Fear Bubbles: Detroit Lions (FOF2007)

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Starting Season: 2002

Stupid me thought the Texans started in 2001, sorry about that!

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2002 Roster

Quarterbacks

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Batch, Charlie 17 QB QB 5 37 37
Harrington, Joey 12 QB 1 9 31
McMahon, Mike 2 QB 2 8 24

Charlie Batch is the obvious starter heading into the season, as long as we are in contention he will stay the starter. Joey Harrington will have to get a shot at some point with all the money we are paying him, thanks Millen!

Runningbacks

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Huntley, Richard 49 RB RB 7 56 56
Stewart, James 38 RB 8 44 44
Denson, Autry 29 RB 4 34 38
Cooper, Rafael 30 RB 1 25 41
Cason, Aveion 33 RB 2 24 36
Warren, Lamont 45 RB 9 18 18
Schlesinger, Cory 23 FB FB 8 45 45
Trejo, Stephen 35 FB 2 13 26


Richard Huntley and James Stewart will share the load at halfback with Corey Schlesigner leading the way at fullback. Both Huntley and Stewart are UFA after this season, we hope to bring back at least one of them.

Tight Ends

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE TE 5 53 53
Banta, Bradford 80 TE 9 49 49
Owens, John 88 TE 1 12 36
Murphy, Matt 87 TE 1 12 27


Mikhael Ricks and Bradford Banta are not a bad combo at tight end, but neither is a game changer in the running game or passing game.

Wide Receivers

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Howard, Desmond 81 FL FL 11 47 47
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 5 46 46
Crowell, Germane 84 FL 5 39 39
Schroeder, Bill 13 FL 9 27 27
Hakim, Az-zahir 86 FL 5 21 21
Drummond, Eddie 89 FL 1 18 27
Anderson, Scotty 1 FL 2 17 32
Foster, Larry 85 SE SE 3 25 40


Whomever gets the nod at QB throughout the season will have this cast of misfits to throw to, Desmond Howard's nowhere near that good...his rating is inflated by a high punt return rating.

Offensive Line

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Beverly, Eric 50 C 5 39 39
Raiola, Dominic 56 C C 2 37 64
Semple, Tony 69 LG LG 9 54 54
Joyce, Matt 60 LG 8 22 22
Lovelady, Josh 78 LG 1 8 19
Brown, Ray 74 RG 17 27 27
Hopson, Tyrone 63 RG RG 4 24 29
Blaise, Kerlin 64 RG 4 9 9
Backus, Jeff 79 LT LT 2 30 43
McDougle, Stockar 67 RT RT 3 32 48


Tony Semple is our only halfway decent offensive lineman at this point, Dominic Raiola at least has some potential. We are going to have to address this unit in the offseason.

Specialists

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Araguz, Leo 7 P 7 38 38
Jett, John 9 P 10 38 38
Hanson, Jason 11 K 11 74 74


Jason Hanson is one of the league's best, while John Jett and Leo Araguz will battle it out for a roster spot. Araguz is a great holder, so he has a slight advantage heading into training camp.

Defensive Line

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Porcher, Robert 70 LDE LDE 11 59 59
Edwards, Kalima 76 LDE 1 22 53
De Vries, Jared 90 RDE RDE 4 40 48
Hall, James 98 RDE 3 29 36
Lake, Antwan 72 RDE 1 16 43
Pritchett, Kelvin 99 LDT 12 43 43
Rogers, Shaun 71 LDT LDT 2 42 70
Elliss, Luther 73 RDT RDT 8 43 43
Kirschke, Travis 77 RDT 6 33 33


This is another weak spot, Robert Porcher is a solid DE but after that there isn't much talent. Shaun Rogers has Pro Bowl potential at DT, but has not pass rush ability.

Linebackers

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB MLB 4 45 57
Jordan, Richard 92 MLB 6 31 31
Williams, Brian 93 SLB 8 50 50
Claiborne, Chris 59 SLB SLB 4 45 53
Curry, Donte 97 SLB 2 23 48
Gooch, Jeff 91 WLB WLB 7 46 46
Green, Barrett 96 WLB 3 27 44

This unit isn't too bad but it isn't too good either, Brian Williams is our best LB. Chris Claiborne will move to WLB since he isn't quite as good against the run as Williams.

Defensive Backs

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Davis, Eric 34 LCB LCB 13 47 47
Lyght, Todd 26 LCB 12 46 46
Goodman, Andre 43 LCB 1 23 58
Wyrick, Jimmy 46 LCB 3 12 17
Harris, Corey 36 RCB RCB 11 43 43
Greer, Donovan 25 RCB 6 37 37
Cash, Chris 42 RCB 1 6 13
Walker, Bracy 41 SS SS 9 45 45
Walker, Brian 44 SS FS 7 24 24
Campbell, Lamar 28 SS 5 18 18

A bunch of veteran outcasts here, this is a position we will have to look to get younger at in the near future. Andre Goodman is a guy we want to get a good look at this year.

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2002 Preseason

Atlanta 26, at Detroit 3

Warrick Dunn and Ki-jana Carter run wild on us for a 199 yards on 46 carries and 2 touchdowns. Joey Harrington's debut was less than stellar, he was 12 of 24 with 109 yards and an interception. Chris Claiborne had a nice game in his new role, he had 9 tackles. Shaun Rogers showed he is ready to step his game up with 7 tackles and 2 assists. The only good news, we have no injuries after one game.

Detroit 14, at Cleveland 10

We finally got a touchdown in the 2nd quarter of this one, a 62-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Batch to Scotty Anderson. In the 3rd, Richard Huntley ran one in for a 3-yard touchdown. Batch finished the game 10 of 13 for 155 yards and a TD. Joey Harrington was better, he was 9 of 14 for 80 yards but had another interception. Our defense was much better, holding the Browns to just 232 yards on the night. Again, no injuries for us.

at Detroit 17, Indianapolis 10

Another nice performance by our defense, granted Peyton Manning and the starters didn't play a whole lot but we did hold them to 242 yards of offense. Joey Harrington was 7 of 11 for 122 yards, he is looking pretty good. Rafael Cooper had a nice game, he had 44 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown. Matt Murphy was injured during the game but he will be at 100% by next week.

at Buffalo 33, Detroit 10

Ouch. Joey Harrington took a major step back, he was 10 of 25 for 77 yards while throwing 4 interceptions. Charlie Batch wasn't much better, he was 6 of 13 for 64 yards with an interception. The Bills passing game had their way with our secondary, Drew Bledsoe and Travis Brown combined to go 25 of 29 for 256 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not exactly the way we wanted to enter the season. Ray Brown is out for 2 weeks with a strained achilles.

Roster Cuts
Lamont Warren, RB
Stephen Trejo, FB
Matt Murphy, TE
Eddie Drummond, WR
Kerlin Blaise, G
Leo Araguz, P
Jimmy Wyrick, CB

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2002 Season, Week 1
Detroit (-1) at New Orleans

1st Quarter

Our first possession of the game and we march right down the field but have to settle for a field goal, Hanson connects on the 26-yard field goal. The Saints go three and out, we get the ball back and move right down the field again. This time we are able to punch it in on a 2 yard run by Huntley. This time the Saints respond and Carney makes a 30-yard field goal.

Detroit 10, New Orleans 3

2nd Quarter

The Saints get on the board first in the 2nd quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run from Jimmy Lukacic. We get the ball back and march the ball right down the field again, this time Batch finds Schroeder in the back of the end zone for a 11-yard touchdown. The Saints get on the board again to end the quarter with a 29-yard field goal from Carney.

Detroit 17, New Orleans 13

3rd Quarter

On our first drive of the second half, Denson busts a 51-yard touchdown to put us up 24-13. Neither team is able to put any points on the board the rest of the quarter.

Detroit 24, New Orleans 13

4th Quarter

On the first play of the 4th quarter we get a 1-yard touchdown run from Huntley. New Orleans answers with a nice drive finished by a 17-yard pass from Brooks to McAllister. We come back and get a 48-yard field goal from Hanson. From there on out our defense steps it up and we get the win.

Detroit 34, New Orleans 21

We were able to run wild on the Saints' defense, Stewart had 110 yards on 18 carries. Huntley had 43 yards on 14 carries and 2 TDs. Batch managed the game with 191 yards and a TD, no turnovers. Mikhael Ricks had a big day with 5 receptions for 101 yards. On defense, we picked off Aaron Brooks 4 times, sacked him 4 times and forced a fumble.

Ray Brown has been upgraded to probable but Dominic Raiola is now out with a pulled calf muscle. Tyrone Hopson is also questionable with a strained hamstring.

Other Scores
New England 14, Buffalo 10
Green Bay 28, Chicago 3
Tampa Bay 13, Dallas 0
Denver 24, Cincinnati 17
Indianapolis 21, Jacksonville 10
Baltimore 26, Kansas City 23
Miami 10, Atlanta 9
Minnesota 16, Cleveland 10
Houston 17, New York (A) 16
Carolina 35, Philadelphia 30
Oakland 27, San Diego 17
San Francisco 27, Arizona 3
St. Louis 27, Seattle 13
Tennessee 24, Pittsburgh 12
New York (N) 17, Washington 7

Players of the Week
Offense - Steve McNair, TEN (25 for 33, 250 yards, 3 TDs)
Defense - Gilbert Brown, GB (5 tkls, 2 sacks)

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2002 Season, Week 2
Minnesota (1-0) at Detroit (1-0) (-2)

1st Quarter

We get on the board first with a 35-yard pass from Batch to Larry Foster. The Vikings answer right back with a 2-yard pass from Culpepper to Moss. On our next drive, Corey Chavous intercepts Batch and returns it 35 yards for a touchdown.

Minnesota 14, Detroit 7

2nd Quarter

We open the scoring in the second quarter with a 48-yard field goal from Hanson. The Vikings get a 36-yard field goal from Doug Brien and we respond with a 27-yard field goal from Hanson to end the first half.

Minnesota 17, Detroit 13

3rd Quarter

We hold the Vikings in check for most of the third quarter, but they finally get a drive going and Culpepper finds Moss again, this time for an 8-yard touchdown. We got three and out, the Vikings come down the field and Brien connects on a 44-yard field goal.

Minnesota 27, Detroit 13

4th Quarter

We exchange punts for a few possessions then the Vikings get going again but have to settle for a 31-yard field goal from Brien. Then we get a garbage touchdown on a 20-yard pass from Batch to Desmond Howard.

Minnesota 30, Detroit 10

Charlie Batch really struggled today, going 19 for 34 with 197 yards but he threw 4 interceptions and was sacked 4 times, he also fumbled once. Unfortunately they got up on us and it took away our running game, we had 80 yards on 15 carries.

Dominic Raiola has been upgraded to questionable, but Todd Lyght is out for 4 weeks with a strained deltoid muscle.

Other Scores
Arizona 27, Jacksonville 24
Baltimore 10, San Diego 9
Carolina 17, Atlanta 13
Green Bay 16, Cincinnati 12
Denver 20, Cleveland 13
Tennessee 24, Houston 6
Indianapolis 20, Miami 16
New York (A) 27, New England 23
Philadelphia 26, New Orleans 24
New York (N) 13, Dallas 7
Kansas City 23, Oakland 17
Pittsburgh 27, Chicago 3
Seattle 22, San Francisco 0
St. Louis 38, Washington 35
Buffalo 24, Tampa Bay 21

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (23 of 29, 334 yds, 3 TDs)
Bertrand Berry, DEN (5 tkls, 1 ast, 2.5 sacks)

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2002 Season, Week 3
Washington (0-2) at Detroit (1-1) (-1)

1st Quarter

An 89-yard run by Richard Huntley sets up the quarters only touchdown, a 6-yard pass from Charlie Batch to Germane Crowell. Our defense has been getting after their QB, Shane Matthews.

Detroit 7, Washington 0

2nd Quarter

The second quarter is a quiet one, neither team is able to do much outside of just moving to the 50 and pinning the other team deep.

Detroit 7, Washington 0

3rd Quarter

The third quarter is much like the second, a defense battle. Washington did get into our territory but Jeff Gooch was able to intercept a bad pass from Matthews. We get the ball back and march 83 yards on a drive that ate up over 7 minutes off the clock, capped off by a 2-yard run by James Stewart.

Detroit 14, Washington 0

4th Quarter

Washington finally gets something going but they end up having to punt. We get the ball back with 11:55 to play and we don't give it back to Washington until there is 2:12 left, after a 10-yard TD by James Stewart. The Redskins fail to get a first down and we wrap this one up.

Detroit 21, Washington 0

Our running game is racking up yards, Stewart had 84 yards on 18 carries and 2 TDs. Richard Huntley had 165 yards on 15 carries and Autry Denson had 23 yards on 3 carries. Our defense was nasty, holding the Skins to 228 yards on the day.

Raiola and Hopson are both now 100% but Barrett Green sprained his knee and he is questionable for the next 3 weeks.

Others Scores
Atlanta 24, New England 21
Carolina 23, Dallas 20
Chicago 23, Seattle 14
Baltimore 48, Cleveland 14
Oakland 27, Denver 20
St. Louis 41, Green Bay 38
Arizona 41, Indianapolis 17
Houston 13, Jacksonville 9
Kansas City 23, Philadelphia 13
San Diego 22, Miami 2
Buffalo 26, New Orleans 16
Tampa Bay 20, New York (N) 7
Cincinnati 24, Pittsburgh 19
San Francisco 23, Minnesota 6
New York (A) 17, Tennessee 13

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (28 of 36, 379 yds, 5 TDs)
Robert Tate, BAL (3 tkls, 1 ast, 3 ints)

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2002 Season, Week 4
Detroit (2-1) at Chicago (1-2) (-2)

1st Quarter

We get the ball first and move right down the field on the Bears defense but have to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Jason Hanson. The Bears get the ball and move right down the field on our defense but Paul Edinger misses the 44-yard attempt.

Detroit 3, Chicago 0

2nd Quarter

We got 3 and out, then the Bears go back to work on offense but the stall out again and have to settle for a field goal. This time Edinger connects on a 35-yard field goal. Both teams exchange punts until the Bears finally get something going again, their drive fizzles out again but Edinger hits a 39-yard field goal. We get the ball back with 38 seconds left in the half, Batch hits Jacquez Green and sets up a field goal attempt. Hanson hits the 59-yard field goal as time expires!

Detroit 6, Chicago 6

3rd Quarter

We get a decent drive going but have to settle for another field goal, this time Hanson misses the 48-yard attempt, wide left. Neither team is able to do much for the remainder of the 3rd quarter.

Detroit 6, Chicago 6

4th Quarter

Chris Chandler finds Marcus Robinson for a 27-yard gain on the first play of the 4th quarter, then he hits Robinson again on the next play for a 39-yard touchdown giving the Bears a 13-6 lead. On the ensuing kickoff Autry Denson returns the kick 88 yards for the touchdown to tie it at 13! The Bears come right back and have a nice drive before settling on a 47-yard field from Edinger. We are unable to even get a first down the rest of the way.

Chicago 16, Detroit 13

Our offense was completely shut down, for some reason we gave up on the run against the Bears rush defense, which was the 31st ranked rush defense coming into the game. We had 71 yards on 17 carries. Batch was terrible going 16 of 35 for 144 yards.

Lamar Campbell is now probable with a bruised ribcage and Robert Porcher is doubtful with an abdominal strain.

Other Scores
New England 27, Baltimore 23
Miami 28, Buffalo 10
Cincinnati 31, Cleveland 13
Denver 17, Dallas 10
Minnesota 37, Green Bay 32
New Orleans 26, New York (A) 21
New York (N) 30, Kansas City 7
Oakland 22, Houston 7
Pittsburgh 37, San Diego 8
Indianapolis 41, Seattle 31
St. Louis 35, San Francisco 31
Tampa Bay 30, Washington 10
Tennessee 40, Jacksonville 13

Players of the Week
Steve McNair, TEN (27 of 42, 339 yds, 4 TDs)
Andre Dyson, TEN (3 tkls, 3 ints)

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2002 Season, Week 5
Pittsburgh (2-2) at Detroit (2-2) (+4)

1st Quarter

The Steelers take the opening kickoff and just ram Jerome Bettis down our throat, but we finally stop the drive and they settle for a 28-yard field goal from Todd Peterson. We got three and out. The Steelers comes back with more Bettis but we stop them in the red zone again and Peterson connects on a 24-yard field goal.

Pittsburgh 6, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

They start passing the ball now that they have made us put 8 in the box, it pays off for them and they get a nice drive before Bettis finally gets them in the end zone on a 7-yard run. We finally get a little drive going but it stalls quickly and we punt. Our defense is gassed and Bettis gashes us for a 67-yard touchdown. We answer with a 45-yard field goal from Hanson, set up by a 34-yard pass from Batch to Jacquez Green. The Steelers get the ball back and just roll down the field, scoring on a 1-yard pass from Tommy Maddox to Dan Kreider.

Pittsburgh 27, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

We start the 2nd half by intercepting Maddox but have to settle for a 24-yard field from Hanson. The next play Maddox goes deep and we intercept him again but we can't do anything and have to punt. We hold the Steelers to three and out then get a nice drive but Joey Porter blocks the field goal.

Pittsburgh 27, Detroit 6

4th Quarter

A Bettis fumble sets us up at the Steelers 1, three plays later Batch hits Bradford Banta for a 2-yard touchdown pass. We exchange punts before the Steelers get a 33-yard field goal from Peterson.

Pittsburgh 30, Detroit 13

Bettis had a career best day with 40 carries for 238 yards and the Steelers completely dominated our ground game, we had just 36 yards on 15 carries. Batch stunk going 19 of 50 for 225 yards with a TD and an interception. Pittsburgh had 457 yards of offense on the day, compared to our 244.

Lamar Campbell is now 100%.

Other Scores
San Francisco 34, Arizona 27
Baltimore 24, Cincinnati 9
Cleveland 16, Buffalo 14
Kansas City 37, Dallas 6
Houston 18, Arizona 17
Indianapolis 23, Tennessee 13
Seattle 20, Jacksonville 13
St. Louis 44, Minnesota 12
New England 24, Denver 17
New York (A) 17, Miami 6
New York (N) 17, Oakland 13
Philadelphia 34, Tampa Bay 6
Carolina 31, Washington 3

Players of the Week
Marshall Faulk, STL (33 car, 285 yds, 2 TD)
Lewis Bush, KCY (3 tkls, 2 ast, 1 sack, 1 int, 2 defn)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 6
Detroit (2-3) at Green Bay (2-2) (-2)

1st Quarter

On their second possession of the game the Packers got rolling and Brett Favre hit Terry Glenn for a 32-yard touchdown pass to jump out in front. The rest of the quarter was a defensive battle with neither team doing much.

Green Bay 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

After Charlie Batch was intercepted by Matt Bowen to give the Packers the ball at midfield, the Pack got moving again and Favre scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown to cap off the scoring drive. Batch recovered and led us down the field after a nice scramble of his own, but we had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from Jason Hanson. Favre and the Packers got moving again but their drive stalled and they ended up with Ryan Longwell converting on a 50-yard field goal to end the 1st half scoring.

Green Bay 17, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

Both teams were held scoreless in the 3rd quarter, the Packers had a chance to get another 3 points but Longwell missed a 49-yard field goal attempt - wide left.

Green Bay 17, Detroit 3

4th Quarter

After the Longwell miss we took over with good field position and Batch found Mikhael Ricks for a 16-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to one score. After a horrible punt by John Jett, the Packers get good field position and capitalize with a 16-yard run by Ahman Green. We get the ball back and on the very first play Batch gets intercepted by Bryant Westbrook sealing the victory for the Packers.

Green Bay 24, Detroit 10

Batch continues to struggle, he was 27 of 43 for 244 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions today. We again abandoned the run quite early despite some success, we had 73 yards on 17 carries. Antwan Lake had a nice performance with 1.5 sacks, he was just activated this week.

We are all clean on the injury front, the only two players dinged up are Gooch and Porcher. They are both probable.

Other Scores
Seattle 17, Arizona 9
Minnesota 16, Baltimore 8
Buffalo 23, New York (A) 6
Tampa Bay 20, Carolina 14
Chicago 13, Atlanta 7
Pittsburgh 14, Cleveland 13
San Diego 31, Denver 13
Cincinnati 37, Houston 12
Kansas City 34, Washington 7
New York (N) 32, New Orleans 14
Oakland 33, Philadelphia 30
Jacksonville 33, St. Louis 30
Tennessee 15, New England 3

Players of the Week
Corey Dillon, CIN (29 car, 186 yards, 3 TDs)
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, GB (4 tkls, 3 sacks)

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2002 Season, Week 7
Bye Week

Other Scores
Arizona 14, New York (N) 10
Atlanta 23, Dallas 23
Buffalo 30, Carolina 21
Cincinnati 43, Chicago 17
Cleveland 13, Green Bay 7
St. Louis 31, Indianapolis 23
Minnesota 12, Pittsburgh 9
Tampa Bay 27, New England 24
Miami 27, New Orleans 17
Oakland 26, New York (A) 16
Philadelphia 34, Washington 10
Kansas City 23, San Diego 3
San Francisco 16, Houston 3

Players of the Week
Drew Bledsoe, BUF (33 of 46, 327 yards, 3 TDs)
Julian Peterson, SF (6 tkls, 4 asts, 1 sack, 1 INT)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 8
St. Louis (6-1) at Detroit (2-4) (+9)

1st Quarter

The Rams have been letting up a lot of points so we may have a chance here. Our first drive of the game is a good one, capped off by a 12-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Germane Crowell. We hold the Rams high powered offense to just 1 first down the whole quarter but we failed to put more points on the board.

Detroit 7, St. Louis 0

2nd Quarter

Our second possession of the 2nd quarter is a big one, a key 3rd down completion to Jacquez Green for 30 yards sets up another Batch to Crowell touchdown, this time for 10 yards. The Rams finally go all air on us and it works, Kurt Warner hits Torry Holt for a 13-yard touchdown to cut the lead. We get the ball back and Batch hits Crowell again for a big play which sets up a 48-yard field goal from Jason Hanson.

Detroit 17, St. Louis 7

3rd Quarter

The Rams open up the 2nd half with an all out air attack and Warner hits Marshall Faulk for a 7-yard touchdown pass, the score was setup by a 38-yard reception by Faulk. We answer with a 19-yard field goal from Hanson.

Detroit 20, St. Louis 14

4th Quarter

A few plays into the 4th Clint Kriewaldt intercepts Warner and returns it 33 yards for a touchdown! We hold the Rams to a three and out on their next possession. We get the ball back and a 20-yard pass to Az-zahir Hakim sets up Hanson for a 43-yard field goal. Later Eric Davis intercepts Warner to set up another Hanson field goal, this one from 35 yards out.

Detroit 33, St. Louis 14

Batch responded to the critics with a 21 for 28, 205 yard, 2 touchdown performance. We also committed to the run in this one, Huntley had 64 yards on 19 carries and Stewart had 84 yards on 19 carries. Robert Porcher had a sack and 3 hurries in his first game back. The Rams completely abandoned the run, they only ran the ball 8 times for 24 yards.
Eric Davis broke his thumb, he shouldn't miss any games and Richard Jordan pulled his groin but he should be able to go next week.

Other Scores
Atlanta 16, New Orleans 13
Carolina 10, Arizona 3
Chicago 34, Cleveland 7
Baltimore 23, Denver 10
Buffalo 37, Houston 10
Jacksonville 34, Tennessee 31
Miami 13, New York (A) 6
Minnesota 21, Green Bay 14
Philadelphia 45, New York (N) 20
Oakland 31, San Diego 6
Indianapolis 20, San Francisco 10
Seattle 23, Dallas 20

If you are keeping track at home, Dallas and Washington are both still winless.

Players of the Week
Steve McNair, TEN (20 of 32, 263 yds, 3 TDs)
Mike Brown, CHI (6 tkls, 2 asts, 1 sack, 2 INTs)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 9
Detroit (3-4) at Seattle (4-3) (-5)

1st Quarter

The Seahawks get the ball first and go three and out, Jeff Feagles shanked his punt to give us great field position. On our first play from scrimmage Richard Huntley busts one for 56 yards to setup a 6-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Crowell again. Seattle responds quickly with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Itula Mili. The rest of the quarter is uneventful but our ground game is picking up some momentum.

Detroit 7, Seattle 7

2nd Quarter

Our running game is having their way with their defense, we score first in the 2nd quarter with a 1-yard pass from Batch to James Stewart. Seattle answers with a 45-yard field goal by Ryan Lindell. A Huntley fumble sets up another Lindell field goal before the half, this one from 53 yards out.

Detroit 14, Seattle 13

3rd Quarter

A Batch fumble at Seattle's 13-yard line kills our chance to extend the lead. We get the ball back and our running game sets up a 35-yard Hanson attempt, which is blocked. Larry Foster then fumbles at Seattle's 34-yard line to kill our next drive, luckily our defense is holding up.

Detroit 14, Seattle 13

4th Quarter

The Seahawks finally get some offense going but they have to settle for a 35-yard field goal from Lindell to take the lead 16-14. Doug Evans fumbles a punt for Seattle which sets up a 48-yard field goal attempt for Hanson, but he misses it wide left with 2:22 left. Seattle gets a couple first downs but Lindell misses a 52-yard field goal with 1:33 left to give us another chance. Batch finds Foster for 14, Crowell for 12 and 21 to setup a 38-yard field from Hanson as time expires!!!

Detroit 17, Seattle 16

Huntley had a huge game with 126 yards on 17 carries and Batch played well for the 2nd straight week, he was 20 of 35 with 252 yards and 2 touchdowns despite getting sacked 7 times.

Other Scores
Chicago 23, Arizona 8
Cincinnati 19, Baltimore 16
New Orleans 27, Carolina 6
Philadelphia 20, Dallas 13
Green Bay 38, Tampa Bay 13
Indianapolis 44, Houston 10
Kansas City 33, Jacksonville 21
New England 27, Miami 11
Pittsburgh 27, Denver 20
New York (N) 10, San Diego 7
San Francisco 24, Tennessee 21
Atlanta 13, Washington 3

Players of the Week
Brett Favre, GB (21 of 27, 333 yards, 5 TDs)
John Randle, SEA (4 tkls, 1 asts, 2.5 sacks

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 10
Detroit (4-4) at Minnesota (6-2) (-8)

1st Quarter

We shut down the Vikings on their first possession, then roll down the field capping off the scoring drive with a 7-yard TD run from Richard Huntley. Our defense continues to hold their offense in check for the rest of the quarter.

Detroit 7, Minnesota 0

2nd Quarter

Charlie Batch is intercepted by Ronnie Bradford to setup the Vikings at our 36. They capitalize with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Culpepper to Hunter Goodwin. Our next drive, a 30-yard run from Huntley sets up a 32-yard field goal by Hanson. Minnesota gets into position to try a 58-yard field goal but Doug Brien misses it short of the cross bar.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 7

3rd Quarter

A bad punt by Kyle Richardson sets us up with good field position but Batch gets sacked by Greg Biekert to push us back and Hanson misses a 48-yard field goal. The next possession we stop them for a 3 and out but we lined up offsides on the punt giving them a first down which starts a nice drive for them.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 7

4th Quarter

The Vikings methodically move the ball down the field to set up a 26-yard field goal for Brien to tie it at 10. Our next possession Batch is sacked and fumbles, giving Minnesota the ball at our 33. The Vikes capitalize with an 11-yard touchdown run by Moe Williams. We get the ball back and on the 2nd play Huntley fumbles, giving the ball at our 22. A few plays later Brien kicks a 38-yard field goal. Then Batch throws a pick on our next possession and Williams punishes us with a 20-yard touchdown run.

Minnesota 27, Detroit 10

Batch turned the ball over too much today, but he went 25 of 34 for 253 yards. Huntley had 66 yards on 8 carries. Williams had 128 yards on 24 carries with 2 touchdowns to lead Minnesota. We did manage to hold Randy Moss to zero catches on the day. We let up six more sacks today, our line is starting to get abused.

Other Scores
Carolina 32, Atlanta 31
Baltimore 19, Cleveland 13
Tennessee 34, Buffalo 10
Chicago 20, San Francisco 17
Pittsburgh 19, Cincinnati 9
Dallas 20, Green Bay 16
Denver 20, Washington 19
New York (A) 26, Jacksonville 21
Oakland 38, Kansas City 17
New England 38, Indianapolis 27
St. Louis 30, New Orleans 17
Philadelphia 17, San Diego 7
Arizona 16, Seattle 12
Miami 16, Tampa Bay 10

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (35 of 59, 362 yards, 3 TDs)
Lance Johnstone, MIN (8 tkls, 1 asts, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 11
Cleveland (2-7) at Detroit (4-5) (-5)

1st Quarter

The Browns stop us after a short drive to start the game, but James Jackson fumbles the punt and we recover at their 14-yard line. Four plays later Hanson hits a 23-yard field goal. Cleveland racks up an 18 play drive that eats up almost 10 minutes of clock but settles for a 38-yard field goal by Phil Dawson.

Detroit 3, Cleveland 3

2nd Quarter

Tim Couch leads the Browns right down the field and Jamel White runs it in for a 11-yard touchdown. We answer with a 37-yard field goal by Hanson. With 12 seconds to play in the half Todd Lyght sacks Couch and he fumbles, Robert Porcher picks it up and runs 29 yards for the touchdown!

Detroit 13, Cleveland 10

3rd Quarter

William Green fumbles it on the 2nd play of the half and Brian Williams recovers. A few plays later and we settle for a 35-yard field goal by Hanson. The Browns respond with a nice drive but Andre Goodman intercept a Couch pass at our 21-yard line.

Detroit 16, Cleveland 10

4th Quarter

The Browns finally take care of the ball and get a 49-yard field goal from Phil Dawson to cut the lead to 3. A 22-yard pass from Batch to Larry Foster sets up a 31-yard field goal by Hanson. Cleveland gets into position for a 45-yard field goal but Dawson misses it wide right. We eat up some clock and John Jett pins them at their 5 yard line with 1:05 left. They fail to make it passed their 20 before time expires.

Detroit 19, Cleveland 13

Lyght had a huge game with 7 tackles, 3 assists, 1 sack and 2 forced fumbles. Porcher had 2 sacks and fumble return for a touchdown. Offensively there isn't really anyone to talk about for either team.

Bradford Banta is doubtful for 4 weeks with an abdominal strain.

Other Scores
Arizona 17, St. Louis 9
Atlanta 13, New York (N) 7
Jacksonville 27, Buffalo 13
Oakland 14, Cincinnati 6
Baltimore 26, Indianapolis 16
Miami 30, Carolina 10
Tampa Bay 20, New Orleans 17
New England 20, New York (A) 9
Philadelphia 30, Chicago 21
Pittsburgh 25, Kansas City 10
Denver 34, San Diego 0
Green Bay 20, San Francisco 13
Seattle 27, Minnesota 24
Tennessee 30, Houston 6
Dallas 23, Washington 20

Washington is now 0-10.

Players of the Week
Emmitt Smith, DAL (38 car, 152 yards, 1 TD)
Simeon Rice, TAM (6 tkls, 3.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 12
Green Bay (5-5) at Detroit (5-5) (+1)

1st Quarter

Favre opens the game with a 29 yard scramble which sets up a 56-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell. We got three and out, the Packers get the ball back and this time Longwell misses a 56-yard field goal. We can't take advantage of the great field position but pin them at their 3. They move ball down the field and Longwell misses a 47-yard field goal wide left.

Green Bay 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Our running game finally gets going but our drive stalls and Hanson kicks a 24-yard field goal to tie it up. A 24-yard pass from Favre to Eric Metcalf sets up Longwell from 50-yards and he hits it. The next play, Batch is intercepted by Mike McKenzie, he returns it to our 18. They settle for a 20-yard field goal from Longwell.

Green Bay 9, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

James Stewart breaks a 31-yard run around the left side to set up a 6-yard touchdown run by Richard Huntley to give us the lead. Favre leads the Pack right down the field and they score on a 3-yard pass to Donald Driver. Batch responds with a 33-yard pass to Bill Schroeder then on the next play he hits Desmond Howard for a 50-yard touchdown pass.

Detroit 17, Green Bay 16

4th Quarter

Green Bay gets a 1-yard touchdown run from Rondell Mealey on the 1st play of the 4th quarter, they lead 23-17. Batch moves us right down the field but we settle for a 33-yard field goal by Hanson. We hold them to 3 and out. Batch leads us down the field again, this time we punch it in on a 5-yard touchdown run by James Stewart, giving us a 27-23 lead. Lyght intercepts Favre on the 2nd play of their next drive, but we can't do anything with it. John Jett pins them at their 1 yard line with 1:47 to play. Favre leads them right down the field but we stop them at our 4-yard line as time expires, Porcher batted down a pass on the last play!

Detroit 27, Green Bay 23

Our running game came to life today, Huntley had 93 yards on 16 carries and Stewart had 74 yards on 8 carries. Favre had a big day with 367 yards passing.

We lost Eric Davis for the next 3 weeks with a hyper extended knee, that will hurt our depth in the defensive backfield.

Other Scores
Tennessee 27, Arizona 10
Carolina 20, New York (A) 13
Chicago 17, Minnesota 9
Cincinnati 42, Cleveland 17
Indianapolis 31, Houston 10
Jacksonville 33, San Francisco 11
Kansas City 19, San Diego 6
Buffalo 16, Miami 10
New Orleans 26, New England 16
Denver 34, New York (N) 21
Oakland 30, Dallas 3
Pittsburgh 17, Baltimore 15
St. Louis 34, Seattle 17
Tampa Bay 24, Atlanta 3
Philadelphia 34, Washington 3

Players of the Week
Drew Bledsoe, BUF (28 of 38, 369 yards, 2 TDs)
Simeon Rice, TAM (5 tkls, 3 asts, 3.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 13
Detroit (6-5) at Cincinnati (6-5) (-3)

1st Quarter

Both offenses start out slow but then the Bengals get some momentum as Jon Kitna hits Peter Warrick and Chad Johnson for a pair of 15-yard gains. Then Corey Dillon gets free for a 25-yard run, then he finally get a 4-yard touchdown run to end the drive.

Cincinnati 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Halfway through the 2nd our offense finally gets something going but we have to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Hanson. The Bengals answer right back with a pair of big runs, Rudi Johnson gets a crease and runs for 25 yards. Later in the drive Dillon scores on a 23-yard touchdown run.

Cincinnati 14, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

Kitna passes the ball around to his talented group of wideouts but they get stopped at our 1, and settle for a 18-yard field goal by Neil Rackers. We turn the field on them and get great field position that sets up a 2-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Larry Foster.

Cincinnati 17, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

They return the favor and pin us deep in their territory, we punt and give them great field position. Eight plays later Kitna finds Tony Stewart for a 6-yard touchdown pass. We move the ball well but turn the ball over on downs at their 10. They punt and we turn the ball over on downs again, this time at their 28. Dillon breaks a nice run and they are able to run out the clock.

Cincinnati 24, Detroit 10

Dillon finished the game with 101 yards on 19 carries with 2 touchdowns. Batch was OK, he was 28 of 46 for 266 yards with a touchdown. We leave the game with just minimal injuries and an outside shot of making the playoffs.

Other Scores
Baltimore 20, Green Bay 16
New York (N) 27, Dallas 3
Kansas City 26, Denver 17
Jacksonville 20, Houston 10
Minnesota 14, Arizona 13
Miami 13, New England 6
New Orleans 10, Washington 9
Buffalo 24, New York (A) 15
Pittsburgh 10, Oakland 6
Philadelphia 23, Atlanta 0
San Diego 29, Cleveland 7
San Francisco 20, Seattle 17
St. Louis 23, Chicago 17
Tampa Bay 20, Carolina 13
Indianapolis 42, Tennessee 16

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (15 of 17, 254 yards, 3 TDs)
Marcus Washington, IND (5 tkls, 1 sack, 1 INT)

Playoff Picture
AFC Division Leaders - Pittsburgh (9-3), Oakland (9-3), Indianapolis (8-4), Buffalo (7-5)
AFC Wildcard - Baltimore (8-4), Kansas City (8-4)
AFC In the Hunt - Cincinnati (7-5), Tennessee (7-5), Miami (7-5), New England (6-6), Denver (6-6), Jacksonville (5-7)
NFC Division Leaders - Philadelphia (9-3), St. Louis (9-3), Minnesota (8-4), Tampa Bay (8-4)
NFC Wildcard - Chicago (7-5), Carolina (7-5)
NFC In the Hunt - New York (N) (7-5), Detroit (6-6), San Francisco (6-6), Green Bay (5-7), Arizona (5-7), Seattle (5-7)

Top 5 Draft Order (if the season ended today)
1) Washington (0-12)
2) Cleveland (2-10)
3) Dallas (2-9-1)
4) Houston (3-9)
5) San Diego (3-9)

Our Remaining Schedule
at Baltimore (8-4)
vs Arizona (5-7)
at San Francisco (6-6)
vs Chicago (7-5)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 14
Detroit (6-6) at Baltimore (8-4) (-5)

1st Quarter

We force Baltimore into a three and out on their first drive of the game, then 11 plays later Batch hits Mikhael Ricks for a 6-yard touchdown pass. Jeff Blake gets the Ravens offense moving but they have to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Matt Stover. On our next play from scrimmage Batch finds Germane Crowell for an 82-yard touchdown pass!

Detroit 14, Baltimore 3

2nd Quarter

We force Baltimore to another three and out, then get the ball in great field position but Batch forces one into double coverage and he is intercepted by Alvin Porter. Both teams exchange punts before the Ravens get something going, Blake finds Todd Heap for the touchdown but its called back for offensive holding. The Ravens have to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Stover. Baltimore adds a 50-yard field goal by Stover before tha half ends.

Detroit 14, Baltimore 9

3rd Quarter

We open the half with a perfectly executed 10-play drive that results in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Larry Foster. Both teams exchange punts for the rest of the quarter until Baltimore finally gets moving again at the end of the quarter.

Detroit 21, Baltimore 9

4th Quarter

The Ravens finally find the end zone with 13-yard touchdown pass from Blake to Travis Taylor to cut our lead to 21-16. Their defense forces us into a three and out and Jeff Ogden has a great punt return that sets them up at our 46. Four plays later Jamal Lewis runs it in for a 15-yard touchdown run, Baltimore leads 22-21. Their defense stuffs us again and they get great field position as a result. They find the end zone again, this time on a 9-yard Lewis touchdown run. We get a nice return but have to punt, John Jett pins them back at their own 3. On their first play we tackle Lewis for a safety to cut the lead to 6. Our comeback attempt ends at their 33 on a turnover on downs with 0:01 left.

Baltimore 29, Detroit 23

We ran the ball well against their stout run defense, Stewart and Huntley combined for 19 carries and 104 yards. Batch had a nice day with 275 yards and 3 touchdowns but 1 interception. Crowell continues to be a pleasant surprise, he had 7 receptions for 126 yards with a touchdown. Baltimore's offense was efficient, Lewis had 88 yards and 2 touchdowns while Blake threw for 293 yards with a touchdown.

Other Scores
San Francisco 28, Arizona 21
Kansas City 33, Buffalo 11
New England 24, Carolina 10
Cincinnati 27, Minnesota 20
Indianapolis 29, Denver 21
Green Bay 21, Chicago 10
Miami 17, Jacksonville 10
Atlanta 16, New Orleans 8
Tampa Bay 17, New York (A) 12
New York (N) 34, Philadelphia 31
Pittsburgh 38, Cleveland 7
Dallas 21, San Diego 16
Seattle 22, Houston 16
Tennessee 36, St. Louis 26
Oakland 25, Washington 10

Players of the Week
Steve McNair, TEN (25 of 32, 300 yds, 3 TDs)
Patrick Kerney, ATL (6 tkls, 1 ast, 3 sacks)

Playoff Picture
AFC Divisional Leaders - Pittsburgh (10-3), Oakland (10-3), Indianapolis (9-4), Miami (8-5)
AFC Wildcard - Baltimore (9-4), Kansas City (9-4)
AFC In the Hunt - Cincinnati (8-5), Tennessee (8-5), New England (7-6), Buffalo (7-6)
NFC Divisional Leaders - St. Louis (9-4), Philadelphia (9-4), Tampa Bay (9-4), Minnesota (8-5)
AFC Wildcard - New York (N) 8-5, Carolina (7-6)
AFC In the Hunt - Chicago (7-6), San Francisco (7-6), Green Bay (6-7), Detroit (6-7), Seattle (6-7)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 15
Arizona (5-8) at Detroit (6-7) (-5)

1st Quarter

On Arizona's first possession of the game they march right down the field but their drive stalls in the red zone and Bill Gramatica misses a 36-yard field goal wide left. Arizona's defense holds and when they get the ball back they move the ball at will but a penalty kills their drive and they have to punt from our 40.

Detroit 0, Arizona 0

2nd Quarter

Our defense is having all kinds of trouble stopping their offense and they finally finish a drive on a 34-yard pass from Jake Plummer to Martay Jenkins. Our next possession we finally get something going but a big sack stops our drive and we have to punt, John Jett pins them at their 3. The Cardinals have a great drive which ends with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to Joel Makovicka. On the ensuing kick off Autry Denson returns the kicked 98 yard for the touchdown!

Arizona 14, Detroit 7

3rd Quarter

We finally get a nice defensive stand and they are forced to punt on their first possession of the half. Batch hits Ricks for 15 yards, then Stewart for 25 yards, and finally Green for 30 yards to setup a 20-yard field goal by Hanson. The Cardinals next possession Chris Claiborne intercepts Plummer and we get the ball at the 50! Batch hits Ricks for 24 yards and then hits Crowell for a 26-yard touchdown! Arizona gets the ball back and we force a Plummer fumble, Bracy Walker recovers it to set us at the 50 again. Batch connects with Crowell again, this time for 23 yards to set up a 23-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 20, Arizona 14

4th Quarter

Plummer and the Cardinals regroup and a 51-yard run by Thomas Jones sets up a 10-yard touchdown pass from Plummer to Jenkins to give the Cardinals a 1 point lead. We go three and out on our possession and Jones breaks off a 24-yard run to set up a 20-yard field goal from Gramatica. We get the ball back with 2:09 left in the game. Batch hits Green for 39 yards, then Banta for 21 and Green again for 13 before hitting Bill Schroeder for a 7-yard touchdown with 0:52 left! Walker intercepts Plummer on the third play of their comeback attempt to seal the win!

Detroit 27, Arizona 24

Turnovers killed the Cardinals, Plummer ended up with 295 yards, 3 touchdowns but 2 interceptions and a fumble to let us back in the game. Batch was great, going 21 of 30 for 272 yards with 2 touchdowns. Thomas Jones ran wild on our defense, he had 135 yards on 14 carries.

We lost Larry Foster tore his ACL and will have knee surgery this week, he will be out until 2004. Foster was a pleasant surprise with 37 receptions, 367 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season. Scotty Anderson will get a chance to fill in for him.

Other Scores
New York (A) 31, Atlanta 27
Chicago 17, Baltimore 14
Cincinnati 12, San Diego 10
Cleveland 19, Kansas City 14
New Orleans 23, Dallas 10
Pittsburgh 30, Green Bay 9
St. Louis 27, Houston 22
Indianapolis 20, Jacksonville 13
Miami 17, Tennessee 3
Carolina 31, Minnesota 3
New England 38, Buffalo 3
Washington 27, New York (N)
Oakland 12, Denver 9
Philadelphia 34, San Francisco 21
Seattle 13, Tampa Bay 10

Washington gets their first win of the season!

Players of the Week
Donovan McNabb, PHI (20 of 31, 313 yards, 4 TDs)
Junior Seau, SDG (9 tkls, 1 asts, 3 INTs)

Playoff Picture
AFC Divisional Leaders - Pittsburgh (11-3), Oakland (11-3), Indianapolis (10-4), Miami (9-5)
AFC Wild Card - Cincinnati (9-5), Baltimore (9-5)
AFC In the Hunt - Kansas City (9-5), Tennessee (8-6), New England (8-6), Buffalo (7-7)
NFC Divisional Leaders - St. Louis (10-4), Philadelphia (10-4), Tampa Bay (9-5), Chicago (8-6)
NFC Wild Card - Minnesota (8-6), Carolina (8-6)
NFC In the Hunt - New York (N) (8-6), San Francisco (7-7), Detroit (7-7), Seattle (7-7)

Top 5 Draft Order (if season ended today)
1) Washington (1-13)
2) Cleveland (3-11)
3) Houston (3-11)
4) San Diego (3-11)
5) Dallas (3-10-1)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 16
Detroit (7-7) at San Francisco (7-7) (+2)

1st Quarter

Midway through the quarter the 49ers get a nice drive but a sack by Porcher ends their drive and they settle for a 46-yard field goal from Jose Cortez. We have went 3 and out on both possessions this quarter and the 49ers are driving again as the quarter ends.

San Francisco 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Donovan Greer intercepts Jeff Garcia and returns it 42 yards to set us up with nice field position but on our 2nd play Zach Bronson intercepts Batch. The 49ers have a touchdown called back due to a penalty and have to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Cortez. We can't get anything going offensively. The next 49ers possession Fred Beasley takes a screen pass from Garcia 58 yards for a touchdown. Finally our offense gets moving and we get a 26-yard field goal from Hanson to end the half.

San Francisco 13, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

The first possession of the half we move into 49ers territory but Huntley fumbles and they recover it. The turnover sets them up for a 44-yard field goal by Cortez and he hits it. We get another nice drive going but Batch fumbles and the 49ers recover at their 21, the rain is making the ball very slippery.

San Francisco 16, Detroit 3

4th Quarter

We hold them to three and out and get good field position off the punt but Hanson slips as he is kicking a 46-yard field goal and he misses it short. A turnover on down puts them into scoring position again and Cortez hits a 32-yard field goal. We get the ball back and get moving down the field but Jacquez Green fumbles and their defense recovers ending any shot we have to come back.

San Francisco 19, Detroit 3

Both defenses stopped the run today, we held them to 77 yards rushing and they held us to 48 yards. Green had his best day of the season with 7 receptions for 89 yards. Zach Bronson had 2 fumble recoveries and an interception for San Francisco in a dominating defensive performance for them. The loss all but ends our chance of making the playoffs.

Other Scores
Baltimore 23, Pittsburgh 17
Atlanta 31, Buffalo 19
New York (N) 38, Carolina 22
Washington 13, Dallas 0
Philadelphia 23, Denver 3
Miami 24, Houston 14
Jacksonville 27, New England 20
Kansas City 30, Cincinnati 7
Chicago 28, Minnesota 24
Indianapolis 41, New York (A) 26
Cleveland 17, Oakland 9
Tennessee 26, San Diego 7
Green Bay 23, Seattle 20
St. Louis 23, Arizona 17
New Orleans 27, Tampa Bay 24

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (20 of 24, 280 yards, 4 TDs)
Marvcus Patton, KC (2 tkls, 1 ast, 2 INTs)

Playoff Picture
AFC Divisional Leaders - Indianapolis (11-4), Pittsburgh (11-4), Oakland (11-4), Miami (10-5)
AFC Wild Card - Baltimore (10-5), Kansas City (10-5)
AFC In the Hunt - Cincinnati (9-6), Tennessee (9-6)
NFC Divisional Leaders - St. Louis (11-4), Philadelphia (11-4), Tampa Bay (9-6), Chicago (9-6)
NFC Wild Card - New York (N) 9-6, Carolina (8-7)
NFC In the Hunt - Minnesota (8-7), San Francisco (8-7)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Week 17
Chicago (9-6) at Detroit (7-8) (+3)

1st Quarter

The Bears need a win to clinch the NFC North title. Both defenses start the game in dominating fashion, until the Bears 3rd possession. They finally get a nice drive going but the drive stalled at our 6 and they settle for a 23-yard field goal by Edinger. We get a big 46-yard run by James Stewart on the last play of the quarter to put us in position to score.

Chicago 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

A few plays later Batch hits Jacquez Green for a 6-yard touchdown pass. Later in the quarter Batch finds Green again on a 38-yard pass to setup a 20-yard field goal by Hanson. Our defense has stiffled them the last several possessions. We get the ball back at our 8, when Batch hits Ricks for a 26-yard gain, then Crowell for a 20-yard gain to set up a 46-yard field goal by Hanson with 2:34 left in the half. The Bears get a big 22-yard pass play from Chris Chandler to Vinny Sutherland to setup a 52-yard field goal by Edinger to end the half!

Detroit 13, Chicago 6

3rd Quarter

The second half starts much like the first as the defenses tighten things up, neither team crosses into enemy territory.

Detroit 13, Chicago 6

4th Quarter

A big punt return for Leon Johnson sets the Bears up on our side of the field and 5 plays later Johnson runs it in from 5 yards out to tie the game at 13. Both defenses tighten up again until we get a nice drive going when Batch is intercepted by Brian Urlacher at the Bears 7 with 2:37 to play. The Bears methodically move the ball down the field and Edinger hits a 20-yard field goal as time expires!

Chicago 16, Detroit 13

James Stewart has a big day with 102 yards on 12 carries but we failed to capitalize. Batch was better at taking care of the ball but he still had a crucial interception, he was 22 of 34 for 248 yards. A disappointing way to end our season but we did much better than anyone thought.

Other Scores
Tampa Bay 35, Atlanta 23
Baltimore 16, Oakland 16
New York (A) 21, Cincinnati 14
Green Bay 14, Arizona 7
Indianapolis 34, Buffalo 24
Cleveland 20, Jacksonville 15
Denver 20, Kansas City 14
New England 9, Houston 3
Carolina 29, New Orleans 14
New York (N) 24, Minnesota 16
Philadelphia 41, Dallas 16
Miami 21, Pittsburgh 17
St. Louis 31, San Francisco 26
Seattle 34, Tennessee 7
San Diego 30, Washington 10

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (27 of 41, 322 yards, 4 TDs)
Brandon Whiting, PHI (6 tkls, 4 sacks)

Playoff Matchups
AFC Wild Card Round - Baltimore (10-5-1) at Pittsburgh (11-5), Kansas City (10-6) at Miami (11-5)
AFC Byes - Indianapolis (12-4), Oakland (11-4-1)
NFC Wild Card Round - Carolina (9-7) at Chicago (10-6), New York (N) (10-6) at Tampa Bay (10-6)
NFC Byes - St. Louis (12-4), Philadelphia (12-4)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Wild Card Round

Pittsburgh routes Baltimore, 30-3
* Jerome Bettis rushes for 143 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Kansas City beats Miami on the road, 21-10
* Priest Holmes explodes for 215 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns.

Chicago pulls off comback win against Carolina, 16-13
* Chris Chandler throws for 294 yards, including game winning touchdown with 1:47 to play.

Tampa Bay beats New York (N) with late field goal, 26-24
* Martin Grammatica hits GW field goal with 1:12 to play!

Conference Semi-Final Matchups
AFC - Kansas City (11-6) at Indianapolis (12-4)
AFC - Pittsburgh (12-5) at Oakland (11-4-1)
NFC - Chicago (11-6) at Philadelphia (12-4)
NFC - Tampa Bay (11-6) at St. Louis (12-4)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Conference Semi-Final Rounds

Eagles route Bears, 41-21
* Dorsey Levens runs wild on Bears, 195 yards and 4 touchdowns

Rams smoke Bucs, 45-20
* Kurt Warner nearly perfect in route, 26 of 30 for 390 yards and 5 touchdowns

Colts good enough to beat Chiefs, 30-17
* Manning goes 12 of 20 for 206 yards with 2 touchdowns

Raiders knock off the Steelers, 23-17
* Charlie Garner rushes for 102 yards and 2 touchdowns

Conference Finals Matchups
AFC - Oakland (12-4-1) at Indianapolis (13-4)
NFC - Philadelphia (13-4) at St. Louis (13-4)

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Conference Finals

Colts beat Raiders in overtime, 33-27
* Manning throws for 386 yards and 3 touchdowns!

Rams hold off Eagles, 24-21
* Faulk rushes for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns

Super Bowl
Indianapolis (14-4) vs St. Louis (14-4)
* Colts favored by 2.

[Balldog]

2002 Season, Super Bowl

Colts outscore Rams in OT, 41-38
* Manning throws for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns
* Warner throws for 343 yards and 5 touchdowns

2002 Season Recap


Front Office Football 2007
2002 Summary for Detroit Lions

Year 2002
Record 7-9
Winning Pct. .437
All-Time 7-9
Winning Pct. .437
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Gerald Allison
Record 7-9
Winning Pct. .437
Off. Coord. B. LaTendresse
Def. Coord. J. Freestone

Detroit Lions Team Rank
Rushes per Game 23.4 27
Rushing Yards 111.8 20
Yards Per Carry 4.77 7
Pass Attempts 35.7 6
Completions 21.5 10
Completion Pct. 60.2 26
Passing Yards 221.9 13
Yards Per Attempt 6.22 25
Yards Per Catch 10.32 20
Total Yardage Gained 316.0 21
3rd Down Conversions 37.4 14 (T)
Points Per Game 18.3 20 (T)
Pass Rush Pct. 14.9 29
Pass Defense Pct. 47.1 17
Turnovers 22 15
Turnover Margin 0 16 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 27.8 17 (T)
Rushing Yards 122.3 22
Yards Per Carry 4.40 23
Pass Attempts 34.5 24
Completions 22.8 31
Completion Pct. 65.9 26 (T)
Passing Yards 236.3 30
Yards Per Attempt 6.85 26
Yards Per Catch 10.38 13
Total Yardage Gained 349.5 29
3rd Down Conversions 43.4 29
Points Per Game 20.4 21
Pass Rush Pct. 18.4 16 (T)
Pass Defense Pct. 51.8 23
Turnovers 22 21 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 34 at NOS 21
2 20 MIN 30
3 21 WAS 0
4 13 at CHI 16
5 13 PIT 30
6 10 at GBY 24
8 33 STL 14
9 17 at SEA 16
10 10 at MIN 27
11 19 CLE 13
12 27 GBY 23
13 10 at CIN 24
14 23 at BAL 29
15 27 ARI 24
16 3 at SFO 19
17 13 CHI 16

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
17 C. Batch QB 571 344 3551 6.22 18 13 79.2
**Team --- 571 344 3551 6.22 18 13 79.2
$$Opp --- 552 364 3780 6.85 17 15 84.5

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
49 R. Huntley RB 175 878 5.02 4 4
38 J. Stewart RB 158 716 4.53 3 3
Front Office Football 2007
**Team --- 375 1788 4.77 8 21
$$Opp --- 445 1957 4.40 14 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
84 G. Crowell WR 87 56 641 11.45 7.37 5 6
82 J. Green WR 105 56 704 12.57 6.70 4 1
83 M. Ricks TE 82 52 566 10.88 6.90 3 2
85 L. Foster WR 80 37 367 9.92 4.59 6 3
80 B. Banta TE 51 36 328 9.11 6.43 3 1
13 B. Schroeder WR 54 31 336 10.84 6.22 7 2
49 R. Huntley RB 29 22 123 5.59 4.24 0 0
38 J. Stewart RB 31 22 129 5.86 4.16 2 1

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
93 B. Williams OLB 83 23 2.5 1 0 6 73.6
94 C. Kriewaldt ILB 69 16 2.0 1 2 9 80.7
41 B. Walker S 68 26 0.5 0 1 9 79.6
28 L. Campbell S 55 22 1.0 0 0 3 74.7
92 R. Jordan ILB 48 11 0.0 0 1 1 74.0
71 S. Rogers DT 45 13 2.5 2 0 0 80.3
34 E. Davis CB 43 15 0.0 0 2 6 79.9
44 B. Walker S 43 8 0.0 1 1 3 75.4
26 T. Lyght CB 40 9 1.0 1 1 5 76.3
36 C. Harris CB 38 9 1.0 0 1 6 75.5
43 A. Goodman CB 33 16 0.0 0 2 4 77.9
91 J. Gooch OLB 30 12 0.0 1 2 5 78.1
70 R. Porcher DE 30 18 6.0 13 0 1 82.5
59 C. Claiborne OLB 28 15 2.0 1 1 3 81.8
90 J. De Vries DE 27 6 2.5 8 0 2 82.7
73 L. Elliss DT 20 7 0.5 4 0 0 81.7
25 D. Greer CB 20 3 0.0 0 1 0 71.4
99 K. Pritchett DT 16 10 2.0 4 0 0 82.0

2002 Evaluation
Team Performance: 28/100
Franchise Value: 82/100
Profit/Loss: 83/100
Roster Strength: 59/100
Year-End Score: 65

[DeToxRox]

A trip down memory lane. I assume you'll divert from real life and just say no to Charles Rogers if he's available?

[Balldog]

2003 Offseason, Staff Hiring and Pre-Free Agency

The following Lions players are available for free agency:

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Huntley, Richard 49 RB 8 56 56 ---
Semple, Tony 69 LG 10 54 54 ---
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 5 50 57 ---
Williams, Brian 93 SLB 9 50 50 ---
Howard, Desmond 81 FL 12 47 47 ---
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 6 46 46 ---
Lyght, Todd 26 LCB 13 46 46 ---
Stewart, James 38 RB 9 44 44 ---
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 5 40 48 ---
Crowell, Germane 84 FL 6 39 39 ---
Batch, Charlie 17 QB 6 37 37 ---
Greer, Donovan 25 RCB 7 37 37 ---
Denson, Autry 29 RB 5 35 38 ---
**Foster, Larry 85 SE 4 33 40 ---
Kirschke, Travis 77 RDT 7 33 33 ---
Jordan, Richard 92 MLB 7 31 31 ---
Cooper, Rafael 30 RB 2 26 41 ---
Cason, Aveion 33 RB 3 24 36 ---
Campbell, Lamar 28 SS 6 18 18 ---


There are quite a few guys we would like to bring back. We are going to target bringing back Huntley, Kriewaldt, Williams, Green, Stewart, Claiborne, Crowell, Batch, Greer, and Denson. As long as they aren't asking for big money.

Our ownership has decided they didn't want to pay big money to Coordinators this year so we are on the market for a couple.

We hired the Patriots Defensive Coordinator, Keith Schacht to the same role. He should be quite the upgrade and he is cheaper than our old one.

We also hired the Steelers Offensive Coordinator, Deion Lincoln to the same role. He isn't quite as good as our previous OC but he is cheaper.

Joey Harrington will be heading to NFL Europe this summer since he didn't get any playing time last year.

Free Agency begins and we have $58 million available under the cap.

[Balldog]

A trip down memory lane. I assume you'll divert from real life and just say no to Charles Rogers if he's available?

I didn't even interview him :)

I would really like to draft Carson Palmer if he is still available but that would be too Millen-esque since we just drafted Harrington with the #2 pick last year.

[DeToxRox]

I didn't even interview him :)

I would really like to draft Carson Palmer if he is still available but that would be too Millen-esque since we just drafted Harrington with the #2 pick last year.

Is Harrington on a big contract as he was IRL?

[DeToxRox]

Also I love the fact you're attempting to bring back Clint Kriewaldt. ST Ace.

What pick did you end up with?

[Balldog]

Is Harrington on a big contract as he was IRL?


He's got about $15 mil left and he is signed through 2008, its not huge but its way to much for him.

[Balldog]

Also I love the fact you're attempting to bring back Clint Kriewaldt. ST Ace.

What pick did you end up with?

We have the #12 pick, I was really planning on having a better pick than that but we Batch pulled out quite a few games in the 4th.

[Balldog]

2003 Offseason, Free Agency

Week 2

QB Charlie Batch resigns with a 1-year contract worth $1.8 million.
RB Autry Denson resigns with a 1-year contract worth $550 thousand.
RB James Stewart resigns with a 1-year contract worth $700 thousand.
WR Germane Crowell resigns with a 3-year contract worth $1.89 million.

FB Mike Sellers (CLE) signs a 3-year contract worth $1.95 million.
WR Martay Jenkins (ARI) signs a 3-year contract worth $1.98 million.

Week 3

LB Chris Claiborne resigns with a 3-year contract worth $2.04 million.
RB Richard Huntley resigns with a 1-year contract worth $750 thousand.

Week 4

CB Donovan Greer resigns with a 1-year contract worth $520 thousand.
LB Clint Kriewaldt resigns with a 2-year contract worth $1.34 million

DT Christian Peter (CHI) signs with a 1-year contract worth $800 thousand.
LB Wali Rainer (JAX) signs with a 1-year contract worth $900 thousand.

CB Todd Lyght signs a 2-year contract worth $1.94 million with Minnesota.
WR Desmond Howard 2-year contract worth $2.11 million with Cleveland.

Week 5

WR Jacquez Green resigns with a 3-year contract worth $2.01 million.

RB Kevin Faulk (NE) signs a 2-year contract worth $1.60 million.
S Cory Hall (CIN) signs a 2-year contract worth $2.52 million.
G Cameron Spikes (HOU) signs a 3-year contract worth $9.18 million.
LB Mike Peterson (IND) signs a 4-year contract worth $17.86 million.

Week 6

LB Brian Williams resigns with a 2-year contract worth $1.46 million.

G Tony Semple signs a 2-year contract worth $5.20 million with Carolina.

Week 7

WR Jerome Pathon (NO) signs a 3-year contract worth $2.10 million.

Week 8

CB Dre' Bly (STL) signs a 3-year contract worth $2.04 million.

LB Richard Jordan signs a 1-year contract worth $510 thousand with Cincinnati.




So we are able to add quite a bit of depth and upgrade a few positions, the biggest addition with be Mike Peterson. We really didn't expect him to sign since he had bigger offers but he did and we will take it!

[DeToxRox]

Solid FA. Claiborne and Peterson should give you some very solid LB play especially vs the run.

What are you looking for in the draft?

[Balldog]

2003 Offseason, NFL Draft

Draft Order
1) Washington
2) Houston
3) Dallas
4) San Diego
5) Arizona
6) Cleveland
7) Jacksonville
8) New Orleans
9) New York (A)
10) Atlanta
11) Buffalo
12) Detroit
13) Denver
14) Seattle
15) San Francisco
16) Green Bay
17) Minnesota
18) Tennessee
19) New England
20) Cincinnati
21) Carolina
22) New York (N)
23) Tampa Bay
24) Kansas City
25) Chicago
26) Baltimore
27) Miami
28) Pittsburgh
29) Oakland
30) Philadelphia
31) St. Louis
32) Indianapolis

Top 5's Biggest Needs
1) Washington - DT, WR, OG ( I say QB)
2) Houston - OG, RB, OT
3) Dallas - RB, WR, CB
4) San Diego - CB, WR, OG
5) Arizona - DE, OG, MLB

Draft Results
1) Washington selects Onterrio Smith, RB from Oregon. He had great combine numbers but what will they do with Stephen Davis?

2) Houston selects Willis McGahee, RB from Miami (FL). A great pick for them!

3) Dallas selects Seneca Wallace, QB from Iowa State. Wow, they really need a QB but this is a reach.

4) San Diego selects Terence Newman, CB from Kansas State. He had great predraft workouts but this seems a little high for him.

5) Arizona selects Bradie James, MLB from LSU. Not a bad pick they really needed a MLB and there are no high level DEs or Gs out there.

6) Cleveland selects Byron Leftwich, QB from Marshall. Does this mean the Browns have given up on Tim Couch?

* The New York Giants trade up to the 7th slot, Jacksonville receives NYG 2nd this year, 2nd next year and 7th in 2005.
7) New York (N) selects Chris Simms, QB from Texas. Seems like a reach, especially with the picks they gave up.

8) New Orleans selects Mike Doss, S from Ohio State. Our scouts had him as overrated.

9) New York (A) selects Anthony Dunn, DE from Northern Colorado. Who?

10) Atlanta selects Nick Barnett, MLB from Oregon State. A nice pick for the Falcons at #10.

11) Buffalo selects Antonio Gates, TE from Kent State.

12) Detroit selects Jordan Gross, T from Utah. We tried to trade down but nobody was interested, so we went with the best OL we had on our board. There are plenty of DL still out there.

13) Houston selects David Diehl, G from Illinois.
* Houston sends 2004 and 2005 1st Round picks to Denver. I guess I should've checked with Houston first.

14) Seattle selects Gary Brackett, LB from Rutgers.

15) San Francisco selects Osi Umenyiora, DE from Troy State.

16) Houston selects Kwame Harris, T from Stanford.
* Houston sends 2003 2nd and 2005 2nd + 3rd to Green Bay.

17) Minnesota selects Chris Brown, RB from Northwestern.

18) Dallas selects Frank Walker, CB from Tuskegee.
* Dallas sends 2003 2nd, 2004 1st, and 2005 4th to Tennesse. WTF is going on in Texas?

19) New England selects Lance Briggs, LB from Arizona.

20) Cincinnati selects Rashean Mathis, CB from Bethune Cookman.

21) Carolina selects Terrence McGee, CB from Northwestern.

22) Houston selects Brandon Lloyd, WR from Illinois.
* Houston sends 2003 3rd, 2003 4th, and 2004 2nd to New York (N).

23) Tampa Bay selects Carson Palmer, QB from USC.

24) Kansas City selects Ian Scott, DT from Florida.

25) Dallas selects Terrell Suggs, LB from Arizona State.
* Dallas sends 2003 5th, 2004 4th, and 2005 1st to Chicago.

26) Baltimore selects Anquan Boldin, WR from Florida State.

27) Miami selects Tony Romo, QB from Eastern Illinois.

28) Pittsburgh selects Cleveland Pinkney, DT from South Carolina.

29) Oakland selects Cato June, LB from Michigan.

30) Philadelphia selects Ronald Curry, WR from North Carolina.

31) St. Louis selects Bryan Scott, S from Penn State.

32) Indianapolis selects Todd Johnson, S from Florida.

Other Lions Picks
43) Kevin Williams, DT from Oklahoma State
77) Asante Samuel, CB from Central Florida
108) Derrick Dockery, G from Texas
139) Justin Gage, WR from Missouri
173) Drew Henson, QB from Michigan
204) Tully Banta-Cain, LB from California

[Balldog]

Solid FA. Claiborne and Peterson should give you some very solid LB play especially vs the run.

What are you looking for in the draft?

Hoping to improve the OL and DL quite, but will probably draft best available as long as its not a QB.

[Balldog]

2003 Offseason, Draft Review, Late Free Agency and Free Agency Recap

We are graded as a B+ for the draft, are picks are rated as follows.

1) Jordan Gross, LT 26/60
2) Kevin Williams, DT 31/32 (That one hurts)
3) Asante Samuel, CB 27/58
4) Derrick Dockery, G 20/56
5) Justin Gage, WR 18/47
6) Drew Henson, QB 9/25
7) Tully Banta-Cain, LB 12/24

Jordan Gross is holding out until Training Camp.
Kevin Williams signs a 3 year deal worth $3.89 million.
Asante Samuels signs a 4 year deal worth $2.93 million.
Derrick Dockery signs a 4 year deal worth $2.71 million.
Justin Gage signs a 3 year deal worth $1.48 million.
Drew Henson signs a 3 year deal worth $1.42 million.
Tully Banta-Cain is holding out until Training Camp.

Late Free Agency

WR Larry Foster resigns with a 2-year contract worth $980 thousand.

Free Agency Recap

Notable Signings:
LB Takeo Spikes (CIN) signed a 4-year deal worth $26.35 million with Dallas.
QB Rob Johnson (TAM) signed a 4-year deal worth $24.53 million with Dallas.
RB Robert Edwards (MIA) signed a 4-year deal worth $19.05 million with Cleveland.
WR Marcus Robinson (CHI) signed a 5-year deal worth $17.27 million with Green Bay.
G Todd Washington (TAM) signed a 4-year deal worth $18.07 million with Minnesota.

Notable Resignings:
QB Kurt Warner (STL) resigned a 4-year deal worth $84.31 million.
T Walter Jones (SEA) resigned a 5-year deal worth $62.77 million.
QB Steve McNair (TEN) resigned a 4-year deal worth $55.15 million.
T Orlando Pace (STL) resigned a 5-year deal worth $54.92 million.
QB Mark Brunell (JAX) resigned a 4-year deal worth $53.44 million.

[Balldog]

2003 Offseason, Training Camp

Jordan Gross will report to training camp after signing a 4-year deal worth $11.32 million.

Tully Banta-Cain continues to hold out, at this point we are just going to let him walk.

2003 Training Camp Roster

Quarterbacks

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Batch, Charlie 17 QB 6 36 36
Harrington, Joey 12 QB 2 14 30
McMahon, Mike 2 QB 3 11 24
Henson, Drew 4 QB 1 11 26
Not much has changed here other than adding Drew Henson, Charlie Batch will get the nod at QB again this year.

Running Backs


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Huntley, Richard 49 RB 8 45 45
Denson, Autry 29 RB 5 38 38
Stewart, James 38 RB 9 37 37
Faulk, Kevin 46 RB 5 33 33
Schlesinger, Cory 23 FB 9 44 44
Sellers, Mike 32 FB 6 42 42
Huntley and Stewart decline significantly, so I expect we will see an unexpected drop off in the running game.

Tight Ends

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE 6 50 50
Banta, Bradford 80 TE 10 43 43
Owens, John 88 TE 2 19 36
Another position on the decline, we got good production out of Ricks last year and expect the same this year.

Wide Receivers

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 6 45 45
Jenkins, Martay 87 FL 5 44 44
Crowell, Germane 84 FL 6 38 38
Anderson, Scotty 1 FL 3 24 33
Schroeder, Bill 13 FL 10 23 23
Hakim, Az-zahir 86 FL 6 20 20
Gage, Justin 81 FL 1 19 41
Pathon, Jerome 89 SE 6 47 47
%%Foster, Larry 85 SE 4 34 34
We won't have a go to guy again this season, but we've upgraded this unit with the additions of Pathon, Jenkins, and Gage.

Offensive Line

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Raiola, Dominic 56 C 3 45 63
Beverly, Eric 50 C 6 39 39
Spikes, Cameron 75 LG 5 51 51
Joyce, Matt 60 LG 9 23 23
Hopson, Tyrone 63 RG 5 27 30
Dockery, Derrick 62 RG 1 23 51
Backus, Jeff 79 LT 3 45 49
Gross, Jordan 61 LT 1 30 60
McDougle, Stockar 67 RT 4 43 49
This unit got a decent upgrade, hopefully the additions of Spikes, Dockery, and Gross will offset the decline in the running backs.

Specialists


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Jett, John 9 P 11 31 31
Hanson, Jason 11 K 12 68 68
Our strength of our team last year was our special teams, both players have declined in ratings but hopefully they can still perform at a high level.

Defensive Line

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Porcher, Robert 70 LDE 12 49 49
Edwards, Kalima 76 LDE 2 27 53
De Vries, Jared 90 RDE 5 47 47
Hall, James 98 RDE 4 35 36
Lake, Antwan 72 RDE 2 20 40
Rogers, Shaun 71 LDT 3 56 70
Peter, Christian 78 LDT 7 44 44
Pritchett, Kelvin 99 LDT 13 31 31
Williams, Kevin 74 RDT 1 35 38
Elliss, Luther 73 RDT 9 34 34
The additions of Peter and Williams should add some much needed depth here, but there will likely be a few guys here that are cut before the start of the season.

Linebackers

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 5 53 53
Peterson, Mike 58 MLB 5 75 75
Rainer, Wali 53 MLB 5 52 52
Williams, Brian 93 SLB 9 49 49
Curry, Donte 97 SLB 3 31 46
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 5 45 48
Gooch, Jeff 91 WLB 8 45 45
Green, Barrett 96 WLB 4 33 42
This is a solid unit, probably our best. Mike Peterson gives us instant credibility against the run. Rainer will likely move to the outside.

Defensive Backs

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate
Goodman, Andre 43 LCB 2 40 55
Samuel, Asante 40 LCB 1 30 52
Bly, Dre' 20 RCB 5 45 45
Harris, Corey 36 RCB 12 38 38
Greer, Donovan 25 RCB 7 30 30
Hall, Cory 31 SS 5 66 66
Walker, Bracy 41 SS 10 33 33
Walker, Brian 44 SS 8 25 25
We've upgraded this unit overall, the addition of Cory Hall will be huge.

[Balldog]

2003 Preseason

Detroit 23, Cleveland 6

Our defense shuts down the Browns, Dre' Bly has an interception in his first game with the Lions. Harrington was 13 of 22 for 80 yards, check down Joey. Rookie Kevin Williams got his first sack. We held the Browns to just 182 yards of offense. Chris Claiborne will be out the rest of the preseason with a strained calf muscle.

Houston 27, Detroit 13

Our defense held them in check until the 2nd half, Willis McGahee broke off an 87-yard touchdown against our second stringers. Harrington was 18 of 31 for 157 yards, he continues to take the check down. Asante Samuel gets a pick.

Baltimore 7, Detroit 6

How did Jason Hanson manage to kick a 56-yard field goal with 51 mph winds? The wind made it impossible for either team to pass the ball, Harrington went 5 of 16 for 28 yards. Our running game continues to struggle badly.

Tennessee 13, Detroit 10

Harrington was ok, going 22 of 28 for 139 yards with a touchdown. Our offensive line lets up 4 sacks. Batch looked good, going 7 of 9 for 87 yards.

Preseason Cuts
Mike McMahon, QB
Az-zahir Hakim, WR
Bill Schroeder, WR
Kelvin Prichett, DT
Luther Elliss, DT
James Hall, DE

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 1
Detroit (0-0) at Chicago (0-0) (-11)

The Bears core remains intact, with Chris Chandler still starting at QB after a 2002 season. He threw for 3,632 yards with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while completing 68% of his passes. At running back they've added Shawn Bryson as the backup, I suspect he will split carries 50/50 with Adrian Peterson. Marty Booker returns at wideout after a 55 reception, 624 yard season last year. Their defense is still anchored by Brian Urlacher, Mike Brown, and Roosevelt Colvin.

1st Quarter

On the first play of the game Huntley fumbles and Bryan Knight recovers at our 38 setting up the Bears first scoring drive of the season. Six plays later Bryson punches it in from the 2-yard line. The quarter ends with the Bears driving and at our 11-yard line.

Chicago 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

On the first play of the quarter Chandler hits Troy Brown for an 11-yard touchdown. Our offense continues to struggle and rack up the penalties. Later in the quarter Chandler finds Booker for a 34-yard gain to set up a 35-yard Paul Edinger field goal. Batch finally gets a little groove going and he hits Crowell for a 3-yard touchdown with 0:49 left in the half.

Chicago 17, Detroit 7

3rd Quarter

The first play of the half Shaun Rogers sacks Chandler but they convert on 3rd and 16 to start a beautiful drive that is capped off with a 3-yard touchdown from Bryson. The Bears end the quarter with a 24-yard pass to Troy Edwards that has them at our 26 to begin the 4th.

Chicago 24, Detroit 7

4th Quarter

Five plays into the 4th, J.P. Redmond scores on a 1-yard touchdown run. We exchange punts with the Bears but they pin us at our 1 and on 3rd and 10 Batch is intercepted by Damien Robinson. Robinson runs it in from our 12. We get the ball back and Batch hits Crowell for a 33-yard gain then a couple plays later Huntley scores on a 22-yard run. Way too little, way too late.

Chicago 38, Detroit 13

An embarrassing season opener which saw the Lions on net 196 yards of total offense and commit 7 penalties, all on offense. Chandler was the story though, he went 28 of 31 for 354 yards with a touchdown. Nine different Bears' receivers were in on the act, lead by Booker with 5 receptions for 81 yards. Mike Peterson had a nice game statistically with 10 tackles and 2 assists.

Barrett Green has a strained deltoid muscle, he will be out 2 weeks. Dre' Bly (bruised ribcage) and Donovan Greer (broken thumb) got dinged up but they will both play next week.

Other Scores

Seattle 31, Arizona 27
Carolina 23, Atlanta 14
Cincinnati 30, Baltimore 13
Buffalo 30, Miami 3
New York (N) 44, Dallas 17
Kansas City 23, Denver 14
Green Bay 37, Minnesota 17
Indianapolis 34, Jacksonville 23
New York (A) 29, New England 17
Oakland 24, San Diego 17
Philadelphia 23, Washington 13
Cleveland 31, Pittsburgh 7
St. Louis 38, San Francisco 30
New Orleans 33, Tampa Bay 24
Tennessee 27, Houston 20

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (27 of 34, 424 yards, 5 TDs)
Peter Boulware, BAL (7 tackles, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 2
Oakland (1-0) at Detroit (0-1) (E)

Marques Tuiasosopo leads the Raiders offense after Rich Gannon retired over the summer, Tuiasosopo was 20 of 25 for 214 yards and a touchdown last week. Charlie Garner leads the Raiders' rushing attack, he is coming a 2002 season in which he had 1,229 yards rushing and 64 receptions for 461 yards. They are expecting Jerry Porter to step up his game this year after only having 29 receptions and 341 yards last season. On defense they are led by All-Pro Charles Woodson, Eric Barton, and Rod Coleman. They add Vonnie Holliday and Willie McGinest in the offseason to an already dominate defensive line.

1st Quarter

They start the game with a heavy diet of Garner but we stuff them for a 3 and out, however they return the favor then their offense goes to work. They had a great drive going but Garner fumbled and Bly recovered at our 18. Coleman sacks Batch to force a punt and the Raiders get great field position, but have to settle for a 46-yard Sebastien Janikowski field goal.

Oakland 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

The Raiders get on the scoreboard again the 2nd, this time with a 17-yard pass from Tuiasosopo to Qadry Ismail. Our offense is struggling and their is beginning to takeover. Tuiasosopo hits Porter for a 10-yard touchdown on their next possession. We finally get something going before the two minute warning but have to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Hanson. The Raiders respond with a 70-yard strike from Tuiasosopo to Ismail just before the half.

Oakland 24, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

We open the half with a nice 13 play drive but settle for a 21-yard field goal by Hanson. Four plays later Tuiasosopo hits Brian Kozlowski for a 41-yard touchdown. Batch hits Bradford Banta for 25-yard pass on our next drive but we fail to capitalize and have to punt, now the Raiders are driving again as the quarter ends.

Oakland 31, Detroit 6

4th Quarter

Their drive stalls after Porcher and Rogers combine for a sack, our offense gets a little something going again but again we settle for a field goal, this time from 39-yards out. On our next drive Batch gets bench for Harrington, Joey's first pass fell incomplete and his second was intercepted by Barton....both passes were thrown into double coverage. The Raiders chew up some clock and get another field goal by Janikowski, this one from 39-yards out. Game over.

Oakland 34, Detroit 9

I really expected our defense to be halfway decent but they've sucked, the Raiders racked up 453 yards of offense with 304 coming through the air. Tuiasosopo was 27 of 30 with 4 touchdowns. We aren't even contesting passes, I can't imagine what will happen against the Rams in Week 4. Garner ended up with 111 yards on 27 carries, while Huntley had 52 yards on 10 carries for us.

We have another corner dinged up, this time its Andre Goodman (bruised shoulder) but he will not miss any time. However, safety Brian Walker is out 3 weeks with a concussion.

Other Scores

Arizona 30, Baltimore 3
Indianapolis 41, Carolina 9
Chicago 23, Denver 9
Cleveland 26, San Francisco 23
Atlanta 45, Houston 8
Tampa Bay 23, Jacksonville 13
Green Bay 44, Kansas City 18
Miami 19, Dallas 14
San Diego 22, Minnesota 16
Washington 17, New England 13
New Orleans 24, Tennessee 14
New York (A) 33, New York (N) 10
Buffalo 10, Philadelphia 9
Cincinnati 20, Seattle 17
St. Louis 38, Pittsburgh 17

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (25 of 28, 344 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Marquand Manuel, CIN (3 tackles, 3 interceptions)

[Balldog]

Lions Sign Free Agents

We bring in FS David Terrell with a 1-year deal worth $500k, he was released during the preseason by Jacksonville. He started 11 games last season for Chicago, he is a good in coverage but nothing special.

We also bring in CB Lewis Sanders with a 1-year deal worth $400k, he was released last week by Arizona. He started 3 games last season for Cleveland, he is a good man to man cover corner who can also play decent zone defense.

Last but not least we bring in RB Mike Anderson with a 1-year deal worth $400k, he was released after Week 1 but Denver. Our scouts like his power running and speed to the outside, he will push for playing time immediately.

With the signings we release G Matt Joyce, he played in 3 games last season but has yet to see any action this year. We also released WR Scotty Anderson, he also played in 3 games last year with 6 receptions and 56 yards. CB Corey Harris is also released, he started 16 games last season for us but has seen limited action this year.

[Izulde]

My home county boy Romo goes to the 'Phins? That's cool. :D Let me know how he does in Miami.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 3
Washington (1-1) at Detroit (0-2) (-1)

This year's number 1 pick of the draft Onterrio Smith looks to be a beast, he is averaging 5.2 yards per carry after 2 games but he has yet to find the end zone. Patrick Ramsey looks to be the next average quarterback to light up our secondary, he has 392 yards and 2 touchdowns on the season while completing 63% of his passes. Ramsey will be throwing to Willie Jackson and Rod Gardner. On defense the Skins are led by Champ Bailey, Jeremiah Trotter, and Fred Smoot.

1st Quarter

We open the game with an excellent 9 play, 65 yard drive that ends with a 5-yard pass from Batch to Banta. On their first possession they get a couple first downs but end up having to punt, Green has a nice return to set us up at our 26. Batch then hits Green for 16 yards, then again for 39 yards setting up a 21-yard field goal by Hanson. Our defense holds again to force a punt as the quarter ends.

Detroit 10, Washington 0

2nd Quarter

The Skins defense forces us three and out, they get the ball after the punt at their own 44. Seven plays later they settle for a 42-yard field goal by John Hall. Batch is then intercepted on 3rd down by Riddick Martinez , which sets up Washington at our 41. They end up only getting a 40-yard field goal by Hall. Batch leads us down the field on the next possession but our drive stalls and Hanson misses a 44-yard field goal attempt. As the half expires Hall hits a 56-yard field goal for Washington.

Detroit 10, Washington 9

3rd Quarter

The Skins start the second half by pounding Smith at us, they get a 54-yard field goal from Hall as a result. Our offense has fizzled out since the first quarter and we have to punt again. Kevin Williams sacks Ramsey and forces a fumble that is recovered by Jared DeVries at their 12! Three plays later Mike Anderson scores on a 1-yard touchdown run. On the Skins next possession, Clint Kriewaldt sacks Ramsey, he fumbles again and Kalimba Edwards recovers it and returns it to their 20! On the first play Batch hits John Owens for a 20-yard touchdown pass!

Detroit 24, Washington 12

4th Quarter

Batch and the running game get moving again, we get a 36-yard field goal by Hanson out of it. Ramsey hits Gardner for a 40-yard pass play setting up a 25-yard field goal by Hall. On their next possession a sack by Porcher forces a turnover on downs with 2:55 to play. The turnover sets up a 52-yard field goal by Hanson. Ramsey and the Redskins offense fails to get a first down and we are able to run out the clock for the win.

Detroit 30, Washington 15

The new additions to the team seemed to help, our defense held Ramsey to just 24 of 42 with 218 yards. While our rushing game finally got going, we had 128 yards on 36 carries between Huntley, Anderson, and Faulk. Porcher and Williams combine for 3 sacks on the defensive side of the ball. Smith had 58 yards for 13 yards, he had a few nice runs...he is going to be a good one.

We get hit by another injury, this time its Mike Sellers he is out 4 weeks with a strained achilles tendon.

Other Scores

San Francisco 24, Carolina 23
Tampa Bay 19, Chicago 7
Cincinnati 30, Jacksonville 17
Buffalo 20, Denver 13
Green Bay 47, Atlanta 20
San Diego 10, Houston 7
New England 26, Baltimore 13
Arizona 26, New Orleans 7
New York (A) 23, Cleveland 10
Minnesota 13, New York (N) 6
Miami 23, Oakland 0
Indianapolis 34, Pittsburgh 13
Seattle 14, Dallas 6
St. Louis 29, Philadelphia 23
Tennessee 26, Kansas City 14

Players of the Week
Brett Favre, GB (25 of 32, 315 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Greg Biekert, MIN (6 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack, 1 interception)

[Balldog]

My home county boy Romo goes to the 'Phins? That's cool. :D Let me know how he does in Miami.

Will do. He was slated to be the starter but they signed Neil O'Donnell after the Titans released him in the preseason.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 4
St. Louis (3-0) at Detroit (1-2) (+7)

We get last year's Super Bowl runner ups at our place, Kurt Warner leads the offense. Warner is coming off a spectacular season last year, he ended up with 4,423 yards and 35 touchdowns. This year he is completing 73% of his passes and has thrown for 1,091 yards with 9 touchdowns. We can't forget about Marshall Faulk, who was last year's League MVP and Offensive Player of the Year. Faulk had 1,861 yards rushing and 897 yards receiving last year, with 21 touchdowns. Warner will also be throwing to Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. Coming into the game we have the league's worst passing defense, allowing 294 yards per game.

1st Quarter

Warner starts off hot but we are able to get some pressure on him and we force a field goal, Jeff Wilkins hits the 49-yard field goal to give them the lead. Batch gets the offense moving but makes a mistake and is intercepted by Eugene Wilson. Our defense holds and forces a punt. Then Batch is sacked, he fumbles and its recovered by Leonard Little at our 17. They are unable to capitalize and settle for a 18-yard field goal from Wilkins.

St. Louis 6, Detroit 3

2nd Quarter

We open the quarter with a nice drive and get a 37-yard field goal from Hanson. The Rams respond with a 15 play drive that ends with a 18-yard touchdown run by Faulk. Warner and company get moving again before the half but Faulk fumbles and we recover at our 10 to end the half.

St. Louis 13, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

The second half starts with several nice defensive plays from both teams, including a Dre' Bly interception which sets up a 46-yard touchdown pass from Batch to Huntley! The Rams respond with a nice drive which ends the quarter.

St. Louis 13, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

We tighten up our defense and hold the Rams to a 23-yard field goal by Wilkins. On the next play from scrimmage Batch is intercepted by Bryan Scott and the Rams get a 40-yard field goal out of Wilkins. On the next play from scrimmage Batch finds Jacquez Green for a 59-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 19-17! We hold the Rams to a three and out, Green has a great punt return that is called back due to penatly. However, Batch and the offense come through and we get a 26-yard field goal from Hanson with 3:19 to play! Warner comes out and hits Bruce for a 44-yard gain which sets up a 36-yard field goal by Wilkins with 1:39 left.

Martay Jenkins has a great return to set us up at our 42! On the first play Batch is sacked, then he hits Mikhael Ricks for a 15-yard gain. Then Batch hits Ricks again for a 14-yard gain. Batch finds Banta for an 8-yard gain and Huntley gets 4 yards off the right side of the line. With 0:09 remaining Hanson sets up for a 29-yard field goal and hits it!!!

Detroit 23, St. Louis 22

What a great game!!! Our defense held strong when it mattered, only allowing the Rams to score 1 touchdown in 5 visits to the red zone. Warner had his worst game of the year but still had 332 yards passing. Bruce and Holt both had over 100 yards receiving but neither had a touchdown. Huntley had 43 yards rushing and 46 yards receiving in the win. Cory Hall forced two fumbles for the defense.

We have no significant injuries during the game, Brian Walker will be available after the bye week.

Other Scores

Green Bay 30, Arizona 27
Philadelphia 14, Atlanta 7
Buffalo 30, Tennessee 0
Chicago 23, San Francisco 17
Carolina 21, Dallas 0
Indianapolis 38, Houston 20
Baltimore 30, Kansas City 10
New England 30, Miami 17
New York (A) 10, Jacksonville 9
New York (N) 21, New Orleans 14
Cincinnati 23, Oakland 6
San Diego 27, Pittsburgh 24
Tampa Bay 21, Washington 18

Players of the Week
Brett Favre, GB (26 of 33, 383 yards, 3 touchdowns)
London Fletcher, BUF (6 tackles, 1 assist, 2.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 5
Bye Week

Some great games this week, Buffalo (4-0) at Indianapolis (4-0) and Green Bay (4-0) at St. Louis (3-1) are the headliners.

Other Scores
Chicago 27, Arizona 12
Oakland 23, Baltimore 13
Buffalo 37, Indianapolis 34
New York (N) 27, Carolina 20
Cincinnati 22, Pittsburgh 15
Denver 13, Cleveland 10
Tampa Bay 15, Dallas 12
St. Louis 27, Green Bay 24
Miami 31, Jacksonville 9
New England 20, Tennessee 10
Philadelphia 27, New Orleans 17
Houston 16, New York (A) 13
Seattle 37, Minnesota 17
Atlanta 19, Washington 16

Undefeated Teams
Buffalo (5-0)
Cincinnati (5-0)

Winless Teams
Dallas (0-5)
Jacksonville (0-5)
Pittsburgh (0-5)

Players of the Week
Drew Bledsoe, BUF (41 of 58, 538 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Michael Strahan, NYG (3 tackles, 2 sacks)

The off week allows us to get healthy and we now have everyone available to play, except for Larry Foster.

[DeToxRox]

Huge win vs the Rams. I was shocked by the early struggles but the D seems to be tightening up.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 6
Detroit (2-2) at Green Bay (4-1) (-7)

Brett Favre has been on fire to start the 2003 season, he is completing 76% of his passes and has 1,353 yards with 13 touchdowns. He's not a one man show though, Ahman Green is off to a great start as well. Green has 594 yards rushing, he is average 181.2 yards per game from scrimmage. Along with Green, Favre has Bubba Franks, Donald Driver and Javon Walker to throw to. Their 3-4 defense is beat up, 3 of their 4 starting linebackers are likely to miss this game. They still have Mike McKenzie, Darren Sharper, and Gilbert Brown to stop opposing offenses.

1st Quarter

We get the ball first and fail to get a first down and the Packers waste no time getting to work. Favre hits Green for 19 yards on a screen pass, we commit a facemask penalty to add another 15 yards. Then four plays later Favre hits Robert Ferguson for an 11-yard touchdown. On the Packers next possession Favre finds Marcus Robinson for 27 yards, his second big catch of the game. However, Porcher and Rogers combine for a sack to force them to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell. Later in the quarter Huntley breaks off a 64-yard touchdown run to give us some life! Then Bly intercepts Favre on their next play to end the quarter.

Green Bay 10, Detroit 7

2nd Quarter

Batch returns the favor and is intercepted by McKenzie to start the quarter. Our defense holds strong and a nice punt return by Jacquez Green sets up a 47-yard field goal by Hanson to tie it! Favre and the Pack respond with a 80-yard drive that ends with a 9-yard touchdown run by Ahman Green. With 3:23 left in the half David Terrell intercepts Favre and sets up a 42-yard field goal attempt by Hanson but he misses wide right. We force a three and out but then Batch is intercepted by Bhawoh Jue at their 16 with 1:01 left. Jue returns the interception 42 yards to our 42 setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Ahman Green four plays later.

Green Bay 24, Detroit 10

3rd Quarter

Early in the 3rd quarter Batch is intercepted by Charlie Clemons to end a drive at their 38. We finally get something going again on offense only to have Huntley fumble at their 9. Two plays later Mike Peterson intercepts Favre but on the next play Batch is intercepted again by Clemons. Before the end of the quarter the Packers start putting together a nice drive.

Green Bay 24, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

The Packers get the ball in the end zone with a 7-yard pass from Favre to Ahman Green to cap off a 17 play, 85 yard drive. Later in the quarter Harrington is brought in to replace a struggling Batch and he goes 0-4 on his first drive. Then the Packers add a 28-yard field goal by Longwell. On Harrington's next drive he goes 0-4 again and they take a knee to end the game.

Green Bay 34, Detroit 10

A frustrating response to the great performance against the Rams, our running game was about the only thing that worked on either sides of the ball. Huntley ended with 97 yards on 10 carries. He was out done by Ahman Green who had 121 yards on 28 carries and 8 receptions for 48 yards. Robinson finished with 7 receptions for 123 yards for the Pack. Batch was pathetic, he went 13 of 30 for 135 yards with 4 interceptions. Harrington was even worse, going 0 for 8. He is now 0 for 10 to start his career. We managed just 241 yards on offense. We did hold Favre to his worst game of the season, he was 25 of 38 for 264 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions, he only had 2 on the season coming into the game.

Our secondary loses Bracy Walker for 4 weeks with a strained foot ligament.

Other Scores
Tampa Bay 27, Atlanta 10
St. Louis 23, Chicago 15
Kansas City 39, Cincinnati 33
Dallas 28, Washington 14
Pittsburgh 20, Denver 12
Buffalo 20, Houston 7
Indianapolis 27, Jacksonville 9
Arizona 31, Minnesota 10
Cleveland 26, Oakland 17
Philadelphia 38, Carolina 12
Baltimore 29, San Diego 6
Seattle 24, San Francisco 14
Miami 20, Tennessee 12

Players of the Week
Trent Green, KC (34 of 47 for 383 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Brian Dawkins, PHI (8 tackles, 2 assists, 3 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 7
San Francisco (1-4) at Detroit (2-3) (-5)

Jeff Garcia is back at QB for the 49ers after missing most of the 2002 season with an ankle injury, he resigned this summer for 3 years at $7.52 million. He's been less than stellar so far this season with 963 yards with 5 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Garrison Hearst was leading the running attack be he broke his foot last week against Seattle. By far their biggest weapon on offense is Terrell Owens, who is also dinged up. He has a sprained knee but is expected to play. On defense they are lead by DT Dana Stubblefield, LB Julian Peterson, and S Zach Bronson.

1st Quarter

The Niners move the ball well to start the game but their drive ends near midfield with a punt. Our first play from scrimmage Batch hits Green for a 30-yard gain. We settle for a field goal from 48 yards out, but Hanson misses. The 49ers take advantage of the resulting good field position and strike first with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to Owens. Jenkins sets us up at the 50 with a nice kickoff return to end the quarter.

San Francisco 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

We start the quarter with 10 straight run plays but get stuffed at their 1-yard line and settle for an 18-yard field goal by Hanson. We exchange punts but Jett shanks his setting up San Fran at their 43. They again take advantage of the short field and Garcia hooks up with Owens again, this time for a 3-yard touchdown pass.

San Francisco 14, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

On their first drive of the half they get a 28-yard field goal from Jose Cortez to increase their lead to 17-3. We promptly go three and out, then they start driving again when the quarter ends.

San Francisco 17, Detroit 3

4th Quarter

Their drive ends with a missed 36-yard field goal and we are still in business, does Batch have any magic in store today? The answer appears to be no, we pick up a first down on the ground then have to punt. The Niners get a nice drive but Cortez misses a 46-yard field goal this time. Batch does his best Harrington impression and throws 4 straight incomplete passes. They are trying to eat up the clock and settle for another field goal, Cortez misses again...from 45 yards this time. We take over with 1:18 to play and our drive ends as time expires on their 15.

San Francisco 17, Detroit 3

I'm not sure what is the most upsetting - our passing game, running game or rush defense? We let up 152 yards rushing to their back up running backs, Jamal Robertson and Kevan Barlow. Our running game was held to 86 yards and Batch was just 12 of 24 for 113 yards.

Green sprained his knee, he will be questionable this coming week. Mike Peterson is questionable with a sprained ankle. Edwards, Ricks, and Sellers are all now 100%.

Other Scores
Denver 28, Baltimore 21
Carolina 16, Atlanta 13
New England 34, Houston 10
Indianapolis 37, New York (A) 24
Miami 20, Buffalo 10
Dallas 17, New York (N) 13
Kansas City 22, Oakland 6
Philadelphia 13, Tampa Bay 6
Cleveland 19, San Diego 6
Arizona 23, Seattle 20
St. Louis 27, Minnesota 21
Tennessee 20, Jacksonville 10
Washington 16, New Orleans 3

Players of the Week
Marshall Faulk, STL (24 carries, 128 yards, 2 touchdowns, 9 receptions, 153 yards)
Kenard Lang, CLE (2 tackles, 2 assists, 2.5 sacks, fumble recovery)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 8
Detroit (2-4) at Seattle (4-2) (-8)

The Seahawks are lead by Matt Hasselbeck, he is off to a solid start with 1,307 yards and 8 touchdowns with a QB rating of 90.4 Shaun Alexander leads the rushing attack, he has 595 yards rushing on the year, he's coming off a season last year in which he ran for 1,949 yards. Their offensive line is dominant, anchored by LT Walter Jones and LG Steve Hutchinson. On defense they are lead by LB Keith Mitchell, DE Lamar King, and S Reggie Tongue.

1st Quarter

Both teams start the game by exchanging punts on each of their first two possessions before Batch is intercepted by Mitchell setting up a 7-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Itula Mili. The quarter ends with us putting together some resemblance of a drive.

Seattle 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Our drive quickly ends with two penalties and a sack. Both teams go back to exchanging punts for their next few possessions before the Seahawks get something going. However, Lewis Sanders intercepts Hasselbeck at our 12 to end their hopes of a scoring drive before half.

Seattle 7, Detroit 0

3rd Quarter

Five plays into the second half, Huntley explodes through the line for a 29-yard touchdown run to tie it up. We force a punt after a Kalimba Edwards sack. An a 29-yard pass from Batch to Crowell sets up a 35-yard field goal from Hanson to give us the lead.

Detroit 10, Seattle 7

4th Quarter

Alexander breaks off a 27-yard run then a 41-yard run on the next play to setup a 20-yard field goal by Rian Lindell to tie it. A Dre' Bly interception gives us good field position at their 41 and Batch finds Banta for 20 yards to setup a 24-yard field goal by Hanson to give us the lead with 5:02 remaining. The Seahawks quickly answer with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Alfred Wragge with 2:30 left. Our comeback attempt ends with a sack on 4th down at their 46.

Seattle 17, Detroit 13

Another tough loss but our run defense was brutal once again, this time allowing 201 yards on 32 carries. No doubt we missed Mike Peterson. Our running game was solid with Huntley having 70 yards on 11 carries and Anderson had 37 yards on 10 carries. Batch struggled again, he was 18 of 29 for 187 yards with an interception.

Peterson will be able to play next week, he is back to probable. Chris Claiborne is suffering from shin splints though, his is listed as questionable.

Other Scores
St. Louis 23, Arizona 19
Carolina 23, Washington 21
Minnesota 20, Chicago 17
Cincinnati 31, Baltimore 27
Kansas City 43, Cleveland 10
San Diego 13, Denver 0
Tennessee 28, Houston 24
Indianapolis 23, Miami 20
New Orleans 24, Dallas 21
New England 24, New York (A) 17
Philadelphia 13, New York (N) 7
Pittsburgh 16, Oakland 13
Green Bay 27, San Francisco 14

Players of the Week
Tom Brady, NE (24 of 33, 343 yards, 2 TDs)
Tory James, KC (4 tackles, 3 interceptions)

Winless Teams
Jacksonville (0-7)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 9
Chicago (4-3) at Detroit (2-5) (+3)

1st Quarter

Our defense is up to the challenge on their first drive as Chandler throws as many incomplete passes in one drive as he did in our whole game last time we met. On our second play from scrimmage Mike Anderson breaks free for a 34-yard gain, then two plays later Batch finds Jenkins but...Jenkins fumbles...and Schlesinger recovers it in the end zone for a touchdown! Chandler starts to dink and dunk his was down the field on a 13 play, 70 yard drive that ends with an Adrian Peterson 3-yard touchdown run.

Detroit 7, Chicago 7

2nd Quarter

Both defenses settle in until midway through the 2nd and the Bears put together a 14 play drive that results in a Edinger field goal from 32 yards. Two plays later Huntley fumbles and Bryan Knight recovers at our 37. Four plays later Chandler hits Troy Edwards for a 12-yard touchdown.

Chicago 17, Detroit 7

3rd Quarter

We open the quarter with a nice drive that stalls but results in a 39-yard field goal by Hanson before both defenses tighten up again. Both teams exchange punts their next three possessions as the quarter ends.

Chicago 17, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

We open the 4th quarter with another 3 and out when Jett's punt is blocked by Phillip Daniels. The blocked punt sets up a 3-yard touchdown run from Bryson. Later in the quarter Batch is intercepted at their 41 with 3:14 to play. We stop the Bears again, but Batch is intercepted once again and the Bears run out the clock.

Chicago 24, Detroit 10

The Bears ran all over our defense for 169 yards, Peterson had 79 yards and Bryson had 81. Our running game was non-existant, we only ran the ball 13 times for 78 yards. Martay Jenkins had another nice game with 5 receptions for 58 yards. Batch's two interceptions were costly and its getting close to time to make a change at quarterback. Shaun Rogers is turning into something special, he had 11 tackles today - most of their rushing yards came on the outside.

No injuries of note and everyone that was injured is now listed as probable.

Other Scores
Dallas 27, Atlanta 6
Baltimore 30, Cleveland 30
Carolina 28, New Orleans 17
Cincinnati 24, Denver 19
Seattle 22, Green Bay 17
Buffalo 20, Jacksonville 14
Pittsburgh 26, Kansas City 7
San Francisco 20, Minnesota 17
Indianapolis 41, New England 17
Oakland 26, San Diego 0
New York (N) 34, Tampa Bay 30
Tennessee 23, New York (A) 9
Philadelphia 41, Washington 20

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (24 of 34, 278 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Chidi Iwuoma, PIT (4 tackles, 3 assists, 1 sack, 1 interception)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 10
Detroit (2-6) at Arizona (4-4) (-8)

Jake Plummer is coming off a big season, throw in their biggest offseason addition - Dorsey Levens and you have a very good offense. Levens and Thomas Jones combine to make the league's top backfield, they also drafted Larry Johnson. Both are on pace to hit 1,000 yards. Perhaps their biggest weakness is their offensive line and their defensive interior line. On defense they are lead by LB Bradie James and CB Renaldo Hill.

1st Quarter

We start the game with a three and out, then the Cardinals before Rogers gets two tackles for a loss and forces a punt. Our offense continues to sputter. A Porcher sack ends their next drive and we finally start moving the ball as the quarter ends with us at their 12.

Detroit 0, Arizona 0

2nd Quarter

Six plays into the quarter Anderson punches it in from 2 yards out. Williams stuffs Larry Johnson on a 3rd and 1 to force a punt on their next drive. They start moving the ball by working the edges on the ground and some passes out of the backfield, we finally stop them but they pin us at our 1. Batch and the offense get rolling, and a 43-yard pass from Batch to Ricks sets up a 22-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 10, Arizona 0

3rd Quarter

The second half starts with a couple big plays by the Cardinals that sets up a 10-yard pass from Plummer to Levens. Later in the quarter Batch is intercepted by Bradie James at our 14.

Detroit 10, Arizona 7

4th Quarter

The interceptions sets up a 19-yard field by Gramatica after we stuff them on 3 plays from the 1. We fail to capitalize on a Jenkins kickoff return that puts us at our 45 to start but Jett pins them at their 6. However, Plummer hits Sanders 4 plays later for a 66-yard touchdown. Batch doesn't have any 4th quarter magic left in the tank and they are able to run out the clock.

Arizona 17, Detroit 10

Another tough game offensively and its time to make some changes going into next week. Batch continues to struggle, he went 19 of 39 for 238 yards with an interception. Mike Anderson was able to find some room on the ground with 53 yards on 12 carries but Huntley was held to 36 yards on 19 carries. Our defense responded by holding their running game to 81 yards on 27 carries but Plummer was solid going 18 of 24 for 242 yards with 2 touchdowns. Jenkins has another 5 catches and 52 yards. Rogers and Williams shut down the middle again, they averaged just 1.4 yards per carry up the middle.

Other Scores
New York (A) 13, Buffalo 12
Cincinnati 20, San Diego 7
Pittsburgh 23, Cleveland 20
Philadelphia 21, Dallas 17
Indianapolis 38, Tennessee 28
New England 37, Jacksonville 17
Kansas City 28, Denver 21
Miami 12, Houston 9
Green Bay 26, Minnesota 11
Tampa Bay 40, New Orleans 16
Atlanta 34, New York (N) 10
Seattle 24, Chicago 21
St. Louis 44, San Francisco 34

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (26 of 32, 307 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Lamar King, SEA (5 tackles, 4 assists, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 11
Detroit (2-7) at Minnesota (2-7) (E)

We bench Batch and Harrington will get his first career start. We also bench Richard "Fumbles" Huntley in favor of Mike Anderson and move James Stewart to the #2 back.

The Vikings are struggling this year, their primary struggle is on defense. They are 30th in the league against the run and 16th against the pass. They are allowing 25 points per game, which is 29th in the league. Dante Culpepper is having a nice year with 1730 yards and 10 touchdowns but their running game is struggling. Rookie Chris Browns leads them with 363 yards. Randy Moss is having an All-Pro season with 67 receptions for 977 yards with 7 touchdowns.

1st Quarter

Harrington completes his 2nd pass of the game, a 6-yard pass to Stewart but we go three and out to start the game. Culpepper hits Kennedy Lang for a 51-yard gain on their 2nd play from scrimmage then 2 plays later hits Moe Williams for a 30-yard touchdown. Harrington and the offense struggle the rest of the quarter but our defense is stepping it up.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

The Vikings finish an 11 play, 65 yard drive with another touchdown pass from Culpepper to Williams, this time for 10 yards. Harrington hits Ricks for a 26-yard gain setting up a 47-yard field goal by Hanson to finally get us on the board. Our defense is doing its best to keep them off the board, but they've been out there quite a bit.

Minnesota 14, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

Culpepper hits Moss for a 38-yard gain to start the half but Brett Conway misses the 42-yard field goal. Later in the quarter Harrington is intercepted by Nick Rogers. On the next play Kriewaldt forces a fumble and recovers it at our 26. Our offense fails to get anything going again, despite 2 personal foul penalties by the Vikings defense and the quarter ends.

Minnesota 14, Detroit 3

4th Quarter

Harrington throws another interception, this time at their 25. Then later in the quarter Harrington throws another interception setting up a 42-yard field goal by Conway. The game ends in fitting fashion with 4 straight incompletions from Harrington.

Minnesota 17, Detroit 3

We sure made their defense look good, we mustered only 182 total yards. Harrington goes 16 of 40 with 3 interceptions, he was sacked 5 times. Our running game performed ok but we gave up on too early, we had 67 yards on 16 carries. We held their running game in check, they had 111 yards on 41 carries. Rogers continues to make running up the middle nearly impossible for our opponents.

Other Scores
Pittsburgh 31, Baltimore 6
Cincinnati 37, Cleveland 10
Chicago 13, Green Bay 3
Houston 26, Jacksonville 17
San Diego 19, Kansas City 10
Miami 21, New York (A) 14
New England 20, Buffalo 13
Atlanta 17, New Orleans 16
Denver 16, Oakland 7
Arizona 19, San Francisco 7
St. Louis 20, Seattle 17
Carolina 22, Tampa Bay 21
Washington 28, New York (N) 0

Players of the Week
Onterrio Smith, WAS (23 carries, 83 yards, 2 touchdowns, 6 receptions, 99 yards, 1 touchdown)
Otis Leverette, WAS (3 tackles, 1 assist, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 12
Detroit (2-8) at Kansas City (5-5) (-1)

Priest Holmes comes into the game needing just 1 yard to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing on the season. Trent Green leads the passing game, but he is having a down season with only 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Johnnie Morton is their leading receiver with 36 receptions for 567 yards and 3 touchdowns. On defense they are lead by S Greg Wesley, S Jerome Woods, and NT Eric Downing. They are ranked 10th in scoring offense with 21.4 ppg and 25th in scoring defense with 22.9 ppg.

1st Quarter

The game starts off in our usual fashion with a three and out, then Green hits Morton for a 51-yard gain to setup an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tony Richardson. On our 2nd play of our next drive Harrington is intercepted by Wesley and two plays later Green hits Morton for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 9:46 left in the first. We get a nice drive going but Harrington gets sacked and we are forced to punt. The quarter ends with Kansas City threatening to score again.

Kansas City 14, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Bly intercepts a pass from Green at our 17. We hope that plays sparks our offense but they punt after picking up a two first downs. We exchange punts then later in the quarter Harrington finds Pathon for a 46-yard touchdown pass! Finally! On the Chiefs next drive Bly intercepts Green again, this time at our 28 and he returns it 35 yards to their 36 with 0:44 to play in the half. We get inside their 5 but run out of time and have to settle for a 21-yard field goal by Hanson.

Kansas City 14, Detroit 10

3rd Quarter

They get the ball to start the second half and we force a punt but rough the punter, luckily they miss a 51-yard field goal to set us up in good field position. We are unable to capitalize then they block Jett's punt. Two plays later Green hits Richardson again for a 5-yard touchdown. The quarter ends with the Chiefs driving and at our 32.

Kansas City 21, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

They finish the drive with a 5-yard pass from Green to Walter Rasby. We get two more possession in the game but fail to get a first down in either and they run out the clock to end the game.

Kansas City 28, Detroit 10

Their defense really shut us down with exception of one play, we managed just 185 yards of offense. Harrington was 18 of 33 for 156 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Holmes was the player of the game with 118 yards rushing and 38 yards receiving. Green finished with 245 yards and 4 touchdowns. Peterson had a season high 14 tackles and 6 assists.

More bad news, we lose Cory Hall for two weeks with separated shoulder.

Other Scores
Arizona 19, Cincinnati 14
Buffalo 24, Dallas 20
Carolina 17, Jacksonville 3
Green Bay 33, Denver 13
Indianapolis 44, New Orleans 20
Minnesota 23, Oakland 17
New York (A) 24, Washington 20
New England 31, New York (N) 14
Philadelphia 16, Miami 12
Seattle 26, Pittsburgh 13
San Diego 24, Chicago 20
Baltimore 35, San Francisco 20
Cleveland 20, St. Louis 10
Houston 20, Tampa Bay 17
Atlanta 30, Tennessee 6

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (23 of 32, 352 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Marcus Robertson, ARI (5 tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 13
Detroit (2-9) at New Orleans (3-8) (-1)

This might be our last chance to win this year. Batch gets his starting job back, as Harrington has shown nothing in terms of potential. We may see Henson get some action to close out the year. As for New Orleans, they Aaron Brooks is still at QB and having a decent season. Last year we intercepted him 4 times in the season open, lets see if we can do that again this year. Deuce McAllister returns from an elbow injury that has caused him to miss two games. Dante Stallworth and Joe Horn will challenge our secondary. On defense they are led by rookie S Mike Doss, DE Charles Grant, and DT Grady Jackson.

1st Quarter

Batch opens the game hitting his first 3 passes but a sack ends the drive and we are forced to punt. The Saints put together a nice drive by John Carney misses a 50-yard field goal wide left. Batch finds Green for a 32-yard gain setting us up at their 36 but we opt to punt instead of trying the long field goal. The quarter comes to an end with the Saints driving in our territory.

Detroit 0, New Orleans 0

2nd Quarter

Our defense holds and the Saints have to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Carney. The offense goes three and out, then on the Saints next drive Rogers and Porcher each get a sack to keep them from doing anything. Batch connects with Jenkins for a 20-yard gain setting up a 42-yard field goal but Hanson misses, wide right with 2:03 to play. The Saints get a 21-yard field goal before the half, which was setup by a 37-yard pass to Corey Bradford.

New Orleans 6, Detroit 0

3rd Quarter

The Saints get a huge kickoff return to open the half and they get the ball at our 41, McAllister then breaks off a 19 yard run setting up a 29-yard field goal by Carney. Our offense sputters again but they muff the punt and we recover at their 32! Six plays later Batch connects with Ricks for an 8-yard touchdown! We end the quarter with a 13 play drive that results in a 35-yard field goal as time expires in the quarter.

Detroit 10, New Orleans 9

4th Quarter

Their first two drives of the quarter are unproductive and we are able to run the clock down to 2:34 before they get the ball again, at their 17. Brooks finds Boo Williams for 22, then 9. Then Brooks hits Bradford for 19 and then Horn for a 33-yard touchdown. They convert the two point try. Our comeback attempt ends as time expires at their 29.

New Orleans 17, Detroit 10

An okay performance all around just a tough way to lose. Batch was good, he went 26 of 38 for 234 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Our running game was productive when they got the ball with 84 yards on 20 carries. Our defense played really well with exception of that last drive. Peterson had 12 tackles and an assist. Batch will get the start again next week. Darren Howard had 3 sacks for the Saints.

Derrick Dockery got a sprained knee in the loss, he is doubtful for next week.

Other Scores
Arizona 17, Washington 14
Atlanta 22, Seattle 16
Tennessee 20, Baltimore 17
Buffalo 20, Cincinnati 17
Cleveland 34, Houston 27
Green Bay 33, Dallas 3
Indianapolis 23, Oakland 20
Denver 17, Jacksonville 9
New England 26, Kansas City 23
Pittsburgh 38, Miami 17
Carolina 14, Minnesota 10
Chicago 13, Philadelphia 10
New York (A) 20, San Diego 16
San Francisco 27, New York (N) 17
St. Louis 51, Tampa Bay 17

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (24 of 29, 382 yards, 5 touchdowns)
Darren Howard, NOR (4 tackles, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 14
San Diego (6-6) at Detroit (2-10) (+5)

A young Drew Brees leads the Chargers offense after being behind Doug Flute most of the 2002 season. Brees is completing 67% of his passes with a QB rating of 82 this season, he has missed 3 games with an elbow injury. The league's best player is LaDainian Tomlinson, he has 1,262 yards rushing so far this season. He also has 71 receptions for 614 yards, amazingly combined he only has 4 touchdowns. Their defense is anchored by NT Jamal Williams, LB Donnie Edwards, and S Rodney Harrison. Harrison is out with a strained calf muscle. They also have Juinor Seau but he may not play either.

Before the game we tell Mike Anderson he is going to get the majority of the carries.

1st Quarter

Our defense stops them on 3 plays for their first 3 drives of the game but we haven't done anything either. Until our 4th drive, we finally make some progress but have to punt from their 42. The Chargers finally get their first 1st down of the game on a 12-yard run by Tomlinson but they have to punt again to end the quarter.

Detroit 0, San Diego 0

2nd Quarter

We punt the ball right back to them before Edwards and Rogers combine to sack Brees and he fumbles! Its recovered by Porcher at their 29! Three plays later Anderson runs it in from 10 yards out. Our defense forces another 3 and out, then Batch hits Ricks for 40 yards setting up the same connection on a 6-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter Batch fumbles and they recover at our 23 setting up a 33-yard Seth Marler field goal. We get the ball with 0:22 left in the half and Anderson breaks free for a 31-yard gain which sets up a Hanson field goal from 31 yards as time expires.

Detroit 17, San Diego 3

3rd Quarter

To start the half we get a perfectly executed drive that ends in a 4-yard touchdown run by Anderson. The Chargers finally respond and score on a 17-yard pass from Brees to Parker. We have a nice 9 play drive that does nothing but eat up 4 minutes of the game clock to end the quarter.

Detroit 24, San Diego 10

4th Quarter

Early in the 4th a 27-yard pass from Batch to Pathon sets up a 40-yard field goal for Hanson but he misses wide right. However, on the next play Brian Williams intercepts Brees and returns it 39 yards to their 26. We fail to take advantage as Anderson fumbles at their 4. Our defense holds strong and gets us the ball back in good field position. We get a 31-yard field goal by Hanson to ice the game.

Detroit 27, San Diego 10

A shocking win! Our running game flourished behind Anderson, he had 127 yards on 30 carries with 2 touchdowns. Luckily his fumble didn't cost us. Batch was effective, going 18 of 24 for 188 yards with a touchdown. Our defense shut down LT and their offense. Tomlinson had just 33 yards rushing as we held them to just 163 yards of total offense.

Kevin Williams (sprained knee) and Jerome Pathon (sprained knee) are questionable for next week's game.

Other Scores
Atlanta 15, Jacksonville 3
St. Louis 30, Baltimore 10
Kansas City 24, Chicago 14
Cincinnati 20, San Francisco 13
Seattle 37, Cleveland 7
New England 28, Dallas 9
Denver 26, Minnesota 6
Green Bay 41, Oakland 14
Indianapolis 26, Tampa Bay 18
Miami 20, New York (N) 6
Houston 26, New Orleans 13
Philadelphia 27, New York (A) 6
Arizona 40, Pittsburgh 32
Carolina 37, Tennessee 13
Buffalo 14, Washington 9

Playoff Picture
AFC Divisional Leaders - Indianapolis (12-1), Cincinnati (10-3), New England (10-3), Kansas City (7-6)
AFC Wild Card - Buffalo (10-3), Miami (8-5)
AFC in the Hunt - New York (A) (7-6), Cleveland (6-6-1), Pittsburgh (6-7), Tennessee (6-7), San Diego (6-7)
NFC Divisional Leaders - St. Louis (11-2), Philadelphia (10-3), Green Bay (10-3), Carolina (9-4)
NFC Wild Card - Seattle (9-4), Arizona (9-4)
NFC in the Hunt - Chicago (7-6), Atlanta (7-6), Tampa Bay (6-7)

Top 5 Draft Order (if season ended today)
1) Jacksonville (0-13)
2) Detroit (3-10)
3) Washington (3-10)
4) Dallas (3-10)
5) Baltimore (3-9-1)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 15
Green Bay (10-3) at Detroit (3-10) (+12)

Green Bay pounded us 34-10 at their place Week 6. Expect more of the same this week.

1st Quarter

All is quiet in the first quarter, both teams have a few big plays but neither can mount a significant drive.

Detroit 0, Green Bay 0

2nd Quarter

The Packers start the 2nd with a nice drive, which included a 21-yard pass play from Favre to Walker. They have to settle for a 43-yard field goal from Longwell. We respond with a nice drive ourselves, a 27-yard pass play from Batch to Ricks sets up a 22-yard field goal by Hanson. Things starting to open up for the Packers offense and they are able to get in the end zone on a 13-yard pass play but its called back for holding and they have to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Longwell.

Green Bay 6, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

Halfway through the quarter the Packers get a 52-yard field goal by Longwell to increase their lead to 9-3. A big kickoff return by Jenkins sets up a 41-yard field goal by Hanson and we cut the lead back to 3. As the quarter ends we are driving and just crossed midfield.

Green Bay 9, Detroit 6

4th Quarter

We get stuffed on a 3rd and 1 from their 19, but get a 36-yard field goal by Hanson to tie it up. Later in the quarter Batch is intercepted by Darren Sharper at our 29. Four plays later Favre hits Walker for a 16-yard touchdown! Three plays into our next drive and Batch is intercepted by Jue at our 41. They add another field goal by Longwell. We get the ball back with 4:44 to play, we turn the ball over on downs with 2:40 left and they are able to run out the clock.

Green Bay 19, Detroit 9

Mike Anderson was effective again with 71 yards on 18 carries but Batch's meltdown in the fourth cost us. Batch ended the game 14 of 29 for 115 yards with 2 interceptions. Ricks continues to play well, he had 6 catches for 61 yards. Ahman Green had 69 yards rushing and 98 yards receiving for Player of the Game honors.

That will be it for Batch, we are ready to look at our other options. He finishes the year 200 of 352 (57%) for 2,122 yards with 7 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Harrington will get the start next week and Henson in week 17.

Other Scores
Baltimore 12, Cleveland 10
Indianapolis 38, Houston 9
Jacksonville 24, Tennessee 23
Oakland 10, Kansas City 7
Minnesota 31, Chicago 20
Miami 23, New England 17
Carolina 32, New Orleans 10
New York (A) 26, Buffalo 20
Philadelphia 29, New York (N) 7
Cincinnati 24, Pittsburgh 20
Denver 16, San Diego 0
Seattle 33, San Francisco 13
Arizona 34, St. Louis 31
Tampa Bay 27, Atlanta 14
Washington 24, Dallas 20

Players of the Week
Chad Pennington, NYJ (25 of 35, 362 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Trevor Pryce, DEN (2 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks)

[DeToxRox]

Oof, talk about a bummer of a year. Hopefully you can get Rivers, Eli or Ben in the Draft.

[Balldog]

Oof, talk about a bummer of a year. Hopefully you can get Rivers, Eli or Ben in the Draft.

Yep, I didn't see this coming...then again I didn't expect such a big drop off from Batch and Huntley. I'd even be happy with Schaub.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 16
Detroit (3-11) at Denver (6-8) (-6)

The Broncos come in with one of the league's better defense, which is bad news for us. They are ranked in the Top 10 in almost every category, they are 6th in points allowed at 16.9 points per game. They've held their opponents to under 10 points in 4 of their last 5 games. They are led by LB Al Wilson, LB John Mobley, and DT Trevor Pryce. Their offense is inconsistent at best but they do feature QB Brian Griese (2,938 yards), RB Clinton Portis (1,068 yards), and WR Ashley Lelie (758 yards).

1st Quarter

We open the game with a statement drive and score on a 24-yard pass from Harrington to Green. Harrington was 4 for 4 with 43 yards on the drive. Our defense comes out strong and we are able to get good field position to setup a 45-yard field goal attempt by Hanson but he misses wide right. The Broncos capitalize with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Griese to Rod Smith. The touchdown was setup by a 53-yard pass to Dwayne Carswell. The quarter ends with us driving at Denver's 15.

Detroit 7, Denver 7

2nd Quarter

Our drive stalls but we get a 36-yard field goal from Hanson. On their next drive David Terrell intercepts Griese, its our ball at Denver's 46. We fail to take advantage and are forced to punt. On their first play Reuben Droughns bust through the left side and takes it 77 yards for a touchdown. Martay Jenkins has a big kickoff return that starts our drive at their 33 and on the next play Harrington finds Jenkins for a 33-yards touchdown pass! Our defense isn't able to stop them again, they score on a 9-yard pass from Griese to Smith.

Denver 21, Detroit 17

3rd Quarter

Late in the quarter we finally get another drive going but Hanson misses a 49-yard field goal. A Dre' Bly punt return sets us up in good field position but we have to punt and Jett pins them at their 3 to end the quarter.

Denver 21, Detroit 17

4th Quarter

We hold them three and out resulting in good field position after another good return from Bly. We have to settle for a 45-yard field goal, this time Hanson hits it to cut the deficit to 21-20. We exchange possessions with most of the activity happening at their end the field but their defense has stiffened. With 5:10 left they start to wear out our defense, by the time we are able to stop them we only have 0:23 left and we are at our 11. We are able to get out to our 46 on a couple passes by Harrington as the clock expires.

Denver 21, Detroit 20

What a bummer this one was. Our running game was good with Anderson rushing for 105 yards on 20 carries. Harrington was efficient going 13 of 20 for 145 yards with 2 touchdowns. However, our run defense was atrocious. They had 207 yards rushing, most of which came in the 1st half.

Other Scores
Arizona 24, Cleveland 10
Indianapolis 31, Atlanta 17
Buffalo 24, New York (N) 12
St. Louis 38, Cincinnati 35
Dallas 20, New York (A) 17
San Diego 17, Green Bay 14
Houston 14, Carolina 13
New Orleans 30, Jacksonville 16
Minnesota 27, Kansas City 18
Philadelphia 24, New England 17
Oakland 24, Chicago 21
Pittsburgh 23, San Francisco 10
Baltimore 36, Seattle 10
Tennessee 23, Tampa Bay 20
Miami 19, Washington 13

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (26 of 34, 342 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Tommy Polley, STL (8 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack, 1 interception)

Playoff Picture
AFC Divisional Leaders - Indianapolis (14-1), Cincinnati (11-4), Buffalo (11-4), San Diego (7-8)
AFC Wild Card - Miami (10-5), New England (10-5)
AFC In the Hunt - Kansas City (7-8), Denver (7-8)
NFC Divisional Leaders - Philadelphia (12-3), St. Louis (12-3), Green Bay (11-4), Carolina (10-5)
NFC Wild Card - Arizona (11-4), Seattle (10-5)
NFC In the Hunt - None

Top 5 Draft Order
1) *Jacksonville (1-14)
2) Detroit (3-12)
3) San Francisco (4-11)
4) New York (N) (4-11)
5) Dallas (4-11)

[DeToxRox]

Yep, I didn't see this coming...then again I didn't expect such a big drop off from Batch and Huntley. I'd even be happy with Schaub.

Wow yeah I forgot Schuab was even in that 04 draft. Well, you should get a QB of the future I'd assume which is nice. The offense is just non existent which like you said is really out of the blue.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Week 17
Minnesota (6-9) at Detroit (3-12) (-1)

We decide to stick with Joey Harrington for this one, not that it really matters, we've already decided we need a new future QB.

1st Quarter

Our first drive of the game is a good one until Anderson fumbles at their 24. Our defense gets us the ball right back but their punt pins us deep in our territory. We are able to get a few first downs to turn the field position battle but they do the same. Late in the quarter Anderson has a 30-yard run to get us out to midfield as the quarter comes to an end.

Detroit 0, Minnesota 0

2nd Quarter

We are unable to finish another drive but our defense is playing so well and Dre Bly's punt return sets us up at their 45 on our next possession. After a 17-yard pass from Harrington to Banta, Huntley runs one in from 22 yards out for the touchdown! Later in the quarter they get a drive going but David Terrell intercepts Culpepper to give us the ball with 4:00 left in the half. We can't do anything with it though.

Detroit 7, Minnesota 0

3rd Quarter

They start the half off with a 14 play, 77 yard drive that ends on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Culpepper to Moe Williams. We get the ball and punt it right away, Jett shanks the punt giving them the ball at their 45. Seven plays later Conway converts a 43-yard field goal.

Minnesota 10, Detroit 7

4th Quarter

On 1st and ten at their 35 with 9:08 to play Harrington is sacked and he fumbles, recovered by the Vikings. The turnover allows them to push us back to our 3 to start our next possession. We get a couple first downs but have to punt, their offense doesn't give us the ball back and our season comes to an end.

Minnesota 10, Detroit 7

Mike Anderson was the lone bright spot the 2nd half of the season, he had another 127 yards today on 23 carries but a key fumble. Harrington couldn't get the ball downfield, he went 13 of 20 for 96 yards. Culpepper wasn't much better, going 17 of 24 for 115 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Their running game had 159 yards on 38 carries. A tough loss but we are glad for this season to end. Some bad news after the game, Germane Crowell ruptured an elbow tendon and is out roughly 12 months. A horrible end to his disappointing season.

Other Scores
Arizona 38, San Francisco 16
Atlanta 24, New Orleans 13
New England 21, Buffalo 7
Tampa Bay 26, Carolina 18
Green Bay 22, Chicago 14
Cincinnati 26, Cleveland 14
Denver 20, Oakland 16
Houston 31, Jacksonville 27
Miami 24, New York (A) 3
New York (N) 27, Washington 13
Philadelphia 33, Dallas 3
Baltimore 30, Pittsburgh 10
Kansas City 20, San Diego 10
St. Louis 38, Seattle 24
Indianapolis 31, Tennessee 28

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (26 of 43, 372 yards, 3 TDs)
Brady Smith, ATL (6 tackles, 1 assist, 4 sacks)

[Balldog]

Wow yeah I forgot Schuab was even in that 04 draft. Well, you should get a QB of the future I'd assume which is nice. The offense is just non existent which like you said is really out of the blue.

Now that the season is over I can compare the drop off, its huge. Batch went from 3,500 yards passing last year to 2,100 this year...2,700 as a team. Our running game went from 1,800 to 1,600...not as bad but still down, especially yards per carry. I'll go in details with our stats after the playoffs. Its sickening.

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Wild Card Round

NFC Playoffs

Arizona 24, Carolina 0
* Cardinals defense wins with a shutout!

Green Bay 30, Seattle 17
* Packers score 24 in the 3rd quarter to win it!

Arizona (13-4) at St. Louis (13-3)
Green Bay (13-4) at Philadelphia (13-3)

AFC Playoffs

New England 31, Buffalo 21
* Brady beats mentor, Bledsoe!

Kansas City 24, Miami 16
* Chiefs score 14 in the last 1:30 to win!

Kansas City (9-8) at Indianapolis (15-1)
New England (12-5) at Cincinnati (12-4)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Conference Semifinals

NFC Playoffs

St. Louis 18, Arizona 13
* Faulk's big day and late touchdown win it for the Rams!

Philadelphia 26, Green Bay 24
* Three 4th quarter field goals by the Eagles hold off the Pack!

Philadelphia (14-3) at St. Louis (14-3)

AFC Playoffs

Kansas City 30, Indianapolis 22
* Four first half interceptions by Manning cost Colts!

New England 41, Cincinnati 16
* Patriots offense explodes for 565 yards in big win!

Kansas City (10-8) at New England (13-5)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Conference Finals

NFC Championship

St. Louis 16, Philadelphia 3
* Rams win behind defense, as offense struggles again!

AFC Championship

New England 27, Kansas City 7
* Brady's 3 TD passes lead the way!



New England (14-5) vs St. Louis (15-3)

[Balldog]

2003 Season, Super Bowl

New England 27, St. Louis 23
* Rams come up short again, despite Warner's big day. For the 2nd year in a row Kurt Warner wins Super Bowl MVP despite not winning.

[Balldog]

2003 Season Wrap Up


Front Office Football 2007
2003 Summary for Detroit Lions

Year 2003
Record 3-13
Winning Pct. .187
All-Time 10-22
Winning Pct. .312
Playoffs 0-0
Playoff Visits 0
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Gerald Allison
Record 10-22
Winning Pct. .312
Off. Coord. D. Lincoln
Def. Coord. K. Schacht

Detroit Lions Team Rank
Rushes per Game 24.1 28
Rushing Yards 99.6 27
Yards Per Carry 4.14 20
Pass Attempts 29.7 28
Completions 16.3 32
Completion Pct. 54.7 32
Passing Yards 166.8 31
Yards Per Attempt 5.62 30
Yards Per Catch 10.26 24
Total Yardage Gained 251.4 32
3rd Down Conversions 26.0 32
Points Per Game 12.9 31
Pass Rush Pct. 13.2 32
Pass Defense Pct. 34.0 31
Turnovers 28 23 (T)
Turnover Margin -7 22 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 32.4 32
Rushing Yards 125.3 24
Yards Per Carry 3.86 2
Pass Attempts 32.0 14 (T)
Completions 21.9 27 (T)
Completion Pct. 68.6 32
Passing Yards 231.8 26
Yards Per Attempt 7.24 25
Yards Per Catch 10.56 16 (T)
Total Yardage Gained 350.3 28
3rd Down Conversions 41.5 24 (T)
Points Per Game 21.3 21
Pass Rush Pct. 20.6 28
Pass Defense Pct. 69.5 32
Turnovers 21 20

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 13 at CHI 38
2 9 OAK 34
3 30 WAS 15
4 23 STL 22
6 10 at GBY 34
7 3 SFO 17
8 13 at SEA 17
9 10 CHI 24
10 10 at ARI 17
11 3 at MIN 17
12 10 at KCY 28
13 10 at NOS 17
14 27 SDO 10
15 9 GBY 19
16 20 at DEN 21
17 7 MIN 10

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
17 C. Batch QB 352 200 2122 6.03 7 14 64.6
12 J. Harrington QB 123 60 546 4.44 3 5 52.4
**Team --- 475 260 2668 5.62 10 19 61.4
$$Opp --- 512 351 3708 7.24 26 14 94.9

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
24 M. Anderson RB 177 771 4.36 4 3 
49 R. Huntley RB 153 661 4.32 4 6
**Team --- 385 1594 4.14 8 21
$$Opp --- 519 2005 3.86 9 16

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
83 M. Ricks TE 66 45 513 11.40 7.77 4 2
87 M. Jenkins WR 79 43 448 10.42 5.67 3 1
89 J. Pathon WR 77 40 444 11.10 5.77 6 1
84 G. Crowell WR 70 35 401 11.46 5.73 6 1
82 J. Green WR 66 28 408 14.57 6.18 7 2
80 B. Banta TE 39 24 232 9.67 5.95 0 1

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
58 M. Peterson ILB 116 42 0.0 1 2 3 71.8
31 C. Hall S 97 31 0.0 2 0 8 77.3
71 S. Rogers DT 79 22 4.0 4 0 0 82.0
93 B. Williams OLB 72 18 0.0 0 1 2 69.6
20 D. Bly CB 52 22 0.0 1 6 3 78.8
59 C. Claiborne OLB 44 7 0.0 0 0 2 70.2
70 R. Porcher DE 42 14 4.5 12 0 0 81.4
27 L. Sanders CB 40 9 1.0 0 1 2 71.9
74 K. Williams DT 39 26 2.5 4 0 0 81.4
53 W. Rainer OLB 35 12 0.0 0 0 2 72.3
40 A. Samuel CB 35 11 0.0 0 0 4 79.1
43 A. Goodman CB 32 6 0.0 0 0 4 74.3
35 D. Terrell S 28 14 0.0 0 3 5 83.0
91 J. Gooch OLB 27 7 0.5 3 1 1 70.0
41 B. Walker S 24 13 0.0 0 0 2 75.2
76 K. Edwards DE 19 6 1.5 9 0 0 80.5
90 J. De Vries DE 18 10 0.0 3 0 1 81.9
94 C. Kriewaldt ILB 17 9 1.0 0 0 0 71.0 

Behind the Numbers
* We convert a league worse 26% of 3rd down conversions.
* Kurt Warner (STL) led the league in passing with 5,202 yards and 38 touchdowns.
* Marshall Faulk (STL) led the league in rushing with 1,936 yards and 15 touchdowns.
* Torry Holt (STL) led the league in receiving with 1,933 yards and 13 touchdowns.
* Martay Jenkins (DET) led the league in kickoff return average with an average of 30.1 ypr.
* Mike Peterson (DET) finishes 3rd in the league in tackles with 116.
* Dre Bly' (DET) finishes tied for 2nd in the league in interceptions with 6.

2002 Evaluation
Team Performance: 2/100
Franchise Value: 80/100
Profit/Loss: 88/100
Roster Strength: 60/100
Year-End Score: 60

[Balldog]

2004 Offseason, Staff Hiring and Pre-Free Agency

The following Lions are eligible for Free Agency:

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE 7 50 50 ---
Gooch, Jeff 91 WLB 9 45 45 ---
Huntley, Richard 49 RB 9 45 45 ---
Peter, Christian 78 LDT 8 44 44 ---
Rainer, Wali 53 SLB 6 44 48 ---
Banta, Bradford 80 TE 11 43 43 ---
Beverly, Eric 50 C 7 39 39 ---
Denson, Autry 29 RB 6 38 38 ---
Stewart, James 38 RB 10 37 37 ---
Anderson, Mike 24 RB 5 36 36 ---
Batch, Charlie 17 QB 7 36 36 ---
Sanders, Lewis 27 RCB 5 36 36 ---
Green, Barrett 96 WLB 5 34 42 ---
Jett, John 9 P 12 31 31 ---
Terrell, David 35 FS 7 30 30 ---
Greer, Donovan 25 RCB 8 28 28 ---
Walker, Brian 44 SS 9 24 24 ---
Owens, John 88 TE 3 22 36 ---
Lake, Antwan 72 RDE 3 21 42 ---
$$Banta-Cain, Tully 54 WLB 1 12 24 ---
We will look to bring back Mikhael Ricks, Mike Anderson, and Lewis Sanders. The rest of these guys we will let walk.

Our staff will remain intact, after last season I think we could justify firing everyone but we will give them a chance to redeem themselves.

We send Drew Henson to NFL Europe.

[Balldog]

2004 Offseason, Free Agency

Week 2

TE Mikhael Ricks resigns a 3-year deal worth $2.01 million.

TE Desmond Clark (MIA) signs a 2-year deal worth $1.48 million.
C Dwayne Ledford (SFO) signs a 2-year deal worth $1.28 million.

Week 3

DE Chike Okeafor (SFO) signs a 3-year deal worth $2.23 million.
P Kyle Richardson (NYG) signs a 2-year deal worth $1.67 million.
TE Justin Swift (SFO) signs a 2-year deal worth $1.31 million.

Week 4

RB Mike Anderson resigns a 1-year deal worth $610 thousand.

OLB Nate Wayne (SFO) signs a 4-year deal worth $14.69 million.

Week 5

LB Greg Jones (IND) signs a 1-year deal worth $670 thousand.

Week 6

CB Lewis Sanders resigns a 2-year deal worth $1.25 million.



We don't add as much this year, we lost out on quite a few targets. Including RB Thomas Jones. The guys we did add are upgrades. We will look to add more depth after the draft.

[Balldog]

2004 NFL Draft

Draft Order (Top 10)
1) Jacksonville
2) Detroit
3) Washington
4) Tennessee
5) San Francisco
6) New Orleans
7) New York (N)
8) Denver
9) Oakland
10) Cleveland

We go into the draft looking to add a franchise QB, Philip Rivers would be our first choice. We may look to trade down though to get more picks.

Draft Results
1) Jacksonville selects Philip Rivers, QB from NC State

After Jacksonville picks Rivers, we decide to try to trade down. Tennessee offers #4 and #14 for #2, our 3rd and our 5th. So we trade down. Tennessee then trades #2 to the Jets.

2) New York (A) selects Kevin Jones, RB from VA Tech
3) Washington selects Ben Roethlisberger, QB from Miami (OH)
* Our gamble backfires, we were hoping he would fall to #4.
4) Detroit selects Steven Jackson, RB from Oregon State
* We are thinking Manning or Schaub will be availabe at #14.
5) San Francisco selects Dunta Robinson, CB from South Carolina
6) New Orleans selects Chris Gamble, CB from Ohio State
7) Chicago selects Tatum Bell, RB from Oklahoma State
8) Denver selects Vince Wilford, DT from Miami (FL)
9) Oakland selects Robert Gallery, T from Iowa
10) Cleveland selects Jerricho Cotchery, WR from NC State
11) Baltimore selects Tommy Kelly, DT from Mississippi State
12) San Diego selects Anthony Davis, T from VA Tech
13) Minnesota selects Jason David, CB from Washington State
14) Detroit selects Eli Manning, QB from Mississippi
15) Chicago selects Roy Williams, WR from Texas
16) Pittsburgh selects Willie Parker, RB from North Carolina
17) Denver selects DeAngelo Hall, CB from VA Tech
18) Tampa Bay selects Matt Schaub, QB from Virginia
19) Atlanta selects Kellen Winslow, TE from Miami (FL)
20) Tennessee selects Karlos Dansby, LB from Auburn
21) Kansas City selects Nathan Vasher, CB from Texas
22) Carolina selects Teddy Lehman, LB from Oklahoma
23) Seattle selects JP Losman, QB from Tulane
24) Miami selects Tommie Harris, DT from Oklahoma
25) Buffalo selects Stacy Andrews, T from Mississippi
26) Green Bay selects Jack Scott, G from Idaho
27) Atlanta selects Scott Vines, WR from Wyoming
28) Arizona selects Shawn Andrews, G from Arkansas
29) Philadelphia selects Jared Allen, DE from Idaho State
30) Indianapolis selects Ben Troupe, TE from Florida
31) St. Louis selects Kenechi Udeze, DE from USC
32) New England selects Darnell Dockett, DT from Florida State

Our other picks...we trade our 2nd and 6th to Carolina for their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.

55) Detroit selects Shaun Phillips, LB from Purdue
86) Detroit selects Israel Idonije, DE
98) Detroit selects Tank Johnson, DT from Washington
119) Detroit selects Larry Fitzgerald, WR from Pittsburgh
194) Detroit selects Matt Ware, S from UCLA

[DeToxRox]

Awesome way that worked out. Nice work.

[Balldog]

2004 Offseason, Late Free Agency

We managed to sign all of our rookies, exception for Steven Jackson. He will holdout until before training camp.

Week 2

DT John Thornton (ATL) signs a 1-year deal worth $750,000

James Stewart signs a 1-year deal with Philadelphia.

Week 3

CB Ronnie Bradford (ATL) signs a 1-year deal worth $700,000
S Lee Flowers (TEN) signs a 1-year deal worth $850,000
LB Barrett Green resigns with a 1-year deal worth $600,000
G Pete Kendall (ATL) signs a 2-year deal worth $2.05mil.
QB Rick Mirer (PHI) signs a 1-year deal worth $750,000
CB Jacoby Rinehart (CAR) signs a 1-year deal worth $550,000
S Damien Robinson (CHI) signs a 1-year deal worth $600,000

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Preseason Roster


Front Office Football 2007
Detroit Lions Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Mirer, Rick 19 QB 12 30 30 1 yr.
Harrington, Joey 12 QB 3 18 30 5 yrs
Henson, Drew 4 QB 2 17 26 2 yrs
Manning, Eli 10 QB 1 14 32 4 yrs
Anderson, Mike 24 RB 5 37 37 1 yr.
Faulk, Kevin 46 RB 6 35 35 1 yr.
Jackson, Steven 26 RB 1 33 51 5 yrs
Sellers, Mike 32 FB 7 41 41 2 yrs
Schlesinger, Cory 23 FB 10 39 39 5 yrs
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE 7 50 50 3 yrs
Clark, Desmond 86 TE 6 45 45 2 yrs
Swift, Justin 2 TE 6 32 32 2 yrs
Owens, John 88 TE 3 26 36 1 yr.
Jenkins, Martay 87 FL 6 44 44 2 yrs
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 7 37 37 2 yrs
Crowell, Germane 84 FL 7 36 36 2 yrs
Gage, Justin 81 FL 2 22 37 2 yrs
Pathon, Jerome 89 SE 7 45 45 2 yrs
Foster, Larry 85 SE 5 31 31 1 yr.
Fitzgerald, Larry 3 SE 1 24 42 3 yrs
Raiola, Dominic 56 C 4 55 55 4 yrs
Ledford, Dwayne 54 C 5 33 42 2 yrs
Spikes, Cameron 75 LG 6 50 50 2 yrs
Kendall, Pete 78 LG 9 33 33 2 yrs
Dockery, Derrick 62 RG 2 30 46 3 yrs
Hopson, Tyrone 63 RG 6 29 29 1 yr.
Backus, Jeff 79 LT 4 56 56 3 yrs
Gross, Jordan 61 LT 2 37 61 3 yrs
McDougle, Stockar 67 RT 5 49 49 1 yr.
Richardson, Kyle 14 P 8 51 51 2 yrs
Hanson, Jason 11 K 13 62 62 5 yrs
Okeafor, Chike 77 LDE 6 42 42 3 yrs
Edwards, Kalima 76 LDE 3 38 53 3 yrs
Idonije, Israel 95 LDE 1 27 40 4 yrs
De Vries, Jared 90 RDE 6 46 46 5 yrs
Rogers, Shaun 71 LDT 4 70 70 4 yrs
Thornton, John 92 LDT 6 32 32 1 yr.
Johnson, Tank 70 LDT 1 32 50 3 yrs
Williams, Kevin 74 RDT 2 49 49 2 yrs
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 6 53 53 1 yr.
Peterson, Mike 58 MLB 6 74 74 3 yrs
Wayne, Nate 51 SLB 7 56 56 4 yrs
Williams, Brian 93 SLB 10 40 40 1 yr.
Curry, Donte 97 SLB 4 37 46 5 yrs
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 6 63 63 2 yrs
Green, Barrett 96 WLB 5 37 41 1 yr.
Phillips, Shaun 91 WLB 1 28 37 3 yrs
Jones, Greg 55 WLB 8 25 25 1 yr.
Samuel, Asante 40 LCB 2 49 53 3 yrs
Goodman, Andre 43 LCB 3 46 53 5 yrs
Bradford, Ronnie 37 LCB 12 34 34 1 yr.
Bly, Dre' 20 RCB 6 46 46 2 yrs
Rhinehart, Jacoby 48 RCB 6 41 41 1 yr.
Sanders, Lewis 27 RCB 5 37 37 2 yrs
Hall, Cory 31 SS 6 64 64 1 yr.
Flowers, Lee 34 SS 10 42 42 1 yr.
Walker, Bracy 41 SS 11 26 26 4 yrs
Robinson, Damien 42 FS 7 41 41 1 yr.
Ware, Matt 36 FS 1 15 21 3 yrs

$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,
** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.

Players Under Contract: 59
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 59


I think we've improved our roster quite a bit. Our defense should be a lot better! However, I think our offense is going to struggle again. Rick Mirer enters the season as our starting QB. We did get a bit of good news, Germane Crowell will be ready to play once the season starts. On defense, we are seriously considering a 3-4 defense.

As you can see our draft was a roller coaster, Manning looks like he might be a bust. Steven Jackson and Tank Johnson should be good ones though.

[Rawhide]

Reading with interest.

Manning's potential seems a bit low?

[Balldog]

Reading with interest.

Manning's potential seems a bit low?

Yeah, he has a very high Volatility rating so I'm hoping he surprises us in the near future.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Preseason and Roster Cuts

Preseason Games
Pittsburgh 23, Detroit 6
Tennessee 13, Detroit 0
Detroit 27, Cleveland 14
Jacksonville 30, Detroit 17

As expected our offense was horrible, but Eli Manning and Steven Jackson showed some signs of life giving us some hope. We also escape the preseason without any injuries heading into Week 1.

Roster Cuts
Larry Foster, WR
Tyrone Hopson, G
Greg Jones, LB
Bracy Walker, S
Matt Ware, S
John Owens, TE

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 1
Green Bay (0-0) at Detroit (0-0)
* Packers favored by 2.

Brett Favre returns for the Packers for what some believe may be his final season. He is coming off a season where he completed 71% of his passes for 4,180 yards and 30 touchdowns. All of his weapons return but Ahman Green may miss this week's game with a strained hamstring, he is questionable. Javon Walker, Donald Driver, and Bubba Franks are his primary targets. Their defense is lead by CB Mike McKenzie, S Darren Sharper and DE Aaron Kampman.

1st Quarter

The Packers take the ball down the field on their opening possession but their drive stalls and they have to settle for a 54-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell. On our second possession of the game Mirer hits Fitzgerald for 12, then Anderson breaks free for a 29-yard run. Two plays later Mirer hits Ricks for a 26-yard gain that sets up a 38-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 3, Green Bay 3

2nd Quarter

We start the quarter pinned at our 2 and fail to move the chains. The Packers get good field position but Longwell misses a 45-yard field goal. Later in the game Ahman Green fumbles and its recovered by Andre Goodman, to give us the ball at their 41. We fail to capitalize. With 0:26 left in the half Mirer is intercepted by Tyrone Williams setting up a 59-yard field goal by Longwell to end the half.

Green Bay 6, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

Mirer and Anderson orchestrate a beautiful drive to start the 2nd half that ends with a 2-yard touchdown run by Anderson. The Packers answer with a nice drive of their own but they come up short and settle for a 41-yard field goal by Longwell.

Detroit 10, Green Bay 9

4th Quarter

Late in the fourth Richardson nails a 55 yard punt to give the Packers the ball at their 23 with 2:40 to play. On 2nd down Favre is sacked by Rogers setting up 3rd and long! On 3rd down Favre finds Robert Ferguson for a 44-yard pass play at the two minute warning. Later Favre hits Javon Walker setting up a 41-yard field goal by Longwell with 0:35 left. We get the ball back and Mirer hits Ricks for a 27-yard pass giving us the ball at their 38 with 0:25 left, wait....we are called for illegal formation and we fail to recover from that devastating penalty.

Green Bay 12, Detroit 10

Brett Favre was named player of the game going 27 of 49 for 294 yards but the really story was their defense. They held us to 230 yards and only 109 passing. Mirer struggled to move the chains, he was 16 of 29 for 122 yards with an interception. Mike Anderson did well, he had 92 yards on 13 carries.

The physical game took its toll on our defense, Mike Peterson (sprained knee) is questionable and Jacoby Rinehart (hyperextended knee) is out for 3 weeks.

Other Scores
St. Louis 22, Arizona 17
Tampa Bay 30, Atlanta 17
Cleveland 24, Baltimore 22
Buffalo 19, New York (A) 16
New Orleans 24, Carolina 14
Minnesota 20, Chicago 13
Denver 17, San Diego 7
Houston 24, Indianapolis 19
Kansas City 28, Oakland 9
Miami 16, New England 10
New York (N) 20, Philadelphia 13
Cincinnati 23, Pittsburgh 20
Seattle 38, San Francisco 34
Jacksonville 17, Tennessee 0
Dallas 44, Washington 16

Players of the Week
Jon Kitna, CIN (34 of 44, 447 yards, 2 TDs)
Chris Hovan, MIN (4 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks, fumble recovery)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 2
Jacksonville (1-0) at Detroit (0-1)
* Lions favored by 1.

An aging Mark Brunell leads the Jaguars offense, Brunell is coming a 2003 season in which he completed 64% of his passes for 3,550 yards and just 13 touchdowns. Fred Taylor leads their rushing attack, he had 1,002 yards last year. On defense they are led by DT Marcus Stroud, DE Staln Colinet, and S Donovan Darius.

1st Quarter

The Jaguars fumble the opening kickoff return and we recover at their 22! Our offense isn't able to get a first down and we settle for a 31-yard field goal by Hanson. They get the ball back and Brunell goes to work, setting up a 38-yard field goal by Richie Cunningham. Later in the quarter they get a 44-yard field goal by Cunningham.

Jacksonville 6, Detroit 3

2nd Quarter

Our first drive of the second quarter and Mirer is intercepted by Troy Polamalu in the end zone. Our next possession a 35-yard run by Jackson sets up a 17-yard touchdown pass from Mirer to Ricks. The Jags answer right back with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Brunell to rookie Malcolm Floyd. We setup a 43-yard field goal as time expires, but its blocked.

Jacksonville 13, Detroit 10

3rd Quarter

Our first drive of the second half we move the ball right down the field until Mirer is sacked and he fumbles at their 18. A horrible punt sets up a 50-yard field goal by Cunningham and they extend their lead to 6. On our next drive Mirer is intercepted at their 34.

Jacksonville 16, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

We open the fourth with a nice drive but are forced to punt from inside their 40. We get the ball back and move it well, but go for it on 4th and 10 instead of kicking it and turn the ball over on downs, essentially ending the game.

Jacksonville 16, Detroit 10

Our defense was magnificent holding them to just 241 yards but our offense failed to capitalize on too many opportunities in enemy territory. Mirer was just 26 of 45 for 249 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Anderson and Jackson combined for 106 yards on 24 carries. Edwards, Rogers, and Wayne each had a sack.

Other Scores
Atlanta 21, San Diego 16
Arizona 38, Buffalo 23
Chicago 6, Houston 0
Philadelphia 31, Cincinnati 6
Baltimore 24, Dallas 19
Carolina 20, Denver 17
Indianapolis 34, Minnesota 15
St. Louis 38, New York (A) 3
Oakland 28, New Orleans 26
Pittsburgh 35, New York (N) 34
San Francisco 27, Miami 14
Seattle 32, New England 26
Tampa Bay 23, Kansas City 21
Tennessee 24, Green Bay 20
Cleveland 17, Washington 16

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (20 of 27, 276 yards, 5 touchdowns)
Kevin Carter, TEN (3 tackles, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 3
New Orleans (1-1) at Detroit (0-2)
* Lions favored by 1.

For the third season in a row Aaron Brooks has injured his knee, he is questionable for the game. He is having an outstanding season, completing 64% of his passes for an average of 314 yards per game and 4 touchdowns. Deuce McAllister is averaging 5.9 yards per carry for 202 yards on the season. Donte Stallworth and Joe Horn lead the receiving corps. Their defense is led by S Mike Doss, DE Charles Grant, and LB Gerald Hayes.

1st Quarter

Our first play from scrimmage is a 45-yard pass from Mirer to Sellers. Add on a unsportsmanlike penalty to the end of the play and we are down to their 13 after one play. Five plays later Mirer runs it in on the 2-yard score. Our defense holds them to a three and out and we have the ball back at our 41. On third and 13 Mirer hits Pathon for 24 yards to setup a 47-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 10, New Orleans 0

2nd Quarter

Mirer is intercepted by Gerald Hayes on the first play of the quarter which leads to a 6-yard touchdown pass from backup QB Randy Madison to Donte Stallworth. Bly has a great kickoff return with sets up a 3-yard touchdown run by Jackson. Anderson got hurt on the drive, it appears to be a knee injury. We get the ball back with 3:25 left in the half and Mirer goes to work and Jackson finds the end zone again with 1:06 left. Josh Brown nails a 49-yard field goal for the Saints as the half ends.

Detroit 24, New Orleans 10

3rd Quarter

We are able to stop the Saints on the first possession of the half but Jackson fumbles on our first play giving them the ball at our 26. Our defense holds and we block their 23-yard field goal attempt. We respond with a 47-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 27, New Orleans 10

4th Quarter

Jackson fumbles again on our first possession of the quarter, this time they return it for a touchdown! Jackson redeems himself with a 23-yard touchdown run on our next drive! Our defense holds strong the rest of the game but Rogers leaves the game on a stretcher, with what might be a career ending injury.

Detroit 34, New Orleans 17

A great win but the game ends on a somber note, Rogers has a severe condition and doctors do not expect him to play again until 2006. Ouch. Jackson was great with 114 yards on 28 carries and 3 touchdowns! Mirer played outstanding as well, he went 25 of 32 for 303 yards. Our defense didn't play as well as we expected but they came up with stop when it mattered most.

We get Peterson back and Anderson is questionable with a sprained knee.

Other Scores
Arizona 34, New York (N) 6
San Diego 17, Baltimore 13
Houston 23, Buffalo 16
Seattle 19, Chicago 16
Kansas City 34, Cincinnati 33
Dallas 28, Atlanta 21
Miami 28, Denver 6
St. Louis 27, Green Bay 14
Cleveland 7, Jacksonville 3
Indianapolis 51, New England 41
Oakland 23, New York (A) 17
Carolina 33, Philadelphia 27
San Francisco 21, Washington 13
Minnesota 31, Tampa Bay 21
Tennessee 34, Pittsburgh 6

Players of the Week
Tom Brady, NE (36 of 50, 446 yards, 5 touchdowns)
Travaris Robinson, TEN (5 tackles, 1 assist, 1 interception, 1 TD)

[Balldog]

Lions resign RB James Stewart

With a roster spot opening up due to the Shaun Rogers injury the Lions have signed RB James Stewart to a 1-year deal worth $590,000. Stewart was released after Week 1 from the Philadelphia Eagles, he had 716 yards rushing two seasons ago for the Lions. Steven Jackson will be the primary back until Mike Anderson returns to full strength, at that point it is likely Stewart will be released.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 4
Detroit (1-2) at Dallas (2-1)
* Cowboys favored by 4.

The Cowboys offense has been struggling with Seneca Wallace starting at QB and James Allen at RB. Their best players are T Flozell Adams and G Larry Allen. On defense they have LB Takeo Spikes, DT, La'roi Glover, and DE Greg Ellis.

1st Quarter

We get the ball first and Mirer is intercepted by Lynn Scott on the sixth play of the drive at our 37. They have to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff. On our first play of our next drive Mirer hits Ricks for a 22-yard gain but Ricks fumbles and they recover at our 41. The next play Allen scores on a 41-yard run. Later in the quarter Wallace hits Tony Hollings for a 10-yard touchdown pass.

Dallas 17, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Two plays in the second quarter Mirer is intercepted by Joe Odom in the end zone. Our defense finally steps up and Kevin Williams intercepted Wallace at their 36 but Hanson misses a 47-yard field goal. The Cowboys finish the quarter with a nice drive capped off by a 7-yard touchdown run by Hollings.

Dallas 24, Detroit 0

3rd Quarter

Nate Wayne intercepts Wallace on their opening drive at our 11. We get something going on offense but Hanson misses the 42-yard field goal attempt. Our defense has finally started to pick it up but our offense continues to be brutal.

Dallas 24, Detroit 0

4th Quarter

Not much to report in the fourth quarter, as both defenses have taken control of the game.

Dallas 24, Detroit 0

Jackson had 61 yards on 7 carries but we got behind so big we had to abandon the run. They took advantage of Rogers being out and ran for 140 yards on 38 carries. Green had 3 receptions for 70 yards. Their safety, Lynn Scott got player of the game honors with a sack and an interception. Manning is going to get a shot at QB for a few weeks, he can't be much worse than Mirer.

Claiborne strained his hamstring and he listed as questionable. Peterson is back to 100%.

Other Scores
Arizona 24, Tampa Bay 14
Baltimore 28, New York (A) 24
Cleveland 21, Buffalo 17
Washington 26, Green Bay 21
Indianapolis 33, Denver 7
Miami 24, Cincinnati 12
Philadelphia 30, Minnesota 23
New England 28, Pittsburgh 12
Oakland 24, Jacksonville 14
Houston 18, San Diego 0
Carolina 30, San Francisco 23
Atlanta 24, Seattle 20
St. Louis 31, New Orleans 13

Players of the Week
Jake Plummer, ARI (25 of 32, 236 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Carlos Emmons, PHI (8 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 5
Detroit (1-3) at Philadelphia (2-2)
* Eagles favored by 4.

Donovan McNabb is one of the league's best quarterbacks, he is having a nice season with 1,101 yards and 5 touchdowns. They added an aging Stephen Davis in the backfield, he has just 298 yards on the season. Patrick Crayton is McNabb's favorite target, he has 15 receptions for 258 yards. On defense they are led by S Brian Dawkins, LB Carlos Emmons, and DT Corey Simon.

1st Quarter

On the third play of the game Davis fumbles and Asante Samuels recovers, giving us the ball at our 45. Manning moves the offense and we get a 44-yard field goal from Hanson. Later in the quarter Davis fumbles again and we recover at their 25 but Dawkins intercepts Manning in the end zone.

Detroit 3, Philadelphia 0

2nd Quarter

They miss a 53-yard field goal early in the second but later in the quarter they are able to connect on a 23-yard field goal by Akers. Wayne intercepts McNabb at our 22 and returns it 41 yards to setup a 54-yard field goal by Hanson as the half ends.

Detroit 6, Philadelphia 3

3rd Quarter

Dawkins intercepts Manning again on our first drive of the half, to give them the ball at our 44. Akers misses a 42-yard field goal wide right though. We get something going later in the quarter but Faulk fumbles and they recover at their 25. They are driving as the quarter ends.

Detroit 6, Philadelphia 3

4th Quarter

Our defense stiffens and Manning gets to work, he hits Jenkins for a 12-yard touchdown with 8:54 left! McNabb tries to respond but their drive ends on 4th and goal at our 4, their drive took 4 minutes off the clock. They get the ball back one more time but our defense forces them off the field without a first down and we are able to run out the clock to seal the victory!

Detroit 13, Philadelphia 3

They held our offense to just 227 yards but we were able to score when it mattered. They had 353 yards of offense but couldn't finish their drives. Manning went 16 of 27 for 149 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions in his first career start. Fitzgerald was his favorite target, he had 4 receptions for 52 yards. Peterson won player of the game with 8 tackles and 2 assists.

Other Games
Seattle 24, Arizona 17
Miami 24, Buffalo 17
St. Louis 41, Carolina 35
Washington 13, Chicago 7
New York (N) 34, Dallas 10
Green Bay 24, Minnesota 10
Oakland 19, Houston 9
Tennessee 17, Kansas City 7
New England 34, Baltimore 9
Cincinnati 20, New York (A) 13
Cleveland 30, Pittsburgh 24
Indianapolis 28, San Diego 21
San Francisco 21, Tampa Bay 20

Players of the Week
Kurt Warner, STL (32 of 48, 360 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Na'il Diggs, GB (5 tackles, 4 assists, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 6
New York (N) (2-2) at Detroit (2-3)
* Lions favored by 1.

The Giants only legitimate threat on offense is Tiki Barber, he leads them in rushing and receiving. Rex Grossman is their starting QB, he has been surprisingly good. He is completing 68% of his passes and has 7 touchdowns to 1 interception. Their defense is lead by LB Dhani Jones and DT Lance Legree.

1st Quarter

Two plays into the game Manning is intercepted by Michael Barrow, he returns it to our 37. The pick sets up a 12-yard touchdown run by Duce Staley. Later in the quarter Samuel intercepts Grossman and returns it 19 yards for the touchdown! Then after our defense forces a punt, Anderson breaks off a 52-yard touchdown run! Andre Goodman intercepts Grossman leading to a 36-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 17, New York (N) 7

2nd Quarter

We add a 40-yard field goal on our first possession of the second quarter and force the Giants into another three and out. Bly returns the punt 74 yards for a touchdown! Then on their first play of the next drive Barber breaks free for a 90-yard touchdown run. We answer with a 21-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 30, New York (N) 14

3rd Quarter

The third quarter is quiet until late in the quarter we add a 37-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 33, New York (N) 14

4th Quarter

On their first drive of the fourth quarter they get a 42-yard field goal from Todd Peterson. Then on their next drive they get a 27-yard field goal by Peterson. Our offense disappeared in the second half but luckily they haven't been able to finish their drives, we stop them at our 32 with under 0:30 to play and are able to run out the clock.

Detroit 33, New York (N) 20

We were able to put up 33 points but 14 came from defense and special teams as our offense struggled again. We managed just 287 yards of offense, with 206 coming on the ground. Anderson finished with 119 yards on 15 carries. Manning struggled, going 12 of 24 for 89 yards with an interception. Barber wins player of the game with 146 yards rushing and 63 yards receiving.

Cory Hall is questionable now, with a strained hamstring. Derrick Dockery is also questionable, with a sprained knee ligament.

Other Scores
Atlanta 28, Arizona 24
Pittsburgh 21, Buffalo 17
Seattle 10, Carolina 3
Chicago 21, Dallas 14
Kansas City 16, Houston 10
Indianapolis 27, Jacksonville 3
Cleveland 31, Miami 13
New England 30, New York (A) 27
San Francisco 23, New Orleans 10
Oakland 23, San Diego 20
Green Bay 17, Philadelphia 13
Tampa Bay 26, St. Louis 14
Tennessee 23, Denver 7

Players of the Week
Tommy Maddox, PIT (18 of 27, 260 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Asante Samuel, DET (3 tackles, 1 interception, 1 touchdown)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 7
Chicago (2-3) at Detroit (3-3)
* Bears favored by 1.

The Bears brought in Kordell Stewart to run their offense this offseason, he's been efficient, completing 63% of his passes but he has only thrown 2 touchdowns. Their offense is second in the league in rushing, they are lead by rookie RB Tatum Bell (83 car, 338 yds) and Adrian Peterson (50 car, 233 yds). Their best wideout is rookie WR Roy Williams (14 rec, 138 yds). Their defense is only allowing 13 ppg, they are lead by LB Roosevelt Colvin, DE Alex Brown, and LB Brian Urlacher.

1st Quarter

Late in the first quarter, neither team has done much on offense until Bell gets free for a 27-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter Lee Flowers intercepts Stewart to set us up at their 24 to start the second quarter.

Chicago 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Manning finds Green in the back of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown! On our next possession Manning finds Pathon for a 36-yard gain that sets up a 2-yard touchdown run by Jackson. The Bears add a 41-yard field goal by Edinger to end the half.

Detroit 14, Chicago 10

3rd Quarter

Both defenses tighten up in the third quarter. The Bears are driving as the quarter ends, after we pinned them at their 4 to start the drive.

Detroit 14, Chicago 10

4th Quarter

The Bears 19 play drive ends with a 48-yard field goal attempt that is missed by Edinger. Both teams exchange three and outs on their next two drives before a 20-yard run by Jackson sets up a 27-yard field goal by Hanson. Later in the quarter we stop the Bears on 4th and 1 at their 42, that results in a 50-yard field goal by Hanson with 2:08 left. Our defense holds them off and we secure the win!

Detroit 20, Chicago 10

Our defense was nasty and our offense took care of the ball, Manning improves to 3-0 as a starter and he wins player of the game. He was 16 of 29 for 152 yards with a touchdown. Our offense struggled though, they had just 248 total yards on the day. We held their rushing attack to a season low 114 yards and we harassed Stewart all day long. He was 30 of 48 for 183 yards.

Other Scores
Baltimore 26, Buffalo 10
Atlanta 23, Carolina 7
New England 31, Cincinnati 21
Houston 27, Denver 17
Green Bay 31, New York (N) 21
Tennessee 35, Jacksonville 10
Indianapolis 48, Kansas City 28
Dallas 22, Minnesota 16
Cleveland 26, New York (A) 13
Philadelphia 27, Washington 17
Miami 20, Pittsburgh 7
St. Louis 38, San Francisco 34
Seattle 13, New Orleans 3

If you are keeping score at home the Browns are 7-0 and the Jets are 0-7.

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (26 of 30, 396 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Richard Seymour, NE (4 tackles, 2 assists, 3.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 8
Detroit (4-3) at Green Bay (4-3)
* Packers favored by 4.

The Packers are averaging 395 ypg on offense, which is 4th in the league. They are scoring 19.9 ppg which is tied for 18th. On defense they are allowing 331 ypg, which is ranked 15th. They are allowing 18.7 ppg which is 10th. Ahman Green is still battling his hamstring injury which kept him from having much to do with our 12-10 loss in Week 1.

1st Quarter

Our offense comes out firing on all cylinders and we score on a 2-yard touchdown run by Anderson on our opening drive! On third down, newly acquired S Chris Akins intercepts Favre and returns it to their 33. We have to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Hanson. The Packers finally get their first 1st down of the game on the last play of the quarter.

Detroit 10, Green Bay 0

2nd Quarter

Halfway through the 2nd quarter the Packers finally get to our side of the field but they miss a 52-yard field goal. Their next possession Favre is intercepted by Nate Wayne at their 46! Manning hits Clark for a 20-yard gain and then hits Jenkins for a 26-yard touchdown! On their next possession Peterson intercepts Favre at midfield! And seven plays later Jackson scores on a 9-yard touchdown run!

Detroit 24, Green Bay 0

3rd Quarter

The Packers finally get on the board on their first drive of the half, with a 41-yard field goal by Longwell. We answer with a 34-yard field goal by Hanson. On their next drive Green fumbles and Akins recovers at our 44. They finally get in the end zone when Favre hits Green for a 1-yard touchdown pass.

Detroit 27, Green Bay 11

4th Quarter

Early in the 4th and Peterson intercepts Favre for the 2nd time! And our defense is strong enough to hold them out of the end zone the rest of the way!

Detroit 27, Green Bay 11

Our pass defense has incredible the last few weeks, which I'm sure has a lot to do with our 4-game winning streak. Favre was 27 of 55 for 344 yards with a touchdown and 4 interceptions. We also sacked him 3 times. Manning was stellar, going 19 of 32 for 214 yards and a touchdown. The player of the game went to Peterson, he had 9 tackles, 2 assists, 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions.

Kevin Williams suffered a separated shoulder, he is out for 2 weeks. Luckily we have a bye coming up.

The win puts us alone in first in the NFC North.

Other Scores
San Francisco 23, Atlanta 7
Cincinnati 42, Baltimore 21
Chicago 32, New York (N) 23
Indianapolis 12, Oakland 10
Jacksonville 10, Kansas City 0
Carolina 20, New Orleans 17
New York (A) 27, Buffalo 19
Denver 31, San Diego 16
St. Louis 21, Arizona 14
Seattle 23, Tampa Bay 9
Houston 44, Tennessee 20
Minnesota 16, Washington 14

Players of the Week
David Carr, HOU (20 of 24, 370 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Mike Peterson, DET (9 tackles, 2 assists, 1.5 sacks and 2 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 9
Bye Week

Other Scores
Arizona 20, Carolina 6
Buffalo 30, Cincinnati 17
Baltimore 22, Cleveland 14
Dallas 19, Washington 10
Denver 16, Jacksonville 0
New England 33, Miami 3
New Orleans 20, Tampa Bay 13
Minnesota 27, New York (N) 14
Kansas City 28, Oakland 26
Chicago 24, Philadelphia 21
Pittsburgh 23, New York (A) 3
San Francisco 24, Seattle 21
St. Louis 17, Atlanta 9
San Diego 27, Tennessee 12

Players of the Week
LaDainian Tomlinson, SD (22 car, 168 yards, 8 rec, 90 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Chad Cota, BUF (8 tackles, 2 interceptions)

[DeToxRox]

Wow. Awesome turn around. Eli is winning hearts in Detroit.

[Balldog]

Wow. Awesome turn around. Eli is winning hearts in Detroit.

I am quite shocked!

Manning's popularity rating has risen to 90, highest on the team.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 10
Washington (2-6) at Detroit (5-3)
* Lions favored by 1.

Second year RB Onterrio Smith leads the way for the Redskins offense, he has 618 yards rushing on the season. Rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger is having a nice season, he is completing 67% of his passes and has 1,426 yards passing. They have one of the best pass defenses in the league with CB Champ Bailey and CB Fred Smoot shutting down opposing wideouts.

1st Quarter

The Skins get on the board first with a 24-yard field goal by Wade Richey. The field goal was setup by 19-yard run by Smith. The quarter ends with the Skins driving again.

Washington 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Smith breaks free for a 21-yard gain, then Big Ben hits Visanthe Shiancoe for a 25-yard gain setting up a 19-yard field goal from Richey. Our offense continues to struggle, we can't score before the half despite starting with the ball at the 50.

Washington 6, Detroit 0

3rd Quarter

On our second possession of the half we finally get something going, Anderson gets a couple nice chunk plays before Manning hits Jenkins for a 21-yard gain that sets up a 1-yard touchdown run by Jackson! The quarter ends with us driving, we have the ball at their 23.

Detroit 7, Washington 6

4th Quarter

Jackson fumbles at their 9 and they recover, ending our opportunity to add to our lead. Luckily, Goodman intercepts Big Ben at our 37 on their next drive. We are able to run 4 minutes off the clock before punting. Our defense holds but we have to punt again, its their ball at their 28 with 1:35 left. Big Ben hits Antonio Freeman for 12 yards, then Shiancoe for 5 yards and 11 yards before hitting Desmond Howard for 13. With 0:14 left, Richey comes out to attempt a 48-yard field goal. He misses!!!

Detroit 7, Washington 6

Anderson had a nice game with 104 yards on 18 carries. Manning was turnover free again, he went 12 of 20 for 109 yards. We held Smith in check, he had 76 yards rushing and 29 yards receiving. Jeff Backus won player of the game.

We now have the league's best scoring defense, holding opponents to just 13.2 ppg.

Other Scores
Buffalo 24, Miami 13
New England 38, Buffalo 14
Cincinnati 43, Pittsburgh 32
Green Bay 30, Dallas 27
Kansas City 13, Denver 0
Houston 23, Indianapolis 20
San Diego 13, Jacksonville 3
Minnesota 27, Chicago 6
Arizona 27, New Orleans 3
Philadelphia 20, New York (N) 14
Tennessee 20, Oakland 16
St. Louis 34, Seattle 21
Tampa Bay 24, Atlanta 13

Players of the Week
Jon Kitna, CIN (26 of 33, 331 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Shawn Barber, NE (4 tackles, 3.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

Peyton Manning Out for Season

Two time All-NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is out for the rest of the season after a Severe Hamstring Pull. Manning was hurt during their Week 7 game in which he won Player of the Week honors. On the year, he was completing 69% of his passes for 2,159 yards with 17 touchdowns and only 1 interception.

David Garrard has replaced Manning as the starting quarterback, the Colts are 0-2 since.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 11
Detroit (6-3) at Minnesota (5-4)
* Vikings favored by 1.

1st Quarter

Our offense is moving down the field but Jenkins fumbles at their 19 and they recover to end our scoring opportunity. The Vikings have a decent drive going before Chris Brown fumbles and Nate Wayne recovers at our 38. Later in the quarter with the Vikings driving again, Damien Robinson intercepts Culpepper at our 3 yard line. The quarter ends with us driving, we are currently at our own 42.

Detroit 0, Minnesota 0

2nd Quarter

Our drive stalls but Richardson pins them at their own 2. We force a punt, then Anderson goes for 31 yards on the ground and Manning hits Green for an 11-yard touchdown pass! We are able to put together another nice drive but have to settle for a 28-yard field goal by Hanson with 2:00 left in the half. John Hall misses a 54-yard field goal for the Vikings as time expires in the half.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 0

3rd Quarter

Midway through the quarter Culpepper finds Moss for a 33-yard touchdown pass to cut our lead to 3. On our ensuing drive Manning fumbles and they recover at midfield. As the quarter ends they have the ball at our 3.

Detroit 10, Minnesota 7

4th Quarter

Michael Bennett scampers in from 3-yards out to give them the lead on the first play of the quarter. Manning isn't able to get anything going in the fourth and he loses his first game as our starting quarterback.

Minnesota 14, Detroit 10

Manning's fumble was costly, other than that he did well. He was 26 of 37 for 210 yards with a touchdown. Anderson had 92 yards on 15 carries. Culpepper had the best game against our defense anyone has had in quite a while, he went 20 of 29 for 229 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Other Scores
Arizona 20, San Francisco 14
Atlanta 16, New Orleans 7
Baltimore 27, Pittsburgh 26
Tampa Bay 17, Carolina 14
Cincinnati 33, Cleveland 16
Philadelphia 31, Dallas 24
Chicago 17, Green Bay 10
Indianapolis 16, Tennessee 13
Jacksonville 23, Houston 10
San Diego 34, Kansas City 31
Miami 43, New York (A) 20
Denver 24, Oakland 13
New York (N) 13, Washington 6

Players of the Week
Donovan McNabb, PHI (21 of 38, 262 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Patrick Kerney, ATL (6 tackles, 3 sacks)

[bbgunn]

Tough loss, but impressive what the Lions have been doing!

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 12
Indianapolis (8-2) at Detroit (6-4)
* Colts favored by 9.

The Colts have are 2-1 without Manning, with there two losses on the season coming against Houston. They haven't asked David Garrard to do much, but he has completed 66% of his passes for 634 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. Edgerrin James is 4th in the league in rushing yards with 917. Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne are a dangerous duo at wide receiver. Their defense has stepped it up since Manning has been out, they are lead by DE Dwight Freeney, LB Marcus Washington and CB Nick Harper.

1st Quarter

For some reason the Colts send out Jamie Beason to start at QB, he gets them moving quickly but James fumbles and Bly recovers at our 36. We are able to take advantage of the turnover but settle for a 30-yard field goal by Hanson. Before the end of the quarter Manning hits Anderson on a screen pass for 42 yards, we are at their 26 to end the quarter.

Detroit 3, Indianapolis 0

2nd Quarter

A delay of game and sack forces us to punt but on their next possession Lewis Sanders intercepts Beason at their 18. Four plays later Manning hits Jenkins for an 8-yard touchdown pass! Our defense continues to shut them down and before the half we add a 44-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 13, Indianapolis 0

3rd Quarter

On their first possession of the half they get a 54-yard field goal by Mike Vanderjagt. We fail to get a first down on our next drive and the Colts get moving. The finish a 14 play 65 yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Korey Bishop.

Detroit 13, Indianapolis 0

4th Quarter

Early in the fourth we are moving but Jackson fumbles and they recover at their 21. Bishop is gashing our defense but we force another punt with 7:07 left. We are able to run 4 minutes off the clock before we have to punt, they get the ball back at their 23 with 2:59 left. They score the go ahead touchdown with 1:43 left on a 13-yard pass from Beason to James. Bly returns the ensuing kickoff 41 yards out to midfield. With 0:26 left we are at their 16 with a 1st and ten. The next two plays are incomplete passes, then Manning hits Jenkins for 12 yards and we call a timeout with 0:03 left! Then Manning throws into double coverage but Jenkins pulls it in for a 4-yard touchdown as time expires for the win!!!

Detroit 20, Indianapolis 17

Manning is the obvious winner of player of the game, he was 19 of 30 for 195 yards with 2 touchdowns. Anderson had 72 yards with 21 carries and 59 yards receiving on 3 receptions. The defense once again let up some disappointing numbers but kept them off the board for the most part. Bishop had a big day for the Colts with 90 yards on 13 carries. Manning is now 6-1 as a starter, he is now idolized in Detroit!

Ricks suffered a concussion, he will miss next week's game at San Francisco.

Other Scores
Oakland 19, Atlanta 14
Chicago 14, Tennessee 13
Cincinnati 27, Washington 6
Green Bay 26, Houston 3
Kansas City 28, Carolina 26
Arizona 16, Miami 9
Jacksonville 23, Minnesota 17
San Francisco 38, New England 27
Denver 33, New Orleans 6
New York (N) 24, Baltimore 22
Philadelphia 34, Cleveland 6
Pittsburgh 6, Dallas 3
Tampa Bay 10, San Diego 7
Seattle 13, New York (A) 10
St. Louis 30, Buffalo 6

The Browns have now lost 4 in a row since starting the season 7-0.

Players of the Week
Trent Green, KC (20 of 27, 252 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Donnie Abraham, NYJ (1 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 passes defended)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 13
Detroit (7-4) at San Francisco (7-4)
*49ers favored by 7.

Terrell Owens (52 rec, 987 yds, 6 TDs) is pretty much their only threat on offense and they have Tim Rattay (68% comp, 1,415 yds, 8 TDs) playing at quarterback, so hopefully we will be able to shut them down. However, Jeff Garcia (63% comp, 1,375 yds, 12 TDs) has been splitting the starts with Rattay. Their defense is beat up, S Tony Parrish and CB Ahmed Plummer are out and LB Julian Peterson is questionable. They play a 3-4 defense lead by rookie CB Dunta Robinson, S Zach Bronson, and DE Osi Umenyiora.

1st Quarter

All is quiet for most of the first quarter, both teams exchange punts on their 2 possessions. The 49ers punt again and we finally get something going, we are able to setup a 45-yard field goal by Hanson just before the quarter ends.

Detroit 3, San Francisco 0

2nd Quarter

On the 49ers next possession they move the ball well but Josh Scobee misses a 53-yard field goal. We are unable to capitalize on the field position and the 49ers get moving again. Then Rattay is intercepted by Wayne at our 13 and he returns it 28 yards with 1:20 left in the half. Manning runs a nice two minutes offense and we get a 32-yard field goal by Hanson as the half ends.

Detroit 6, San Francisco 0

3rd Quarter

On the 49ers second drive of the half Rattay hits Tony Simmons for a 34-yard gain then hits Cedrick Wilson for a 10-yard touchdown to give them the lead. On the ensuing kickoff Jenkins returns it 67 yards and on our next play Jackson breaks free for a 21- yard touchdown run! Their offense is starting to get some momentum until Jamal Robertson fumbles and Wayne recovers it at their 43. The quarter ends with us inside their 5.

Detroit 13, San Francisco 7

4th Quarter

Their defense holds up and we settle for a 21-yard field goal by Hanson. We force a punt on their next possession and get the ball back with 11:44 left. Manning and the offense put together a great clock eating drive and add a 40-yard field goal by Hanson with 2:52 left. On their second play of their next drive Luke Hall fumbles and Donte Curry recovers! We are able to eat up some more clock before we punt and stop them on 4 plays then take a couple of knees to end the game.

Detroit 19, San Francisco 7

Another great win, this season has turned into a miracle! Our defense held their offense to just 258 yards of total offense. Our running game was excellent - Anderson (19 car, 87 yds), Jackson (12 car, 52 yds, TD) and Faulk (2 car, 25 yds) combined for 175 yards. Manning (16/25, 111 yds) played mistake free football. Despite Wayne's (6 tkls, 2 asts, 1 fr, 1 int) great game Hanson was named player of the game.

After the game our trainers cleared several players for next week's game, only Rogers is out.

Other Scores
Chicago 29, Atlanta 0
Green Bay 27, Carolina 13
Baltimore 17, Houston 13
Cincinnati 31, Indianapolis 24
New England 31, Kansas City 14
Miami 23, Tennessee 9
Minnesota 21, Arizona 20
New York (A) 31, Jacksonville 15
Tampa Bay 13, New York (N) 9
Denver 31, Pittsburgh 24
Buffalo 31, San Diego 9
Seattle 23, Dallas 3
St. Louis 35, Philadelphia 10
Washington 16, New Orleans 3

The Browns lose their 5 game in a row!

We lead the NFC North by 1 game - the Vikings, Bears, and Packers are all 7-5. So we have no margin for error if we want to make the playoffs.

Our remaining schedule looks like this:
at Houston (6-6)
vs Minnesota (7-5)
at Tennessee (6-6)
at Chicago (7-5)

Players of the Week
Chad Pennington, NYJ (20 of 28, 279 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Anthony Dunn, NYJ (3 tackles, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

Tough loss, but impressive what the Lions have been doing!

A strong defense and a decent running game has surely helped, we've really been able to coddle Manning. He hasn't had to do much but when we have asked him to he has been pretty clutch.

[Balldog]

Err...I simmed the Houston game then had my write up done but was waiting to do the scores and got busy with the kids then fell asleep. I woke up this morning and my laptop restarted, so I lost my write up and FOF didn't save the result. We won 12-10 on a 52-yard field goal by Hanson. We got the ball at our 20 with 1:08 left and Manning was Mr. Clutch again. I will redo the sim tonight, hope we win!

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 14
Detroit (8-4) at Houston (6-6)
* Lions favored by 6.

Houston is without injured starting quarterback David Carr, Jake Delhomme is now starting at quarterback. They are 0-2 since he took over at QB. The guy we have to watch out for is Willis McGahee, he has been dinged up all year but is now finally 100%. He had 117 yards last week against Baltimore. Their defense is lead by LB Kailee Wong, LB Jamie Sharper, and S Matt Bowen.

1st Quarter

Martay Jenkins takes the opening kickoff 98 yards for the touchdown! They quickly answered with a 46-yard field goal by Kris Brown. Our offense finally gets their chance and we make it look easy on a 6 play 68 yard drive that ends with a 20-yard touchdown run by Jackson. The quarter ends with Houston driving.

Detroit 14, Houston 3

2nd Quarter

We stop Houston on a 4th down try, Peterson came up with a big sack. Later in the quarter Goodman intercepts Delhomme in our end zone to end another scoring opportunity for the Texans. Houston adds a 55-yard field goal by Brown as the half ends.

Detroit 14, Houston 6

3rd Quarter

On our first drive of the half Anderson scores on a 28-yard touchdown run. On their next possession DeVries sacks Delhomme on their first play, then Lewis Sanders intercepts Delhomme on the next play. The interception leads to a 30-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 24, Houston 6

4th Quarter

We open the quarter with a nice drive that eats up 5 minutes of clock and results in a 24-yard field goal by Hanson. On their next drive the bench Delhomme and bring in Travis Brown. He completes a 49-yard pass but its called back due to a holding penalty and their drive stalls. We get the ball back and take off another 3 minutes and get a 26-yard field goal by Hanson.

Detroit 30, Houston 6

Anderson and Jackson combine for 139 yards on 35 carries and 2 touchdowns. Manning was about as good as we could expect, he was 16 of 21 for 148 yards. That performance was good enough for player of the game. We shut down McGahee, he had just 36 yards on 11 carries. Our defense had 4 sacks and held them to just 240 yards of offense.

The only injury for us was Jackson, he broke a finger but will not miss any time.

Other Scores
New England 23, Arizona 21
Philadelphia 24, Baltimore 20
Seattle 28, Buffalo 10
Carolina 27, Oakland 24
New York (N) 21, Cleveland 16
Cincinnati 24, Dallas 14
Green Bay 41, Indianapolis 17
Jacksonville 7, Chicago 3
Atlanta 17, Kansas City 9
San Francisco 30, New York (A) 27
San Diego 19, New Orleans 3
Miami 26, St. Louis 20
Tampa Bay 26, Denver 23
Tennessee 30, Minnesota 15
Pittsburgh 23, Washington 10

We still have a 1-game lead in the division, Green Bay is currently 8-5.

Players of the Week
LaDainian Tomlinson, SD (27 car, 107 yds, 13 rec, 149 yds, 1 TD)
Simeon Rice, TB (3 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 15
Minnesota (7-6) at Detroit (9-4)
* Lions favored by 7.

1st Quarter

Manning is quickly finding a favorite target, he hits Desmond Clark for a 26-yard gain that sets up a 27-yard touchdown pass to Clark on our first drive of the game. On their ensuing drive Chris Brown fumbles and Peterson recovers at our 44. Later in the quarter Damien Robinson intercepts Daunte Culpepper in the end zone.

Detroit 7, Minnesota 0

2nd Quarter

Our offense drives the ball down the field eating up 8 minutes of clock but has to settle for a 34-yard field goal by Hanson. Later in the quarter we add a 3-yard touchdown run by Anderson. Culpepper leaves the game just before the half with an injury.

Detroit 17, Minnesota 0

3rd Quarter

They open the half with a nice drive stalled by penalties and John Hall misses a 54-yard field goal. Their next drive they move the ball well again this time they finish their drive with a 5-yard touchdown run by Chris Brown. As the quarter ends we are driving and at their 9.

Detroit 17, Minnesota 7

4th Quarter

On the first play of the quarter Anderson scores on a 9-yard touchdown run. Todd Bouman starts looks exclusively to Moss and it works, they get another 5-yard touchdown run by Brown with 10:43 to play. On their next drive Flowers intercepts Bowman but we can't do anything with it. They add a 3-yard touchdown pass from Bowman to Kleinsasser with 4:20 left, we still lead 24-21. Our offense does its just and runs out the rest of the clock, Faulk converted 2 3rd and long situations with nice runs of 19 yards and 11 yards.

Detroit 24, Minnesota 21

Anderson had a big day with 104 yard on 21 carries and 2 touchdowns but Manning won player of the game honors, he was 19 of 23 for 203 yards and a touchdown. Moss had 9 receptions for 161 yards. Jackson's finger really bothered him, he fumbled 3 times but we were able to recover each of them.

Schlesinger is out for 3 weeks with a strained foot ligament and Bly is doubtful with a pulled groin.

Other Scores
Chicago 10, Green Bay 9
Cleveland 30, Cincinnati 22
Oakland 23, Denver 10
Houston 13, Jacksonville 3
New England 29, Buffalo 3
Atlanta 23, New Orleans 21
Miami 22, New York (A) 13
New York (N) 21, Washington 13
Philadelphia 37, Dallas 17
Baltimore 21, Pittsburgh 10
Kansas City 35, San Diego 28
Arizona 17, San Francisco 14
Seattle 34, St. Louis 24
Carolina 14, Tampa Bay 10
Indianapolis 34, Tennessee 7

Players of the Week
Donovan McNabb, PHI (29 of 41, 315 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Shawn Barber, NE (3 tackles, 2 assists, 1.5 sacks, 1 interception)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 15
Playoff Picture

AFC Division Leaders
North - Cincinnati (8-6)
South - Indianapolis (9-5)
East - New England (10-4)
West - Oakland (8-6)

AFC Wild Card
5) Miami (9-5)
6) Cleveland (8-6)

AFC Still in the Hunt
Baltimore (8-6)
Houston (7-7)
Tennessee (7-7)
Kansas City (7-7)
Jacksonville (6-8)
Denver (6-8)

NFC Divison Leaders
North - Detroit (10-4)
South - Tampa Bay (8-6)
East - Philadelphia (8-6)
West - St. Louis (11-3)

NFC Wild Card
5) Seattle (11-3)
6) Chicago (8-6)

NFC In the Hunt
Arizona (8-6)
San Francisco (8-6)
Green Bay (8-6)
Minnesota (7-7)
Atlanta (7-7)
Carolina (6-8)
New York (N) (6-8)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 16
Detroit (10-4) at Tennessee (7-7)
* Lions favored by 3.

Steve McNair leads the Titans offense, they have been very one dimensional. They are #8 in the league in passing and #27 in rushing. Richard Huntley and Eddie George share the load in the running game. McNair's favorite target is Derrick Mason. Their defense is lead by LB Keith Bullock, DE Jevon Kearse, and S Lance Schulters.

1st Quarter

Our offense starts off firing on all cylinders again and we get a 10-yard touchdown run from Anderson. On our next possession Anderson breaks free for 40 yards setting up a 40-yard field goal by Hanson. Our defense has shut them down so far.

Detroit 10, Tennessee 0

2nd Quarter

They start the 2nd quarter with a perfectly executed drive and McNair hits Erron Kinney for a 20-yard touchdown pass to end the drive. They tie it on their next possession with a 31-yard field goal from Joe Nedney. Our offense has really stalled and they get a 44-yard field goal from Nedney to end the half.

Tennessee 13, Detroit 10

3rd Quarter

Both defenses settle in and neither team gets on the board in the third but the Titans are driving at our 30.

Tennessee 13, Detroit 10

4th Quarter

The Titans are unable to finish the drive and settle for a 47-yard field goal from Nedney. They've seemed to figure out our defense but we stop them short of the end zone again, however they add a 24-yard field goal to make it a 9 point game with 7:45 left. Manning and the offense finally wake up with a 59-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Green with 4:52 left. Our defense is unable to get them off the field and they run out the clock, they converted on 3rd and long twice.

Tennessee 19, Detroit 17

Surprisingly they ran all over us, they had 173 yards on 33 carries. Anderson had 71 yards on 12 carries, while Manning struggled going 13 of 27 for 183 yards. They controlled the time of possession 37:09 vs 22:51.

The good news is we have clinched a playoff spot. The bad news is we got dinged up quite a bit. Corey Hall, Nate Wayne, and Andre Goodman are all questionable for next week.

Other Scores
New York (A) 17, Arizona 12
Baltimore 26, Washington 10
San Diego 29, Carolina 23
Dallas 33, Cleveland 27
Atlanta 27, Denver 13
Jacksonville 19, Green Bay 14
Minnesota 17, Houston 10
Chicago 23, Indianapolis 3
Seattle 17, Miami 14
St. Louis 30, New England 21
Kansas City 40, New Orleans 10
Cincinnati 30, New York (N) 24
Tampa Bay 19, Oakland 13
Philadelphia 48, Pittsburgh 24
Buffalo 27, San Francisco 13

Players of the Week
Priest Holmes, KC (24 carries, 232 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Reggie Tongue, SEA (3 tackles, 5 assists, 2 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 16
Playoff Picture

AFC Division Leaders
North - Cincinnati (9-6)
South - Indianapolis (9-6)
East - New England (10-5)
West - Kansas City (8-7)

AFC Wild Card
5) Miami (9-6)
6) Baltimore (9-6)

AFC In the Hunt
Cleveland (8-7)
Tennessee (8-7)
Oakland (8-7)

NFC Division Leaders
North - Detroit (10-5)
South - Tampa Bay (9-6)
East - Philadelphia (9-6)
West - St. Louis (12-3)

NFC Wild Card
5) Seattle (12-3)
6) Chicago (8-7)

NFC In the Hunt
Arizona (8-7)
San Francisco (8-7)
Green Bay (8-7)
Minnesota (8-7)

I think it doesn't matter if we win or lose we have the divison won and clinched a bye in the first round of the playoffs so we will sit anyone who is dinged up.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Week 17
Detroit (10-5) at Chicago (9-6)
* Lions favored by 2.

1st Quarter

Kordell Stewart and Tatum Bell have their way with our defense on their first drive but we hold up for a goal line stand, they settle for a 19-yard field goal from Edinger. Manning gets the offense going but he is sacked by Roosevelt Colvin pushing us out of field goal range and forcing a punt.

Chicago 3, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Stewart keeps picking us apart but as the field shortens he struggles, they have to settle for another field goal. This one from 33-yards out. On the first play of our next drive Manning is intercepted by Colvin at their 46. The turnover leads to a 34-yard field goal by Edinger. Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 46-yard gain to set up a 22-yard field goal by Hanson.

Chicago 9, Detroit 3

3rd Quarter

We exchange punts for most of the third quarter, then Rashad Bauman muffs a punt by Richardson and we recover at their 24. On the next play Manning hits Mike Sellers for a 24-yard touchdown! The quarter ends with us driving again, we are at their 27.

Detroit 10, Chicago 9

4th Quarter

Our drive stalls but we get a 42-yard field goal from Hanson to extend our lead to 13-9. We go back to exchanging punts for the next several possessions until Stewart hits Troy Edwards for a 39-yard gain setting up a 45-yard field goal by Edinger cutting our lead to 13-12 with 4:28 left. A 26-yard run by Steven Jackson gets us in field goal position and Hanson hits from 39 yards with 2:14 left, we lead 16-12. Stewart hits Roy Williams for a gain of 21 then later hits Tatum Bell for a gain of 26 to give them the ball at our 13 with 0:23 left. A false start penalty pushes them back to the 18 then Stewart dumps it off for a 1-yard gain and the clock is running...Stewart snaps it with 0:07 left and he misses Troy Edwards in the end zone! Lions win!

Detroit 16, Chicago 12

Not a bad effort by our defense considering half of our starting lineup sat out. Our offense really struggled, we managed just 228 yards on the day. Jackson was our biggest performer with 51 yards on 12 carries. Chris Akins was very active in our defense backfield, he had 11 tackles. Peterson had 9 tackles and 5 assists.

We get a little bit healthier but Lewis Sanders is now listed as questionable with a pulled groin.

Other Scores
Atlanta 13, Carolina 10
Cincinnati 23, Baltimore 17
Pittsburgh 17, Cleveland 10
Tennessee 34, Houston 6
Jacksonville 24, Indianapolis 23
Denver 24, Kansas City 6
Miami 24, Buffalo 6
Green Bay 21, Minnesota 3
New England 31, New York (A) 0
Dallas 17, New York (N) 6
Oakland 23, San Diego 14
Arizona 20, Seattle 17
St. Louis 23, San Francisco 9
Tampa Bay 37, New Orleans 10
Philadelphia 24, Washington 23

New Orleans will have the #1 pick in the draft this April. The loss knocks the Bears from the playoffs.

Players of the Week
Tom Brady, NE (24 of 31, 317 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Na'il Diggs, GB (7 tackles, 2 assists, 3.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Wild Card Round

AFC Playoffs
Indianapolis knocks off Baltimore 20-10.
Oakland beats Miami 19-10.

NFC Playoffs
Arizona upsets Tampa Bay 24-20.
Philadelphia takes advantage of home field to beat Seattle 24-13.

Next Week's Matchups
AFC - Indianapolis (10-7) at Cincinnati (10-6)
AFC - Oakland (10-7) at New England (11-5)
NFC - Arizona (10-7) at St. Louis (13-3)
NFC - Philadelphia (11-6) at Detroit (11-5)

Most of our injured players are upgraded to probable.

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Conference Semifinals
Philadelphia (11-6) at Detroit (11-5)
* Lions favored by 5.

Earlier in the year we knocked off the Eagles 13-3 in Philadelphia. That was the only game all season they were held without a touchdown, they have the 5th best scoring offense in the league at 24.6 ppg. Their defense struggles against the run, they are allowing 4.6 yards per carry. McNabb is by far the biggest weapon, he has completed 64% of his passes for 3,985 yards and 26 touchdowns.

1st Quarter

On their first play from scrimmage Stephen Davis gains 28 yards on the ground but our defense adjusts and forces the punt. Manning comes out on fire, he hits Pathon for 23 yards then later hits Jenkins for 28 yards setting up a 18-yard touchdown run by Mike Anderson. The Eagles answer right back as Davis gets loose again, this time for a 28-yard touchdown run. As the quarter ends we are driving and have the ball at their 32.

Detroit 7, Philadelphia 7

2nd Quarter

Hanson misses a 49-yard field goal and we fail to take advantage of a nice drive. Our defense holds up and forces a couple punts as our offense is sputtering until midway through the quarter when Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 2:47 left in the half. A 31-yard run by McNabb sets up a 35-yard field goal by Akers just before the end of the half.

Detroit 14, Philadelphia 10

3rd Quarter

Manning hits Pathon for 26 yards to open the half but their defense strengthens and forces the punt. On the next play Davis gets loose on a screen for 24 yards then McNabb hits Corey Bradford for a 56-yard touchdown pass. Manning responds by hitting Jacquez Green for a 42 yard gain then hitting Desmond Clark for a 14-yard touchdown! The Eagles have figured out our defense, the eat up the final 7:40 of the 3rd quarter and finish the quarter with a 2-yard touchdown run by Davis.

Philadelphia 24, Detroit 21

4th Quarter

We open the quarter by exchanging punts then Manning gets to work before settling for a 18-yard field goal that ties it with 2:57 to play. Jared DeVries sacks McNabb to force a punt at the 2:00 warning! We get the ball back with 1:49 to play at our 31, on the first play Manning hits Jenkins for 28 yards setting up Hanson for a 49-yard field goal but he misses it with 0:49 left. The Eagles attempt a 58-yard field goal as time expires but Akers misses it short.

Philadelphia 24, Detroit 24

Overtime

The Eagles win the toss and elect to receive, we force a punt and get the ball at our 29. We are unable to do anything with it and punt it right back. They get the ball at their 22 but they have to punt it again. We get a nice return by Green and we have 1st and 10 at our 41. Manning hits Clark for 19 yards then 15 yards and later Jackson runs it in for a 5-yard touchdown to win it with 4:16 left in OT!!!

Detroit 30, Philadelphia 24

This was perhaps Manning's coming out party, he was 32 of 40 for 409 yards and 2 touchdowns. Anderson ran for 102 yards on 26 carries. We had a season high 519 yards of total offense. Their offense was just as good, they had 450 yards. McNabb had 288 yards passing and 46 yards rushing. Davis had 93 yards on 11 carries and 2 touchdowns.

For the most part everyone is now 100%, except we lost Jacoby Rinehart for the rest of the season with a concussion.

Other Scores
AFC - Indianapolis 30, Cincinnati 24
AFC - New England 24, Oakland 14
NFC - St. Louis 37, Arizona 19

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Conference Championships
Detroit (12-5) at St. Louis (14-3)
* Rams are favored by 6.

The Rams still have all the major pieces in what is known as the greatest show on turf. Warner had an unbelievable season again, he completed 68% of his passes for 4,677 yards and 37 touchdowns with just 7 interceptions. Last year he had his way with us but he couldn't find the end zone and we beat them 23-22. Their defense isn't too shabby itself, they in the top half of the league in all major categories. Their run defense is probably their weakest unit but its still good.

1st Quarter

The Rams take the opening kickoff and march right down the field, Warner finds Wendell Chmelik for a 8-yard touchdown pass to end the drive. We are unable to get a first down and have to punt the ball right back to them. Faulk fumbles on their first play and we recover at their 24 but Manning is intercepted by London Fletcher at their 9. Later in the quarter Manning is intercepted again, this time by Eugene Wilson. As the quarter ends they are driving and near midfield.

St. Louis 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Warner hits David Patten for 42 yards setting up an 8-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce. On our next drive we are moving again but Manning throws another interception, this time to Jamie Duncan. The Rams add a field goal as a result of the good field position. They get the ball back once more before the end of the half and take it right down the field. Warner finds James Hodgins for a 7-yard touchdown.

St. Louis 24, Detroit 0

3rd Quarter

Midway through the 3rd quarter the Rams add a 49-yard field goal. Manning finally finds something and he hits Pathon for a 23-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 20. However, Vinny Sutherland returns the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.

St. Louis 34, Detroit 7

4th Quarter

Vinny Sutherland fumbles during a punt return giving us the ball at their 43 but we are unable to do anything with it. Later in the quarter we add a 36-yard field goal by Hanson and block a punt bunt we aren't able to do anything more.

St. Louis 34, Detroit 10

Really they only had 4 drives where they did anything, they just happen to get touchdowns on all of them. We weren't able to overcome Manning's rough start, we had start to forget that he is just a rookie but what a season for him. He was 11-3 as a starter, on a team that was 1-3 when he took over. The Rams only had 305 yards of total offense but we had only 190 yards.

Other Scores
AFC Championship - New England 27, Indianapolis 20

[Balldog]

2004 Season, Super Bowl

The Rams outshoot the Patriots 49-34. Warner wins another Super Bowl MVP, he went 18 of 22 for 258 yards with 4 touchdowns.

[Balldog]

2004 Season Wrap-up


Front Office Football 2007
2004 Summary for Detroit Lions

Year 2004
Record 12-6
Winning Pct. .666
All-Time 21-27
Winning Pct. .437
Playoffs 1-1
Playoff Visits 1
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Gerald Allison
Record 22-28
Winning Pct. .440
Off. Coord. D. Lincoln
Def. Coord. K. Schacht

Detroit Lions Team Rank
Rushes per Game 29.8 8
Rushing Yards 123.0 5
Yards Per Carry 4.13 15
Pass Attempts 28.9 32
Completions 17.9 31
Completion Pct. 62.0 21 (T)
Passing Yards 175.0 32
Yards Per Attempt 6.05 31
Yards Per Catch 9.76 31
Total Yardage Gained 289.8 31
3rd Down Conversions 33.5 28
Points Per Game 18.1 22
Pass Rush Pct. 18.8 13 (T)
Pass Defense Pct. 58.0 3
Turnovers 21 8 (T)
Turnover Margin +10 5

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 25.3 9
Rushing Yards 111.2 18
Yards Per Carry 4.39 29
Pass Attempts 39.8 31
Completions 22.9 31
Completion Pct. 57.6 2
Passing Yards 240.9 25
Yards Per Attempt 6.05 3
Yards Per Catch 10.50 7
Total Yardage Gained 343.1 24
3rd Down Conversions 39.3 15 (T)
Points Per Game 13.4 1
Pass Rush Pct. 18.5 20 (T)
Pass Defense Pct. 44.9 13
Turnovers 31 4

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 GBY 12
2 10 JAX 16
3 34 NOS 17
4 0 at DAL 24
5 13 at PHI 3
6 33 NYG 20
7 20 CHI 10
8 27 at GBY 11
10 7 WAS 6
11 10 at MIN 14
12 20 IND 17
13 19 at SFO 7
14 30 at HOU 6
15 24 MIN 21
16 17 at TEN 19
17 16 at CHI 12
$$CS 30 PHI 24
$$CF 10 at STL 34

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
10 E. Manning QB 318 200 1913 6.02 9 4 83.7
19 R. Mirer QB 145 87 887 6.12 1 6 62.6
**Team --- 463 287 2800 6.05 10 10 77.1
$$Opp --- 637 367 3855 6.05 9 19 67.6

Front Office Football 2007
Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
24 M. Anderson RB 217 1002 4.62 7 5
26 S. Jackson RB 187 725 3.88 8 7
46 K. Faulk RB 45 193 4.29 0 1
**Team --- 476 1968 4.13 16 26
$$Opp --- 405 1779 4.39 9 17

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
87 M. Jenkins WR 80 45 534 11.87 6.68 5 4
82 J. Green WR 69 42 511 12.17 7.41 2 3
3 L. Fitzgerald WR 65 35 311 8.89 4.78 2 0
86 D. Clark TE 47 33 352 10.67 7.49 0 1
83 M. Ricks TE 48 33 341 10.33 7.10 2 1
89 J. Pathon WR 62 30 332 11.07 5.35 6 0
24 M. Anderson RB 23 18 129 7.17 5.61 1 0
26 S. Jackson RB 17 16 69 4.31 4.06 0 0

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
58 M. Peterson ILB 98 40 3.5 3 2 9 75.1
51 N. Wayne OLB 73 19 1.0 4 5 6 81.8
43 A. Goodman CB 54 6 0.0 0 3 7 77.5
74 K. Williams DT 48 12 3.5 11 1 0 82.5
31 C. Hall S 45 15 0.0 0 0 12 85.6
42 D. Robinson S 44 11 0.5 0 2 2 79.4
40 A. Samuel CB 44 11 0.0 0 1 10 79.3
20 D. Bly CB 41 11 0.0 0 0 7 76.9
34 L. Flowers S 32 10 0.0 0 2 1 78.3
90 J. De Vries DE 30 8 1.5 14 0 1 81.4
70 T. Johnson DT 30 14 1.0 10 0 0 80.4
76 K. Edwards DE 28 7 5.0 12 0 0 81.6
48 J. Rhinehart CB 28 11 0.0 0 0 6 80.3
36 C. Akins S 25 7 0.0 0 1 6 80.3
27 L. Sanders CB 24 14 0.0 0 2 4 80.3
97 D. Curry OLB 23 8 0.0 1 0 3 76.5
92 J. Thornton DT 23 13 0.0 11 0 0 82.2
94 C. Kriewaldt ILB 20 11 0.0 1 0 1 72.0
77 C. Okeafor DE 17 11 5.0 14 0 0 81.6
59 C. Claiborne OLB 16 5 0.0 1 0 0 71.3 

Behind the Numbers
* Cameron Spikes was named All-NFL First Team at Right Guard.
* Jeff Backus was named All-NFL Second Team at Left Tackle.
* Kurt Warner won every major award he could win.
* Rookies of the Year Awards went to Tatum Bell (CHI) and Nathan Vasher (KC)
* Warrick Dunn led the league in rushing with 1,623 yards.
* Chad Johnson led the league in receiving with 1,695 yards and 108 receptions.


2004 Evaluation
Team Performance: 83/100
Franchise Value: 77/100
Profit/Loss: 85/100
Roster Strength: 60/100
Year-End Score: 81

I think its safe to say our coaching staff saved their jobs with this type of performance!

[Balldog]

2005 Offseason, Staff Hiring and Pre-Free Agency

G Pete Kendall retires after 9 seasons.
DT Shaun Rogers retires after 4 seasons, due to a severe concussion.

Rogers retiring is devastating, he was a beast.

The following players are eligible for Free Agency:

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Hall, Cory 31 SS 7 64 64 ---
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 7 53 53 ---
McDougle, Stockar 67 RT 6 49 49 ---
Flowers, Lee 34 SS 11 42 42 ---
Robinson, Damien 42 FS 8 41 41 ---
Rhinehart, Jacoby 48 RCB 7 40 40 ---
Anderson, Mike 24 RB 6 39 39 ---
Williams, Brian 93 SLB 11 39 39 ---
Green, Barrett 96 WLB 6 37 41 ---
Faulk, Kevin 46 RB 7 34 34 ---
Thornton, John 92 LDT 7 32 32 ---
Mirer, Rick 19 QB 13 30 30 ---
Mayberry, Jermaine 68 RG 10 28 28 ---
Akins, Chris 36 FS 7 28 28 ---

We'll try to bring back Hall, Kriewaldt, McDougle, Anderson, and Faulk.

Our coaching staff will remain intact.

We send Eli Manning to NFL Europe.

[DeToxRox]

Amazing season.

[Recoil]

Great season. Keep it up! I'm really enjoying this dynasty.

[DataKing]

Excellent job resurrecting the Lions, Balldog. I've been following along. It's a shame Eli kind of crapped the bed against the Rams, but still a great rookie season for him. Hopefully you can find a suitable replacement for Shaun Rogers (no small task) in the draft or free agency.

[Autumn]

Pretty amazing the wins you got with those numbers. Good team performance.

[Balldog]

2005 Offseason, Free Agency

Stage 2

RB Mike Anderson resigns a 1-year deal worth $700,000.

LB Tommy Polley (STL) signs a 4-year deal worth $14,140,000.
CB Travis Fisher (STL) signs a 3-year deal worth $1,740,000.

Stage 3

WR Justin McCareins (TEN) signs a 3-year deal worth $3,000,000.
G Montrae Holland (STL) signs a 1-year deal worth $800,000.

Stage 4

RB Kevin Faulk resigns a 1-year deal worth $700,000.
LB Clint Kriewaldt resigns a 1-year deal worth $900,000.
T Stockar McDougle resigns a 3-year deal worth $4,780,000.

S Marlon McCree (PHI) signs a 2-year deal worth $1,600,000.

Stage 5

S Cory Hall resigns a 2-year deal worth $1,750,000.

S Brandon Jennings (OAK) signs a 1-year deal worth $700,000.

Stage 6

LB Fred Jones (CHI) signs a 2-year deal worth $1,350,000.
DT Ryan Pickett (JAX) signs a 3-year deal worth $2,200,000.

LB Barrett Green signs with Baltimore.

Stage 9

CB Jacoby Rinehart signs with Philadelphia.

Stage 10

G Jermaine Mayberry signs with Washington.

[Balldog]

Thanks for following guys!

[Balldog]

2005 Offseason, NFL Draft

We enter the draft looking to add depth and draft the best players available, we may even look to trade out of the first round.

Draft Order

1) New Orleans
2) Washington
3) New York (A)
4) Buffalo
5) San Diego
6) Pittsburgh
7) New York (N)
8) Carolina
9) Denver
10) Chicago
29) Detroit

NFL Draft Results

1) New Orleans select QB Adrian McPherson from Florida State.
2) Washington selects QB Stefan LeFors from Louisville.
3) New York (A) selects QB Aaron Rodgers from California.
4) Buffalo selects LB Derrick Johnson from Texas.
5) San Diego selects RB Ronnie Brown from Auburn.
6) Pittsburgh selects RB Cadillac Williams from Auburn.
7) New York (N) selects LB Lofa Tatupu from USC.
8) Carolina selects CB Reynaldo Hill from Florida.
9) Houston selects T Khalif Barnes from Washington.
10) Chicago selects WR Chris Henry from West Virginia.
18) Tennessee selects RB Frank Gore from Miami (FL).
28) Detroit selects LB Demarcus Ware from Troy State.
54) Arizona selects LB Shawne Merriman from Maryland.

61) Detroit selects CB Ellis Hobbs from Iowa State.
93) Detroit selects DE Justin Tuck from Notre Dame.
125) Detroit selects RB Darren Sproles from Kansas State.
157) Detroit selects DE Eric Moore from Florida State.
189) Detroit selects DT Manny Wright from USC.
221) Detroit selects CB Chris Carr from Boise State.

Our draft is graded a B-.

Demarcus Ware - 37/49
Ellis Hobbs - 19/49
Justin Tuck - 19/31
Darren Sproles - 27/43
Eric Moore - 16/23
Manny Wright - 18/25
Chris Carr - 13/27

A so so draft, Ware could end up being a stud though.

[Balldog]

2005 Offseason, Late Free Agency and Training Camp

Ware, Carr, and Sproles will not sign until closer to Training Camp.

We are going to be pretty quiet for this stage of free agency, we may look to add some depth at MLB since it looks like we should move to 3-4.

LB Rocky Calmus (TEN) signs a 2-year deal worth $1,100,000.
LB Kenny Cote (HOU) signs a 1-year deal worth $500,000.

Looks like the Dolphins are not sold on Tony Romo at QB, they have signed Marc Bulger to a 6-year deal $62,710,000.

Before Training Camp we are able to get all our rookies to sign.

Here is a look at our Training Camp Roster:


Front Office Football 2007
Detroit Lions Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Harrington, Joey 12 QB 4 24 31 4 yrs
Manning, Eli 10 QB 2 24 33 3 yrs
Henson, Drew 4 QB 3 19 27 1 yr.
Jackson, Steven 26 RB 2 40 53 4 yrs
Anderson, Mike 24 RB 6 32 32 1 yr.
Faulk, Kevin 46 RB 7 30 30 1 yr.
Sproles, Darren 37 RB 1 28 39 3 yrs
Schlesinger, Cory 23 FB 11 36 36 4 yrs
Sellers, Mike 32 FB 8 33 33 1 yr.
Clark, Desmond 86 TE 7 45 45 1 yr.
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE 8 38 38 2 yrs
Swift, Justin 2 TE 7 26 26 1 yr.
McCareins, Justin 85 FL 5 54 54 3 yrs
Jenkins, Martay 87 FL 7 38 38 1 yr.
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 8 36 36 1 yr.
Crowell, Germane 84 FL 8 35 35 1 yr.
Gage, Justin 81 FL 3 17 24 1 yr.
Pathon, Jerome 89 SE 8 42 42 1 yr.
Fitzgerald, Larry 3 SE 2 39 47 2 yrs
Raiola, Dominic 56 C 5 56 56 3 yrs
Ledford, Dwayne 54 C 6 35 35 1 yr.
Spikes, Cameron 75 LG 7 50 50 1 yr.
Holland, Montrae 63 RG 3 41 41 1 yr.
Dockery, Derrick 62 RG 3 36 36 2 yrs
Backus, Jeff 79 LT 5 60 60 2 yrs
Gross, Jordan 61 LT 3 52 61 2 yrs
McDougle, Stockar 67 RT 6 50 50 3 yrs
Richardson, Kyle 14 P 9 51 51 1 yr.
Hanson, Jason 11 K 14 55 55 4 yrs
Edwards, Kalima 76 LDE 4 47 52 2 yrs
Okeafor, Chike 77 LDE 7 42 42 2 yrs
Idonije, Israel 95 LDE 2 30 41 3 yrs
Moore, Eric 73 LDE 1 18 25 3 yrs
De Vries, Jared 90 RDE 7 35 35 4 yrs
Tuck, Justin 71 RDE 1 21 31 4 yrs
Pickett, Ryan 72 LDT 5 38 38 3 yrs
Johnson, Tank 70 LDT 2 38 48 2 yrs
Williams, Kevin 74 RDT 3 55 55 1 yr.
Wright, Manny 78 RDT 1 19 26 3 yrs
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 7 53 53 1 yr.
Peterson, Mike 58 MLB 7 81 81 2 yrs
Cote, Kenny 57 MLB 4 35 36 1 yr.
Calmus, Rocky 53 MLB 4 34 51 2 yrs
Polley, Tommy 50 SLB 5 60 60 4 yrs
Wayne, Nate 51 SLB 8 57 57 3 yrs
Curry, Donte 97 SLB 5 45 45 4 yrs
Ware, Demarcus 96 SLB 1 43 51 4 yrs
Jones, Fred 52 SLB 6 40 40 2 yrs
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 7 63 63 1 yr.
Phillips, Shaun 91 WLB 2 37 41 2 yrs
Goodman, Andre 43 LCB 4 53 53 4 yrs
Samuel, Asante 40 LCB 3 49 49 2 yrs
Carr, Chris 25 LCB 1 15 26 3 yrs
Fisher, Travis 49 RCB 4 49 49 3 yrs
Bly, Dre' 20 RCB 7 47 47 1 yr.
Sanders, Lewis 27 RCB 6 37 37 1 yr.
Hobbs, Ellis 47 RCB 1 24 50 4 yrs
Hall, Cory 31 SS 7 62 62 2 yrs
McCree, Marlon 35 FS 5 52 52 2 yrs
Jennings, Brandon 41 FS 6 40 40 1 yr.

$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,
** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.

Players Under Contract: 60
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 60

Salary Cap: $105,700,000
Cap Room: $34,190,000
Maximum for New Player: $34,800,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $4,160,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0
Front Office Football 2007
Cap Room Required Next Year: $60,890,000

Overall it looks like we are better on both sides of the ball. Our defense should be sick.

[Balldog]

2005 Preseason

Games
New England 30, Detroit 3
Oakland 21, Detroit 6
Detroit 30, Buffalo 3
Denver 17, Detroit 14

Players Released
RB Kevin Faulk
WR Justin Gage
DE Eric Moore
DT Manny Wright
LB Kenny Cote
CB Lewis Sanders
DB Chris Carr

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 1
Minnesota (0-0) at Detroit (0-0)
* Lions favored by 7.

All the core pieces remain for the Vikings, they should have good offensive team with Moss, Culpepper, and Chris Brown leading the way. On defense they have some holes but they have plenty of talent too. They are led by LB Nick Rogers, DE Lance Johnstone, and S Willie Offord.

1st Quarter

Both defenses are dominating the first quarter until late in the quarter Chris Brown breaks free on a 95-yard touchdown run for the Vikings.

Minnesota 7, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Our offense continues to struggle. On their first drive of the quarter they are forced to punt and Kevin Williams blocks it, giving us the ball at their 31! We are unable to take advantage and settle for a field goal attempt, but its blocked! On the ensuing drive Brown gets loose again, this time for 38 yards setting up a 1-yard touchdown pass from Culpepper to Michael Bennett with 2:00 left in the half. Manning finally gets something going and we execute a beautiful two minute drill ending in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Manning to McCareins.

Minnesota 14, Detroit 7

3rd Quarter

They open the half with an impressive 17 play 69 yard drive that takes 7 minutes and ends with a 9-yard touchdown run by Brown. Later in the quarter Manning is intercepted by Brian Williams at our 34, however Wade Richey misses a 42-yard field goal. On the next play Jackson fumbles and Willie Offord returns it 33 yards for the touchdown!

Minnesota 28, Detroit 7

4th Quarter

On our second drive of the quarter Manning heats up and gets a 2-yard touchdown pass to Pathon. Our defense is really sucking it up today, they move right down the field and get a 36-yard field goal by Richey. Manning gets dinged up on our next play, so Harrington comes in and goes 3 for 3 with a 12 yard touchdown pass to Ricks. We are unable to get the ball back though and they run out the clock.

Minnesota 31, Detroit 21

Not exactly the way we envisioned the season starting, Chris Brown went crazy. He had 239 yards on 22 carries and 2 touchdowns. They ran for 303 yards to our 54. Manning was 21 of 30 for 262 yards with a 2 touchdowns and an interception. An embarrassing loss that gives us plenty of things to work on.

Other Scores
Arizona 17, San Francisco 13
New Olreans 10, Atlanta 7
Tampa Bay 20, Carolina 13
Green Bay 13, Chicago 10
Cleveland 32, Cincinnati 24
Dallas 22, Philadelphia 19
Houston 20, Jacksonville 16
Indianapolis 26, Tennessee 23
Miami 34, New York (A) 31
Buffalo 23, New England 14
Denver 31, Oakland 13
Baltimore 10, Pittsburgh 7
San Diego 20, Kansas City 17
Seattle 23, St. Louis 17
New York (N) 31, Washington 17

Players of the Week
Chad Pennington, NYJ (31 of 45, 371 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Na'il Diggs, GB (7 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack, 1 interception)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 2
Detroit (0-1) at Pittsburgh (0-1)
* Steelers favored by 4.

They have a great receiving core led by Plaxico Burress and Hines Ward. Rob Johnson starts at QB with Willie Parker starting at RB. On defense they are led by LB Kendrell Bell, LB Joey Porter, and S Chris Hope.

1st Quarter

Both offenses start out slow and midway through the quarter they start getting something going until Cadillac Williams fumbles and we recover at our 11. Their defense forces a punt and they are deep in our territory as the quarter ends.

Detroit 0, Pittsburgh 0

2nd Quarter

Our defense tightens up and we hold them to a 24-yard field goal by Jeff Reed. On the ensuing kickoff Darren Sproles takes it 100 yards to the house! Halfway through the quarter Hanson misses a 48-yard field goal and they come right down the field and score on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Ward. Manning again executes a perfect two minute drill and he hits McCareins for a 8-yard touchdown with 0:11 left in the half.

Detroit 14, Pittsburgh 10

3rd Quarter

We get the ball first in the second half and on our first play from scrimmage Manning is intercepted by Pacman Jones at our 33. On their second play Williams scores on a 33-yard touchdown run. Later in the quarter they add a 44-yard field goal by Reed to make it 20-14. After a couple penalties Manning is intercepted by Chris Hope and they get possession at our 9. Three plays later Johnson hits Burress for a 3-yard touchdown. We are forced to punt and they come marching down the field and Johnson finds Burress again, this time for a 7-yard touchdown.

Pittsburgh 34, Detroit 14

4th Quarter

Our defense is becoming a joke, they march right down the field again but settle for a 25-yard field goal this time. On our next drive Manning gets dinged up again and Harrington comes in again. Joey promptly hits Jenkins for a 5-yard touchdown. They add a 55-yard field goal on their next possession. Then Harrington is intercepted by Hope at midfield leading to another field goal for Reed, this time a 26-yard field goal.

Pittsburgh 43, Detroit 22

I think we are going to throw that 3-4 playbook out the damn window. The Steelers ran all over us, Parker (82 yds) and Williams (102) combined for 184 yards. Again our running game was non-existant, Jackson had 7 yards on 7 carries.

To make matters worse, we play the Rams next.

Other Scores
Colts 41, Cardinals 21
Bears 19, Ravens 13
Panthers 27, Bills 10
Vikings 21, Browns 0
Broncos 24, Eagles 0
Bengals 37, Packers 34
Seahawks 20, Texans 0
Rams 38, Jaguars 6
Dolphins 25, Buccanears 6
Patriots 42, Saints 16
Falcons 21, Jets 3
Chiefs 23, Giants 20
Cowboys 30, Chargers 17
49ers 23, Titans 8
Raiders 23, Redskins 22

Players of the Week
Brett Favre, GB (34 of 40, 428 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Chris Hope, PIT (5 tackles, 2 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 3
Detroit (0-2) at St. Louis (1-1)
* Rams favored by 4.

I'm quite embarrassed to admit that I missed the fact that Marshall Faulk retired after last season, he leaves a huge hole in their offense. Mike Cloud is now their starting running back. They also lost Isaac Bruce, he is now at Seattle. They still have Kurt Warner and Torry Holt but there isn't much else on offense. Their defense seems to have really downgraded too. Their best players are S Matt Bowen, LB Anthony Simmons, and DT Damione Lewis. Our coaching staff decided to switch back to a 4-3 defense after the performance of the 3-4 the first two weeks.

1st Quarter

We are forced to punt on our first possession and Jeff Ogden returns it 19 yards to set them up at our 44. A few plays later Joe Nedney hits a 43-yard field goal to give them the early lead. Manning seems to have found something but they are able to get a sack to force a punt after a pair of first downs. Their offense gets to work and they score on a 8-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ron Dixon.

St. Louis 10, Detroit 0

2nd Quarter

Our defense finally keeps them off the board and forces a punt. Then on our next possession Manning is sacked on first down, then throws an incomplete pass before hitting McCareins for a 84-yard touchdown on 3rd and 14. The Rams get the ball back and march right down the field but have to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Nedney. Manning and company answer with a 8-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Fitzgerald.

Detroit 14, St. Louis 13

3rd Quarter

We force a punt on their first possession of the half, then starting pounding it on the ground. After softening up their defense a little bit Manning gets to work and we get on the board again, this time a 26-yard field goal by Hanson. The quarter ends with the Rams driving and at our 31.

Detroit 17, St. Louis 13

4th Quarter

On the second play of the quarter Andre Goodman intercepts Kurt Warner in the end zone! We again start pounding the run game then go to the pass with great success. Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 29-yard gain, then two plays later hits Fitzgerald for a 19-yard touchdown! The Rams come out and just roll right down the field before failing to get in the end zone from 1st and goal at the 4. We get the ball back and eat up some clock before punting with 1:27 left. A big sack by Kalima Edwards and Israel Idonije ends their hopes of a comeback.

Detroit 24, St. Louis 13

It was nice to get some redemption against the team that ended our miracle season last year even if they aren't any good anymore. Manning was great, he went 18 of 23 for 272 yards and 3 touchdowns. Our running game finally got going to, Anderson had 68 yards and Jackson had 61. Fitzgerald had a big day with 8 receptions, 120 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Our rush defense still struggled, they had 118 yards on 18 carries. Warner was 29 of 49 for 321 yards.

Dominic Raiola suffered a hyperextended knee but he should be fine for next week's game.

Other Scores
Giants 26, Panthers 7
Bengals 31, Raiders 21
Browns 17, Broncos 14
Cowboys 13, Bears 12
Packers 14, Cardinals 7
Colts 39, Patriots 14
Bills 38, Jaguars 23
Titans 23, Chiefs 13
Dolphins 24, Ravens 13
Jets 26, Steelers 21
Chargers 19, Texans 13
49ers 19, Saints 13
Seahawks 17, Falcons 17
Eagles 27, Bucs 16
Vikings 40, Redskins 10

Players of the Week
Drew Bledsoe, BUF (26 of 35, 306 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Jamie Sharper, HOU (6 tackles, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 4
Detroit (1-2) at New Orleans (1-2)
* Saints favored by 1.

Aaron Brooks has held off Adrian McPherson so far for the starting QB job, but he should be looking over his shoulder. Deuce McAllister is one of the best running backs in the league but he is out with a herniated disk. Donte Stallworth can stretch the defense. Their defense isn't bad at all, they are led by DE Charles Grant, S Mike Doss, and LB Derrick Rodgers.

1st Quarter

Both teams come out very conservative their first two possessions, on the Saints third possession they start moving the ball down field. Their drive ends with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brooks to TE Boo Williams. We punt the ball right back and they are driving as the quarter ends.

Saints 7, Lions 0

2nd Quarter

Their drive stalls at our 24 and K Josh Brown misses the 41-yard field goal, wide right. We now have five possessions without a first down and we punt again. They get a couple nice plays before Josh Brown misses a 31-yard field goal wide left. We are unable to get a first down again but WR Michael Lewis fumbles the punt return and we recover at their 35. On our second play Manning is intercepted by LB James Allen in the end zone with 1:18 left in the half. They get down to our 30 but time runs out before they can attempt the field goal.

Saints 7, Lions 0

3rd Quarter

We finally get a couple first downs but have to punt again. On their next drive Brooks hits WR Reggie Brown for 38 yards setting up a 26-yard touchdown by RB Ryan Everett. Our offense seems to be gaining some confidence but has to punt again and we pin them deep in their territory as the quarter ends.

Saints 14, Lions 0

4th Quarter

We force a punt then Jackson gets some room and gains 34 yards setting up a 32-yard field goal by Hanson. Our defense holds again but Manning is intercepted by S Michael Boulware on our next drive at our 28. They can do anything with it but do get a 47-yard field goal with 2:17 left. Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 42-yard gain then a 10-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 7 with 1:34 left. We are unable to recover the onside kick and we can't complete the comeback.

Saints 17, Lions 14

We punted on 8 of our first 9 possessions, the other one was an interception. Our offense looked brutal today, we managed just 233 total yards. Jackson had 54 yards on 15 carries and Manning went 20 of 32 for 174 yards with a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Fitzgerald had a nice day again, he had 78 yards on 7 receptions. He seems to be benefiting from the addition of McCareins. Brooks lit us up, he went 23 of 30 for 277 yards and a touchdown and their third string running back ran for 68 yards on 11 carries.

Other Scores
Colts 32, Ravens 3
Bills 34, Dolphins 14
Bears 20, Panthers 17
Jaguars 32, Bengals 29
Vikings 34, Packers 20
Steelers 24, Texans 7
Jets 17, Chiefs 7
Cardinals 41, Giants 28
Patriots 27, Raiders 3
Rams 26, 49ers 24
Seahawks 35, Redskins 10
Falcons 9, Bucs 6
Titans 33, Browns 10

Players of the Week
Jeff Garcia, CIN (27 of 36, 355 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Ryan Denney, NE (5 tackles, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 5
Bye Week

Other Scores
Cardinals 33, Cowboys 6
Panthers 19, Falcons 6
Bills 17, Broncos 6
Bengals 27, Ravens 24
Jaguars 23, Browns 20
Raiders 20, Chiefs 13
Dolphins 22, Chargers 10
Jets 17, Patriots 15
Packers 27, Saints 10
Eagles 27, Seahawks 7
Colts 34, Steelers 17
Rams 37, Giants 31
Bucs 30, Vikings 27
49ers 20, Redskins 3

Players of the Week
Rex Grossman, NYG (24 of 37, 315 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Chris Hovan, MIN (6 tackles, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 6
Chicago (2-2) at Detroit (1-3)
* Bears favored by 2.

The Bears have a guy named Clarence Smith starting a quarterback he is an undrafted free agent out of Northwestern. Tatum Bell has become a very good running back for them, he had 1,044 yards last season. Roy Williams (13 rec, 212 yds, 2 TD) is their top receiving threat. Their defense has been nasty so far this season, they are in the Top 5 in all major categories. They are led by LB Roosevelt Colvin, S Mike Brown, DE Alex Brown, and LB Brian Urlacher.

1st Quarter

On their second drive of the game Clarence Smith finds Roy Williams for a 24-yard gain that sets up a 26-yard field goal by Paul Edinger. As the quarter ends they are driving again, they are at our 46.

Bears 3, Lions 0

2nd Quarter

We think we have them stopped on 3rd and 19 from our 44 but Smith finds David Terrell for 24 yards then on the next play Smith hits Williams for a 20-yard touchdown pass. On our first play of the next drive Manning hits Pathon but he fumbles and they recover at our 35. We stuff them on 3rd and 1 but they get a 43-yard field goal. Sproles has a nice kick return that gets us out to our 43 and Manning starts getting some confidence. We finally get on the board with a 17-yard touchdown run by Anderson. Near the two minute warning Goodman intercepts Smith but we can't do anything with it but punt.

Bears 13, Lions 7

3rd Quarter

We get the ball first in the second half and pin them deep at their own 5. They fail to do anything and we get the ball back but have to punt again, Richardson does his job and pins them at their 3 this time. As the quarter ends they are driving and out to their 39.

Bears 13, Lions 7

4th Quarter

In the 4th quarter we are finally getting something going on offense but our first two drives stall at their 45. At the two minute warning Manning hits McCareins on 4th and 7 for an 8-yard gain! On the next play Manning hits McCareins again, this time for a 19-yard gain but he fumbles and they recover at their 31! Our defense is unable to get us the ball back and they run out the clock.

Bears 13, Lions 7

Our defense finally plays a good game but our offense is completely shut down again. We did have a few bright spots, one being Steven Jackson. He rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries. Manning struggled, they really shut down Larry Fitzgerald. Manning was 17 of 28 for 129 yards. Our two lost fumbles were devastating. We held the Bears to 288 yards of offense, but they were able to run for 129.

Other Scores
Cardinals 31, Eagles 7
Titans 17, Ravens 0
Bills 21, Raiders 18
Bengals 35, Steelers 29
Browns 36, Texans 33
Cowboys 21, Giants 16
Dolphins 27, Broncos 20
Packers 27, Panthers 23
Colts 23, Jaguars 3
Falcons 20, Vikings 17
Bucs 33, Saints 20
Chargers 38, Jets 31
Redskins 20, Rams 16

[RedHawk00]

uh oh, are the wheels coming off this bus? (1-4)?

[Balldog]

uh oh, are the wheels coming off this bus? (1-4)?

I'm not sure what the heck is going on, our offense and defense should've both improved talent wise. Then again last year we over achieved big time.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 7
Tampa Bay (3-3) at Detroit (1-4)

Tampa Bay has a good young offense, led by the guy we wanted at quarterback but couldn't justify taking - Carson Palmer. He led them to a 10-6 record last season, passing for 3,373 yards while completing 66% of his passes. At running back they have a very good Michael Pittman, he ran for 1,600 yards last season and he has ran for 609 yards so far this season. Keyshawn Johnson is their best wide receiver but Palmer throws to Pittman the most. On defense they are led by S Dexter Jackson, S Jermaine Phillips, and LB Derrick Brooks.

1st Quarter

Manning is sacked on the first play of the game for a 5-yard loss then throws two incomplete passes, not a good start. They takeover at their 32 and march right down the field scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run by Pittman. Our offense answers and we score on an 8-yard touchdown run by Anderson.

Bucs 7, Lions 7

2nd Quarter

Manning is starting to heat up and we take the lead on a 36-yard touchdown pass from Manning to McCareins. Both teams exchange punts before Tampa Bay gets moving again, a big sack by Edwards and Claiborne force them to settle for a 29-yard field goal by Jose Cortez.

Lions 14, Bucs 10

3rd Quarter

On our first possession of the half Manning is intercepted by Dexter Jackson and they takeover at our 31. They can't manage a first down but Cortez hits a 47-yard field goal to cut the lead to 1. A holding penalty kills our next drive and they benefit from the good field position and get a 48-yard field goal from Cortez to take the lead by 2. Our offense finally gets something going but Hanson misses a 47-yard field goal with 0:54 left in the quarter.

Bucs 16, Lions 14

4th Quarter

On their ensuing drive Palmer hits Pittman for a 15-yard touchdown to put them up by 9. We get a first down but then have to punt with 10:24 left. They just pound it out on the ground and run off over nine minutes before settling for a 20-yard field goal by Cortez with 1:04 left.

Bucs 26, Lions 14

Pittman got player of the game, he had 100 yards rushing on 25 carries and 90 yards receiving on 10 receptions with 2 touchdowns. Manning was really inconsistent, he went 16 of 30 for 190 yards. Palmer wasn't much better but he didn't turn the ball over. Fitzgerald's emergence has freed up McCareins, he had 5 receptions for 98 yards.

Steven Jackson hurt his neck but it looks like he will be able to play next week.

Other Scores
Cardinals 16, Seahawks 10
Packers 41, Falcons 17
Vikings 20, Panthers 17
Browns 20, Ravens 13
Chargers 33, Broncos 31
Bengals 20, Colts 13
Steelers 30, Jaguars 3
Chiefs 21, Patriots 14
Bears 24, Saints 6
Jets 30, Raiders 10
Eagles 10, Redskins 7
Cowboys 30, 49ers 6
Titans 28, Texans 3

Players of the Week
Brett Favre, GBY (23 of 27, 258 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Alex Brown, CHI (5 tackles, 2 assists, 4 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 8
Detroit (1-5) at Atlanta (3-3-1)
* Falcons favored by 7.

Warrick Dunn is the league's leading rusher with 720 yards on 162 carries, he hasn't found the end zone yet though. Their QB is Koy Detmer, he has been hot as of late. He has completed 36 of his last 49 passes. Outside of the running game their offense is pretty weak, Alge Crumpler is their top receiving threat. Their defense isn't anything special but they are 5th in the league in scoring defense @ 16 ppg. They are led by LB Nick Barnett, DE Patrick Kearney, and S Keion Carpenter.

1st Quarter

We are able to get on the board first after stopping them 3 and out and Hanson hits a 42-yard field goal. We exchange punts the rest of the quarter with both teams struggling to find consistency. The quarter ends with them finally getting something going, they are at our 40.

Lions 3, Falcons 0

2nd Quarter

Detmer hits John Stone for a 26-yard gain on the first play of the quarter to set up a 27-yard field goal by Jay Feely. They force us to go 3 and out but fumble the kickoff return and we recover at their 38. Three plays later we add a 46-yard field goal by Hanson. Late in the quarter Manning hits McCareins for a 46-yard gain to setup a 41-yard field goal by Hanson with 0:03 left.

Lions 9, Falcons 3

3rd Quarter

We commit a facemask penalty on 3rd and 16 after they throw an incomplete pass that sets up a 22-yard field goal by Feely. On our next drive we finally put a great drive together and score on a 8-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Ricks, the drive took over eight minutes off the clock.

Lions 16, Falcons 6

4th Quarter

We force a punt and march right down the field again, but Sproles fumbles and they recover at their 9. They quickly move down the field through the air and Detmer hits Crumpler for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 4:21 left. Sproles redeems himself on our next drive with a 36 yard run that sets up a 49-yard field goal by Hanson with 1:46 left. Detmer tries to lead the down the field but they run out of time at our 40!

Lions 19, Falcons 13

A much needed win that was led by our running game and our rush defense., we had 172 yards rushing on the day to their 74 yards. Jackson had 64, Anderson had 54, and Sproles had 54. We held Dunn to 59 yards on 18 carries. Manning went 19 of 25 for 164 yards with a touchdown.

Other Scores
Panthers 34, Saints 7
Bengals 37, Texans 18
Cowboys 30, Rams 24
Colts 23, Browns 20
Ravens 19, Jaguars 17
Chiefs 17, Dolphins 10
Vikings 19, Bears 13
Patriots 31, Broncos 26
Eagles 27, Giants 20
Titans 26, Steelers 20
Chargers 31, Bills 6
49ers 27, Seahawks 7
Cardinals 26, Redskins 0

Players of the Week
Seneca Wallace, DAL (17 of 23, 316 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Shawn Barber, NE (8 tackles, 4 sacks)

[Tasan]

More please!

[Balldog]

More please!

I plan to get some time in tonight.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 9
Carolina (3-5) at Detroit (2-6)
* Panthers favored by 3.

Chris Weinke (61% / 1638 / 10 TD) is their starting quarterback, he isn't that bad in actually. He throws a great deep ball, his best weapon is WR Steve Smith (41/557/4). DeShaun Foster (125/529/3) is their top back. Their offensive line is horrible. On defense they are led by LB Will Witherspoon, DE Julius Peppers, and CB Reynaldo Hill. Their defense is ranked in the Top 10 in every category.

1st Quarter

Our first drive of the game stalls at their 36 and Richardson is able to pin them at their 1. We force a 3 and out to give us the ball at their 42, three plays later Manning hits McCareins for a 37-yard touchdown....but we are called for holding and force to punt again. They are able to turn the field on their next drive and we take over at our 7. The quarter ends with us driving and at our own 32.

Lions 0, Panthers 0

2nd Quarter

Our drive stalls and we are forced to punt. They punt it right back but pin us at our own 13. On our second play of the drive Peppers sacks Manning and he fumbles, they recover at our 5. We stuff them but are called for a personal foul on 3rd down to give them a 1st and goal from the 2. We are able to stuff them again and they settle for a 19-yard field goal by John Kasay. Later in the quarter we block a punt and take possession at their 4 resulting in a 4-yard touchdown run by Jackson. They add a late 36-yard field goal by Kasay.

Lions 7, Panthers 6

3rd Quarter

On their first drive of the half Peterson intercepts Weinke giving us the ball at their 41. We are able to add a 30-yard field goal by Hanson. A 39-yard pass by Weinke to Roscoe Parrish sets up a 19-yard field goal by Kasay on their next possession. On the ensuing kickoff return Jenkins returns it to our 44, then Manning hits McCareins for a 25-yard gain then later hits McCareins for a 26-yard touchdown!

Lions 17, Panthers 9

4th Quarter

Early in the 4th quarter Manning is intercepted by CB Kenny Wright at their 29. Our defense holds them to a 50-yard field goal attempt that is missed by Kasay with 5:09 left. From there we are able to run out the clock for the win!

Lions 17, Panthers 9

Mike Peterson is named the player of the game. He had 9 tackles, 3 assists, and an interception. They really shut down Steven Jackson, he had 28 yards on 18 carries. Anderson did ok though, he had 61 yards on 12 carries. Manning continues to gel with McCareins. Manning was 14 of 24 for 152 yards with a pick and a touchdown. McCareins had 6 receptions for 88 yards with a touchdown. Steve Smith had a big day, he had 115 yards receiving on 7 receptions. We were able to hold them to just 65 yards rushing on the day.

Stockar McDougle suffered a strained calf muscle, he will miss next week's game.

Other Scores
Bears 17, Falcons 13
Cowboys 23, Seahawks 15
Chiefs 24, Broncos 7
Packers 16, Bucs 15
Ravens 24, Texans 21
Dolphins 17, Raiders 13
Vikings 20, Saints 3
Bills 21, Jets 16
Giants 28, 49ers 19
Rams 35, Eagles 21
Browns 30, Steelers 6
Patriots 23, Chargers 17
Titans 23, Jaguars 20

Players of the Week
Tom Brady, NE (22 of 29, 254 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Adewale Ogunleye, MIA (4 tackles, 2 assists, 3 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 10
Detroit (3-5) at Green Bay (6-2)
* Packers favored by 10.

Brett Favre (71%/1924 yds/15 TD) is aging pretty well, at least statistically. Hit helps that he was a great receiving corps - Donald Driver, Javon Walker, and Bubba Franks. Najeh Davenport (134/546/2) is good enough at running back. Their defense is led by DE Aaron Kampman, CB Mike McKenzie, and S Darren Sharper.

1st Quarter

On the first drive of the game Manning hits McCareins for a 39-yard gain that sets up a 24-yard field goal by Hanson. The Pack gets a nice drive going by Bly intercepts Favre at our 12. On the ensuing drive Manning hits McCareins for 20 then 21, then hits Clark for 23 and Jackson breaks free for a 24-yard gain then Mike Anderson runs it in from 2 yards out! The quarter ends with the Packers drive and near midfield.

Lions 10, Packers 0

2nd Quarter

On the first play of the quarter Peterson intercepts Favre at our 43! Our offense is really feeling it today, Manning and McCareins really have quite the connection. They connect for an 18-yard gain that sets up a 7-yard touchdown run by Jackson. Favre and the rest of their offense finally settles down and they execute a brilliant drive that ends with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Favre to Dante Ridgeway. With 1:19 left they are able to add a 38-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell after another nice drive. The half expires as we try to run Hanson on for a 54-yard field goal attempt but we aren't able to get it off in time.

Lions 17, Packers 10

3rd Quarter

McCareins is having an unbelievable day, Manning hits him for 27 yards on our first drive but we have to punt. On our next drive Manning hits him for 25 yards then on a 28-yard touchdown pass! On their next drive Goodman intercepts Favre at their 39. Four plays later Manning hits Clark for a 7-yard touchdown pass. On their next drive Goodman intercepts Favre again, this time at their 47 but Manning returns the favor and he is intercepted by S Victor Green at their 38.

Lions 31, Packers 10

4th Quarter

The Packers take advantage of the pick but only add three, on a 26-yard field goal by Longwell. It looks like they've had enough off Favre for the day, they bring in his backup Todd Collins. On his first play Travis Fisher gets the interception at our 30. Late in the game after Richardson pins them at our 2, we get a safety and run out the clock on our next drive.

Lions 33, Packers 13

It looks like we might be putting some things together on both sides of the ball, this is a huge win on the road! Our offense had a big day, with 442 total yards. Jackson bounced back with 77 yards on 21 carries. Manning had a great game, he was 24 of 33 for 326 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. McCareins was named player of the game, he had 188 yards receiving on 9 receptions. Our defense held them to 301 yards and forced 5 turnovers, just a good day on both sides of the ball!

Other Scores
Steelers 21, Ravens 10
Bears 16, Bucs 10
Jets 17, Broncos 3
Colts 24, Texans 21
Chiefs 20, Bills 16
Patriots 20, Dolphins 10
Falcons 23, Saints 16
Chargers 27, Raiders 17
Eagles 30, 49ers 27
Giants 20, Seahawks 13
Cardinals 45, Rams 20
Titans 21, Bengals 20
Redskins 23, Cowboys 10

Players of the Week
Jermaine Coleman, PIT (20 of 26, 264 yards, 2 touchdowns)
Carlos Polk, SD (5 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks)

Manning, McCareins, Peterson, and Goodman all received mention. Coleman is starting for Rob Johnson, who is out for the rest of the season with a ACL tear. Coleman is an undrafted Free Agent out of Boston College.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 11
Detroit (4-5) at Minnesota (7-2)
* Vikings are favored by 9.

1st Quarter

Both teams start the game with three and outs then the Vikings get a 22-yard field goal by Wade Richey, which was set up by a 23-yard pass from Culpepper to James Thrash. Our next drive we get a nice drive but have to punt from their 39 and we pin them deep. At the end of the quarter we have the ball 1st and 10 near midfield.

Vikings 3, Lions 0

2nd Quarter

After a holding penalty put us in a 3rd and 13 situation, Manning hits Jerome Pathon for a 24-yard touchdown! Later in the quarter the Vikings start going after our secondary and Culpepper finds Moss for an 11-yard touchdown with 2:24 left in the half. The rest of the half is quiet.

Vikings 10, Lions 7

3rd Quarter

Manning and the offense can't seem to find any consistency but luckily our defense is playing pretty well. The quarter ends while the Vikings are in the midst of a 8 minute and counting drive, they have 1st and goal at our 8.

Vikings 10, Lions 7

4th Quarter

Our defense finally comes up with a stop and they have to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Richey. On our next drive Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 42-yard gain then later hits McCareins for a 12-yard touchdown! We force a punt but then on our next drive Fitzgerald fumbles and they recover at our 40 with 5:09 left. Our defense once again comes up with a goal line stand and they have to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Richey at the two minute warning.

We get the ball at their 27 to start, on the first play Manning hits Fitzgerald for 22-yard gain and Minnesota is called for roughing the passer too! We now have the ball at their 36 with 1:35 left. Manning then hits Clark for a 9-yard gain, then Manning hits McCareins for a 14-yard gain and we call a timeout. Its now 1st and 10 at their 13 with 1:08 left. Manning hits Pathon for a 10-yard gain, then Jackson loses 1 yard and then Manning hits Clark for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 0:39 left!!! Culpepper hits Moss for 21 yards but that is all they can do!

Lions 21, Vikings 16

Manning and the offense was pretty silent all day until it mattered. We managed just 287 yards on the day, 168 yards were in the 4th quarter. Manning was 27 of 34 for 222 yards with 3 touchdowns. McCareins was his favorite target, he had 55 yards on 8 catches. Our running game was pretty quiet, we had just 65 yards on the ground.

Other Scores
Bills 34, Patriots 13
Bengals 23, Browns 13
Raiders 13, Broncos 9
Bears 20, Packers 10
Texans 34, Jaguars 17
Chiefs 32, Chargers 0
Dolphins 24, Jets 6
Giants 19, Redskins 17
Eagles 30, Cowboys 10
Cardinals 10, 49ers 7
Rams 17, Seahawks 10
Panthers 19, Bucs 7
Colts 24, Titans 21

Players of the Week
Eli Manning, DET (27 of 34, 222 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Roosevelt Colvin, CHI (6 tackles, 2 assists, 0.5 sacks, 2 interceptions)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 12
Baltimore (3-7) at Detroit (5-5)
* Lions are favored by 5.

The Ravens offense is led by RB Jamal Lewis (162/590/1) and WR Anquan Boldin (30/418/2). Chris Redman is their starting quarterback, he has been battling injuries all year but is finally back to full strength. Their offense is tied for 30th in scoring at 12.9 ppg. Their defense isn't much better, they are not ranked in the top 15 in any category. However they still have ample talent with S Ed Reed, LB Ray Lewis, and LB Adalius Thomas.

1st Quarter

We start the game with a nice drive that ends with a 29-yard field goal by Hanson. The field goal was set up by a 21-yard pass from Manning to McCareins. That is all the action for the first quarter, their offense is looking pretty bad.

Lions 3, Ravens 0

2nd Quarter

Early in quarter Dre' Bly intercepts Redman and we have the ball at their 35. We can't add to our lead the, they block the 34-yard field goal attempt. Our defense is dominating their offense, as long as we don't turn it over we should be ok. Right on cue, Manning hits McCareins for a 19-yard gain but he fumbles and Ed Reed recovers at our 27. Three plays later Lewis runs it in from 14 yards out. That seemed to wake up our offense, Manning and company execute an almost flawless drive that ends with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Manning to McCareins with 1:59 left in the half. The Ravens are able to add a 52-yard field goal by Aaron Elling as the half ends.

Lions 10, Ravens 10

3rd Quarter

Chris Redman turns into Peyton Manning to begin the second half, he goes 7 for 8 leading them down the field for a touchdown on a 14-yard pass to Boldin. Later in the quarter Reuben Droughns fumbles and Marlon McCree recovers at their 16! Two plays later (after a penalty) Manning hits McCareins for a 26-yard touchdown! Just before the quarter ends Manning fumbles and they recover at our 19.

Lions 17, Ravens 17

4th Quarter

Kevin Williams comes up with a big sack forcing them to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Elling. On their next drive we aren't able to get them off the field before they settle for a 26-yard field goal by Elling to take a 23-17 lead with 2:30 to play. Manning is sacked on first down and we are not able to make up the loss and turn it over on downs. They are able to run out the clock ending our winning streak.

Ravens 23, Lions 17

Really a brutal loss, that we had no business winning anyway. We fumbled the ball 5 times, luckily we only lost 2. Our ball security is a joke, we have 19 fumbles on the season. Manning wasn't bad but his fumble hurt us, he went 22 of 36 for 217 yards with 2 touchdowns. Our running game was shutdown again, we had 45 yards on 21 carries. McCareins continues to half an All-Pro caliber season, he had 8 receptions for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns. He is second in receiving touchdowns (9) and third in receiving yards (1004).

We are going to have to sit G Cameron Spikes down for a little while, he is suffering from a sprained knee.

Other Scores
Jaguars 19, Cardinals 10
Bills 34, Saints 24
Panthers 17, Dolphins 13
Browns 26, Bears 6
Colts 35, Rams 30
Eagles 17, Chiefs 16
Vikings 30, Bengals 17
Patriots 25, Falcons 0
Broncos 34, Giants 31
Raiders 17, Cowboys 10
Packers 30, Steelers 7
49ers 17, Texans 14
Titans 41, Seahawks 18
Jets 12, Bucs 10
Redskins 33, Chargers 6

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (32 of 41, 336 yards, 5 touchdowns)
Sam Cowart, NYJ (5 tackles, 1 assist, 1.5 sacks, 1 interception)

[bbgunn]

It's tough but I have faith that you can pull off some great things long-term.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 13
Philadelphia (7-4) at Detroit (5-6)
* Eagles are favored by 2.

1st Quarter

On their third play of the game Marlon McCree intercepts McNabb and returns it to our 45 but we are forced to punt. When McNabb gets the ball back he gets to work on our defense. They stormed down the field scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run by Marion Barber. We are forced to punt after a big sack, but they fumble the punt return and we recover at their 25. On the next play Manning hits McCareins for a 25-yard touchdown! The quarter ends with the Eagles on the move again.

Lions 7, Eagles 7

2nd Quarter

We finally stop them at our 39 and they punt, pinning us at our 2. We get a few first downs and are able to turn the field but McNabb is on fire today. He goes 7 of 8 on the drive ending with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Walter Rasby. Neither team is able to get on the board the rest of the half.

Eagles 14, Lions 7

3rd Quarter

McNabb continues to move the ball down the field on our defense but we stiffen up and they settle for a 25-yard field goal by David Akers. Manning finally wakes up, he hits McCareins for a 42-yard gain setting up a 39-yard field goal by Hanson. The quarter ends with us punting near midfield.

Eagles 17, Lions 10

4th Quarter

They add a 50-yard field goal by Akers on their first drive of the quarter to push their lead to 10. Later in the quarter Manning hits McCareins for an 18-yard gain on 4th and 18. Five plays later Manning hits Desmond Clark for a 20-yard touchdown! Our defense forces a punt with 2:09 left, but we are out of timeouts. Manning and the offense takeover at our 31. Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 14-yard gain on the first play. Then hits McCareins for 17 on 3rd and ten, then hits Fitzgerald for 13 on the next play. We have the ball 1st and ten at their 25 with 1:04 left, but we commit a false start. Manning then hits McCareins for a gain of six before we commit another false start. Its now 3rd and 14 with 0:42 left when Manning hits Clark for a 6-yard gain and we settle for a 40-yard field goal by Hanson with 0:20 left.

Lions 20, Eagles 20

Overtime

They get the ball first and start moving down the field but we stop them near midfield and they pin us at our 6. They force a three and out and we punt giving them the ball at our 39 setting up a 18-yard field goal by Akers to win it.

Eagles 23, Lions 20

An excruciating loss. They moved up and down the field on our defense for 458 yards, with 188 yards coming on the ground. Barber had 86 yards on 22 carries and Westbrook had 83 yards on 16 carries. McNabb was 29 of 45 for 270 yards. Our running game showed some signs of life thanks to Darren Sproles, he had 22 yards on 3 carries but Anderson and Jackson combined for 56 yards on 16 carries. Manning went 19 of 35 with 251 yards and 2 touchdowns. McCareins was his favorite target again, he had 120 yards on 8 receptions.

Some bad news after the game, LB Mike Peterson will miss the next two weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. He has 96 tackles, 27 assists, 2 interceptions and 1 sack on the season.

Other Scores
Panthers 23, Cardinals 13
Falcons 33, Cowboys 23
Chiefs 20, Ravens 17
Bills 38, Browns 28
Seahawks 22, Bears 14
Jaguars 26, Broncos 24
Jets 24, Texans 10
49ers 23, Vikings 3
Patriots 35, Bengals 28
Saints 21, Redskins 19
Packers 31, Giants 23
Colts 30, Raiders 20
Steelers 10, Chargers 3
Rams 19, Bucs 18
Titans 26, Dolphins 17

Players of the Week
Tom Brady, NE (21 of 37, 293 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Sam Adams, SEA (4 tackles, 2 assists, 2 sacks)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 14
Detroit (5-7) at Cleveland (6-6)
* Browns are favored by 7.

The Browns have a good young football team, they have Byron Leftwich at quarterback. He is having a solid season, he is completing 64% of his passes for 2,646 yards with 20 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. His favorite target is WR Andre Johnson, he has 893 yards on 60 receptions and 10 touchdowns. WR Jerricho Cotchery and TE Mark Campbell add to what is an up and coming receiving corps. RB Robert Edwards has been battling injuries all season but he has had fine season with 967 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Their defense is improving each game, they are led by DE Courtney Brown, DT Gerard Warren, and LB Kevin Bentley.

1st Quarter

Clint Kriewaldt fills in nicely for Peterson on their first drive of the game, he comes up with a sack to force a punt! Our running game is working early on and we are able to get on the board first with a 38-yard field goal by Hanson. The quarter ends with them driving and at our 34.

Lions 3, Browns 0

2nd Quarter

Their drive ends on a goal line stand, they have to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Dawson. Midway through the quarter they add a 48-yard field goal by Dawson. Our offense is struggling to find any consistency and we have to punt again. Meanwhile we are offering just enough resistence to keep them out of the end zone but Dawson adds a 46-yard field goal before the end of the half.

Browns 9, Lions 3

3rd Quarter

On their first drive of the half Andre Johnson finally gets free and Leftwich hits him for a 33-yard touchdown. On our next drive, Manning is picked off by Jerametrius Butler at our 14 and they score two plays later on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Leftwich to Johnson. The quarter ends with us driving and at their 30.

Browns 23, Lions 3

4th Quarter

They stop us and Hanson misses a 49-yard field goal before they march right down the field again. This time Leftwich finds Campbell for a 7-yard touchdown. On our next drive Manning is intercepted by Vince Hicks at their 13 with 4:13 left. They proceed to run the ball right at us and run out the clock.

Browns 30, Lions 3

I'm thinking those last two losses have taken a toll on us, we just didn't even show up today. Our offense managed just 189 yards of offense, while they did whatever they wanted. They had 340 yards of offense, Leftwich was 24 of 27 for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns. Edwards had 70 yards on 18 carries and Andre Johnson had 123 yards on 8 receptions. Manning sucked, he was 15 of 23 for 99 yards and 2 interceptions. McCareins was shut down, he had just 8 yards on 1 reception. Mike Anderson was the only bright spot, he had 71 yards on 7 carries.

LB Clint Kriewaldt suffered a badly sprained knee, he will likely miss the rest of the season.

Other Scores
Dolphins 16, Falcons 13
Bills 38, Bucs 31
Bengals 17, Bears 16
Chiefs 18, Cowboys 13
Broncos 16, Redskins 13
Packers 34, Ravens 10
Colts 30, 49ers 24
Seahawks 10, Jaguars 0
Patriots 34, Panthers 10
Jets 34, Saints 17
Raiders 17, Eagles 14
Vikings 21, Steelers 16
Giants 24, Chargers 6
Rams 47, Texans 20
Titans 27, Cardinals 26

Players of the Week
Byron Leftwich, CLE (24 of 27, 233 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Chris Kelsay, KC (4 tackles, 1 assist, 2.5 sacks)

[Balldog]

It's tough but I have faith that you can pull off some great things long-term.

Definitely not what we expected this year, both sides of the ball have disappointed. Though Manning hasn't been all that bad, but he has been pretty inconsistent.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 15
Detroit (5-8) at Chicago (7-6)
* Bears are favored by 4.

1st Quarter

On our first drive Manning is sacked on 3rd and 1, he fumbles and they recover at our 37. Luckily Kalima Edwards and Kevin Williams return the favor on 3rd and 5 and they have to punt. We end up punting the ball right back to them and after QB Clarence Smith hits Troy Edwards for 31-yard gain, Edwards fumbles and Brandon Jennings recovers at our 44. We manage to get in field goal position and Hanson gets us on the board with a 36-yard field goal.

Lions 3, Bears 0

2nd Quarter

Smith hits Ike Hillard for a 23-yard gain and Tatum Bell gets free for a 32-yard gain setting up a 21-yard field goal by Paul Edinger. A big return by Martay Jenkins sets up a 5-yard touchdown pass by Manning to Clark. On their next possession Adrian Peterson fumbles and Dre' Bly recovers at our 15. We have to punt it right back and Richardson shanks it, they take over at our 44 and six plays later Smith hits Edwards for an 8-yard touchdown. Just before the end of the half Tatum Bell fumbles and we recover at their 6 but have to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Hanson.

Lions 13, Bears 10

3rd Quarter

On the first play of the half Bly intercepts Smith and we take over at their 39. Six plays later Anderson scores on a 10-yard run. Then later in the quarter Manning connects with McCareins for a 61-yard touchdown pass! Just when we think we are pulling away they answer, a 35-yard pass from Smith to Edwards sets up a 23-yard touchdown run by Peterson. Luckily our offense is finding is stride and we are driving again as the quarter ends.

Lions 27, Bears 17

4th Quarter

Our drive stalls and we settle for a 24-yard field goal by Hanson. They answer with a 36-yard field goal with 7:09 to play. Later in the quarter Williams sacks Smith and he fumbles, Ryan Pickett recovers at our 45 with 2:44 to play! A 35-yard run by Steven Jackson sets up a 29-yard field goal by Hanson with 1:11 left and we hold on for the win!

Lions 33, Bears 20

Our offense finally showed some explosiveness! Jackson had 117 yards on 24 carries and Anderson had 50 yards on 10 carries. Manning was brilliant, he went 17 of 22 for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. McCareins rose from the dead, he had 104 yards on 5 receptions. Our defense did just enough to get the win, we let up 404 yards of offense on the day. It helped that they were sloppy, they fumbled 6 (4 lost) times and threw an interception.

Peterson is back to full strength but Mike Anderson broke his ankle, he is out indefinitely.

Other Scores
Bengals 10, Ravens 6
Panthers 14, Falcons 13
Browns 21, Steelers 14
Titans 25, Texans 13
Colts 24, Jaguars 16
Broncos 31, Chiefs 3
Dolphins 20, Bills 10
Vikings 30, Packers 24
Jets 26, Patriots 24
Giants 21, Cowboys 20
Chargers 20, Raiders 17
Cardinals 37, Seahawks 24
Rams 29, 49ers 9
Saints 27, Bucs 24
Redskins 17, Eagles 13

Players of the Week
Daunte Culpepper, MIN (32 of 46, 354 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Na'il Diggs, GB (4 tackles, 6 assists, 2.5 sacks)

Playoff Picture
AFC Division Leaders - Colts (13-1), Bills (10-4), Bengals (9-5), Chiefs (8-6)
AFC Wild Card - Titans (11-3), Dolphins (9-5)
AFC In the Hunt - Jets (9-5), Patriots (8-6), Browns (8-6), Chargers (7-7)

NFC Division Leaders - Vikings (10-4), Cardinals (9-5), Eagles (8-6), Panthers (7-7)
NFC Wild Card - Packers (9-5), Rams (8-6)
NFC In the Hunt - Giants (7-7), Cowboys (7-7), Bears (7-7), 49ers (6-8), Lions (6-8)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 16
Cincinnati (9-5) at Detroit (6-8)
* Bengals favored by 6.

The Bengals have a lot of weapons for QB Jon Kitna. At running back is Rudi Johnson, he 965 yards and 9 touchdowns on the year. His favorite receiver is Chad Johnson, he has 90 receptions and 1,324 yards for 10 touchdowns. WR TJ Houshmanzadeh and TE Tony Stewart are threats as well. On defense they are led by LB Steve Foley, S Marquand Manuel, and CB Rashean Mathis.

1st Quarter

Jon Kitna and the Bengals offense quickly get to work, they score on a 19-yard pass from Kitna to Stewart on their first possession. We quickly punt the ball right back to them and they waste no time getting back in the end zone. Kitna hits Johnson for a 10-yard touchdown pass with 4:57 left in the quarter. The quarter ends with us driving and at their 21.

Bengals 14, Lions 0

2nd Quarter

Two plays into the quarter Manning hits Jacquez Green for a 4-yard touchdown pass. Kitna leads them down the field for their third straight touchdown, this time he hits Earnest Graham for an 18-yard touchdown pass. Manning and our offense is heating up, we march down the field and score on a 26-yard pass from Manning to Clark. On their first play of their next drive Dillon goes for 43 yards then on the next play he scores on a 25-yard touchdown run. On our ensuing drive, on our first play Jackson breaks free for an 80-yard touchdown run! We finally keep them out of the end zone but they add a 53-yard field goal by Neil Rackers.

Bengals 31, Lions 21

3rd Quarter

They force a punt on our first possession of the half then quickly get to work again. Four plays later Rudi Johnson scores on a 7-yard touchdown run. They force a punt again, but we finally come up with a stop. Our offense is bottled up though, we punt again and they take over at their 49. Kitna is just carving us up, he hits Johnson for a 9-yard touchdown pass to go up 45-21.

Bengals 45, Lions 21

4th Quarter

We are forced to punt to start the quarter but they rough the punter and on the next play Jackson breaks free for a 36-yard touchdown run. We force a punt again, but Manning is intercepted by Rashean Mathis. Later in the quarter Manning hits Clarks for a 3-yard touchdown pass. Manning is later intercepted by Al Harris to wrap it up fro the Bengals.

Bengals 45, Lions 35

What a wild game, it wasn't really close but if you like offense you would've liked this one. I don't. Our defense was a joke, they moved at will for 443 yards of offense. Kitna was god-like, he went 24 of 26 for 258 yards and 4 touchdowns. Rudi Johnson ran for 87 yards on 19 carries and Corey Dillon had 101 yards on 14 carries. Manning tried to keep up with their offense, he was 34 of 45 for 331 yards with 4 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Jackson was shut down other than his 80-yard touchdown run, he had just 3 yards on his other 5 carries.

Kalima Edwards suffered a hyperextended elbow, he will miss our last game of the season.

Other Scores
Bills 28, Falcons 0
Steelers 20, Bears 17
Browns 18, Packers 10
Broncos 23, Cowboys 7
Texans 16, Cardinals 6
Chiefs 30, Redskins 22
Dolphins 22, Saints 3
Vikings 16, Ravens 10
Jets 26, Panthers 10
Giants 24, Raiders 14
Eagles 23, Chargers 16
49ers 28, Jaguars 24
Colts 33, Seahawks 16
Rams 33, Titans 27
Patriots 31, Bucs 7

Players of the Week
Jon Kitna, CIN (24 of 26, 258 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Eric Hicks, KC (5 tackles, 1 assist, 2.5 sacks)

Playoff Picture
AFC Division Leaders - Colts (14-1), Bills (11-4), Bengals (10-5), Chiefs (9-6)
AFC Wild Card - Titans (11-4), Dolphins (10-5)
AFC In the Hunt - Jets (10-5), Patriots (9-6), Browns (9-6)

NFC Division Leaders - Vikings (11-4), Eagles (9-6), Cardinals (9-6), Panthers (7-8)
NFC Wild Card - Packers (9-6), Rams (9-6)
NFC In the Hunt - Giants (8-7)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Week 17
Green Bay (9-6) at Detroit (6-9)
* Packers favored by 5.

We could potentially play spoiler here and knock the Packers out of the playoffs, they are dinged up with several injuries but I suspect everyone will find a way to play today.

1st Quarter

Both offenses start the game off by going in the wrong direction, we punt on 4th and 12 and they punt it right back on 4th and 27 after a pair of penalties. Our offensive line is having fits trying to protect Manning, Na'il Diggs gets their 2nd sack of the day forcing another punt. Then Favre and their offense gets to work. Favre ends the drive with a 19-yard pass to Javon Walker. On our next drive Diggs sacks Manning again forcing another punt. Favre finds Walker again for a 21-yard gain and on the next play Ahman Green runs it in from 35 yards out.

Packers 14, Lions 0

2nd Quarter

We are finally able to protect Manning and we are able to get on the board with a 34-yard field goal by Hanson. Unfortunately our defense decided to take the day off, the Packers march right down the field again and score on a 2-yard run by Najeh Davenport. On our next drive Manning is intercepted by Bhawoh Jue in their end zone and they run out of time before they could score again to end the half.

Packers 21, Lions 3

3rd Quarter

On the first drive of the half they get into field goal position by Tommy Polley makes his first highlight of the season and blocks it! Four plays later Manning hits Fitzgerald for an 11-yard touchdown. For some reason we decide to go for 2 and don't convert. We force another punt and have a nice drive going as the quarter ends.

Packers 21, Lions 9

4th Quarter

Our drive stalls after Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila sacks Manning and we settle for a 25-yard field goal by Hanson. Any hopes of a comeback are crushed on their next drive, Favre finds Davenport for a 23-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter they add a 54-yard field goal and a 25-yard field goal to seal their spot in the playoffs.

Packers 34, Lions 12

The Packers ran wild on our defense, Davenport and Green combined for 175 yards on 36 carries. Favre also had his way, he went 17 of 25 for 215 yards. On offense our running game wasn't bad, we had 106 yards on 21 carries. Manning was harassed all day by their pass rush, he was 23 of 34 for 238 yards but was sacked 4 times. McCareins had a nice finish to the season with 73 yards on 4 receptions.

Other Scores
Rams 41, Cardinals 14
Falcons 14, Bucs 6
Browns 20, Ravens 13
Bills 24, Jets 21
Vikings 17, Bears 13
Cowboys 30, Redskins 16
Texans 37, Colts 13
Jaguars 27, Titans 14
Dolphins 22, Patriots 16
Saints 13, Panthers 12
Raiders 15, Chiefs 13
Eagles 37, Giants 13
Bengals 26, Steelers 24
Broncos 20, Chargers 10
49ers 17, Seahawks 14

Players of the Week
Peyton Manning, IND (27 of 33, 330 yards, 4 touchdowns)
Kenny Holmes, NYG (5 tackles, 1 assist, 3 sacks)

Playoffs
AFC Division Winners - Colts (14-2), Bills (12-4), Bengals (11-5), Chiefs (9-7)
AFC Wild Card - Titans (11-5), Dolphins (11-5)

NFC Division Winners - Vikings (12-4), Rams (10-6), Eagles (10-6), Panthers (7-9)
NFC Wild Card - Packers (10-6), Cardinals (9-7)

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Wild Card Round

Eagles rally in the 2nd half to beat the Cardinals, 27-17
- McNabb goes 23 for 28, 242 yards, 2 touchdowns

Packers run wild in 34-17 win over Panthers.
- Packers ran for 211 yards, including a 62 yard touchdown run by rookie Brandon Jacobs (his only carry of the game).

Dolphins score 15 in the last 4 minutes to knock off the Bengals, 28-24.
- Marc Bulger was 28 of 46 for 345 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Chiefs need overtime to beat the Titans, 20-17.
- Nate Kaeding hits a 47-yard field goal to win it in overtime.
- Titans scored on a 17-yard pass from McNair to Derrius Thompson with 0:04 left to send it into overtime.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Conference Semifinals

Vikings blow it open with big 4th quarter to oust the Packers, 30-9.
- Chris Brown (MIN) had 137 yards on 23 carries.

Bills defense destroys the Chiefs in a 22-0 win.
- Chiefs manage just 166 yards on offense, with 6 yards rushing.

Colts route Dolphins, 38-13.
- Manning went 20 of 29 for 285 yards with 5 touchdowns.

Eagles use strong 4th quarter to upset the Rams, 34-23.
- Rookie Marion Barber had 135 yards on 14 carries with 2 touchdowns.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Conference Championships

Colts dominate Bills, 38-13.
- Colts outscored the Bills 31-3 in the first half.
- Edgerrin James had 132 yards rushing and 63 yard receiving.
- Bills ran for 213 yards but Bledsoe threw 3 interceptions.

Vikings outlast Eagles, 20-13.
- Randy Moss had 190 yard receiving on 10 receptions.
- Daunte Culpepper went 23 of 28 for 339 yards.

[Balldog]

2005 Season, Super Bowl

Late field goal gives Vikings upset win over Colts, 19-17.
- Wade Richey win Super Bowl MVP with 4 field goals (53, 20, 54, 40)
- Colts held to just 26 yards rushing.
- Vikings ran for 143 yards.

[Balldog]

2005 Season Wrap-up


Front Office Football 2007
2005 Summary for Detroit Lions

Year 2005
Record 6-10
Winning Pct. .375
All-Time 27-37
Winning Pct. .421
Playoffs 1-1
Playoff Visits 1
Bowl Wins 0
Head Coach Gerald Allison
Record 28-38
Winning Pct. .424
Off. Coord. D. Lincoln
Def. Coord. K. Schacht

Detroit Lions Team Rank
Rushes per Game 24.2 27
Rushing Yards 96.9 28
Yards Per Carry 4.01 22
Pass Attempts 31.3 23
Completions 20.8 16
Completion Pct. 66.5 5
Passing Yards 220.4 20
Yards Per Attempt 7.04 13
Yards Per Catch 10.59 20 (T)
Total Yardage Gained 306.3 22
3rd Down Conversions 35.7 23
Points Per Game 19.3 17
Pass Rush Pct. 15.4 30
Pass Defense Pct. 35.1 31
Turnovers 23 19 (T)
Turnover Margin -3 20 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes per Game 30.9 30
Rushing Yards 143.6 32
Yards Per Carry 4.64 27
Pass Attempts 33.3 17 (T)
Completions 22.5 25
Completion Pct. 67.5 31
Passing Yards 230.9 19
Yards Per Attempt 6.93 22
Yards Per Catch 10.26 4
Total Yardage Gained 366.7 30
3rd Down Conversions 42.5 27 (T)
Points Per Game 23.1 28
Pass Rush Pct. 16.9 8
Pass Defense Pct. 38.9 6
Turnovers 20 21 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 21 MIN 31
2 22 at PIT 43
3 24 at STL 13
4 10 at NOS 17
6 7 CHI 13
7 14 TBY 26
8 19 at ATL 13
9 17 CAR 9
10 33 at GBY 13
11 21 at MIN 16
12 17 BAL 23
13 20 PHI 23
14 3 at CLE 30
15 33 at CHI 20
16 35 CIN 45
17 12 GBY 34

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int Rate
10 E. Manning QB 486 325 3428 7.05 26 13 93.8
**Team --- 501 333 3526 7.04 28 14 93.7
$$Opp --- 533 360 3695 6.93 23 11 93.0

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD Fum
26 S. Jackson RB 226 790 3.50 3 2
24 M. Anderson RB 108 494 4.57 4 0 
Front Office Football 2007
**Team --- 387 1551 4.01 7 23
$$Opp --- 495 2298 4.64 12 18

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc Y/Tar Drop TD
85 J. McCareins WR 126 91 1369 15.04 10.87 5 11
86 D. Clark TE 87 59 531 9.00 6.10 3 6
3 L. Fitzgerald WR 88 54 668 12.37 7.59 3 4
89 J. Pathon WR 42 28 224 8.00 5.33 2 2
87 M. Jenkins WR 46 26 269 10.35 5.85 4 1
26 S. Jackson RB 27 19 109 5.74 4.04 1 1
83 M. Ricks TE 27 17 183 10.76 6.78 0 2

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn PDPct
58 M. Peterson ILB 117 33 1.0 2 2 4 74.9
31 C. Hall S 89 26 0.0 0 0 6 73.6
40 A. Samuel CB 69 19 0.0 0 0 7 73.2
35 M. McCree S 59 21 0.0 0 1 4 78.8
43 A. Goodman CB 47 12 0.0 1 4 4 79.9
20 D. Bly CB 41 9 0.0 0 3 7 79.9
59 C. Claiborne OLB 41 16 1.0 3 0 0 69.9
51 N. Wayne OLB 41 8 0.0 0 0 1 74.5
41 B. Jennings S 40 20 0.0 0 0 5 79.1
49 T. Fisher CB 39 6 0.0 1 1 6 75.7
76 K. Edwards DE 36 16 5.0 8 0 0 79.3
96 D. Ware OLB 34 12 0.0 0 0 4 75.5
74 K. Williams DT 31 19 4.0 12 0 0 80.2
50 T. Polley OLB 25 8 0.0 1 0 1 68.4
90 J. De Vries DE 22 6 2.5 9 0 0 81.2
77 C. Okeafor DE 21 6 1.0 4 0 0 80.0
70 T. Johnson DT 18 12 0.5 2 0 0 80.8
72 R. Pickett DT 17 16 1.0 6 0 0 82.1 

Behind the Numbers
- We were snubbed from all the awards, despite McCareins huge numbers.
- McCareins finished 4th in receptions, 4th in receiving yards, and 6th in touchdowns.
- Peterson finished 3rd in tackles with 117.
- Warrick Dunn led the league in rushing with 1,609 yards.
- Chad Johnson led the league in receptions with 107 and Marvin Harrison led in receiving yards with 1,557.

2005 Evaluation
Team Performance: 19/100
Franchise Value: 77/100
Profit/Loss: 86/100
Roster Strength: 60/100
Year-End Score: 63

[Balldog]

2006 Offseason, Staff Hiring and Pre-Free Agency

We have no players retire this year, some notable around the league:

Isaac Bruce, WR
John Lynch, S
Willie Roaf, T
Larry Allen, G

The following players are eligible to become free agents:

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 8 63 63 ---
Williams, Kevin 74 RDT 4 55 55 ---
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 8 53 53 ---
Richardson, Kyle 14 P 10 51 51 ---
Spikes, Cameron 75 LG 8 50 50 ---
Bly, Dre' 20 RCB 8 47 47 ---
Clark, Desmond 86 TE 8 45 45 ---
Pathon, Jerome 89 SE 9 42 42 ---
Holland, Montrae 63 RG 4 41 41 ---
Jennings, Brandon 41 FS 7 40 40 ---
Jenkins, Martay 87 FL 8 38 38 ---
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 9 36 36 ---
Ledford, Dwayne 54 C 7 35 35 ---
Anderson, Mike 24 RB 7 32 32 ---
Sellers, Mike 32 FB 9 32 32 ---
Faulk, Kevin 45 RB 8 30 30 ---
Swift, Justin 2 TE 8 26 26 ---
Henson, Drew 4 QB 4 19 27 ---

We must do whatever it takes to bring Kevin Williams back. The other guys we are interested in bring back are Claiborne, Richardson, Clark, and Holland.

We decide to renew our coordinators contract, though our defensive coordinator took a paycut after that showing last season. Our lead scout was getting old, so we replaced him with Levon Torres. He is a significant upgrade.

[Balldog]

2006 NFL Draft Preview

Mel Kiper's Big Board
1) Haloti Ngata, DT (Oregon)
2) Charlie Whitehurst, QB (Clemson)
3) DeAngelo Williams, RB (Memphis)
4) D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T (Virginia)
5) Kyle Williams, DT (LSU)
6) Dusty Dvoracek, DT (Oklahoma)
7) Omar Jacobs, QB (Bowling Green)
8) Ernie Sims, LB (Florida State)
9) Leon Washington, RB (Florida State)
10) Andrew Whitworth, T (LSU)

Todd McShay's Big Board
1) Ernie Sims, LB (Florida State)
2) DeAngelo Williams, RB (Memphis)
3) A.J. Hawk, LB (Ohio State)
4) Haloti Ngata, DT (Oregon)
5) Anthony Smith, S (Syracuse)
6) Donte Whitner, S (Ohio State)
7) Kyle Williams, DT (LSU)
8) Bennie Brazell, WR (LSU)
9) Antoine Bethea, S (Howard)
10) D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T (Virginia)

Draft Order
1) Washington
2) Tampa Bay
3) Houston
4) Baltimore
5) New Orleans
6) Jacksonville
7) Seattle
8) Detroit
9) Pittsburgh
10) Oakland

Mock Draft
1) Washington - Ernie Sims, LB (Florida State)
2) Tampa Bay - AJ Hawk, LB (Ohio State)
3) Houston - Charlie Whitehurst, QB (Clemson)
4) Baltimore - Haloti Ngata, DT (Oregon)
5) New Orleans - D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T (Virginia)
6) Jacksonville - DeAngelo Williams, RB (Memphis)
7) Seattle - Omar Jacobs, QB (Bowling Green)
8) Detroit - Kyle Williams, DT (LSU)
9) Pittsburgh - Dusty Dvoracek, DT (Oklahoma)
10) Oakland - Leon Washington, RB (Florida State)

We are hoping to add help against the run, really hoping Ngata slips to #8 - if he doesn't go in the Top 2 we will throw a trade offer out there to move up. We may also look at a running back at #8, Steven Jackson has been struggling. We also like Vernon Davis a lot, might move down and try to get him and more picks.

[Balldog]

2006 Offseason, Free Agency

There are some big names on the Free Agency list this year, headliners are QB Kurt Warner, LB Ray Lewis, WR Reggie Wayne, C Jeff Faine, and C Jeff Saturday.

Stage 2
DT Kevin Williams resigns a 5-year deal worth $22 million.
G Montrae Holland resigns a 3-year deal worth $3.25 million.

RB Duce Staley (MIA) signs a 1-year deal worth $850 thousand.
TE Roland Williams (DAL) signs a 3-year deal worth $3.1 million.

CB Dre' Bly signs a 1-year deal worth $740 thousand with St. Louis.

Stage 3
LB Chris Claiborne resigns a 3-year deal worth $12.99 million.
S Brandon Jennings resigns a 1-year deal worth $690 thousand.
LB Clint Kriewaldt resigns a 1-year deal worth $850 thousand.

FB Heath Evans (SEA) signs a 4-year deal worth $13.1 million.

Stage 4
WR Jerome Pathon resigns a 1-year deal worth $800 thousand.
P Kyle Richardson resigns a 1-year deal worth $850 thousand.

C Scott Peters (PHI) signs a 2-year deal worth $1.6 million.
WR Reggie Wayne (IND) signs a 4-year deal worth $16.5 million.

Stage 5
QB Kerry Collins (ARI) signs a 2-year deal worth $4.0 million.

Stage 6
G Cameron Spikes resigns a 3-year deal worth $4.75 million.

Stage 7
TE Desmond Clark resigns a 1-year deal worth $900 thousand.

Stage 10
WR Martay Jenkins signs a 1-year deal worth $730 thousand with Oakland.

Other Big Signings
Bad news, Kurt Warner signs a 4-year deal worth $89 million with the Chicago Bears. He turned down much bigger offers, including a huge 5-year deal worth $125 million from San Diego.

C Jeff Saturday signs a 5-year deal worth $29 million with Cincinnati.
C Jeff Faine signs a 1-year deal worth $770 thousand with Arizona, a good deal for them!
LB Ray Lewis signs a 2-year deal worth just over $6 million with Jacksonville.

[Balldog]

2006 Offseason, NFL Draft

Just before the draft Washington trades the #1 pick to Dallas for far less than what we offered them. Washington receives a 2nd Round pick this year plus a 2nd and 7th Round pick next year. We offered this year's first and next year's first, plus LB Polley.

1) Dallas selects DeAngelo Williams, RB from Memphis.
A very solid pick, they needed a lot of help in the running game.

2) Tampa selects Ernie Sims, LB from Florida State.
Most experts had him as the #1 player by a land slide.

3) Houston selects Charlie Whitehurst, QB from Clemson.
He had a great combine, we'll see if he lives up to the hype. The David Carr era could be over soon.

4) Baltimore selects Omar Jacobs, QB from Bowling Green.
Interesting pick here but they need a franchise QB, is he the guy??

We tried to move up to #5 but New Orleans is trying to rape us.

5) New Orleans select D'Brickashaw Ferguson, T from Virginia.
A great pick, fills a need and they get an elite T.

6) Jacksonville selects Leon Washington, RB from Florida State.
Can't blame them with this pick, he's a quality back.

7) Seattle selects Bennie Brazell, WR from LSU.
Another combine guy, how well he will do is up in the air. This is a reach in my opinion. BUT I love it cause our guy is still there!

8) Detroit selects Haloti Ngata, DT from Oregon.
We couldn't get to the pedestal fast enough, our scouts love this guy and think he will make up for the loss of Shaun Rogers!

9) Pittsburgh selects Kyle Williams, DT from LSU.
It seems he and Ngata were both neck and neck for the top DT.

10) Dallas selects Brad Smith, WR from Missouri.
Not a bad pick, but we had a couple other WR rated higher.

11) Atlanta selects Cortland Finnegan, CB from Samford.
A big time man to man shut down corner.

12) Chicago selects Jerious Norwood, RB from Mississippi State.
Norwood will team up with Tatum Bell for an explosive backfield, especially now that they have a QB.

13) San Diego selects A.J. Hawk, LB from Ohio State.
Many experts had Hawk going in the top 10, he will be a nice addition to the Chargers defense.

14) Denver selects Marcus Vick, QB from Virginia Tech.
Broncos go out on a limb hoping to hit gold.

15) Carolina selects DonTrell Moore, RB from New Mexico State.
Moore should give the Panthers some punch in the backfield.

16) Dallas selects Anthony Smith, S from Syracuse.
Smith should make an immediate impact for the Cowboys.

17) New York (N) selects Johnathan Joseph, CB from South Carolina.
Joseph is able to cover in any type of coverage, a solid pick here.

18) San Francisco selects Dusty Dvoracek, DT from Oklahoma.
Dvoracek was top 10 on some people's boards but he slipped quite a bit.

19) New England selects Laurence Maroney, RB from Minnesota.
Patriots are looking to add weapons for Brady, Maroney is certainly capable.

20) Arizona selects Terrence Whitehead, RB from Oregon.
Interesting pick here, there were a couple running backs better than Whitehead.

21) Kansas City selects Tim McGarigle, LB from Northwestern.
Another reach, he has quite a bit of skill though. His only knock is play diagnosis.

22) New York (A) selects Cedric Griffin, CB from Texas.
He had an impressive combine, it looks like the Jets were suckered.

23) Cleveland selects Maurice Jones-Drew, RB from UCLA.
The back Arizona should've picked at 20, MJD should take the Browns to the next level.

24) St. Louis selects Melvin Oliver, DE from LSU.
Not a bad pick here, he's got starter potential.

25) Green Bay selects Andrew Whitworth, T from LSU.
Packers got a steal here, he's not much less talented than Ferguson.

26) Philadelphia selects Darrell Hackney, QB from UAB.
What does this mean for McNabb's future?

27) Cincinnati selects Matt Leinart, QB from USC.
A big time reach here by the Bengals.

28) Tennessee selects Donte Whitner, S from Ohio State.
A nice pick by the Titans, Whitner has Top 10 talent.

29) Miami selects Daryn Colledge, G from Boise State.
Surprises to see Colledge fall this far, he's got All-Pro potential.

30) Buffalo selects Manny Lawson, LB from NC State.
A nice value pick at 30, Lawson could be special some day.

31) Indianapolis selects Brad Butler, T from Virginia.
Another solid pick, Butler could make an immediate impact.

32) Minnesota selects Ashton Youboty, CB from Ohio State.
Vikings pick up a starting corner, adding to an already tough defense.

Other notable picks....

2.8) Pittsburgh selects Vernon Davis, TE from Maryland.
2.9) Oakland selects Joseph Addai, RB from LSU.
2.15) Chicago selects Brandon Marshall, WR from Central Florida.
2.19) Arizona selects Vince Young, QB from Texas.
3.14) Chicago selects Marques Colston, WR from Hofstra.

Other Lions' picks....
2.10) Detroit selects Mario Williams, DE from NC State.
3.9) Detroit selects Reggie Bush, RB from USC.
4.8) Detroit selects Antonio Cromartie, CB from Florida State.
5.10) Detroit selects Jay Cutler, QB from Vanderbilt.
6.9) Detroit selects Rashad Butler, T from Miami (FL).
7.8) Detroit selects Lendale White, RB from USC.

[Balldog]

2006 Offseason, Holdouts

S Cory Hall announces he will holdout unless he receives a new contract. Hall is requesting a 4-year deal worth $13.8 million. I think he has a legitimate complaint about his current deal. We offer Hall exactly what he wants and move on.

QB Eli Manning announces he will holdout unless he receives a new contract. Manning is requesting a 6-year deal worth $23 million, think he is pissed we drafted Cutler?

I'm seriously considering telling Manning to F-off. Cutler looks to be the real deal at this point.

DT Haloti Ngata will hold out until training camp.

All the other rookies sign.

Here are their current ratings.

DT Haloti Ngata - 39/48
DE Mario Williams - 31/64
RB Reggie Bush - 27/38
CB Antonio Cromartie - 21/39
QB Jay Cutler - 15/46
T Rashad Butler - 20/32
RB Lendale White - 33/60

A little disappointed with Ngata but we make up for it with Williams. Our draft is rated an "A".

[Balldog]

2006 Offseason, Late Free Agency

We give in a little for Eli Manning, he signs a 2-year deal worth $10 million. We refused to sign him for 6 years just yet.

Week 1
P Hunter Smith (IND) signs a 4-year deal worth $6.6 million.
This means we will cut Kyle Richardson.

Week 2
WR Jacquez Green resigns a 1-year deal worth $700 thousand.




Haloti Ngata signs a 5-year deal worth $20.5 million. He will report to training camp.

[Balldog]

2006 Training Camp and Preseason

We open training camp by trading LB Rocky Calmus to Baltimore for their 6th round pick in the 2007 Draft.

We also trade LB Tommy Polley to Kansas City for their 5th round pick in the 2007 Draft.


Front Office Football 2007
Detroit Lions Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Collins, Kerry 9 QB 12 33 33 2 yrs
Manning, Eli 10 QB 3 33 33 2 yrs
Harrington, Joey 12 QB 5 25 31 3 yrs
Cutler, Jay 16 QB 1 20 45 3 yrs
Jackson, Steven 26 RB 3 49 49 3 yrs
White, Lendale 39 RB 1 44 60 3 yrs
Staley, Duce 46 RB 10 36 36 1 yr.
Bush, Reggie 42 RB 1 31 42 4 yrs
Sproles, Darren 37 RB 2 29 38 2 yrs
Evans, Heath 21 FB 6 61 61 4 yrs
Schlesinger, Cory 23 FB 12 25 25 3 yrs
Clark, Desmond 86 TE 8 47 47 1 yr.
Williams, Roland 80 TE 9 46 46 3 yrs
Ricks, Mikhael 83 TE 9 32 32 1 yr.
McCareins, Justin 85 FL 6 53 53 2 yrs
Green, Jacquez 82 FL 9 36 36 1 yr.
Wayne, Reggie 84 SE 6 55 55 4 yrs
Fitzgerald, Larry 3 SE 3 52 52 1 yr.
Pathon, Jerome 89 SE 9 33 33 1 yr.
Raiola, Dominic 56 C 6 60 60 2 yrs
Peters, Scott 55 C 5 42 55 2 yrs
Spikes, Cameron 75 LG 8 50 50 3 yrs
McDougle, Stockar 67 RG 7 51 51 2 yrs
Holland, Montrae 63 RG 4 41 41 3 yrs
Backus, Jeff 79 LT 6 64 64 1 yr.
Gross, Jordan 61 LT 4 61 61 1 yr.
Dockery, Derrick 62 RT 4 24 36 1 yr.
Butler, Rashad 69 RT 1 23 32 3 yrs
Smith, Hunter 18 P 8 81 81 4 yrs
Hanson, Jason 11 K 15 49 49 3 yrs
Idonije, Israel 95 LDE 3 36 44 2 yrs
Williams, Mario 78 LDE 1 35 64 4 yrs
Okeafor, Chike 77 LDE 8 28 28 1 yr.
Edwards, Kalima 76 RDE 5 44 52 1 yr.
Tuck, Justin 71 RDE 2 26 31 3 yrs
De Vries, Jared 90 RDE 8 25 25 3 yrs
Johnson, Tank 70 LDT 3 44 44 1 yr.
Pickett, Ryan 72 LDT 6 38 38 2 yrs
Williams, Kevin 74 RDT 4 58 58 5 yrs
Ngata, Haloti 98 RDT 1 43 52 5 yrs
Jones, Fred 52 SILB 7 44 44 1 yr.
Kriewaldt, Clint 94 SILB 8 40 40 1 yr.
Peterson, Mike 58 MLB 8 80 80 1 yr.
Ware, Demarcus 96 SLB 2 54 54 3 yrs
Wayne, Nate 51 SLB 9 52 52 2 yrs
Curry, Donte 97 SLB 6 40 40 3 yrs
Claiborne, Chris 59 WLB 8 63 63 3 yrs
Phillips, Shaun 91 WLB 3 46 46 1 yr.
Goodman, Andre 43 LCB 5 52 52 3 yrs
Samuel, Asante 40 LCB 4 46 46 1 yr.
Cromartie, Antonio 48 LCB 1 25 40 4 yrs
Fisher, Travis 49 RCB 5 48 48 2 yrs
Hobbs, Ellis 47 RCB 2 29 49 3 yrs
Hall, Cory 31 SS 8 59 59 4 yrs
McCree, Marlon 35 FS 6 53 53 1 yr.
Jennings, Brandon 41 FS 7 40 40 1 yr.

$$ - player is suspended, ## - player is inactive,
** = player is injured, %% - player is on IR.

Players Under Contract: 56
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 56

Salary Cap: $110,700,000
Cap Room: $25,260,000
Maximum for New Player: $25,740,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $1,270,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $1,800,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $80,880,000

Preseason Games
Miami 16, Detroit 13
San Diego 29, Detroit 13
New England 20, Detroit 13
Oakland 24, Detroit 14

Steven Jackson had a huge preseason, averaging over 7 yards per carry. We will be without Kevin Williams for up to 2 weeks, he is out with a strained deltoid muscle.

Roster Cuts
QB Joey Harrington
RB Duce Staley
FB Cory Schlesinger

[DeToxRox]

NGATA!

Awesome pick, and Super Mario looks like a steal. The DL should be a force.

[Balldog]

2006 Season, Week 1
Lions (0-0) at Bears (0-0)
* Bears are favored by 7.

No team improved more than the Bears this offseason, with their biggest addition being 3-time league MVP Kurt Warner. This will be one of the league's most explosive offenses with RB Tatum Bell, RB Jerious Norwood, WR Roy Williams, WR Brandon Marshall, WR Chris Henry and WR Marques Colston. Their defense is very good too, they are led by LB Roosevelt Colvin, LB Brian Urlacher, and S Mike Brown. I'll be shocked if these guys don't win the Super Bowl.

1st Quarter

We get the ball first and a 43-yard pass from Manning to Larry Fitzgerald on 3rd and 24 sets up a 40-yard field goal by Jason Hanson. Our defense holds them to two three and outs before they get their first 1st down of the game as the quarter ends.

Lions 3, Bears 0

2nd Quarter

Our defense keeps them from moving across midfield and forces a punt. Our offense is struggling just as bad though. Finally Warner fines something, he hits Henry for a 22-yard gain then later hits Colston for a 25-yard gain that sets up 4-yard touchdown pass from Warner to FB Andrew Pinnock. We get the ball back and start a nice drive of our own before Desmond Clark fumbles and they recover at their 30 at the two minute warning. Five plays later Warner hits Roy Williams for an 18-yard touchdown just before the half ends.

Bears 14, Lions 3

3rd Quarter

They convert on a few 3rd and longs to start the half before settling for a 40-yard field goal by Mike Vanderjagt. Finally Manning and company get on the board again, Manning hits Fitzgerald for a 22-yard gain setting up a 31-yard field goal by Hanson. On the first play of their next drive Warner hits TE Bryan Fletcher for 10 yards but he breaks a tackle and is off to the races, he scores on a 70-yard touchdown.

Bears 24, Lions 6

4th Quarter

We are able to get on the board again to start the quarter but settle for another field goal, this time Hanson hits from 49 yards. We force a punt on their next possession and Nate Wayne blocks the punt giving us the ball at their 28. We aren't able to do anything and settle for a 40-yard field goal by Hanson. We force a punt on their next possession but Manning is intercepted by S Lamont Thompson at our 41 and he returns it to our 18. They add a 30-yard field goal. We finally get in the end zone with 1:30 left, Manning hit Justin McCareins for a 19-yard score to cut their lead to 27-19. We recover the onside kick but Manning promptly is intercepted by Thompson again.

Bears 27, Lions 19

They got up on us early and took Steven Jackson and Lendale White out of the game, they combined for 58 yards on 14 carries. Manning was 25 of 41 for 266 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. His favorite target was McCareins, he had 6 receptions for 70 yards. Mario Williams had a sack in his debut. Warner ended up 22 of 33 for 266 yards with 3 touchdowns.

Kevin Williams will be available to play next week, let see how he effects our defense. No one else is listed on the injury report after the game.

Other Scores
Falcons 19, Panthers 7
Bengals 34, Ravens 14
Steelers 31, Browns 21
Jaguars 20, Colts 17
Broncos 17, Chiefs 3
Bills 27, Dolphins 17
Packers 23, Vikings 20
Patriots 27, Jets 3
Giants 27, Cowboys 0
Eagles 26, Redskins 24
Chargers 15, Raiders 10
Cardinals 26, Seahawks 15
Rams 10, 49ers 6
Buccanears 24, Saints 12
Texans 30, Titans 7

Players of the Week
Drew Bledsoe, BUF (28 for 36, 282 yards, 3 touchdowns)
Richard Seymour, NE (5 tackles, 3 sacks)

ESPN Power Ratings
1. Bears (1-0)
2. Patriots (1-0)
3. Eagles (1-0)
4. Lions (0-1)
5. Colts (0-1)
6. Steelers (1-0)
7. Redskins (0-1)
8. Panthers (0-1)
9. Dolphins (0-1)
10. Cardinals (1-0)