SPORTSBEAT: A quarterback that has fans believing
SPORTSBEAT by Peter Jakey
(Sept. 12, 2012)-The Lions were reminded Sunday how difficult it is to win games in the NFL, especially when the team in the other locker room wants to prove all the analysts wrong.
Nobody had the St. Louis Rams picked to win that contest, but yet they were poised to pull off the week-one upset.
And I hate to use the word upset when talking about NFL games.
The Ohio Bobcats defeating Penn State, that’s an upset. If Central Michigan could have knocked off Michigan State, that would have been a really big upset.
Watching the first drive of the game, it wasn’t long after I said the Lions’ offense was making it look easy, that Detroit QB Matthew Stafford threw the first of three interceptions against St. Louis.
It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Stafford got into a groove again and led the Lions to a fourth-quarter, come-from-behind win.
I had forgot how many times he did that in 2011. Right now, he is our Joe Montana, Brett Favre and John Elway. Hopefully, he can stay healthy. I can’t help but to take pause every time he takes an awkward hit.
There have been too many Lions quarterbacks under center over the decades. Who are the best quarterbacks of the last 40 years? There are not many. Greg Landry, Erik Kramer and Eric Hipple.
Okay, Hipple shouldn’t be included, but I did see him destroy the Bears at the Silverdome on a rare Monday night game in 1981. He scored six touchdowns that night, which ranks as the fourth best Monday Night Football performance of all time on belacherreport.com.
The Lions have a quarterback to believe in when the game is on the line – something that we haven’t experienced much over the decades. It’s really fun watching Stafford at the helm.
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The Tigers had a bounce-back game Tuesday at Chicago. I was just about ready to pull the plug on the 2012 season, but Austin Jackson came through with a two-run homer and Doug Fister pitched a gem. Hey, Jim Leyland, see what happens when you put your best lineup there!
I’m a diehard fan; however, I have my doubts about this group getting it done. Still too many strikeouts on three pitches, or situations like Tuesday when the bases were loaded with nobody out and only one run is scored.
And gosh they were awful in California. They had lost seven road games before Tuesday’s win.
The pitching, minus a couple of stinkers by Justin Verlander, has been terrific.
My ray
If St. Louis could pull it out last year and win the World Series, the Tigers can go on a hot streak and do some damage in the postseason.
If they don’t win the division, it will easily rank up there as the biggest disappointment of the 2012 baseball season. They should have clinched the division by now.
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Correction: It was Lenny Gabrysiak of Rogers City, who had the questions about how many baseballs are used in a game that was the basis of my column last week.