Eric Thomas: Festival Of Flags
Okay, so I was cursing Jim Schwartz at the top of my lungs last night and I now think I was being a bit too hasty. I think I leapt to conclusions somewhere around the accumulated 80 yards of penalty mark. There were so many flags that several navy ships reversed direction last night in the Atlantic. There are less flags at the United Nations. The British Navy... okay enough with the flag jokes.
It's not like I have never seen this before. I seem to remember the Marty Mornhinweg era being especially penalty heavy. This of course was different. They were dumb, avoidable penalties. You can understand it when you stink at playing football and hold a guy. It's another thing altogether when you (1) punch a guy (2) in front of a ref (3) on the goal line. Pretty sure that Nate Burleson had more yards taken away than gained when he pushed off THREE TIMES, getting called every single time. The penalties didn't just come in bunches, but they also came at the MOST IMPORTANT TIMES.
You can blame the refs. They were awful, although not nearly as bad as Thanksgiving. It seems like the Lions are scrutinized down to a single thread while their opponents as of late have been largely excused. I saw the Saints commit at least 4 late hits that would have been called against the Lions every time. There needs to be something made of this.
I screamed at my TV and while that was misguided, Schwartz deserves some blame. The buck stops with him. Chasing down Harbaugh has led us down a dangerous road and perhaps he knows that now. He needs to instill discipline upon the players and coaches and it starts with him. I suppose we knew it could come to this after the 49er game, but it played out better in my head than it has in reality.
The penalties are on the players. We excuse the rookies, but these guys are professional players. We need to lie this on them. The new college grad at your office would not be off the hook if he took a swing at the Sales Manager. Neither should Titus Young. Maybe Dominic Raiola should be a leader BEFORE the Lions are knocked out of the game by a stupid penalty. Maybe someone should ask Nate Burleson if he is ever actually going to contribute, instead of just talking about it.
Schwartz is the head coach, but he didn't push off 3 times. The players are not zombies; they are professional football players and are paid to play the game. They need to hold themselves to higher standards. There are flags in college and high school, too. It's not like this is a new concept.
The people committing the penalties are at fault. Now the penalties have cost the Lions two games. In a row.
