Tag: detroit news

Matthew Stafford proves he can stay healthy, is on pace for Lions’ records


Vikings at Lions | 1 p.m. Sunday, Fox

Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— Start with a subplot.

Who had Matthew Stafford getting to Game 13 without missing a start? Outside of the coaching staff and Stafford himself, probably not too many.

Stafford, who started just 13 games in his first two seasons combined, will make his 13th straight start against the Vikings on Sunday.

“I never had any concerns of myself,” Stafford said Wednesday when asked if he felt he’d beaten the “fragile” tag. “You guys can answer that question. I am just where I expected to be — healthy and ready to go this week.”

He’s fought through an ankle injury and a fractured index finger on his throwing hand. He’s also fought through a few erratic weeks. Through it all, he’s on a pace to record the most productive season any Lions quarterback has ever had.

“We’ve never doubted his toughness or his durability or anything like that in here,” center Dominic Raiola said. “That’s never been an issue with us. We have complete faith in his ability to lead this offense and get it where we want to go.”

Stafford has thrown for 3,527 yards this season. That’s 811 yards shy of Scott Mitchell’s 1995 team record of 4,338. He needs to average just 203 yards over the last four games to eclipse the record.

He is five touchdown passes shy of Mitchell’s single-season mark of 32. He’s also in range of breaking Jon Kitna’s single-season completion percentage mark of 63.3. Stafford has completed 63 percent through 12 games.

“I don’t think about that stuff,” Stafford said. “All that matters is winning games.”

Playing for something

Which brings us around to the main plot for Sunday — can the Lions shake off all the injuries, fines, suspensions and negativity they’ve dealt with the past couple of weeks and get back to winning games?

“I think the problem for our team, if there is one, is we don’t think we are 7-5,” defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. “I think if we start thinking that way, we are going to play that way.”

At the start of the week, Cunningham wrote two large numbers on the board inside the defensive meeting room — a seven and a five.

“I said it was about time we start acting like that team,” Cunningham said. “You lose some and you win some in the NFL, but the final result is to get to the playoffs. People need to start focusing on that in our room.

“We’re not some pushover team. We will play anybody at any time. I am not going to make excuses about injuries, but let’s line up our 11 starters against theirs and see what happens. We will get that chance again down the road and I can’t wait.”

For this week, though, Cunningham’s defense will line up without as many as six key players. All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is serving the second of his two-game suspension. His replacement, rookie Nick Fairley, isn’t likely to play because of a foot injury.

Defensive end Lawrence Jackson (thigh) already has been ruled out.

In the secondary, starting cornerback Chris Houston and starting safety Louis Delmas are expected to miss their second straight games with knee injuries.

Outside linebacker Justin Durant (hamstring) didn’t practice Thursday or Friday and he’s questionable.

“Ain’t nothing to it,” veteran defensive tackle Corey Williams said. “We have guys who will step up if other guys can’t play. Gun’s right, man. We have to realize that we do have something to play for. We’re not just trying to finish off these final games. We’ve got a reason. It’s been 11 years since this team has been in the playoffs.

“We had a good week (of practice); crisp and sharp. We just need to get that winning taste back in our mouths.”

Discipline wanted

The Lions started 5-0. They have gone 2-5 since. Yet, they still control their wild-card destiny. If they can win three of the last four, they stand a good chance of getting in. The question is, can they reclaim that “winning taste” they had earlier in the season. Or are they beyond reclamation.

“I don’t know about reclamation,” said defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch. “We still have everything in front of us — all our goals that we set out for ourselves. Essentially, our playoffs start this week. We are neck and neck with a bunch of teams, so this is a must-win if we want to keep our playoff hopes alive.”

You have to wonder, though, if they are capable of staying out of their own way. The foolishness has gone on all season.

Going back to post-whistle fouls against Gosder Cherilus and Stephen Peterman in Week 1, to coach Jim Schwartz’s on-field woofing with Cowboys’ receiver Dez Bryant to his postgame verbal shot at Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, to his handshake dustup with 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, to a tunnel scuffle before the game against Atlanta, to the team’s open mocking of Denver quarterback Tim Tebow, to Suh’s stomp on Thanksgiving Day, to the three post-whistle fouls last Sunday in New Orleans — it’s been one thing after another.

Officials may or may not be watching with a more wary eye, but opponents will certainly be looking to push their buttons and trigger the temper.

“Officials officiate what they see,” Schwartz said. “But as far as other teams pushing the issue, that’s a reality in the NFL and that’s something the last two weeks we haven’t done a good job responding to.”

Schwartz has spoken privately to the team captains and the captains have carried his message to the players. Whether the message has sunk in, the jury is still out.

“I don’t know that it’s a reflection of the leadership or the coaching,” Vanden Bosch said. “I think the mistakes are on the individual. Guys need to understand that you can’t do things because you feel you’ve been wronged (on the field) and go after guys. You have to understand that has an effect on what we’re doing as a team.

“We are an aggressive team and we have a history of not backing down. We need to understand that’s what we are — a physical, aggressive team. But we need to handle that between the whistles.”

As Schwartz said repeatedly this week — it’s down to a four-game season and the margin for error, for selfishness, for any on-field indiscretion is nil.

“We understand we can’t continue to beat ourselves anymore,” Vanden Bosch said. “We’re a good team, we just need to be a little more disciplined. If we play the way we’re capable of playing, and play smart, everything should work out for us.”

Vikings at Lions

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

TV/radio: Fox/97.1

Records: Minnesota 2-10, Detroit 7-5

Line: Lions by 91/2

Series: Minnesota leads 66-32-2 (Detroit 26-23, OT, Sept. 25, 2010)

Did you know? Of their four remaining games, the Lions play two teams with winning records (Raiders and Packers).

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

(313) 222-1489

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

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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

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

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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.”

terry.foster@detnews.com

(313) 222-1494

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Perception of ‘evil’ Lions doesn’t match reality


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park — For a 5-2 football team, there sure are a lot of critics trying to pick the Lions apart.

Even the league’s own website got into the fray. They have billed the Lions game Sunday against the Broncos as Good vs. Evil — the good being Tim Tebow and the bad being Ndamukong Suh.

“I don’t know if that’s appropriate,” coach Jim Schwartz said.

It’s not appropriate, or accurate. But don’t think it won’t be used as a motivator this week. Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham posted the headline and artwork from the NFL.com piece in the defensive meeting room.

“Yeah, I guess evil’s coming to town,” middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch said. “The media likes to portray us as a dirty team, but that’s not the way we play. We’re just physical, we play hard and we hold everybody accountable.”

The critics aren’t letting the facts get in their way. Case in point — the accusations made by two Falcons players last week. No matter how much evidence is compiled — video and audio — that Suh and Cliff Avril were several yards away from fallen Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and didn’t kick him or taunt him, the perception they did won’t go away.

Lions myths are mounting by the week. It might be a good time to debunk a few of them.

Myth : Suh is going through a sophomore slump and he isn’t having the kind of impact he had last season.

Sports Illustrated poured gas on this one, naming Suh to their midseason all-underachieving team. It doesn’t pay to get too upset with these types of lists. Their intent is to stir debate.

But there is a growing perception that Suh is somehow not impacting games like he did last season.

“He is playing some kind of football and if anybody wants to deny that, they don’t know what they’re talking about, and probably never will,” Cunningham said. “He’s playing outstanding football.”

Critics point to his three sacks and 22 tackles as evidence that his impact is less. Certainly they are off his 10-sack, 66-tackle pace last season. But for one, those numbers don’t begin to measure his impact; and two, to expect him to duplicate or surpass 10 sacks is unrealistic.

“You can’t measure everything on a statistic like a sack, because I can take each stat that you have and turn it upside down for you,” Cunningham said. “He’s been very productive, very explosive. He’s played more physical this year than he did last year.”

Here’s a mini-myth: The Lions sack numbers are down. Really? They have 17 as a team, four behind the league leaders.

Schwartz just shook his head at the SI jab at Suh.

“He’s an impact player,” he said. “Everybody has a plan for him. Everybody tries to take him out. We are very satisfied with his production. He plays hard and he affects the game. We will worry about what our expectations and evaluations are, not those from people outside this building.”

Myth : The Lions can’t stop the run.

This one is a little trickier to defend. The Lions do rank 29th against the run, allowing 129.4 per game.

They have also allowed three consecutive 100-plus games — Atlanta’s Michael Turner (122), San Francisco’s Frank Gore (141) and Chicago’s Matt Forte (116).

“According to a lot of people, we can’t stop the run,” Tulloch said. “That is false. We’ve had some lapses lately but we are back in tune to what we need to do.”

What would be a more accurate criticism is the Lions have given up too many big plays in the run game.

Turner broke a 50-yarder. Gore accumulated 102 of his 141 yards in two carries.

There have been some major breakdowns in the back end — either at outside linebacker or safety.

But to say their run defense is bad seems harsh.

“That’s everybody else’s opinion,” Suh said. “I personally don’t think you can line up and run the ball on us all day. That’s one of the things we pride ourselves on. We’ve let out some big runs, which makes it look a lot worse than it really is.

“But perception is reality some times.”

Here’s a reality: Nine times the Lions have stoned a third-and-1 or a fourth-and-1 play. Suh stopped a third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 back-to-back against the Bears.

They stopped a fourth-and-1 at the goal line in Dallas, a fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter in Minnesota, a third-and-1 in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs, and a huge fourth-and-1 from their 11 in the fourth quarter at Tampa.

They can stop the run.

Myth : Matthew Stafford struggles to throw accurately on underneath routes.

This one came out of the blue and from a surprising critic — former quarterback Kurt Warner. He told NFL Network the reason the Lions’ offense struggled the last two weeks was Stafford’s inability to connect on those short passes in front of the linebackers.

A quick review of the numbers shows that Stafford has completed 73.5 percent of his throws behind the line of scrimmage (36 for 49 for 204 yards) and 67.4 percent of his throws from 1 to 10 yards (91-for-135, 805 yards).

Combine those and he’s hitting 69 percent of his underneath routes with five of his 16 touchdowns and two of his four interceptions.

It’s not Tom Brady-like by any measure, but it’s hardly a red flag. If Warner or anybody else wants to nit-pick at the sixth-best quarterback in the NFL, he could have pointed out his struggles with passes in the 21- to 30-yard range.

He’s hit only 4 of 16 there.

Stafford has struggled the last two weeks, no question. But to single out his accuracy on underneath routes seems random — just like a lot of the attempts to deconstruct the Lions’ 5-2 start.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

(313) 222-1489

Lions visit Harrison in hospital; team signs backup


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— Lions coach Jim Schwartz visited with Jerome Harrison Friday morning, hours before the running back was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove a tumor from his brain.

“He was in very good spirits,” Schwartz said.

Cornerback Eric Wright, who played with Harrison in Cleveland before the two rejoined in Detroit, saw him at the hospital Thursday night and said the same thing.

“This dude got me rolling right now,” Wright wrote on his Twitter page. “Smh he gone be juusst fine.”

The Lions officially put Harrison on the non-football injured list Friday and signed former Eagles running back Eldra Buckley, who had worked out for the Lions on Thursday.

“Hopefully I can do something to help this team,” said Buckley, who is 26. “I am going to try to do everything they ask. I will try to be any kind of back they need.”

After spending two seasons on the Chargers’ practice squad, Buckley carried the ball 36 times for 111 yards in two seasons in Philadelphia.

“He’s a hard runner and he was productive on special teams in Philly,” Schwartz said. “He’s strong and quick; a young player who has some NFL experience.”

Maurice Morris will start. He and Keiland Williams will shoulder most of the load Sunday, but Schwartz said

Buckley would be active.

“We won’t run out of ballcarriers,” he said.

Jim Schwartz, Jim Harbaugh avoid punishment for postgame fracas


Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Allen Park— Lions coach Jim Schwartz didn’t exactly offer any apologies for the postgame dustup between him and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.

“It is unfortunate that the events after the game overshadowed the fact that it was probably one of the best football games of the day yesterday between two teams that are 5-1 in the NFC; two young and improving teams,” Schwartz said. “The game is played by players on the field. We don’t want things like that to occur but there are competitive people in this league. We need to do a better job of leaving it to the players on the field.”

Asked directly if he wanted to offer a public apology, Schwartz said only, “It’s a regrettable situation, particularly the fact that it detracted from what happened in the game.”

Harbaugh didn’t apologize, either.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for an apology,” he said Monday at his news conference. “We spoke about it after the game. At some point we’ll talk in private. Apologies always seem like excuses to me.”

Schwartz spoke to league officials Monday and gave his version of the story. Harbaugh did the same. Neither will be fined.

“Fortunately, there was no fighting and thus no basis for a fine,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said via his Twitter account. “Both coaches told Ray Anderson (executive vice president of football operations) that their postgame conduct was wrong and it will not happen again.”

Schwartz said whatever ill wind was blowing between the two has subsided.

“I have shaken hands after games 40 or 50 times that last two and a half years and never had anything come up,” he said. “Obviously, something did. It happened. It was regrettable, but there is nothing going forward between us personally or between the two teams.”

Schwartz said he didn’t think there was any bad blood between the two before the game, either. They were together for a year in Baltimore when Harbaugh was still a player.

“I was a lowly quality control coach on defense and he was the quarterback,” Schwartz said. “I haven’t exactly stayed in contact with him. There’s nothing there and there’s nothing now. It was just something that happened at the end of a game and it took away from the fact that it was a tough, hard-fought football game.”

Harbaugh delivered the same message.

“The thing that you feel bad about is that it detracts, takes away, from what our football players did, what their football players did, and the game itself,” said Harbaugh, the former Michigan quarterback. “When you see what is being talked about today, it’s about that last night. That was unfortunate. Like I said after the ballgame, I take responsibility for my part in that.”

Both are young, passionate and emotional coaches. Both can come off as arrogant, cocky, hot-headed. Both have a penchant for rubbing opposing players and coaches the wrong way. It was probably inevitable that they would clash.

Harbaugh, when he was at Stanford, had words with then-USC coach Pete Carroll after he went for a two-point conversion with a 34-point lead.

He once threw a punch at former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, who, as a network analyst, challenged Harbaugh’s skills as the team’s leader.

Schwartz has gotten under coaches’ and players’ skin with his demonstrative fist-pumps after games and with some of his biting postgame remarks.

Case in point — his shots at Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and receiver Dez Bryant after the Lions won Oct. 2 in Dallas.

On Sunday, Schwartz was shown mocking Harbaugh for an illegal challenge after the Lions scored.

The seeds for Harbaugh’s exuberant postgame handshake and backslap may have been sown back in March during the NFL meetings.

According to a story posted March 23 on Philly.com, Schwartz told Harbaugh he would struggle mightily as a rookie coach if the lockout wiped out all offseason work — which it did.

John Harbaugh, Jim’s brother and the Ravens coach, recalled the conversation.

“We were having dinner the other night and Jim Schwartz told him basically there’s no way you’re going to be able to get it done (if the lockout lasts into the summer),” John Harbaugh said. “He told him there’s no way you’re going to be able to accomplish what you need to accomplish in two weeks if this thing lasts a while.

“Jim just kind of bit his tongue, which is what you’ve got to do in this situation. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Except bring your team to Ford Field and spank Schwartz’s Lions.

“Protocol is not for you to retaliate, if you are Jim Schwartz, by chasing the other coach down into the tunnel and going after him,” said former coach Tony Dungy, speaking to NBC’s Bob Costas on Sunday night. “I don’t know what Jim Harbaugh said, but whatever he said, it didn’t merit that.”

Rodney Harrison, a former player, put it this way.

“Both coaches were wrong. Jim Harbaugh, first of all, smacked him on the back,” Harrison said. “Putting your hands on a grown man, you can’t do that. If you’re Jim Schwartz, what do you tell your kids?”

To which Dungy replied — “Be the bigger man … If you are Jim Schwartz, you know what, let me go in the locker room and tell our guys, ‘I hope we see these guys again.'”

The Lions players, after having a night to digest it and watch replays, still have their coach’s back.

“I saw it one time last night and I don’ think it’s that big of a deal,” receiver Nate Burleson said. “It’s one of those things that happens and we moved past it pretty fast. I don’t think anything serious is going to come from it.

“He’s passionate about the game. I will say that, and I like that about him. We’re an emotional team. We go as our head coach goes. I think how we’ve been playing is a direct reflection of Jim and that’s been pretty good for us so far.”

Schwartz said he did talk to Harbaugh briefly after the scuffle.

“Afterwards, in the tunnel, I spoke to him after everything died down,” Schwartz said. “We will talk again soon.

“Everybody is a competitor. Usually when a game is over you shake hands and move on to the next game. That’s what we are here to do.”

Falcons at Lions

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

TV/radio: Fox/97.1

Records: Atlanta 3-3, Detroit 5-1

Line: Lions by 4

Series: Detroit leads 23-10 (Atlanta 34-21, Sept. 7, 2008)

Did you know?: The Falcons are one of four teams in the NFC the Lions have a winning record against.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

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