Thursday Notes: Culpepper to Start on Sunday

by Sean Yuille on Nov 13, 2008 9:35 PM EST in Notes Comment 6 comments

Daunte Culpepper will start against the Panthers on Sunday.
Also from the above link, Dan Orlovsky isn't going to have surgery in the immediate future and will take a wait and see approach to the situation. I still think he'll be put on the IR before the end of the season, but I guess we, like Orlovsky, will just have to wait and see.
Drew Sharp thinks the NFL should lift local blackouts of Lions home games due to how bad the economy is in the Detroit area. I agree that blackouts should be lifted, especially because I think the entire blackout policy is stupid.

Why punish fans of a winless team by not allowing them to watch their favorite team play? At this point blackouts aren't going to increase ticket sales, and in reality all they are doing is decreasing interest in the Lions. By the end of the season there is a good chance that many fans will simply stop caring about the Lions altogether. After not being able to watch their home games, what's the point? The Lions are winless anyways, and the true fans out there are the ones that get punished. Great thinking, NFL.
Former Ravens coach and current FOX announcer Brian Billick has no comment on the possibility of working for the Lions in the future.

"I have a day job that I'm focusing on," he said. "Out of respect for the situation, for me to comment on an interest or lack of interest in any job that currently has a coach is inappropriate. Those things will take care of itself after the season. Right now, I'm staying focused on my day job."

He had nothing but praise for Marinelli.

"There's no better man than Rod Marinelli. If you don't like Rod Marinelli, then it's you," Billick said "I promise you. He's a good man, he's a good coach."
Rod Marinelli may be a good coach, but he definitely is not a good head coach.
According to Pro Football talk, there is talk that both Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand will be retained by the Lions for the 2009 season. PFT also reports that the Lions might give the title of general manager to someone else to make it seem like things have changed, even though in reality nothing would.

If William Clay Ford wants every Lions home game in 2009 to be blacked out, then by all means make no changes to the front office. However, if you want fans to give a damn about your team next year, you better make a lot of changes in both the front office and coaching staff.
Also from PFT, the Lions apparently worked out wide receiver Derek Hagan on Tuesday. The Lions have made many changes to the roster since then, so it appears that they were simply doing their due diligence on a free agent like they do every Tuesday.
Jesse McCartney will be the halftime entertainment for the Lions' game against Tennessee on Thanksgiving. If the game were to be blacked out, I can definitely say that I wouldn't mind missing that performance.

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Comments

Keep the front office

I disagree completely with the idea that the front office and coaching staff of the Lions needs to be ‘swept out’. It’s a simple case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Millen was incompetent. That much has been proved. But given good players Coach Marinelli could produce a winner. And throwing out assistants, who probably should have been promoted instead of working for Millen in the first place, is just going to set the Lions’ organization that much further behind the eight ball. No one wants to start over again, especially not all over with a new front office and a new coach. Mayhew could turn into a decent GM. Marinelli is definitely about winning. As long as these guy can get the Lions going in the right direction and keep the momentum I say let them keep working on it. One of the keys to the Steelers long time success is longevity and continuity at management and coaching levels. It’s time the Lions started to model that kind of successful formula.

by birdseed on Nov 14, 2008 1:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

We're about to go 0-16

And you don’t think changes should be made? Seriously?

Check out Pride of Detroit, SB Nation's Lions Blog

by Sean Yuille on Nov 14, 2008 2:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

no change for change's sake

I think the key change has been made already, the firing of Millen. We don’t need to keep stirring the soup here. Changes in a football team take years to take real effect. The draft is for three years from now. A new coach means two years of a players learning a new system. A new GM means years of establishing network connections and building a reputation as a trader, honest? fair? obstinate? We don’t need knee-jerk throw-the-bums-out-we-can’t-do-worse thinking here. Believe me we CAN do worse. What we’re measuring now is how long it will take us to recover from 0-16. If we sweep everything clean, start over from WCF down, we are locking in two more 0-16 years. If we leave these guys in charge, we’ll probably win a couple of games next year and build from there. They know what they are doing. Millen didn’t. We have removed the impediment. Let’s let these guys show us what they can do.

by birdseed on Nov 17, 2008 10:49 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I feel...

that right now is the best opportunity for us to see the lions in a super bowl or at least strong contention for nfc championship is this offseason. If the WCF realizes this, and starts from scratch and makes the right personel decisions (specifically gm/head coach/talent scouts) we can turn this around in 1-2 years, much as the falcons are doing this year. Sure, maybe we don’t need a full turnaround in the front office, but that’s what has to be done. I’m sure Mayhew and Lewand are much more compitent than Millen, but are they proven or even good enough, probably not. If we blow this, then it will be at least another 10 years before we can have hope again, if not 50.

by lions_sucker on Nov 14, 2008 2:42 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

hahaha...

I referred to William Clay Ford as the wcf, that was a typo, but that is hillarious.

by lions_sucker on Nov 14, 2008 2:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The Billick defense of Rod Marinelli was a matter of professionalism

He’s offended by the very idea that we (the media and fans) would treat a sitting head coach as a dead man walking. He has a point, and in this case he was at least tactful about it.

You don’t want Brian Billick to be your head coach, trust me, I’m a Ravens fan.

by math_geek on Nov 14, 2008 8:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs