Well, this doesn’t sound good. Detroit Lions WR Titus Young showed some promise as a rookie, but this isn’t the way you’d want to start your second season.

Young has been banned from the team’s facility for OTA’s after he got into a fight with safety Louis Delmas, according to beat writer Anwar Richardson of MLive.com.

“#Lions WR Titus Young missed OTAs today due to a fight with Louis Delmas last week #NFL,” Richardson tweets.

Richardson also added that he won’t be allowed back on the premise “until the team decides to have him back.”

Ouch.

In case you were wondering whose fault it was, Delmas is allowed at the facility and to participate in OTA’s. This sounds like – unless there is a huge “Three’s Company”-style misunderstanding – that Young is to blame for the altercation.

Fights happen in football practices all the time, but very rarely do you hear of someone getting banished from the facility for them. We can’t wait to find out what really happened.

The NFL career of Mikel Leshoure is off to a pretty terrible start. After being selected in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, he just can’t get things going. He missed all of last year with a torn Achilles tendon and things have just gotten worse.

ESPN 96.1 is reporting that Leshoure is being arraigned on Monday on marijuana possession charges, and it’s his second offense.

Lions beat writer Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press tweets that his first incident occurred on February 18th.

“On Feb. 18, Leshoure was cited in a traffic stop for possession of marijuana. Plead to a lesser charge, use of marijuana. Paid a fine,” Birkett tweets.

This second arrest in March is a little more interesting. According to Birkett, Leshoure tried to eat the pot during a traffic stop.

“He was a passenger in a car this time, pulled over March 12. Chief of police I spoke to said Leshoure tried to eat the weed to avoid charge,” Birkett says.

That must have been quite a scene and one we’d love to see a video of. Still, this is just bad news for a guy who is already behind the eight ball. One would have to think that he’s going to be disciplined by the league.

The Detroit Lions made the playoffs this season despite not having much of a running game all season. The biggest reason for that was because Jahvid Best was dealing with concussions…again.

He’s not had three concussions in his last three football seasons dating back to Cal. That’s not a good thing and these concussions were a reason that some teams had taken him completely off of their draft boards last year. But, despite the severity of head injuries, Best says he’ll be back next year for the Lions.

“Jahvid Best said he’s symptom free and will “definitely” be back playing next year,” tweets Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

He’s only due some $640,000 in salary next year, so the Lions will give him a shot. He is still extremely explosive. However, don’t expect the team to put all their eggs in his basket, that would be moronic. They’ve got to re-sign Kevin Smith and they’ll be getting Mikel LeShoure back from his Achilles tear as well.

We all know how unhappy Philadelphia Eagles CB Asante Samuel has been this year. The team went out and traded for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (which didn’t specifically piss him off) and then signed big-ticket free agent Nnamdi Asomugha (that pissed him off). Then there were all the rumors in training camp – and later in the season as well – that Birds were trying to deal Asante.

And, according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, they got awfully close.

Sources tell McLane that back in August, the Eagles pretty much had a deal in place with the Detroit Lions that would have sent Asante packing in exchange for two second-day picks. With the new three-day draft format, that would mean second- and/or third-round picks. The deal was far enough along, according to McLane, that the Lions called Samuel.

But, the deal eventually fell through for one reason or another (McLane hears it wasn’t about compensation) and best of all, Asante was well aware that they tried to deal him. This displeased Asante.

Expect Eagles general managing “wizard” Howie Roseman to try to deal him again this offseason. With his salary jumping up to $8.4 million next year, expect them to get even less than they would have gotten from the Lions. Then again, if Drew Brees carves them up on Sunday, maybe they’ll be eager to acquire the little playmaker.

Detroit Lions DT Ndamukong Suh has some free time on his hands. He decided on Thanksgiving that he would clean his cleats off on Green Bay Packers lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith, after he tried to talk some sense into him by ramming his head into the turf repeatedly.

The NFL didn’t appreciate that and decided to sit Suh down for two games. So, he was spending some time in his native Portland, OR recently, when he decided to see what it would be like if the front of his 1970 Chevrolet Coupe kissed a tree. That’s right, at around 1:15 AM this morning, Suh’s car ran up over a curb, hit a light pole and a drinking fountain, and then hit the tree.

Neither he nor his two passengers were injured. Police say that Suh was not intoxicated and that he cooperated fully with authorities at the scene.

Suh’s car was towed from the scene and he was then free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

If you watched any football at all on Thanksgiving, you surely saw the work of Detroit Lions DT Ndamukong Suh. We won’t say that his actions were reprehensible, but they were indeed inexcusable and not appropriate for an NFL field.

Many people are calling for Suh to be suspended, and there is an interesting faction of people who apparently agree with that.

Like, his teammates.

According to Jason La Canfora of NFL Network, there are many guys inside the Detroit Lions locker room that think Suh should be sat down for a couple games. But, that’s not all. He said there is a also a belief within the organization that the Lions have “enabled” Suh.

This isn’t good. Let’s be clear, this is not a good thing. Just when you thought the Detroit Lions were pulling their crap together.

It’s Thanksgiving, so surely you watched a little NFL football on this glorious day. Did you happen to see the first game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers? Did you happen to notice the egregious indiscretion that Ndamukong Suh laid onto Evan Dietrich-Smith?

Well, you can check it out here. Suh decided that Dietrich-Smith (recently married?) was a little too physical with him, so he decided to smash his head into the turf repeatedly and then blatantly kick him after he stood up. Not a great idea for a player who was already voted the dirtiest player in the league.

He was, of course, ejected from the game and will most certainly be facing a stiff fine and a suspension. But, his explanation is almost worse than the crime.

“What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way that I felt in me being held down in the situation that I was in,” Suh said. “My intentions were not to kick anybody, as I did not. [I was] removing myself, as you see, I’m walking away from the situation. And with that I apologize to my teammates, and my fans and my coaches for putting myself to be in position to be misinterpreted and taken out of the game.”

Ok…sure thing. But, you do realize there is tape on this, right? We happen to be big fans of Suh, but even we can’t defend this nonsense.

“I was on top of a guy being pulled down and trying to get up off the ground, which is why you see me pushing his helmet down,” Suh said. “As I’m getting up, I’m getting pushed so I’m getting myself unbalanced… With that a lot of people are going to interpret it as or create their own storylines, … but I know what I did, and the man upstairs knows what I did.”

Ummm….yeah. And everyone that saw the tape knows what you did, and you are far from innocent. Again, we are Suh fans and even we can’t defend this.

“I understand in this world because of the type of player and type of person I am, all eyes are on me,” Suh said. “So why would I do something to jeopardize myself, jeopardize my team, first and foremost? I don’t do bad things. I have no intentions to hurt someone. If I want to hurt him, I’m going to hit his quarterback as I did throughout that game.”

You actually do do bad things, Ndamukong. Some of it falls into the category of playing hard and being aggressive, but this is not one of those times.

“If I see a guy stepping on somebody I feel like they’re going to lean into it and forcefully step on that person or stand over that person,” Suh said. “I’m going in the opposite direction to where he’s at.”

Yeah, ok. Suh’s production is down quite a bit this season and maybe that has a lot to do with double teams. But, the bottom line is that his production is declining while his dirty play is increasing.

Thassnogood.

Well this sucks. Remember Erik Kramer, a quarterback who did an admirable job for the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears in the 1990′s? His 18-year old son Griffen was found dead in his friend’s home on Sunday.

Yeah, that’s terrible.

School officials gave preliminary word that “his passing was due to alcohol poisoning.” They also said that there is no reason to believe that there was any kind of criminal activity involved.

“It’s a tough time right now,” Thousand Oaks football coach Mike Leibin told the Los Angeles Times. “We met this morning with players, and kids have been in and out of my office all day. We talked about the grieving process, and everybody is going to deal with it differently.”

Griffen Kramer was a senior quarterback at Thousand Oaks High School.

As we mentioned before, the Detroit Lions shellacked the Denver Broncos 45-10 on Sunday and Broncos QB Tim Tebow looked absolutely abysmal during the course of the game. What’s worse? Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports says that numerous Lions players felt after the game that Tebow was a joke.

“Can you believe ’15’?” one Detroit Lions defender told Silver. “Come on – that’s embarrassing. I mean, it’s a joke. We knew all week that if we brought any kind of defensive pressure, he couldn’t do anything. In the second half it got boring out there. We were like, ‘Come on – that’s your quarterback? Seriously?’”

That’s pretty bad. He wasn’t saying it to talk smack. He said it because it was the truth.

Silver says that it wasn’t just the Lions players. He said he talked to numerous other players, coaches and front office execs (John Elway?) around the league yesterday, and they pretty much echoed that sentiment.

“Words like atrocious, terrible, completely exposed and not even close to ready kept coming up in these conversations; a couple of Lions even used the term oh my god.” Silver writes.

Wow. There is simply no way that John Fox can stick with Tebow. While it’s still early in his career and a lot can happen, it’s clear to everyone that Tebow is not an NFL quarterback right now. How can any of the other Broncos players go out there and give it their all knowing that their leader is an incompetent hack.

Time to go to Brady Quinn. And if he stinks, we’ve rooted out another first-round bust and you can go back to life with Kyle Orton.

One of the things we were most excited about this season was the Detroit Lions drafting Nick Fairley at No. 13-overall in the draft. There was talk at one point that he could be the first guy taken, but he ended up sliding to 13 for a variety of reasons.

So, Detroit got him and all we could think about was…’what if he can play?’ What if this guy is as good as advertised and you pair him with the monster Ndamukong Suh? That defensive tackle combination could be absolute murder and set the tone for an entire defense.

Except that it hasn’t.

Fairley suffered a stress fracture in his foot back in August, which got him off to a slow start. And he was inactive again on Sunday against the Broncos due to that foot acting up again. It’s kind of troubling that he still hasn’t gotten over this injury.

But, even when he’s been active for games, he’s only used as a rotational defensive tackle. Hardly the stuff of domination. And even then, he’s only played in three games, so who knows what he is really.

Still, it’s early. We’d love to see him get healthy so the Lions can find out what they really have in him. He was dominant at times at Auburn, and if he can regain even some of that at the NFL level, the Lions defense should be pretty fun to watch.

File this under “WOW.” The Philadelphia Eagles tried to trade Ronnie Brown to the Detroit Lions this week for Jerome Harrison and a seventh-round pick.

The trade was canceled and Brown was returned to the Eagles because Harrison failed a physical. This was odd to most because Harrison wasn’t on the Week 6 injury report. What the hell could be wrong with him?

Well, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Harrison’s physical revealed a brain tumor. Wow. That’s some major, major stuff.

Think about it, this trade could have saved Harrison’s life. I don’t know the extent or size of the tumor, but if he hadn’t been traded, who knows how long it could have gone undiagnosed.

Stay tuned on this one even though we probably won’t keep you posted.

Detroit Lions RB Jahvid Best is dealing with a concussion and it’s not the first time. He had a nasty one at Cal that caused him to miss the final four games of that season, and it doesn’t seem like his concussion issues are going away.

According to Mike Freeman of CBS Sports, people close to Jahvid are telling him that he should probably sit out the rest of the season. This is his second concussion this year and this could be a huge problem for his career if these persist.

Best says he’s approaching it slowly.

“As of right now I’m just taking it day by day,” he said.

Still, concussions are a big deal in the NFL right now. If as time goes by, he gets labeled as having c-word problems, teams aren’t going to be able to trust that he can stay on the field. Especially now that you have to pass tests given by an independent physician.

Hey there, fantasy football fans. Disappointed in your Dez Bryant pick this year? You should be! He’s a supreme talent who is made of a cheap Chinese plastic!

However, he is active today for the Dallas Cowboys and you might want to get him in your lineup. With Miles Austin out, he and Jason Witten should see the majority of the targets. After all, Kevin Ogletree still doesn’t know where to line up in any given formation.

Also, it would seem that the Detroit Lions will put up some points and force the Cowboys to throw. Yes, you read that correctly. I don’t know if I’ve even typed a sentence like that since 1995. Actually, it would have been hand-written back then since I didn’t do any blogging then, since blogs didn’t exist. Ok, they probably did. But, they were nerd blogs by dorks who wrote out what they got at the grocery store that day.

While we don’t openly root for any sports teams (yes we do), we do have some allegiances. And I’ll be the first one to say that Buddy Ryan is the most overrated coach in the history of the Philadelphia Eagles. However, he did provide some of the greatest moments in team history and for that we thank him.

So, because Rob and Rex are his kids, we tend to side with them. We like the brash style, but we admit that it can get a bit out of hand.

And this is out of hand.

There has been a recent discussion about the talents and ability of Detroit Lions wide receiver, Calvin Johnson. Cris Carter named some six other WR’s that he said were better in the NFL (the list is BS, by the way). Well now, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has decided to join the discussion. And he sounds like an idiot.

“We work against better receivers with Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. They are probably two of the premier receivers in football, but this guy is right there,” Ryan said. “He’s almost that good. He’s excellent.”

Photo Caption: Thissiswhuhwedoo.

Almost that good? Are you out of your mind? While he doesn’t take a huge dump on Megatron, he definitely slights him. Miles Austin is an excellent receiver. Dez Bryant has shown the ability to jump up into Calvin’s universe, but he just can’t stay healthy and he’s only been in the league a year. Easy there, touchdown. Megatron is elite. He’s in a class only occupied by Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson.

“We’re going to get after him. I know he’s on some touchdown thing like that, whatever,” Ryan said. “[Lions offensive coordinator] Scott Linehan has done this before with great receivers with Randy Moss. If the guy is as good as Randy Moss I’m going to go in there and hide. Thank God he’s not, but he’s a pretty [expletive] good player.”

Yeah, he’s better than any receiver you have on your roster, champ.

Oh, those poor Detroit Lions. Even when they seem to be headed in the right direction, little things pop up that hold them back. Count OTR among the folks that are dying to see Nick Fairley play alongside Nkamukong Suh. And apparently, we’ll have to wait. According to Chris McCoskey on Twitter, Fairley is in a walking boot right now with a possible stress fracture.

“#Lions are doing more tests on Fairley. Schwartz could not say whether it was long-term or short-term inj. Stress fracture is possible,” McCoskey tweets.

Stress fractures really only heal with rest. And as big as Fairley is, he’ll definitely need to get off of that foot for it to heal.

Let’s hope this is something that just needs a week or two of rest and isn’t something that is going to last well into the season…or worse.

Every year before the NFL draft, there is tons of speculation about this player and that player and whose stock is rising, whose is falling and what players have been erased off of teams’ draft boards completely. And as far as that last point, there are rumors that some teams have wiped Colorado CB Jimmy Smith completely off of their boards due to character concerns.

Many think that this incredibly talented kid could fall out of the first round completely because of failed drug tests and minor arrests that have thrown flags straight up in the sky.

However, one NFL GM tells Tom Kowalski of MLive.com that Smith’s “off-field stuff isn’t going to downgrade him nearly as much as people think.”

While they don’t think that Smith will be taken where the Detroit Lions are picking (No. 13), they don’t think it’s going to be a huge slide for him as many predict. He could be a very attractive option for the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 23, especially since they’ve already had him in for a visit.

As always…we’ll see.

In the 2007 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions did something they were used to doing. They used the No. 2-overall pick on Calvin Johnson. They had to this time. He was a “can’t miss” prospect. But this time, they were right. Johnson is a baller.

However, baller’s only can take so much losing. And since 2007, the Lions have done a lot of it.

With two years remaining on his rookie contract, he was asked on his radio show on whether or not he’ll stay in Detroit.

“Put it like this, if we turn this thing into a winner, I’m happy,” Johnson said. “I’ve won 11 games since I’ve been here in four years. Losing definitely sucks and you definitely don’t want to be around losing. You can’t get used to that.

“I can’t get used to it because I haven’t come from that. I’ve been used to winning. And if this thing can’t get turned around, man, like I said — I’m just going to leave it at I can’t get used to it. I want to win.”

I would say that you can’t kill the guy for wanting to win, but Phillies fans pretty much killed Scott Rolen for it. Different situation, but you get the point.

In the meantime, Johnson seems to want some better ideas from his coaches.

“I don’t understand, teams tend to play a lot of Cover 2, our receptions go down. We got to come up with something for it. They were playing Cover 2 for most of the game.”

Not sure how the coaches will feel about that, but maybe Megatron is getting to the “I don’t give a fuck anymore” portion of his stay in Detroit.

The Detroit Lions have faced enough adversity recently. Matt Stafford has been injured the last two years. They had to recover from a ton of stink bomb years and decisions by Matt Millen. Now, they won’t even have Shaun Hill to bail them out at QB.

Hill busted his index finger in Thursday’s butt stomping to the New England Patriots, and a person with knowledge of the situation tells the Detroit Free Press that he’s likely to miss the remainder of the season.

Photo Caption: Hill is injured as Dez Bryant prays just a little too hard for a win the following week. Meanwhile, Kitna passionately begs that Christ spare his soul in heaven despite another miserable performance.

Drew Stanton has been taking all of the first-team reps in practice this week. But, coach Jim Schwartz was tight lipped on the subject.

”This is an extra day for us … and with the Bears not practicing today, it doesn’t make any sense for us to talk about ourselves and who practiced and who didn’t,” Schwartz said.

Yeah, because you want the Bears to have to waste an ass ton of time trying to come up with exotic schemes to stop the lethal Shaun Hill. He’s a decent quarterback, okay fair enough. But, let’s knock the secretive shit off, please.

This isn’t good. So far, it looks like Matt Stafford, the No. 1-overall pick in the 2009 draft, could be a decent QB in the NFL for the Detroit Lions. However, these major injuries are troubling.

Earlier this year, he missed some six weeks with an injury to his throwing shoulder. And on Sunday, he couldn’t even make it through a full game against the New York Jets. He landed on his right shoulder again and had to leave the game. They are calling it a Grade 3 separation.

Now, a source tells Fox Sports in Detroit that this new injury is “worse” than the one that kept him out of most of this year. The source added that it’s unlikely that he will play football again this year.

Here we go again. Another major injury after this one and the Lions will officially wonder what they are getting for the $40+ million they guaranteed him.

As if it wasn’t weird enough in the NFC East with the Dallas Cowboys stinking up the joint (again) and the Philadelphia Eagles not being able to decide which mediocre QB to start, now the Redskins are joining the circus.

Specifically, they decided that Rex Grossman gave them a better chance to win with two minutes left and a three-point deficit against the Super Bowl champion Detroit Lions. Yep, they benched Donovan McNabb.

So yeah, Grossman entered the game poised to take the Redskins down to paydirt. He reached deep into his bag of tricks and delivered a rifle of a fumble that was returned for a game-clinching touchdown that gave the Lions a W.

We can’t wait for the post-game press conference. And we can’t wait to read the Post.

This could finally be the week where the Detroit Lions get Matthew Stafford back as their starter. Drew Stanton even had to get in the game last week because they had so many guys get hurt.

But, Stafford said on The Dan Patrick Show on Tuesday that, barring a setback, he’s ready to return to the field.

“I’m going to take all the snaps with the ones this week in our practice … and then, hopefully, my shoulder will hold up and react well,” Stafford said. “And if it does that, then I would say, most likely, I’ll be taking most of the No. 1 snaps leading up to the Redskins game.”

Stafford said that he’s going to go out and practice this week and see how his bum right shoulder responds.

“If it reacts well, then I’m hoping to be out there starting the 31st against the Redskins,” he said.

I was a scorching 1-for-4 last week, and you just don’t see that kind of production from most websites. This week has some tough matchups (I truthfully haven’t even looked yet) so let’s get right to the picking for Week 5 in the NFL.

Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens (-7)

This is going to be a very emotional game for Tim Tebow. He’s not playing in his hometown and we don’t think he had anyone close to him die or anything like that. But, with fellow Christian Glen Coffee getting busted for having a concealed weapon, Tebow will be playing with a very heavy heart. The only upside for Denver is that he never sees the field, so hopefully the team won’t be impacted too much.

On the other side, the Baltimore Ravens have been dealing with some very sobering news as well. According to data released on Friday, home purchases in the Baltimore area were down again for the month of September. 400 fewer purchases were made during that time than in September 2009. Trying playing a football game with that hanging over your head.

Denver covers.

Broncos 18, Ravens 21

Jacksonville Jaguars at Buffalo Bills (-1)

Yes, the Buffalo Bills are favored to win an NFL football game. This, of course, is all contingent on whether or not QB Ryan Fitzpatrick can get off work. He’s been practicing with the local improv theater in Amherst and Sunday is their first performance. Yes, improv is where white people pay to see other people perform an entertainment act that isn’t rehearsed. It’s kind of like charades with a cover charge. Fitzpatrick is also very dedicated to the Bills as their starting QB, so it will be interesting to see which one he has to bail on.

Meanwhile, it couldn’t be more fortuitous for the Jaguars to be on the road this week. With the pending IPO of EverBank, most of northern Florida is in a tizzy. Escaping the madness is just what the Jaguars receiving core needs this week. And they’ll get the “W” because of it.

Jaguars 28, Bills 3

Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts (-7)

As we round the quarter pole of the NFL season, many things are becoming clearer. In Kansas City, however, things might never have been this muddy. There is a very, very real chance that denizens of the greater Kansas City metro area have seen the final debate between Sam Brownback and Tom Holland for the Missouri governor’s race. As of now, they can’t agree on any new debate schedule and many of the Chiefs may have to make their decision for governor based on what they’ve already seen and heard from both candidates. We aren’t so sure there is enough out there to make a proper, informed decision. This could absolutely kill the KC running game. Indecisiveness in the backfield is a killer. You just have to go.

But the good news is that Indy’s run defense is about as tough as a six-year old Mexican girl with plastic scissors. No Bob Sanders, no Melvin Bullitt, no chance to cover a seven-point spread. Another poor showing against the run and many Colts defenders could be out of a job. Not the worst thing in the world considering a California biomedical company is expanding operations in the Indianapolis area and will hire 95 new people by 2013. So, there will be work to be found.

Chiefs 21, Colts 24

St. Louis Rams at Detroit Lions (-3)

Much like the Chiefs, the Rams are also in a tailspin from the dearth of information regarding the two candidates for Missouri governor. But, many players have taken it upon themselves to hold private information-sharing meetings and to hash out the issues between one another. Kind of like Bible study for a gubernatorial race. Darryl Henley was shown live via satellite from prison for these impromptu discussions. Several reports indicate that the Rams players got fired up just getting the chance to interact with Henley.

Detroit, on the other hand, may not have much of a home-field advantage this week. Numerous reports are that the stadium will be about half full. Much of the Detroit area has been glued to the television set regarding that couple that tried to extort $680,000 out of John Stamos. The couple was sentenced to four years in prison, but that hasn’t eased local fears about leaving the house.

Luckily, the distracted Matt Stafford isn’t playing this week. He’s been the one leading the campaign to put these people away for life. Hence, he hasn’t been paying a lot of attention to the details of the playbook. Detroit dodges a bullet with Stafford on the bench.

Rams 17, Lions 28

As I’ve mentioned before, OTR’s predictions for sports events are different than other sites, because we’ve never ever been wrong. Whether it’s a mock draft or just a regular season game, we are always 100% spot on. How many can say that?

So, with that in mind, let’s take a look a couple of the Week 3 matchups in the NFL.

Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (-14)

I think the real question here is whether or not the Pats get out to a fast start. If they come out and quickly get themselves a 10+ point lead, it will probably be over by the end of the first quarter. If the Bills are forced to play catchup, it will be an all-out circus. If this battle was about who could write the best business plan the fastest, then I’d take the Bills and Ryan Fitzpatrick in a heartbeat. But sadly for Buffalo, it’s not. It turns out, they’ll actually be playing football this week.

The Bills have the horses in the backfield to run the ball and I don’t love the Patriots defense. If they can ground and pound it, they’ll keep the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands and keep the game close. I am convinced that their running attack is so potent that they can control the clock and keep this one close into the fourth quarter.

Not a chance, Patriots rout them.

Verdict: Bills 10, Patriots 34

Cleveland Browns at Baltimore Ravens (-10.5)

Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace this week? You really think it matters, Eddie?

10.5 points is a lot to cover though. And I have to be honest, I’m not in love with the Ravens offense the way everyone else seems to be. Is Joe Flacco a stud? Or a decent QB that is asked to manage the offense? Is the real answer somewhere in between? There is a 40% chance of that?

I’m not a Flacco fan and the Ravens secondary is horrific. Still, the Browns aren’t equipped to take advantage of either.

Verdict: Browns 13, Ravens 24

Detroit Lions at Minnesota Vikings (-11)

The Vikings are giving Detroit 11 points? Really? I’m taking Detroit to cover the spread. Does anyone in Las Vegas have DirecTV? Have they seen the Vikings yet this year? Their offensive line is atrocious and Brett Favre couldn’t hit Kim Kardashian’s ass with 10 water balloons at a carnival.

Verdict: Lions 21, Vikings 24

San Diego Chargers (-5.5) at Seattle Seahawks

Well, Brent, the Chargers are only as good as their quarterback, Steve Tricosek. If anyone can find the video to that SNL sketch, I’ll write a post all about how great you are.

But anyway. I thought Seattle would be a decent team this year, but a lot of people think a lot of things about Seattle. San Diego had a hiccup in Week 1 against the Chiefs, but should still be fine to take out the Seahawks and cover the spread. Vincent Jackson should have a huge game against a weak Seattle secondary. And Marcus McNeil will keep Rivers’ blind side clean all day.

Verdict: Chargers 28, Seahawks 2

We hear tons of things every year from training camps all over the country. The problem is, many of these writers don’t exactly know what they’re watching or what they are talking about. Sorry, but in some cases it’s true.

However, we trust Tom Kowalski of MLive.com. He’s as plugged in to the Detroit Lions as one can be. So when he tells us that Calvin Johnson looks “unstoppable” right now, we tend to trust him.

He says that “despite excellent coverage” from CB Chris Houston, Megatron keeps making plays. They are throwing him tons of balls in the red zone and he’s coming through just about every time.

He also notes that it’s not just fade patterns. They are going to him on a variety of routes and he just keeps making plays.

We are huge fans of Megatron and think he’s one of the top three receivers in the NFL (Larry Fitzgerald and Andre Johnson being the others. Put them in whatever order you like). The only problem he’s really ever had is quarterback play. Hopefully, Matt Stafford solves that problem. And if he does solve it, move Johnson up your fantasy draft board.

Mel Kiper described Ndamukong Suh as “maybe the most dominating defensive tackle I’ve seen in 32 years.”  And now the Detroit Lions can celebrate.  They have agreed to a five-year deal with their second-overall pick worth $60 million, $40 million guaranteed, according to Jay Glazer.

Suh is expected to be a key part of the Lions defense right away, most likely opening the season as a starter over Sammie Lee Hill.  Quite frankly, Suh could probably start over any player at any position for Detroit, even soon-to-be-bust Matthew Stafford.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Before becoming a football player in his sophomore year, Suh got a full ride as a freshmen cheerleader

The 6-foot-4, 307-pound Suh was the first defensive player to win The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year award since its inception in 1998.  He had 4½ sacks against Texas in the Big 12 title game and finished the season with 12.

Suh should report to camp in excellent shape.  He spent the whole offseason training with Redskin Albert Haynesworth; specifically, working on conditioning tests.

Oh boy, this could get ugly. Take this with a grain of salt because it’s coming from Chris Mortensen of ESPN, but he is correct occasionally. Mort says that No. 2-overall pick Ndamukong Suh is looking for more money than the St. Louis Rams gave to the top pick, Sam Bradford.

“Word is that Suh’s reps asked for more than Bradford…. $90 mill x 6 yrs…. $56 mill guaranteed… sure that’s not going to be the deal,” Mortensen tweets.

If this is correct, Suh and his agent, Eugene Parker, are out of their f’ing minds. Last year’s No. 1-overall pick (Matt Stafford) got $41.7 million guaranteed from the same team that Suh is trying to get paid from. He was the top pick and gets a QB bonus.

Suh is a defensive tackle and was taken second. No QB bonus, and no way you’ll get more than Bradford’s break-the-bank deal with the Rams. The Detroit Lions would be out of their minds to pay a player who has never played a down in the league more than $50 million guaranteed.

$56 million?? Are you out of your mind?

If this really is true, then Suh can plan on sitting for a while. And this from the guy who said on draft day how important it was to be in camp on time. I think we can file all that draft day talk in the BS folder, and that goes for any of these guys.

UPDATE: It looks like Parker has conceded that Suh will get less than Bradford. Well….duh.

This makes perfect sense to us. Last year’s top-overall pick in the NFL, Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions, got $41.7 million guaranteed when he signed. Well, that mark just got shattered.

The St. Louis Rams have agreed to a six-year, $78 million contract with QB Sam Bradford. With – get this – $50 million guaranteed.

How can the NFL (or any business for that matter) not notice that something is seriously askew when someone gets $50 million guaranteed when you don’t know if they can even do the job? This is ridiculous.

Knowing what we know right this second, who should be paid more, Chris Johnson or Sam Bradford? DeSean Jackson? Anyone else that you can think of that’s actually proven that they can play at the NFL level?

With the big money guaranteed, now we get to find out if he can actually play. That sounds like the logical process. Oh, and statistically speaking, there is a 50% chance that he won’t amount to much.

Detroit Lions head coach Jim Schwartz was in Tennessee when the Titans drafted all-world RB Chris Johnson. Johnson isn’t the biggest guy in the world, but he’s continued to show that he can be “the” guy. He puts the dick in our mouth between the tackles, he puts the dick in our mouth on the outside and he even puts the dick in our mouth in the passing game.

Now that Schwartz is in Detroit, can he possibly expect first-round pick Jahvid Best to do the same?

According to Tom Kowalski of MLive.com (this guys knows everything about the Lions), Schwartz is going to take a wait-and-see approach. Best is only 5′ 10″ and 200 lbs., which would suggest that he needs some sort of rotation to stay fresh. Keep in mind that Johnson is only 185 lbs., yet ran for 2,000+ yards last year.

It’s well known that Best is the Lions opening-day starter. That much we know. Kevin Smith is just too banged up and was ineffective when he was in there anyway. Best is the guy.

But, keep an eye on this one for fantasy football purposes. Best is a homerun threat that could get serious, serious carries if he shows he can handle the load. Schwartz seems like he’ll run with him if all goes well.

The St Louis Rams refused to increase O. J. Atogwe’s tender to 110% of his 2009 salary, so the safety is now an unrestricted free agent and should have plenty of teams calling for his duties.

Atogwe didn’t sign the tender that was offered to him at $1.226 million, much less than his 2009 salary ($6.3 million).  And on the other side, the Rams clearly didn’t want to pay the 28-year old a figure close to $7 million after he went through reconstructive shoulder surgery during the offseason.  Atogwe was placed on Injured Reserve December 9th due to a dislocated shoulder.

The Philadelphia Eagles may be interested in Atogwe’s services after they lost Marlin Jackson for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon.  Not only do they need help in the secondary, they love signing free agents coming off injuries.  And then playing them out of position.

Atogwe could still negotiate with the Rams to stay in St Louis, but they will have to bid against other teams in the likes of Dallas, Miami, Jacksonville, Detroit, and Minnesota.  These teams were magically pulled out of a hat by rotoworld.com.

The Philadelphia Eagles have a ton of holes to fill on defense in this upcoming draft. Their biggest problems are with the pass rush on the defensive line and in the secondary. But make no mistake, their LB’s need a huge upgrade too.

Well, the Eagles have addressed a major need and have done so with a fifth-round pick. The Eagles sent a fifth rounder to the Denver Broncos, who sent TE Tony Scheffler to the Detroit Lions, who also sent a seventh rounder to the Broncos.

Sims in only 26-years old, but this can’t say a lot for him if they are willing to part with him for a TE when they just drafted Brandon Pettigrew last year in the first round. Pettigrew is coming off an ACL and this will give him time to mend.

For the Eagles, they’ll get linebacking help that they need desperately. The Broncos wanted as high as a third-round pick for Scheffler, but that ain’t happening. Philly could be the team that benefits most from this deal.