The Boiling Point

"It's reached a decidedly wicked point in this Detroit Lions' season. The injuries have been absolutely unreal in their frequency and severity. The gut-wrenching win-blowing has turned into something that defies articulation. The excess of penalties, both absent-minded and unfairly officiated, have ruined the enjoyment of watching a team more talented than any I've seen in the last...good lord, since the '90's."

I wrote that an hour or two before the start of the game at Green Bay. I, like probably many other fans, had just about had it with this season. Everything was going wrong at a wicked pace, and then Green Bay comes rolling into town needing a win, and the Lions just were crippled by placing Kyle Vanden Bosch and Alphonso Smith on IR. It was bleak.

But the Lions punched their way to a win. For a change, it was the other team suffering miscues, injuries, and bad luck. And the Lions, God love 'em, held strong at the end when they could have choked it away like they've done for weeks. It was very gratifying.

I enjoy how Packer fans have been all whiny and emo and pathetic following this loss, saying it was luck on the Lions' part that Aaron Rodgers was knocked out of the game. A little lucky, yes, but while he was in he wasn't playing that well, and for the love of Spiced Meats, how lucky were the Packers going into this game? They needed a win, the Lions were decimated by injuries and brittle confidence, and things had just been going their way for quite some time. They need to suck it up and stop making excuses.

It was also nice to see the product of such extensive work by Martin Mayhew come through. The defensive line, minus KVB and with Cliff Avril having to leave again, was still spectacular; their depth is uncanny, and it truly does seem to be one of the better units in the league. This is what he should be able to do with the rest of the time.

Good grief, hope feels weird again.

He eats people. Like, devours them.

There's been a lot of praise lavished on rookie Ndamukong Suh this year (deservedly so), in addition to the commendations for Kyle Vanden Bosch (what a motor on this guy, ehhhh?). The secondary has even been getting props lately, but there's one player on D who has absolutely been annihilating every matchup in every game.

Ladies and gentlemen, Corey Williams is a vicious cannibal who is eating offensive lines like fat kids beasting their birfday cakes. I've had the blessing/curse-like-AIDS of watching the Lions for about 15 years now (I watched games casually for the '93 and '94 seasons, but that was Barry Watching. I didn't really give a crap about the rest of the team. I also think I was more into the statistics than the actual game performance...meh. Flargh. Whatevs), and I've seen Robert Porcher, Luther Elliss, and Shaun Rogers play some stellar d-line. I've also had to watch the Williamses and John Randle from Minnesota, Gilbert Brown and Reggie White from Green Bay, and Corey Williams is playing at nearly as high a level as all them fellas.

Watching the games this season, especially focusing in on the line play, you can see the sheer power this guy has. Williams has a 27-yard INT return and a sack, but those don't tell half the story. The offensive lineman focus on him and Suh, trying desperately to corral this human avalanche, and it enables the ends to focus on one-on-one matchups. And God help the O-lineman who thinks he can take Williams in a solo showdown.

To be honest Suh, Vanden Bosch, Avril, or anyone else wouldn't be nearly as effective without Williams blowing holes and creating absurd mismatches. Mayhew absolutely robbed the Browns and solidified one of the top 3 defensive lines in the league. Look for amazing battles in the trenches this week against a Jets offensive line that is nearly impenetrable (they're making the corpse of LaDainian Tomlinson look spry for Pete's sake).

WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HIM WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE, COREY