I was wandering around the yahoo sports page just a little bit ago and I found something that slightly irked me. Each week Jason Cole does a "Winner and Losers" column for the NFL. Now, the first part of if was singing the praises about Calvin Johnson. Awesome right? Well I then got down to the winner and losers section and read this.

Under winners

• While Detroit’s Johnson gets his deserved respect, give credit to Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant(notes) as well. Bryant showed up with two TD catches in the first half as the Cowboys built their big lead. While Johnson is a better player than Bryant right now, it might not be long before Bryant closes that gap. After Bryant’s big third-down catch against Washington on Monday night and his Sunday performance, Bryant took huge steps forward this week to capitalize on his immense talent.

Okay, Bryant had a good first half....but disappeared in the second half. Watching the game, and the soft coverage the Lions DB's were using (I was tired of seeing the Corners 10 yards away from the Receivers on every play in the first half) it's hard to imagine a player with above average skills to not have a big game. 

Under losers

• OK, it’s hard to get on a guy when he has a huge interception return for a touchdown, as Detroit cornerback Chris Houston(notes) did in the second half of the Lions’ comeback win. However, Houston also had some of the softest coverage ever in the second quarter when he was burned for a 44-yard completion from Romo to Laurent Robinson(notes). That play, which set up a touchdown, was obvious and it was coming right at Houston. He made up for it, but you can’t have mistakes like that.  

Now, like I said in the first part, The Lions were playing off the receivers. Still, Houston did have a bad first half.  In the second half, he tightened things up (and the CB's were playing up on the receivers) and had a much much better second half. The writer even starts by talking about Houston's pick six. 

There were other players that should have been listed as "winners" and other players that should have been listed as "losers."  While the Lions are starting to get more respect through the NFL there are still sports writers that look at them as the "Same Old Lions." This is evident by the fact that a "winner" is a player that has a good half and then disappears when his team really needs him, and a "loser" is a player that isn't playing to well but comes out HUGE when his team needs him.  

SIDE NOTE:  I shouldn't have, but I fixed some of Jason Cole's grammatical errors. Now, I'm not perfect, but I'm also not paid to write for a living.