White Bread

Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

In the first quarter, Bret Favre (the second least mobile quarterback in the NFL behind KINTna) scrambled for a 19 yard run, his longest run of the season.

Tramon Williams recorded his first career interception.

Green Bay punter Jon Ryan had a career best 72 yard punt.

One week after a miserable game at Chicago, Packers punter Jon Ryan had a 72-yarder in the fourth quarter, the longest punt at Lambeau Field since 1965.

Craig Nall recorded his first touchdown pass since the 2004 season.

The Packers tallied 219 rushing yards, the most for the team since Nov. 29, 2004.

Detroit hasn’t won in Wisconsin since 1991.

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

Jackie Battle had the first NFL carry of his career, resulting in a touchdown.

Tony Gonzalez became only the fourth TE to gain 1,000 yards in 3 separate seasons.

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I found an article from the Canadian Press talking about how terrible the Lions stink. If they weren’t so right, I’d say we should invade them and shut them up. Here are the highlights of the article.

The Detroit Lions raised hopes and expectations with a surprising 6-2 start. Since then, they have collapsed with six straight losses and reverted to being regarded as the same-old Lions. If Detroit doesn’t stop its second-half slide Sunday at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, it will likely make NFL history. No team has won six of its first eight games, then finished 6-10.

Without a win against the Chiefs, that will likely be their final mark because the Lions close the season at Green Bay. They have not won on the Packers’ home field since 1991, when Brett Favre was a rookie with the Atlanta Falcons.

Not counting the strike-shortened season in 1982, the last team to start 6-2 and lose the rest of its games was the 1960 Baltimore Colts. The NFL began using 16-game schedules in 1978.

Some statistics define the slump.

When the Lions were 6-2, they led the NFL with 14 interceptions, 24 takeaways and 90 points off turnovers. Their plus-8 turnover margin trailed only New England and Indianapolis.

Since then, the Lions are tied for last in the league with two interceptions, tied for 20th with nine takeaways, and 29th with 10 points off turnovers and a minus-8 turnover margin.

Despite having a defensive-minded coach, who perhaps can’t overcome team president Matt Millen’s moves, Detroit has allowed an NFL-high 319 first downs, 32 touchdowns inside the red zone and a .459 conversion rate on third downs.
San Diego beat Detroit 51-14, making this team the first in franchise history to give up 50 points twice in a season and the first in the NFL since the 1980 Packers.

“It’s inexcusable,” said Marinelli, who has tried to take the blame for his team’s collapse.

The Lions also were embarrassed at Washington and Philadelphia, losing 56-21 and 34-3 early in the season.

Now, they need to win to avoid infamy and to distance themselves a little from the only stretch in NFL history that compares to their futility.

If Detroit loses out, it will have at least 10 losses in seven straight seasons - all under Millen’s leadership - to hang around the Buccaneers for the unwanted distinction of worst franchise in NFL history over an extended period of time.

Tampa Bay had 12 seasons in a row with double-digit losses from 1983-94.

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

Personal observation: Rod Marinelli waddling up and down the sideline looks like an old man throwing a tantrum at Russ because his soup was too hot.

Ladanian Tomlinson joined Eric Dickerson as the only two players in NFL history to gain 1,200 or more yards in each of their first 7 seasons.

Ladanian Tomlinson tied, then passed, Jim Brown for 7th on the all-time touchdown list.

The Lions have given up more red zone touchdowns than any other team (that’s right, even including Oakland and Miami)

The Lions are “the easiest team to throw against”; as calculated by opposition passer rating

The first mention by the announcers of San Diego removing their starters came at 12:38 left in the second quarter. That has to be some sort of record.

Brandon Manumaleuna scored his first touchdown of the season.

Darren Sproles cracked off a career-long 34 yard run.

Darren Sproles scored his first career touchdown.

Antonio Cromartie recorded his 10th interception of the season, a franchise record, breaking the mark that has stood since 1961.

Jon KINTna’s 5 interceptions tied his career high, which means he has sucked this bad at least once before in his career.

Darren Sproles had his first career 100-yard rushing game.

The Chargers had, for the first time in franchise history, two different 100-yard rushers.

Put this one down for next week: The Lions will finish the season below .500. There has only been 3 other teams in the history of the NFL to start a season 6-2 and finish below .500. –>

Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

Cowboys QB Tony Romo throws a TD pass in his 17th consecutive game for the longest streak in team history.

Dallas clinched the NFC East Division title.

Jason Witten had a career high with 15 receptions

Jason Witten had a career high with 138 yards

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

The Minnesota offense looked crisp and efficient, led by Tarvaris Jackson. He had his first 200-yard game of the season

The Vikings dominated in nearly every category. They held the ball for 38 minutes, out-gained Detroit 443-254, held the Lions to 23 yards on the ground and on offense scored on nearly every possession (one punt).

Rookie Aundrae Allison, taking up kick-return duties for an injured Troy Williamson, set a franchise record with a 103-yard return for a touchdown in the second quarter.

“Vikings fans haven’t seen a dominating offensive performance like this since Randy Moss was headlining a high-flying show with Daunte Culpepper, Cris Carter and Robert Smith.”

“At this rate, Kitna and the crumbling Lions will only be an afterthought.”

It’s not just a Detroit problem. Kitna fell to 13-25 in his career in games played in December and January.

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

At one point Favre connected on 20 straight passes, breaking the Packers record of 18 consecutive completions.

Packers WR Donald Driver recorded season highs in receptions (10) and yards (147)

Detroit’s loss marks the fourth consecutive season they have lost on Thanksgiving Day.

Favre set a Green Bay record with 20 consecutive completions and finished with a season-high 381 yards

Under team president Matt Millen, they are 1-6 in the only game each season that the nation can watch on TV

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

Strahan had a season-high three sacks

“I honestly thought in the first half that was one of the worst teams we played that was 6-3,” Strahan said. “I don’t quite understand why Jon Kitna would say they’re a better football team than us.”

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

The Lions had minus-18 rushing yards, which included a 15-yard loss by WR Shaun McDonald. The lowest team rushing total since 1946.

“Missed tackles, 11 penalties, five turnovers, and our coverage units weren’t very good,” coach Rod Marinelli said. “That covers our entire football team.”

The Lions had minus-18 yards rushing, the second-fewest allowed in Cardinals’ history. They were the Chicago Cardinals when they held Detroit to minus-24 yards on Oct. 13, 1946.

The Cardinals mounted their longest drive of the season late in the second quarter, 90 yards in 15 plays.

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Our weekly look into career-highs, unbelievable stats, and other successes had against the Detroit Lions.

Tampa Bay QB Jeff Garcia completed 18 straight passes at one point — a franchise record.

Garcia broke Steve DeBerg’s franchise record for consecutive completions in a game, and tied the mark Brad Johnson set spanning two games

Bucs’ WR Joey Galloway passed the 10,000 yards receiving milestone for his career.

Running back Earnest Graham had career highs with 99 yards receiving and 92 yards rushing.

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