Just when it looked like former Lions draft bust Mike Williams finally had the right attitude and work ethic to play in the NFL, the Tennessee Titans released him on Thursday.

“It was a combination of things we weren’t getting from him. There were too many drops, we just didn’t see improvement,’’ Coach Jeff Fisher said. “He’s had potential. He still has potential. Maybe he’ll realize it some place else.’’

Despite losing roughly 30 pounds and getting into better shape earlier this offeason, Williams was unable to move very far into the receiver rotation. His conditioning and weight remained issues as training camp progressed.

“It may be a message that coaches are serious, the organization is serious and they want people that are going to work and compete and take their jobs serious,’’ linebacker Keith Bulluck said.

“No disrespect to Mike Williams, I love Mike Williams, but he is going to have show people that he is really serious about playing football,’’ said running back LenDale White, a USC teammate. “Unfortunately, they might be talking about him like Ryan Leaf as one of the worst draft decisions.’’

As the quote above mentioned, Williams dropped 30 pounds in the offseason, leading most to believe he was serious about getting better.  Obviously that wasn't the case, judging by Keith Bulluck and LenDale White's feelings about the situation.

You would think by now BMW would learn that it takes work to play in the NFL, but apparently the light bulb in his head still hasn't turned on.  After being traded to the Raiders by Detroit and then being released soon after, it was assumed that Williams finally got a much needed wake up call.  It seemed like Tennessee was a good fit for him, especially after we learned he lost all that weight.  However, I guess no matter what he weighs or where he plays, Mike Williams just doesn't have the right mindset to be an NFL player.

• If the Detroit Lions have any interest in signing free agent running back Najeh Davenport, it appears there won't be much competition for the former Steeler.  Davenport recently said on Sirius NFL Radio that he would like to play for the Cardinals or Lions, but Arizona has no interest in him.  That means if Detroit is looking for a power back to fill the void left by T.J. Duckett's departure, Davenport could easily be brought in.  At this time it doesn't appear that there is a whole lot of interest in Davenport from the Lions' side of things, so only time will tell if talks between the two parties are initiated.
• MJD over at Shutdown Corner provided some background info on where the Lions' catchphrase came from in their crappy commercial I talked about yesterday.  The NFL's theme for the 2008 season is "Believe In Now."  If you recall the catchphrase from Detroit's commercial, it is "Do you believe in now?"  Not only are the Lions mediocre on the field, but their marketing department is proving to be just as bad.  Rather than come up with an original slogan, the Lions elected to turn the NFL's catchphrase for 2008 into a question and inserted it into their own commercial.  Awesome.  Was the universal catchphrase of all Lions fans, "Fire Millen," not allowed or something?
• By the way, of the 600+ that voted in yesterday's poll about whether or not you do believe in now, over 450 answered no as of the time of this post.
  
  UPDATE: With nearly 800 votes (as of noon ET), over 600 of you have said you do not believe in now.
• The Detroit News profiled the man helping Kevin Jones get back into playing shape.
• The Free Press caught up with Lions rookie Jordon Dizon.  I was hoping Dizon would shed some light on his legal issues, but the interview happened before news of his arrest came out.
• Lions draft bust Mike Williams appears to finally have his head on straight.  After being a total disappointment in Detroit and for a very short time in Oakland, Williams seems to have his priorities in order in Tennessee.  Williams, who was known for his poor work ethic and being overweight, has dropped almost 30 pounds since January.  I guess all it took was a change of scenery or two to make him realize that he needs to get in shape.
• Dan Patrick, a former SportsCenter anchor and a current writer for Sports Illustrated, is going to be a co-host for NBC's Sunday night football.  Patrick will share hosting duties with Bob Costas and will be re-united with a fellow former SportsCenter anchor, Keith Olbermann.  I'm not exactly sure how they are going to squeeze Patrick onto the set as along with Costas and Olbermann, Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis, Tiki Barber, and Peter King are all also part of the show.
  

Below is the third part of a series previewing the Lions' entire 2008 schedule.  For the second part, which previewed October, click here.

November 2 - at Chicago Bears

Although I did have the Lions winning at home against Chicago back in October, I think the Bears will snap their losing streak to Detroit in this game.  At home, I believe the Bears will be able to pull it out despite another poor offensive performance.  Not only is their QB Rex Grossman, but they no longer have a running back now that Cedric Benson has been released.  Their starter now will likely be Adrian Peterson, and unfortunately for them, it's not the one that could rush for 2,000 yards next season.

Even with all of those negatives, I have a feeling the Bears defense and special teams will come up big.  By that, I mainly mean Devin Hester will return a kick or punt to help the Bears win in what is a sloppy game.

On paper: Advantage Lions

Prediction: Bears in another close one

November 9 - vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

Remember those random games last season where Detroit was blown out?  Well, this is probably going to be one of those games.  As much as I'd like to say the Lions will pull off the huge upset, Jacksonville just has too much talent.  With David Garrard at QB and a Maurice Jones-Drew/Fred Taylor combination at running back, the Jags will put up a ton of points.

On the defensive side of things, the Jaguars also hold the advantage with a killer pass rush that will feature rookie Derrick Harvey, a player I desperately hoped would drop to the Lions in the draft.  Instead, Jacksonville traded up into the top 10 to get him.

On paper: Advantage Jaguars

Prediction: A very lopsided score that favors Jacksonville

November 16 - at Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are a very interesting team.  They're similar to the Bears in the sense of where they've gone since making an appearance in the Super Bowl.  Mind you, they are in a much better situation than Chicago right now, but they haven't gotten back to the level of success that was expected after going to the Super Bowl.

Even with that being said, the Panthers still are a much better team than the Lions.  With Steve Smith on offense and Julius Peppers on defense, this game, to me at least, projects as one that will be a casual loss.  What I mean by that is that the game is never out of reach, but the Lions never make it close either.  It's one of those games that ends in a score of something like 17-7.  Although the Lions could make a game of it, they never do.

On paper: Advantage Panthers

Prediction: As stated above, Panthers win in a boring one

November 23 - vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

I think of this match-up as the Old Buccaneers vs. the New Buccaneers.  Rod Marinelli has the habit of bringing in many former Buccaneers as he used to coach there.  That familiarity factor allows Rod to know exactly what he's getting when new players are brought in as he has coached them once before.  Take a player like Dewayne White, for example.  White was brought in last offseason and became a starter at defensive end.  Marinelli knew he would be able to do that when he became a Lion and now White is by far the best DE on the team.

Anyways, this is always an interesting game due to the ex-Tampa Bay players on the team, and it'll be even more interesting this year now that more are in Detroit.  Last season the Lions beat the Bucs by a TD despite being very out gained yardage-wise.  Detroit did win, though, and I think they will again this year.

Although Tampa Bay is a playoff team, the Lions will have success against the Bucs due to the familiarity with them.  Combine the former players and coaches from Tampa and it sets up a winning combination for Detroit.

On paper: Advantage Buccaneers

Prediction: Lions beat Tampa Bay again thanks to those Buccaneer roots

November 27 - vs. Tennessee Titans

In this year's edition of the Thanksgiving Classic, the Lions welcome Vince Young and company to Detroit.  The Titans are a fairly young team that offers lots of potential, but they are fairly inconsistent. 

When it comes down to it, I see the Lions having success on Thanksgiving for a change this time around.  Vince Young still has many question marks around him, which will open the door for the Lions.  Will it be a close game?  Probably.  That's what most or all of Detroit's wins will be this year.  Regardless, all that matters at the end of the day is whether or not you did win, and for the Lions a "W" on Thanksgiving would make it two in a row to end November.

On paper: Advantage Lions

Prediction: Unless Kevin Jones signs with Tennessee to team up with Mike Williams for an ex-Lions coming out party, the Lions win this one in a close one.

Recap: I have the Lions going 2-3 in the month of November, bringing my overall prediction for 2008 to 6-6 so far.  The final two wins of the month come after a disappointing 6 straight losses.  That's right, after starting the year 4-0, I have Detroit dropping 6 consecutive games before finally winning again.  But hey, if anyone is that two-faced of a team, it'll probably be the Lions.  Just look at last year's second-half collapse for proof of that.

So, November for the Lions.  What do you guys think?

• ESPN's John Clayton took a look at what teams would be fine and what teams would struggle in the event of an uncapped year in 2010.  That will only happen if a new CBA isn't agreed to by then, but it is a realistic possibility.  According to Clayton, the Lions would be one of five teams that would have "concerns" should an uncapped year become a reality.
  

  Teams with older starting quarterbacks could be in trouble in the next couple of years because no top quarterback will hit the free-agent market. Jon Kitna will be 37 and unsigned in 2010 and the Lions have done very little to find their long-term starter. Drew Stanton is the best hope for the future.

  Even if there isn't an uncapped year Detroit will be in trouble if they don't start planning ahead.  Nobody knows how much longer Kitna will be a starter, and even beyond that, nobody knows how much longer he should be a starter.  At the same time, Drew Stanton has never taken a snap in this league before, leaving a countless number of question marks around him.  My opinion on Stanton has been made many times before, and it is that he isn't an NFL-caliber starting QB.  That leaves the Lions without a starter, and if they want to even think about being decent in the coming years, some planning will have to go on.
  
  Getting back to Clayton's article really quickly, he goes on to talk about how many of the Lions' current starters will have their contracts expire in the near future.  It is scary to think about, but Detroit could have trouble finding a decent starting lineup if they lost all of the players mentioned.
• According to the Detroit Free Press, Roy Williams, Ernie Sims, George Foster, Artose Pinner, and Tatum Bell were not at a voluntary OTA last Thursday.  Why?  I have no idea.  Rod Marinelli said "he knew where everyone was," so I'm not too concerned.
• Rookie Army linebacker Caleb Campbell has been greatly (and in my opinion unfairly) criticized for his decision to try and make it in the NFL.
• Running back Kevin Smith, a rookie out of Central Florida, is already impressing Rod Marinelli.  He seems to have a great attitude and solid work ethic, which are two things Marinelli values very much.  I believe he will be the starter fairly early on next season as he seems to have so much more potential than Tatum Bell or any other RB on the Lions roster.
• Madden 09 seems to agree with that assessment of the Lions running back situation as Smith is rated a 79 and Bell is only a 78.  That is fairly accurate I guess.  What's not, though, is Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson being rated a 92. On top of that, Shaun McDonald got an 87 and Brian Calhoun a 95 as the third-down running back.  The defense isn't too bad as Ernie Sims got a 94.  Then again, they gave Chuck Darby an 83, weakening the credibility of the ratings even more.
• MLive's Philip Zaroo interviewed former Lion Lomas Brown.
• Former Lions bust Charles Rogers was supposed to make an attempt at resurrecting his football career in the CFL, but as of right now he still is unemployed.  He verbally agreed to a contract with the team in Montreal a few weeks back, making most assume he was getting ready to head north of the border.  For some reason, though, in true Charles Rogers form, he hasn't sent the contract back yet and his representatives haven't returned phone calls from the team.  That sounds about right for someone like Rogers.
• Speaking of former Lions busts, Mike Williams finally may be getting serious about losing weight.  Maybe he just needed a change of scenery.  And no, his stint in Oakland doesn't count.

• Detroit will open a three-day long mandatory minicamp tomorrow, giving rookies their first shot at lining up against the veterans, and Kevin Smith is excited.
• Speaking of that minicamp, Army linebacker Caleb Campbell will not miss it as he was able to reschedule his final exams to get them done early.  It was originally thought that he would be busy with school, but he will be in Allen Park later tomorrow.  Ohio defensive tackle Landon Cohen, on the other hand, will be absent as he is finishing up school.
• The Lions are ranked 29th in ESPN's first power rankings for the 2008 season.
• An undrafted free agent from East Carolina got into a fight with third-round pick Cliff Avril during the rookie minicamp two weekends ago.
  
• Tatum Bell is coming into the offseason program weighing 213 pounds.
• Barry Sanders unsurprisingly made a list of the top five athletes to retire early.
  
• Mike Williams recently talked about how the year away from football before joining the Lions hurt his career so much.  You think Matt Millen would have seen that before wasting a first-round pick on him.
• The Patriots hosted running back Kevin Jones for a visit.  Jones still hasn't signed with a team since being released by the Lions in March.
• The Texans recently put together a video and an article about the zone blocking scheme.  What does this have to do with the Lions?  Well, Detroit is switching to a zone blocking scheme this season, so it may be good to read up and learn about the philosophy.
  

Since Charles Rogers was released by the Lions prior to the 2006 season, he has been out of football.  No NFL team is willing to sign him as his skills have diminished greatly.  Last year it was reported his fastest 40-yard dash time was around 4.9, which is way to slow for any receiver to run.  On top of that, his poor attitude and bad work ethic are forcing NFL teams to not even consider signing him, forcing Rogers to look north for a job.

Without any options left in the NFL, Rogers may be headed to Canada to play in the Canadian Football League.

Just weeks after the Toronto Argonauts signed former first-round NFL pick David Boston, the Montreal Alouettes are close to a deal with Charles Rogers, the second overall pick of the 2003 NFL draft.

"I would say there's about an 80-20 chance of him being at training camp, coming in and competing for a job," Montreal general manager Jim Popp said yesterday.

"It's not completed yet, but he can come in as a CFL rookie and we'll make an assessment of him, where he's at in his career and his life."

After such a quick fall from being the second overall pick to not even being able to find a team wanting him, it shows you how much character means when evaluating potential draft picks.  Although Rogers looked great on the football field, it wouldn't have taken too much digging around to learn that his work ethic was lacking.  Then again, the same could be said for Mike Williams, who also had a lazy attitude, leading to him being traded by the Lions.  Unlike Rogers, Williams is still in the league, but both are just two of the many busts that Matt Millen has drafted.