Detroit Lions Monday Morning Quarterback: A Stinker Against the Buffalo Bills

The Game

In what can be considered the first embarrassing game of the 2010 season, the Lions lost to the Buffalo Bills 14-12.

The Lions once again shot themselves in the foot with bad penalties, dropped passes and missed tackles.

Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan had a game plan meant to take advantage of the Bills' inability to stop the run.  The problem was that he refused to make an adjustment when it became painfully obvious that the Lions couldn’t run the ball.

The Good

Lawrence Jackson

Given the tough assignment of filling in for the injured Cliff Avril, Jackson came up with a big game.  Eight tackles, to go along with a sack, tackle for a loss and a forced fumble is a good day by any standard.  Just another late offseason pickup by Mayhew that has paid off for the Lions.

Shaun Hill

Hill didn’t have a great numbers for this game, but that is not his fault.  He was under duress for most of the game, and when he was given time, his receivers dropped a lot of balls.  He should have thrown a better ball on the two point conversion attempt, but nobody was open.

Stop on 4th-and-1

Early in the game the Lions were able to stop the Bill on a 4th-and-1 attempt.  Fred Jackson was tackled for a loss of two yards.  He actually fumbled the ball on the play but it didn’t matter because it was 4th down.  What the Lions didn’t know is that it would be the only time they stopped Jackson all day.

The Bad

The Offensive Line

The offensive line came up with a pitiful performance.  Anything that they could do wrong they did.  Their mistakes were an assortment of blown assignments, pre-snap penalties, and holding calls.

Penalties

Once again penalties were an Achilles' heel for the Lions.  The dead ball penalties are killing the Lions.  The offside and false starts penalties need to be eradicated. 

Missed tackles

For the second week in a row, the Lions missed tackles they should make.  This is the NFL, not high school, and missed tackles are inexcusable.

Dropped passes

By my unofficial tally, the Lions dropped 11 passes.  One glaring drop was by Bryant Johnson, who had a ball hit him in the chest in the end zone and ended up dropping it.

The Ugly

Giving a Winless Team Their First Win

For the second year in a row the Detroit Lions lost to a previously winless team deep into the season.  Last year the Lions were beaten by the St. Louis Rams 17-10, at the time the Rams were 0-7.  The Rams did not win another game the rest of the year.

If the Bills manage to lose their remaining games, the Lions will have saved two teams from 0-16 seasons. 

Misleading Stat of the Day

Nearly all of them

A quick peek at the box score and it looks like a Lions victory.  They won nearly ever statistical category with the exception of rushing yards and final score.

This just points to the coaching staff’s stupidity in continually trying to run the ball, when everyone else in the stadium knew they couldn’t do it. 

Play of the Day

The late touchdown to Calvin Johnson.

It really is too bad the Lions weren’t able to complete the two point conversion.  The touchdown pass was a beauty.  Johnson ran a perfect route that was set up by previous routes he ran earlier in the game.  He stuttered as if he was going to turn in as he had done earlier, but instead of turning in, he released and caught an easy touchdown pass.

Quote of the Day

“All of this killing ourselves and making mistakes; it's almost juvenile to a sense'' —Nate Burleson.  Juvenile is the perfect word here.

Random Thoughts

Great! The Cowboys got better just in time for the Lions

When will the Lions realize they can’t run between the tackles?

How bad is Derrick Williams that he can’t beat out Bryant Johnson?

False start number 66 of the offense, just in case you missed hearing that.

Overall Impression

This loss makes all those close efforts earlier in the year irrelevant.  At some point the Lions are going to have to address their miserable interior line.  If this game cause Mayhew and Schwartz to wake up and replace Raiola and Peterman, then I am happy the Lions lost.

Next Week

It is another road game, as the Lions travel to Dallas to take on the resurgent Cowboys.