Calvin Johnson says the Lions need to win a Super Bowl

[Peter Gozintite]

The Detroit Lions have been a stranger to success, but some members of the 2014 version are bullish on their chances this season, including the team's best player.

Wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who discussed with NFL Network his No. 2 ranking on the network's Top 100 players list this week, said the Lions feel they have what it takes to win a Super Bowl.

"We need to win a Super Bowl," Johnson said Wednesday. "That's the No. 1 thing. That's the No. 1 thing [and] should be for every team going into the beginning of the year.

"We're definitely in a place where we feel we could do that."

Earlier this offseason, new Lions safety James Ihedigbo said he believed the team has a "championship DNA," a thought that defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh recently agreed with.

Source: ESPN

sorry, i tried to stop myself, but couldnt resist.

 

[broncosmitty]

Wait for it...wait for it...they drafted two within the top 20 though and nobody has done that.

In reality, I just feel bad for Daniel Graham and Ben Watson. E'rybody knows Tom Terrific will kill a TEs career.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

There are lots of first round tight ends around the league. The Pats drafted two in three years in the first round. Worked out pretty well for those guys.

Are you talking about Gronkowski and Hernandez? They were drafted in the same year and neither we drafted in the 1st round. Gronk was a 2nd rounder -- Hernandez was a 4th rounder, i believe.

 

[broncosmitty]

sorry, i tried to stop myself, but couldnt resist.

Get your stinky ass and your thick head of hair outta here, right meow! I'll sick Kreton on you, don't test me.

 

[Peter Gozintite]

Get your stinky ass and your thick head of hair outta here, right meow! I'll sick Kreton on you, don't test me.

forgive me, for i have sinned.

 

[broncosmitty]

Are you talking about Gronkowski and Hernandez? They were drafted in the same year and neither we drafted in the 1st round. Gronk was a 2nd rounder -- Hernandez was a 4th rounder, i believe.

No, that's not what I was tallinbough. (But I now realize you were tallinbough '09-now, Im off to the pond for some scuba bitchin'.)

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Wait for it...wait for it...they drafted two within the top 20 though and nobody has done that.

You don't even have to mention the top 20 part. Only 2 teams in the NFL have spent a draft pick on a TE in the past 6 years, regardless of where they were drafted.

That being said -- I'm surprised others haven't jumped on the Lions bandwagon on drafting TE's early, as it has brought such great success to the franchise.

 

[broncosmitty]

forgive me, for i have sinned.

How long has it been since your last confession?

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

No, that's not what I was tallinbough. (But I now realize you were tallinbough '09-now, Im off to the pond for some scuba bitchin'.)

Sounds good. I'll meet you out back.

 

[broncosmitty]

I so wish Rob Putin had Bob Krafts SB ring on in that GIF. Im mean Vladimir Putin, sorry.

 

[Peter Gozintite]

How long has it been since your last confession?

bout 38 years

 

[broncosmitty]

bout 38 years

Well,.... I've got mass tommorrow night, we best get started now.

 

[tpaulus_2]

So what you are saying is -- Our GM drafted or signed CB's whose skill set doesn't excel in the defensive scheme he knew the team was going to be running? Does that make sense?

You're a bit of a broken record- we've been through this exact question pretty recently. We were supposed to run primarily press-man under Schwartz, but it never came to fruition because we weren't getting enough pressure home with our standard, unvaried four man rush. Schwartz never had the balls to put our CBs on an island like that because the opposing offenses would max protect and have 5 seconds to find a WR.

That's my $.02 on the matter, anyhow.

 

[tpaulus_2]

It is a message board -- not the War Room for the Detroit Lions draft. If you can't talk about what you feel like the Lions should have or shouldn't have done on here -- Where do you do it at?

There's two edges to that sword: you're allowed to post whatever you want. Others are allowed to not like what you have to say. This aint grade school, there's no teacher to keep the other kids from being mean to you if they don't like what you have to say. Kind of like the real world or some shit like that...

 

[tpaulus_2]

What has our CB draft picks done that makes you believe they are ready to step into a starting role and be quality starters?

Really? See, this is exactly the kind of shit you pull. Slay and Bentley have a combined 3 years of NFL experience, we know the generally accepted rule of thumb is that it takes three years for a CB to figure it out in the NFL, yet our guys apparently haven't done anything yet to make you think they'll succeed.


But then all you've done since the draft is complain about not taking a CB higher... you really think a rookie CB is going to come in right out of the box and play better than either Slay or Mathis? Pretty doubtful.

Can't have it both ways- our CBs can't be not good enough yet based on experience if your solution to the problem was drafting a rookie CB or two.

Bentley has more PI's calls against him than Passes defensed in 2 years. I don't think he has a single interception.

Lol, that PI thing has been your sticking point on Bentley for two years now. I think you read shit like that and make up your mind on a guy without really watching him play. If you count both years, yes, he has more PIs than passes defensed. If you look at each year separately, though, he had far less PIs last year and far more passes broken up than his rookie year. That's visible progress, but you can't see that through your hater shades because you'd rather have him be shitty so you can say "I told you so."

Jonte Green has shown he can be depth on the bench. Chris Greenwood has done pretty much nothing, as he has been hurt the vast majority of the time.

Fuckin Mayhew, drafting depth players in the 5th round. What a clueless joke, right? In Greenwood's defense he played pretty well late last season when he finally got on the field. You would have know that if you watched those games, though... makes me wonder if I'm arguing with someone who only catches a few games a year and just watches the highlights on the ESPN to get his info?

The one glimmer of hope Detroit has in the secondary is Darius Slay, who also happens to be the only top 40 pick Detroit has spent on the CB position.

Your mind sir- she is very narrow. Both of our current starting safeties graded out in the top 15 last year. Bentley's play in the slot got better as the season went on and he was playing pretty decent football by the end of the season. Mathis won't be in our future plans, but coming off a solid season there's no reason to think he can't give us another good year.

Are all the glasses in your like half empty? That's a shitty way to go through life, imo...

 

[tpaulus_2]

You don't even have to mention the top 20 part. Only 2 teams in the NFL have spent a draft pick on a TE in the past 6 years, regardless of where they were drafted.

That being said -- I'm surprised others haven't jumped on the Lions bandwagon on drafting TE's early, as it has brought such great success to the franchise.

Yep, us and the Bengals are the only two teams to draft a TE in the last 6 years. Dumbass.

 

[Old Lion]

I agree -- there is a reason why only two teams in the NFL have spent a 1st round pick on the TE position and interestingly enough, both teams have spent, not one, but two 1st round picks in that time frame. (Detroit with Ebron and Pettigrew -- Cincinnati with Gresham and Eifert).

It is an important position, but you can find talent much easier at the TE position after the 1st round than most other positions.

TE is the new hot position. Guaranteed teams will draft another in the first round in the next 2 or 3 years.

As far as the Lions go Pettigrew fit what they were looking for a few years ago. He does not fit the new scheme as a route runner. They got someone who does. He would not have lasted until the second round. Simple as that. Your harping on ridiculous and meaningless stats in the face of common sense is getting old.

This new offense does not go without that type of TE. NO was out of sync when Graham went down. Apparently they are more confident in Slay and Mathis then they are in Pettigrew in the respective schemes. I would have rather taken a CB in FA and not signed Pettigrew and then draft this kid. Might mean letting Suh walk next year though (and maybe Sims as well this year).

 

[RobBase]

Really? See, this is exactly the kind of shit you pull. Slay and Bentley have a combined 3 years of NFL experience, we know the generally accepted rule of thumb is that it takes three years for a CB to figure it out in the NFL, yet our guys apparently haven't done anything yet to make you think they'll succeed.


But then all you've done since the draft is complain about not taking a CB higher... you really think a rookie CB is going to come in right out of the box and play better than either Slay or Mathis? Pretty doubtful.

Can't have it both ways- our CBs can't be not good enough yet based on experience if your solution to the problem was drafting a rookie CB or two.


Lol, that PI thing has been your sticking point on Bentley for two years now. I think you read shit like that and make up your mind on a guy without really watching him play. If you count both years, yes, he has more PIs than passes defensed. If you look at each year separately, though, he had far less PIs last year and far more passes broken up than his rookie year. That's visible progress, but you can't see that through your hater shades because you'd rather have him be shitty so you can say "I told you so."

Fuckin Mayhew, drafting depth players in the 5th round. What a clueless joke, right? In Greenwood's defense he played pretty well late last season when he finally got on the field. You would have know that if you watched those games, though... makes me wonder if I'm arguing with someone who only catches a few games a year and just watches the highlights on the ESPN to get his info?

Your mind sir- she is very narrow. Both of our current starting safeties graded out in the top 15 last year. Bentley's play in the slot got better as the season went on and he was playing pretty decent football by the end of the season. Mathis won't be in our future plans, but coming off a solid season there's no reason to think he can't give us another good year.

Are all the glasses in your like half empty? That's a shitty way to go through life, imo...

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

TE is the new hot position. Guaranteed teams will draft another in the first round in the next 2 or 3 years.

As far as the Lions go Pettigrew fit what they were looking for a few years ago. He does not fit the new scheme as a route runner. They got someone who does. He would not have lasted until the second round. Simple as that. Your harping on ridiculous and meaningless stats in the face of common sense is getting old.

This new offense does not go without that type of TE. NO was out of sync when Graham went down. Apparently they are more confident in Slay and Mathis then they are in Pettigrew in the respective schemes. I would have rather taken a CB in FA and not signed Pettigrew and then draft this kid. Might mean letting Suh walk next year though (and maybe Sims as well this year).

I didn't realize TE was the new hot position in the NFL? I guess only the Lions and Bengals are the trendsetters in the NFL, as the 30 other teams haven't spent a single 1st round pick on the position, but they have spent 2 1st rounders since 2008

This new offense does not go without that type of TE. NO was out of sync when Graham went down.

What that statement SHOULD say is -- NEW ORLEANS offense does not go without Jimmy Graham. The same way Detroit's offense does not go without Calvin Johnson.

That is what happens when you take players like Calvin Johnson and Jimmy Graham out of their respective offenses, as both were targeted roughly 150 times last year. If you wanted to put Calvin Johnson on New Orleans and Jimmy Graham on Detroit -- They would both still get 140-150 targets, because they are the best at their position.

New Orleans still had one of the best offenses without Jimmy Graham. As a matter of fact -- when they won the Super Bowl over Indy a couple years ago -- Jeremy Shockey was the TE and he had all of 13 yards receiving.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Yep, us and the Bengals are the only two teams to draft a TE in the last 6 years. Dumbass.

TP -- If you follow along with the conversation, you would see we've been talking about TE's drafted in the 1st round. A comment was made about the Lions being the only team to draft a TE in past 6 years with a top 20 pick. I responded, irregardless of where they were drafted (here is where reading the entire conversation helps, as this means drafted anywhere in the 1st round), Detroit and Cincy are the only teams to spend picks on that position.

If you need me to spell it out for you on each and every post that we are still talking about TE's drafted in the 1st round, I will do so. One of my roommates in college grew up in the U.P., so I understand, no explanation needed.