by
Matthew Stafford
The Detroit Lions are the only team in the NFL without a win. Sadly enough, it’s true. 31 of the 32 clubs have registered at least one W. All the Lions need to do in order to join the victory party is march into Seattle tonight and come away with a win in what is arguably the most difficult road venue to conquer in all of professional sports. No big deal!!
I can’t see so good...is that the 1985 Bears famed “46 Defense” I’m looking at or is that just Jim Harbaugh and his club in Ann Arbor? At this point, to the naked eye, the two units look very much the same. In Michigan’s last four games, all victories, they have allowed 7, 7, 0, and 0 on the scoreboard. Fourteen points in four games, for an average of 3.5 points permitted a game.
Mighty impressive, even considering that some of the competition has been less than stellar. But the BYU team that Michigan goose-egged last week has been banking about 30 points every other game this year, so no matter how little you respect Oregon State or UNLV, that home shutout must be given its proper due. A formidable test comes this week in the way of Northwestern, a surprising 5-0 club fresh off a shutout victory of their own against Minnesota.
Maybe it’s not the best idea (as mentioned in this space) to shell out $100 million-plus for a defensive tackle in today’s passing-dominated NFL. Ndamukong Suh jumped ship to Miami this off-season, and suffice it to say it has not been a match made in heaven to this point.
The Dolphins are a complete mess, have lost three straight, and are getting little to no production from their big money DT. After yesterday’s destruction at the hands of the Jets in London, Suh strode to the podium for his press conference and proceeded to respond “next question” at practically every inquiry the media lobbed his way.
It’s reminiscent of his non-participatory press conference a year ago, when following his “accidental” stomp of Aaron Rodgers, he met with the press and “next question’ed” them a total of nine times in just a few short minutes. Suh’s impact to this point looks to be unremarkable, but one thing that remains inarguable is the man’s general lack of professionalism, on and off the field. The Lions might not be a playoff contender now or in the near future, but at least this 300-lb prima donna is doing his dance elsewhere.
In all likelihood, Michigan State will enter their battle with Michigan on October 17 as a top five team in the country. Surprisingly, despite another win on Saturday to bring their record to a sterling 5-0, the Spartans dropped in the polls, from #2 to #4.
Apparently the field goal triumph over a bad Purdue team turned off enough voters to take the undefeated Spartans down a couple of clicks. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, and if Michigan State continues to rack up wins, they will be in prime position for a playoff berth at the end of the season.
It used to be in college football where if you were a highly ranked team and managed to win your game, you’d either stay where you were or possibly move up. But in this day of increased scrutiny with the rankings, you must win and do so impressively. MSU should have no problem this weekend with Rutgers, but just to keep that place in the top five safe, Mark Dantonio and Co. should try to bang out a healthy victory for a change.
The Detroit Tigers have finished their 2015 campaign. Did you notice? Neither did anyone else.
It’s worth noting that Miguel Cabrera captured yet another AL batting championship, his fourth in five years. It wasn’t exactly a typical Miggy year, with the big fella playing in just 119 games, coming to the plate only 511 times (need 502 for batting title qualification), and clocking a semi-depressing 18 home runs. It’s the only time aside from Cabrera’s rookie season that he failed to reach the 20 HR mark, and he only played about half that year for the Marlins.
Miguel Cabrera hits a homer in Chicago on Saturday
It wouldn’t be the worst thing to see him drop 10-20 pounds this off-season as a means of trying to remain healthier in 2016. Of course that is easier said than done, and generally when a player is on the other side of 30 as Cabrera is, the body tends to go in the opposite direction. But it looks as if it’d be a welcome change and possibly the boost Cabrera needs to return to his Triple Crown level of performance in ’16.
The Tigers tried to find a little diamond in the rough by bringing Neftali Feliz -- a former AL Rookie of the Year -- over from Texas, but it failed miserably. Here’s one vote for not bringing the 27-year-old gas can back next year. It’s been the organization’s M.O. to call back relievers coming off horrendous seasons for the following year to see if the prior barrage of home run balls and ill-timed walks was just an extreme run of rotten luck. They did it with Jose Valverde and also with Joba Chamberlain. Let’s just chalk this one up to a giant swing and a miss -- and let Feliz and his 7.62 ERA go quietly into that good night.
The Pistons kick off their pre-season tomorrow night with a visit from the Pacers, their first of eight exhibitions before the real thing gets going.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
It’s officially time for this organization to do something really good or really bad, but this sad stability in NBA middle earth has been most depressing.
In each of the last six years, the Pistons have somehow managed to win between 25 and 32 games every single season. Never good enough to make the playoffs, never bad enough to fetch a top draft pick. Stan Van Gundy made a number of acquisitions over the summer, and despite none of them being headline-makers, the hope is that enough talent has been collected to make this a 44-46 win club.
Steve Blake is here to be a dependable backup point guard and sink the occasional clutch 3; Aron Baynes brings over championship flavor from the Spurs; Marcus Morris and Eryan Ilyasova will likely be the new starting forwards; and lottery selection Stanley Johnson will be counted on to provide a youthful blend of defensive grit and offensive excitement. If Brandon Jennings can return from his shredded Achilles to be the kind of player he was just prior to the injury, Van Gundy could finally have the mix to bring playoff hoops back to Detroit for the first time since 2009.
Six straight conference finals appearances from 2003 to 2008, now this slew of several years without a single playoff game. Go figure. Joe Dumars deserves much praise for putting together a championship-level roster that stayed together for a long time, but as far as picking up the pieces following that run and setting his club up for the future, he could not possibly have been more destructive. Maybe just maybe that darkness is now fading and the light at the end of the tunnel has come into view, if even just a little.
