Week #4: @ St. Louis Rams

[racosun]

Mike Martz returns to St. Louis to prove they made the wrong decision. Who made it? Well, one of the two teams. Martz is known for his offensive prowess, and created the Rams team once known as The Greatest Show on Turf. While that offense was based around an in-his-prime Marshall Faulk, the Rams new offense still has some of the leftover parts from that Martz juggernaut. Torry Holt and Ike Bruce are still getting it done for the Rams, and Faulk has been replaced by the talented Steven Jackson. QB Marc Bulger isn't one to mess with, and given the defense that he'll be facing this game, he's going to have a field day with the Lions secondary.

As for Martz, the explosive offense that his teams are known for hasn't materialized yet in Detroit. Starting QB Jon Kitna has looked solid for the most part, with exception of the occasional "off" ball (but those haven't really been picked off yet). Matt Millen's receivers either aren't producing as billed or aren't playing. Mike Williams finally made it into a game, for the final two minutes of the Green Bay loss, which seemed strange. Williams thinks that Cory Bradford may have been tired, and that's why he got in, but what if Marinelli actually thought he could change the game? Why wait until now to use him? I know, when a coach (especially of the rookie variety) is 0-3, it's easy to question him, but to keep a top-10 receiver on the roster and not use him makes no sense, especially when his teammates are saying he's been practicing quite well for awhile.

In short, Detroit has a great chance of going 0-and-4 against the fairly decent 2-1 St. Louis Rams. Look for lots of big scoring passes as teams know it's Detroits' biggest weakness (plus the Lions stop the run pretty good).

[racosun]

OUT
Lions - S Kenoy Kennedy (foot); LB Alex Lewis (knee)
Rams - C Andy McCollum (knee)

QUESTIONABLE
Lions - DT Shaun Rogers (knee); G Ross Verba (hamstring); CB Fernando Bryant (ankle); T Rex Tucker (knee); T Barry Stokes (hamstring);
Rams - T Orlando Pace (concussion)

PROBABLE
Lions - None
Rams - None

[racosun]

Yet another loss, and yet another proclaimation that the Lions offense is *this* close to breaking open. How wonderful. I have no idea where to start when explaining this game, so I guess I won't even really try. I'll just point out a few things. For starters, we have no defense whatsoever. Where is that Lions D we all saw in game one against a very tough Seattle team? I'm beginning to ask this every week, and now I know that it was just a fluke week for us. Any QB in the league can throw deep on us and score. The offense did look a little better today, but they still choke at the worst possible moments. It's starting to look like Rod Marinelli is in way over his head. To never have been a head coach at any level, than to be put into the situation that he's in now is a really tough spot to be in.

For you fantasy footballers out there, make darn sure you play any offensive players during a week they're matched up against the Lions. We made Rex Grossman look like Peyton Manning, we made Brett Favre look like he's got another 10 years left in the tank, and now we made Ike Bruce look like he's still the fastest guy in the league. Now we get to revive the career of Brad Johnson when we play the Vikes next week. Maybe even see Artose Pinner come back and bite us in the arse. Three weeks left until the bye week, which is much needed for us Lions fans.

Come back, Barry!!

[racosun]

St. Louis Rams 41, Detroit Lions 34
Passing:
Lions - Jon Kitna, 29-for-43, 280 yards, 2 TD's, 2 picks
Rams - Marc Bulger, 26-for-42, 328 yards, 3 TD's, no picks

Rushing:
Lions - Kevin Jones, 19 rushes, 93 yards, 2 TD's, no fumbles lost
Rams - Steven Jackson, 22 rushes, 81 yards, 1 TD, no fumbles lost

Receiving:
Lions - Roy Williams, 9 catches, 139 yards, no TD's; Mike Furrey, 8 catches, 82 yards, 2 TD's
Rams - Torry Holt, 6 catches, 102 yards, 1 TD; Ike Bruce, 7 catches, 100 yards, 1 TD

Kicking:
Lions - Jason Hanson, 2-for-2 FG's, 4-for-4 XP's
Rams - Jeff Wilkins, 4-for-5 FG's, 3-for-3 XP's

[racosun]

On a side note to this game, the Lions had cut newly acquired WR Corey Bradford during the week leading up to the game. He had been ineffective and mistake-prone, and the coaches said he wasn't picking up the offense as well as they would have liked. Some speculated that perhaps this move was made to give Mike Williams a shot at getting some more snaps, but it wasn't the case at all. I don't recall seeing Williams on the field at all, although I must admit I was switching back and forth between the Lions game and the Tigers game. Bradford finished his tenure with the Lions with just three catches, which means the Lions will end up paying him right around $1 million per catch.

Let's look at Matt Millen's WR decisions so far. After drafting the franchise QB (Joey Harrington), Millen decided it would be in the teams' best interest to get Joey a weapon on offense, so Millen used the #2 overall draft pick on Charles Rogers. We all know how that turned out. The very next year, not sure if Rogers would be enough of a weapon for Harrington with his injured collarbone, the Lions used the #11 pick on Roy Williams. That seems to be a good choice so far, aside from Williams large ego and hands of stone. Roy has been pretty solid this season, even though he is constantly double-teamed. Then, with the Lions sitting on the #10 overall pick, Millen says he took the best player available at that draft slot, WR Mike Williams. It turns out Williams was never able to recover from taking a year off from football, and the coaching staff dubbed BMW (Big Mike Williams) a slacker and lazy player. Seeing that his young receivers aren't going to cut it in the NFL, Millen then goes out and signs the Texans' third-string receiver, Corey Bradford, to be the Lions new #2 guy. Three games into that contract, Bradford is once again a free-agent, and the Lions receiving corps is once again in shambles. Our current #2 receiver is a converted safety, Mike Furrey, who so far seems to be adequate, but would be better suited as the #3 guy and a special teams player. Charles Rogers was cut to make room for undrafted rookie Shawn Bodiford, who played his first NFL game today, but was a non-factor. The coaching staff seems to be really high on Bodiford, but it's going to take time for him to develop.

What in the world is Millen thinking? And how can he possibly explain these horrible decisions to his bosses? The salary cap is going to be trouble, something that should only happen to long-time playoff teams that can no longer afford their star players' contracts and are forced to rebuild (ala the Titans). The Lions don't have any of those types of players, and none seem to be on the way anytime soon. With Matt Millen running this team, us fans don't have much reason to hope things will be getting better anytime soon. Millen has messed up in so many other areas besides the WR position. Is it really prudent to be paying your back-up QB (Josh McCown) just as much as your starter (Jon Kitna)? No, not really. Is it wise to have so much money tied up on the defensive line when they are so ineffective? No. And just think, we get Millen for another four years (at least) after this season. Has any team ever had a top-11 draft pick 10 years in a row? I think that's what Millen is aiming for, or at least heading for.