By Eric Steven Johnson
Fourth Quarter
After a completely uneventful third, the fourth quarter has been very consequential. What looked like a quick 3 and out deep in their own territory turned into six points for the Lions as Stanton completed an 87 yard touchdown pass to Megatron. Great throw, better catch, better run after catch.
On the following kickoff, linebacker Zack Follett collided helmet to helmet with one of the Giants and did not get up. He was eventually strapped to a body board and carted off the field. It did not look good and very closely resembled the scene from when Mike Utley went down years ago. I hope this winds up being something not serious. Zack is a good player and has done a lot of good things in the community. I hope he not only makes a full recovery but we see him back on the field soon.
The Lions drive right down the field after the injury and move into Giants territory. Nate Burelson puts the ball on the ground and the Gee-Men pick it up. It is called a fumble and recovery and turnover.
The Giants march down the field on a handful of plays and score a touchdown.
Lions 17 Giants 28
Lions score a quick field goal and make an impressive defensive stand and the Giants have to punt.
Lions 20 Giants 28
Stanton gets shaken up on the play and we have a Matt Stafford sighting! Except we hit the 2 minute warning and Stanton comes back out. Maybe its a good thing he did because he makes a phenomenal scramble to keep the Lions hopes alive.
Just as quickly, Stanton gets picked off on a pass that deflects off of Megatron's fingertips. That will end the game.
Lions 20 Giants 28
Once again, the Lions beat the spread but too many STUPID PENALTIES and injuries prevent them from beating the other team.
Third Quarter
The Lions have mounted a drive down field with the ball in the incapable hands of Drew Stanton. Drew completed several short passes and capitalized on yards after the catch. Then a STUPID PENALTY nullifies a
35 yard passing play to Nate Burleson that would have placed them inside the Giants 5 yard line. On the following play, Stanton fumbled and the Gee-Men recovered.
The Lions practically begged the Giants to score a touchdown following the turnover. I believe a total of seven penalties were committed on the 55 yard drive. The Lions held the Gee-Men to a 3rd down three times in the red zone only to commit a penalty to put the Giants that much closer to the end zone. STUPID PENALTIES.
Lions 10 Giants 21
Second Quarter
Lots of back in forth in a constant battle for field position in this quarter. The teams have traded the ball back and forth so far. The Giants have been moving the ball downfield and are setup on the Lions 35. Eli takes a shot and hits a former Wolverine, Mario Manningham, for a touchdown. Sloppy play by the defense on that series.
This gives the Giants their first lead of the game.
Lions 7 Giants 14
A lousy kick bounces and Logan gets a hold of it deep in the endzone and takes a knee for a touchback. No 105 yard heroics this time,
STUPID PENALTIES!!! Stephen Peterman does it again and knocks the Lions out of field goal range. Hill gets banged up on a play in the two minute drill and heads into the locker room.
WE HAVE A DREW STANTON SIGHTING!!!
The former pride of MSU overthrows Bryant Johnson and then takes off for a scramble. He comes up just short of the first down. They manage to convert a 4th and short to keep the drive alive. Tony Scheffler hobbles off the field on the play.
The Giants talk the officials into giving the Lions an intentional grounding call and Jim Schwartz lets them have it. The coach is livid and I don't blame him as the officials threw the flag about fifteen seconds after the play ended and every member of the giants were signaling for one.
Stanton recovers and get the Lions back to the 37 on two consecutive completions. With only 3 seconds left in the half, the Lions setup for a field goal. It's 40 year old Jason "look ma, no" Hanson from 58 yards. As if it were no more difficult than kicking a PAT, he booms it through the uprights for three as the half comes to an end.
Lions 10 Giants 14
First Quarter
The Giants are heading out of the tunnel and our play by play team informs us that the Lions won a game last week and would like to make it two in a row. Thank you for that observation, Dick Stockton. We had no idea they actually wanted to win games until now.
Dick Stockton has now pointed out that the Lions have an opportunity to tie the all time record for consecutive losses in road games today. That record is currently held by the Detroit Lions. Beautiful...
A lackluster Jason "look ma, no" Hanson kickoff leads to decent field position for the Gee-Men. Despite a few good defensive plays, the Giants convert a first down. Then Kyle Vanden Bosch and Ndamukong Suh gain some penetration and get a sack on Eli. A penalty puts the Giants into a manageable 3rd and 8 but Eli gets greedy and takes a shot downfield. He misses and the Giants have to punt.
The snap is botched and the punter can't handle it. He actually fumbled it twice trying to get it away. Ball is on the ground and recovered by the Lions!
How about six points off a turnover? I'll take it and so did the Lions. The Lions grit out a drive and convert three 3rd downs in order for Shaun Hill to hit Nate Burleson in the endzone. Hanson boots the PAT to make it a seven point lead.
Lions 7 Giants 0
After letting Ahmad Bradshaw break a fifteen yard run, the Lions D-Line said the hell with that and tackled him for a loss and a gain of one forcing Eli to make a long throw to convert the 3rd down. It gets tipped and hits the ground. Gee-Men punt and managed to down in inside the Lions five yard line.
An understandable 3 and out, given the field position, and the Lions have to punt. Harris booms a beauty and Zach Follett whiffs on a quick tackle. Giants get a good return but are ultimately brought down by the long snapper, Don "the Mule" Muhlbach.
Poorly timed penalty leads to a Giants touchdown. The Lions D gives up an offsides penalty on their own 12 which allows Eli a free play. They get to the four and on the next play, Brandon Jacobs pounds it in the endzone.
A terrible kickoff is played even more terribly as Scheffler and Felton collide as they both try to recover the kick. Best runs for a loss and then the Giants jump offsides only to have Best run for another loss. 3rd and logn coming up as the final seconds tick away in the first quarter.
Pre-game thoughts
The Lions have listed Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson as questionable, De'Andre Levy and Nathan Vasher are out and plenty of other injury issues remain. That doesn't mean they can't beat the Giants. It does make it that much harder.
The New York Football Giants have been two distinctly different teams this year. One is decidedly soft and has Eli Manning starting at quarterback. The other has been a defensive juggernaut that also had Eli Manning starting at quarterback. What does this mean for the Lions? Shaun Hill is likely going to wake up with a headache tomorrow. Then again, if the Lions D-Line has their way, so will Eli.
I still stand by my statement that Eli Manning is the Eli Manning of the Manning brothers. Which means he sucks. If anyone is going to cost the Gee-Men the game, it's going to be his startlingly inconsistent play. The rest of the team will likely give the Lions nightmares and send them crying back to Detroit licking their wounds. If the Lions D can get to Eli; force him to make mistakes and keep that offense off the field, it will open up opportunities for Shaun Hill.
The Lions will need to keep using their two tight end package and play tough football. There's going to be a ton of pressure on Hill and he's not going to have time to get rid of the football. They will have to establish a running game with either Best or Smith use a lot of play action passes to buy any kind of time.
I don't think the Lions win on the road today, but I think they play the Gee-Men tough and give them a good scare. It's going to be much closer than the 10.5 line the Las Vegas bookies handed New York. Who knows, with their improved special teams play and a defense that only looks to have two or three holes instead of eight or nine they just may shock the world.
