Roar of the Lions hosts the Lions Congregation, a weekly roundtable featuring those of us in the Lions blogosphere answering questions supplied by both Joshua (aka DetFan1979) and readers of the congregation. If all goes well, the Q & A goes live every Friday evening. I'll post a link to this week's post when it goes live.

This week: The Lions Congregation pick their favorite game and plays of the 2011 season. Mine are as follows...

What was your favorite game of the season to watch?

I could say it was the win over the Chiefs, as I suddenly realized I was watching a playoff contender destroy a 2010 playoff team. I was tempted to say the victory over the Broncos in Denver, just because of the destruction of TEBOW. I could go with one of the ridiculous comeback wins over the Vikings, Cowboys, Panthers and Raiders, and it wouldn't raise anyone's eyebrows.

But I have to go with the victory over the Chargers, for one reason only. The win clinched a spot in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years (though it felt more like 12 decades). The Lions were at home, the offense was clicking, Matthew Stafford was playing the elite QB we all hoped he'd become, the defense had been playing better (for a couple of weeks, anyway) and no one wanted to see them have to win in Green Bay in order to make the playoffs. So going into the game it just felt as if the result was fait accompli. The Lions were going to win. No doubt about it.

Despite the Chargers having a talented team, the game wasn't really in question. The Lions beat the Bolts 38-10, and the team got to celebrate with a formerly suffering, now deliriously happy, fan base. All was well in the world for a few hours.

You cannot ask from more than that from a victory.

What were your 3 favorite plays of the season?

3.  Late in the Chargers win, Cliff Avril picked off Phillip Rivers and strolled into the end zone from 4 yards out for spectacular pick 6. The leaping, one-handed interception set off a huge celebration, as the score essentially cliched a playoff spot.

2.  My favorite offensive play of the season was Calvin Johnson catching a 6-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford with 39 seconds left against the Raiders, finishing off a beyond clutch 98-yard drive. The hopes and dreams of a playoff season were on the line, and the Lions came through in a way we couldn't have imagined a few years ago. All I could do was channel Vin Scully and say, "I can't believe what I just saw!"

1. This is my favorite play of the season, period. The Lions are in Oakland, up by one with under 0:20 left. The Raiders are driving, kicker Sebastian Janikowski is warming up his All-Pro leg on the sidelines. Carson Palmer drops back to pass, and every fan on the planet thinks the Raiders will drive deep enough into Lions' territory to give Janikowski a very reasonable shot at a game winning field goal. In Jankowski's case, anything within 55 yards can be considered reasonable.

But Avril roars in from left end, drops an axe handle on the quarterback (nearly forcing a fumble) and sacks Palmer with 0:13 on the clock. The Raiders run one more play (an incomplete sideline pass) and ultimately settle for a 65 yard field goal attempt, which Ndamukong Suh blocks. Lions win, have a 9-5 record and get an inside track on a playoff spot!

If Avril doesn't sack Palmer, all sort of bad things happen. Janikowski is likely trying a kick that's at least 10 yards shorter. He doesn't have to drill the ball low to get max distance, making it that much harder to block. With that in mind, odds are he makes the kick, beating the Lions. How does the season plays out if the Lions don't win the game? I'm thinking the season just may have ended badly.

But it didn't, much in thanks Avril's game saving sack.

If you'd like to submit a question, please send it to: lionscongregation@yahoo.com

As always, to read what the rest of the Lions blogosphere has to say, head over to Roar of the Lions!

Mel Kiper, the original NFL draftnik, now ESPN mouthpiece, has posted his first 2012 mock draft.

Before I go forward, let me remind you I hate mock drafts (even more so when they are posted in January insetead of April), and find the heavily coiffed Kiper more of a used car salesman type and master self-promoter than "NFL expert." But when he talks draft, for better or worse, people listen (mostly due to his ESPN bully pulpit). Meaning I have to write about him, even if I find the whole "draftnik" thing incomprehensible.

I'm an EXPERT on judging 20 year old kids.

As always, Kiper's stuff is on ESPN Insider (aka the only way ESPN can to force readers to subscribe to their eye blisteringly bad magazine). So who does Kiper have the Lions selecting with the 23rd overall pick?

Zach Brown, LB, North Carolina

Detroit again will go into the 2012 season with perhaps the best front four in the NFL. Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz calculated well that the secondary would make strides after being such a weakness in previous seasons. Where the Lions could use help is at linebacker, and Brown would be a good fit. Brown has great instincts as a rangy tackler, and he has a lot of speed and can run with tight ends. I certainly can see the Lions looking for help on the offensive line at this spot, but if a top tackle doesn't fall to them here, Brown makes sense.

Uh...whatever.

Please remember Kiper's mock is posted before any of the college all-star games, the NFL combine, college pro day workouts, possible injuries and his changing his mind because. well, he's "MEL KIPER, DRAFT EXPERT."

Word to the wise; there's been 2 ESPN mocks, 2 different players projected to be selected on different sides of the ball (Kiper protege Todd McShay has the Lions taking a running back). A consensus, this is not.

Also keep in mind Lions GM Martin Mayhew is on record saying he will continue to draft the best player available, regardless of position...which pretty much blows what Kiper and McShay have to say 3 months before the draft out of the water. 

How silly has this draftnik crap become? On Twitter, Dave Birkett, the Freep's Lions beat writer, posted this gem from today's Kiper teleconfrence:

Really? A career quarterback who has never played wide receiver is the highest rated player at the positon? OK...

If Robinson does end up a wide out (and I admit it is a likely scenario, being his talents don't fit the NFL QB norm), it's not going to happen untill after the end of the 2012 season, as he's Michigan's best damn QB and a Heisman candidate as well. Regardless, Kiper believes Robinson is going to be a 1st round pick, as you would expect of the highest rated player at a skill position...again, a position he has NEVER played at a high level.

That strategy sure worked out well for the Panthers and Matt Jones, didn't it?

This is a non NFL/Detroit Lions post, but please bear with me.

You may have noticed I create a ton of internet content by my involvement with my own site, TWFE, along with Bless You Boys, The Bless You Boys Podcast and The Knee Jerks Podcast. Which is why the ongoing push by Congress to enact SOPA (Stop Internet Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) legislation scares the bejebus out of me.

Is piracy a problem? Yes, but a small one.

My writing has been used without my permission in the past, and will be in the future. It's the price of doing business on the internet. But I don't think I've lost much, if any, revenue from it. I think of it this way. The more my content gets in front of people, the more readers and listeners I ultimately get.

All of which is why I'm not convinced by the likes of the MPAA and RIAA and their ridiculous claims piracy has cost them untold billions upon billions in revenue. My guess is they pull these numbers out of their asses in order to protect what are obviously outmoded business models. You give people what they want, at a reasonable price, and make it easy to get...they'll buy it.

SOPA and PIPA are what early 20th century buggy manufacturers would have wanted to stop the proliferation of the automobile. It's simple. If you don't move forward, refuse to innovate, it's not the pirate's fault if you die.

Using SOPA and PIPA to stop online piracy is the equivalent of using a chainsaw when a small scalpel would be appropriate. Chainsaw, Hell. It's the nuclear option. It's an Atomic bomb when it comes to the internet and world wide web. And the vast majority of career politicians who have no idea of how the web works (or even what it is) are more than happy to set the detonator...which will be pushed by big corporations, to their immense benefit.

There are already laws in effect to handle copyright infringement. The most well known being the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which also has major issues, but is actually the lesser of evils). At least the DMCA doesn't dodge a little thing called due process, which SOPA and PIPA will completely ignore.

We need to stop big media from writing clueless legislation which will destroy the world wide web. Contact your Congress critters and tell them to make themselves useful by creating legislation to help with the deficit/jobs/economy/health care/foreign policy/name your cause, anything other than kowtowing to big corporations trying to protect their 1950's business model.

For more information on the evils of SOPA and PIPA, check out the following links: Wikipedia, Google, Ars Technica, Reddit.

They will give all the information you need as to the evil of SOPA/PIPA and links on how to contact your reps in DC. You'll be glad you did.

Despite throwing for 5038 yards and 41 touchdowns, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford wasn't named All-Pro or even to the Pro Bowl. The best he could do was being named a lowly Pro Bowl 3rd alternate. (Yet the NFL media wonder why Lions fans carry an eternal grudge) To long suffering Detroit fans, Stafford's snub felt like a kick in the nuts, showing a lack of respect for his historic accomplishment.

For Stafford to receive any official recognition for his preformance in 2011, the one award with little context as to why it's awarded (usually because you were either injured, sucked or in the case of Michael Vick, in prison, the previous season) is the best we can expect:

Via Phillip Zaroo of Mlive:

Stafford's efforts in leading the Lions to their first NFL playoff berth in 12 years – following two seasons in which injuries sidelined him for 19 of the team's 32 games – earned him the Pro Football Weekly/Pro Football Writers Association's comeback player of the year award.

The NFL-recognized AP comeback player of the year award will be announced on February 4, the day before Super Bowl XLVI.

Comeback player of the year? Well, it's...something. An award one hopes Stafford never wins again.

I'd say the odds Stafford will win the NFL's "official" comeback player of the year award is pretty damn good. Seems appropriate to get a Miss Congeniality type award for only having the 5th best passing yardage season in NFL history.

In today's Detroit Free Press, the Freep's resident contrarian hack for pay, Drew Sharp, gave his opinion on the contract status of the Lions' most talented player, wide receiver Calvin Johnson. He declares the Lions need not pay Megatron because wide outs are easily replaceable in comparison to other positions.

This is the example Sharp uses to defend his opinion:

Tim Tebow received all the hurrahs and hosannas for his one-play, one-pass overtime victory against Pittsburgh last weekend, but it was Demaryius Thomas who turned a short crossing route into an 80-yard touchdown because he was big and strong enough to stiff-arm himself free from a defensive back and break a tackle. And fast enough to motor down the sideline before anybody could catch him.

Never heard of Demaryius Thomas?

He was a stud receiver at Georgia Tech who immediately filled the void of another stud Yellow Jackets receiver ... Calvin Johnson.

Let's take a quick look at Thomas and Johnson over their first 2 seasons.

(FYI: I know we aren't talking aout Thomas being a direct replacement, but I'm trying to make a point as to how hard replacing a once in a generation talent would be, so bear with me)

Thomas has yet to play a full season due to various injuries, including a torn Achilles tendon. In Johnson's first 2 seasons, he missed 1 game. 

In those seasons, both players had mediocre or worse quarterbacks throwing to them, Thomas had Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow; Johnson had Jon Kitna, Daunte Culpepper and Dan Orlovsky. Thomas' numbers reflect it, Megatron overcame them.

Thomas has yet to lead the league in anything. Megatron led the NFL in TD catches in his 2nd season. 

Thomas' first 2 seasons have been washouts, more so considering his 1st round draft status of 22nd overall. Johnson more than lived up 2nd overall his draft status and then some, breaking out in his second season.

With preliminaries out of the way, let's look at the hard numbers. 

Demaryius Thomas:

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/15/2012.

Calvin Johnson:

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/15/2012.

In 2 seasons with Denver, Thomas generated 32 more yards from scrimmage than Megatron did in 1 as a raw rookie. Of course, the next 2 seasons solidified Johnson's status as a star and Pro Bowler. In 2011 Johnson made the leap to near unanimous All-Pro status. 

Thomas, regardless of Sharp's hyperbole, is still an unproven work in progress. One big playoff game does not a Megatron replacement make. Thomas may end up a star, or be little more than a journeyman...but he'll never be mentioned in the same realm of Calvin Johnson. As would any player the Lions used to take Johnson's roster spot...as you cannot actually replace Megatron and his production.

Despite numbers to the contrary (let alone the eyeball test), Sharp believes (or he's just trolling for page hits, you never can tell with Sharp) the Lions could easily replace a player who is on track for a Hall of Fame career. Using Sharp's logic, the Redskins' Timmy Smith, who holds the Super Bowl single game rushing record (204 yards, SB XXII), would have been an able replacement for Barry Sanders.

Going by the numbers, I can only come to one conclusion...

Roar of the Lions hosts the Lions Congregation, a weekly roundtable featuring those of us in the Lions blogosphere answering questions supplied by both Joshua (aka DetFan1979) and readers of the congregation. If all goes well, the Q & A goes live every Friday evening. I'll post a link to this week's post when it goes live.

This week: Post playoff thoughts

1. While many have questioned various aspects of coaching in the game, how about Jim Schwartz and his non-challenges? Specifically, the egregious spot on 3rd and 11, as well as whether Brees was stopped by forward progress since he pulled the ball back on his own - and fumbled it while doing so to boot. Should he have challenged either or both of these?

I'm not going to get on Schwartz's case over the use/non-use of challenges. Why? Because the whole damn replay system is broken. Hell, the rules are broken to the point where I don't know what is or isn't a fumble or a touchdown any more.

How an NFL head coach can and can't use challenges is ridiculous. A play called a touchdown receives an automatic booth review. If the same play isn't called a touchdown, it can't be reviewed without a challenge. Uh...WHAT? That is rule making at it's most, well, idiotic.

NFL coaches shouldn't have to depend upon the whims of the TV networks in order to get a good enough view to determine if a challenge is a good idea. And that's just what happened, especially on the worst spot ever. The refs kept the game moving, not allowing Schwartz time to make an informed decision...or even an educated guess.

Say the play in question was the Saints getting a 1st down, but Schwartz challenging what was a correct spot despite not having concrete evidence to the contrary. We'd be getting out the torches and pitchforks. Do you really want the head coach in a playoff game making half-assed challenges?

Anyone saying Schwartz should have thrown the challenge flag isn't being fair. On the 2 plays mentioned, Schwartz was caught between a rock and a hard place. The rock being a specious challenge system and the hard place incompetent refereeing.

2. How much of an impact do you feel the "inadvertent whistle" negating a fumble return TD was both on the tone and final outcome of the game?

When the play first happened, I was damned upset. How the Saints would have played when 21-7 down would have differed compared to 14-7. The Saints would have been back on their heels. But thinking about it, I don't think the Lions win even if they were given the TD. The Saints are that damn good. The score would have looked a little better in the history books, nothing more.

If I'm going to throw blame around (and why the Hell not?), once again fingers must be pointed at incompetent refereeing. Why the whistle was blown is beyond me. You would think referees would not blow a play dead if there is any chance the ball could still be in play. In this case, it was cut and dry. There was a very good possibility the ball was live. Yet the refs still blew it...the whistle and the ruling.

3. Who is your 2011 Lions MVP - Stafford, Johnson or Tulloch?

Stephen Tulloch is unquestionably the defensive MVP. The Lions best get him signed to a multi-year deal, post haste. But I digress...

To answer the question; as good as Megatron was, and he was great, Matthew Stafford was better.

Yes, Calvin Johnson's numbers were All-Pro worthy. But Stafford's numbers were at historic levels. Levels we couldn't have imagined, let alone seen, as Lions fans. Stafford shattered every Lions' single season passing record. He became only the 4th quarterback in NFL history to throw for more than 5000 yards. Don't forget leading 4 comebacks from 13 or more points down, something which has never been done in NFL history.

The Lions made the playoffs because Stafford played at an elite level. Period. If he doesn't, the Lions aren't in New Orleans last weekend.

Give Matthew Stafford the team MVP.

If you'd like to submit a question, please send it to: lionscongregation@yahoo.com

Head over to Roar of the Lions every week to see what the rest of the Lions blogosphere has to say!

Today, Lions' General Manager Martin Mayhew announced there would be no changes in the coaching staff for 2012. 

Via Dave Birkett of the Freep:

General manager Martin Mayhew said today the Detroit Lions have re-signed all three of their coordinators: Scott Linehan, Gunther Cunningham and Danny Crossman.

Mayhew went on to add:

With Linehan (offense), Cunningham (defense) and Crossman (special teams) back on board, Mayhew said the organization is "working on the rest of our assistant coaches' contracts right now" and will start work on an extension for head coach Jim Schwartz "in the next couple of weeks or so."

The short version of my response: Good!

After the defensive debacles in week 17 and in the wild card round, there were calls for the Lions to let go their resident Abe Simpson, noted crank and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham. Of course, most of those cries were coming from Mlive and callers to the local sports talk radio stations, so take them with a Gibralter sized rock of salt. 

I have 2 reasons why firing Cunningham would be a mistake.

1. It's absurd firing a coach after making the playoffs (unless there is some sort of personality conflict, and there isn't any in Detroit).
2. I'd miss Gunther's weekly tirades to the media about whatever is grinding his gears.

As long as Mayhew and Schwartz continue to upgrade the roster, any problems fans have with Gunther's schemes should go away.

But think about it. Do you really think Gunther is completely to blame for the late season flame-out? Fans knew going into the season the Lions' defense could not afford injuries due to a lack of depth, let alone it wasn't massively talented in the first place. We aren't talking Steel Curtain or Purple People Eaters when discussing the Lions' defense. Hell, after years of Lions' defenses impersonating sieves, all fans wanted was league average...and for most of the season, that's what fans got.

Despite the injury and talent issues, facing pass first, last and always offenses in a score-happy league, the defense was good enough to get the Lions into the playoffs. Unfortunately, the defense was stretched thin and all but gassed due to injury by the end of the season. Firing Gunther Cunningham because he lacked players is not how you run a model NFL franchise.

All this talk of firing assistants beings back bad memories. Older fans remember the changing of coordinators was an annual event during the Wayne Fontes era. The Lions played coordinator bingo yearly...only to watch other teams cry out BINGO!

Coordinator bingo reached it's nadir during Fontes' tenure. Fontes changed at least 1 coordinator every season from 1991-1996. The Lions needed a revolving door, and fans needed a program, just to keep track of Fontes' coaching staffs.

1989:
Record: 7-9
Offensive Coordinator: Mouse Davis
Defensive Coordinator: Woody Widenhofer

1990:
Record: 6-10
Offensive Coordinator: Mouse Davis
Defensive Coordinator: Woody Widenhofer

1991:
Record:12-4
Offensive Coordinator: Dave Levy
Defensive Coordinator: Woody Widenhofer

1992:
Record: 5-11
Offensive Coordinator: Dan Henning
Defensive Coordinator: Woody Widenhofer

1993:
Record: 10-6
Offensive Coordinator: Dan Henning and Dave Levy
Defensive Coordinator: Hank Bullough

1994:
Record: 9-7
Offensive Coordinator: Dave Levy
Defensive Coordinator: Herb Paterra

1995:
Record: 10-6
Offensive Coordinator: Tom Moore
Defensive Coordinator: Herb Paterra

1996:
Record: 5-11
Offensive Coordinator: Tom Moore
Defensive Coordinator: Jim Eddy

That's 5 offensive coordinators and 4 defensive coordinators in 8 seasons. My public school math tells me defensive coordinators lasted an average of 2 years under Fotnes, while their offensive counterparts barely had time to learn how to pronounce "Gratiot" correctly before moving on, keeping their position for 1.6 years on average.

The winningest and losingest coach in Lions history had a knack for self-preservation. He would use his coaches as sacrificial lambs in order to save his job. He'd sucker William Clay Ford into the belief the new coordinator would make the difference, pushing the Lions over the top. That he was allowed to do so in 6 consecutive seasons says just as much about Ford as it does Fontes, and it's not complimentary.

Firing any coach after improving your record by 4 wins and making the playoffs only 3 years after the infamous 0-16 season would be a Wayne Fontes-like thing to do.

And do you really want Jim Schwartz emulating Fontes?

Remember, coaching continuity on winning team is a GOOD thing.

If Lions fans had just one reason to watch the worst All-Star game in sports...the reason is not going to be in attendance.

Via ESPN:

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White will replace Detroit's Calvin Johnson in the Pro Bowl, the NFL announced Wednesday.

Johnson, an All-Pro selection for the second straight season, led the league in receiving yards (1,681) but withdrew because of an injury.

White, who led the Falcons with 100 catches for 1,296 yards and eight touchdowns, will be making his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl appearance.

No Lions in the Pro Bowl? Seems like old times...

No word as of yet as to why Megatron is bowing out. It must be due to a nagging injury, as the NFL would be loathe to let a player miss the game for any other reason.

UPDATE: Johnson is dealing with a nagging injury, accoridng to the Freep's Dave Birkett:

Johnson did not practice most of the last two weeks, because of an Achilles tendon injury. He sat out the final few plays of the Lions’ playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints on Saturday after the injury flared up. The same injury will keep him out of the game.

With Matthew Stafford being a 3rd alternate (I still have trouble wrapping my head around the idiocy), the odds any Lion will be on the Pro Bowl roster are less than minuscule. 

I know, I know. No one cares about or bothers to watch the Pro Bowl. It's the worst All-Star game imaginable. But it's all about respect...and the Lions got next to none from the rest of the NFL, regardless of their making the playoffs.

You get mainstream media articles from "HUGE" Bill Simonson spewing incomprehensible tripe. For his latest trip into the absurd, see:

Why Detroit Lions, Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers will win championships in 2012-13

Simonson also predicts the Wolverines and Spartans will share the Big 10 basketball title, the Wolverines will finish 10-2, the Spartans 9-3, one of them winning the Big 10 and going to the Rose Bowl.

The scary part? I'm sure he is serious...

Uh...WHAT? Are we being trolled?

As soon as I read the headline, I knew EXACTLY who wrote it, and it would be painful to read. I was right on all counts. The late, great Killer Kowalski, the Lions beat writer who damn near singlehandedly made Mlive what it is today (for better or worse), has to be spinning in his grave seeing his online legacy stained by the likes of Simonson.

On Twitter, one of my blogging friends, Rob of Bless You Boys and Detroit4Lyfe, couldn't have put it any better in regard to Simonson's weekly gathering of the idiots:

One thing I learned eons ago is to never post anything online when you're angry. Odds are, you'll write something you'll live to regret.

A member of the Detroit Lions obviously hadn't learned that lesson yet. This is a tweet from Lions' corner Aaron Berry in reply to some upset Lions fans.

First off, I can't emphasize enough just how stupid it is for fans to troll players over social media after a tough loss. Or to troll anyone, period. It's a waste of everyone's time. Get a LIFE.

But Berry didn't have the best of evenings. Neither did his teammates on defense, allowing an NFL playoff record 636 total yards to the Saints. Arguing with and insulting dumb ass fans isn't going to change things. It sure as Hell isn't going to change the minds of those idiots. Why lower yourself to their level?

At least Berry was the bigger man, and apologized.  He also deleted the nasty tweet.

The lesson for tonight: There are no winners when you argue on the internet.