Bye Week Poopsense

Soooooo, the Lions' bye week is coming up, and you know what that means? Yup, it means now we have to watch some other NFC North team or a regional poo-fest. But hey, at least they get that big break to heal up and get ready to play the Redskins.

Well, unless you're DeAndre Levy.

Recently, the Lions signed former first round pick Bobby Carpenter to their skin-and-bones linebacking corps. They're having trouble picking which spot to give him the most reps in, though, because they aren't sure that Levy will be playing in Week 8. That's right: Levy, who has played ONE game this season, and missed gads of time in training camp and preseason due to a myriad of JV injuries, might miss yet another game. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe his groin injury was something horrific, and maybe his ankle injury is unfathomably worse than is being reported... or maybe he can't suck it up like the rest of the Lions' defenders. Whatever. This is just getting ridiculous.

Levy was who the linebacking corps was being built around. He was supposed to be a cornerstone of the defense. Stafford was the same for the offense. Stafford's moneymaker, his golden right arm, was sprained. He can sit for as long as he needs to. Levy's ankle and groin were boo-booed. Delmas played with a groin injury. Everyone else is banged up. Why can't he be a leader? Remember Stafford against Cleveland? Right now it seems to me like if Levy wouldn't suck it up and play against Green Bay or New York (high profile games that really would have done wonders for the team if the Lions had won), how much can Schwartz and co believe in him?

Other odds and ends:

1) The Lions are the league leaders in dropped passes. Kevin Seifert of ESPN's NFC North blog wrote about it the other day, and says that "According to ESPN Stats & Information, they have 19. The league average is 9.6. " I wonder how many Brandon Pettigrew accounts for? Not to sound mean-spirited, but he has dropped a ton. At least he is showing remorse from it....unlike Byant Johnson. Blech.

2) Adding in Carpenter makes for yet another former high-round pick brought in by Martin Mayhew. Carpenter was the 18th overall pick by Dallas in 2006, Turk McBride was the 54th pick by Kansas City in 2007, Lawrence Jackson was the 28th pick by Seattle in 2008, and Alphonso "Man Crush" Smith was the 37th pick in 2009 by Denver. I kinda like this strategy, because they were all drafted high for a reason, and hopefully now they get the chance to capitalize on their high potential.

3) Is it me, or does the game against Dallas seem pretty winnable now? They look TERRIBLE.

I wish this was the logo on their helmets. Wow.