Kaspers Korner

The Detroit Lions have begun the process of trying to pickup the pieces after the Matt Millen era ended this past regular season.  Already they are doing a horrible job of it.

The Lions for some reason are having head coaching candidates that are on their second interview talk to the media.  Most searches for head coaches do not even have a press conference until the new head coach is hired.

It is not likely the Lions are going to revolutionize the head coaching process, and let Lions fans decide who the next head coach is going to be.  Then what is the reason for having these coaches meet the media before they are even hired.

The Lions are going to have another press conference when a head coach is going to be hired, and what he is going to say in that press conference is going to be the same as his previous one.  That makes the whole point of having these press conferences before they are hired meaningless.

What it does tell is that the front office is incapable of running a football team.  For somethings are common sense, and this is one of them.  With the way things are going now in Detroit it looks like the front office has no common sense at all.

The Detroit Lions earlier this year fired general manager Matt Millen, but kept, and promoted, Tom Lewand to president and Marty Mayhew to general manager.  They are definately rolling the dice on Mayhew, since he never was a general manger.

Mayhew was the assistant general manager of the Lions since 2004 untill he was promoted just recently to head general manger.  The question is now will Mayhew get the job done.

Mayhew was formerly a National Football League player with the Washington Redskins, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers both for four season before retiring.  So, with winning a Superbowl with the Washington Redskins he know what it takes to win a superbowl.

There is hope for Mayhew San Diego general manger A.J. Smith was never a head general manger before he took over the reigns for the late John Butler who died of cancer.  Smith was an assistant general manager with both the Buffalo Bills, and then the San Diego Chargers.

It is not a matter of experience that makes a person a good candidate.  What makes a person a good candidate is hard work, dedication, and a willingness to always improve.

Mayhew is not going to be perfect as there will be mistakes made a long the way.  What will make Mayhew good is he learns from his mistakes, put qualified knowledgeable people at position within the front office, and heed their advice when he comes to situations that he is not sure of the answer.

If Mayhew can do that, then he will be successful.  For if he doesn’t he could pass up on a great quarterback like the Bills did when then general manager Marv Levy, and owner Ralph Wilson passed up on a reccomendation from assistant gm Tom Modrak.

The Detroit Lions are on their way to be the first 0-16 team ever in the history of the National Football league, which would eclipse the previous record of 0-14 set by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  With losing comes the house cleaning, and comments Monday nite just added fuel to the fire.

Center Dominic Raiola gave the fans the finger during Sunday’s game.  According to the Detroit free press Raiola stated that he wish he could fight people, but he cannot due to the fact that most people today fight with metal, and that he does not take back anything he did Sunday.

Good solid coaches do not have players that go out wanting to fight people, or flip the finger to people.  The reason being that they know that if they did something like this there will be serious consequences.

However, this is the Lions, and former general manager Matt Millen has left a serious mess.  That means that the owners need to simply clean house.

If they do not then they will be faced with the same situation as this year, because Marinelli has lost all control, and respect of his players.

If the Lions want any shot at even being average, then they need to wipe the slate clean.

The Detroit Lions have been the laughing stock of the league for several years now.  Matt Millen may be gone, but the team will still be a train wreck with the current front office in place.

Cheif Operating Officer Tom Lewand took over when the Lions fired Millen.  However, the Lions are in no safer hands with the blow out loss to the Chicago Bears.

“Rod Marinelli is one of the best people, one of the best coaches I’ve been around, and you hear his message. You guys have heard it very consistently and very clearly over the time he’s been here, and he’s going to continue to do things right,” Lewand said as he was in attendance for head coach Rod Marinelli’s press conference.

The statement is completely laughable, since the Lions is the only pro football team he has ever worked with.  He has been with the Lions for 12 years, and before that wored various positions in law firms and the government.

To call a coach one of the best he has been around, with little experience on the football side of the organization is just completely stupid.  Does he really think he is fooling someone?  Does he think everyone is going to take him at his word, beacause he is the COO of the team?

Of course not.  This is the National Football League where lies run rampant every day.

Simply, the statement just goes to show it is time for a complete house cleaning.

The Detroit Lions are again one of the worst teams in football.  In an effort to find any help available they are now looking at bringing in former Seattle Seahawk Sean Alexander for a look at.

Along with Alexander the Lions brought in running back Cedric Benson for a visit.  However, that is not going to be the solution to their problems.

Their problem is that their defense stinks right now as it is second last in the league being ranked 31st.  That is a stat they deserve after trading pro bowl defensive lineman Sean Rodgers to the Cleveland Browns.

The funny thing is that starting quarterback Jon Kitna thought that the Lions would make the playoffs. Yeah right.

Head coach Rod Marinelli was a defensive linecoach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  So, to allow his defense to be bad is embarrassing.

In the end hopefully a miserable season by the Lions will get Marinelli, and general manager Matt Millen fired finally.

If it does not then who knows what will.

Detroit Lions quarterback Jon Kitna gave another 10-6 record prediction for this cupcoming season.  Anything less than that could cost Kitna his job.

Along with Kitna Lions head coach Rod Marinelli, also believes that the Lions are a playoff contender.  That is contrary to what many fans believe.  

Many fans are have lost a lot of faith in the team.  It has gotten to the point that the team cut season tickets prices, but still could not sellout the exhibition opener.

The real question is how much of a loss in season tickets sales has to happen before Matt Millen is fired.

The Lions offense did not look that good last year, which is a huge dissapointment.  The reason being the the Lions took Calvin Johnson with the second overall pick last year.

In eleven season in the National Football league Kitna has only two season where he has thrown more touchdowns than interceptions.  Simply, it is not good enough to be successfull in this league.

If he cannot get it done with very good wide receivers, then he is never going to get it done.

Kitna better realize this, or starting this year he will be ridining the pine until he retires.

The Detroit Lions under the direction of Lions Cheif Executive Officer, and president, Matt Millen has been far from being decent.  Already, a recent draft pick is showing signs of being another bust.

Offensive tackle Gosder Cherilus was taken by the Lions in this past draft, which was conducted in April.  Cherilus in July of last year, beat up somebody under the disguise of trying to break up a fight.

Since, Cherlius has been ordered to one year probation, and to pay $52 thousand dollars in medical expenses from the incident.  If Cherilus abides by the orders, and stays out of trouble, then the charges against him will be dismissed.

The Lions knew about the incident as it was reported July 6th, 2007.  That does not bode well for the teams judgement.

The Lions took Cherilus with the 17th pick in the first round.  At that position that is still a pick that has the possibility of starting right away.

What is even more mind boggling, to me that is, is why they would take Cherilus at that spot.  Knowing full well that he has come character issues. 

However, this is the National Football League, and will be for the foreseeable futre.  Teams will take these guys knowing full well of what they are bringing.  Why they still do that is simply, because the reward, and the upside, out weighs all the negatives.

Untill, draft picks are stripped from teams for players conduct this is the way it will be.

The Detroit Lions are a team that is a huge mess, and that being for a very good reason.  The reason is that front office employees do not give a care about even the fans.

In an email that was inadvertently sent a customer a Lions front office employee to another stated that their boss told him to “f**k him until next year.”  It is a glaring example of how the front office has no pulse for the city.

Lion fans for years now have been displaying their anger towards the organization.  Now, things should get to a even higher level with the email.

The one thing that should take an immediate hit is season tickey sales.  Sales have been not good, so the team created a partial seasom ticket to try and draw fans to games.  However, the opposite will not happen.

The only question is what will Lion fans do next?

It is no secret that the Detroit Lions always will be losers as long as Matt Millen is general manager.  Just as Millen is trying to repair his reputation another example of why the Lions will be losers under his direction.

In an article on MLive.com it has been revealed that wide receiver Calvin Johnson played most of last year with deep bone bruise in his back.  Johnson suffered the injury in the third game of the year against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Then-offensive coordinator Mike “Martz couldn’t stand the fact that I wasn’t practicing,” Johnson said. “When I first got hurt, that Wednesday I was out there in my sweats watching practice and he told me to go run. I said, ‘I can’t run.’ I couldn’t even walk fast. I was thinking, ‘Why are you telling me to run?’ ”

When I saw this paragraph on MLive I could not believe what I was reading.  That is probably one of the most stupid things to do.  He shoud of consulted the medical staff as to how much time he will need to rest.

“He stayed hurt because he kept landing on it,” Lions trainer Al Bellamy said. “It kept lingering.”

You think that at some point the staff, and the coaches, would tell Johnson to sit down, since it was not getting any better.  Usually, playing with injuries makes things worst for the rest of the body as the rest of the body compensates for the injury.  This usually leads to further injury.

The back is not something to mess with.  Johnson might now have problems the rest of his life, because of the Lions stupidity.  Once, a back starts to have problems that player will never be the same, and that just might happen now.

What the news really reveals is the ineptitude, and the lack of communication, within the organization.  Millen is ultimately the person responsible for hiring of the employees.  He is also responsible for everyone communicating with each other in the organization.

Still to this day Johnson is still feeling discomfort from the pain.  Bellamy stated that Johnson should be 100 percent by training camp.  However, do not be surprised if Johnson suffers from back spasms, and other back injuries the rest of his career.

The annual meetings in Florida always reveals something mind boggling to the media.  As it turns out that this years team is the Detroit Lions, and the news is not good at all for Lion fans.

Everyone in Detroit knows that general manager Matt Millen is a complete dunce when it comes to being a general manager.  It has now been revealed that Millen found his side kick in head coach Rod Marenelli.

Marenelli revealed monday the major needs of the Lions, which are defensive end, linebacker, offensive tackle and running back. 

“I felt, the first two years, there were so many in a day, I didn’t get a good feel for these guys,” Marinelli said. “When you bring in seven or eight a day, I don’t do as good a job for myself.” 

It is not a big thing to reveal the needs of the team, because by now people have figured out what each teams needs are.  Plus, you can change the rounds in which you will be addressing the need. 

However, it is completely different to reveal that you are cutting down on the number of players you are briging in to get a feel for the ones that you like.   This way you can be comfortable with the player you are taking, even if other are thinking you are taking him too high.

The main problem with this is now other teams know who the Lions like, and if there is another team behind them in the same round that wants the same guy in that round, will make a trade a jump before the Lions to take the player. 

It is stupid to say such a thing to the media.  Also, it is stupid to limit yourself to certain players, because your not always going to get what you want, and you have to have a backup plan.  With what they Marenelli stated they sound that they do not have one.

In the end their stupidity will cost them their job, but only when Bill Ford Jr.  takes them helm.  Thanks to him not commenting on how Millen has done everybody now knows that Ford Jr. does not like Millen.