NFL Football Revealed on Squib Kick

Calvin Johnson has to wonder, what is going on with the Lions?

by James on May 18th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

Can number 1 Calvin Johnson lead the Lions to a number 1 finish?

Here is a bold prediction for you. The Detroit Lions will be better this year!

Wow, that was not a hard one, because they almost could not be worse. They only won 3 games.

Yeah, true, but they did make a whole lot of improvements too.

Why don’t we start by looking at Calvin Johnson?

Calvin has all the physical attributes of a great receiver. He is fast, tall, great hands, great acceleration, etc.

Maybe more impressive is the mental aspect and work ethic that Calvin brings to the table.

“The great thing is, he breaks the huddle and doesn’t have that quizzical look on his face,” Kitna said. “You know he’s going to be ahead of the curve at some point.

“Coming out of the huddle — bam, he’s out there. You see guys who’ve been in it for a year — they still got that ‘I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do.’ He doesn’t have that look. He’s either fooling us, or he knows what he’s doing.” source

The young guy is not just out partying every night.

Johnson said he has studied the playbook since leaving town after a three-day rookie camp.

“I’ve been doing what I can do, staying in my book every night, trying to learn,” Johnson said.

Just having Calvin Johnson makes the Lions better, because he will be teamed with Mike Furrey and Roy Williams in a Mike Martz passing offense. How in the world do you guard those three all at once?

Now the second important step is Shaun Rodgers. Shaun is happy.

When Shaun Rodgers is happy, he is a focal point of the defense; stopping the run and rushing the quarterback. Rodgers can be a disruptive force on defense.

Rogers is coming back from the worst season of his pro career. He expects to rebound to the level of the 2004 and ‘05 seasons, when he was regarded by his peers as one of the NFL’s most dominating defensive tackles. He made the Pro Bowl both years. source

Adding to Rodgers at defensive tackle is young Shaun Cody, 2nd year man from USC, and Cory Redding.

Redding had eight sacks last year after moving from left end to tackle to take up the slack for Rogers’ absence. Redding did not attend the mini-camp. Redding technically does not have a contract because he has not accepted the one-year tender offered by the Lions when they designated him their franchise player in February. source

Hmm, run stopping tackles, awesome receiving corp, what else is there?

Well, Peter Shrager from Fox Sports says the Lions did the 11th best at improving their team from last year.

They got some more toys for Mike Martz’s offense in Tatum Bell, T.J. Duckett, Shaun McDonald and Calvin Johnson, and tightened up the porous offensive line by trading for George Foster and bringing in Zach Piller and Edwin Mulitalo. The second round selection of local boy Drew Stanton has been lauded as well. Many experts credit Carson Palmer’s rapid growth process and development to the work Jon Kitna did with him during his rookie year. Stanton could be in very good hands with Kitna and Martz. On defense, Detroit went out and got Travis Fisher and DeWayne White — two players who should make a difference. Losing Mike Williams could turn out being addition by subtraction. source

Now if you ask Peter if the Lions are better than last year?

Are they in better shape than they were in January? Of course. Detroit adds a player who’s been described as the best athlete in the entire draft, a few more options in the backfield, and a re-vamped offensive line. Martz did wonders with a cast of retreads last season. Now he has the weapons. Could be scary.

Do you think Calvin watched any Lions games last year and wonders what is going on?

NFL Football Fan Question Are you a true believer in the Lions yet?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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POSTED IN: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions, NFL Football, Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, Roy Williams