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Detroit Lions
Location: Detroit, Mich. | Stadium: Ford Field (64,500) | Chairman/Owner: William Clay Ford | President: Tom Lewand
Coach: Jim Schwartz | League Championships: 4
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Lions report: Inside slant
 

The Sports Xchange
 
 
Inside slant · Notes, quotes · Strategy and personnel
 
Presented by Epson

 

Center Dominic Raiola doesn't want to see rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford go through what former Lions quarterback Joey Harrington did in Detroit.

After the Lions' final offensive play in Sunday's 17-10 loss to St. Louis, when Stafford threw the ball out of bounds on fourth-and-20, some hecklers started getting on Stafford.

Raiola said he fired back at about three or four fans. He said he loved the fans in general but would always stick up for his teammates.

And he brought up Harrington, the No. 3 pick in the 2002 draft, who went 18-37 as a starter in Detroit and was a frequent target of abuse. He said fans should back up Stafford, the No. 1 pick this year.

"You want to run him out of town already?" Raiola said. "You know what I'm saying? That just hit home with me because I've been through it with Joey. I've been through it. They sent him packing. Quick. And they're not going to do it to this guy. I'm going to be right here next to him."

Asked what Raiola said to the fans, Stafford told WJR radio in Detroit: "I don't even remember, to tell you the truth. He didn't say anything terrible. He was just like, 'Give him a break,' 'Get out of here,' that kind of thing. It wasn't a big-time verbal altercation or anything. Yeah, he's right. They're not going to run me out of town. I'm not too worried about it."

Stafford shrugged it off.

"They want to win probably as bad as we do, and it's understandable," Stafford said. "They're going to get after guys when the team's not playing well. I like to think that I do a pretty good job of letting that stuff go.

"Dom was just standing next to me and was like, 'Hey, man, don't let that stuff get to you.' And I know that. I've been in tough situations before. It's just great to have a guy like Dom on your side. The guy comes to work every day trying to get better and to have him on the field next to us is great."

Copyright (C) 2009 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.

 
 

Detroit Lions Message Board
Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Apr 2, 2008

November 28, 2009 10:29 pm
It's getting to the point where we can start to look ahead to next season, and evaluate what players are worth keeping next year. I'll try and go group by group and give my two cents on who's got what it takes to make our roster next year.

 Keep in mind that we're almost entirely devoid of any top-end talent, and a lot of the guys I deem worthy of keeping are middle-quality start
...(more)
Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Sep 25, 2006

November 28, 2009 4:22 pm
1. Matthew Stafford can be a great quarterback and is tough as nails. The injury bug is my highest concern for him. I expect to see some maturity and fewer mistakes next season. Rookie year is a freebie; 2nd season will be graded tougher.

2. Calvin Johns
...(more)
Reputation:98
Level:Superstar
Since:Feb 28, 2007

December 2, 2009 11:46 am
Im going to start my defensive rant now. Since we're already deep into the draft talk, might as well go for it.

WE NEED HELP!!!!!

What is supposed to be a stop the run, pressure the quarterback, physical, talent group, is really just a very bad, poor tackling, non covering, non pressuring, nightmare. Its a defense that probably couldnt stop ND or the Houston Cougars in NCAA
...(more)
Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Apr 2, 2008

December 1, 2009 3:43 pm
With TE Brandon Pettigrew landing on injured reserve the Lions have activated 7th round pick Dan Gronkowski.

Not really much of a suprise move, hopefully Gronkowski can show a spark when he
...(more)
Reputation:98
Level:Superstar
Since:Feb 28, 2007

November 30, 2009 6:19 pm
The arguement is: Replacing Jeff Backus should be #1 priority for the Lions.
The reasoning is: To protect our 72 million dollar investment.

Considering the reality of the team, the arguement doesnt warrant much validity. Not when when over 50% of the star
...(more)
Reputation:95
Level:Superstar
Since:Jul 28, 2009

November 26, 2009 7:51 am
I know the season is just a few short weeks away from being over then it will be onto the talk of what players the Lions should pick up in free agency and the draft, and alot of us have already started talking about who we woluld like to see brought to Detroit. We all know that the Lions main positional needs are OL, DL, S, CB. I have liked ...(more)
Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Oct 6, 2008

December 2, 2009 3:54 pm

  Here we are in a heated draft debate.....again. To quote Mora "the offense sucks, the defense sucks" . If you stop and think about it no matter who they take with their first pick he will fill a glaring need. We all have our own guy Suh is my guy. We also have the guy we don't want, Berry for me, they gotta get those lines fixed. The sad thing is we are debating the draft ...(more)

Reputation:96
Level:Superstar
Since:Jan 7, 2009

November 28, 2009 11:18 am
We're 2-9, the defense is horrendous, Stafford makes terrible decisions with the ball, the WR's can't catch, we have no pass rush, our DB's couldn't cover your grandma, and the threads on who to take in next years draft started two weeks ago.   Soon we'll all be arguing over whether we should take Suh or Okung.  The first few things I've listed aren't going to change anytime so ...(more)
Reputation:95
Level:Superstar
Since:Jul 29, 2007

November 8, 2009 7:29 pm
Everybody said give him a chance, "He may have what it takes". Then it was, "The season is early and he is still learning". Flat out and undeniably Matthew Stafford is not starter ready, lacks simple defense reading skills, and is at least 2-3 years away from being competent. Bottom line, an offensive lineman ...(more)
Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Oct 6, 2008

December 1, 2009 9:57 am
  Well here we are again, in the middle of a draft debate, oh joy. I wanted to take the opportunity to remove my foot from my mouth/admit I was wrong about Stafford. For those of you that I so doggedly argued against about fixing the trenches first I officaly stand corrected. DRAFTING MATT STAFFORD WAS A MONUMENTIAL MISTAKE! We are now stuck with a 72 million dollar QB and a welfair ...(more)
Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Oct 6, 2008

November 26, 2009 3:09 pm
  A few questions for ya.

  1. Does Matt Stafford have a pocket to pass from?

  2. Does Matt Stafford have to make most of his passes on the run?

  3. Does Matt Stafford have time to read the defense?

  4.  Do the Lions have a 72 million dollar player?

&nbs
...(more)
Reputation:98
Level:Superstar
Since:Aug 28, 2006

November 28, 2009 8:44 pm
A lot of people on this board are pining for Russell Okung, the left tackle out of Oklahoma State.  I have to wonder how many of you actually watched him play.  I admittedly have only seen OSU play twice this season and both times the O was completely shut down with no run game and no pass protection.  Okung barely created any holes against Texas and I didn't see him create any hole ...(more)
Reputation:89
Level:All-Star
Since:Aug 22, 2009

November 18, 2009 2:50 pm
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d81423860&template=with-video-with-commen
ts&confirm=true


Here's a link to the free agents next year.  There's really no good guards or DE Kyle Van Bosch only has 1 sack this year. If I were Mayhew
...(more)
Reputation:98
Level:Superstar
Since:Oct 25, 2006

November 29, 2009 4:31 pm
With all the pre-draft talk already going on, I'd thought I'd remind everybody of our Draft pick situation if they didn't already know.

Currently, we will have 1 pick in each of the 7 rounds, and Denver's 5th round pick, which was traded, along with Denver's 7th rounder last year(Zack Follet), for our 6th rounder in 2009(T
...(more)
Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Oct 6, 2008

November 30, 2009 12:12 pm
  I have decided to revise my trade CJ thread from last year. Not only are we wasting the career of CJ, now we are blowing a #1 pick in Stafford. With the current state of our "offensive line" if thats what you want to call that utter complete garbage, our two most important offensive players have zero chane at ever being good. Maybee we can package them both to a team that is smart ...(more)
 
 
 
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