Jason Hanson | Detroit Lions Tickets

Bob Wojnowski: Lions finally have teeth to match their roar

Bob Wojnowski

Detroit — Oh my, how things have changed. At times in Ford Field on Sunday, the crowd was so loud, the Lions’ offense had to plead for calm. At times, the quarterback was so jacked up, he looked capable of firing the ball all the way across the street to Comerica Park.

Something startling is starting to happen at this hot little corner in downtown Detroit, and for their part, the Lions are determined to make it happen. That should be their theme this season, because it sure is Matthew Stafford’s theme — make something happen.

The gamblin’, gunslingin’, gosh-darnin’ quarterback was dominant in the home opener, throwing four touchdown passes in the Lions’ 48-3 blasting of the Chiefs. The Lions spent the offseason collecting players and plaudits, and though it was just one game, they showed it all in the biggest blowout in franchise history.

This is about talent, and the 2-0 Lions definitely have some. It’s also about attitude, and they’re certainly developing some, from the noise in the building to Kid Rock and Bob Seger in the postgame locker room. Going back to last season, this is six straight victories, and it’s happening with aggressiveness on offense and defense, and even with a cutthroat edge.

At long last

Jim Schwartz and his coaching staff are letting the fellas loose, and that’s partly because the Lions finally, finally have the quarterback capable of doing it. Stafford threw soft passes, feathered strikes and absolute lasers. His 36-yard pass down the middle to tight end Tony Scheffler in the second quarter was a thing of beauty — almost as audacious as Scheffler’s touchdown dance.

The Lions are having fun and they should. In an amusing pantomime, Scheffler pretended he was making a fire and sending smoke signals. (They were playing the Chiefs, get it?) Actually, the Lions are using more conventional means to send their signals, and it begins with a franchise quarterback who’s healthy and happy to fling.

“Your radar’s gotta be on high alert when Matt’s got the ball in his hands,” Scheffler said. “On my touchdown, he put some velocity on it and stuck it on my helmet. But we have a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed if we want to be the team we think we can be in January.”

The playoffs in January are a long way off, but not as long as they were two weeks ago. The Lions just hammered a team that was 10-6 last season, one week after handling another 10-6 team in Tampa. Granted, the Chiefs look positively awful, committing six turnovers.

But Stafford is growing rapidly, as he searches for the line between making something happen and needlessly forcing something to happen. Early in the game, the Lions were a bit sluggish. Stafford threw a bad interception instead of taking a sack, although the Chiefs fumbled it right back.

Stafford has shown he can scramble, and he and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan are finding ways to make teams pay. When the Chiefs’ defense loaded up to stuff the run, Stafford hit star Calvin Johnson for two touchdowns. When they adjusted, he found Nate Burleson, Jahvid Best, emerging rookie Titus Young and others.

“The big thing was, Matt took some hits and kept making the throws,” center Dominic Raiola said. “When teams leave Calvin out there one-on-one, that’s disrespectful to me. That’s what happens — you get dunked on. We got an aggressive coaching staff. We’re gonna stay fangs out.”

Fangs out, everyone in. Yep, you can feel something building here, after all the years of misery.

People wonder what spawns confidence. I’ll tell you what does: Talent. Stafford has the smarts, the arm and the leadership, and Johnson has become an amazing weapon.

Here were the Lions, up 20-3 late in the third quarter, facing a fourth down at Kansas City’s 1. Field goal by the ever-dependable Jason Hanson? Aw, boring. As the crowd momentarily quieted, Stafford dropped back, zipped a quick pass to Johnson, and the fans erupted again.

“We’ve been doing it for a while now and Calvin kind of knows what I’m thinking, and I’m the same way with him,” said Stafford, 23-for-39 for 294 yards. “It’s a good start, that’s the way we look at it.”

A ferocious start

It’s only a start, but the Lions attacked with stunning ferocity. This is who they’re trying to become — an explosive passing team that runs to keep the opponent honest. There also was some animosity in this one because defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham was accused in the offseason of tampering with Kansas City players, a charge that really ticked the Lions off.

I’m not saying they ran up the score. The Chiefs were so incompetent, the score practically ran itself up.

I am saying, when Stafford is flinging like this, the Lions are capable of running up points quickly. Through two games, he has thrown for 599 yards and seven touchdowns, with only two interceptions.

“Until we get some playoffs and championships, I’m not gonna walk around with my chest pumped out,” Burleson said. “But I don’t think people truly realize how many weapons we got. That’s the one thing that makes us so powerful. Matt makes throws that a lot of quarterbacks wouldn’t even attempt. We’re a good team, but our goal is to be great.”

They have a good quarterback who’s striving to be great. Nothing really has changed and everything has changed. The Lions’ goals are still the same, but now, early evidence suggests they’re legitimately attainable.

bob.wojnowski@detnews.com

twitter.com/bobwojnowski

Lions’ ‘gamer’ Ricardo Silva stays in thick of action, roster battle

Lions: Notebook

Chris McCosky/ The Detroit News

Detroit — Ricardo Silva, an undrafted rookie out of Hampton, usually stands off by himself during practice.

The rest of the defensive players are in a pack and Silva, invariably, is about 10 yards apart, by himself, often rehearsing the drops or the coverages that are being played out on the field.

It’s a bit ironic a guy so often by himself in practice is so often in the thick of the action during games.

In limited time in three games, he has two interceptions and recovered a fumble.

“He makes plays when he’s in there,” coach Jim Schwartz said.

He picked off Tom Brady late in the second quarter, which was noteworthy for two reasons. One, he picked off Tom Brady, and two, he was in the game in the second quarter.

“The defense did a good job disguising that blitz,” Schwartz said. “We had the same play on earlier but this time the quarterback read it differently. But (Silva) is a little bit of a gamer. He’s always around the ball.”

Silva may have played his way onto the 53-man roster, or onto the practice squad at the very least. After starters Louis Delmas and Amari Spievey, and veteran Erik Coleman, Silva has emerged as the fourth safety.

At least for this week, he was ahead of veteran special teams ace John Wendling and recently signed Aaron Francisco and Michael Johnson.

No excuses

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady gave the Lions defense its due credit Saturday.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “They were a good team when we played them last year. It was a close game until the fourth quarter. When we made some plays in the fourth quarter we showed some resiliency, but they are a good team. They’re good on defense, they play well offensively and they’re very well coached. They’re tough.”

As for his own performance, Brady said, “From the first series on we just couldn’t get into a rhythm. It was just a bad night all around. You don’t make excuses for it. We just didn’t play the way we needed to.”

New punter

Signs are pointing to a possible change of the guard at punter. Rookie Ryan Donahue not only started the game but he also held for kicker Jason Hanson.

That’s been Nick Harris’ job the last eight seasons.

“Ryan is part of our preseason rotation,” Schwartz said. “He’s punted well and held well. It’s a different dynamic going out and doing it under the pressure of a sold-out crowd and a nationally televised game. We needed to see him in that situation.”

Donahue handled the pressure. His two punts averaged 50 yards (though on his 58-yarder he might have outkicked the coverage). His net was only 33 yards. He held for two Hanson field goals.

Harris also punted well, averaging 48 yards per boot, and a 43.5-yard net.

Extra points

Hanson has all but secured the kicking job. He booted field goals of 33 and 46 yards, plus he placed his kickoffs at the goal line, forcing the Patriots to return them. Twice the Lions stuffed the Pats inside the 20 on kickoffs. Dave Rayner missed a 48-yarder.

… Rookie receiver Titus Young saw his first game action and caught a 19-yard pass. He was pulled at halftime, though Schwartz said there was no aggravation to the sore hamstring.

… Linebacker Bobby Carpenter continues to have a strong preseason. His seven tackles led the team.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com

MSU’s Dave Rayner takes aim at winning Lions’ kicking job

Tim Twentyman/ The Detroit News

Beverly Hills — The Lions tendered an original-round (sixth) contract to kicker Dave Rayner before the lockout.

Rayner made 13 of his 16 field-goal attempts last year in place of the injured Jason Hanson.

The contract offer is an insurance policy for the Lions in case Hanson can’t shake his injury woes of the last two seasons.

Hanson, one of the most accurate and consistent kickers in NFL history, has had two knee surgeries the last two seasons. He missed the final eight games last year and there’s no telling how his 40-year-old body will bounce back from his latest surgery.

But Rayner, who is from Michigan State, isn’t interested in keeping a starting spot warm or being an insurance policy for Hanson. Rayner is heading to camp with plans to win the job outright.

“I definitely have the utmost respect for Jason,” he said after a team workout at Detroit Country Day on Thursday. “But at the same time, I’m brought here for a reason and I’m going to try to win the job and see what happens from there.

“I did a nice job at the end of the year. I did enough to impress the coaches and management. With Jason getting hurt and getting up there in age, and some speculation whether he’ll be able to come back, I think they maybe are thinking long-term. I hope they’re looking long-term.”

As much as Hanson has meant to the Lions organization — he’s the team’s all-time leading scorer and longest-tenured player — he can’t play forever.

Rayner was a sixth-round pick by the Colts in 2005; the Lions are Rayner’s sixth NFL team. After the Colts, Rayner played for the Packers, Chargers, Chiefs and Bengals and was out of football in 2009 before joining the Lions.

“Hopefully, I’m the next guy,” Rayner said. “I don’t think I can try and fill (Hanson’s) shoes. I think that’s where guys get in trouble. I’m going to go in and try to do what I can do and hopefully be successful at my game. If I can have half the career he’s had, I’ll be happy.”

Terry Foster: NFL lockout’s fine with us — just don’t dare miss a game

Terry Foster

The reality of an NFL lockout hit full force Monday when I saw Lions kicker Jason Hanson at the drinking fountain at my local Life Time Fitness.

He was doing mostly weight training on a slow Monday morning in the gym.

He’s got nowhere to train because he is not allowed inside the Lions practice facility and cannot talk to coaches and the training staff. The king of sports is shut down. It just hasn’t hit home for the rest of us because we have not missed one game, one hit or another Lions loss.

We haven’t gathered around the water cooler on a Monday morning second-guessing coach Jim Schwartz or wondering if Matthew Stafford will last the season. Everything seems status quo outside of those clips we saw a few weeks ago of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and New England quarterback Tom Brady walking down the street before and after negotiations.

The NFL now is a 365-day-a-year league. The draft is scheduled as normal, beginning two weeks from this Thursday. The draft guides are out. Fans are discussing who the Lions should take with the 13th pick and even the top collegiate athletes will walk across the stage, shake commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand, and wear a cap of the team that selected them.

After that, the league will roll into bubble wrap unless a deal is hammered out.

ESPN is reporting that a judge will impose forced mediation on the NFLPA and the NFL. The two sides both agree that more mediation is necessary, but they cannot even agree where to have it.

I won’t bore you with the details because I get the feeling the public doesn’t really care. ESPN provided wall-to-wall coverage and I admit I often turned the channel midway through it. Now when I see lockout news, I just shut it off.

This is April, not August when training camp begins. Players will miss some OTAs and will be forced to work out with you and me. So what? It just doesn’t hit home yet with the public with what is going on.

For players, it does. Hanson said most of the players he talks to are trying to maintain things now, but at some point they will need to find trainers to push them further. Some guys have returned home while others have found workout partners in the Detroit area.

This whole thing seems ridiculous. The owners are not losing money. The players are not going broke. And the league is the most prosperous in our country. I still am trying to figure out what the point of this lockout is. What you have is a few hundred people trying to figure out how to slice up a multi-billion dollar pie.

Meanwhile, the people who really will get hurt are the little guys trying to hammer out a minimum-wage salary. The people who work concessions and show us to our seats need that money. Sunday’s are always a great source of business for the bars and restaurants in Detroit who need every high-ticket day they can get.

It might just be eight dates, but NFL gameday packs a huge punch that can make a place profitable for the week.

These are the people I think about.

It was great seeing Hanson on Monday but I don’t want to see him in my gym. Get out.

There is plenty of room for him, but he belongs in Allen Park with the rest of the Lions.

terry.foster@detnews.com

Lions unlikely to make significant changes in 2011

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Allen Park— There have been times after the season’s final game when Dominic Raiola could look around and count on his hands the number of players likely to return.

That count took a lot longer after this year’s final game.

“I know the nucleus of this team is coming back,” he said. “We’ve walked out of here in the past not knowing what was going to happen. But I see most of these guys, coming back.”

That, as much as the season-ending four-game winning streak, is fueling optimism.

“Across the board, offense and defense, we are still looking to improve the roster,” coach Jim Schwartz said Monday. “We are still looking to improve our starting 22. But we aren’t looking at an overhaul. Even at the spots where we do have need, it’s not like it was last year with the defensive backs where we erased everybody except Louis Delmas.

“There are a lot of guys here that we will continue moving forward with, and a lot of them might not be starters.”

Every starter and main backup on offense is expected to return for 2011.

On defense, starting defensive end Cliff Avril can be a restricted free agent (pending a new collective bargaining agreement), while starting cornerback Chris Houston and defensive end Turk McBride could become restricted free agents.

The Lions, however, can tender offers to all three.

Among those who likely have played their final games in Detroit are outside linebacker Julian Peterson, cornerback Nathan Vasher (unrestricted) and safety C.C. Brown (unrestricted).

Outside linebacker Landon Johnson is also unrestricted, but the Lions may try to keep him.

“We have talked before about having to address the starting 22 before you can address your depth,” Schwartz said. “What has happened this year is, because of the injuries and other things, we have been able to address a lot of the depth issues. Now we have to start adding pieces to the starting 22.”

Offense Quarterbacks

The top two are set. Matthew Stafford , who said Monday his shoulder was nearly back to full strength, is the starter, and Shaun Hill , who led the team to three victories, is No. 2.

The Lions would love to re-sign Drew Stanton as the No. 3, but as an unrestricted free agent, he will be looking to compete for a No. 1 or No. 2 spot somewhere. Still, if no suitable opportunities come his way, he said he would have no trouble returning as the third option.

Running backs

The top two spots are set — probably. Jahvid Best (turf toe) said he will need at least eight weeks of rest to completely heal. He should be ready to resume the starting role next season.

Maurice Morris , entering his 10th season, will have the first shot to win the backup role, but the Lions are expected to bring in one and probably two other backs.

They will have to decide whether to bring back Kevin Smith , who has had health issues the last three seasons, and underachieving second-year man Aaron Brown . The guess is Smith comes back, not Brown.

FB Jerome Felton could be a restricted free agent, but the Lions are expected to bring him back.

Receivers

Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson will be back, as will return ace and jack-of-all-trades Stefan Logan .

But the Lions will be looking to upgrade the depth.

Bryant Johnson , who has one year left on his contract ($3 million), was unproductive all season.

Derrick Williams , a former third-round pick, has been a disappointment the last two seasons.

Tight ends

Absolutely set with Brandon Pettigrew , Tony Scheffler and Will Heller signed through next season.

Line

The starters are expected back, although there is some concern about RG Stephen Peterman , who struggled at times (partly due to a lingering foot injury).

Corey Hilliard , who filled in admirably when RT Gosder Cherilus went down, can be a restricted free agent. It’s hard to imagine the Lions letting him go, but some team could swoop in and steal him.

The Lions signed veteran T Tony Ugoh late, but he wasn’t able to get on the field before rookie Jason Fox did, so it’s doubtful he’s part of the plan.

Defense Line

At end, Kyle Vanden Bosch is expected to make a full recovery from neck surgery and start. E Lawrence Jackson also will return. And it seems improbable the Lions wouldn’t re-sign Cliff Avril and Turk McBride .

It will be interesting to see what they do about rookie Willie Young . They love his athleticism, but he’s going to have to show them a lot more maturity and a stronger work ethic next season.

At tackle, starters Ndamukong Suh and Corey Williams , as well as top reserve Sammie Hill , are back. The Lions will have to make a decision on backup Andre Fluellen , who can be a restricted free agent.

Linebackers

This is one of the biggest areas of need.

DeAndre Levy will return and probably start at middle linebacker. But there he might be moved outside, depending on whom the Lions draft or acquire through trade or free agency.

Most likely there will be two new starters on the outside. The Lions aren’t bringing back Julian Peterson and his $8 million contact. And Zach Follett , the starter before suffering a serious neck injury, may not be ready.

Bobby Carpenter and Ashlee Palmer will likely return, but not as starters.

Landon Johnson is a tricky one. They loved his play, but he has a history of concussions.

The Lions also will have to make a decision on Jordon Dizon , an undersized middle linebacker who blew out his knee in the first exhibition.

Backs

The Lions probably will invest significantly to bring Chris Houston back. He showed he could be a shutdown cornerback on the left side and drafting at No. 13, they aren’t likely to get the impact player they hoped for.

The right side corner spot is wide open. Alphonso Smith probably will get the first shot to win it. Tye Hill , Aaron Berry , Brandon McDonald , Prince Miller , Jack Williams and Eric King could be in the mix.

At safety, Louis Delmas is the only sure bet.

The Lions liked the development of rookie Amari Spievey , and veteran John Wendling is a valuable special teams player.

Special teams

The Lions may have a camp battle for the kicking spot.

Jason Hanson is coming off surgery the last two seasons. Although he is the incumbent, and coach Jim Schwartz said Monday his confidence hasn’t wavered, Dave Rayner has earned at least the right to compete.

Coaching staff

All the coaches are under contract and expected back.

Offensive coordinator Scott Linehan ‘s name may come up regarding coaching vacancies, but he has said numerous times he is content with his role in Detroit.