SB Nation User Blog: Detroitnavy

Lions to be blitz happy?

Detroitnavy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:16:13 -0000

New Lions Defensive Coordinator, Gunther Cunningham, is set to have the Lions blitz on 40% of the team's defensive plays in the coming season. This is very troubling for any number of reasons.

The first being if the Lions are going to blitz this much, it seems that opposing Offensive Coordinators will have an easy time picking apart the weak Lions secondary. More than that though, the Lions are not good enough to blitz this much.

Think about it, who is going to blitz? Is Cunningham going to use one of his linebackers to blitz? The Linebacker corps may be the only strength on this defense and Cunningham is going to use one of them to go all blitz happy. Does that make any sense?

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Lions may start Stafford

Detroitnavy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:12:24 -0000

The Lions plan may now be to hand the reins off the starting QB job to there just drafted high priced rookie Matt Stafford.

This is yet another sign that it is business as usual for the Detroit Lions. Why that is bad is this is a team that just went 0-16 and each day it seems more likely that they could go 0-32.

While Lion's fans understand the need to get Stafford playing time in the coming season, he just isn't ready, and the Lions offensive line is extremely weak. So now they plan to risk a guy who they owe 42 million dollars to.

The Lions, throughout history, have always had a particularly weak Offensive line and the failure of this front office has already spelled the doom of other young QB prospects. Guys like Rodney Pete, Charlie Batch, Scott Mitchell, and Joey Harrington.

On top of all that at this point Daunte Culpepper gives this team the best chance to win, that may not be a concern for other clubs but this is a team that needs a win, and need it early on. This is the only 0-16 team in NFL history and if they do not win early on the fan base will likely tune out. Within the first three games the Lions have to score a win, or risk failing further into irrelevance.

On top of that will a weak O Line why risk Stafford and his 43 million dollars in guaranteed money. Why not let Culpepper go out there and get creamed by opposing teams when the O line cannot block anyone. Why not save Stafford until the O line proves itself a little?

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Can the UFL make it where so many others have failed?

Detroitnavy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:51:21 -0000

The UFL has been in the news a little bit lately. For those not in the know the UFL is the United Football League created by William Hambrecht a Wall Street Investor who was once a minority owner in the USFL’s Oakland Invaders football team, and Tim Armstrong a former executive at Google, and now the Chairman and CEO of AOL.

These men have hired Michael Huyghue as the Commissioner of their League. Huyghue previously worked for the NFLPA, the NFL management council, served as Vice President of the Detroit Lions, and was the General Manager of the Birmingham Fire of the old World league of American Football. Hr was also a sports agent who clients included one Adam “Pac man” Jones.

The biggest piece of news out of this league is that William Mayer, founder of Park Avenue Equity, ids the leagues latest investor and owner of the league’s New York franchise. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks is also a rumored investor but his role for 2009 seems to be as of yet undefined. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi is also reported to be an investor in the league.

The leauge will field only four tams for its 2009 inaugural season, one each in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Orlando, and New York. The league has gone all out to hire big name head coaches and football fans will surely recognize these next three names Dennis Green will coach in San Francisco, Jim Fassell will coach the Las Vegas Franchise, while Jim Haslett will coach the Orlando team. Ted Cotrell, previously the Defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, and San Diego Chargers will be the Head Coach of the New York team.

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