Posts Tagged ‘Detroit Lions Football’
Dave Birkett: Jeff Backus asked to move to Left Guard
Posted by Joe in Detroit Lions Football on February 19th, 2009
Dave Birket is reporting on his blog that Lions coaches and officials have spoken to their Left Tackle Jeff Backus about possibly moving to Left Guard on the offensive line. Reports say he was “receptive” about the idea.
http://davebirkett.blogspot.com/2009/02/backus-candidate-at-guard.html
I’m not sure Backus can play Guard but if he can, we could kill two birs with one stone here. He may even be an upgrade at Guard; one thing’s for sure: he struggled stopping speed rushers on the outside and stronger Defensive Ends seems to push right through him. He seemed like he likes to stand up a lot over there after the snap.
So, if this is true – I’m thinking that they might take a big left tackle first overall – or I suppose at #20, their second first round pick coming up in the NFL Draft. The Lions really need an upgrade to their line. Time will tell if this is true and if Backus can even do it succesfully. This is news comes after earlier this week, the Lions resigned Daunte Culpepper. Let’s hope this is a sign that they are not going to take Matt Stafford with the first overall pick.
Detroit Lions: Jason Hanson could be franchised
Posted by Joe in Detroit Lions Football on February 11th, 2009
Reportedly, Jason Hanson could get the franchise tag from the Lions this off season. The reason is that, according to his agent, the Team and Hanson’s agent are not close to a deal. Hanson (38 yrs old) is coming off his best year of his storied career in Detroit. He broke the single season record for 50 yard field goals in a season making 7 and was totally jobbed on not making the Pro Bowl.
That said: REALLY LIONS?? Are going to have to franchise your place kicker? Well, it could be worse – I mean we could just go ahead and throw the franchise tag on someone like Keary Colbert or George Foster. Or how about Rudy Johnson? At least Hanson was and is our best player, but is that not a total discredit to Matt Millen and Rod Marinelli and what they accomplished here?
Jason Hanson could be franchised by the Detroit Lions in 2009 (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
I say pay Hanson what he’s worth. The man is the Lions all time scorer and he can still kick field goals like nobody’s business. It would be nice to see him kick a game winner once in a while, but OH WAIT… we can’t win any football games. We went 0-16 last year. It’s still weird to see that record in print.
Lions Hire Scott Linehan
Posted by Joe in Detroit Lions Football on January 23rd, 2009
Scott Linehan - Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator - Getty Images
The 0-16 Detroit Lions have hired an offensive coordinator. Scott Linehan has accepted the position and should provide an upgrade to a pedestrian offense at best. Most recenlty, Linehan was the Head Coach of the St. Louis Rams.
Linehan enjoyed great successes with the Minnesota Vikings in early 2000 with Daunte Culpepper, Robert Smith and Randy Moss. If Culpepper sticks with the Lions in 2009 it could be a nice chance for Daunte to rekindle his career.
Culpepper struggled under last year’s offensive coordinator Jim Colletto. Albeit, Culpepper really did not have time to learn the playbook as a mid-season signee. Also, Calvin Johnson could fulfill the role of the stud receiver such as Moss did in the duo’s glory days.
Linehan also had some success with the Miami Dolphins offense resurrecting them in 2005 to a respectable 14th after previous dismal finishes. As the Head Coach of the Rams he was 11-25-0.
In another move to solidify an experienced staff under head coach Jim Schwartz, Martin Mayhew hired someone who has had a decent track record as a coordinator. Much the same as Gunther Cunningham – the newest Defensive Coordinator.
I think this is a decent hire. I think he failed in St. Louis for several other reasons than the offense. It’s not the first time that a coordinator was hired as a Head Coach and appeared to be in over their head. Just look at what Marty Morninhweg did with the Philladelphia Eagles the past couple of years.
Lions hire Gunther Cunningham as defensive coordinator
Posted by Joe in Detroit Lions Football on January 21st, 2009
The Lions have hired former Chief’s Defensive Coordinator as their New Defensive Coordinator. It seems like a solid choice, but I do know that the Chief’s Defense was awful last year. In fact, I think it was 32 of out of 32!!! If not, then it was close to last and failed to stop teams in critical situations.
Sound familiar? Can anyone say Donnie Henderson? Joe Barry?
There is some speculation now that he may have been assigned the Assistan Head Coach title – but at this time, I’m not sure if that is true or not. Cunningham was never really a very good Head Coach, despite his use of yellow tinted shooting glasses.
Here’s his wiki page for your reading pleasure:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_Cunningham
I don’t like this hire. I think they should have gone with someone who had some more recent successes like a Ron Rivera or someone similar. Yikes… I was semi-on-board with the Schwartz decision, but this is a move that I’m a little bit concerned with. Let’s hope I’m totally wrong. Our defense sucked last year. To the point that it was the worst defense I’ve ever seen.
Hopefully, he runs something different than the Tampa Two, which apparently schemes for guys to be completely confused and out of place – resulting in offensive players running free every third or fourth play.
Lions Hire Jim Schwartz.
Posted by Joe in Detroit Lions Football on January 18th, 2009
Jim Schwartz Hired as New Lions Coach
As you probably know, the Lions have hired a new coach. Again, they have tried to find the “diamond in the rough” choosing a coach that has never been a head coach. At least this time, differring from Rod Marinelli, Coach Schwartz has had experience in game planning and calling plays. He served as the Tenessee Titans defensive coordinater for the past 8 years. His defenses have been near the top in most of those years. He was criticized this year for not blitzing enough – he defended himself by stating that he was able to pressure the quarterback with his talented front four – which included the dominating Albert Haynesworth.
My take on this is one of carful optimisim. I listened to Coach Schwartz’s press conference on 971theticket.com last Friday. He sounded like a head coach and had some very polished things to say about how he plans to re-build our football team. Unlike the last coach (Rod Marinelli), Schwartz seems like he would be effective in talking with the media. Last year, I felt like laughing and crying all at the same time when Rod would say “it’s on me” after each waxing the team took. Rod never seemed to give a straight answer, and I think that alientated him even more from the fans and media. Schwartz was a smooth and a cool customer. He seemed to understand what the fans want and desperate need here in Detroit for the Lions. I think he’s going to be a major upgrade in that area, as that’s a big part of the head coaches job.
Schwartz seems to be a very bright, intelligent person with a degree in Economics from Georgetown University. He got his start as a scout for Bill Belichick back in the mid-90’s. He’s known to be a extremely interested in stats and has studied them avidly, not only in football but other sports and in particular, baseball. Schwartz also, has been a scout and has some experience evaluating talent. Lets hope that pays off in April, when the Lions are scheduled to have the first pick on the draft.
