Nobody likes to kick a dog (or a lion in this case) when he is down, but sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade. Is that enough clichés for you?
Well it appears Detroit Lions RB Kevin Smith has picked up where QB Jon Kitna left off. Only this time, it is far worse than the “Lions will win 10 games” prediction Kitna has given the last two seasons. Smith wrote the following entry on his blog, “I won’t make a prediction about how many games we’re going to win, but I will say this: We will definitely make the playoffs this season.” You can read the rest of it here.
Are you kidding me? How can you go out and make a statement like that?
What’s worse is that Smith actually believes it can happen, because as he says later in the post, “…we weren’t far off last year. Almost every game we could have won, we were one play or one player short. Except for Tennessee on Thanksgiving, they just came out and beat us to sleep…”
I am not sure what season Smith is talking about, but certainly it is not the 2008 season in which the Detroit Lions got beat by 10 points or more in 10 games. Further still, the Lions lost by 14 points or more in 8 games. That’s losses of two touchdowns or more in half their games.
The New England Patriots missing the playoffs at 11-5 – that’s not far off. The Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets missing the playoffs at 9-7 – that’s not far off. GOING 0-16 DOES NOT MAKE YOU EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO MAKING THE PLAYOFFS. That’s what the Lions were last year 0-16, and they were really only close in three games. Against Minnesota twice, losing 12-10 on the road and losing 20-16 at home. The other close game, was a 27-23 loss at Chicago where they took a 23-13 lead a halftime. However the Bears scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to win the game by four. All three close games came against division opponents.
So where is Smith’s “Almost every game we could have won”? Had they won those three “close” games, they would have been 3-13 and that’s hardly a playoff record. So either the Detroit Lions need to step up and stop their players from making these silly predictions four months before the season starts, or these players need to learn to shut up and wait until they retire to become prognosticators.
Kevin Smith fumbles vs Colts
I have no problem with the player believing in himself and in his team. Yes, you should be thinking positive thoughts, but to come out and say it publicly is another matter.
We should all be gratefull to the kittycats… They give us sthg to laugh about every week ! The NFL was fun, now it’s funnier than ever thx to Detroit…