Kitna had bad game but not to blame for loss to Pack
Yes I am a Lions slappy. I have always looked at this underachieving squad with a glass half full attitude and like many cornbread eaters, felt good about the 2008 Lions after a productive and healthy preseason. Gone were the cancers that plagued this team in the past. We now have Rod’s players! And let me put it on the record, I like Rod. I like what he says and I like what he instills in practice but for god sakes can you please, please carry this over to the field where it counts.
But that is not my beef in this blog, on the local radio airwaves today everyone is destroying Jon Kitna and comparing him to the worst of the worst in Detroit QB lore (and that is saying something). Having been to the 7 interception game of Ty Detmer in Cleveland, this is not quite the worst effort! Now that is not to say Jon did not have a bad last 5 minutes, he absolutely did, no question about it and I am sure he would admit it (if he already hasn’t). But Jon is not the reason the Lions lost this game or are 0-2 it lies squarely on the pathetic defense and the dearth of playmakers. Sims is a player no doubt but pickin’s are slim after that (with an occasional brilliant play by White or Redding). I have never, ever seen a team get beat deep so easily. I thought the idea of the Tampa 2 (sick of that name) defense was to prevent big plays – but they give up more then any Lion team I have ever seen, ever!!! You don’t see other games where receivers are 10 yards behind defenders that never happens. We have great receivers and they are never 10 yards behind opposing defenders, doesn’t happen in the NFL – except here.
Anyway, I put this loss and the Atlanta one too, squarely on Joe Barry’s shoulders. He is the Defensive Coordinator and there is no coordination in the defense at all. In the NFL where parity is everywhere, it is impossible to fall behind 21-0 in the first half, it doesn’t happen, look around the league. You have to try hard to play defense that poorly. This automatically takes Kevin Smith and Rudi Johnson and renders them largely useless and makes the Lions once again 1 dimensional. I for one would love to see what these two can do, we may never get a chance. Both Calvin and Roy are freak’s of nature and hence I don’t mind seeing the Lions throw the ball, but you have to have balance or you have corners sitting on receivers and defensive lineman pinning their ears back. Any offensive line is going to look poor and any quarterback is going to look bad eventually if they know exactly what you are going to do – unless your defensive coordinator is Joe Barry of course.
Atlanta for example - the players said they knew they were going to run the ball, and run the ball they did! Where were 8 or 9 in the box like other teams would do. Commit to stopping the run and if you lose the game to a rookie QB who beats you passing then tip your hat and move on. Yesterday’s Packer game they committed to stopping the run and did a nice job of that but a novel thought on the pass – mix in a blitz once in a while. This was Rogers first road start and in case you did not hear, Ford Field was quite loud but for some reason, they treated him with kid gloves. Blitz him for gods sakes!!!! Your linebackers can’t cover anybody anyway so they might as well do something useful like put pressure on the QB. The cornerback’s and safeties get fried all of the time so what is the difference, at least this way you dictate the way the game is going to be played. Turnovers happen because of pressure. Look around the league at the good defenses and good defensive coordinators. Other then the Giants front four who put constant pressure, they all blitz heavily. The Lions, they sit back in that bend but don’t break (although they snap all of the time) defense and pray they can hold the team to a FG, which doesn’t happen and in the meantime the other team has chewed 7 minutes off the clock.
So back to the game. Jon hits Calvin on a brilliant touchdown (Calvin is an unstoppable gazelle) to put the Lions up by one – the first lead of the year for the Lions. The building is going berserk. All of the momentum is with the Lions. Penalty on the kickoff backs GB up to the 10 and you can’t even hear yourself think or talk to the person next to you, and what does the defense do with all this mo and loudness, they allow Jennings to catch a 5 yard pass and run 60 yards down the field – game over, good night now!!!!! Sure blame Jon for his interceptions (and the first one frankly was the worst) but the game ended on that play because it sucked the life out of the Lions and the stadium – the Lions defense gave up the ghost at the most crucial time choking the life out of the team. Season over, good night Lions, we’ll see you in 2009 hopefully with a new defensive coordinator who has heard of a blitz!
But that is not my beef in this blog, on the local radio airwaves today everyone is destroying Jon Kitna and comparing him to the worst of the worst in Detroit QB lore (and that is saying something). Having been to the 7 interception game of Ty Detmer in Cleveland, this is not quite the worst effort! Now that is not to say Jon did not have a bad last 5 minutes, he absolutely did, no question about it and I am sure he would admit it (if he already hasn’t). But Jon is not the reason the Lions lost this game or are 0-2 it lies squarely on the pathetic defense and the dearth of playmakers. Sims is a player no doubt but pickin’s are slim after that (with an occasional brilliant play by White or Redding). I have never, ever seen a team get beat deep so easily. I thought the idea of the Tampa 2 (sick of that name) defense was to prevent big plays – but they give up more then any Lion team I have ever seen, ever!!! You don’t see other games where receivers are 10 yards behind defenders that never happens. We have great receivers and they are never 10 yards behind opposing defenders, doesn’t happen in the NFL – except here.
Anyway, I put this loss and the Atlanta one too, squarely on Joe Barry’s shoulders. He is the Defensive Coordinator and there is no coordination in the defense at all. In the NFL where parity is everywhere, it is impossible to fall behind 21-0 in the first half, it doesn’t happen, look around the league. You have to try hard to play defense that poorly. This automatically takes Kevin Smith and Rudi Johnson and renders them largely useless and makes the Lions once again 1 dimensional. I for one would love to see what these two can do, we may never get a chance. Both Calvin and Roy are freak’s of nature and hence I don’t mind seeing the Lions throw the ball, but you have to have balance or you have corners sitting on receivers and defensive lineman pinning their ears back. Any offensive line is going to look poor and any quarterback is going to look bad eventually if they know exactly what you are going to do – unless your defensive coordinator is Joe Barry of course.
Atlanta for example - the players said they knew they were going to run the ball, and run the ball they did! Where were 8 or 9 in the box like other teams would do. Commit to stopping the run and if you lose the game to a rookie QB who beats you passing then tip your hat and move on. Yesterday’s Packer game they committed to stopping the run and did a nice job of that but a novel thought on the pass – mix in a blitz once in a while. This was Rogers first road start and in case you did not hear, Ford Field was quite loud but for some reason, they treated him with kid gloves. Blitz him for gods sakes!!!! Your linebackers can’t cover anybody anyway so they might as well do something useful like put pressure on the QB. The cornerback’s and safeties get fried all of the time so what is the difference, at least this way you dictate the way the game is going to be played. Turnovers happen because of pressure. Look around the league at the good defenses and good defensive coordinators. Other then the Giants front four who put constant pressure, they all blitz heavily. The Lions, they sit back in that bend but don’t break (although they snap all of the time) defense and pray they can hold the team to a FG, which doesn’t happen and in the meantime the other team has chewed 7 minutes off the clock.
So back to the game. Jon hits Calvin on a brilliant touchdown (Calvin is an unstoppable gazelle) to put the Lions up by one – the first lead of the year for the Lions. The building is going berserk. All of the momentum is with the Lions. Penalty on the kickoff backs GB up to the 10 and you can’t even hear yourself think or talk to the person next to you, and what does the defense do with all this mo and loudness, they allow Jennings to catch a 5 yard pass and run 60 yards down the field – game over, good night now!!!!! Sure blame Jon for his interceptions (and the first one frankly was the worst) but the game ended on that play because it sucked the life out of the Lions and the stadium – the Lions defense gave up the ghost at the most crucial time choking the life out of the team. Season over, good night Lions, we’ll see you in 2009 hopefully with a new defensive coordinator who has heard of a blitz!
posted by BIVO @ 5:44 PM
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