lordstanley

Hope the injuries don’t start spreading to the fanbase. I could deal with a broken finger or concussion if necessary, have had both. Broken jaw would be rough, could drink out of straw for awhile if I had to like my dad did when he got hit by a flying puck while standing on the players’ bench. But I want nothing to do with ACL.

Vikings fans have been beaten down almost as much as the Lions the past 50 years. I'm sure they're worrying today that it would be just like the Vikings to look this gift horse in the mouth by losing to the Bears tonight!

Best thing the Leafs have going for them this year is the lack of dominant teams in the East this season. Tampa and Boston are both well off their recent peaks. Florida may be fatigued from two straight Cup finals by the time the playoffs come. Rangers need to figure things out fast. Washington and NJ may or may not be able to sustain top play. So the Leafs are one of a half-dozen teams with a shot at representing the East, with none at this point clearly ahead of the rest.

So I was at a Christmas function yesterday and only checking the score in the 1st half and seeing it be 14-0, 21-7, and so on. I'm finally driving home late in the 1st half and listening to the game on Sirius and a Lions player goes down around the 2 minute warning when the Bills are about to attempt the FG attempt. Dan Miller leaves me hanging as he takes it to a commercial saying I don't know which Lions player it is but it looks bad and they're already bringing out the cart. I'm in suspense for a minute and when back from the commercial Miller announces it is Dorsey. He and Lomas are going about how sad this is for Dorsey. I agree, but in my head I'm thinking "whew, thank God it's not Branch or McNeil or Reader or Davis!!". At this point I didn't even know Davis had left the game already. And this was before McNeil went down.

Eagles was the only one I cared about. Packers are irrelevant unless the Lions finish with a 4-game losing streak, in which GB would be the least of our problems - sucks about Geno Smith because the Seahawks play Minnesota next week. The Lions’ path to the Super Bowl has narrowed and without Davis and McNeil I no longer consider them Super Bowl favourites. But not impossible. A 5-game winning streak will make it to the Super Bowl. Even with the weakened defense, the Lions are more than capable of beating Chicago and SF on the road, but not to be taken lightly. Do that and who knows, maybe the Lions catch a break and Minnesota loses to one of Chicago/Seattle/GB and Philly loses to one of Washington/Dallas. Not counting on it but possible. Then the Lions are the #1 seed even before the Minnesota and are two home wins away from making the Super Bowl. Even with a weakened defense those two home playoff games would be coin flips at worse, so hope still exists.

Didn’t some half-joke that if we were able to beat Chicago and Minnesota then we should rest everyone against Buffalo? Because the Lions could afford a loss to a non-conference opponent and getting healthy was more important? That would have been madness. But …

Host of Lions’ radio post-game show said pretty much the same thing. So if you sound crazy so does he. You don’t sound crazy.

The Davis and McNeil injuries depress me more than the loss. I was hoping that Green Bay was the nadir with respect to depletion and that the defensive personnel would only get better week by week as players returned.

They got it. And it wasn’t.

Yeah, why not. If you fire it at a guy dodgeball, it either bounces off the guy and back to you, or if he is able to duck out or the way the defense gets the ball another 10 yards or so further back

That’s about as much as you can expect from an onside kick. Loose ball, no flags, scrum, wait for refs’ call. Wouldn’t that have been wild.

3 plays to victory: recover onside kick. Sideline pass to pick up 10 yards. Catch Hail Mary.

You need to start throwing near the end zone.

Should have called a timeout. No timeout on offense will save you 40 seconds.

Ballgame.

Need to find a way to get the ball back with 5 minutes to go.

Not high, but better than 3%.

The Lions could have afforded giving up a 5-minute FG drive, scoring a TD in 4 minutes, then getting a stop, then going on a TD drive down 6. Risks are fine if the odds are in your favour or close. You don’t try a 3% play with 12 minute to go.

So dumb.

C’mon, too early for an onside kick.

12:00 is a minute to spare!

Need a TD by around the 11:00 mark.

Long pass attempt on 3rd down was the Lions’ chance for a quick stop. But no. The Lions won’t win this unless they get some help from the Bills in this 4th quarter.

Happy to see that holding call actually. But what is going on with our receivers’ hands today?

Go Steelers! Go Bears (until next week)!