GAME INFORMATION

Kickoff: 1 p.m. EDT, Sunday, November 1

Stadium: Ford Field

Television: FOX (Blacked out locally, damn you Goodell!)

Play-By-Play: Ron Pitts

Color: John Lynch

Lions Radio Network Flagship: WXYT-FM, 97.1 FM The Ticket

Play-By-Play: Dan Miller

Color: Jim Brandstatter

Sidelines: Tony Ortiz

2009 Records: Lions, 1-5; Rams, 0-7

Last Week: Indianapolis 42 - Rams 6, Lions 1 - Bye 0

Line: Lions -4, over/under 43.5

Last meeting: 2006, Rams 41 - Lions 34

Series: Rams 41 - Lions 37 - Ties 1

Interesting factoids:

Lions: As of October 27, the Lions have 31 new players (58.5%) who were not on the Lions roster at any point during the 2008 season. When Detroit faced Green Bay, 12 starters (8 on defense, 4 on offense) were not on the team’s roster at any point during the 2008 season. Those 14 starters represent 63.6 of the team’s starting lineup. Roster turnover, indeed.

Rams: Against the Colts, Steven Jackson rushed for a season-high 134 yards on 23 carries.  Jackson gained 95 yards in the third quarter, the most in a single quarter in his career.  The game was Jackson’s third 100 yard game of the season and the 19th of his career. Jackson ranks third in the NFLin rushing with 635 yards and is second in the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 804 total yards. This does not bode well for the Lions, and their woebegone defensive line.

Just the stats, please:

What to watch: All eyes are on Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. They play, I like the Lions chances against the winless Rams. For some reason, be it act of God, a traffic jam or an overnight conversion to pacifism, one or both don't take the Field Turf, the odds, and my confidence, obviously decrease considerably.

According to the Detroit News' John Niyo on Twitter, via the 4 Letter's Chris Mortensen, one of the Lions' Glimmer Twins won't be playing Sunday:

CJ didnt sound too confident Fri RT @mortreport For all those who have asked, my educated guess :) is don't count on Calvin Johnson tomorrow.

Oh, Hell.

Still, if Stafford is a go, the Lions offense, stagnant (to be generous) for the past 2 weeks with Daunte Culpepper at the controls, should be more productive. From what we've seen of Culpepper and Drew Stanton, there's no longer any question Stafford has both the most upside and is the best quarterback on the roster. But I'd feel a whole lot better if Megatron was on the outside for Stafford, towering over Rams' corners.

Also worth watching is Kevin Smith, who told the Freep's Michael Rosenberg he had a problem:

"I had a leak in my passion tent."

Eww.

I expected much more production from Smith this season, so that statement doesn't sound good, even if it's not surprising.  Playing for the Lions apparently causes all sort of leaks, passion or otherwise. Let's hope the tent is inflated Sunday, for the sake of the Lions' sake and also for Smith's career. A running back who doesn't run with purpose is a running back who is not going to have a starting job much longer.

Prediction: I told the Lions Congregation Detroit wins 24-21. I'm not going to waver from my prediction, even if Johnson is placed on the inactive list. I'm convinced the Lions are a better team than the Rams. About 3 points better...

Comments (0)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment