Why does everyone want to dump Boderman so quick, he's had one major injury in his career and it's taking some time for him to come back strong.   Most if not all pitchers go through some injury problems in there career.   Is it such a stretch that Bonderman gets his fast ball back to 93 or 94mph again? no.   Bonderman could easily come back strong and win 12-14 games for us.   If you want to be pissed about bad contracts talk about Willis or Nate or even Carlos, Bonderman is still young and deserves other shot from the tigers.

Let me start by saying I'm a die hard lions fan.   And all losses affect us differently, well I hit rock bottom on this loss.  I could deal with an 0-16 team but I expected a win today or something close.   My thought right now is that Matthew Stafford is nowhere near ready to lead this team.   He could not lead the offense, in fact they played better the less he threw the ball.   My anger comes from the front he put on, let's be truthful he played so well in preseason.   He moved the ball and showed poised I did not expect from a rookie. Well let's moved fowrward to the first two games...

- Stafford is not ready to lead this team.   We have a choice, keep him in and except a possible 3 win season and that is being optimistic , or bring culpepper in.   In two games this year Stafford not has shown the ability to run the offense, in fact he slows it down.   My mind runs crazy thinking back when I was for keeping Orlovsky and Culpepper letting them beat it out...  I had a liking to Orlovsky and did not want to lose him.   But Stafford has shown no improvement in 2 games which drives me crazy thinking about the past... I did not expect Stafford to be a great QB, or a above average QB just an avearge QB he has shown none of the capabilities.   Stafford is not a lost cause and could be a great QB but does anybody feel like me and think he's hurting being out on the field...    Please don't bring up the cowboy's team of the 90's  I know of them.    But he missed passes that a monkey could of hit...

- I have not given up on Stafford but think he's better off on the bench for now.   please don't bring up stats or players of the past.   Some guys can play and some guys can't ,  Stafford can't right now.   This game was winnable and Stafford laid a egg.   Not all his fault, but as good as the defense played they deserved better then his performance.   I'm more angered on me turning on back on not needing to draft a QB... I always stayed true saying you need to build on the lines and I turned my back on that.   Well this game was perfect proof of that, a better O-line or D-line would of helped the QB.   Having a rookie one made it worse, let's hope Stafford learns really fast, and see defenses better than he has...   I repeat all losses affect people different and this one shook me to the core............

Two games into preseason and the line has been drawn, do you want Culpepper to start or Stafford.   I'm not going to bore you with stats and numbers all I'm going to do is make a pitch for each one on why they should be the starter week 1.

Stafford:

1st game against Atlanta the kid looked confident, almost as if he commanded respect in the huddle, and he showed all of Michigan his potential by looking off one receiver then going to Williams while taking a hit.   1st year QB's don't do this.   2nd game from what I gathered from highlights, espn, and Drewslions scary break down of the game, things could of gone alot better.   There are always going to be growing pains with a rookie QB, seems like half want Stafford to start and get the growing pains out of the way with some on the job training.   Then the other half see the mistakes that are waiting to be made and would like him a little more seasoned before taking over.   My pitch for Stafford is he's a moxie young QB with natural confidence you don't usually see in rookie QB's.   If he was named the starter today and took all 1st string reps the rest of the way and started the last 2 preseason games playing the 1st half in both games I'm pretty confident he would make believers out of us by week 1.   And for people who are going to cry about all the mistakes, get over it and get on board.   Stafford is going to make a lot great plays, he's also going to make some horrible INT's on the way.   And if he learns a little from each game and makes improvements it would be a worthy investment starting him now then later.

Culpepper:

Not many QB's retire and stay out of the game for a 1/2 season then get a phone call on Thursday and are the starting QB of that team by Sunday.   The Lions truly are a special organization,   I was not a big fan of Culpepper to start but after losing over 30lbs and getting into football shape in the off-season I'll respect any man for that.   He has seemed to have a better understanding of the offense and has done nothing to be knocked out of the line up week 1.   If your a true dreamer like me you do believe the Lions can turn it around in one year and be in the play off hunt again.   To do that you need a experienced QB with a past history of success which Culpepper has, not a rookie QB making rookie mistakes.   Think how Culpepper would look week 1 if he was named the starter right now and given all 1st team reps and playing with the 1st team the rest of the games.   Culpepper has been a proven NFL QB, he's not that old yet and has worked with Scott Linehan before with great success.   And if you don't want to endure another possible 3-13 season he's probably the way to go.

My opinion:

Stafford has had one good outing and one bad one, and as much as it pains me to say it let the kid play.   Culpepper has played a little better but he's not head and shoulder above Stafford yet, and he should be.   From all counts in practice there neck and neck, and Culpepper is barely in front in preseason games.   In my opinion you have to pick one of the 2 and back them.   I'm picking Stafford believing he'll progress faster then most, I've seen a lot of QB's come through Detroit.  And he's the 1st one where I  watch and just say WOW there's really something different about him.  Kitna didn't have it, Joey didn't have it, McMahon, Batch, Detmer, Case, Garcia and Orlovsky "I like him though"

1. Let's start with the most obvious one, Stafford starting with the rest of the starters.   If he has a strong performance I will start to get on the band wagon of letting him start the season.

2. How will the D-line look in game 2.   Cohen, Flullen, Hill, Alama, Avril,  and the rest,  will Schwartz keep a rotation going or will he be looking for his starters so he knows what he has to begin the season with.

3. Kevin Smith getting more carries, What will Morris look like, can Brown look good for 2 straight games? Even Ervin looked very good.   Smith is the unquestioned starter but after that you are going to have guy's fighting for spots and playing time.

4. Can the O-line look decent again, especially on the road against a browns team that didn't look very good the 1st game.

5. Linebackers and Defensive backs, what players will start to pull away from the rest of the pack.

6. Is Colbert still on the roster, if so why???

What are you guy's looking forward to seeing in game 2...

I'm sure you all can tell by now the tigers play this season is pretty inconstant so far.   They play like contenders for 5-6 games then play like it was last year 5 or 6 games.   2nd thing that scares me is the way they play on the road compared to how they play at home.   1 or 2 runs on the road is not gonna get it done.

   For the Tigers to win the Central they are gonna have to do 4 things to the end of the season.

1. Keep playing good at home, it's the only thing making up for our crappy road record.

2. Verlander and Jackson are gonna have to be horses the rest of the year with no mistakes, every start is gonna have to be a quality one.   Even 1 or 2 bad outings the rest of the way could be the difference.

3. Maggs and Polanco are gonna have to stay some what hot the rest of the season, no slumps.

Lastly Rodney has to keep doing what he has been doing, he's only blown 1 save this year which is great.  Didn't we give up like 16 games last year to blown saves,  pretty or not if he keeps this up we have a decent shot of holding off the White sox's.   I'm fully aware that we will at some point probably lose our lead to them but have faith we can pull it off with the last 3 games coming at home against the White sox's.

As the summer grinds on and I find myself working 85-90 hour work weeks, I find myself slowly drifting into September.   Right before pre-season practices begin and the pecking order of the depth chart, these are my beliefs on what will happen in the near future.

1. Culpepper will be the starting QB week one and will hold down the job as long as he plays good or keeps the team in games.

2. For some strange reason the offensive line will be greatly improved don't ask me why?

3. Bringing in Peterson and Foote will quickly show us what a pop warner defence we had last year and we will over react and cry for them to get extensions.

4. Sammie Lee Hill develops a lot quicker than anyone ever thought.

5. Gunner keeps to his word and blitzes like crazy, Lions finish in top ten in sacks.

6. Johnson goes above expectations and a early MVP buzz starts.

7. Schwartz does what he say's and the lions pound the ball and control the clock.

8. Felton plays a bigger role running the ball not blocking.

9. The lions return a kick off and punt for a TD this season

10. Lastly the lions win 6 or more games...

P.S. I've been away so long even the fan posts have changed "scary"

After watching our bull pen go up in flames once more it's time Leland makes some moves what ever he deems necessary.   Willis can go back down to the hens in my view why not give Minor another shot in the rotation.   It's time to send Robertson down also.   Our starting five should be Verlander, Jackson, Porcello, Minor, and take who's ever throwing the best at the time in triple A and double A as our 5th starter.   Why havn't we seen Fu-Te Ni up yet, Dolsi, French, Rapada all these guys should be making apperances in a our bull pen so we know what we have.   Either they start making some moves fast or we will all be screaming at our T.V's again like the last 2 years.   " after an 0-16 lions teams watching the tigers blow leads late in games could be just as bad"

This balls been rolling down hill for three months now, everyone should of seen this moment coming and prepared for it.   The only shock for me would of been if the Lions did not get the deal done.   Now that this is done maybe everyone will open there eye's and start doing the research on Stafford and learn were getting a great QB prospect.   Is he a sure thing NO but tell me what prospect is, "please don't spout off Curry is" I also wanted the Lions to build from the inside out, but you can shit in one hand and wish in the other and see what one gets filled first...   Here's another mind shattering idea, Stafford won't be our starting QB week 1.   Culpepper looks great right now and I would not be surprised if DC keeps the kid at bay all season.   There were three # 1's in this draft, Smith, Curry and Stafford.   We got the one with the most upside "surprise, surprise" Let's focus on building the rest of the draft for our defence now...

With in the next 24 hours we can probably expect the signing of Matthew Stafford.   The question is who do we draft next?   The fun part of this we won't know until the draft unfolds, but I have a few ideas...

I should say defence comes first at all costs but that depends who's there, and if by some chance Oher drops to us at #20 Mayhew will have to bite his lip and draft another offensive player.   Oher could start out at LG helping Backus out year one, and then move to LT moving Backus inside year two when Stafford takes over fulltime.    Now if Oher is not there I wonder what Mayhew will do, I would think next would be MLB like Maualuga or Laurinaitis.   But I think it would be better drafting a CB with #20 like D.J. Moore, Darius Butler or Alphonso Smith heres why.  I know we have a giant hole at MLB and it has to be filled, but the same could be said about our secondary.   I know we signed some FA help also by trade but I believe Henry will be a one and done player for us.   J.P. and Sims are side line to side line players, all we need is a in the box tackling machine like Darry Beckwith, Scott Mckillop, Jasper Brinkley or Stanely Arnoux "for those who don't know that's the other LB who plays at Wake Forrest"  all of these players should be avaible 3rd round and beyound and who could start for us at Week 1.   The CB's that start coming off the board in round 3 and beyound could one day be starters but most likely not Week 1 impact players like the LB could be...   For me the real fun will start with pick #20 for us.......

With Tampa bay signing Leftwhich there need for a QB might let them pass on Freeman.   All reports out of Jets camp is than Clemens looks great and that could also lead the Jets to pass on Freeman.   The clock is ticking for Stafford to man up and sign a contract that is going to make him a very rich person, I do believe that Stafford is #1 on the Lions board, but I also think that Stafford's agent won't want to sign a contract before he's drafted giving him more leverage to avoid a hold out.   What I wonder is if a deal can't be work out and they pull the trigger with Smith, Monroe or Curry,  there is a chance Freeman could fall to us at #33.   I would like this to happen because it would give us a chance to build our O-line and Defence and not feeling pressured to put Freeman in before he's ready...