Hey, Everybody! No podcast previewing the Bills at Lions.  Too much time eaten up in my personal life to get it done.  Instead, here is a quick blog post with an abbreviated version of what I wanted to say.

Opening Rant:

In May of 1995, Gary Moeller was fired from his job as the University of Michigan’s head football coach after an “incident” at a local restaurant. He was drunk. Presumably, he acted like an ass. Fortunately for Moeller, this occurred in an age when “Big Random Person” wasn’t watching you with their pocket cameras, so we can only assume it was really bad.

Or, maybe not. After starting his Michigan coaching career with 3 straight Big Ten Conference championships, including a Rose Bowl victory, this bastard dared to go two straight seasons at 8-4 and merely finishing in the Top 25. With that sort of slip in production after taking the job over from the retired legend, Bo Schembechler, it was time to “right the ship”. Lloyd Carr was promoted in the wake of his firing and went on to coach the Wolverines to a National Championship (or half of one, depending on who you ask), among other years of success.

What happened to that standard? Unless Moeller was on double-secret probation after fucking the Dean’s wife and killing a horse, a harmless drunken “incident” shouldn’t have been grounds for termination. It was certainly less irresponsible than throwing a 20 year old kid back into a football game after taking a brief nap on the field.

Moeller had a 44-13-3 record in 5 seasons at Michigan. Brady Hoke matched Moeller’s loss total after 3 seasons, and now he’s piled on 4 more losses half way through his fourth season. And, still, he coaches…..

If Michigan never returns to its former glory, it won’t be because of Hoke’s failure (or Dave Brandon’s, rather). It will be because Michigan finds that failure acceptable.

 

Bills at Lions:

Joique Bell is out, LaAdrian Waddle is in. While that should improve the blocking, particularly in the passing game, Reggie Bush is going to be leaned on a little more. This Bills team can stop the run, though the absence of Kyle Williams at DT, due to injury, will help. It will help more for the Lions throwing the ball though, as Williams squashes pockets. This is going to be a game for the Lions to chuck the ball. Passing to set up the run. Although the Bills have some talent in their secondary in Aaron Williams and Corey Graham, they are in the bottom 25% of the league in passing yards allowed per game.

The thing I am not happy about is facing Kyle Orton rather than EJ Manuel. I’m not sweating Orton because he has had success versus the Lions in the past, it’s that he has had success at all. Manuel hasn’t. Would have been more comfortable watching Manuel panic. Orton is a cool customer who can throw accurate balls and make his progressions. And he has talent to throw to in Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods, and Mike Williams. He won’t turn any broken plays into successes, and he won’t make any big throws, so it’s up to the Lions to just do their job. And the Bills still have CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson, so running is an option, although the Lions are one of the best against the run.

But I won’t pick against the Lions here, although I think this game will make us uncomfortable.

Lions 31, Bills 27

 

Week 5 picks:

Last week: 8-4-1

Season: 32-28-1

Picks are highlighted

Date & Time	Favorite	Line	Underdog
10/5 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-2.5	Chicago
10/5 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-1.5	Cleveland
10/5 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-6.5	St. Louis
10/5 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-4	Atlanta
10/5 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-10.5	Tampa Bay
10/5 1:00 ET	At Dallas	-6.5	Houston
10/5 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-6.5	Buffalo
10/5 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-3.5	Baltimore
10/5 1:00 ET	Pittsburgh	-6	At Jacksonville
10/5 4:05 ET	At Denver	-7.5	Arizona
10/5 4:25 ET	At San Francisco	-5	Kansas City
10/5 4:25 ET	At San Diego	-6.5	NY Jets
10/5 8:30 ET	Cincinnati	-1	At New England

Monday Night Football Line

10/6 8:30 ET	Seattle	-7	At Washington	45.5

 

*Made correct pick, via Twitter, on Thursdays Minnesota/Green Bay game