Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Blackout Lifted - DT for Sale? Please?

Well, first off thanks to Gardner-White Furniture for ensuring there will be no blackout, thus allowing your humble blogger to see the game. We salute you!!

Also, please be sure to take a moment of silence on this September 11th in remembrance of the lives lost then, and since.

In other news, both the Colts and the Saints have lost starting DT's. The Colts' starting DT was waived after he was arrested for drug possession, while the Saints merely lost theirs to the IR. (he was already on PUP). What does this say to me? Lets see, the Lions have 11 linemen, and at least 2 didn't show up on Sunday against the Falcons. See where this is going?

Shaun Cody. Don't think Indy wouldn't give him a shot for a 4th rounder? Or a player trade for a LB? The Lions are in a sweet spot with teams needing an additional DT -- will they make an aggressive move though?

I also noticed a couple of pieces by Birkett and Killer indicating there are some starting shakeups and playing time moves coming that are long overdue.

Ramierez over Peterman at RG

Bodden over Fisher at CB

Bullocks over Alexander at S (I still think Alexander will make good progress and that he and
Bullocks will be holding down the starting S spots for years to come)

No playing time for Cherilus...yet. I'm thinking they want to see how having Ramierez in improves the right side, and then they are going to insert Cherilus. Still too conservative for me.

Dizon, big surprise, will get more playing time in rotation for Lenon. If the same disparity from last game holds, look for Dizon to get more and more PT until he is starting after the bye week.

Looking forward to Sunday, as always. Go Lions!!

BTW -- GREAT comments on the last two stories -- keep it up everyone!! Glad to see not too much doom & gloom floated over here -- lots of good critical analysis though - Love it!!

Lions Great Rest of 2008 Playoffs and Beyond! (that one is for you Chief )

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to see some changes in the lineup. I do worry sometimes that Marinelli can be way too conservative with his starting lineup changes. I really wish he reconsiders the Foster slot. Cherilus is head and shoulders above Foster and I thought the preseason showed it. I never could understand Killer's articles about Goz not earing a starting slot. What game was he watching? Well heres to the lineup change and hopefully Goz will be in by the second half.

- Justin

CHIEFGER139 said...

like the changes
wish they would use cohen on the line-need some beef there
hopefully they beat the pack-there only 3 point underdogs and start there playoff run a week late-
millen manages another sellout
bet he called gardner white and worked out the deal-no wonder ford loves the guy

JJLions20 said...

I'm willing to give Rod a break over who he started in week-1. He tells players the best player plays. Well, in the pre-season guys like Foster, Lennon (at MLB), Alexander, and Peterman (although this one was a close call), all out performed their competition on the team. Come last Sunday, when the real deal started, some of the above players were not able to step up their game from a preseason caliber of play to a NFL regular season level of play.

Evidently the tape showed Foster played a good game, so he is still the solid right tackle. I'm ok with this, but knowing George (head case) Foster, at some point he crumbles, and at that time we will see Cherilus. But while George is clearly the best RT, he should start. With Dizon vrs Lennon it's all about speed, and tackling ability. We've heard it many times. When the pre-season ends and the real season begins the game speeds up. Dizon has the speed to elevate his game. Lennon simply does not. Add the fact that Dizon is a good tackler and the decision to get Dizon on the field more is obvious. The Lions are going to have to start taking the up-side of speed and tackling over making mistakes, and maybe having a bad call at MLB. I do think the play calling is an added burden, and you don't want to overload this kid, but you have to gradually see how much he can handle. It now sounds like that gradation will be a little quicker.

Ramierez over Peterman. Probably not a great improvement, but this is where we could hope that a 2nd year player getting an opportunity and gaining experience will blossom and be much better in the long run. Lets see if this is an upgrade in Week-5. Two games of starting and then a bye week for him to regroup.

Bodden over Fisher. This was a no-brainer, and should have happened week-1. I thought the bloggers were over hyping Bodden, because I thought he would struggle some in the cover-2, but he still may be the most talented DB on the roster. You need to get the talent on the field.

I saved Bullocks over Alexander for last. I'm just not a big Alexander fan yet. I know DETFAN1979 probably disagrees with me on this one. He is young and decent, but I think he was rushed into playing last season, and skipped some things in his development (that’s why I worry about rushing Dizon). In the long run it will be good for Alexander to not have the pressure of starting, being able to work on his technique, and really understand the cover-2 scheme. He simply needs to have quicker reactions, be more aggressive, and deliver big hits. He will learn this more watching Bullocks and Smith from the sideline. He'll still get rotated in from time to time, and he will have to how that aggressiveness. I’m sure Rod was thinking that Alexander was the starter last year, and since Bullocks only played one preseason game the job was still Alexanders. That lasted until the third play of the Atlanta game. I’m sure Rod wanted to make this change during the bye week, bringing Bullocks back gradually, but he can’t wait any longer.

Isphet said...

Killer just reported that Peterman is back in over Ramirez starting. Ughies.

I get to say I told you so on the blackout thing (which I don't usually get to do much so I'm going to enjoy this moment, lol.)
I TOLD U SOOOoooo! :) No blackout BOOM! GOES TEH DYNAMITE!11oneone
(that was my best Mliver impression, btw.)

I totally agree, the Lions HAVE to trade one of their linemen; they have a glut of dudes there that all have roughly the same attributes; it's a perfectly sensible move to make.

I can't even BEGIN to imagine what the Green Bay media is saying about the Lions only being 3 point dogs. I guarantee you every single soul in Green Bay would bet their lucky cheesehats that the Lions won't cover the spread.

JJLions20 said...

Let’s not knee jerk react to a loss and throw away a season. There is no reason for Rod to blow things up after one loss. Even if they go 0-3, Rod, or any coach that is hired to win football games is going to start with 7-8 rookies this early. So many are calling for one rookie or the other to start.

There are so many posts that are make no sense. For example, (and I won't call anybody out) some people were calling for Rod to start Cohen because he adds more “muscle” then the other D-lineman, and in particular replacing Cody/Darby at the Nose tackle. But lets step back and look at what Cohen is. He's listed at 6'3", 274 lbs. He's a 7th round pick out of a MAC school. As a nose tackle, strength, bulk and quickness are the greatest attributes. Cody is listed at 6'4", 310 lbs, Moore is 6'1" 305, Darby is 6'0" 297 lbs, and I'll mention Shaun Rogers was 6'4", 360-380. The point is if your a little shorter, you could be slightly lighter because of leverage and you’re build is still wide and bulky. But at 6'3" 274 lbs, Cohen will get blown off the ball. He may give good effort, but that isn't going to go too far in the trenches. He's a developmental player. With a good weight program, he may be beefed up to close to 300 lbs next season, and he will stand a chance. But for now he simply does not give the Lions the best chance to win. And the Lion coaches know it.

Now if the Lions are 2-8 with 6 games to go, then I could say give guys like Cohen a chance to pick up some experience that will be helpful when he hits camp next season. But week-2 is too soon.

One last note about Kowalski's article regarding Cherilus starting. I too would like to see Cherilus get 10 starts, like those Packer lineman. Because he doesn't start week-1 or week-2 doesn't mean he won't get those 10 starts. If he does not give the Lions the best chance top win in week-2, I can understand starting Foster. You can't throw away your season, just because you want to start your 1st rounder. I hope he gets some playing time this week and next, and maybe improve enough to start after the Bye week.

Give Rod a chance to develop these guy’s properly and motivate them to be the best they can develop into. Playing time and experience in one’s rookie season is important. But so is earning it and not having it given to you because you have potential. These young players have to learn this lesson. There have been too many Lions fail because they never learned to work. Have patience and lets look at the big picture. Keeping 8 rookies on the roster is a positive for the future. But it’s not so positive for the presence. If Sapp and Rice can be put on the bench to teach them a lesson to work harder, then certainly Cherilus, Dizon, Smith, Fluellen, Avril, Felton, Cohen, & Thomas, can find time on the bench.

kitabug124 said...

jj, good points, but why do our rookies need development and Atlanta's don't?

Some might say that it's because Atlanta had no choice and HAD to start rookies at LT and QB... Those rookie made us look very bad. We should have been able to embarrass them- 1st start in the NFL??? Yet, our rookies weren't developed enough to start? They weren't good enough to start even if they HAD to?

Again, I have to ask: why can't we get the same results as Atlanta? They can successfully start a rookie LT and we can't get our rookie RT up to snuff? Why? Is there that much difference in the two franchises?

What is the problem? I don't want to bash the Lions, I want IMPROVEMENT! If other teams can get results, there is no reason we can't do the same..., or is there? FIND the problems, and FIX THEM!

The definition of insanity: Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

I am not advocating making massive changes for change's sake. Pounding the rock is effective when you see some effect on the rock. If you don't see any progress, don't stop pounding but at least get a sledgehammer!

So, what's different this week? Tweaks to the line-up. Let's hope we see some cracks start to develop! If not, more "tweaks" need to be made.

JJLions20 said...

Kitabug124,
Many times rookies (other than top 10 drafted rookies) start because their teams are so deficient in talent at a position, and they have no choice but starting a rookie, it’s the best they have. A good example is the Lions with Felton and Smith. If Jones had not been injured, the Lions may have still drafted Smith, but Jones would have been the starter. The only reason Smith is starting is because when they cut Bell (because Smith out played him in the preseason), then Kevin Smith had the most reps in this offensive backfield.

Cherilus is not starting because Foster is playing well. Cherilus will have to get to a higher level of play (compared to Sam Baker of Atlanta) before he gets to start. Fluellen, and Cohen are undersized and inexperienced right now and will get blown away as interior D-lineman. Like it or not, Cody, Darby and Moore are simply better. Avril may be of use because he has more pure speed than the other DE's. So finding him a few spots to play is a possibility. But he is not going to start over White or Devries. He wouldn't start over Smith or IAF because he can’t play the run as well.

Dizon will also get more reps, but he has to prove he can handle the mental aspects of MLB. He has the unique problem. He can cause the other front 6 players to be out of position with a bad call. So he is not affecting just his gap and responsibility, he is affecting 7 of them. That's why you have to be a little careful with that move. But trust me, if Lenon had not been able to come back from his injury in the Atlanta game, Dizon would be starting. But it would be out of necessity and would be because he is the best linebacker available.

Once the season is over (like an 2-8 start) then you can start to developing players who are not better than the player in front of them on the depth chart. That doesn’t even mean they will start, but they have to get as many reps as they can handle. Otherwise in week-2 you play the best you have at that position. Right now that's going to be Foster, Lennon, Darby, Cody, White, Devries, and I'll throw in Kitna over Stanton just for the sake of it. I hope Cherilus is catching on Foster, and Dizon is catching on Lenon. But we have to trust Rod to put the best player on the field the most.


Now if Foster