For the past few weeks, the NFL Network has been counting down the top 100 players of 2011 as voted on by players. Yesterday, Nos. 60 through 51 were revealed and the Lions very own Ndamukong Suh was voted No. 51.

Despite being a rookie, many believe Suh deserves to be lower on the list.

“The players who voted, I think they got it right, there’s no doubt in my mind,” said analyst Solomon Wilcots. “He’s only had 16 games in his whole NFL career. … Now, I’ll tell you what, you put in 16 more games like this, he’ll be ranked in the top 25.”

“Oh easy,” agreed analyst Torry Holt. “He’s a guy that’s definitely ascending. We talked about this back in the green room, but he dominates fronts. And that’s rare for a young guy. But his peers saw something special about him, and there’s a lot of offensive linemen that say, ‘Yeah, I’ll go against this guy. I don’t want to go against Suh.’ .. That’s what he makes guys do.”

In NFL.com’s fan voting, Suh ranked No. 20. But, like Wilcots points out, players have a much clearer view than fans of what makes a top athlete. And, as a rookie, there are certainly areas Suh can improve upon.

“The players who understand, they study the game tape,” Wilcots said. “Fans don’t get a chance to watch game tape. They don’t get to see the pimples, if you will. There are still areas for Ndamukong Suh to improve. Players and coaches see that. I don’t know that the fans see that.”

Suh is the third defensive tackle to be on the list — ahead of No. 81 B.J. Raji  of the Green Bay Packers and No. 75 Jay Ratliff of the Dallas Cowboys — and the first Detroit Lion to be selected.

Lions WR Calvin Johnson is also expected to be on the list in the final weeks of the countdown.

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

Blame it on the lockout, blame it on the media’s incessant need to make mountains out of molehills, hell, you can blame it on the alcohol — just, whatever you do, don’t blame Nate Burleson.

I’ve been meaning to get to this story for a few days, but just hadn’t been able to quite wrap my head around the sheer stupidity of it.

On Wednesday, the Detroit Free Press published an article calling out Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson for statements he ultimately made about Detroit’s less than stellar weather.

NEWSFLASH: Detroit isn’t known for its tropical climates.

Here’s the article in its entirety:

Here’s a nice backhander by Nate Burleson.

The receiver was in Seattle this week, where he played for the Seahawks, when he saluted his Lions teammates during a TV interview for last week’s player workouts.
Their camp’s attendance was much better than similar workouts for other teams, even though it was in Detroit. » Continue reading “Much Ado About Nothing”

ESPN’s eight NFL divisional bloggers recently ranked the top defensive players in the NFL, and the Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh narrowly missed the top 10 — finishing 11th behind Ed Reed. Though Suh received more overall votes than Reed, Tim Graham had Reed finishing No. 2.

The final results looked like this:

I’d say No. 11 is pretty good for a guy coming off his first year in the league. Suh made a big impression last year, but he’s still got a lot to prove if he wants to remain in the company of the athletes on this list. Do you think Suh deserved to be rated this high? Or do you think he has more to prove in the NFL?

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

I knew it wouldn’t be long before a contest like this was initiated … I just didn’t know it would be ignited by Lions headcoach Jim Schwartz. Nevertheless, Schwartz took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the contest:

Too bad I’m not creative enough to think of something clever. Luckily, other people are clever. The Pride of Detroit’s comments have received a few good suggestions, including “The Disassembly Line,” which at this point seems to be the most popular. And rightfully so.

Schwartz said he’ll announce the winner Tuesday, I’m assuming via Twitter. If you have any suggestions, send them to @jschwartzlions.

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

4-3 Coverage: Your daily dish on Detroit news. Four Lions articles, three NFL articles — all in one place.

Lions headlines:

• Stafford talks about 10 weeks of rehab, excited to be healthy. — Detroit Free Press, Dave Birkett
• Detroit Lions’ Pettigrew greets fans at Menard’s in Davison. — ConnectMidMichigan.com, Matt Waymire
• Detroit Lions: Focusing on the stats for defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. — Bleacher Report, Michael Sudds
• NFL’s top 100 players to feature Ndamukong Suh on Sunday. — Pride of Detroit, Sean Yuille

NFL headlines:

• Rift opening up among NFL coaches. — Fox Sports, Alex Marvez
• NFL: Court must honor labor law in lockout ruling. — The Associated Press
• Roger Goodell: Lockouts are a tool to force negotiation. — National Football Post, Aaron Wilson

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

This post will be short. Because I don’t actually know what to say to this picture. It’s rendered me speechless — which is quite hard to do.

Nate Burleson tweeted this yesterday: “A pic of my elbow lookin like my knee…at the Dr office bout to get it drained. Gotta stop tryna run people over…lol http://yfrog.com/hsz8bcdj.”

Umm, yeah …

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

With the recent announcement that the Lions organization will face two-week furloughs and possible pay cuts, I felt it my duty to spread a little joy. The mood has been a little too heavy around here lately.

And so, I present to you this: a remix of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” performed by the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences.

How do those warm and fuzzies feel? Pretty good, right? The video was created as part of class assignment and proves to show the amount of pride people have for the city of Detroit.

Things like this make me so very happy.

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

There’s been debate for months about how the NFL lockout would ultimately affect us … the fans. Despite missing our favorite game every Sunday and Monday, I think most agreed that the lockout would be devastating for the league as a whole, but we’d make due.

That was until yesterday, when news of salary cuts and furloughs were announced across the NFL.  And, of course, the Lions organization was one of the first to feel the affect. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Lions organization began issuing two-week furloughs to employees, which began back in April.

Although Lions President Tom Lewand declined to comment, he did issue a statement last month in regards to the possibility of furloughs.

“Immediately, there were no staffing changes, no salary reductions, no furloughs, those kinds of things,” Lewand said then. “As this goes on, those become more and more likely, and we do have plans in place for some changes that will occur.”

Lions spokesman Bill Keenist had this to say:

Keenist declined to say today how Lewand has been affected by the organization’s decision to furlough employees.

Asked to justify the furloughs in light of an increase in season-ticket sales, Keenist referred to a team statement that reads: “While we have made some adjustments to our business operation due to the current labor situation, we are not going to comment specifically about the changes.”

And, if the work stoppage continues, assistant coaches could face salary reductions of up to 25 percent.

*Mounting my soapbox* » Continue reading “Furlough Fervor”

Looks like we won’t be getting a sneak peek into the inner workings of the Lions at training camp, as Detroit is the most recent team to turn down the TV reality show Hard Knocks. Maaaaaaan!

Though it would have been hella awesome to see the Lions (and Calvin Johnson) up close and personal, I can’t say I blame any team for saying no.The Lions have made huge progress in the last couple years and they have the potential to be playoff-contenders next season. The last thing they need is a show like Hard Knocks blurring their vision.

Though the Lions have made no official statement on their decision to not appear on the HBO show, head coach Jim Schwartz did make the following comment:

“It’s one thing to have cameras on the practice field. These guys are used to that and every day there’s cameras, fans watching them practice and things like that,” Schwartz said last year about the show. “But when you start getting into meeting rooms, when you start getting into the cafeteria, into the dorms, into the locker room and things like that, it changes the vibe.”

Yeah, he’s right. I totally get it. But damn. The Lions have all the makings to be a “dream team” team for Hard Knocks.

They have a bruised and battered QB in Matthew Stafford who has to prove to everyone that he can stay healthy for more than one game. They have a 1-2 lethal threat on defense in Suh and Fairley — and I’d love to watch these two get acquainted … and then subsequently beat the hell out of everyone. And let’s not forget the fact that Detroit has been the laughing stock of the NFL up until the end of the 2010 season.

Alas, it’s not meant to be. The Lions are the most recent team to decline the offer after both Tampa Bay and Denver turned down offers as well. But don’t worry, HBO, I’m sure the Cowboys will be happy to do it … again.

You can find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MelissaHeyboer and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrysandersmemorialblog.

"Doh!"

As promised, the almighty Roger Goodell addressed Lions season ticket holders Thursday in a 30-minute phone conference that answered … well nothing. Goodell addressed several different issues including the lockout, free agency, and the infamous Calvin Johnson “non-catch” in last seasons game against the Bears.

Without further ado … and because the world is going to end in less than two hours … I present to you a few excerpts from the conference call.

1. On the Calvin Johnson catch:

“Unfortunately, calls during any game impact the outcome of a game, and that’s why officiating is so important, and consistency in officiating is so important. But I think it’s important to go back. There are really three elements to any catch. No. 1, you’ve got to secure and control the ball in your hands. And No. 2, you’ve got to maintain control when you’ve got two feet down, or any other part of the body other than your hands. And No. 3 is you have to make sure that — and this clarification we’ll add to the (rule) book — you must control the ball long enough after A and B have occurred that you’ve caught the ball cleanly and you’ve got two feet down or another body part, you’ve got to control that long enough. And that’s something we have oftentimes looked at in our rules. We’ve looked at it through the competition committee. Controlling that ball after you’ve established the first two aspects of that for a period of time is where the element of judgment comes in. And I think our competition committee and other members of our operations, including on the club level, have all felt like we should make sure that the player has to maintain it for a period of time after the first two elements have been in control.”

Thank you for explaining to us what a catch is, Mr. Goodell. But now you can go f-off. Has Goodell ever watched a replay of that catch? Clearly not. » Continue reading “Goodell ‘Non-Addresses’ Lockout, Free Agency”