Some teams are content to lose a game in normal fashion. Often a team will show up to play and get beaten in a regular, ordinary sort of way. Not the Lions. Not last night. Detroit's loss last night in Seattle was a special, evil sort of loss. It's the kind of loss that can take the soul of a fan away and turn it into one of those withered, pitiful creatures stuck in Ursula's Garden of Souls. Yes, I just made a Little Mermaid reference. I'm clearly distraught.
The Lions had mounted their best drive of the night, down by 3 with the clock winding down. The play-by-play guy was Mike Tirico, who is from Michigan and lives in Ann Arbor (and thus should've known better), had brought up Stafford's lack of success on the road against winning teams about 5 or 6 times, suggesting that THIS might be the game he gets off the schneid (Seattle didn't have a winning record, but nobody disputes that they ARE good). It was 3rd and 1 & a half on the 12 yard line with 1:51 to go in the game. Failure to convert would have meant attempting a FG to tie and then Seattle gets the ball back with time. For some reason I felt optimistic, which goes to show what I know. Then, THIS happened:
I hope they call a pass play, they've never been able to pick up short yardage when they needed to all game... Oh good, a pass play... Nice protection... CALVIN'S OPEN... HE'S GOING TO SCORE... YEE-NNNOOOOOOOAaaaaaah crap... No chance he broke the plane, right? Nope, not even a question.
That was my internal dialogue, almost word for word. Then I started to wonder how it could've happened differently. I think probably what Calvin should've done was go air-born, Superman-style, over the defender and into the end zone. Kind of like what Cam Newton did a couple of weeks ago. If he does that, he makes it. There were 3 defenders around, so Calvin needed to either protect the ball and bowl through, or else he needed to fly. He tried to do something in between, and that cost him. I can't blame him TOO much for what happened (Chancellor made a truly great play on the ball), except he's supposed to be on Another Level, and if he's to make any type of "Best WR in Football" claim, he gets in the end zone here.
The next part is where it gets crazy. The ball was bouncing toward the back of the end zone, and Seattle's TJ Wright ushered it the rest of the way out. I didn't know this at the time, but that is called "batting" and it's illegal. Detroit should've been awarded the ball on the 1. Instead, the ref stated that the play wasn't intentional (even though it CLEARLY was, and Wright admitted as much, unsurprisingly unaware of the obscure rule). The NFL's VP of Officiating Dean Blandino disagreed with the Back Judge's opinion that it wasn't intentional, and stated that while you could argue that batting the ball didn't really affect the play (the ball was almost out already and no Lion was close enough to recover it), the batting penalty should've been called and the Lions should've gotten the ball at the 1 yard line. Based on how many of these calls have gone against Detroit in the past (100% against, if my records are correct), the Lions are LONG overdue for one of these to go in their favor.
However, much like the uncalled pass interference in their playoff loss to the Cowboys, while this penalty swung the game away from Detroit and gifted it to their opponent, calling the penalty would've given the Lions something they didn't really earn (despite my belief that karmically, they deserve it). Johnson called it best. He can't fumble there. That just can't happen. And the game wasn't over. If the Lions had stuffed Seattle on the ensuing 3rd & 2, they could've gotten the ball back with about 30 seconds and no timeouts. Not ideal, especially against the Legion of Boom defense, but there was a sliver of a chance. Instead, Seattle drew up a nice pass play as the Lions were gearing up to stuff a run, Wilson found a wide open guy, and that was that.
Incidentally, Mike Tirico (who, again, is from Michigan and should know better), proceeded to say a whole bunch of stuff that made me feel worse about the loss than I already did. I can't remember specific phrases, but... let me use a hypothetical scenario to illustrate: imagine your best friend is dying and you're rushing to get to his bedside before he passes, but there's an accident on the freeway and you arrive hours late. A mutual friend comes to you, knowing you feel terrible and events beyond your control delayed your arrival, and says, "It's too bad you couldn't get here in time. His last words were for you, asking why weren't you there." Mike Tirico was like the mutual friend in that scenario. I wanted to straight up punch him in the face.
***
I feel like the rest of the game was a completely different event from the final 2 minutes, so that's why I'm treating it as a separate article. It's like looking at a person with a disfigured face. It takes a while to look past the disfiguring feature, so you need to address that first and then look past it to see the whole picture. As bad as this loss was, I need to look at some of the positives.
The Lions' defense was outstanding. Rashean Mathis still can't cover anybody, but overall the defense did everything that was asked of it and more. They held the Seahawks to under 350 yards and only 13 points. They hit Russell Wilson A LOT (credited with 10 QB hits, 6 of them sacks), forced 2 fumbles and recovered 3 (one fumble was a muffed punt, unforced), even returning one fumble recovery for the Lions' lone TD. Wilson managed to extend a lot of plays with his legs, which is what he does, and that led to broken coverage and a higher completion %, but by and large they frustrated the Seattle offense and kept the Lions in striking distance.
Matt Stafford... wasn't... completely atrocious. I would say he sucked for most of the game, but he didn't do anything that was really bad. No sacks, no fumbles, no interceptions. And this was against a REALLY good D. On the other hand, I think that fact was in his head most of the game. I think he was afraid of this defense, and it caused his aim to be off. He was afraid of making a mistake. Prior to the Lions' final drive, Stafford was 18-29 for 130 yards passing (not good). Prior to that final drive, the Lions had only 1 first down in the 2nd half, and that was due to an illegal hands to the face penalty on Seattle. Stafford went 6-6 for 73 yards on the final drive (had Calvin made the end zone, it would've been 74 yards and of course a TD pass), which boosted his numbers into respectability. But, one wonders why Stafford can't seem to get into a rhythm until super late in the game.
If Calvin had managed to find the end zone, the narrative today would be about Stafford coming through in the clutch and finally beating a good team on the road. He reminded me a bit of later-day Bret Favre, who would screw up for the first three quarters and then come back to murder you in the 4th. Favre often got a pass for sucking for most of the game because he would come back and eventually won a lot of those games late. Stafford was nearing that territory last night, but unfortunately he didn't quite make it when Calvin fumbled.
Another guy I've been critical of is OC Joe Lombardi. I thought the 1st quarter was one of the worst-called quarters Lombardi has ever had, but he DID get a little better as the game went on. He called a few more outside running plays that got the RB into space and away from the line. The passing plays seemed well designed, for the most part. Stafford missed a lot of throws he should've made, or he didn't have enough time to let the routes develop. And that brings me to the O line. Our offensive line is probably the worst in football at run blocking. They actually did a decent job in pass protect (only allowed 3 QB hits and 0 sacks), but the run blocking is a serious problem. Missing Warford is a huge issue, as he's their best lineman and possibly the only guy on the line who can pick up a block in space.
I'm actually optimistic that Lombardi might have figured something out in this game. That seems crazy to say, given that the Lions failed to score an offensive TD and only generated 256 yards of offense. I'm not saying Lombardi is going to turn this offense into a juggernaut or anything, but the play calling definitely improved and maybe (Maybe. MAYBE.) this offense will start looking like a credible NFL offense in a game or 2 (maybe).
However, the ultimate story in this game is how the Lions continually find ways to shoot themselves in the foot. They had several penalties that cost the Lions a first down or put them in the hole to start a series of downs. They did manage to take care of the ball for most of the game, but then their best player fumbled it when they needed him most. Epic fail doesn't begin to cover it.
The Lions suffered several costly injuries in the game as well. Eric Ebron was on his way to a solid receiving game (blocking, not so much) when a fallen lineman rolled up on his leg and he tweaked his knee. It could be relatively minor, like a mild sprain, but it could also be an ACL-thing that costs him the season. Tyrunn Walker was the victim of a particularly dirty (and ILLEGAL) block that probably broke his ankle. I'm guessing he's done for the year. Ngata went down a little later with a calf injury. It didn't sound too bad, but Ngata is big and old, and stuff like that becomes chronic at this point. Travis Lewis was also having a spectacular game when he was hurt on punt coverage and had to be helped off. Hopefully we're getting Levy and Warford back this week. I don't know how close Pettigrew is to returning, but I doubt Ebron plays for at least the next 2 weeks. It might be time to start scouring the CFL for a TE and a DT.
The season outlook is... well, the season is basically over 4 weeks in. They can't make the playoffs. Technically, they COULD make the playoffs if they went 11-1 or 10-2 the rest of the way, but there is really no way that happens. Not with this team. Not with this quarterback. If injuries or something were what created this mess and we were suddenly getting someone back, I could see a guy like Rodgers or Brady leading the team on a 10-2 tear. But VERY few others could, and certainly not Stafford. So while the season isn't over, it pretty much is. Work on developing the rookies. Work on Lombardi's offense (or fire Lombardi and work on someone else's offense). Find a way to get a running game. Get creative, because you really don't have anything to lose.
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