The Weekend Spotlight - Week 8 Edition, 2011

#28 Maurice Morris will be the #1 RB for the Lions again this week.

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to the week 8 edition of the Weekend Spotlight!  I am your host, KDawg.  This installment of your weekly WS will feature your Detroit Lions versus the Denver Broncos, on the road in Denver, CO, at Mile High Stadium.  Coming off of their second loss in a row, the Lions are now 5-2 on the season.  There is a lot of hope among the fanbase that this will be the week that we see the Lions get back on track.  I am personally going to remain cautiously optimistic, as there are a number of ways that Detroit could bungle it up and lose this game.  That said, I am still excited about this team and their potential to be a playoff team this year.  As I've said before, you can't win them all.  The last two weeks have been rather disappointing for all of us, yet there is still hope that our young QB will break out of his recent funk and that the offense will come back to life.  This is the last game for the Lions before their bye week, so it would be very good if they could get a win and carry that momentum with them into the break.  With 7 weeks of the season under our belts, I will once again reveal to you who I believe the key players will be, on the Lion's offense and defense, for another Lion VICTORY!  As usual, I will provide you with the logic behind the reasoning for my picks, including stats and a prediction at the end.  The Broncos are definitely not the best team we have faced, let alone beaten, and I such I certainly believe VICTORY can be ours, and I will tell you why and how as the WS W8E begins...after the jump.

Inside the Numbers Week 8

This week the Lions head to Denver to take on Tim Tebow and the Broncos. Let's go inside the numbers...

Denver on Offense:

Passing yards: 1,140 (190 ypg)
Rushing yards: 686 (114.3 ypg)
Total yards: 1826 (304.3 ypg)

vs Lions on Defense

Passing yards allowed: 1,432 (204.6 ypg)
Rushing yards allowed: 906 (129.4 ypg)
Total yards allowed: 2338 (334 ypg)

Lions on Offense:

Passing yards: 1,822 (260.3 ypg)
Rushing yards: 649 (92.7 ypg)
Total yards: 2,471 (353 ypg)

vs Denver on Defense:

Passing yards allowed: 1,485 (247.5 ypg)
Rushing yards allowed: 711 (118.5 ypg)
Total yards allowed: 2,196 (366 ypg)

Ever the optimist, as long as Stafford is back to form I believe this should be another one in the "W" column. The Schwartz won't call it a must win, but I will. A third straight loss would seriously diminish the luster of a 5-0 start. A clutch 100 yard game on the ground from Maurice Morris and this game is in the bag, if it's a major struggle on the ground it will be much closer.

Prediction: Lions 27, Tebows(Broncos) 17

The Weekend Spotlight - Week 7 Edition, 2011 - Follow Up Post

Alphonso Smith, back in action, makes a good tackle on Eric Weems.

Welcome back to another Weekend Spotlight follow up post.  Sadly, I have nothing good to report.  I was in attendance for the Lions vs Falcons game last Sunday, and while I had a good time with my friends before and during the game, the Lions lost and put a damper on it all.  To top it all off, the result of the game made me look rather foolish in my weekly predictions, once again.  Because of the fact that I lack the motivation to state anything exciting or clever here, I am just going to get right down to the business of recapping my weekly post, after the jump...

The Weekend Spotlight - Week 7 Edition

#93 Kyle Vanden Bosch performs a strip sack on Alex Smith last Sunday.

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to the week 7 edition of the Weekend Spotlight!  I am your host, KDawg.  I want to apologize, again, to my readers for a lack of content this week on the blog.  My co-administrator/author, TCLion, has departed for a 6 week tour of duty (non military) in Australia, and I have been quite under the weather for the last 4 days.  I will admit, I was procrastinating on my follow up post at first, knowing full well that I was wrong in a number of areas, but I did have intentions of writing the post anyway.  However, I fell ill and just could not find the energy to do it.  So here I am, on Friday night, writing my weekly post that was supposed to be posted yesterday.  As you are all certainly aware, the Lions suffered their first loss of the season last weekend, against the San Francisco 49ers.  A ton of drama has occurred since then, and as such there is a lot more subject matter to write about than I can possibly cover in this post.  Nevertheless I will touch briefly on what I predicted last week, before I launch into this weeks predictions, and I will rely on the idea that most of you (if not all) will already have read about the other major news pertaining to the Lions over the course of the week.

First of all, I want to congratulate Dr. Doom...I mean TCLion...on the relative accuracy of his foreboding predictions before the last game.  He stated that the 49ers would win.  They did.  He stated that Gore would rip off a few runs with 1 TD.  He did (141 yards on 15 carries, including a 47 yarder, a 55 yarder, and 1 rushing TD).  He stated that the 49ers would do just enough to win, nothing spectacular, and that in the end the Lions would beat themselves.  These statements were; true, mostly true if you don't count Gore's 2 big runs, and VERY true.  He went further and said there would be more penalties, another first half hole, and this time the clock would run out on the Lions before a comeback for the win could happen.  More penalties?  How about 15 for 120 yards.  Another first half hole?  Check...the Lions were down 10-12 at the half.  And lastly, the Lions could not manage to come back and win this time.  Right again.  In fact, the only statements TCLion made that were not nearly 100% accurate were; 1) Alex Smith will throw for 220 yards and 2 TDs, one to Davis and one to Morgan, and 2) They (SF) will win by a score of 27-24.  Alex Smith threw for just 125 yards and 1 TD, and that TD was to Delanie Walker.  San Francisco won by a score of 25-19.  Overall though, TCLion was damn near spot on...much to my chagrin.

In fact, I was adamant about the very idea that ANYONE would dare predict the 49ers to beat the Lions last week.  In a sense, I was justifiably angry and my stubborn unwillingness to yield to any argument contrary to my logic was also justified.  The 49ers did not beat the Lions.  The Lions beat the Lions.  Right?  Well, my key player picks, for a Lion victory, were seemingly off the mark as well.  But Calvin Johnson and Bobby Carpenter's performances WERE key...but they were key to the Lion's LOSS instead of the key to victory.  Had they done as expected then I believe I would have been right, but alas the 49ers bracketed Megatron in all day long, not allowing him to score, even though he had 7 catches for 113 yards, and Bobby Carpenter made the wrong read near the end of the game, which allowed the game winning TD pass to Delanie Walker.  Had he made the play there, by either breaking up the pass or at least stopping Walker short of the goal line, then undoubtedly the Lions WOULD have won.  Alright...so the 49ers won the game.  I'll eat my plate of crow now, and move on.

This installment of your weekly WS will feature the impending collision between the Detroit Lions and the Atlanta Falcons, at home in Detroit, MI, at Ford Field.  The Lions are now 5-1 on the season, and even though they are coming off of the loss I am still very excited and confident that they will win this week!  Perhaps even more exciting for me is the fact that I will be attending this game in person, with my friends and brethren over at the Pride of Detroit.  It's the annual POD outing, and it is going to be a GREAT one!  With 6 weeks of the regular season already behind us, I will once again reveal to you who I believe the key players will be, on the Lion's offense and defense, for another Lion VICTORY!  As usual, I will provide you with the logic for the reasoning behind my picks, including stats, and I will give you my prediction for the game at the end.  The Falcons are 3-3 on the season, and even though 2 of their 3 losses have come against teams that we have already beaten (Chicago and Tampa Bay), they are not a team that should be overlooked.  I am sure that the Lions are not looking past Atlanta, and I am sure they will be ready on Sunday.  I believe VICTORY will once again be ours this week, and I will tell you why and how as the WS W7E begins...after the jump.

The Weekend Spotlight - Week 6 Edition, 2011

#55 Stephen Tulloch celebrates after making a big play on Monday Night Football last week.

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to the week 6 edition of the Weekend Spotlight!  I am your host, KDawg.  I apologize for the late nature of this post, but life happened and I got busy.  That said, at least I will be able to provide you with up to date information related to injuries etc.  This installment of your weekly WS will preview the matchup between the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers, which will be played at home, in Detroit, MI, at Ford Field tomorrow.  Coming off of their 9th regular season win in a row, the Lions are now 5-0!  I know one thing is certain, these Lions have me very excited, and judging by the awesome display of vocal noise by the fans last Monday night, which proved to be an excellent advantage for the Lion's defense, I think most Lion's fans would agree.  With 5 weeks of the regular season already under our belts, I will once again reveal to you who I believe the key players will be, on the Lion's offense and defense, for another Lion VICTORY!  As usual, I will provide you with the logic behind the reasoning for my picks, including stats and a prediction at the end.  Unlike many people out there that are talking about how the 49ers are the team that will hand the Lions their first loss of the season, I do not believe they are any better than Dallas, or even Minnesota and Chicago.  The 49ers are a team that plays relatively mistake free football however, and as such the Lions will need to also be on their best behavior on Sunday.  That said, I believe that VICTORY can still be ours this week, and I will tell you why and how as the WS W6E begins...after the jump.

The Weekend Spotlight - Week 5 Edition, 2011 - Follow Up Post #3

Jahvid Best takes off on an 88 yard TD, enroute to a career day, against the Bears on Monday Night Football!

Welcome back to another Weekend Spotlight follow up post!  I can't help myself this time...you win some, and you lose some, but sometimes you win BIG!  The win for the Lions on Monday Night Football against the Chicago Bears, taking their record to 5-0 while also beating a division rival, is nothing short of BIG.  In fact, it is HUGE!  Not only did the Lions take it to the Bears on national TV, but they also proved undeniably that they are FOR REAL.  Nobody can question this fact now, and I get the distinct feeling that nobody want to face the RED HOT Detroit Lions!

I am still nearly speechless, 24 hours after the fact, and the game just keeps replaying over and over in my mind.  I never claimed to be any sort of football expert, a guru, or anything of the sort...just an avid Lion's fanatic who has a passion for writing about his favorite team.  However, I have to say that I hit the nail on the head on multiple key points in my weekly series post, which also makes me pretty happy.  The Lions have extended their winning streak to an NFL leading 9 regular season games in a row!  Some of you Lion fans were probably worried at halftime of the Monday night game, perhaps even justifiably so, but the overwhelming thoughts running through my mind at that point were; 1) At least it's not down 20, 2) These Lions never give up, and 3) We're going to win this game.

Please recall, if you will, what I said in last weeks follow up post.  "They never give up, and even if we had lost the game yesterday we could have been proud of this fact.  This is one thing each and every team they face will know...THESE Detroit Lions WILL play a full 60 minutes, and if we let up they will make us pay!"  What did we see happen last night?  The Lions never gave up, they played a full 60 minutes of football, and even though the Bears dominated the time of possession they made the mistake of letting up...and the Lions made them pay!  With the way this team has played through the first 5 weeks of the regular season, I don't think anyone can say that they are ever out of a game.  I also STILL believe that these Detroit Lions can win against ANY team in the NFL at this point, not to mention the rest of the teams they will face on their schedule.  Being a life long Lion's fan, I have never felt so rewarded and so confident as I do right now.  That said, I am here once again to recap my weekly post and talk about the things that I predicted before the game.  I hereby present you with the WS W5E follow-up, which begins after the jump...

LIONS WIN ON MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!!

This says it all for now.  More to come soon!