If preseason was any indication of how this year is going to go for the Detroit Lions, then last night’s 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns would mean three things:

1. We’d be 0-1,
2. Shaun Hill would be more valuable than Matthew Stafford, and
3. Our running backs more productive than our receivers.

Hello, parallel universe.

Luckily for everyone, preseason — in the grand scheme of things — means nothing. Sure, it’s important. But it in no way is it proof of what will happen for the 16 games of the 2012 regular season. The 2008 Lions are proof positive of that.

I saw positives in last night’s game. Jim Schwartz did not. Fortunately, it’s his job to be overly critical. Also, that’s just the way Schwartz is.

“Let’s be clear: Preseason games, we don’t use them as a barometer,” Detroit coach Jim Schwartz said. “But you want to play well and I don’t think we played well on offense, defense or special teams from the beginning to the very end.” » Continue reading “Lions Drop First Preseason Game 19-17 to the Cleveland Browns”

Yes, it’s true. The Detroit Lions have, in fact, had an offseason. I know that notion might be confusing to all three of my readers who — and I say this with 100 percent confidence — have no doubt checked my page feverishly over the past two months.

Oh, you didn’t? You didn’t even know I was gone? *shows myself to the door*

Regardless of whether you’ve missed me or not, I’m back. And I promise to not ever leave you hanging like that again. So, without further ado, I’m going to try to catch all of you (but mostly myself) up on the big things that have happened in the past two months. Ready? Break!

1. Someone got arrested
2. Someone else got arrested.
3. I think there was an arrest.
4. Yep, there was definitely an arrest.

Oh, I kid. Kind of, but not really. Let’s get caught for real this time, shall we? » Continue reading “The Detroit Lions Have Had an Offseason (Despite My Lack of Telling You About it)”

CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco recently published a list of the top 100 players in football and three Detroit Lions made the cut. The list, voted on solely by Prisco, was based on “eyes (mine), ears (listening to scouts) and hours of watching tape.”

The Lions finished as follows:

• No. 4 – WR Calvin Johnson

• No. 50 – QB Matthew Stafford

» Continue reading “Three Detroit Lions Make Top 100 Players List”

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has showed the kind of arm he has on any given Sunday. This past weekend, however, Stafford showed the kind of heart he has as well.

After Stafford donated transportation and Monday Night Football tickets to Chicago in October to the Griese-Hutchinson-Woodson fundraiser, he then put in the winning $15,000 bid so he could purchase the package for a patient at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital named Faith Falzone.

Stafford and his girlfriend, Kelly Hall, sat with Faith Falzone, who is having surgery this week, and her brother, Will, during the Griese-Hutchinson-Woodson fundraiser gala for the new children’s hospital in the U-M system on Saturday night. Stafford was so moved by their family’s story, he bid on his own auction gift, including six tickets — two provided by ESPN broadcaster and Ann Arbor resident Mike Tirico.

“They have been through so much in the past couple years, and to see how much they all supported each other and Faith through their tough times was really inspiring,” Stafford said in a text message. “I wanted to give them something they could really be excited about and something I know they deserved.” » Continue reading “Matthew Stafford Makes Impact On and Off the Field”

The Detroit Lions start organized team activities (OTAs) Monday, which can only mean one thing … organized team activities start Monday. There’s been a steady stream of news this off season, but I would expect it to pick up a bit next week.

In the meantime, let’s talk about some things I missed recently.

• The Lions placed RB Jerome Harrison on the reserved/non-football illness list. The move means Harrison will be out for the 2012 season, but it also means the Lions have space for two signings they made official this week. Harrison’s trade to the Eagles was halted last season after doctors discovered a brain tumor in his physical.

• After rookie mini-camp last week, the Lions signed safety Sam Proctor and wide receiver Wallace Miles. Proctor played college at the University of Oklahoma — making him the fourth Sooner rookie to be signed by the Lions. Miles played his college ball at North Carolina A&T.

• Matthew Stafford recently visited the Pentagon and White House and WXYZ has video of the event.

• After being named Madden 13 cover boy, Calvin Johnson made numerous media stops immediately following the reveal in Times Square. Luckily for Lions fans, the good people at EA Sports caught all this on tape and released a behind-the-scenes video of his whirlwind media blitz. Check out the video after the jump: » Continue reading “Lions’ Droppings: News, Notes and Nonsense”

NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah recently put together a list of the top 10 NFL players under the age of 25, and Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford made the cut.

Stafford, just 24 years old, played in just his first full season last year and threw for more than 5,000 yards as a result. A healthy Stafford means a dominate Stafford. Here’s what Jeremiah had to say about him:

Surprised? It’s hard to believe that Stafford is still only 24 years old. After two injury-plagued years, he was able to stay healthy and post some incredible numbers in 2011. He passed for more than 5,000 yards and 41 TDs while leading the Lions back to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. He has a tremendous skillset for the position. He has good size, arm-strength, touch and poise. He should be one of the league’s elite signal callers for the next decade.

I don’t know about you, but a Lions QB being named one of the best young players in the league is not only exciting, it’s very telling. It means the Lions are relevant again — and that’s awesome. When was the last time Detroit could say they had one of the best QBs in the league. Yeah, I can’ remember either. » Continue reading “Matthew Stafford Named a ‘Top 10 Player Under Age 25′”

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford threw out the ceremonial first pitch at this afternoon’s Tigers game against the Texas Rangers.

He was then signed to minor league deal. He’ll probably be brought up by the end of the week. I’m thinking out of the bullpen most likely. You know, given all his shoulder problems.

I’m only kind of kidding.

According to Jason Beck, the pitch was a strike. As if we should all be surprised.

Stafford is a former catcher, who played in high school with current Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. I think Lions fans can all be grateful he chose to focus his career on football.

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

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford addressed the media yesterday after their first voluntary workout of their off-season training program. Among many things, Stafford made it clear that the Lions are in a much better position this year than at this time last year.

“What’s nice for us is that we’re building; we’re not starting from scratch,” Stafford said. “We have the same offensive and defensive coordinator for the last three years and special teams is pretty similar for the last couple years … This is fine tuning and adding to what we’ve already done. That part of it is fun and it’s relaxing as well.”

It’s a similar story for Stafford, who’s spent most of his career rehabbing injuries. He admits that he’s happy to finally be healthy and he’s ready to “hit the ground running.”

“It’s nice not to have to put myself back together, just kind of trying to maintain and get stronger and all that stuff,” he said.

Stafford also admits that Detroit’s off-season will be a little different than past years. For starters, Detroit will be entering the 2012 season as a playoff team — no longer the underdog.

The new NFL year officially starts tomorrow, and the Detroit Lions needed to restructure a few deals in order to get below their $120.6 million salary cap space. It was reported that Detroit was $11.55 million over.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reported today that the contracts of Matthew Stafford, Ndamukong Suh, and Nate Burleson have all been restructured.

Restructuring essentially converts salaries into signing bonuses, which is good for this year, but will take up more cap space in the future. » Continue reading “Matthew Stafford, Nate Burleson, Ndamukong Suh Get Restructured Contracts”

It’s that time of year again. The time of year that video game enthusiasts love and the rest of football nation dreads. It’s time to vote for the Madden 13 cover.

In case you don’t know, being on the front of Madden is both an honor and a curse — literally. It’s widely believed that players who appear on the cover will subsequently suffer a decline in performance the following season — a lot of the time resulting in an injury.

Last season, Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis appeared on the cover and then missed five games due to a hamstring injury and saw a decrease in performance as a result. You can see the full list of Madden curses here.

Well, much to the dismay of Detroit Lions fans, both Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are in the pool to be voted as this year’s cover.

For this year’s Madden cover vote, ESPN is putting 64 players up against each other. There are two players from each team that will go head to head before the round of 32 is determined.

You can go here to vote. But I’m going to discourage everyone not to do so. Because I can definitely see Johnson winning something like this, and I’d rather not have the 2012 season hindered by a Johnson decline in performance — or God forbid an injury.

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