Tag Archives: Matthew Stafford
When the Saints Go Marching . . . Watch Out San Francisco
It is hard to deny how well the New Orleans Saints’ are playing right now. The dark horse with the fleur-de-lis might not have landed that 2nd place NFC slot but should have no trouble reaching the divisional playoffs.
This is a team that hasn’t lost a game since October (currently an eight game winning streak) and has won all games since their Week 11 bye, helmed by the record-breaking Drew Brees. Considering the shaky history and often over-emotional play of the Detroit Lions, the more seasoned and stable Saints should have no trouble sending Detroit home.
The numbers align in favor of the Bayou Boys. In their 45-17 rout of the Carolina Panthers, Brees broke his own 2009 record of pass completion percentage with 71.6; Peyton Manning’s 2010 number of completions with 468 (Manning finished with 450); and the monstrous tight end Jimmy Graham briefly held the NFL’s record for most receiving yards (tight end) with 1,310. And, of course Brees now holds the single season passing record (previously Dan Marino’s) with 5,476 (40,742 career).
The first time these two teams met, Brees set another record. After leading New Orleans to a 31-17 win, passing for 342 yards and three touchdowns, Brees became the first play-caller to record more than 4,000 yards in the first 12 games of the season with 4,031. But, everyone was talking about some guy in Denver.
Not to undermined the Lions or underestimate them. Led by the 5th best quarterback in the league, Matthew Stafford, and a defense that won’t quit, Detroit is a formable opponent. New Orleans will need to be sharp on defense.
Although the Lions have the talent, the experience is not there. This is a team that hasn’t reached the post season since 1999. And, since the playoffs are different beast, a major collapse is plausible for the Lions. The inconsistency’s they exhibited during the regular season are only going to be amplified and exposed postseason.
Couple that with how amped the Saints are, equals doom for Detroit. But, the beauty of the playoffs is, nothing is set in stone. Remember the favored Saints last year? Fell to a Seattle Seahawks team that was the first team to reach the playoffs with a losing record.
The underdog Lions could pull off an upset, but with all the voodoo in favor of the surging Saints, it’s a highly unlikely charge. (Vegas odds are currently set with Saints a 10-point favor.)
Matchup wise, the Saints air game is going to be a dominate factor. Detroit is 22nd in passing defense, while the Saints still hold 1st in the league in passing offense and 6th in rushing. All of Detroit’s corner-backs are vertically challenged and there are only a few six-foot defenders. Meaning, that coverage of the 6-6 Graham is going to be a challenge. As we all saw in the Panthers game, Graham is able to go up over man-coverage and pull down impossible catches.
Oh, and when the Saints decide to go to the ground, they go to the NFL single season all-purpose yards (2,696) record holder, Darren Sproles. A dangerous option, even for Ndamukong Suh to handle. The Lion’s secondary has also been a real problem this year, as evidence by how the Packers destroyed it en route to a 27-15 win in their first matchup.
Detroit is not without their own star players. Besides Stafford, the Lion’s boast the number one receiver in the league with Calvin Johnson, who led the league with 1,681 receiving yards. This is also a team that started the season 5-0, but struggled New Years Day to stop the Packers bench players.
Expect this to be a close game in the first half and then watch as the Saints go marching past the Lions in the second half and right on to the San Francisco 49ers; in what would probably be the most interesting matchup of the year.
Joshua Peacock is a freelance writer and sports journalist based out of Savannah, Georgia. Original from Tennessee, he follows the Tennessee Titans in the AFC and the New Orleans Saints in the NFC. He can be contacted at jpeacock@thepenaltyflagblog.com
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Ten Players Who Were Snubbed In Pro Bowl Voting
The Pro Bowl voting has come and gone, and now is the time for everyone to get into a bind because their favorite player got snubbed and isn’t going to Hawaii. The New England Patriots and the San Francisco 49ers lead the NFL in most players going with eight, with the Baltimore Ravens, and Green Bay Packers behind with seven Pro Bowlers from their respective teams. Overall, when I looked at the rosters for both the AFC and NFC I noticed that most of the roster is correct but that there is some mistakes. There are players who didn’t deserve it and you got players voted in by their reputation alone. So with that in mind, I’m going to name 10 players who should be packing their bags for Hawaii but are going to be at home instead.
Honorable Mention, All Right Tackles & Guards: I have this as a honorable mention due to the fact that this doesn’t involve just one player, it involves every player who plays Right Tackle and Guard. Now on the Pro Bowl Ballot, they separate the Free Safety and Strong Safety position, they separate the Inside Linebacker and Outside Linebacker, but make Tackle and Guard one position? That doesn’t seem fair to the guys at Right Tackle who do as much as the Left Tackle and don’t get any credit for what they do. Sure the Left Tackle position is the more premium position but shouldn’t the Right Tackle position get some love as well? Also Guards are split by Left and Right Guard but are bunched together which is unfair to all the guards. I hope the NFL changes this unjustice and makes Guard and Tackle separate positions so every player can get the credit they deserve.
RB Matt Forte: Now I understand that he is second running back on the NFC Roster but tell me how he isn’t starting. The snub here is that Forte is not the starter and that LeSean McCoy is. McCoy has done well but certainly not better than Matt Forte who has carried the Bears for most of the season. The Bears wouldn’t have as great of a season if it wasn’t for Forte and despite the injury should be the NFC Starting running back.
DE Cliff Avril: Jared Allen and Jason Babin were selected as the Defensive End starters on the NFC and I have to ask, where is Cliff Avril? Not only has his 11 sacks, six forced fumbles and one interception helped the Lions get to the playoffs for the first time since 1999, but overall he has had a great season. Babin and Allen on the other hand have 18.5 and 18 sacks respectively. Avril is very deserving but with a crowded position in the NFC Avril may continue to go unnoticed.
WR Steve Smith: Cam Newton has revived the career of Steve Smith. There were talks of Smith being traded but Smith decided to stay a Carolina Panther and it was the right decision. Now I won’t argue against Calvin Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald but I would think Smith deserves a spot on the roster. Many questioned whether he still had it but bad Quarterback play hurt his play and now with Cam Newton under center, Steve Smith looks like a Pro Bowler once again.
Safety Eric Weddle: Ed Reed no doubt is still one of the best safeties to play in the NFL, but this season has been a more quiet and unusual season for Reed. He only has three interceptions this season and I think this is one of those votes where a player got in based on reputation alone. Eric Weddle on the other hand has had a great season with seven interceptions on the season and even though the Chargers aren’t going to the playoffs, Weddle should be representing them in the Pro Bowl.
DT/DE Richard Seymour: This is another position that gets screwed over by being joined as one. DE and DT are two seperate positions like they should be but the problem is you have 3-4 DE, 4-3 DE, 3-4 Nose Tackle and 4-3 Defensive Tackle. All different positions due to the systems being different and as you combine the DE position you mix everything up. Haloti Ngata and Vince Wilfork are great selections but Ngata plays 3-4 DE mostly for the Ravens, while Wilfork is the Nose Tackle. Seymour had a great year but will get snubbed due to players having better years and the DE and Defensive Tackle Position being one position not accounting for the 3-4 or 4-3 defensive systems the players play in.
RB Reggie Bush: Both Ray Rice and Maurice Jones-Drew are very deserving but I have a issue with Arian Foster being the third AFC running back. Foster started off the season slow and has picked it up as of late and the Pro Bowl voting should be based on an entire season. Foster has been doing well the past few games but Reggie Bush has been a welcome acquisition in Miami and should be awarded by heading to Hawaii.
QB Matthew Stafford: What a difference it can make by staying healthy and being able to play all sixteen games of the seasons. Stafford in the past couple years has been injured but this season he has stayed healthy and is leading the Lions to the playoffs. Now of course, he is in a crowded conference already with players like Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, and Michael Vick. That will make it tough on Stafford to reach the Pro Bowl but this season he showed why the Lions took him first overall and showed why he will be a future Pro Bowler.
LB London Fletcher: How Fletcher continues to be overlooked is mind boggling. He leads the league with 146 tackles, 146 tackles for crying out loud. He led the league last year in tackles and has his 13th straight season of over 100 tackles. Fletcher is very deserving and you can make an argument for Brian Urlacher, but Fletcher has done way more and has certainly had a better season than him. Please someone vote him to the Pro Bowl so he gets what he deserves.
LB Rey Maualuga: I won’t argue Ray Lewis as he is still playing at a top level, but I will argue Derrick Johnson. I do think when the Pro Bowl Voting is done that winning has to be taken into consideration. The Bengals defense has been solid all year and Maulaluga is one of the reasons. This defense is part of why the Bengals can get into the playoffs on Sunday and he should be recognized for it. I know it will be tough in the AFC but pretty soon he will become a Pro Bowl regular.
QB Andy Dalton: I would put Joe Flacco here in this spot but Andy Dalton has had a fabulous year in Cincinnati and even though Phillip Rivers has the statistics, Dalton has the wins to back up the statistics. I know Cam Newton is going to get all the hype and the Rookie of the Year honors but Dalton is more deserving. Dalton wasn’t a first round pick, he wasn’t the number one overall pick like Cam but for a second round pick, he has done way more than what anyone expected. Dalton could very well lead the Bengals into the playoffs and if that isn’t deserving of Rookie of The Year or a Pro Bowl trip, I don’t know what is.
Mike Presley is a NFL Featured Journalist for The Penalty Flag. He is a graduate of the Carolina School of Broadcasting and hosts a weekly NFL show on the schools radio station 89.3 The Storm entitled “The Front Seven.” Mike also writes for the racing website www.hardcoreracefans.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikepresley64.
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Inconsistent Lions Get Early Christmas Present in Win Over Vikings
via getty images
The video will be played on ESPN on the hour, every hour until next Sunday. Every Detroit Lions player will have to answer a plethora of questions about it and head coach Jim Schwartz will have to answer even more. Sports analysts will debate the play until the cows come home and NFL fans will wring their collective hands and lament the fortunes of the dirtiest team in football.
Whether in victory or defeat, the Detroit Lions sure have a way of getting into the spotlight, don’t they?
Let’s just get it out-of-the-way. Yes, DeAndre Levy had a hand full of Joe Webb‘s facemask. It should have been penalized. The Vikings might have retained the ball and they might have won. It doesn’t take a giant leap to figure that out.
The Lions and their fans might take solace in the fact that Levy actually knocked the ball out prior to grabbing the mask. It didn’t lead to the fumble.
Regardless, the officials missed the call.
The Lions will undoubtedly be focused on other things this week though. Their performance was a shining example of the inconsistency that has plagued them all year.
The Lions are a frustrating team. On the stat sheet they look impressive. Matthew Stafford had a decent day, passing for 227 yards and two touchdowns and the Lions’ defense forced six turnovers. Stephen Tulloch scored on a fumble recovery and Alphonso Smith had a pick-six.
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? But remember, the Lions allowed a 2-10 team without their star running back to hang around. They allowed a rookie quarterback to engineer two impressive scoring drives. Then they allowed a second string QB to do his best Michael Vick impersonation and lead the Vikings on a dramatic comeback.
And it wouldn’t be Lion football without one bone-headed penalty; this one courtesy of Tulloch, who blind-sided Christian Ponder unnecessarily.
I’m not sure this is what Jim Schwartz had in mind when he said he wanted a playoff mindset.
The Lion offense was perhaps the most frustrating. They started off on fire, then took the final two and a half quarters off. Calvin Johnson was not involved, Stafford was pressured and sacked too many times and the running game was going nowhere.
They only converted 50 percent of their third downs.
This is not a formula to be successful in the playoffs, especially with teams like Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints out there.
The Lions have to shore up these issues. But we’ve been saying that all year. I’m beginning to think this is just who these Lions are. They are a team of potential and inconsistency. They are a team that can dominate but can also be dominated. They do things the hard way, not necessarily the right way.
But there is still time to put it all together. Three weeks in the NFL is an eternity.
The Lions have taken the first step in this last quarter of the regular season. They’ve done what they needed to do right now. They are in a better position than they were last week. And that was exactly what they were trying to do.
Mission accomplished.
Christopher Madden is an NFL team writer for The Penalty Flag. He can be contacted at cmadden@thepenaltyflagblog.com.
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