Weekend Worrier: Lions-Bears Pick, Tigers Finish, MSU-U-M, Henne’s First Pro Start
Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 10.3.2009/12:35PM
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NOTE: Mike O’Hara will participate in a live chat at noon on Monday, to reivew the Lions-Bears game and other issues. Go to detnews.com for information.
Rambling Prose: awaiting the Twins, Tigers, Lions – with my pick on the Lions-Bears, MSU staggering to a win over Michigan, and other priceless thoughts.
Lead off: Here’s an awful thought. Suppose the Lions are the only winner this weekend in the battle of Chicago-Detroit sports teams?
Would Lions fans feel great if the Lions upset the Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday? Or course.
But would that offset the sick feeling of the Tigers being swept by the White Sox – and letting the Twins, with a sweep of the Royals, steal first place in the Central and leave the Tigers out of the playoffs?
No, that would not offset the Tigers being KO’d from a Central title that looked to be firmly in their grasp when they got a 2-2 split in their series with the Twins earlier in the week.
Lions-Bears: My pick in this week’s NFL column on The Detroit News website – detnews.com – is for the Bears to win, 26-13, and cover the 10-point spot.
I’m not expecting an emotional letdown from the Lions. They didn’t beat the Redskins, 19-14, in the last game because they were jacked up to play. They played sound football and executed on offense and defense.
Emotion will carry a team through a series or two, but not through a game. Intensity is another matter, and the Lions had it for the full 60 minutes.
The Bears are better than the Lions. They should be. Lovie Smith has been their head coach for 84 games. This is the fourth game for Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and his staff.
The Bears have some issues. Their running game has fizzled so far. They have injuries on defense, particularly at linebacker. However, the pass rush is better, largely because of the presence of Rod Marinelli, who coaches the defensive line.
The Lions can win – if they get close to 100 yards rushing, if Matthew Stafford does not have a negative turnover ratio, if they get the ball to Calvin Johnson, and if they harass Bears QB Jay Cutler into mistakes.
All of that can happen, but you can’t count on it.
What you can count on is that the Lions are getting better. That was their most important development in the first month of the season.
More Tigers: Sometimes, I wonder what a Tigers fielder has to do to get charged with an error at Comerica Park. A few games ago, Placido Polanco misplayed a grounder. It was called a hit, not an error. On the broadcast, former Tigers catcher Jim Price called it an error. Not the official scorer.
Friday night, Carlos Guillen misplayed a fly to left. He slid too early, and the ball fell in his lap. That was ruled a hit.
Baseball has more stats than any sport. The box score reads like the roll call of the Italian Parliament. Even the temperature and wind direction are listed – along with the number of ground balls, pitches, names of the umpires.
What’s missing is the name of the official scorer. Add the scorer’s name to the official box score, I say.
Michigan-Michigan State: For the record – or check the record – my pick was Michigan State 37, Michigan 20.
I felt good about the pick when it was 20-6 – until Kirk Cousins fumbled in his own territory.
Chad Henne: Down in Miami, the second-year quarterback from Michigan makes his first pro start against Buffalo because of a season-ending injury sustained last week by Chad Pennington.
The Dolphins drafted Henne on the second round last year with the plan to make him Pennington’s eventual successor.
Henne had a solid, productive career in four seasons as Michigan’s starter. He’s a thrower, not a scrambler, and the succession timetable in Miami was accelerated by Pennington’s injury.
It’s not a perfect scenario for Henne’s first pro start. The Dolphins are 0-3 and heading into the meat-grinder of their schedule. After Buffalo, they host the Jets on Monday night, have a bye, then play the Saints, Jets and Patriots.
Henne threw 12 passes in three brief appearances as a rookie. He was 10-for-19 with an interception in relief of Pennington last week.
He has prepared to starter – but not at the expense ofa teammate’s injury.
“It’s terrible to see that happen,” Henne told reporters in Miami.
But getting the starting job has given him time to reflect on his new status.
“Everything is going through your mind,” he said. “freshman year on, and I just tried to carry that to the next level.”You have the nerves, the excitement, the emotions that you have to prepare to be the starting quarterback.
“You have to take this team over, give them confidence in yourself – show them during the week of practice that you can get it done.”
Henne had a great high school career in Pennsylvania. He chose a college program to prepare for a pro career.
“That is why I went to a big school,” Henne said.
Final: Michigan State 26, Michigan State 20: That’s not a misprint. I know the real score was MSU 26, Michigan 20. But the Spartans spent most of Saturday afternoon trying to beat themselves and almost succeeded.
In the third season under head coach Mark Dantonio, there’s no way they should be so ragged in a big game at home. They had to go 130 yards—because of 50 yards in penalties—to score their first TD. And they helped Michigan tie the game with two fourth-quarter touchdowns. They couldn’t tackle in the secondary, or cover anyone in the secondary. And on the same play, there was a defensive offside and a penalty for roughing the quarterback.
Michigan did not play well, except for its two fourth-quarter TDs. It should have been an easy win for the Spartans, but they never make anything look easy.
MSU deserved to win, but watching tapes will be like a double-feature horror show.
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