There Are No Moral Victories In Professional Football.

There simply aren’t.

This is a game of inches, and in a league of parity, the guy that comes up short is a loser. We have come up short several times.

There is much to talk about in this contest however, as the Lions delivered a spirited effort, I found myself intently watching a Lions game for the first time all season. Let’s hand it off to Kevin Smith and Calvin Johnson, these young men played their asses off. Kevin made some rookie mistakes, but his speed and awareness were very persistent and impressive. Then there was Calvin…He was simply amazing. It’s not just natural talent, this kid is starting a storied career and whether his true accolades are accomplished with Detroit or elsewhere, this young man will set records if he can stay healthy. Casey Fitzsimmons had a great 2 pt conversion play where he showed patience and followed his blocks to tie the game at 21 all. Dan Orlovsky looks like he can be a solid no. 2 guy in the NFL. A No. 1 if the team around him is set up. He’s a Trent Dilfer kind of guy. I’m seeing the flash and bang of a Farve or McNabb, the kind of guy that takes over a game, but he is a patient passer that goes through his reads and protects ball possession. He’s not going to give it away trying to force a play like … Well, Farve or McNabb.

The Colts played tough yet the Lions defense disrupted them for the better part of 3 quarters of football. As the score would indicate though, a football game is a whole and you have 4 quarters in a whole, thus to you have to disrupt for 4 quarters to win a ball game, not just 3.

Dallas Clark cut us the **** up, having himself a career game and continuing the disturbing trend of an opponent putting up a personal best against our team. The Colts let the scrappy 0-13 Lions hang in there and to the credit of Detroit, they played hard.

Our biggest enemy was our own coaching staff. The officiating was terrible. However, when you are a bad team with a bad record playing against a team with three guaranteed hall of fame players, a hall of fame coach and possibly even more hall of famers as they have a robust group of young talent, you’re not going to get calls that give you the benefit of the doubt. Marinelli handled his timeouts poorly as the clock winded down in the 4th and I don’t feel he used his challenges effectively.

In the end it just wasn’t enough to win and though it’s great seeing our young talent look good against a good football opponent, you end up with 2 outcomes from playing a game: a W or an L

Mark another L on your schedule, feel free to use Ink.

Let’s tip our hats to Jason Hanson as well, quietly climbing the ladder as one of the top kickers in NFL history, setting the bar on 50+ yarders today, a brilliant personal accomplishment. He belongs in the hall of fame and its nice to see him gain some statistical recognition in the nation media spotlight.