Tuesday Notes: Lions Clinch #1 Overall Draft Pick

by Sean Yuille on Dec 23, 2008 1:55 PM EST in Detroit Lions Notes

Dan Orlovsky will start on Sunday against the Packers. Rod Marinelli said after the Saints game that Daunte Culpepper won't be available on Sunday, which seems a bit fishy to me. I don't know how injured Culpepper is, but to say that he will be unavailable a week in advance makes me think that something is up.

Let's not forget that Culpepper is two TD passes away from receiving his $1 million incentive, so that alone will probably keep him inactive. I'm not against doing that one bit, but I do find it strange that he is unavailable already.
Despite bruising his knee against the Saints, Calvin Johnson should play against Green Bay on Sunday.
The Lions have officially clinched the #1 overall draft pick. The Rams and Chiefs are currently the only other teams with less than three wins and are battling over the #2 and #3 spots (both have two wins right now).
It has now been one year since the Lions won a game. On December 23, 2008, the Lions beat the Chiefs 25-20. Had the Lions lost that game as well, they would be on a 23-game losing streak right now.
Vic Carucci recently reported that Scott Pioli "is prominent among candidates to clean up the mess in Detroit." I believe this was reported before William Clay Ford said that Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew would both be back, so I'm not exactly sure how accurate the report is right now. Pioli would never come to the Lions if he had to make decisions as part of a committee. He wouldn't have full control, which is necessary, in my opinion, for things to get turned around.
Saints coach Sean Payton said that his team wasn't running up the score on Sunday, even though Drew Brees was still playing and throwing passes in the fourth quarter. I don't necessarily think they were running up the score, but Payton was definitely trying to pad Brees' stats. I get why he did that since Brees is in pursuit of Dan Marino's yardage record, but I did find it to be a little bit annoying.
Joey Harrington is the Saints' third-string quarterback, and after Sunday's game he was asked a question about how bad the Lions have gotten since he left. This was Harrington's response:

"It's weird to think that I was here in the heyday," said Harrington, New Orleans' third-string QB, after the Saints' 42-7 win sank the Lions to 0-15. "With everything with the automakers, I want something good to happen to the city, and if it's the Lions, then great. This city deserves something good to happen to it."
It is definitely weird to think about how much worse this team is right now compared to when Harrington was here. Aside from the first half of last season, there have been very few positive moments.
Dan Orlovsky and other Lions had the flu going into the Saints game. That may be why they looked like so unexcited and flat, though that isn't an excuse by any means.
Some Lions think almost all of the close calls go against them. I can't disagree, as the Lions have been on the wrong side of bad calls all season long.
Mitch Albom wrote a column that bashed William Clay Ford for keeping the current front office around next year.
Drew Stanton thinks that Rod Marinelli "deserves more respect" than he received from Rob Parker on Sunday.
Lions quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler may have a job at the University of Washington lined up.

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Detroit debacle must be stopped

Also a good article by Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports. I agree with both he and Albom (who I very much like). Ford Sr must go or Goodall must step in and tell Ford “Hire Pioli and give him full control”. The end.

"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... now you tell me what you know. " ~Groucho Marx

by Jettero2112 on Dec 23, 2008 2:44 PM EST reply actions

Every once in a while ALbom shows a bit of that old flash….I especially like this part…

Heck, he wouldn’t even knock Rod Marinelli.
"I’m leaving it open," Ford said.
I thought that was how the Lions handled opposing receivers. Not how you ran a team.

by ahtrap on Dec 23, 2008 3:32 PM EST reply actions