Detroit Lions 2010 Schedule Preview: 16 Games, 16 Headlines, Part Two

The second quarter of the Detroit Lions’ 2010 schedule provides plenty of intrigue.

Between Weeks Five and Nine, the Lions will see some of their most winnable games of the year (on paper), some of the most intriguing personnel matchups, and of course, a bye week.

The media should have a good time with this stretch.

Part one of this four-part series can be found here .

Week Five: St. Louis Rams at Detroit Lions

“Stafford vs. Bradford: Battle of the No. 1 Quarterbacks”

Where to begin?

There are so many angles to play on this game, most media outlets will have a hard time picking one.

The media loves quarterbacks, though, so they’ll likely go with the last two years’ top overall draft picks facing off as the quarterbacks of their respective teams.

Expect at least one bad pun about the battle for “Ford” Field, based on the quarterbacks’ last names (StafFORD and BradFORD) and the name of the venue.

There’s also the fact that the Rams and Lions have actually possessed the top-two draft picks the last two years (in alternating order).

Or how about the fact that after the Detroit Lions completed their historic 0-16 season in 2008, the St. Louis Rams completed a 1-15 season last year, with their only win coming against— the Detroit Lions.

Don’t think the fans won’t know that when the Rams take Ford Field.

These are just the story lines we could see if there isn’t another major losing streak to bust. If either the Lions or Rams come into Week Five winless, that would be a storyline all its own, given the teams’ penchant for losing.

Expect this game to be full of intrigue, but only for those in Detroit and St. Louis. For everyone else, it’s the Game of the Weak.

Week Six: Detroit Lions at NY Giants

“Detroit Lions Make First Trip to New Meadowlands Stadium”

Tough to find a real standout story here. There are no notable former Lions playing with the Giants or vice-versa, the teams have no long-standing rivalry, and there’s no real coaching connection.

More than likely, this game will be one that focuses almost entirely on in-season story lines.

Can the Lions head into the bye week on a high-note (if they haven’t snapped it yet, the road losing streak will come into play here)?

Can Eli Manning continue his hot streak/recover from his cold streak?

So on and so forth.

The only thing I can guarantee, is we’ll hear a lot about how wonderful New Meadowlands Stadium is. Though it will be Week Six, and the “new stadium” novelty will have mostly worn off, it’s also a new stadium in New York . With the way the media works, we’ll be lucky if we’re done hearing about it by 2011.

The announcers for the game will, at some point, undoubtedly start a dialogue about the merits of having the Super Bowl there. Depending on how good the Giants look, the talk could shift to them seeing a Super Bowl in their home stadium, despite the obvious fact that it won’t be until 2014.

Week Seven: Bye

“Lions Take Bye Week to Rest Injuries, Regroup”

Because, I mean, what does any team do with their bye week?

No team has an abundance of stories in the bye week, but there are possible exceptions.

If the Lions win more than two of their first six games, the bye week content will be full of optimism about how the Lions have already matched/surpassed their win total for the last two years combined.

Of course, the inverse is also true, if it looks like another hopeless season.

Also likely is that the Lions most notable injuries— and there will be injuries— will play a role (i.e. will they be ready for Week Eight?). 

Given Jim Schwartz’s history, details will be at a premium. So it will be a question of “Is _________ Practicing? If so, what drills, and how does he look?”

Week Eight: Washington Redskins at Detroit Lions

“Redskins Attempt to Avenge 2009 Loss With McNabb in Tow”

I don’t know if you remember, but the Detroit Lions beat the Washington Redskins last year.

It was a pretty big deal .

Incidentally, the Redskins are the only team on the Lions 2010 schedule that have suffered a loss to Detroit since 2007.

Donovan McNabb, the Redskins' new quarterback, also has a little bit of history with the Lions. When he last played the Lions with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007, his offense lit up the team for 56 points.

How McNabb fares in the first half of his season with the Redskins will factor in heavily to how this question is raised, but the question will remain the same—Can McNabb beat the Detroit secondary again?

More appropriately, though, the question will be whether the addition of McNabb will be what the Redskins need to avenge their embarrassing loss in 2009.

As much as I would like to say the Lions dominated the Redskins last year, Jason Campbell had a good game, and with another 45 seconds, may have completed a late two-score comeback.

When Jason Campbell runs your defense ragged, there are problems. Especially when the same team comes back the following year with Donovan McNabb.

Also worth noting is the draft-enhanced lines of both teams. Namely, the Lions No. 2 overall selection of DT Ndamukong Suh, and the Redskins No.4 overall selection of OT Trent Williams.

This would be a huge story if the two were in a position to face off every down, especially with the two being former Big 12 rivals (Suh—Nebraska, Williams—Oklahoma). However, since they play on different parts of the line, contact between them will be minimal, and likely so will the focus on that storyline.

Week Nine: New York Jets at Detroit Lions

“Stafford and Sanchez Face Off in Battle of Top Sophomore QBs”

It can’t be anything else.

Jets fans got to see their team play in the AFC Championship game last year after the seemingly bipolar Mark Sanchez got hot at the right time.

Therefore, according to Jets fans, Sanchez is the greatest quarterback ever to play football, or at least he will be once he surpasses Joe Namath.

More importantly, Sanchez’s rookie success puts him miles ahead of that Georgia kid, what was his name? Stanford, or something.

The Lion fan’s rebuttal to this, of course, is that with the well-developed, near-playoff core the Jets were able to give Sanchez (as opposed to the completely flipped 0-16 granted in Detroit), Stafford would have had as much—or more success.

On and on the discussion goes.

Until now.

Stafford and Sanchez will settle the score of who really was the best quarterback of the 2009 draft.

Or at least, that’s what the buzz will sound like.

Despite the fact that the Jets will be, at nearly every single position other than quarterback, a better overall team than the Lions, this game will end up being a media referendum on whether Stafford or Sanchez was a better pick.

Unfair, I know, but that’s how the mainstream is going to see it. I should point out that most of that mainstream media is located in New York. Which probably doesn’t have anything to do with it, right?

Maybe.

Stafford/Sanchez aside, here’s the real matchup in this game—Calvin Johnson on Revis Island.

As Lions fans know, Johnson is one of the best and least-appreciated wide receivers in football, and is nearly unstoppable when healthy and not triple-covered.

As Jets fans know, Darrelle Revis has evolved into the top cover corner in all of football.

Revis will likely get more support from his defense than Johnson will from his offense, but Johnson stands half-a-foot taller than Revis, and is still an athletic freak of nature.

All things considered, it’s a wash.

Hopefully, the Lions’ offense will be coherent (and healthy) enough at this point in the season to allow Johnson and Revis ample opportunity to go one-on-one with each another.

Results aside, it could be the best player vs. player matchup of the entire season, for both teams.