Ndamukong Suh and the emerging Corey Williams could make the Lions’ D-line extremely hard to handle up the middle and wreak havoc on the pocket (which will help an improving secondary).

I still think the Lions need more from the running back position to be legitimate title contenders, but if Fairley steps up, an already improved defense will be taken to another level.”

Although I don’t know how an 8 year veteran like Corey Williams is “emerging”, I agree with everything else Mr.Polian said.

The exciting thing for Lions fans though is that this roster is PACKED with young and talented players who could blow up this year and propel the Detroit Lions to the absolute upper-echelon elite in the NFL. You all know what that means

Here’s is my top 10 Detroit Lions players that could breakout and lead this team to greatness.
Continue reading “Detroit Lions Stacked With Potential Breakout Players” »

Ahhh, don’t you love the 20/20 view of hindsight? With so many Detroit Lions fans having their panties in a bunch(my Lion-print panties included) over the Lions current draft selections, I began reminiscing to the past years when the Lions drafts were praised and graded as an A almost across the board by fans and media.

Those were the good old days, it seemed that with each Matt Millen draft pick the excitement level would rise, along with my hopes and dreams.

How did you feel about Matt Millen drafting our savior and future Hall-of-Fame QB Joey “Heisman” Harrington? Weren’t you geeked up to get that blazing fast wide receiver named Charles Rogers out of our own backyard? He was going to be great alongside Roy Williams. Who could defend that offense? Remember?

All Talk Millen - (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Who wasn’t excited about the “track team” we were putting together when Millen and the Lions drafted the speedy Boss Bailey in the 2nd round of that same draft? Speed kills had become the mantra in the D! Woo hooo!

Let’s not forget about Kalimba Edwards (known as Kalimbust Edwards in my circle of friends), Mike Williams, and 2nd round “steal” Teddy Lehman!

Most of us were sooooooo excited at these draft selections, Mel Kiper and the other talking heads patted their buddy Millen on the back until they left bruises on the guy, Millen was the draft day guru!

But then the players had to actually play. WHOMP WHOMP…. Continue reading “Matt Millen’s Draft Picks More Celebrated Than Martin Mayhew’s – Detroit Lions” »

Matthew Stafford is everywhere lately, the extremely talented Detroit Lions quarterback has instantly shot up in popularity and gone from doubted to touted. Stafford had a cool sit-down interview with anchor Chris McKendry.

The young gun Detroit Lions QB represented himself and the team very well, he was touted for his AMAZING all-time type of season, putting himself in the same category as Dan Marino and the VERY few other great NFL Quarterback who have thrown for more than 5,000 yards in a single season.

The Comeback Player of The Year Stafford says he feels confident in his team and says he’s feels the team has gained valuable experience. The reputation as “Bad Boys” in the NFL was addressed and Matt Stafford says that it “possibly” had a bad effect on his team’s talent, but also refers to himself as “fiery” much like his coach Jim Schwartz.

You can really see how the players on this Lions team can back this guy, long gone on the Joey blue-sky days of Harrington, you can really see the confidence and calm exude from the young talented star quarterback.

Matthew Stafford is consistently and rightly giving credit to his teammates for the teams success, an endearing quality for such a supreme talent.

Stafford was even asked about the Gisele Bundchen dust up, his first healthy season with the team and his expectations for the Detroit Lions in the playoff games to come for the team. Great interview, check it out!

Related Story: Matt Stafford Name Quarterback of The Year by NFL Alumni

Today was an interesting day, if I can say anything I can say that Detroit Lions fans are a passionate crowd about their team and their “guys”. I started a little bit of an argument today over at the mlive forums when I introduced the idea that Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford have a very good chance of becoming more iconic in Detroit Lions football lore than the great, great, GREAT(3 times for emphasis) Barry Sanders.

Wow, you would have thought I called somebodies mom fat or something! (well I probably did but that’s beside the point, lol!)

Most Lions fans were having NO PARTS OF IT, it was hilarious! But is the premise that far-fetched? I think not.

By nature almost, Barry Sanders is BY FAR my favorite Detroit Lion of all time and he’s known as arguably the greatest Lion the ever played the game of Football. Barry Sanders is the reason I was able to stay loyal to the Lions throughout the Millen decade of despair, Detroit Lions football was absolutely epic to witness when #20 hit the field. Every time Barry Sanders touched the ball I would stop breathing for a split second because he made me forget to breathe, I was too busy waiting for the amazing to happen and it usually did. I’ve never seen anyone like him.

So when I pose the question of whether his greatness can be eclipsed it seems almost like a Lions fan cardinal sin, but it’s not. The reason that I believe Megatron and Stafford have an opportunity to pass Barry in greatness is because they are just that good. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are once-in-a-generation types of talent, it’s that simple.

Barring injury, Calvin Johnson will go down as the greatest wide receiver to have ever played the game, the man is literally playing on another level than the competition. What other wide receiver have you ever seen that gets bracketed at the goal line to the point that it looks like the gunner positions in punt coverage? You haven’t seen it, only with CJ because he’s that special of a player.

On the mlive forums I heard everything from the idiotic “Barry makes more phenomenal plays in one season than these two will in their careers combined” to the true “Barry Sanders is still seen as one of the best at his position EVER”.

People get too emotional when considering Barry Sanders and the pleasure he brought the entire NFL on Sundays, this is about the here and now and the same statement made about Barry’s rank amongst his position all-time will be said about Calvin Johnson. The difference? Megatron will be hailed as the greatest at his position ever, not only top 5.

Now Matt Stafford obviously has more to prove, he needs to still stay healthy in which is as likely as any other quarterback in the NFL, he had fluke injuries that painted him in a bad light amongst crybaby fans that probably wanted the Lions to draft Aaron Curry and are just desperate to be right for once in their lives. The kids is as tough as nails and just a true winner. Throwing to Calvin Johnson AND being supremely talented adds up to a future of AMAZING plays, big game victories and chances at Super Bowl victories.

With spectacular plays being equal, the winning will propel these two current Lions to the head of the class in regards to legendary status in Detroit Lions history as well as the NFL record books.

What do you think, am I right or am I right?

And with all that having been said…. “Bar-ry, Bar-ry, Bar-ry!!!”

Wow. Screw the Pro Bowl, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is making up for the snub in a big way. He may have missed out on the honor of playing in the most unwatchable football game of the year but he’s getting his fair share of respect from the prestigious NFL Alumni association.

Matt Stafford beat out Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers for the honor of being named Quarterback Of The Year at the 30th annual Player of the Year Awards.

It’s good to see that Matthew Stafford is starting to reap the benefits of his league-elite talent. This award will go nicely with the Comeback Player of The Year award he just won. The last couple of years have been filled with loud mouth hacks doubting him, calling him “Glassford” and calling him a bust, now he’s showing that the Detroit Lions finally have “the guy”. Can you believe it? It’s really happening in Detroit!

In his acceptance speech he thanked his coaches and teammates.

“Wow, this is an awesome honor – I appreciate it,” Stafford continues. “Thank you, first off, to the alumni for voting for me. There are a lot of great quarterbacks that could have won this award and definitely deserved it as well. Any time an award like this is given out, it’s an individual award, but really, it’s won by the team. I couldn’t have done it without the teammates and the coaching staff in Detroit. I’m just happy to be part of that team and be part of this.”

Lion fans, this the first of many, many awards and accolades for this kid, we are watching the beginning of GREATNESS!

Calvin Johnson Beat Out For WR of The Year?

Not to get greedy or anything, but how the heck does Hakeem Nicks win Wide Receiver of The Year over Calvin “Megatron” Johnson? That’s plain retarded. I’m sorry. Calvin Johnson is the most unstoppable force at WR in the game hands down!

This is typical bias towards New York teams and athletes. The craziest part is that Hakeem Nicks might not even be the best receiver on his on own team. What did he do make a huge donation to the NFL Alumni or something? That’s some straight, uncut bullcrap. Wow, that rant just felt so right.

OK here are the rest of the winners…..

2011 NFL Alumni Player of the Year winners

• Quarterback – Matthew Stafford (Lions)
• Running Back – Maurice Jones-Drew, (Jaguars)
• Wide Receiver – Hakeem Nicks, (Giants)
• Lineman - Chris Long, (Rams)
• Linebacker – Aldon Smith, (49ers)
• Defensive Back – Brent Grimes, (Falcons)
• Player of the Year – Maurice Jones-Drew, (Jaguars)
• Lifetime Achievement – Randall Cunningham

After being inexplicably snubbed for the Pro Bowl and even snubbed as a Pro Bowl backup for the likes of Cam Newton, Matt Stafford finally receives some well-deserved recognition.

Following an amazing season in which Stafford threw for 5,038 yards 41 TDs & 16 Ints and led his team into the NFL Playoffs for the first time in over a decade, a panel of Associated Press voters has the Detroit Lions young gun its Comeback Player of The Year award.  Stafford started all 17 games for the Lions, playing in all but 12 of the teams offensive snaps, and was named an alternate to the Pro Bowl. He received 21 of the possible 50 votes.

Even with this recognition though, Stafford has been sold short by the accolade-givers in the NFL and certain segments of the media. But don’t expect that to last long, this kid is oozing with league elite talent.

All-Time Great Season for a QB

Let’s put Matthew Stafford numbers and season into perspective for a moment, only 3 other quarterbacks in National Football League history have thrown for 5,000 yards in a single season and only 5 QBs have ever passed for more than 40 TDs in a season.

Matthew Stafford joins Dan Marino (1984) and Drew Brees (2011) as the only NFL QBs to pass for 5,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in the same football season.

To really put a stamp on this accomplishment, check this out. Other than Dan Marino, Matt Stafford is 5 years younger than any of the other QBs who’ve passed for 40+ touchdowns in an NFL season (Aaron Rodgers, Kurt Warner and Peyton Manning were all 28 years old when they hit this mark) and 6 years younger than any NFL QB that reached 5,000 passing yards in a season (Drew Brees was 29 when he did in 2008). Pretty good for a kid huh?

Expect a lot more where that came from.

RUMOR MILL: 97.1 the Ticket is claiming that the Detroit Lions are in talks with the Oakland Raiders about trading a second round pick for RB Darren Mcfadden.

Sound FX: Matthew Stafford mic’d up