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A Super Bowl Lesson For The Lions
There have been exceptions. Trent Dilfer with the Ravens and Brad Johnson with the Bucs come to mind. Then again, you have to remember they won their Super Bowls by bettering Kerry Collins and Rich Gannon. So I guess the lesson of Sunday’s Super Bowl is that when the stakes are that high, the quarterback means everything.
Peyton Manning was not spectacular. He was good enough. Rex Grossman was not. And the Bears will not win that game until they get better at that position. That, of course, leads us to the Lions. I am fully expecting they will pass on a quarterback in the draft while selecting No. 2 overall. It will be the second year in a row they have bypassed on one (Matt Leinart was really good for the Cardinals last season). If they want to win a Super Bowl someday, they are not going to do it with Jon Kitna. They have to develop a young QB, one that is better than Grossman or Joey Harrington. It has to be the right quarterback brought up the right way - the way the Colts did it with Manning and the Patriots with Tom Brady. Otherwise, the futility will continue. It cannot be denied the one constant for the Lions the last 50 years has been inconsistent QB play. As organization, they need to understand that and not be afraid to go after that position because they were burned so badly by what turned out to be a bad decision in drafting Harrington.
Random Thoughts
- The best stories I heard hanging around the Tigers Fantasy Camp last week were from Darrell Evans. And he was not talking about baseball, either, but rather about when he played guard for Jerry Tarkanian at Pasadena City College during the mid-1960s. One of the teams Evans faced was UCLA’s freshman team with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "He swatted one of my shots away," Evans said. "The guy had really long arms. I had never seen anything close to it. UCLA was the defending national champs - and they lost to that freshman team." Evans had to guard former NBA player Lucius Allen. "He was a lot quicker than me, that’s for sure," Evans said. "And he could really jump." Evans said people are too vindictive toward Tarkanian, a long-time target of the NCAA because of recruiting violations. "Shark belongs in the Hall of Fame," Evans said. "He was a great coach. He put UNLV on the map. He won at Long Beach State, too. He even won with us."
- Ohio State has a talented team, but Michigan State was capable of beating the Buckeyes at home. It was disappointing they did not. The stretch run does not get any easier. It will be one of the most challenging coaching tasks Tom Izzo has faced - getting this team in the NCAA Tournament. It appears the Spartans will have to beat Wisconsin. Izzo had trouble doing that when he had the better team of the two. Now he has to turn the tables on his nemesis Bo Ryan. I am not sure he can.
Peyton Manning was not spectacular. He was good enough. Rex Grossman was not. And the Bears will not win that game until they get better at that position. That, of course, leads us to the Lions. I am fully expecting they will pass on a quarterback in the draft while selecting No. 2 overall. It will be the second year in a row they have bypassed on one (Matt Leinart was really good for the Cardinals last season). If they want to win a Super Bowl someday, they are not going to do it with Jon Kitna. They have to develop a young QB, one that is better than Grossman or Joey Harrington. It has to be the right quarterback brought up the right way - the way the Colts did it with Manning and the Patriots with Tom Brady. Otherwise, the futility will continue. It cannot be denied the one constant for the Lions the last 50 years has been inconsistent QB play. As organization, they need to understand that and not be afraid to go after that position because they were burned so badly by what turned out to be a bad decision in drafting Harrington.
Random Thoughts
- The best stories I heard hanging around the Tigers Fantasy Camp last week were from Darrell Evans. And he was not talking about baseball, either, but rather about when he played guard for Jerry Tarkanian at Pasadena City College during the mid-1960s. One of the teams Evans faced was UCLA’s freshman team with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "He swatted one of my shots away," Evans said. "The guy had really long arms. I had never seen anything close to it. UCLA was the defending national champs - and they lost to that freshman team." Evans had to guard former NBA player Lucius Allen. "He was a lot quicker than me, that’s for sure," Evans said. "And he could really jump." Evans said people are too vindictive toward Tarkanian, a long-time target of the NCAA because of recruiting violations. "Shark belongs in the Hall of Fame," Evans said. "He was a great coach. He put UNLV on the map. He won at Long Beach State, too. He even won with us."
- Ohio State has a talented team, but Michigan State was capable of beating the Buckeyes at home. It was disappointing they did not. The stretch run does not get any easier. It will be one of the most challenging coaching tasks Tom Izzo has faced - getting this team in the NCAA Tournament. It appears the Spartans will have to beat Wisconsin. Izzo had trouble doing that when he had the better team of the two. Now he has to turn the tables on his nemesis Bo Ryan. I am not sure he can.
posted by Pat Caputo at
11:31 AM
4 Comments:
I tell you that opening kick off to the SB was awesome. I thought it was going to be anyways.... .
You would think after that then the way the bears D came out that Grossman would be like I have to go out there and not hurt this team the way they are playing. All he had to do is be efficient. He was god awful. His throws were pathetic and no where near his receivers to make a play.
I thought the loss of Benson hurt the bears because of his ability to run north and south. However, Bob sanders was equally hughe and in my mind really the MVP of the superbowl and playoffs. In my mind he doesn't play. I don't know if the colts would even be in the SB let alone win it. Then again the way Grossman played and the way the bears missed tackles the bears wouldn't have beat anybody. He was why I drafted the colts defense this year. HE is also why they struggled. Manning didn't lose the game, but he wasn't spectacular and in my mind wasn't the MVP of the SB. That was just me.
Either way the commercials were all gay this year. I give this years SB a 3 out of 10. One of the worse played games I seen in a long time. Thought it could have been better. I just thought it was sloppy at times. The colts didn't play a great game because as lopsided as the offensive stats were the bears still had a shot to win that game.
As far as the lions go. I still think they screwed up big time this off season. They should have signed Brees. Lets say Brees wasn't ready. The ycould have still signed McCown (becasue it was a lost season anyways) I think the lions would be best served to trade down a spot or two in the draft in hopes someone wants Quinn or Johnson so they can get another second round pick. I think they can fill a few needs. Only QB I'd gamble with at #2 is Russell. Troy Smith, Stanton, even Quinn I wouldn't even consider until the second round. With that said. I think they can fill big needs. Lets say they get Joe Thomas or even an Alan Branch with the number 1 pick. (Heck I'd even gamble with Peterson at #3,4, or 5). They could then in teh second round pick with their pick get a good player like David Harris or the one LB out of FS. and even a QB like Stanton (who I think will be a good NFL QB and or Troy Smith).
Maddog52,
I agree with you about the commercials. It used to be just the game didn't live up to the hype. Now it is the commercials, too. The Bears as a whole deserved better. But they were clearly held back by that one position. I wonder if they played Griese in the second half whether they would have won.
Caputo
I still think the bears would have loss becasue there defense missed a lot of tackles as well. I think if manning wanted to he could have punished the bears even worse.
Maddog52,
That might be true. Manning is awfully good - and he did play it smart and take care of the ball with conservative throws.
Caputo
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