Giants vs. Lions 2013, Week 16: Detroit loses to Giants, completing their collapse

Schwartz not-so-calmly responded with this:

The coach was asked about the treatment of the crowd following his visibly vulgar reaction to their chorus of jeers. Schwartz addressed a question regarding the appropriateness of his response with “I didn’t grab the microphone and make a crowd announcement,” according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

In Schwartz’s four-year tenure as Detroit’s coach, the Lions have only made the playoffs once and are yet to win a playoff game for the first time this century. Widely regarded as one of the most talented teams in football, the Lions continuously fail for a lack of discipline both in the forms of penalties and turnovers.

Perhaps the discipline is lacking because a grown man, who should be focused on the game which means everything to his, and his team’s future, is doing this:

Despite playing against one of the worst secondaries in the league, Johnson could only muster three catches for 43 yards and no touchdowns. It was clear throughout the game Johnson couldn’t get the normal separation he’s accustomed to.

Head coach Jim Schwartz acknowledged Johnson’s effort to play despite the pain after the game, per the piece:

As for the Giants, let’s hope you started their defense.

The Lions entered the game as 9.5-point favorites, according to OddsShark. At no point did the Lions have this spread covered, with the Giants covering any and all money-line propositions.

“Coaching for Dummies,” Chapter seven, page 174, paragraph three:

It’s entirely possibly that Matt Stafford has never been a good NFL QB. Any glimpses of being competent might have just been due to being less awful than every other Lions QB of all time and also having Calvin Johnson. Here he is in the second quarter of today’s game firing a sidearm pass directly into Justin Tuck’s thorax.

Lots of the credit for this one goes to Tuck for being able to hang on to a ball thrown from three yards away, but it’s just more fun to blame it all on Stafford.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson will play in a critical Week 16 matchup against the New York Giants.

It was unclear whether Johnson would play on Sunday after his participation in practice was almost non-existent. He was held out on Wednesday and Thursday, while being officially listed as “limited” on Friday. The team listed his status as “questionable,” with Johnson recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss one game earlier in the season.

The truth is that neither team looks very good right now. Still, one of them does have a glimmer of playoff hopes remaining.

Only a glimmer.

Game Date/Time and Location: Sunday, Dec. 22, 4:05 p.m. ET at Ford Field, Detroit, Mich.

TV schedule and distribution map: FOX; The506.com

Hill has served two separate four-game suspensions for violating the league’s substance abuse and performance-enhancing drug policies. He was arrested for driving with a suspended license in 2011 and he has been reported to have had domestic disputes as well. Hill has at least four children, but it is unclear which child is involved with the accusations that resulted in his arrest.

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Cruz underwent surgery on Thursday afternoon to clean out a left knee injury, the team announced.

Rumors that Cruz’s injury could be season-ending have been floating around for several days. Thursday’s news all but assures that he won’t play this season, as the 5-9 Giants likely wouldn’t bother risking further injury by bringing him back in a meaningless Week 17 game.

The choice was also unanimous among the eight NFL experts at CBS Sports. The eight were split, however, on the margin of victory. Detroit opened as a 9.5-point favorite and four of them picked the Lions to cover the spread. John Breech was one of four predicting a double-digit win for Detroit, picking the Lions to win 27-17.

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Bush said that turning the ball over was the main issue, because that’s what leads to the team losing games. Schwartz, though, doesn’t believe that his team has a discipline problem, according to the Free Press article. Unless there’s something specific, which the coach is not aware of.

Bush has been one of the best additions of the offseason for any team, gaining 940 rushing yards on 4.8 yards per attempt along with 47 receptions for 463 yards. However, his efforts haven’t been enough to get the Lions over the hump recently, losing four of their previous five games.

The Lions are 6-8 against the spread this season, while the Giants are 5-9 on the year. New York is 3-4 on the road and Detroit is 3-4 at home against the spread. Both teams have awful against the spread records over the last several games.

The over/under for the game is 48.5 points. While both have been bad against the spread, their over/under records are pretty decent. Detroit is 8-6, while New York is 7-7 when it comes to the total points line. The Lions are averaging 25.6 points per game, while the Giants are averaging a 17.93 score in matchups this season.