Jon Kitna makes a 10 win guarantee
NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Jon Kitna thinks the Lions might be better this year. They won 3 games last year and Jon thinks they will win around 10 this year.
Better? We are talking drinking rocket fuel here. To go from 3 wins to 10 wins takes…well, maybe a Drew Brees and a Reggie Bush and a whole lot of other stuff.
10 wins?
Coach Rod Marinelli says repeatedly that the Lions will be a good team. Quarterback Jon Kitna says they will win 10 games, then says they will win more than 10. Wide receiver Mike Furrey says on paper they should win 10 to 12 games easily. source
Ok, admittedly Jon Kitna is living in a fantasy world and may well be a great fantasy quarterback. After all the Lion’s QB put up 21 TDs and a whole lot of yards last year. 4,208 yards to be exact.
Now Kitna accomplished this without a running back, as the top 5 backs on the Lions ended up with season ending injuries, including the coming into his own Kevin Jones.
Jon also pulled off all those yards with a converted DB at one wideout, in Mike Furrey, and the ever talkative Roy Williams being double teamed at the other wideout.
The offensive line was so bad and so beat up that they started a rookie and employed a blocking tight end most of the time.
And contrast this, Peyton Manning had 4,397 yards. Barely more than Jon Kitna.
So you can begin to see where some of Kitna’s optimism comes from.
The Lions have Kevin Jones coming back and have added TJ Duckett and Tatum Bell. At the receiver slot there is superstar in the making Calvin Johnson. No longer can you double team Roy Williams.
Throw in the addition of a few veteran guards and a veteran tackle and the offensive side of the ball looks very explosive!
The Defense
The defense will still be searching for a constant identity. Ernie Sims is the face of the defense and will be rolling into his second year. The real key may be getting some major production out of Shaun Rogers.
Marinelli
All that being said the real reason for the optimism is Coach Rod Marinelli. He has cleaned house and cleaned attitude. When he gets done with you, you are a true believer.
Marinelli is the man for the job and you can’t blame the players for believing that this time it is different.
Schedule
So what about the schedule. Kitna bragged it was soft. Is it soft? Can we find 10 possible wins on that schedule? Let’s take a look.
Sep 9 @Oakland 4:15pm possible win 1 will Josh McCown be QB?
Sep 16 Minnesota 4:05pm possible win 2 Minnesota will start a very young QB.
Sep 23 @Philadelphia 1:00pm loss
Sep 30 Chicago 1:00pm loss
Oct 7 @Washington 1:00pm possible win 3 again a team with QB problems.
Week 6 BYE
Oct 21 Tampa Bay 1:00pm possible win 4 a team with several QBs and problems.
Oct 28 @Chicago 1:00pm loss
Nov 4 Denver 1:00pm loss
Nov 11 @Arizona 4:15pm possible win 5 again a very young QB.
Nov 18 N.Y. Giants 4:15pm loss
Nov 22 Green Bay 12:30pm possible win 6
Dec 2 @Minnesota 1:00pm loss
Dec 9 Dallas 1:00pm loss
Dec 16 @San Diego 4:15pm loss
Dec 23 Kansas City 1:00pm possible win 7 again QB problems
Dec 30 @Green Bay 1:00pm possible win 8
Oops, we only got up to 8 wins and 8 wins would be a fantastic season coming off of 3 wins. One more victory would most likely get them in the playoffs.
Please, do not think this is my prediction. It is only my search for possible victories.
Is Jon Kitna crazy? No. Is Jon Kitna fired up? Yes!
NFL Football Fan Question How many victories are giving the Lions?
As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.
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POSTED IN: Calvin Johnson, Coach Rod Marinelli, Detroit Lions, Ernie Sims, Kevin Jones, NFL Football, Roy Williams
6 opinions for Jon Kitna makes a 10 win guarantee
Mike http://www.just.pokertalk.com
Jun 30, 2007 at 9:31 am
I find it funny that a player, that while he had good yardage stats last year and is much better at QB then he predecessor with the Lions, would go out on that fragile branch limb. Afterall he has never won anything and the Lions take at least 3 years to win more than 10 games typically! But hopefully he can back it up. I am always hopeful for success with the Lions but years of losing has steeled me with a pessimistic outlook. 7 and 9 at best.
Ron B Free
Jun 30, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Lions fortunes will rest not on the strength of their offense (which should be better this year) but on the necessary improvement in their defense. The head coach is defense oriented but the owner of the team wants a high powered point scoring offense. Recent drafts have been heavily geared towards offensive skill players and have not focused on two necessary elements of a good team, namely building your lines and drafting for speed and strength on defense. Millen spent a lot of money on free agents that haven’t produced and that along with wasting high first round draft picks on players that haven’t produced (Harrington, Rogers, Mike Williams) has led to the Lion woes of the last 5 years. Now that the Lions are stocked with quality wide recievers, a veteran leader and a good rookie backup at quarterback, and a stable of running backs, it is time to focus on drafting the quality defensive players and the offensive lineman Marinelli needs to take this team to the next level.
Mike
Jun 30, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Have you heard the saying walk the talk? The Lions have always talked about how well they were going to do in a season. I am more hopeful this year that the recent past, but history tells us that they won’t be able to ‘walk the talk’. I hope I am wrong.
James
Jun 30, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Could not have said it better myself. really. just happy your comment made it through.
Jamison762
Sep 16, 2007 at 11:47 pm
10 wins is quite a guarantee from a QB and a team coming of a dissapointing 3 win season. reminds me of all those rasheed wallace guarnsheed’s. well we are 2-0 so far and im real confident with our offensive power with multiple options and our mike martz hurry-up style offense. our main problem was a loss of confidence. either we would lose it in the fourth quarter or we lost all our heart. until i see major problems i feel we have a chance to eclipse 10 wins. i mean 2-0 we havent lost. . . im not counting us out yet.
James
Sep 17, 2007 at 9:39 pm
If Rasheed said the Lions would win 10 then we should believe it.
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