Blackout Possible this Sunday

For the first time ever for the Lions at Ford Field, their may be a local television blackout. This is due to the fact the Lions still have 4,500 tickets to sell before Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers. Wow it's about time fans stop showing up to Lions games to support this team. They have lost for years and fans have continuously came out to support the team. I hope this weekend's game is a blackout because that is the only possible way William Clay Ford will fix this franchise is if he starts feeling it in his pocket some.

Wow is all I had to say while watching the Lions get thrashed by the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The Falcons were the worst team last year coming off of terrible situations with Mike Vick and Bobby Petrino. Vick got sent to prison for dogfighting and Petrino decided college was the way to go as he left for Arkansas. Yet even with a first year head coach in Mike Smith, new running back Michael Turner, and first round overall pick in Matt Ryan playing his first ever NFL game the Lions still lost. This was an unacceptable loss for the Lions. It's despicable to lose to a team like Atlanta, which is rebuilding for the next 2 or 3 years, because of the turmoil from last year's team.

How can the Lions continuously get high picks in the draft year in and year out but never get any better record wise? Most of us know the answer to that question, it's Matt Millen and the scouting department for the Lions. Then you look to the coaches, they don't get the most out of their players, they don't have enough experience to lead their team. I never felt good about hiring a head coach who's last job was to manage four guys on the defensive line for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Sorry Rod you have a 53 man roster here in Detroit and you know very well if they don't play well it's going to come back on you resulting in a firing. This organization needs to start fresh once again but this time make sure Millen is the first one out the door.

Let's analyze Sunday's game a little, first off they allowed 318 yards rushing which was embarrassing. Missed tackles throughout the game on defense were led by Paris Lenon, Alex Lewis, Travis Fisher, Ernie Sims and others who helped Turner get so many yards. How about the Lions defensive line, did you see some of the holes the Falcons offensive line created? My grandma could have ran through them. In the secondary they played decent accept for the fact they fell asleep on Matt Ryan's first pass play which resulted in a 62 yard touchdown to Michael Jenkins.

Let's turn to the offensive side of the ball, Jon Kitna looked about as mad as I have ever seen him on the sidelines Sunday. It clearly sunk in to Kitna that they were losing to the Atlanta Falcons. Kevin Smith looked good in his first NFL start which was surprising because he knew very well his offensive line was terrible Sunday. False start Foster was trying to hold down the right tackle position but of course that was too much to ask for him. Jeff Backus has been stealing money from the Lions for years with his less than stellar run blocking ability. How about Jon Kitna himself, talk about a guy who needs to win now. Kitna at 34 years old, knows the end of his career is coming soon, so he needs to win now before he hangs his cleats up for good. Receivers Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams both looked good but clearly need to be a bigger part of the offense. Don't worry boys, that's not coming because Rod Marinelli wants to pound the football with the running game. Although he only has two on the roster, does that sound smart? No it's just another bad decision by a coach who lacks experience having 11 defensive lineman on his active roster and only two running backs.

Let's look ahead and try to figure out what to expect from the Lions this weekend against the Packers. Well as an optimist you might say it's a new week and the last game is behind us. Well as a follower of the Lions for years I know the trends. With one playoff victory in over 40 years of the franchise, things look pretty bleak. I expect the Lions to come out and play better this weekend against the Packers. Although after watching the Packers on Monday Night Football against the Vikings last night it's going to be tough for the Lions to get the victory on Sunday. I really don't care if they play better, it's about winning football games that counts. I feel they are going to come up just short against the Packers. Green Bay is better in so many facets of the game. Better coached, more experienced, can actuall tackle runners, can block the opposing team, have very good special teams, and have more all-around talent on their roster.

So after two weeks I feel the Lions will be 0-2 with a trip to San Francisco on their mind. Oh by the way the San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback is J.T. O'Sullivan a former backup for the Lions. That should be interesting to say the least, how about another headline. Can former Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz beat his old team as the new coordinator for the 49ers. Well with the way the Lions tried to tackle Michael Turner this past week; Frank Gore shouldn't have any problems finding his way into the endzone. All I have to say is I hope I am wrong and the players/coaches step up more than I could ever imagine this week against the Green Bay Packers.