Deuce McAllister's future, defensive moves highlight today's New Orleans Saints mailbag
Welcome to today's installment of the Saints Insider Mailbag. I'll have more answers over the next few days so keep checking back if you don't see your question answered in this edition.
Among the topics in today's file: Deuce McAllister looming pay cut; the Saints' chances of trading down and yet another look at potential position switches in the secondary.
On to the Q&A:
Q: Jeff, what are the chances of Deuce McAllister taking a cut say like veteran minimum salary, or is there any deals like that made in the NFL? If he really wants to be a Saint, I was thinking maybe they could work a deal like wise. David Petal, Miss.
A: David, I don't think money is the issue with McAllister at this stage. I think he would like to play a more prominent role than the one he'll have in New Orleans. Deuce is a prideful guy. He worked extremely hard to come back from his injuries. He'd like to finish his career on a higher note than he did last year. It was clear last season that the Saints have chosen to go with Pierre Thomas as the lead back. I think Deuce would like to find another team that would utilize his skills and allow him to get the 10-15 carries a game that he needs to be effective. Ideally, he'd find a team that would use him as Arizona used Edgerrin James this season. That's not likely to happen in New Orleans with Thomas blossoming and Reggie Bush returning from his knee injury. Obviously, a pay cut is in the works, if it hasn't already been presented to him behind the scenes. I expect the sides to part ways soon, perhaps as early as next week. That would make McAllister a free agent and give him time to find another team. As hard as that might be to take for Saints fans, his departure is impending.
Q: I've heard some people talking about the possibility of the Saints moving Usama Young to safety but what do you think of maybe moving Mike McKenzie instead? Also is there enough room in the cap for the Saints pursue a free agent like Karlos Dansby? Brandon, Lafayette, La.
A: Brandon, moving players from cornerback to safety has been a popular strategy among Saints fans. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as everyone thinks, as the Packers discovered this season when they moved Charles Woodson to safety because of rash of injuries. Playing safety is a completely different job than playing cornerback. First, it's a much more physical position. Safeties are asked to play in the box to stop the run and often are used to defend tight ends and running backs in pass coverage. You need to be physical to do both of those tasks and frankly few cornerbacks have the mindset or frame to do it. There's a lot to learn in making the switch. Cornerbacks have to know just one side of the field, while safeties must take in the whole field and the entire offensive formation. In addition, there are signals to be called, information to be passed on to linebackers and corners. The pursuit angles and depth of field are different, as is the time the player has to react to plays. Some players can make the transition. Antrel Rolle successfully made the switch in Arizona this season. But others fail. New defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is a sharp guy. I'm sure he'll consider all options to improve the safety position. Of the two, Young would appear more suited for safety, strictly because of his size and tackling ability. He's one of the team's leading tacklers on special teams, which shows he's not afraid to stick his nose in there to make a play. What's more, Young played a little safety in college at Kent State so the transition wouldn't be completely foreign to him. But I think the Saints would need to think long and hard about moving a corner because it would further weaken the cornerback position, which is already pretty thin with McKenzie and Tracy Porter returning from season-ending injuries and Young still in the developmental stage. A better solution would be to make a run at a safety or two in free agency and the draft. It's a good year for safeties in free agency and I expect the Saints to make a run at a veteran free safety early in the process.
Q: Hi, Jeff. What are the chances that the Saints trade down in this year's draft for a couple more picks? They seem to be ideally placed in the first round, and I can easily see Philly, Minnesota, New England and even the Cardinals wanting to trade up in this years draft to get some additional help. And, if they were able to finagle a deal moving down six or more picks what would they most likely get? Would they get a second round pick, a third rounder or both? Luanne Wilton.
A: Good question, Luanne. I think the chances are good that the Saints will trade down, but remember, they have to find a willing trade partner to make it happen. That's not always as easy as it seems. The Saints need help on defense, primarily in the back seven at cornerback, safety and linebacker. Problem is, no safeties and only a handful of cornerbacks and linebackers currently carry first-round grades. There is greater depth in defenders with low-first round and high-second round grades. Therefore, it would behoove the Saints to deal down and try to acquire an extra first-day selection, if possible. It's difficult to assess what type of compensation they would receive because it's all determined by the draft slots of their potential trade partners. According to draft value charts, a trade from No. 14 down to No. 20 would likely earn the Saints a high third-round pick in compensation, or a low third-round pick and fourth-round pick. Compensation for a move down from No. 14 to No. 24 would equal a low second-round pick. More often than not, though, teams mix and match multiple picks to make the compensation work. In 2007, Carolina traded down from the No. 14 spot in the first round to the Jets' No. 25 spot and picked up a low second-round pick (No. 59) and a fifth-round pick (No. 164) in the process. To make the math work, though, the Panthers also had to send their sixth-round pick (No. 191) to the Jets. Because the Saints will likely have just four draft picks, of which only one is in the first three rounds, their ability to make a deal is limited.
Q: What's up with the horse owned by the group that includes Brees and Payton. Has it won any races? Scott, San Francisco, Calif.
A: Scott, the ownership group, Last Mango Stable, now has two horses, according to Greg Bensel, the Saints' vice president of communications, who manages the stable. The first horse, Pulaski County, won two races and finished in the money five of seven times before suffering a tendon injury. He's now resting on a farm in Louisville. Last Mango claimed a 3-year-old filly, Ultimate Bliss, who is winless in two races at Fair Grounds. She is expected to race a couple of times at Delta Downs before the stable ships her to Hawthorne to tackle Illinois-bred company. Last Mango, which includes Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis and singer Jimmy Buffet among its partners, recently added Detroit Pistons general manager Joe Dumars and ESPN Monday Night Football announcer Mike Tirico to its group.
(c)2009 nola.com
Cleveland Browns: Will They Ever Return To Prominence?
The Browns have had a Dickens-esque two years: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Many fans remember the tremendous highs from that miraculous 2007 season and heading into the 2008 season.
They also remember the typical lows that many Browns fans know and loathe during last season.
Everything in 2008 that could go wrong did go wrong. Injuries, blown leads, huge disappointment, sideline arguments, even issues at the top.
Clearly it seems that the Browns could not handle success. Thus, change had to come.
Enter Eric Mangini and George Kokinis.
The Mangenius was let go in NYC after the Brett Favre meltdown. He brings tremendous knowledge and passion for the game, not to mention a more disciplined approach, something the Browns players clearly need.
Over the past decade, the players dealt with Butch Davis' no-tolerance behavior policy, and Romeo Crennel's lack of discipline.
Hopefully, Mangini can fit right in the middle, treating guys as adults but at the same time able to get in guys' faces.
Kokinis as a GM may be a decent front-office addition, being a former director of pro personnel for the Ravens in the AFC North.
He brings deep knowledge of the other teams in the division and a great ability to tell what it takes for a certain player to succeed.
One thing in the favor of Mangini and Kokinis is that the cupboard is not exactly bare as far as talent.
This roster is the same roster that went 10-6 in 2007, but had injury problems the entire year.
Even in a down year, the Browns managed multiple Pro Bowlers, and have talents in Shawn Rogers and Joe Thomas to build upon on each side of the ball. Kellen Winslow II and Braylon Edwards can't possibly have years as bad as this one.
As for the QB situation, Brady Quinn appears to be the favorite for the starting job.
He had success in his few healthy starts, showing an ability to make great reads and take care of the football, especially more so than cannon-armed Derek Anderson, who may be great trade bait if the Browns want more draft picks.
Most fans would believe that the problem with this team was not talent, but lack of coaching ability.
The job of the coach in some circles is to get players prepared and ready to play in the game.
After watching them play through half a season, it became clear that the Browns constantly appeared flat and disinterested. If a coach has no energy from the sideline, how can he expect his team to have any?
The old adage in sports is the team is a reflection of its coach. After watching Crennel on the sidelines for four years, people had to believe that his players would become disinterested and lackadaisical.
Well, they did.
Mangini at least has the potential to not look like a statue on the sideline. He has youthful energy which can be infectious and hopefully reinvigorate this group.
The problem with the new leadership at the top is that the former regime gave them little to work with: four draft picks and not so much cap space.
Kokinis' strength is finding players that fit into the system, and that will be tested this year more than ever.
As for the dead weight, fans basically recognize certain players need to go ASAP, including Shaun Smith, who threw a punch at Brady Quinn in the locker room.
When building a team, those kinds of players and their behavior cannot ever be tolerated.
The best news for the Browns is that they cannot be any worse than last year.
Odds are good that they won't lose every QB on their roster at one point again.
Odds are good that the quality of opponent this year won't be as high as this year (six playoff teams on 2008 schedule, five played in divisional playoffs).
As a Browns fan, it's easy to feel jilted and irked. The Browns have one of the richest histories in the NFL, yet they have played like a joke throughout the last 10 years.
Fans believe that the players don't get it: that when the Brown and Orange jersey is put on, it means something more.
It represents pride and tradition. It represents the prestige of a bygone era. It represents so many great players, from Otto Graham, to Jim Brown, to Ozzie Newsome.
Some feel that the players don't understand. Players need to be reminded what the Browns are.
To the city of Cleveland, the Browns are, have been, and will always be everything, no matter what anyone says.
The mood and energy of the city is generated by those few months at Browns Stadium.
The question is, will the Browns ever be a team that is worthy of its fanbase? Will they ever win a Super Bowl?
Copyright (c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc
Fitzgerald's Pass Route Runs Past Pittsburgh to Arizona
PITTSBURGH -- Last Wednesday, 11 days before Pittsburgh's meeting with Arizona in the Super Bowl, the Steelers fan who trained the Cardinals' most potent threat spent lunch re-enacting Larry Fitzgerald's greatest hits.
Mere retelling of Fitzgerald's college exploits would not suffice for Walt Harris. So he traced patterns on the table. He shifted his body in the seat. He cupped his hands to make imaginary grabs.
In 2000, Harris and his staff saw what others failed to see in Fitzgerald, then an unheralded recruit in academic trouble. During his tenure as coach at the University of Pittsburgh, Harris recruited, trained and ultimately unleashed Fitzgerald on the NFL, and, eventually, on the Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII.
"God works in mysterious ways, doesn't he?" Harris said.
Ever the football coach, Harris ordered a wedge salad, then began describing the most-watched DVD in his Pittsburgh home. It is filled with catches ranging from difficult to spectacular to improbable, all crammed into the 2002 and 2003 seasons, before Fitzgerald took his circus act to the NFL.
The game against Rutgers in which Fitzgerald reached across his body to make a one-handed catch that Harris described as nonchalant.
The time in practice when Fitzgerald shielded the future NFL cornerback Shawntae Spencer with his body, accelerated and stretched all of his 6-foot-3 frame to secure the ball.
The game against Virginia Tech in which Fitzgerald arched his back and caught the ball without ever seeing it.
"I love to watch that tape," Harris said. "You lose track of all the catches. And you wonder, where did he come up with them?"
Before the Cardinals selected Fitzgerald with the third pick in the 2004 draft, before he broke the NFL record for receiving yards in a postseason this month, he dazzled everyone at Pitt.
The education of a receiver started then.
"He always said he was going to be the best receiver in the game, and he is," said Tyler Palko, a former Pittsburgh quarterback who is one of Fitzgerald's best friends. "The thing I keep coming back to is he's one of a kind."
Fitzgerald grew up in Minnesota and loved Penn State, but coaches reduced their recruiting efforts because his grades were not up to par. Pittsburgh never lost interest.
Coaches there loved the way he slept each night with a football, loved the way he caught every pass thrown in his direction at their camp. They encouraged him to transfer to Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania in 2001, the middle of his senior year of high school.
At Valley Forge, Fitzgerald wore a uniform, cut his dreadlocks and wore the shiniest of shoes. A year and a half later, programs like Ohio State and Michigan State were interested, and he even visited the Spartans on the eve of signing day.
Still, the Panthers received his commitment. The athletic office exploded "in jubilation," Harris said, adding, "Because we knew what we were getting."
In Fitzgerald, the Panthers found a receiver who gave a stranger change for a parking meter during his recruiting trip. They found a young man who remembered every adult's name, who fit the ethos of a program in which players were required to keep their jerseys tucked in and to jog off the field.
Palko said Fitzgerald became his little brother, the roommate who emptied the contents of the refrigerator into his stomach and borrowed Palko's car.
Palko called him Fitz, and on the practice field, Fitz was playful. He would come up behind coaches and knock footballs from their hands or tip the caps on their heads sideways. He loved to talk trash.
For all Fitzgerald's gifts, Harris ranked his coordination first, ahead of leaping ability, fearlessness, timing and deceptive speed. Fitzgerald never showcased his passing skills, but he had a rifle of an arm, too, one he used to pelt the crossbar routinely from 70 yards away after practice. And his oversize hands - grippers, Harris called them - controlled a football the way most people control an orange.
Whenever pro scouts stopped by Pittsburgh, Harris told them they had to witness the one-on-one drills he conducted at the end of practice. It was then that the beast in Fitzgerald emerged.
In fact, after breaking his hand during his sophomore season, he caught every ball thrown his way in practice with one hand.
"He has a habit of making it look simple," Palko said. "I always tell people that the catches you see on Sunday don't impress me. The really freakish stuff he did in practice."
So many stories. Like the time against Texas A&M, when Harris ribbed Fitzgerald for a lack of conditioning. Fitzgerald was a player who worked out on Mondays, his day off, and in that game, he leapt, fought off two defenders and caught a ball inbounds, only to have an official rule him out.
It was the only time Harris saw Fitzgerald not hand the ball to an official. And after Fitzgerald turned in what Harris called his Heisman coming-out party, he nudged Harris on the sideline and said, "You think I'm in pretty good shape now?"
"That's Larry being Larry," said Palko, who recently signed a futures contract with the Cardinals. "He doesn't play football for the fame. He doesn't play football to have cameras shoved in his face. He plays football to be the best receiver who ever lived and win championships. That's not a show. That's Larry."
At Pittsburgh, the Panthers installed a package each week with 10 or 12 options they called Larry's Plays. Designed even for situations when defenses covered Fitzgerald with three players, they enabled him to set an NCAA record with at least one touchdown catch in 18 straight games.
Against Boston College, with the Eagles cornerback running backward at the snap, Harris told his quarterback to throw the go route anyway.
"The go route works when the receiver beats the corner," Harris said. "With Larry, I don't think he has to beat the corner. He will outmaneuver the guy."
Harris is an analytical coach and a science buff. He bonded with Fitzgerald, becoming more like family. He was there when Fitzgerald's mother died of cancer in 2003. (Fitzgerald was estranged from her at the time.) He saw Fitzgerald double his study hall hours to catch up after the funeral, even with the NFL draft looming.
Harris was also there when Fitzgerald finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting as a sophomore, although the other contenders came from teams with higher profiles.
And he was there at Fitzgerald's draft party on the South Side of Chicago, where the family laughed and talked and ate pulled pork and ribs well into the morning. Harris still sends text messages to Fitzgerald, imploring him to concentrate on running after the catch.
In a week, Harris will watch the Super Bowl like everyone else here, surrounded by Steelers fans. He declined to name which team he will root for but said he would pull for one player above all others.
Even inside the Grille 36 restaurant owned by the retired running back Jerome Bettis, even in the shadow of Heinz Field, Harris remains a Steelers fan with loyalties divided by Super Bowl XLIII. Should Fitzgerald turn in another postseason performance for the ages, Harris will turn to his black-and-gold-clad guests, shrug and say the only thing he can:
"That's just Larry being Larry."
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Larry Fitzgerald catches 3 TDs, Arizona leads NFC title game over Eagles 24-6 at halftime
Larry Fitzgerald caught a record-setting three touchdown passes in the first half and the upstart Arizona Cardinals dominated Philadelphia on Sunday to take a 24-6 halftime lead over the Eagles in the NFC championship game.
Kurt Warner threw a 12-yard pass to Fitzgerald for a touchdown on the game's first drive, used a trick play for a 62-yarder early in the second and lobbed a 1-yarder to the big receiver late in the half.
Fitzgerald became the third receiver in NFL history to catch three touchdown passes in a conference championship game, and the first to do it in the first half.
The other two with three TD catches were Cleveland's Gary Collins against Baltimore in 1964 and Dallas' Preston Pearson against the Los Angeles Rams in 1975.
The half ended with Neil Rackers' 49-yard field goal for Arizona.
Warner completed 14 of 17 passes for 203 yards for a Cardinals team playing in its first conference championship game. Fitzgerald had six catches for 113 yards to tie the NFL record with his third consecutive 100-yard receiving game in the playoffs. Edgerrin James rushed for 56 yards in seven carries.
David Akers kicked field goals of 45 and 33 yards, but missed a 47-yarder to snap his NFL record string of 19 straight in the postseason for an Eagles team that beat Arizona 48-20 on Thanksgiving night.
It was a far different story this time.
On the play after Akers' miss, Warner pitched to J.J. Arrington, who threw the ball back to the Arizona quarterback. Warner lofted it downfield to Fitzgerald, who scored after safety Quintin Demps fell down.
Arizona took the opening kickoff in front of a loud crowd of more than 70,000 at University of Phoenix Stadium and went 80 yards in nine plays.
James carried four times for 33 yards on the drive. Warner was 4-for-4 for 44 yards, capped by his 12-yard TD pass to Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald caught the ball at the 2, then bounced off Brian Dawkins and barely got the ball across the goal line.
Arizona went 73 yards in nine plays for its third touchdown. The scoring pass came a pass interference call against the Eagles' Asante Samuel.
The Cardinals nearly got the ball on the subsequent kickoff when it went off Victor Abiamiri's fingertips. The official ruled the ball then went out of bounds before coming back and field and being recovered by Arizona. Replays showed the ball never went out of bounds.
McNabb ran 22 yards on Philadelphia's first play of the game, his longest run since week 16 of 2007, when he had a 40-yard scramble against New Orleans. That led to Akers' first field goal
Aaron Francisco intercepted a deflected pass by McNabb and returned it 27 yards to the Philadelphia 25 later in the first quarter, but DeSean Jackson stripped the ball away at the end of the play and Matt Schobel recovered for the Eagles.
Brian Westbrook was in the lineup despite a sore left knee for the Eagles but wasn't a factor. Arizona's Anquan Boldin, out of last week's victory at Carolina with a strained left hamstring, was back and showed no ill effects.
Copyright (c) 2009 The Associated Press
Titans Play Good Enough to Lose
The Tennessee Titans did almost everything right for 59 minutes and 40 seconds of playoff football against the Baltimore Ravens
It was the other 20 seconds that ended their season.
The ran against the legendary Ray Lewis and arguably the NFL's toughest run defense. They held the football for over 34 minutes. The passed against the incredible ball-hawing Ed Reed and company.
They handled every blitz that the Rex Ryan could throw at them giving Kerry Collins ample time to complete timely passes to his receivers and backs. Running back Chris Johnson single handedly shredded the Ravens defensive line making ankle-breaking moves en route to 72 first half rushing yards.
But at the end of it all, after dominating time of possession and total offense. After making the Raven's defense look very average, it came down to two plays - two red zone fumbles. One by Lendale White and the other by Algea Crumpler, both the result of jarring hits by the Raven's defense.
The Ravens looked over-matched on both sides of the ball for most of the game. The one offensive bright spot was the poise of Joe Flacco, who, while not spectacular, was able to avoid sacks and turnovers often using his pure size and strength, and not-so-rookie-like awareness, to out muscle defenders just long enough to avoid negative yardage.
Flacco made three big throws when the Ravens needed them, but it was the two fatal turnovers, caused by the hard hitting Ravens' defense, that decided this game.
A second half injury to Johnson, who had provided the offensive spark through the first half with over 100 total yards, left the Titan's offense looking much more and predictable in the second half. They still managed to own the football and Kerry Collins can not be faulted for his gutsy performance.
Fumbles in the red zone took almost certain points off the board, twice. End of story. End of season.
The Ravens will travel to play the winner of today's Chargers/Steelers match up, and if I were a Ravens fan, regardless of the Steelers defense, I would be crossing my fingers that LT and Philip Rivers fall to the Steelers.
With the lackluster offensive output the Ravens showed in Nashville, and the inability to stop a speedy tailback or the intermediate passing game, playing the less flashy and more conservative Steelers, with a questionable running game and inconsistant play at quarterback, may be an easier ticket back to Tampa.
Copyright (c) 2008 Bleacher Report, Inc
Rex Ryan helped himself
A lot.
Ryan's Baltimore defense simply bludgeoned Miami this afternoon in an impressive display of aggressiveness.
So I referenced the following Peter King story earlier this week and before heading to the SI Web site to dig it out, a reader posted the link in the comments section of my previous blog post. I cut a little bit here and there, but this is most of it, from the Dec. 22 issue of SI:
"TO REX RYAN, defensive football must be a game of deception played by 11 Mike Tysons. So it should come as no surprise that while preparing for the 2008 draft last winter, Ryan, the Ravens' defensive coordinator, became intrigued with a safety from Notre Dame named Tom Zbikowski. Ryan watched video of a pro boxing match between Zbikowski, a 214-pound heavyweight, and a pug named Robert Bell on an undercard at Madison Square Garden in June 2006. Thirty-five seconds into the fight Zbikowski threw a left hook to Bell's right cheek that his opponent never saw, then followed with a brutal overhand right. Down went Bell. First-round knockout.
'As soon as I saw Zibby in the ring,' Ryan recalled last week, 'I said, 'We have to have him.' He just destroyed that guy! My kind of guy! We don't chase the pretty girl. We chase the passionate, mean s.o.b. who loves football.'
Later, King writes: "During a typical week, Ryan's staff meets for long hours and concocts strange schemes that opponents have never seen. In a 2005 game against Houston, David Carr had no idea what hit him when four blitzers - so close to each other that their shoulders almost touched -plowed through the right tackle-guard hole. No one else rushed. Carr got up looking as if he had been hit by a Smart Car. Who rushes four men from the same spot and leaves the other lanes empty? 'Rex does a great job on the overload blitzes,' says Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. 'It's hard for an offense to adjust to something like that when you don't leave other spots on the field uncovered.'
Ryan, 46, learned from the master of pressure D - his dad, Buddy, who was all about mismatches and intimidation. Buddy Ryan brought the blitz-dominated 46 defense to the NFL as defensive coordinator of the Bears in the early '80s; cornerbacks were valued for their ability to blitz and play bump-and-run. 'My dad was all about outnumbering the protection,' Rex says. 'If there was a six-man protection, he'd send seven. He had a Cover Zero philosophy.'
In Baltimore, Rex's creativity has included taking a page from the LeBeau zone-blitz book by dropping 345-pound tackle Haloti Ngata into a shallow zone and leaving the center to block no one, while a blitzer rushes through another gap. Often Ryan will mix zone and man coverage on the same play, using a Cover Two look deep while shadowing shallow receivers man-to-man.
And the money quote that would most likely appeal to any Jets fan, again from Kings's story:
"Our system works," Rex says, "because on every play the offense is thinking, Here comes the blitz. And whether it is or not, the quarterback better have a clock in his head, because he's not going to have much time."
The Jets will interview Ryan at some point, maybe as early as this week, and I'm told Jets hierarchy watched this afternoon's game closely. Ryan, naturally, won't be able to bring Ed Reed and the rest of the Ravens defense with him to NY if he were to be hired, except maybe Ray Lewis, who is a free agent after the season.
One game, naturally, isn't reason to hire - or not hire - anyone, but philosophy is. And, it can't be stressed enough, this process is still just three interviews old. Enjoy Vikings/Eagles.
weblogs.amny.com
Will Lions Get Their Win From Pack?
(Sports Network) - The Detroit Lions have reached their Waterloo. The opposing army is the Green Bay Packers, the battlefield is Lambeau Field, and the price of a loss is a certain exile to a private island reserved for the worst team in NFL history.
The Lions reached a new low in last Sunday's 42-7 thrashing at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, becoming the first team in NFL annals to lose their first 15 games in a season.
The 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers - the only team since World War II to lose all of its games - finished 0-14 in their first season of existence and were spared the indignity of having to play another game thanks to a shorter, pre- schedule-expansion slate.
The 1980 New Orleans Saints were the only other club that had started 0-14, though they gutted out a win in game 15 to finish 1-15 and avoid the kind of ignominy the Lions will stare down on Sunday.
Detroit has finished winless previously, going 0-11 in a 1942 campaign that saw the war-depleted Lions outscored by a composite of 263-38. With the loss in its home finale to New Orleans last week, the 2008 team became the first group of Lions since that club to fail to notch a win during the home portion of its home schedule.
Rod Marinelli's club has now lost 16 straight games since a home win over the Kansas City Chiefs last Dec. 23rd, and is 1-22 in its past 23 games overall.
In addition to avoiding 0-16, the Lions will on Sunday be attempting to snap an 11-game road losing streak that has followed a win at Soldier Field over the Bears last Oct. 28.
Things aren't nearly as bleak for the homestanding Packers, though there is little question that their 2008 season has come with its own share of disappointment.
Following Monday night's 20-17 overtime loss at the Chicago Bears, Mike McCarthy's team is now 5-10, and just one season after going 13-3 and coming within an overtime loss of playing for a Super Bowl title.
The loss at Soldier Field was the continuation of a nightmarish stretch that has seen Green Bay lose seven of its past eight games following a 4-3 start. A win on Sunday will allow the Pack to avoid carrying a six-game losing streak into the offseason, which would mark the worst ending of a Green Bay campaign since the 1958 team dropped its final seven en route to a 1-10-1 finish in head coach Ray "Scooter" McLean's lone year at the helm.
McLean resigned after the '58 season, and the organization subsequently hired little-known New York Giants assistant coach Vince Lombardi to lead the team.
SERIES HISTORY
The series between the Lions and Packers dates back to the 1930 season, with Green Bay holding a 85-64-7 regular season edge. The Pack has won six straight and eight of the last nine in the series, including a 48-25 win at Ford Field in Week 2 and a 34-13 decision at Lambeau Field in Week 17 of last year. Detroit's last victory over Green Bay came by a 17-3 count in Week 1 of the 2005 campaign in the Motor City. The Lions have lost 16 consecutive regular season road games in the series, including 13 straight years at Lambeau Field, and from 1992 through 1994 at Milwaukee County Stadium. The Lions' last road win in the series came in 1991.
In addition to the regular season series, the clubs have met twice in the postseason, with Green Bay winning NFC First-Round Playoff matchups in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.
Including playoffs, the Lions have lost 14 in a row at Lambeau Field, and 17 straight road games in the series.
McCarthy leads the series with both the Lions and Marinelli, 5-0.
FANTASY FOCUS
Let it be remembered that perhaps the first 0-16 team in NFL history had two terrific fantasy football players. Johnson has been an unquestioned stud, contributing 60-plus yards in each of his last eight games, and scoring touchdowns in eight of his previous 10 contests before being shut out of the end zone last week. Veteran kicker Jason Hanson is also having a strong year, making good on 21-of-22 field goals, including 8-of-8 on kicks of 50 yards or longer. Elsewhere on the team, Smith is just 116 yards shy of 1,000 and might get it against a shaky Green Bay run defense.
Those holding fantasy championships in Week 17 will be very pleased if they own Packers principles like Rodgers, Grant Jennings, Driver, tight end Donald Lee, kicker Mason Crosby, or even a Packers defense that figures to have a nice day against a Lions team adept at throwing pick-sixes. Because of the matchup, starting anyone wearing a Green Bay uniform is a must this week.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
And so, it has come down to this for the Lions. a winless dome team traveling to one of the coldest places on the planet to try to pull off a victory in a building where it hasn't won since M.C. Hammer had money. The fact that the Packers are 5-10 might be somewhat reassuring to the Lions and their hopeful fans, but Green Bay has lost a bunch of tight games to good teams this year and is too talented to allow itself to limp into the offseason with a six-game losing streak. It's going to take a cataclysmic series of events for Detroit to win this game, and sadly, the '08 Lions will always be remembered for being on the business end of the cataclysms.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Packers 31, Lions 10
(c)2008 WFRV and WJMN Television Station, Inc
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