The Lions step in it, Harbaugh is a lock, and good Pistons highlights???

First things first - the Lions looked out of sorts for most of the game and convincingly dropped their 24th game in a row at Lambeau Field. They needed to be crisp and limit mistakes. Well, Stafford was wildly inaccurate on all but 3 drives, special teams gave up a punt return TD, they coughed up the ball on a crucial drive, and they committed 10 penalties. They didn't put pressure on Rodgers, they didn't stop the run, and they ONCE AGAIN struggled to move the ball on offense. You don't beat good teams playing like that.
 

Detroit's special teams have been a problem all year. The missed kicks have gotten most of the attention, but punt and kick coverage have been pretty bad all year, and the kick return unit doesn't block anybody. In this game they gave up a punt return TD, they had a kickoff go out of bounds at the 9 (giving GB the ball at the 40, which led to a TD), and they had a holding call on a punt return that was kicked out of bounds (the call was negligible, but it gave the Lions terrible field position which led to the safety). On the plus side, they did have a blocked FG...
 
Stafford was the biggest culprit in this one. Yes, the defense surprisingly hemmoraged yards to Eddie Lacy of all people, but 9 of GB's 30 points were scored via punt return and a safety. Additionally, the Stafford/Bell fumble gave the Packers a REALLY short field to work with for another TD, so I'd argue at least half of GB's 30 points are not the defense. On the flip, Stafford was ABYSMAL. At one point he had 8 straight incompletions. And these weren't your garden variety incompletions (drops, tight defense, throw-aways, etc.). He air-mailed a sideline throw to Golden Tate so bad that Tate didn't even put a hand up. He fired passes into the dirt, five yards in front of his intended target. The only good thing he did during that stretch was to be so bad that even the GB defensive backs couldn't catch anything.
 
Stafford DID have 3 relatively good stretches of play. On Detroit's 3 scoring drives Stafford completed 13 of 17 passes for 157 yards. That means the entire rest of the day he was 7 for 24 for 60 yards. I blame the fumble more on Joique Bell than Stafford, but the safety was a really bad decision by him, and both sacks were 100% on Stafford.

Detroit's defensive line had a pretty bad day. Suh deserves to be suspended for "accidentally" stepping on Rodgers, but I suspect he won't be. Suh looked out of position on several of Eddie Lacy's runs on the first drive and the line failed to get any pressure on Rodgers when he was in the game. The one sack was of backup QB Matt Flynn, and the defense generated 2 QB hits total, despite the fact that Rodgers could do little more than limp around when he was out there.

The Suh thing bears mentioning. You could argue it was an accident right up until he put his whole weight on Rodgers' leg. I think the first step was accidental, but when he felt Rodgers' ankle underneath, Suh tried to get a little extra in and stepped on the calf. I think it's 50/50 whether he'll miss the next game, but if he does it'll probably lead to a Lions loss vs. Dallas in the first round. It SHOULD cost Suh money off his next contract, especially if he misses a playoff game, but more likely he just gets fined and then gets his JJ Watt contract. Looking back on that 2010 draft, I'd much rather the Lions had taken Gerald McCoy. Suh is a better player and McCoy has had his injury issues, but Suh has cost the Lions A LOT with his dirty play and will most likely leave Detroit for a LOT of money elsewhere. I would love it if the Lions could hang onto Suh, but I will never love Suh as a player. Too dirty and too selfish.

--Update: since writing this, Suh was suspended for stepping on Rodgers and will miss the Lions' playoff game in Dallas, pending his appeal. This sums up my opinion of Suh right now:

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The BIG NEWS re: sports in the Mitten were the reports that Jim Harbaugh accepted Michigan's generous offer (and flattering courtship process) to become the Wolverines' Head Coach. Michigan fans have been slobbering over this guy for a while to the point where they/we look kind of like the dog in those cartoons where some kid tries to brush its teeth & then everyone thinks the dog has rabies... The "It's Happening" thing became A THING, thanks in part to the good people at mgoblog.com.

One of the funnier aspects of this whole process has been the reporting of it. Basically every national NFL reporter acted like Harbaugh was going to the Raiders and Michigan was just a pipe dream. A couple of the SF local reporters were downright rude about it on twitter. In fact, the only people who thought Harbaugh to Michigan might happen were the local people around Detroit & Ann Arbor, who everyone else wrote off as wishful dreamers. As Harbaugh started looking like more of a lock to go to Ann Arbor, it was pretty funny to watch all the naysayers who cover the NFL trip over themselves while backtracking.

I get that all things being equal, an NFL HC job is a more prestigious appointment than a college HC job. There are several reasons why that didn't apply in this particular case.

1. This is Michigan (fergodsakes). Brady Hoke was a bit dense, but he was right about the fact that Michigan is one of the 5 top HC destinations in college football.
2. Harbaugh wouldn't limit his coaching opportunities to the Bay Area. A lot was made of his family's love for the Bay Area playing into his decision to spurn Michigan for the 49ers job 4 years ago. I never REALLY bought that. Sure, it's nice, but he has connections in Michigan too. I always thought that Dave Brandon & the WAY Michigan conducted themselves during the coaching search had more to do with it.
3. Really? Oakland was his most likely destination? Only if locationLocationLOCATION was his #1 priority. The 49ers weren't about to let him go to Oakland for nothing, and what's so great about the Raiders anyway? That franchise has been a dumpster fire ever since they lost the Super Bowl in 2002.
4. Harbaugh would get CONTROL. The dude is a freak when it comes to that, and it's impossible to have the level of control in the NFL that he would have running his program at Michigan.

Adam Schefter was on Mike & Mike this morning and said that while it looks pretty certain Harbaugh is going to Michigan, he isn't going to rule out the Raiders until the ink is on the contract. Golic asked if the fact that the 49ers let him go indicates a definite move to Michigan, since they could get compensation if he had decided to go to an NFL team while still under contract. Schefter said no, but I don't buy that. My theory is that the 49ers let Harbaugh go with the understanding that he would be Michigan's HC next year. The official announcement is Tuesday, but this looks like it was in the bag weeks ago.

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Last week I was dubious about the "addition by subtraction" merits of outright releasing Josh Smith. Detroit has only played 2 games since then, but the early reviews are HOLY CRAP THIS TEAM IS WAY BETTER NOW. The first game was vs. the Pacers (not a great team, but the Pistons have lost to some terrible teams this year) and Detroit responded by scoring a season-high 119 points and won in convincing fashion. Ok, the Pacers are no great shakes. Their next game was in Cleveland.

A team record 17 MADE threes, and some pretty good D, holding the Cavs to shooting .378% from the field. LeBron's line doesn't look too bad, 17 pts, 10 boards and 7 dimes. Not a lot of points for him but nearly a triple-double. The problem was he got his 17 points by shooting 5-19 and his 7 assists came with 7 turnovers. After a rough 1st quarter, the Pistons turned this one into a laugher, winning 103-80. The 80 points posted by Cleveland represent the lowest total of any Piston opponent this year.
The Cavs were missing Kyrie Irving with a knee injury and Anderson Varejao is out for the year with a torn achilles, but they're still solid with LeBron and Love (if it was possible to bet on whether or not Varejao would get seriously injured before the first 3rd of the season was over, I'd have made some coin).  It remains to be seen whether these last 2 games have been a blip on the radar or an indication of more to come, but SVG looks like he's actually running his system now.