Re: Only the Lions
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:34 am
I'm not sure why I'm even reading the lecturing of someone who advocates tanking for better draft picks. But I'll respond anyways:
I think you're significantly under-estimating the effects of a loss like that first Green Bay game. First place vs last place in the division. Now should they have been able to mentally move on? Yes, any professional sports team should. But when you have a culture of losing that has existed as long as it has in Detroit, and a culture of (at least a perception of) always being on the short end of the stick of bad officiating, the "here we go again" negative vibe creeps in and really demoralizes a team.
So no, I don't buy into the notion that the wheels were coming off prior to the Green Bay game. At that time, they were 2-1-1, had just lost a very close and competitive game to KC, and Stafford's stats were off the charts. Has the defense sucked all year? Yes, it has. And I've been critical of it in this forum. I've also been critical not only this year, but in past years, of Ford family ownership.
Aside from their deficiencies on defense, why does Detroit blow leads every 4th quarter? It is largely due to horrific play-calling on both sides of the ball and some of the consistently worst clock management I've ever seen by any team in the league. Combine that with a culture of losing and you're just not going to consistently win the close games.
I also think that Matt Patricia has one of the same problems that Caldwell had: lack of emotion, both on the sideline and during press conferences. I don't think he's the right fit for a team that needs to instill a culture of winning. And speaking of the need for a culture of winning, your advocacy for intentionally losing "meaningless" games does NOT help.
I think you're significantly under-estimating the effects of a loss like that first Green Bay game. First place vs last place in the division. Now should they have been able to mentally move on? Yes, any professional sports team should. But when you have a culture of losing that has existed as long as it has in Detroit, and a culture of (at least a perception of) always being on the short end of the stick of bad officiating, the "here we go again" negative vibe creeps in and really demoralizes a team.
So no, I don't buy into the notion that the wheels were coming off prior to the Green Bay game. At that time, they were 2-1-1, had just lost a very close and competitive game to KC, and Stafford's stats were off the charts. Has the defense sucked all year? Yes, it has. And I've been critical of it in this forum. I've also been critical not only this year, but in past years, of Ford family ownership.
Aside from their deficiencies on defense, why does Detroit blow leads every 4th quarter? It is largely due to horrific play-calling on both sides of the ball and some of the consistently worst clock management I've ever seen by any team in the league. Combine that with a culture of losing and you're just not going to consistently win the close games.
I also think that Matt Patricia has one of the same problems that Caldwell had: lack of emotion, both on the sideline and during press conferences. I don't think he's the right fit for a team that needs to instill a culture of winning. And speaking of the need for a culture of winning, your advocacy for intentionally losing "meaningless" games does NOT help.