These are not your "Same Old Lions"

A week ago former NFL head coach and current NBC analyst Tony Dungy referred to Detroit as the "same old Lions" following their road loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

Not that he needed any more reasons to be critical of one of our local franchises, but Drew Sharp jumped all over that shit, as did just about every other local newspaper and sports talk radio show in the greater mitten area.

Piling on, Josh Katzenstein of the Detroit News even implied that the Lions were behind the times at quarterback, noting how he believed that RG3 "represents the future of the QB position while Stafford represents the past."

Well, one week later the Lions are coming off of their first win over the Redskins in Washington, D.C. in 75 years as they head into a showdown for first place in the NFC North at home against the Chicago Bears.

Guess what people, these are not your same old Detroit Lions.

Want to bitch about Offensive Coordinator Scott Linehan's boring and predictable play calling? Maybe you didn't notice, but the Lions are regularly mixing in the read option.

Keep your eyes on the receivers. They're actually running pass routes and don't start blocking until they see that Joique Bell has been handed the ball after Stafford reads the defense.

No, Mathew Stafford may not be the most mobile quarterback, or even a running threat at all, but that hasn't stopped Peyton Manning from running the read option as a form of play action to keep defenses honest.

How about the Lions secondary, where their most recent street free agent, Rashean Mathis, almost gave up a 57-yard touchdown pass to Redskins WR Aldrick Robinson?

Well, the key word was "almost," because despite getting beat, Mathis still managed to catch up to Robinson as he was trying to catch the ball in the endzone. That was just enough to jar the ball loose, and the catch was overturned on instant replay.

If all that wasn't enough, the Lions not only successfully converted a key 4th and 1 late in the 4th quarter, but they did so by running to the left side of their offensive line, between center and left tackle.

And while that center was Dominic Raiola, the left tackle was not Jeff Backus...So no, these are not your "same old Lions" by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I think there might even be more "new Lions" to come.  

C'MON MAN! Cris Carter Disses Ndamukong Suh.

With Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh starting off the 2013 season embroiled in controversy for a personal foul against Minnesota Vikings center John Sullivan, there was no shortage of opinions from the wanna be talking heads in the NFL media.

Sage Rosenfels, a former backup quarterback for the Vikings, Dolphins, Texans, Giants and Redskins (although I’m not sure any of those teams would actually claim him as theirs), took to Twitter and said, “Detroit is a classic example of big bullies who think they are better than everyone else, but have low self esteem. #Posers.”

Look! Up in the sky! It's not a bird, nor a plane! It's Sage Rosenfels...sigh.

Bart Scott, who once took issue with the Lions play as “too dirty” when he was a linebacker for the New York Jets, used his new position as an analyst at CBS to rip the entire Lions organization as being dirty from the bottom up.

“They’re teaching them how to be fake tough guys. You’re a tough guy between the whistles. All the other stuff — pushing and shoving afterward — that’s being taught to them.”

My favorite opinion, however, was that of former Minnesota Viking and current ESPN analyst, Cris Carter.

Carter is no stranger to making uneducated comments pertaining to the Lions, having been forced to backtrack from his opinion prior to the 2011 season where he claimed that Calvin Johnson was not one of the top five wide receivers in the NFL, listing him behind DeSean Jackson and Greg Jennings, amongst others.

In regards to Suh’s hit on Sullivan Carter said, “Ndamukong Suh has been fined four times that we did know about. In those games guys, he had no sacks and only four tackles. In the Minnesota game this past weekend he played 46 snaps and did not make a tackle, but on the interception he goes after a guy’s knee…Frustration.”

Carter’s attempt to make it seem as if Suh is acting like a thug as a result of having been bottled up by Carter’s former team couldn’t be further from the truth.

In fact, it was Suh's fierce pressure on Vikings QB Christan Ponder that caused Ponder to recklessly throw the ball up for grabs in the first place, allowing Lions linebacker DeAndre Levy to make an easy interception (which would have been returned for a touchdown had it not been for Suh's illegal block).

Suh also blew up a Vikings double team that gave fellow defensive lineman Nick Fairley an unabated path to sacking Ponder on a stunt. 

Regardless of his stat line, Suh was regarded as having one of his most dominant games as a Lion against the Vikings in week 1.

Once again, Carter’s opinion in regards to Suh’s play was a sloppy attempt to gain attention, devoid of fact, and a flat out indication that he doesn’t even watch the games that he’s being paid to comment on. 

Or as Cris Carter himself would say on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, "C'mon Man!"