Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Perry Mason’s final analysis of the Lions’ season

01/04/2011 Guest User 2 Comments

Last month I wrote a post comparing the 2010 Detroit Lions to the 2009 and 2008 squads on a statistical basis. Because the 2010 season had not come to a close, that post prorated the then-current 2010 statistics over the full season to provide an apples-to-apples comparison. Now the 2010 season is over, so a “real numbers” apples-to-apples comparison can be made. This is that comparison.

Category	2008	2009	2010
First downs	234	281	304
First downs allowed	350	332	320
First down ratio	-116	-51	-16
Third down conversions	29%	49%	40%
Third down conversions allowed	46%	44%	39%
Third down ratio	-17%	5%	1%
Total yards	4292	4784	5423
Total yards allowed	6470	6274	5497
Total yards ratio	-2718	-1490	-74
Rushing yards	1332	1616	1613
Rushing yards allowed	2754	2025	1999
Rushing yards ratio	-1422	-409	-386
Passing yards	2960	3168	3810
Passing yards allowed	3716	4249	3498
Passing yards ratio	-756	-1081	312
Completion percentage	55%	54%	61%
Completion percentage against	68%	68%	64%
Completion percentage ratio	-13%	-14%	-3%
Sacks	30	26	44
Sacks allowed	52	43	27
Sacks ratio	-22	-23	17
Turnover ratio	-9	-18	4

Detroit Lions Of the eight above statistical categories — which I would say are the key stats to winning football games — the 2008 Lions were better than their opponents at none. And they won zero games. The 2009 Lions were better than their opponents at exactly one. And they won two games.

But 2010 was different.

In 2010, the Lions outgunned their opponents in terms of third-down conversions, passing yards, sacks and turnovers. Further, they were just barely edged out by their opponents in terms of first downs (-1 per game), total yards (-4.6 per game), rushing yards (-24.15 per game) and completion percentage (-3% overall). And they won six* games. That is an infinite number more than they won in 2008, and 300 percent more than they won in 2009.

I’ll say it now, and I’ll stand by it next year: The 2011 Detroit Lions are going to be playing in the 2011 post-season.

*I think we all know they actually won seven games, but we will call it six for the Carebears fans who might read this.

Screen time

The Detroit Lions are improving, and Perry Mason can prove it

12/13/2010 Guest User 1 Comment

In 2008, I graduated from law school, moved 640 miles from home, passed a bar exam and began my legal career. You know what I remember most vividly about 2008? The Detroit Lions attained a perfect 0-16 record. On September 25, 2008, as the Lions continued to skid, something happened that gave the Honolulu Blue masses hope: William Clay Ford announced that he had relieved Matt Millen of his duties as President and CEO, “effective immediately.” We all knew without a doubt that our troubles were over.

One MM was replaced with another. With Martin Mayhew calling the shots instead of Matt Millen, Rod Marinelli was fired as head coach and replaced with Jim Schwartz, a defensive coaching dynamo from Tennessee. In the 2009 draft, the Lions took franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford, a solid tight end in Brandon Pettigrew, a stud safety in Louis Delmas, an outside line backer with some serious upside in DeAndre Levy, and a wide receiver to take some attention away from Calvin Johnson in Derrick Williams. And that was just the first three rounds. Oh yes, we were on the move. And then the season happened, and we went 2-14, winning two games in less than convincing fashion.

But Ford stayed the course. Mayhew and Schwartz stayed on, and Lions fans looked forward to yet another off season. Wow, what an offseason it was. In the draft the Lions took the freak defensive tackle that is Ndamukong Suh, whose name literally means House of Spears. They followed up that pick with speedster running back Jahvid Best and high-upside corner back (now safety) Amari Spievey. The Lions then brought in free-agent wide receiver Nate Burleson, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch and defensive tackle Corey Williams, all excellent additions. With a defensive front four now including Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams, Ndamukong Suh(nami) and speed rusher Cliff Avril, opposing quarterbacks were already shivering at the thought of playing the second coming of the Silver Rush.

Fast forward to today, December 13, 2010. The Detroit Lions are 3-10 (or 4-9 if you count the Week 1 debacle in which the guys in stripes decided to give the Chicago Carebears a win). At that pace, we finish the season 4-12. Not exactly the improvement we were hoping for. Naturally, rumblings that Coach Schwartz should be fired and that these are the Same Old Lions are starting. Given that some of my favorite childhood memories are listening to my uncles complain about this team, I’m more than preconditioned to jump on the negativity bandwagon. But I decided first to look at the stats to really see whether any improvement had occurred. I was amazed at what I saw:
The Lions are improving
In summary, from 2008 to 2010, the Lions have drastically improved their First Down Ratio, 3rd Down Conversion Ratio, Total Yards, Rushing Yards, and Passing Yards Ratios, Completion Percentage Ratio, Sacks Ratio and Turnover Ratio. In other words, the 2010 Lions handily beat the 2008 Lions in every single stat category necessary to winning. The Detroit Lions are improving, and I can prove it.

National Blog Posting Month, Reading

And here’s what I’ve been reading

11/19/2010 Nichole 3 Comments

Was “The Magnificent Ambersons” really the last book I wrote about? I guess I must’ve disliked it more than I thought. Here’s what I’ve read since:

“The Postman Always Rings Twice” by James Cain: Remember when I was trying to read the Modern Library 100? This was the end of that mission. This was published in 1934, and it was far more, um, passionate than I was expecting. It’s a pretty twisted crime story.
“A Visit from the Good Squad” by Jennifer Egan: I don’t remember what this was about at all, but here’s what I wrote in my reading journal: “This may have been an overly ambitious project. Also: It’s a pretty distressing image of the future — even more so since it’s easy to envision it actually happening.”
“Born Round” by Frank Bruni: This is the memoir of a formerly obese restaurant reviewer. It’s great, and it made me laugh and cry. Really.
“The Help” by Kathryn Sockett: I kept reading about how wonderful this book was, so I finally reserved it at the library. I was on the wait list forever, then once I got the book? I couldn’t put it down. I may have teared up a little at the end.
“Right Ho, Jeeves” by PG Wodehouse
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood: I enjoy a good dystopian-future story. This is a really good and very distressing one.
“Animal Dreams” by Barbara Kingsolver
“The Lacuna” by Barbara Kingsolver
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison
“The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake” by Aimee Bender
“Homicide in Hardcover” by Kate Carlisle
“This Must Be the Place” by Kate Racculia
“The Wonder Spot” by Melissa Bank: From the reading journal: “This made me crabby.” I don’t know why. Maybe I should be more specific in that thing.
“Oryx & Crake” by Margaret Atwood: More bleak futures from Atwood! This one’s pretty weird.
“The Year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood: This is sort of a companion novel to “Oryx & Crake.” It’s also on the weird side.
“Crooked Letter Crooked Letter” by Tom Franklin
“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins: This series was impossible to stop reading.
“Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins
“Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins
“Backseat Saints” by Joshilyn Jackson

The current count in the 2010 booklist is 41. I haven’t been actively going after a 52 books in a year sort of thing, but maybe I ought to give it a shot.