Wednesday Notes: Tim Rattay Works Out for Lions

by Sean Yuille on Oct 22, 2008 2:29 AM EDT in Notes Comment 3 comments

Quarterback Tim Rattay worked out for the Lions on Tuesday. According to Tom Kowalski, a signing "is not imminent." Just as was the case with Cedric Benson, the Lions are likely just getting a look at a free agent in case a signing is necessary later on in the season.
Matt Millen was fired exactly four weeks ago.
Rod Marinelli emphatically defended his decision to bench rookie Gosder Cherilus. I completely understand why he made the move, but I do think that it is important for Cherilus to get more experience so he can learn and develop quicker. Obviously you want to do whatever will get the team closer to a win, but at this point it really doesn't matter. Building for the future should be the priority.
Drew Stanton shared some interesting things about the Roy Williams trade on his blog.

As far as the events that went down on Tuesday, I think that was a direct sign that the Lions know Calvin is their franchise receiver and they are looking to build at other positions. We are fortunate to be so deep at receiver, so losing Roy hurts but it is not devastating as Mike Furrey and Shaun McDonald are great talents.

Plain and simple, Roy did not want to be here any longer and was going to demand an insane amount of money if there was a chance of him staying.

I think that trade worked out great for everyone involved. We ended up picking up essentially a first- and third-round pick, Roy got to go back to Texas, and the Cowboys got a great talent at wide receiver.
I couldn't agree with him more.
Yes, the Lions could go 0-16.
I want to give Jason Hanson a well-deserved pat on the back for making two 54-yard field goals against the Texans. He has now made all 8 field goal attempts this season and sadly is once against putting himself in position to be this team's MVP.
As MLive's Philip Zaroo pointed out, the Lions could end up with better draft position than originally expected if the Cowboys implode. They are likely going to be without Tony Romo again this weekend, and if the losing continues, things could get really ugly in Dallas.
A transcript of Rod Marinelli's press conference from earlier this week can be found here.
Dwight Smith may be out for a few weeks due to an injury. He had a CT scan on his foot, and Marinelli said that "it doesn't look good."
Both Chuck Darby and Travis Fisher didn't play against Houston, even though they were involved in the pre-game warm-ups.
Edwin Mulitalo was inactive against the Texans. He wasn't injured; Marinelli said he just wanted to give Mulitalo a break.
Here's a depressing thought: Detroit could have hired Dick Jauron or Jim Haslett instead of Rod Marinelli. Jauron, as you probably remember, was the Lions' interim coach after Steve Mariucci was fired, but he never became an actual candidate for the job. Instead, he went to Buffalo and is the coach of a team that is currently 5-1. Haslett, on the other hand, finished second to Marinelli in the coaching search. He went on to be the Rams' defensive coordinator and became their head coach earlier this season when Scott Linehan was fired. Since Haslett took over, the Rams are 2-0.
Rudi Johnson replaced Jon Kitna as a captain.
Darren Sharper did not get fined for his hit on Calvin Johnson during the fourth quarter of the Vikings-Lions game. The hit was helmet-to-helmet and prevented Johnson from finishing the game since he had blurry vision after it.
Roy Williams is going to get $27 million in guaranteed money from the Cowboys.
The 49ers fired head coach Mike Nolan on Monday and replaced him with Mike Singletary.

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Comments

Dick Juaron

I remember thinking that the Lions should have kept him after the season ended… but I think Millen didn’t like that he would mess up the M & M theme he had for his entire tenure.

by Lostincali on Oct 22, 2008 3:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs