MarkBrunell;1262576 said:
He's the only one who doesn't need the padding.
Here's a rundown on the Lions last game. Sounds even more pitiful than our loss.
_________________________________________
Lions drop the ball
By Steve Pate
Journal Register News Service
PUBLISHED: December 25, 2006
Victory eludes team's grasp as Williams can't hold on
DETROIT -- Even before leaving the locker room, Mike Williams knew he'd be taking the final play into the evening with him, winding and rewinding the leap in his mind, body stretched to the max, fingertips of both hands on the football ... the agony as the ball thudded to the end zone turf.
That final play, which started with seven ticks remaining and the Bears up by the final score of 26-21, is the perfect illustration of Williams' pro career, Jon Kitna's luck on this day and the Lions' 2-13 plight this 2006 season.
Kitna roamed right from 22 yards out, and the Lions flooded the right side of the end zone with three receivers. Kitna curled back around and spotted Williams deep in the end zone to the left, rubbing shoulders with cornerback Nathan Vasher, who was giving up seven inches in height.
The heave needed to be high, and was. Time had expired by the time it hit Williams' hands, then fell harmlessly away. The heroics have not been there for Williams in his two years as a Lion. If the throw ranks as a drop, it was one of six or so that Kitna saw on Christmas Eve. Which made this just another way to lose for the struggling Detroit Lions.
"I had the ball," Williams said. "The securing part of it -- jarred out, kicked out, whatever. I've got to look at it (on film). However it came out, it came out ... I'll think about it. I think of myself too much as a player to just blow it off. It'll stay with me for a while."
The fans of the Chicago Bears enhanced the juiced up atmosphere Sunday at Ford Field. They were plentiful and loud, which kept the Lions backers loud as well. A planned fan protest in the second quarter fizzled, and a Lions offense that had fizzled an entire half woke up after the See LIONS, Page 3B
intermission.
The Lions owned the ball for nine first-half minutes and mustered all of three first downs. In the second half, Kitna led an inspired attack that clicked for 15 first downs and 237 yards.
Kitna (27 of 45 for 283 yards and three touchdowns) was gritty and on fire against a tough Bears defense. A young offensive line, vastly undermanned in talent, stood its ground pass blocking. Kitna did not even have a turnover until Chicago's excellent defensive end, Mark Anderson, manhandled left tackle Jeff Backus and slapped the ball free from Kitna's blindside with only 3:46 remaining.
Four plays later, that lone Lion turnover led to Robbie Gould's fourth field goal, a 44-yarder with 2:50 to go. The Lions had taken the lead late in the third quarter, 21-17, on a Kitna 2-yard lob to Roy Williams for Williams' first red zone TD all season.
And they still led when former Michigan QB Brian Griese took over for Rex Grossman and sparked a 72-yard drive to another field goal to make it 23-21 with 5:13 remaining.
Through it all, Kitna battled, the Lions got an occasional rushing spurt from Arlen Harris and company, Mike Furrey pulled down 10 passes for 107 yards and a 20-yard TD and Roy Williams had six grabs for 79 and his TD.
"I'm trying to get blood out of the turnip, man," coach Rod Marinelli said of his injury-riddled team. "I'm just doing everything I can to get these guys going because I believe in them. They've been working and working. I tell you, you can't see it, but the amount of effort these guys give all week long, and there were no excuses by anybody."
And yet, when the Lions woke up this morning, they were 2-13, still knotted with Oakland for the NFL's worst record. They have seven consecutive losses, their last victory against Atlanta.
"All this stuff right now, 2-13, it stinks and it hurts," Kitna said. "But the silver lining is, we're building depth at least. We've got young guys who are playing and learning what this league is all about."
For the Lions, it'll end on the afternoon of New Year's Eve in Dallas. The Cowboys are battling for the division, perhaps for the Super Bowl. The Lions are still light years from such dreams. But for one Sunday in late December, they gave their fans an entertaining game. Mike Williams could have caught that ball. He just couldn't quite make the one play that could have changed the day. Perhaps he officially became a Lion on Sunday.
This time, Jon Kitna, for once, avoided the sack.
This time, wayward former first-round draft choice wide receiver Mike Williams was where he should have been all along.
Not only on the field, dressed in uniform, but in the end zone awaiting a pass.
Kitna, on the run, lofted the ball deep and true. Williams leapt as high he could. The ball hit his hands.
And slipped through his fingers.
Ho. Ho. Ho. Merry Christmas. Another lump of coal for you, courtesy of the Detroit Lions.
I'll spare you the, "Good-teams-find-a-way-to-win-and-bad-ones-a-way-to-lose" line. It's obvious in relation to the Lions and the Bears.
But the Lions' loss to Chicago Sunday was painfully paradigmatic of their season. It was a relatively close game against a disinterested opponent.
The Bears had already clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If they actually had something to play for, a two- or three-touchdown rout would likely have been the result. Instead, the closeness of the last play only let down the few loyal fans actually still genuinely interested in the Lions.
Give head coach Rod Marinelli credit for this: He at least keeps trying. He was a little animated on the sidelines for a See CAPUTO, Page 5C
change. It was almost as if he had a clue about what was going on around him. The Lions only turned the ball over once, but it was particularly costly because it happened during the fourth quarter.
They also had roughing the passer and grabbing the facemask infractions that were hurtful and unnecessary.
"I have been pushing them pretty hard trying to get blood from a turnip," Marinelli said of his battered and beaten team.
The best part was watching Roy Williams get the best of his college teammate at Texas, Bears' cornerback Nathan Vasher.
Other than that, it was an incredibly boring and dull game.
Supposedly, there was to be a fan protest. With 8:57 remaining during the first half, a group of fans were to meet to walk out of Ford Field in unison. It fizzled.
There is virtually no energy left in Lion fans. There were huge pockets of empty seats Sunday. Of those there, nearly an equal number were Bear fans.
The buzz about the Lions in this town is nil. It will be virtually non-existent throughout the offseason, too, if team president Matt Millen, as expected, returns -- at least until draft time when speculation will run rampant about what the worst general manager in the history of professional sports should do with what appears to be the first overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Much of it will be tongue-in-cheek cracks about Millen selecting another wide receiver. Or outrage Millen gets a shot at the No.1 overall pick after he blew it so badly with No. 2 and No. 3 overall selections, Charles Rogers and Joey Harrington.
Not only will signing quality free agents be difficult, but re-signing their own players will be an issue. The Lions reputation around the league is not good. It's a bad organization run by incompetent people. It's hardly a secret.
Even in the salary cap era, the Lions will have to overpay for talent. All other factors being equal, players will go elsewhere.
At least the Lions won't be haunted by what could have been this season. Every team they have played, even the two they have beaten, were clearly better in terms of talent. Most were much better coached, too.
It's called being over before it really started. In the end, that is what the 2006 season has been all about for the Lions. A victory Sunday would not have changed it.
That the Lions were only a prayer that was nearly answered away from winning Sunday doesn't, either.
Pat Caputo is a senior sports reporter and a columnist for the Journal Register News Service. E-mail him at
pat.caputo@oakpress.com and read his sports blog exclusively at theoaklandpress.com
I've only heard they are clueless when it come to picking up blitzes.