Lions @ Vikings – That Was Expected

Vikings: 27 Lions: 10

As much as I was hoping for a Lions upset on Sunday, I didn’t expect them to have much of a chance going up to Minnesota. Since I’m a bit late (though no later than usual) with getting up a recap, I’ll go off a lot of what others have already said.

The Church of Schwartz saw a lot of positives from the Lions’ rookies last week, with a lot of the problems coming from players obtained during the Millen era. And there’s also this:

FOX’s obsession with Brett Favre is sickening. There are thousands of other players in this league. Let’s see a spotlight on someone other than Favre.

I thought the announcers did a pretty good job (and by “pretty good” I mean “STFU already”) of showering Vikings’ defensive end Ray Edwards with praise. Yes, this Ray Edwards.

Big Al shares a lot of my thoughts on Matthew Stafford’s performance from Sunday.

Regardless of getting hammered every time he was in the pocket (or more correctly, as the pocket crumbled) I didn’t see a quarterback running scared. I didn’t see a quarterback unloading the ball to avoid getting hit. I didn’t see happy feet. I didn’t see a quarterback shy away from contact. I didn’t see a scared quarterback. I didn’t see Joey Harrington. I didn’t see Scott Mitchell.

I did see a quarterback with balls the size Joey Blue Skies and the happy footed Mitchell could only dream of having.

If there’s one thing you could say about Stafford’s performance, it’s that he didn’t quit. He kept hopping up after each and every hit, only to be knocked on his back-side again on the next play. Though his numbers weren’t spectacular (29/51, 224 yards, 1 TD), he threw no interceptions. For him to not turn the ball over the week after throwing 5 picks, he showed something we’ve been waiting a long time for in Detroit: improvement. I don’t even want to know how many of Stafford’s 22 incompletions were dropped passes; it will only stress me out. However, I can probably count the number of poorly thrown passes he had on one hand. The kid is tough, something any Detroit sports fan can appreciate.

One last thing I noticed came from the defensive side of the ball. Phillip Buchanon’s forced fumble on Adrian Peterson in the open field in the 2nd quarter is the kind of play that would not have happened last year. Peterson broke into the open field and looked all but gone until Buchanon turned on the jets that he was known for early in his career. Buchanon punched the ball away and the Lions recovered in the end zone. At the time, it looked like the sort of play that could have propelled the Lions to a comeback for the upset, but the offense couldn’t take advantage. I’m pretty sure that the Lions’ defenders would have let Peterson go to the house last year, even if they had the speed to catch him. The mentality is there now for the Lions. It’s all about talent and execution now.

The Lions come home next week to face the equally awful Cleveland Browns. Both teams need this win. Hopefully the Lions can put it together for their second win of the year.