Who is ready for the regular season?

Well, the preseason is over and the Lions went 3-1, with some impressive moments. I really did not get that much out of the preseason. Who knows what the Lions are going to do this year. I think the best indication will be from what we see when they play New Orleans in week 1. The only thing I know for sure is that Culpepper is in better shape, Stafford can throw the ball and Calvin Johnson can catch the ball. I am very excited to see what the Lions will do. I am also going to throw my 9-7 prediction out the door. The Vikings got better and I think Baltimore showed that they have some real talent during the preseason. I will be re-evaluating my predictions later this week.

Mane Street: 9/1/09

-- It looks like Matt Stafford is competing against himself right now for the starting job because Drew Stanton is having knee surgery and Daunte Culpepper suffered an injury to his toe.

-- The Lions have added two new quarterbacks by signing Brooks Bollinger and Kevin O'Connell. I assume this is only short-term, while Stanton and Culpepper recover.

-- Expect the Lions defense to be shorthanded again this week because Ernie Sims, Phillip Buchanon and Anthony Henry are all likely to be sidelined.

-- Don't forget, they are playing Buffalo and T.O. this week, so GET YOUR POPCORN READY!!

The Lions look good as they defeat the Colts.

Once again, I was able to score some tickets to the Lions games today. Before mentioning the Lions, I want to give a shout-out to the Red Wings. I was also able to stop by Hockey Fest 2009 before the game and they did a great job with that. There were tons of things to do for the entire family. With that being said, the Joe is getting pretty old and I hope they get a new stadium soon. I think it will really take the excitement for the Wings to the next level.

Let's start off with the numbers, which were somewhat impressive.

-- 25 First Downs
-- 151 Rushing Yards
-- 261 Passing Yards
-- 411 Total Yards
-- Time of Possession: 34 min, 21 sec

So what was so good about these numbers? Well, 25 first downs is impressive because it means that they are moving the ball. In the past seasons, there have been way too many "three and outs" where the offense could not get anything started. The time of possession was also good because it shows that they were able to control the ball. Not only did I feel that these numbers were good, they all happened to be better than the Colts' respective numbers. The Lions offensive numbers were clearly better.

C. Johnson, B. Johnson and Pettigrew all made an immediate impact on the team. It seems like it is much easier for the team to control the ball when all of the weapons are in place. In the first two preseason games they were playing without any of their starting receivers. In today's game they definitely made Culpepper and Stafford look better. Calvin Johnson was sharp and almost hauled in two touchdowns. Once was a circus catch that even the best receiver would drop and the other was just out of bounds. Bryant Johnson caught a nice touchdown pass from Culpepper at the beginning of the second quarter. Pettigrew also looked pretty good when hauling in a couple of passes.


I was impressed with the Lions first two drives with Culpepper under center. They moved the ball well and utilized the screen pass with Kevin Smith. Stafford also looked okay, while Stanton looked impressive as usual. After watching this game I think that the offense will definitely be better this year and should be able to win some games, whether it is Culpepper or Stafford at the quarterback position.

My real problem is with the defense. In the first quarter, the Colts just walked through the Lions and did what they pleased. Now, I know they Colts are good, but there were times they were moving the ball without any pressure at all. That was my main problem with the Lions' effort today. I know they had a few starters missing, but I just don't see an overwhelming improvement. I hope I am wrong and they show that they are improved as the season plays out, but as of now it is still their week spot.

So the offense looks good and the defense looks bad. That is the wrap after the third preseason game. Oh and there is one other thing that I took out of this game. The Lions have the best third string quarterback in the league. Drew Stanton always seems to amaze. This is the second time that he has came in and took us to victory. This time he even added a two point conversion for the win.

Mane Street: 8/26/09

-- It was a short stay for Swayze Walters and his sweet name. Swayze had an injured hamstring and the Lions needed someone to kick for Saturday's preseason game so they signed kicker Billy Cundiff.

-- There is good news in sight for the Lions receiving core. It looks like there is a chance that Brandon Pettigrew will play Saturday against the Colts. I really want to see what he can do as a receiver. He was a first round pick, so he better be good.

-- Louis Delmas seems to be pretty intense. First it was a hit on Aaron Brown and now on Aveion Cason. Apparently, Cason was letting up after a play near the goal line and Delmas hit him hard. The hit was hard enough to cause a scuffle at practice. I just hope Delmas can bring this intensity to the field.

-- Any fantasy football fans out there should check out Fantasy Football Geekly with Sean Baligian. They stream it live on MLive every Wednsday at 7:00 pm.

Two more Fantasy Files have been released.

Earlier this month I posted some of the new NFL Fantasy Files by Reebok. Well, there have been two new ones released and I must say they are starting to be a stretch. The ones from previous seasons made you second guess if they were real or not. Even if they were not real, they were somewhat believable. I'm not loving the new ones for MJD and Darren Sproles.





In my opinion, these can't compare to Lawrence Maroney's Fantasy File:

Charlie Batch is Shaq's quarterback coach.

There is a new show on ABC called Shaq versus. As the title implies, Shaq battles other athletes in their respective sports. This past week Shaq Daddy had to go head to head with Big Ben Roethlisberger. Who was Shaq's QB coach? The one and only Charlie Batch. If you need someone to teach you how to play the quarterback position, I don't think you want anyone that came out of the Lions organization. Come on Shaq, haven't you ever watched the Lions play football on Thanksgiving.



If you want to watch the whole episode, you can check it out here.

They are the same old Lions.

The Lions preseason winning streak has come to an end after the Cleveland Browns won by a score of 27-10. Nothing looked good for the Lions today. I can't believe how bad the starting defense looked. Cleveland's starters were able to march down the field at their will. On the other side, the Lions' offensive starters could not get anything going. Stafford looked like Joey Harrington and that is not good.

I'm not sure what to think after this game. It might put everything into perspective. Is it possible they are the same old Lions and I have just been drinking the Kool-Aide? If the starting QB was based on only preseason games, Drew Stanton would be starting in week 1 and that is not a positive when you have a proven veteran and a kid that you are paying $72 million. I may have to go take another look at my 2009 predictions and make some modifications.

On the other hand, it is only preseason and it doesn't really mean anything. They don't have any of their top receivers playing, although I was impressed with Dane Looker. Not bad for a guy that was at home building a deck last week. All I can say is that I hope these really are not the same old Lions. The way they played in the first quarter, on both sides of the ball, really scared me. I'm not sure what to think. I said that Tom Kowalski was not showing any love to the Lions, but he might have a good reason after watching tonight's game.

The Killer is killing the Lions.

Tom Kowalski has no love for the Lions this year. I shouldn't say that, he must love the Lions if his job is to cover them on a daily basis, but his predictions don't say much. He thinks that Detroit will only go 3-13 this year and that they will not join the ranks of other worst-to-first teams, such as Miami and Atlanta. I would have to disagree with that.

I am not going to say that they definitely will, but they do have a chance. I really like what the Lions have done. To start off, Matt Millen is gone. They only thing that worries me about Martin Mayhew is his initials. After Marty Mornhinweg, Matt Millen, Rod Marinelli and Steve Mariucci, I don't want to see another "M". That brings me to the next change, the coach. They brought in Jim Schwartz...sounds good, right? The defense that he ran in Tenesse proves that he knows what he is doing. Then, they brought in two veteran guys on the defensive side (Foote and Peterson) and have drafted hyped-up players like Louis Delmas. As long as Matthew Stafford, or Daunte Culpepper, can prove to be a serviceable quarterback this year, I am going to have to give the Lions a little more credit than the Killer does. With that attitude, we are going to have a very long season.

Matthew Stafford will start in Cleveland.

The $72 million dollar man will start the second exhibition game for the Lions. I look forward to seeing his first start in his professional career, regular season or not. He did look good the first week, but many of his passes were dropped (cough, Keary Colbert, cough). After looking at the projected starters, we might see the same this week because none of the top receivers made the list. Hopefully he can still put together a strong showing.

Mane Street: 8/20/09

-- We still won't be able to see what the Lions really look like this week in Cleveland because Calvin Johnson and Brandon Pettigrew won't play.

-- Louis Delmas is back and he made his presence known by laying a big hit on teammate Aaron Brown.

-- The Lions signed free agent Dane Looker to beef up the beat up receiving core. He gets to play for the Detroit Lions, but he has to put his home projects on hold.

-- Former Spartan Plaxico Burress will get two years in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge. I guess he thought he was above the law when he walked into that bar and acidentally shot himself. Well, he's not.