Author: SA Sportswriter

Lions coach Jim Schwartz: Ndamukong Suh crash no issue


Eric Lacy/ The Detroit News

Lions coach Jim Schwartz says he isn’t worried about the car crash defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was involved in last weekend in Portland, Ore.

Schwartz told a Detroit radio station Tuesday he believes Suh is under “too much of a microscope” because of the incident.

“We just worry about him on the field,” Schwartz told 97.1 during his weekly radio appearance. “Ndamukong is a hard-working guy; he hasn’t had any kind of issues with the law, including this one. Let’s worry about him on the field and those things, get him back playing well.”

Schwartz told the station he heard Suh wasn’t injured in the crash, but said he hasn’t been allowed to contact Suh because of the player’s two-game suspension. Suh stomped on the right arm of Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith on Thanksgiving Day, was ejected, and then suspended by the NFL.

“He can’t be in our building, that’s why he’s in his hometown of Portland,” Schwartz said. “He can’t go to meetings. We can’t have contact with him. We did get word that he was uninjured, and that’s about all we really know.”

Suh served the first game of his suspension last weekend and is off the active roster for Sunday’s home game against Minnesota. He’s expected to return for the Dec. 18 game at Oakland.

Suh’s image took a hit after his ejection, and remains under scrutiny because of the crash. Schwartz, however, claims the criticism of Suh’s character isn’t more of a problem than that of any other player.

“I’m concerned about every player we have,” Schwartz said. “I think that was not something he wants on his resume, particularly after what happened on Thanksgiving. And in fairness to him, that’s really the first thing he had after the whistle, something that wasn’t part of the play.”

Russell Spielman, Suh’s marketing agent, wouldn’t speculate about his client possibly losing endorsement deals with Chrysler, Subway and Nike, or if Suh plans on speaking publicly about his off-field problems before his suspension ends Dec. 12.

“When we’re ready to speak, we’ll speak,” Spielman said

More than a fender bender

Schwartz described Suh’s accident as a “fender bender,” but a police report obtained by The Detroit News paints a slightly different picture.

The report includes interviews from two female passengers among the three passengers in Suh’s vehicle.

The women claim Suh was driving his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle at an uncontrollable speed around 1:14 a.m. on Dec. 3 in downtown Portland before the car spun and crashed into a light pole, water fountain and tree near Dante’s night club.

Police amended the original report after the passengers reported their injuries, but no citations will be issued and no one will be charged, police said.

Suh told police he tried to drive around a parked taxi on the dry, paved street before he lost control of his vehicle.

The two women, according to the report, claim otherwise.

“There was never a taxi,” a passenger told police. “He was just going too fast and he could have killed someone at Dante’s.”

Attempts by The News to reach employees at Dante’s were unsuccessful.

Police also didn’t administer a sobriety test on Suh because they said he showed no signs of impairment. Police also said Suh was “very cooperative” after the crash and provided a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance.

Attempts by The News to reach Suh were unsuccessful.

The report also said two female passengers were hurt in the crash and required hospitalization. The second injured person was quoted as saying, “He was driving unsafe. It was just clear to me that we were going too fast.”

It also mentions one injured passenger had a “laceration to her forehead that required five stitches, a black eye, a ‘busted’ lip and a torn shoulder muscle.”

Suh, according to police, called 9-1-1 to report the crash. A Portland TV station, KGW, obtained a recording of that call.

When asked, “Are you sure you don’t need an ambulance?” the station reported Suh replied, “Yes, everyone is fine.”

Yet, in the police report, a passenger said she told Suh repeatedly she was hurt and needed a doctor. She said he refused and told her she was fine.

She had her husband pick her up and take her to Oregon Health and Science University for treatment.

Messages left on the cell phone of Blaine Smith, a witness mentioned in the police report, weren’t returned.

A witness named Allan, who also called 9-1-1 to report the crash, spoke Monday to KGW.

He said the driver “floored it” when a stoplight turned green at 3rd and Burnside streets. He said it looked like the driver was trying to “show off.”

Allan also told KGW there were no cars in front of Suh’s vehicle and he did not see a taxi.

Two of the passengers told police they wanted their names to remain confidential because they feared for their safety because Suh has “lots of friends and family” in the Portland area.

Past accidents

The accident last weekend wasn’t the first such incident Suh has been involved in.

Last year, Suh was in an accident in Royal Oak (11 Mile and Campbell) with a 30-year-old Shelby Township woman.

Police said the woman was at fault because she disobeyed a traffic signal as she attempted to turn southbound on Campbell.

The woman’s Honda Civic struck Suh’s Land Rover as he headed east on 11 Mile.

Suh wasn’t injured, and alcohol wasn’t involved, but police said the woman suffered minor injuries.

According to the Associated Press report, Suh was in an accident at Nebraska.

Suh pled guilty to negligent driving and paid a $60 fine after crashing into three parked cars.

Suh, reportedly driving his mother’s SUV, said he swerved to avoid a cat. He also paid $48 in court costs.

eric.lacy@detnews.com

twitter.com/EricLacy

Lions’ Suh crashes car in Portland; not injured


Portland, Ore.— Police in Oregon say Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh crashed his car into a tree in downtown Portland, but was not injured.

Police say Suh was not impaired and was cooperative with officers following the accident at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday. Suh lost control of the 1970 Chevrolet Coupe he was driving, which then hit a curb, light pole, drinking fountain and tree. His vehicle was towed from the scene.

Suh had two passengers in the vehicle. They were not injured.

Suh is a graduate of Portland’s Grant High School. He was the NFL’s 2010 defensive rookie of the year. On Tuesday, the league suspended him for two games for stomping the arm of Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith.

John Niyo: Ndamukong Suh, Lions must tread carefully


John Niyo

Allen Park — He’s gone, but hardly forgotten. And he’ll be back, perhaps sooner rather than later.

So even as the Lions tried their best Tuesday to ignore the elephant notin the room, the question remains: What do they do with Ndamukong Suh?

The NFL weighed in with its initial answer, handing down a two-game suspension in response to Suh’s helmet-grinding, foot-stomping ejection in last week’s loss to Green Bay.

And the Lions all-Pro defensive tackle countered with his own reply, appealing the suspension at the urging of the NFL Players Association and others, no matter how tone deaf that strikes some in Suh’s growing legion of critics.

But while the expedited (and likely fruitless) appeal won’t change the immediate plans — Suh is expected to miss Sunday’s game at New Orleans and next week’s home game against Minnesota — it still left the entire organization, and particularly the players, stuck in an awkward limbo.

Not just because the team returned to practice without its best defensive player. But also because his absence leaves his teammates to answer for him, literally and figuratively.

And while none of them cared to reprimand Suh publicly Tuesday, I think it’s safe to say they’ve had enough of the nonsense, just like most everyone else, including the league’s disciplinarians.

After getting tossed for stomping on Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith — not to mention the Ford family’s treasured Thanksgiving tradition — Suh spent a good chunk of last Friday meeting with coaches and teammates before finally issuing his day-late, dollars-short apology to the Lions and his “true fans” via Facebook. Team officials also issued a statement then, expressing all the proper regrets to try to minimize the public-relations damage after a nationally televised meltdown.

But Suh has yet to speak to reporters since his defiant postgame news conference took a bad situation and made it immeasurably worse. (He also has yet to apologize to Dietrich-Smith, as far as we know. The Packers guard avoided the media Tuesday in Green Bay.)

Suh was back with the team in Allen Park on Tuesday morning, but got the anticipated phone call from the NFL about the suspension — one that included a ban from the practice facility — and just like that, he was kicked out. Again.

So we’ll have to wait a while longer to hear from him directly about where he goes from here, or how he truly intends to make amends and start repairing his reputation while the Lions try to salvage a playoff berth.

“He’s going to have to deal with the repercussions of it personally,” said veteran defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, a team captain who said he had a 1-on-1 talk with Suh last Friday. “We’ll handle the effects it has on us as a team. But it’s gonna be tough for him.”

Short on contrition

It’ll be tougher still, because for all of Suh’s good qualities — on and off the field — contrition doesn’t appear to be one of them, at least publicly.

Yet, Lions coach Jim Schwartz said he’s had “a lot of conversations with (Suh) the last two days and I think he is in a different spot,” than he was — emotionally — after the game.

“I think, for sure, he understands the position that he put his team in the game, and also the position that we’re in right now,” Schwartz added. “And he feels a tremendous sense of responsibility for that. There’s an accountability for what we do on the field and he — particularly these last couple days — is well aware of that.”

And yes, I’m well aware contrition isn’t exactly what the Lions — or their playoff-starved fans — need from Suh to reach the postseason. But therein lies the real challenge going forward.

Now that one of the team’s cornerstone players — the face of the franchise, alongside quarterback Matthew Stafford — has crossed the line, how will he handle this tightrope walk? How will he handle the backlash? How will he handle his emotions? And, quite frankly, how will it affect his play on the field?

Because if Suh thought he was a target before all this — and that’s why he said he went to New York to meet with commissioner Roger Goodell and others — it’s going to be far worse for him now. Everyone from Hall of Famer “Mean” Joe Greene to Suh’s head coach was saying that this week — “Everybody knows that he’s had this one, and players are gonna push him to the edge,” Schwartz said — as this Suh saga spiraled out of control.

Keeping his cool

Look, the sooner he returns, the sooner his teammates can forget about what he has done. And the sooner he can start doing something about it.

But for the foreseeable future, the question is always going to be whether Suh can keep his cool.

“It’s difficult,” Vanden Bosch said. “A lot of things happen in the game and you’re taught to be aggressive, you’re taught to be as physical as possible, and when people are doing things to you throughout the course of a game to try to antagonize you … sometimes it’s difficult to swallow your pride and walk away and move on.

“Especially in the heat of the moment. A lot of people just want to say, well, he just should’ve walked away. And even though that’s the right thing to do, in that moment, a lot of people don’t understand how difficult that is to do.”

Maybe not, but Suh better understand now.

And I think that’s the real appeal here — not to the NFL, but to Suh. He better swallow his pride — easy for me to say, I know — before he lets it swallow his career.

john.niyo@detnews.com

twitter.com/JohnNiyo

Lions face a crisis point


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— What’s done is done. If you are the Lions, nothing good can come from looking back and trying to rationalize the penalties, the turnovers or the absurd meltdown by defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on Thursday.

All of it is indefensible.

“They can say what they want about us,” coach Jim Schwartz said after the 27-15 loss to the Packers.

Oh, they have. The Lions, by their own actions, have turned perception into reality. And until they provide evidence to the contrary, they are what the rest of the country has been saying they are — a reckless, undisciplined football team.

There is ample talent on both sides of the ball, but until they can collectively get their emotions properly harnessed, until they prove they can play big in the big moments, they can’t be considered legitimate playoff contenders.

At this point, even though they are still in the chase at 7-4, how can you consider them anything but a long shot to get a wildcard spot?

The losses are to arguably the four best teams they have played — the 49ers, Falcons, Bears and Packers. That cannot be dismissed. They are 2-4 since starting 5-0. They have lost three of their last four at home. They are melting down as the stakes get higher.

The season and their reputation are certainly salvageable, but this is a crisis point for the Lions. They will have a chance at redemption, a chance to re-stake their claim on a wild-card spot, a week from Sunday in New Orleans.

They will have the national stage again — NBC “Sunday Night Football.” They have an opportunity to show they are a quality team, not a collection of talented thugs.

But you have to wonder if too much damage already has been done — to their reputation and to their roster.

The Lions may have to play against the Saints’ high-powered offense without two key defensive starters: Suh and safety Louis Delmas.

Expect Suh to be suspended for his untimely unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and ejection in the third quarter Thursday.

Delmas injured his knee in the first quarter and said via Twitter he could miss the next couple of games.

In addition, the Lions on Friday put starting running back Jahvid Best (concussion) on injured reserve; he’s done for the season. Kevin Smith, who took over the starting spot on Thursday, is questionable with a high ankle sprain.

Cornerback Chris Houston left the game with a knee injury.

Schwartz has a lot of fires to put out before he can even begin working on the team’s emotional balance. But it has to start with Suh. Even if the league doesn’t suspend him — the consensus is they will — Schwartz needs to.

Schwartz has had Suh’s back to a fault, up until now. If he doesn’t take a drastic step to get Suh’s temper under control, he runs the risk of doing long-term damage to one of the franchise’s biggest assets.

He punished right tackle Gosder Cherilus for a lesser offense in the season opener, not playing him in Week 2 after he took a late personal foul penalty. He would be hard-pressed explaining to his team the double-standard if he didn’t sit Suh for at least a game — playoff chase or not.

“I know Suh. I’ve talked to him several times,” former running back Marshall Faulk told NFL.com. “The person and the player that we see at times, there’s a disconnect. Something’s going on and he needs to get to the very bottom of it to find out what it is that, when someone is getting the best of him, angry Suh comes out.”

Somebody needs to show Suh how to restrain angry Suh. The league will take first crack at it.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday that Suh’s stomping on the arm of Packers offensive guard Evan Dietrich-Smith was likely to be reviewed for possible disciplinary action.

“We have said nothing about a timetable but we have said this — plays from Week 12 to be reviewed for potential discipline will be done so under our normal procedures after the completion of all games,” Aiello wrote in an email.

Tuesday is the day, typically, that the reviews are done.

Suh has been fined three times already in his young career, so he would be considered a repeat offender. Former Tennessee Titan Albert Haynesworth was suspended for five games back in 2006.

Earlier this season, Minnesota’s Brian Robison was fined and not suspended for kicking Packers offensive lineman T.J. Lang in the groin.

Expect Suh to get a one- or two-game suspension from the league, which Suh and the Lions should graciously accept and then start making reparation.

Let the rest of football nation take their shots and make their judgments. There’s no defense to the accusations right now. It’s circle-the-wagons time. The Lions have five weeks to be the team we all thought they were through the first five weeks — the team with the dynamic offense led by a smart, strong-armed quarterback and a violently aggressive, though law-abiding, defense.

They are 7-4 with games at New Orleans, at Oakland and at Green Bay, and home games against San Diego and Minnesota.

If they can regain their balance, physically and mentally, and manage two or three more wins without any more incidents, they will have the last laugh on their critics.

Even if they don’t make the playoffs, they will still be considered a team on the rise. But if this goes completely off the rails these last five weeks, then, say it with me — it’s the same old dysfunctional Lions.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

(313) 222-1489

Lions’ Thanksgiving victory in ’62 still a feast to remember


Gregg Krupa/ The Detroit News

Detroit — The Vince Lombardi who arrived in Detroit for the game against the Lions was a man and a coach, not yet the legend.

By November 1962, he had resurrected the Green Bay Packers, a team in decline for two decades. In a few years, Lombardi would embody America’s ideal of a football coach.

Before the legend, though, comes the playing of the games.

As he walked into Tiger Stadium early on that raw, slate-gray Thanksgiving Day with a few snow flurries flying, Lombardi and his powerful Packers were four wins shy of the first perfect season in NFL history. Other than the Lions, the Packers would play only the lowly 49ers and, twice, the hapless Rams.

But, in the Lions locker room, a great menace stirred.

“To this day, I don’t know if I have ever been in a locker room quite like that one,” said Dick LeBeau, a Lions defensive back and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who has coached in the NFL for 39 years, including in six Super Bowls.

“It was a group of men who came together with a singleness of purpose that they were going to win a game that day.”

The Lions have played more games on Thanksgiving than any franchise. Their most frequent opponent is the Packers.

They will face each other Thursday with the best records for both teams in the 20 Thanksgiving games they have played. The Packers are 10-0, and the Lions 7-3. On November 22, 1962, they were 10-0 and 8-2.

Loss primes rematch

Anticipation for that game burst the boundaries of the city.

It was the only game that day, and it drew 30 million viewers. At the time, it was the largest television audience ever for CBS.

“People today forget that big national, TV audiences were still a little bit new, then,” said Joe Schmidt, the eight-time all-Pro middle linebacker and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“It was an opportunity to show people across the United States the kind of football team you were.”

The concept of people in one part of the country showing interest in two teams from another had yet to be tested.

“That game is one of the prime movers in the NFL becoming a national spectator sport,” said LeBeau, defensive coordinator for the Steelers.

“That television audience was one of the first ones that made them think, ‘Hey, people want to watch this!'”

Outside Michigan, few believed the Lions would win.

But the Lions had deep determination, born in a loss to the Packers that season.

Detroit had a 7-6 lead in Green Bay when, inexplicably, with the clock nearly expired, quarterback Milt Plum dropped back to pass.

Plum tossed an interception.

A few plays later, the Packers kicked a field goal to win 9-7.

“A few guys raised Cain with Milt Plum for throwing the ball,” Schmidt said. “It wasn’t Milt Plum.

“The play was called in from the sideline, and the receiver, Terry Barr, slipped. It was a well-thrown ball. If Terry hadn’t slipped, he would have caught the ball.”

Jerry Kramer, the great Packers guard, recalls the scene he heard emerging from the Lions locker room.

“They were throwing garbage cans around the locker room and cursing mightily,” Kramer said.

The game still jabs at Schmidt’s gut, 49 years later.

“Of all the games I played in and all the games I coached, this Green Bay situation remains in my mind,” said Schmidt, who coached Detroit from 1967-72. “As great as the players were that we had that season, it just goes unnoticed, to this day, because we lost that first one to Green Bay.

“To this day, no one knows who we are.”

Lions held the aces

That regret glowed red hot for the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

“We had a vendetta,” said Roger Brown, the first 300-pound lineman in the NFL, who played defensive tackle in both games for the Lions as part of the first “Fearsome Foursome.”

“We gave them a gift up in Green Bay, and we wanted to set the record straight.”

It started unceremoniously for the Lions, who drove to the Packers 17 only to fumble.

The Packers moved the ball, a bit. But, on three consecutive plays, the Lions began what is considered one of the greatest defensive performances in history.

*On second down from the Packers 47, defensive tackle Alex Karras, the four-time all-Pro, broke through Kramer to dump a running back for a three-yard loss.

*On third down, Karras, Schmidt and defensive end Darris McCord broke through and sacked Bart Starr.

*After the play was negated by a delay of game against the Packers, Brown drove through Packers guard Fuzzy Thurston on third down to drop Starr for a 15-yard loss.

Then, the Lions offense went to work with uncharacteristic speed and precision.

“We had a thing all year, Milty and I, where I was doing a lot of simple curls and crossing patterns,” said Gail Cogdill, a Lions wide receiver.

“Well, on Thanksgiving Day, instead of running out a little and turning one way or the other, I just kept going straight. I think we caught them off guard.”

Plum and Cogdill combined for two touchdowns — 33 and 29 yards — in the first half.

“All I can say is that the whole game felt like we were playing cards and you knew we had the best hand,” Cogdill said.

With a 14-0 lead, the Lions kicked off. It hardly mattered.

A play later, Brown broke through Thurston again, forcing Starr to fumble. Defensive end Sam Williams picked up the ball and, as the scorer for the game typed on the score sheet, “waltzed” into the end zone.

The Lions kicked off — and the Packers may have wished they had not.

On the first play, Brown tackled Hall of Fame running back Jim Taylor for a loss.

A play later, Brown, a man both fast and huge, was free in the Packers backfield, chasing Starr.

Brown grabbed him in the end zone for a safety.

“As far as anything extracurricular that we did, I would say the whole darned thing was motivation,” Brown said.

“We had some stunts and some nutty sorts of things, but we were determined to get to Bart Starr.”

‘A little bit of a nightmare’

With a brilliant plan drawn up by the 32-year-old defensive coach Don Shula, who would leave Detroit at the end of the season to become defensive coordinator in Baltimore, the Lions repeatedly were stunting ends, tackles and linebackers.

Officially, the Lions sacked Starr 11 times for 110 yards. It left the Packers with 49 yards passing.

Karras often was called “Tippy Toes” because of his great deception and a habit of running on his toes with short choppy steps. But on one play, available on YouTube, Karras simply bull rushed Kramer, pushing him from about the Packers 10 into the end zone, where he shoved the guard aside with a slip of his left shoulder and flip of his left forearm.

Starr somehow avoided a second safety.

“Along with Merlin Olsen, Karras was the greatest defensive tackle I ever faced,” said Kramer, a five-time all-Pro.

“The Lions absolutely kicked our butts all day long. They played with extreme emotion.”

A photograph, which over the years became a symbol of defensive tenacity in the NFL and still hangs in the Lions offices at Allen Park, shows Starr beginning to fall as he nearly disappears in the arms of four Lions, Williams, strong safety Bruce Maher, Karras and Schmidt.

“Bart has nothing but respect for the Lions and the way they attacked that day,” said Keith Dunnavant, a biographer of Starr, whose book, “America’s Quarterback,” was published in September. “He talks about Alex Karras and Roger Brown and those guys, and it’s the most respect a guy can have.

“But it probably remains a little bit of a nightmare for him. How could it not?”

When Green Bay rushed, it did not go much better. Detroit had five tackles for loss.

“I recall looking down at my jersey in the fourth quarter,” LeBeau said. “Now, remember this was November at Tiger Stadium, and it could be a little mucky out there.

“But I looked down at my jersey and I recall there wasn’t a mark on it. Our front seven played so well that day, I was never on the ground.

“They really didn’t even have to launder the thing.”

The Packers scored twice in the fourth quarter, one on an interception return by Plum.

The Lions won 26-14.

After the game, Lombardi smiled wryly and said, simply, “Well, you didn’t think we were going to win them all, did you?”

Opposing forces

The most common opponent for Detroit on Thanksgiving Day is Green Bay. The teams play their 20th game Thursday (records before the game):

Sources: Elias Sports Bureau, NFL

gregg.krupa@detnews.com

Cam Newton poses a dilemma for Lions defense


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— So if you are the Lions on Sunday, do you blitz Cam Newton? Don’t be too hasty with your answer.

On the plus side, the Titans last week were able to confuse and frustrate Newton, Carolina’s prized rookie quarterback, with some well-disguised and well-timed blitz packages.

The Lions had good success blitzing another young, athletic quarterback — Denver’s Tim Tebow — three weeks ago.

But Newton is different. He’s faster than Tebow. Newton covers 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, and he’s more elusive.

“His running style is similar to Vince Young,” defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “He’s big and he has those long strides. He can really hurt you in the open field.”

More to the point, Newton throws the ball better and more willingly than Tebow.

And, when you blitz a young quarterback, you sometimes bail him out because you take away his guesswork and streamline his options.

“It’s pretty simple,” Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. “When you blitz, you are playing man-to-man. He just picks out his guy and fires it to Steve Smith or (tight end Greg Olsen).”

Take into consideration also the Lions aren’t a blitzing team. They are built to bring pressure with their four down linemen and they are very good at that. Twenty-two of their 26 sacks this year have come from defensive linemen.

Throw all that into the equation and it’s not an easy call.

Cunningham, naturally, wasn’t giving away the game plan, but he did acknowledge the unique challenge Newton presents.

“He’s a powerful human being,” he said. “He looks like a defensive end. Like our guy, Matt Stafford, people will watch out before they mess with him again (after he rag-dolled Bears cornerback D.J. Moore last week). Cam’s the same way.”

“They flex him out sometimes at wide receiver and play out of the wildcat. I saw him block (Tim) Jennings from Chicago. He knocked him down and when Jennings tried to get back up he knocked him down again. We are dealing with a heck of a quarterback.”

Newton, the first pick in the draft, already has thrown for 2,605 yards — the most ever by a rookie through nine games. He’s thrown 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and run for 374 yards and seven touchdowns.

“The Titans did a real good job,” said middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch, a former Titan. “They did a ton of zone blitzing where he has one look and you drop into another look. They were able to get their hands on some balls and get five sacks. They had him scrambling and they were able to get to him.”

“That’s what you have to do to him — bring pressure and make it a long day.”

When Newton looked at the Lions on film this week, he saw a defense that can put extreme pressure on quarterbacks without blitzing. From the sound of it, that worries him more than facing a blitzing team.

“They’ve got an arsenal,” Newton told the Charlotte Observer about the Lions. “They get after the quarterback. They create (pressure). They wreak havoc…They’re getting a lot of help from their down linemen. That’s very rare nowadays. These guys are unique because those four down linemen wreak havoc. What that allows is everybody’s in coverage.

“And when that quarterback gets pressure, there’s only so much he can do. …”

You’re not going to take shots downfield if you’ve got pressure. I’m sorry, you’re just not going to do it. We know that’s a big thing coming into this week.”

The Lions have been able to stifle the other mobile quarterbacks they’ve faced this season — Tampa Bay’s Josh Freeman, Minnesota’s Donovan McNabb and Tebow. And in all three games, Tulloch was used as a spy, assigned to track the quarterback wherever he went on the field.

The Lions aren’t saying if they will use a spy on Newton, but the Panthers are expecting it.

“The spy thing, people have done that to us in the past and people are going to do it to us in the future,” offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski told the Charlotte Observer. “It didn’t really have an effect on us.”

Lions defensive end Cliff Avril put it this way: “We don’t change for them; we try to make them change for us.”

Bottom line: Blitzing a dynamic talent like Newton comes with an extremely high risk-reward ratio. It can make you or break you on any given play.

“It’s a difficult task, that’s why I haven’t gotten much sleep,” Cunningham said. “When he scrambles, he can throw the ball on the money. But there are also times when he gets erratic. That’s when we have to get the football.”

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

twitter.com/cmccosky

Lions coach Jim Schwartz denies magnitude of Bears game was too much


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— Don’t try telling the Lions they’ve lost some of their swagger. Don’t try telling them they’re in a slump, even though they’ve lost three of four.

And don’t try telling them that maybe they weren’t ready to handle the responsibility of being legitimate playoff contenders.

They aren’t buying any of that.

“There is no hitch in our giddy-up,” receiver Nate Burleson said Monday. “We’re ready to get back to work. We are fired up for a big game at home Sunday against Carolina. Our focus isn’t on what’s wrong with us, it’s ‘let’s get back to doing what we do best — winning football games.'”

That apparently was the tone in position meetings Monday following a 37-13 loss in Chicago.

“I have concern because we lost the last game,” coach Jim Schwartz said. “Have we lost confidence? Absolutely not. We still have seven games to play. The important thing is to identify the reasons (for the loss), take the steps to correct those and move on past it.”

The uncharacteristic six turnovers and the poor response to them were viewed as a correctible anomaly.

“It was a little bit off personality for us,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz and the players will fight you if you suggest they were knocked off their personality by the size of the stage and magnitude of the game.

“Nah,” Schwartz said. “Everybody was thinking it was the Chicago Bears, not thinking about the wild card or controlling our destiny or anything like that. It was just the first game of the second half of the season.”

Still, the Bears have played in playoff games and the NFC Championship game. The Lions are playing meaningful games in the second half for the first time in four years, and had a chance to put the rival Bears in their rearview mirror.

Maybe the moment was too big for them.

“Not at all,” Burleson said. “You talk about being fired up. Guys were ready to rock. That locker room was electric. Guys were ready to play ball. It had nothing to do with the type of game it was. It’s more just the situation we put ourselves in with the turnovers.

“You can’t attribute anything to nervousness or guys having high anxiety. It was just one of those games.”

Rashied Davis, who played for Chicago, put it this way.

“You can’t recover from six turnovers against a team like Chicago,” the Lions receiver said. “They are like a pack of ravenous wolves. But we have to shake it off. We lost, but in the grand scheme of things, we are 6-3 and they are 6-3.”

Going forward, Schwartz said there were no additional concerns about the health of quarterback Matthew Stafford. Schwartz didn’t back off his postgame comments — it was the wind that bothered Stafford, not the fractured index finger on his throwing hand.

“He obviously had a glove on,” Schwartz said. “He had a splint on the very tip of his finger so the glove was just so he had a good grip of the ball. He threw the ball well Thursday and Friday. The issue was the wind, and it affected both quarterbacks.

Both completed about 50 percent of their passes and both are 60 percent throwers.

“The difference was, because of the turnovers and the special teams scores, one team had to throw the ball a lot and the other didn’t.”

Stafford wound up throwing 63 passes, Jay Cutler 19.

“Does it feel different (throwing with a fractured index finger)? Yeah. But it didn’t affect his actual throwing,” Schwartz said.

Players don’t look at the record and see 1-3 in November. They see 6-3. Players don’t add up won-loss records to see their three losses — to the 49ers, Falcons and Bears — are to the three toughest opponents they’ve played.

Players also rarely, if ever, admit to losing confidence.

“We think we could have beaten every team we lost to,” Burleson said. “I feel we are better than Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago. Obviously, after losing to them I can’t say that. They’ve got the upper hand.

“But this is the same team nobody was quite sure about at the beginning of the year. A lot of people were saying we might win five games. We’ve won six and we are well above water. We are a good team and there’s not a guy or a team on our schedule that we are scared of. We are the same confident team we were at the beginning of the year.”

There is a thin line in sports between being confident and delusional. The Lions have seven weeks to prove they are not the latter.

Panthers at Lions

Kickoff: 1 p.m. Sunday, Ford Field, Detroit

TV/radio: Fox/97.1

Records: Carolina 2-7, Detroit 6-3

Line: Lions by 7

Series: Carolina leads 4-1 (Carolina 10-0, Nov. 16, 2008)

Did you know? Detroit has a winning percentage of .200 against Carolina, worst against all teams the Lions have played.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

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Lions cornerback Chris Houston expects action


Terry Foster/ The Detroit News

Allen Park —Lions cornerback Chris Houston knows the test is coming.

He has returned two interceptions for touchdowns this season and word has spread around the league. That can only mean one thing: Quarterbacks are going to go after him more often and with a different game plan.

Lions Hall of Fame cornerback Lem Barney holds the Lions record with three interception returns for touchdowns in his rookie season in 1967. He predicts teams will try to use Houston’s aggressiveness against him instead of choosing not to throw his way. That’s what happened to Barney.

“He is up and running,” Barney said of Houston. “But once you make those returns the offenses are going to test him more so he had better be ready. They have companion routes they are going to use against him.”

In other words, that simple 5-yard buttonhook will turn into a hook and go, hoping to get Houston off-balance so teams can beat him deep.

“I am sure the coaches are teaching him and training him to watch for those things so that won’t happen,” Barney said.

The Lions defense has returned three interceptions for touchdowns and defensive end Cliff Avril returned a fumble for a touchdown. The defensive scores all had similar results. The Lions won each game and the scores sent a spark through the sidelines.

Houston knows teams will come after him. Opponents want to see if he is jumping routes or playing smart. Houston said his scores came off studying opponents. He knew the play was coming against Dallas and he ran 56 yards for the touchdown shortly after Bobby Carpenter returned one from 34 yards. The Lions turned a 27-3 deficit into a 27-17 game and eventually won in overtime.

The 100-yard touchdown against Denver came when the Broncos tried to run the same play on him. Houston agrees with Barney that teams are going to come his way more.

“They want to see if I am jumping routes,” he said. “I want to continue to play within the scheme and not jump routes unless I see something. I am just not jumping routes or guessing. I jump routes because I know something is coming. I am going to work within the scheme and know where my help is. I am not going to leave my teammates out to dry.”

Houston is athletic and fast but is allowing superior game study to guide him. Barney did the same thing. He was a student of teammate Dick LeBeau, who told him extensive film study would supplement his superior athletic ability and talent. Barney took it to heart and many of his career 56 interceptions were a result of knowing what the opponent was going to do. Houston is the same way.

“That first interception (against Dallas), they had scored on a pump route the year before,” Houston said. “I watched film and remembered the formation. When he (the quarterback) made the motion, I knew it was coming.”

When the defense scores, it gives a lift to the sidelines and makes it more difficult for the opponent to recover and win. Players jump up and down as enthusiasm and momentum take over.

“It gives you a spark no matter if you are losing or no matter the circumstances,” safety Louis Delmas said. “We play off that momentum.”

Offensive players get excited for their defensive brothers when they score.

“Man, it is so unaccounted for,” receiver Nate Burleson said. “When the defense scores, I hate to say it as a player but you are thinking we got this thing locked up.

“When the D scores it makes us more comfortable.”

Houston said seeing all that green grass in front of him on the return is exciting.

“It is an unexplainable feeling knowing your hard work is paying off,” he said.

terry.foster@detnews.com

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Kevin Smith works as Lions’ No. 3 RB while Jahvid Best sits


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park — Jahvid Best (concussion), as expected, was not cleared for practice Tuesday, amid reports that he will miss his third straight game Sunday.

ESPN, citing an anonymous league source, reported that Best would not play at Chicago. The team has not officially ruled him out.

Running back Kevin Smith, waived by the Lions after last season, was signed Monday and was working in as the No. 3 running back early in practice Tuesday.

Veteran guard Leonard Davis, signed Sunday, was working at No. 2 right guard Tuesday.

Defensive tackle Sammie Hill (foot) was the only other player not practicing. Rookie tackle Nick Fairley (foot) was practicing, though he still looked limited in the early drills.

Receiver and special teams ace Rashied Davis, who has missed six games with a foot injury, was back and looked to be at full strength. He worked as one of the gunners on the first punt coverage unit.

The Lions also made a practice squad move, signing former LSU receiver Terrence Tolliver and releasing offensive tackle Casey Bender.

Lions seventh-rounder Willie Young a keeper


Terry Foster/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— Chances are, Willie Young is spending most of his free weekend fishing from a dock off the coast of Florida.

He’ll take his catch home, fry it up for his family and relax.

“I love all kinds of fishing, and when I am free, that is what I love to do,” the Lions defensive end said. “I want to find some fishing holes up there in Michigan.”

Off the field, Young is low-key, searching for the perfect fishing spot.

On the field, he’s confident and excitable.

Young throws his hair back into a ponytail and sports a look of indignation. Young, a seventh-round draft pick in 2010 (213th overall), compiled 20.5 career sacks and 45 tackles for loss (second in school history) at North Carolina State.

But at 6-foot-5 and 251 pounds, he’s built more like a basketball player.

“I ain’t no seventh-round pick,” Young said.

And he’s showing that.

This season, the backup defensive end has 10 tackles and two sacks.

“I don’t feel like I am out of place,” Young said. “I’ve always felt I was in place. I just had to adjust to the business side of things, and once I did that, it has been smooth sailing.”

Hungry on the field

Teammate Corey Williams is one of Young’s biggest boosters and role models.

“All this first round, second round, sixth round, that don’t mean nothing,” Williams said. “If you’ve got the heart to get out there, you belong. Look at how many guys were picked in the first round and were busts. Look how many picked in the first round are not even in the league.

“When you are picked low it doesn’t do anything but make you more hungry. You got to go out and grind it out.”

Young grew up in Riviera Beach, Fla., where it was a challenge every day.

“I come from nothing where nothing was given to me,” said Young, adding that his parents were strict. “When I was growing up I was always hungry. I always wanted more and I took nothing for granted.”

That determination is what continues to drive Young today.

And it doesn’t go unnoticed by his teammates.

“The young man’s got a lot of potential,” Williams said. “I don’t think he realizes what type of potential he has. Once he settles down and relaxes and lets the game come to him, he is going to make a lot of money in this league. It is hard to find somebody built like that who can get off the ball and play the run and the pass like that. He is special.”

If nothing else, Young is confident.

He admits he needs to improve on his game but also says: “I have no weaknesses.”

‘He is an exciting player’

As a rookie, Young played in two games, but impressed coaches with his energy and length.

This season, he’s making an impact, providing depth on the rush edge.

“He is a different guy mentally,” defensive end Cliff Avril said. “Once he understood this was a business as well as a game and he got serious, that is when he started to be a whole different guy. It is great to see him being successful.”

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh also has been impressed with Young’s maturity and ability.

“He is always productive, and he is always ready when he gets out there,” Suh said. “He is an exciting player and makes plays and it is exciting to see him play as he has come into a huge spotlight.”

But right now, Young is just enjoying life.

“I am riding the wave right now,” he said. “I don’t think it has really hit me that I am in the league now.”

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