More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP 3 months ago: Detroit Lions tight end Dan Gronkowski (47) catches a 21-yard touchdown reception from Drew Stanton as Indianapolis Colts safety Travis Key defends during the fourth quarter of an exhibition NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Browse more photos » Dan Gronkowski may get a chance to play tight end on Sunday because Casey FitzSimmons is suffering from concussion-like symptoms.  FitzSimmons missed Thursday's practice, and if he is unable to pl…

More photos » by Tony Tribble - AP 6 days ago: Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz yells to his team during the first half of their NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Tony Tribble) Browse more photos » Okay, so four games have gone by since my last post.  Doesn't seem like that long, but it has been.  I apologize for my lack of presence on the site lately, but when you take a two week vacation, you then have two weeks worth of work stacked up that you have to dig out …

More photos » by David Kohl - AP 6 days ago: Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco gets past Detroit Lions safety Marvin White (25) after catching a pass during the second half of their NFL football game in Cincinnati, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/David Kohl) Browse more photos » Here is a drive-by-drive look at how the Bengals beat the Lions by a score of 23-13 on Sunday. 1st Quarter The Lions got off to a good start when Kevin Smith ran for 12 yards on the first play of the game, but that was the only good thing to ha…

The Lions have claimed offensive lineman Maurice Williams.  Williams was waived by the Jaguars over the weekend after playing for them since 2001.  He is from the city of Detroit and went to the University of Michigan, where he started at right tackle alongside the likes of Jeff Backus and Steve Hutchinson.  Williams was also a member of the Wolverines when Jon Jansen started at right tackle.  In the NFL, Williams has started 100 of the 105 games he's played in, and it seems like he is a good addition for depth purposes if he can stay healthy.  The Lions don't exactly have the best situation at guard, so it looks like Williams could help at that position. To make roo…

More photos » by Tony Tribble - AP 6 days ago: Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is helped off the field after being injured during the second half of their NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009. Stafford threw for one touchdown and two interceptions in the 23-13 loss. (AP Photo/Tony Tribble) Browse more photos » Jim Schwartz said on Monday that he has a "pretty good idea" of Matthew Stafford's status for Sunday's game at the Ravens, but in typical Schwartz fashion, he declined…

This post is sponsored by JCPenney/Van Heusen. Back in October I put up a post mentioning Van Heusen Fan's Choice, which gave fans a chance to vote for who they thought should be Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists.  The vote didn't officially count for anything, but upon completion, it was going to be interesting to compare how the fans voted to how the actual Board of Selectors voted.  Well, we are now at that point, and the results from the first round of voting are in. None of the six former Lions that were up for the vote made the top 25, which isn't at all surprising considering only Chris Spielman and Pat Swilling were in the top 100 at the time of my first post.  I don…

Although Jim Schwartz initially planned on keeping things tight-lipped to prevent Baltimore from gaining more knowledge than they needed, he decided today to go ahead and announce that Matthew Stafford is out this week.  Daunte Culpepper will be the starting quarterback, and I sort of think the reason Schwartz decided to announce a decision now is to prevent another miscommunication from happening like on Thanksgiving.  Culpepper thought he was going to start, as did basically everybody, but Stafford ended up playing instead. "I think the potential benefits of announcing it outweigh the benefits of holding on to it," Schwartz said, adding that he didn't want the media scrutiny to …