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There has been a lot of discussion lately about off-field issues surrounding Lions players. I actually am part of the faction that wishes the Lions could do more about this. The problem is that the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) has severe restrictions on what discipline can be issued by teams to wayward players.

I know that this is a rehash of what I said in some comments, but I felt it was necessary to make this point more visible so that people will know what the CBA restrictions are. This understanding has a profound impact on how much you can hold the Lions coaches and front office to account.

The plain truth is, that in the 2006 CBA the owners decided to give a lot of ground to the players and the NFLPA regarding discipline, in exchange for concessions by the players on financial issues. I am pretty sure that the owners knew problems would crop up. They just decided that having a better financial footing was more desirable than maintaining discipline on the team.

So let's look at what the CBA says the team can do when they discipline a player.

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In what can only be described as a class move by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they signed Eric LeGrand as an undrafted free agent. LeGrand was paralyzed in a game while he was playing college football at Rutgers. The Tampa Bay head coach, Greg Schiano was the coach of Rutgers at the time that it happened. Schiano has been talking to LeGrand at least once a week since he became the head coach of the Bucs.

The one strange twist to this story is that the Bucs had to cut defensive tackle John McCargo in order to make room on the roster for LeGrand. I wonder how it feels to be cut from your team in favor of a guy that is paralyzed?

Going into the 2012 NFL draft the Detroit Lions recognized that they were shorthanded at the cornerback position. In the second half of the 2011 season, the Lions had trouble stopping quarterbacks from passing the ball for big plays against them. The ultimate insult came in the final game of the regular season when backup quarterback Matt Flynn torched the Lions secondary for a record setting performance.

Losing Eric Wright as a free agent to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was a blow that made the Lions secondary even worse than it was in 2011. While Wright did not play as well as the Lions had hoped down the stretch, he was a standout performer early in the season. Regardless of what we think of Wright's play, he was a starter and the Lions were not able to replace him with a player of equal talent.

The Lions were strapped by the salary cap and unable to match the offer that Tampa Bay gave to Wright. The Lions settled for signing Jacob Lacey. Is Lacey a replacement for Wright or a step backward?

Knowing that they needed help at the position, the Lions selected three cornerbacks in the 2012 draft, but none of them were selected in the first two rounds. Will they be able to plug the holes for the Lions?

How does Alphonso Smith fit in after his rocky wrap-up to the season?

Do we think that Aaron Berry is a legitimate starting outside corner, or just a pretender?

Unlike other threads where I write a small novel and thoroughly present the issue to you, I am going to take a different approach in this one. I do not want to diminish the debate by saying too much in the original post. Instead, I would like to have a lively debate about whether we feel good about the cornerback situation for the Lions and how we think the position might shake out in camp.

So step right up and toss in your two $0.02!

In this edition, the Two Bro's continue their coverage of the Lions picks in the 2012 NFL Draft. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about Dwight "Bill" Bentley. The Two Bro's discuss the game that Bentley brings to the Lions, how he can improve it, and how the Lions will likely use him. There is also some interesting information about the relationship between Dwight Bentley and Janoris Jenkins. We hope you enjoy it!

The Two Bro's continue their coverage of the 2102 NFL Draft picks by the Detroit Lions. In this edition Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about the Lion's second round selection, Ryan Broyles. The Two Bro's discuss Broyles college career and his massive production, as well what Broyles brings to the table for the Lions. So give the Bro's a listen and see what the Lions got in the second round!

The Two Bro's give you the lowdown on the Detroit Lions first round draft selection, Riley Reiff. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about the technical aspects of Reiff's game and what he needs to do in order to be a left tackle in the NFL. They also discuss some of the more reputable scouting reports around the web. The finish up with a short bit on the hilarious public intoxication incident that Reiff suffered in his freshman year. Join us for all the fun!

In this installment of Two Bro's Talk, Evilsmurf and Tufflynx scout eight different prospects that could be available to the Lions in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Mock Draft. This is the seventh part of the podcasts that we have done on the upcoming draft and we should have one more out in a day or so that wraps up the series with a discussion about prospects for the late rounds.

This edition of the Two Bro's discussion of the 2012 NFL draft will talk about prospects that the Detroit Lions could look at drafting in the third round. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about eight different players that may be available when the Lions pick in the third round and give a scouting report on each of them. The Two Bro's will continue to work on podcasts about the upcoming draft.

In this installment of Two Bro's Talk Lions, Evilsmurf and Tufflynx give you a scouting report on twelve players that could be available to the Lions for their second round pick. This is part of the Two Bro's continuing series on the 2012 NFL draft and how the Lions could pick. The first round was covered in the four previous episodes during the Two Bro's mock draft. We will continue preparing more podcasts on later draft rounds.

My first round pick of Kendall Wright met with mixed reviews from the BBV members. That is good, we all have our opinions about the draft and we are wrong as often as we are right, maybe more. Even the guys that do this for a living mess it up on a regular basis. Every season there are some picks that leave us scratching our head. After three or four years, we can look back and clearly see who was a bust and who were the hidden gems.

I tried to be a bit more conventional in the second round of the Pride of Detroit mock draft. In this round I selected Mitchell Schwartz, the offensive tackle from California. He is being selected to play right tackle and he should be very good at that position. For my complete reasoning, here is a link to the article at PoD.

2012 POD Mock Draft: New York Giants Select Mitchell Schwartz

This is the fourth, and final, part of the Two Bro's first round mock of the upcoming 2012 NFL draft. In this edition Evilsmurf and Tufflynx will discuss picks 24 through 32 to complete the first round. The Two Bro's will be doing additional podcasts on the NFL draft that will focus on players that might be available to the Lions when they pick in rounds two through seven. We hope you enjoy the podcast and keep joining us for more!

If you have been following the Two Bro's mock draft, and you are a Detroit Lions fan, this is the show you have been waiting for. The Lions are on the clock and the Two Bro's get to pick for them. This entire episode is about the Lions pick at #23. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about who is left on their draft board and analyze each player. Then they decide on who they will pick together. We hope you enjoy the show.

This is part two of the Two Bro's 2012 NFL mock draft for the first round. In this edition Evilsmurf and Tufflynx make picks 12 through 22 and discuss the reasoning behind each pick. The third installment is the one that Lions fans will be most interested in hearing, so an entire podcast will be devoted to pick 23. The remainder of the draft will be completed in installment four. We hope you enjoy it.

The Two Bro's have returned with a mock of the first round of the upcoming 2012 NFL draft. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx will make a pick for every team and discuss the reasoning behind each pick. The first installment will include picks one through eleven. The second installment will be picks 12 through 22. The third installment is the one that Lions fans will be most interested in hearing, so an entire podcast will be devoted to pick 23. The remainder of the draft will be completed in installment four. We hope you enjoy it.

This is the time of year when all the SB Nation sites run a two round mock draft. The editor of each site chooses people who they trust will make reasonable picks. I was chosen to be the GM of the New York Giants for the mock draft at Pride of Detroit.

Without further delay, I chose Kendall Wright as the first round pick for the New York Giants in our mock draft. I feel that he was the top value left on the board and he also fills a need for the Giants by replacing Mario Manningham. I hope you like the pick.

Here is a link to the thread at Pride of Detroit

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This is the first in a series of articles that I will post about the current state of the Lions roster and decisions that they need to make during this offseason. We are going to start by talking about the Lions offensive line. I decided to start here because it is perpetually a topic of strong debate among Lions fans.

During the 2011 season, the Lions featured an offensive line that had:

Left Tackle: Jeff Backus
Left Guard: Rob Sims
Center: Dominic Raiola
Right Guard: Stephen Peterman
Right Tackle: Gosder Cherilus

The backups were Dylan Gandy, Leonard Davis, and Corey Hilliard. The Lions also had Jason Fox and Johnny Culbreath on injured reserve.

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Now that the 2011 season is done for the Lions, it is a good time to take a look at how the Lions performed during the season. This is the first installment in a series of six, where the Two Bro's will talk about different aspects of the Lions team and grade how the players performed. In this edition Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about the players on defensive line, not only how they performed during the season, but the outlook for each player going into next season.

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The Lions have a lot of free agents to sign for the 2012 season, and they will be hard pressed to sign them all. Some will obviously be let go, while others are critical to re-sign. Here is a list of the free agents from the Lions for 2012.

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After seeing so many people in the sports media write off the Detroit Lions, Evilsmurf and I have decided to go against the grain. We have prepared an entire podcast on not only why the Lions can beat the New Orleans Saints in week one of the playoffs, but why they WILL win. So join the Two Bro's for a preview of the game that is all happiness and sunshine for Lions fans.

The Two Bros previewed the Lions and Saints a few weeks ago, so this edition of the podcast talks more about what the Lions need to do in order to win the game. While this is a tough match-up for the Lions, they can win it. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about how the Lions will need to play their best game of the season to win and what that entails. While it will be tough to win in the Big Easy, it is not impossible.

The Two Bro's talk about the upcoming NFL match-up between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in Lambeau field. Let's face it though, the Packers and Lions didn't change much in the last few weeks. So Evilsmurf and Tufflynx also diverge into a discussion on Lions running backs and Joique Bell, how Martin Mayhew is bringing his experiences from Super Bowl teams in Washington to bear with the Lions, and a little bit about how the playoff outlook is impacted by this game.

Now that the Lions are in the playoffs, there are a lot of scenarios that we can go through to dream of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. For all of those folks that feel this is an impossible dream, you need to think again.

In 1997 the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl as a wild card team. Since that time it has also been accomplished by the Baltimore Ravens (2000), Pittsburgh Steelers (2005), New York Giants (2007), and Green Bay Packers (2010). Those years are the league years, not the actual date they won the Super Bowl. The main point is that in the last fourteen seasons a wild card team has won the Super Bowl five times. In 1999 the Tennesee Titans made it to the Super Bowl but lost to the St. Louis Rams.

Our Detroit Lions find themselves in the position to make NFL history. If they can win the Super Bowl, it will be the first time that wild card teams have won the Lombardi Trophy in two consecutive seasons. Le's look at my favorite scenario where this can happen.

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The Two Bro's talk about the Lions victory over the San Diego Chargers and clinching a playoff spot. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about how this was the most complete game played by the Lions this season. There is also a digression into the offensive line and draft philosophy that is an early look at how the Two Bro's see the Lions needs in the next NFL draft as well as some discussion about the playoffs.

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As the game drew to a close and it became obvious that our Detroit Lions had made the playoffs, my eyes welled up just a bit and I shed a tear or two of joy.

This was so much different than the 2008 Lions, when I had to stop watching games so that I would not shed tears of frustration. I still followed the Lions from afar, but they made me so frustrated and upset that it was actually bad for me to watch the games. I would be in a foul mood for several days afterward and the solutions seemed so far away.

Only three seasons later, I am watching the Lions dominate a good San Diego Chargers team and display the poise and killer instinct that I have longed to see from a Lions team for decades. I am watching this team mature and come of age from week to week, and it is an experience unlike any other that I have had in my lifetime.

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The Two Bro's talk about how the Detroit Lions Offense stacks up against the defense of the San Diego Chargers. Evilsmurf and Tufflynx talk about how the Lions should be able to move the ball well against the Chargers, possible injury problems to the Chargers defense, and how the home crowd needs to be a factor in this game. The Lions can clinch a wild-card berth in the NFC playoffs with a win in this game.

The Two Bros take a look at the dynamic offense of the San Diego Chargers and how it matches up against the Lions defense. Topics of discussion include the Chargers recent success, the dynamic running back duo of Ryan Matthews and Mike Tolbert, and how the Lions' linebackers will need to play very well in this game. Join Evilsmurf and Tufflynx to hear their take on how this aspect of the upcoming Christmas Eve contest between the Lions and Chargers will play out.

The Two Bros talk about the upcoming NFL contest between the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders. In this edition, Evilsmurf and Tufflynx analyze the match-ups between the Raiders offense against the Lions defense. They also discuss the potential for a big game by Ndamukong Suh and the potential for the Lions to get back many of their injured defensive players.

Once again thanks for listening to our podcasts! We really appreciate it!

Due to technical difficulties, I was not able to get this post up earlier, so I apologize.

This is the second preview podcast of the week 14 contest between the Detroit Lions and the Minnesota Vikings. In this edition the Two Bro's talk about the matchup between the Lions offense and the Vikings defense. Topics that are discussed are whether the Lions can stop the Vikings pass rush, is Jared Allen a moron, and the spotty play the the Vikings defensive back seven.