WHO_DAT_CAT

Douche bag. Good news: We won't have to listen to him anymore this season.

I am so tired of listening to coaches whinge about the refs after they lose. It is bad coaching.

RailBoss

Typical Cinderella Coach comments, a shame though the guy has brought The Lions back as a contender.

Choupique

Yea, the Saints have never had bad calls against them.
One word: Hockuleeee!

Some of us have a memory.

After the chest bumping episode with harbaugh and now this example of a coach whining like a little beotch
I am now completely reaffirmed and vindicated in my deep seeded belief that the Detroit Lions ownership and
team are a bunch of classless phuckin asshats.

Ask Barry Sanders.

Choupique

Their quarterback grew up around Dallas. nuff said.

SloMotion

I didn't see the refs as a factor in the game and if Schwartz implied they were, he should be ashamed, but in his defense, it sounded to me more like he was blaming our own defense, which he should. Football's about blocking & tackling, we didn't tackle.

This attitude/perception permeating throughout the Lions really bothers me and I do see Coach Schwartz as a source of some of lack of mental toughness on the Lions. He's done a great job with the team, but there's a lot of room for improvement in this very important area of the team because players like Suh & Young follow his lead.

Oh well, it's not about the Lions anymore, you guys saw to that . . . congrats . . . I thoroughly enjoyed the LiveChat and best of luck the rest of the way. Black & Gold is a class act and HOF in my book.

gone fishin'.

Saint_LB

They got screwed on that one play and it might have possibly made a difference. Yes...the whistle blew...but should it have? Don't they tell the refs to let the play play-out and then they can always go back and change it?

When the whistle blows...they can't do nothing about that.

I was concerned in the 1st half that it was going to be one of those days...and then the Saints came out in the 2nd half looking like the Saints we expected. I have to admit that the Lions seemed to quit when that play went against them.

At the end of the game, it seemed obvious who the better team was...but my only point is that it didn't seem obvious the whole game. JMO, though.

Whether you think you can or think you can't...you're right!

OldMaid

Schwartz's hc position is safe. DetLions won't fire him. He and his staff had a steller year with DetLions.
1st, 2nd qrtrs. were tight. It looked like either team had a chance to win this one. It was back and forth and back and forth.
DetLions made some of those football mistakes. saints did too. Some of those mistakes are just hard to figure why it happened for either team. It happens in all games. Bress almost had an interception there and the ball went right through DetLions hands. That a huge mistake on DetLions. That was a huge mistake on Saints part too. Fate just intervened there in Saints favor.

Tobias-Reiper

But the whistle blew right when the ball hit the ground, BEFORE anyone had possession, which caused the entire Saints team to stop playing.

In reality, they didn't get screwed, because the original call was an incomplete pass... on the contrary, the referee corrected the call, which was the right thing to do. That in Schwartz's mind that should have been a scoop and score, that's another matter, but if the whistle doesn't blow, the entire Saints team goes for that ball, and who knows what would've happened.

Saint_LB

I agree...and further I really don't believe that the ref intentionally blew the whistle. You can't deny, though, that you've seen the same thing happen and the whistle didn't blow and the other team scored. I really don't know what would have happened last night had the whistle not blown.

You are right, also, that technically due to the circumstances it should have remained the Saints ball if the whistle did in fact blow before the Lions recovered.

So...in a way, the refs made up for the fact that there was an inadvertant whistle, and the Lions got the ball and didn't do anything with it...they had their chance.

Summation. Blowing the whistle was a mistake but not intentional. We don't know how the play would have turned out if it didn't blow...like you said, the Saints may have tackled him immediately and they would have had the same relative field position that they ended up with.

Playoff experienced, championship caliber teams find a way to overcome the adversity, in the end, and that's what the Saints did and what the Lions need to figure out to get to the next level...but they do have the makings of a future great team.

Whether you think you can or think you can't...you're right!

ScottF

Very true.
They did play a much more disciplined game this time around, though. I was surprised they only had a PF call, and it was pretty weak