By Mark Wilson
November 17, 2014

Hold off on that Super Bowl talk. Cancel any parades for the moment. Put those “run the table” comments in the garbage.

1962 Detroit Lions? You’re safe for another year.

Trying to get to 8-and-2 for the first time since the Kennedy Administration, the Lions went back to Arizona and did what they usually do.

Lose.

14-6 was the final in Glendale. Just for some insult to the losing injury, their former quarterback who played his high school football in Farmington and college football in East Lansing had a career game.

Thanks a lot, Matt Millen!

Millen is still rearing his ugly head. And Matt? I use “ugly” in the most respectful, non-facial way.

When the ex-Lions’ president drafted Drew Stanton out of MSU in the second round of the 2007 NFL Draft, he said the kid could be a “great QB.”

I just don’t think he meant eight seasons later wearing a bright red Cardinals’ uniform.

Stanton, a father for the second time just last Monday, gave his new daughter a present by setting a personal best with 330 yards passing in the victory over his ex-mates.

In ONE week’s time, Stanton replaced the injured Carson Palmer and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to beat the St. Louis Rams, watched the birth of his baby girl to wife Kristin, had very little sleep and practice time and then won a game as the starter versus the Lions.

Phew! Take a breath there Drew.

As it turned out, Stanton had Detroit beat in the first eight minutes of the ballgame.

Just 178 seconds in, he tossed a 42-yard pop up to Michael Floyd to put Arizona on the board.

With 6:06 left in the first quarter, he and Floyd hooked up again on a 12-yard TD to make it 14-0 Cardinals.

Those were the only two catches of the game for the third year pro from Notre Dame.

Stanton HATES the Irish… unless it’s Floyd catching scoring strikes.

Prior to Sunday, Mike Floyd had caught two touchdown passes ALL SEASON. He had that many before the first quarter was finished under the big top in Glendale against the Lions.

Naturally.

The Lions are famous through the decades for making average players look like Pro Bowl studs. Its one thing if Larry Fitzgerald made those grabs but… Michael Floyd?

Even though Floyd was a first round pick by the Cards in 2012, he hasn’t performed like it.

On Sunday, he looked like Jerry Rice.

Stanton has not followed your typical NFL path either.

A second round selection by Millen in ’07, Drew was a fan favorite of Lions’ fans due to his time at Farmington Hills Harrison High School playing for the legendary John Herrington.

At Michigan State, Stanton directed the greatest comeback in college football history when MSU, down 38-3 at Northwestern, came back on his whim to defeat the Wildcats 41-38.

He was also a fan favorite because… uh well, he wasn’t any of the previous Lions quarterbacks who hadn’t won anything.

As we always used to say; the best Lions QB is the one… who hasn’t played yet!

That was until Matthew Stafford arrived in Motown.

Buried under the loss in the desert, was Stafford’s milestone.

He passed the 20,000 yard barrier for his career early in the contest. No quarterback reached 20-G’s faster in NFL annals than Stafford’s 71 games.

Hard to believe that at age 26, Stafford has pretty much rewritten the Lions’ record book for passing statistics. He holds just about EVERY Lions throwing mark.

He’s 26!

Just goes to show you how AWFUL the quarterbacking has been in the long history of the franchise.

The irony is of course that Stafford is breaking most of Bobby Layne’s long-standing records. Staff and Layne went to the same Highland Park High School in Texas. Then again, so did freshly minted baseball MVP and Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

There will be no celebration of Stafford’s achievement.

Other than passing 20,000 yards for a career, he didn’t do very much.

He led the Lions on a couple of drives that resulted in Matt Prater field goals. The Cardinals defense, led time and again by former Lion and Detroit native Larry Foote, stopped Stafford in his tracks. He threw a pick and forced Sam Martin into punting six times.

Stafford was also sacked four times; two by linebacker Alex Okafor.

Arizona coach Bruce Arians was MORE than prepared for this test.

On the Cardinals’ side of the history ledger, this is the first time they have been 9-and-1 since 1948 when the team played its games in Chicago.

Guess who they beat 66 years ago to move to 9-and-1?

Haha! Do I even have to type it?

(28-14 over the Lions if you weren’t slick enough to pick up on the Captain Obvious hint).

That 1948 Chicago Cardinals squad finished the season 11-and-1 before losing the NFL Championship Game 7-0 to the Philadelphia Eagles.

This was HUGE for Arizona in its quest to possibly play a HOME game in the Super Bowl. Their lead in the NFC West is now THREE over Seattle and San Francisco.

Detroit didn’t look in sync all game.

Joique Bell had some moments running the football for Jim Caldwell including an Olympic-style leap on one rush. He finished with 85 yards on 14 carries as Reggie Bush missed yet another Sunday.

Calvin Johnson was back for the second straight week but he looked like a pedestrian wide receiver.

Not-so-Megatron had five catches for a measly 59 yards.

Even Golden Tate wasn’t so golden.

He had just two grabs for 41 yards as Stafford struggled all day to find any consistency.

And before you go blaming the officials for a poorly called game, just stop it.

STOP IT!

It’s the usual “losers lament.”

If you really want to believe that Caldwell has done something to “change the culture” then don’t waste time blaming the referees. My goodness, the Lions had 60 minutes to do good things and they didn’t.

End of THAT story.

Take it a step further and understand that the 14-6 loss is the first time the Lions failed to score a touchdown in ANY game since Week 16 of 2009. They fell 20-6 at San Fran in Jim Schwartz’s maiden voyage as head coach en route to that brutal 2-and-14 campaign.

It happened three times in ’09.

Five years since they played without getting into the end zone.

With Stafford, Johnson, Tate, Ebron, et al… that is NOT supposed to happen.

On the bright side, Teryl Austin’s defensive unit “held” the Cardinals to those pair of Stanton/Floyd TD passes.

There was no scoring at all by either side in the second half so the streak continues for Austin, the first year defensive coordinator.

T.A.’s “D” hasn’t allowed a 30 point effort by an opponent through Week 11. Carolina’s 24 is the high water mark vs. the Lions in 2014 so far.

You have to go back at least 21 years to find a season in which it went this long before giving up 30 or more to a foe in one game.

Still, Stanton riddled the Lions for those 330 pass yards.

Suh, Levy, Ansah and the rest were able to contain Arizona running back Andre Ellington to 42 yards on the ground. Ellington’s not that good so that’s nothing to hang the old hat on.

Bottom line is, they went to Glendale and returned home like the previous eight trips to the greater Phoenix area; with an “L” in their back pockets.

7-and-2 does not a season make so I wasn’t going to start believing something was up until BOTH of these back to back road games were played out.

Next up?

New England.

From one side of the country to the other. A western trip first and then a slide to the eastern seaboard in chilly, snowy November to face Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots in Foxboro.

Belichick once spent his life in Detroit as an assistant to Lions’ coaches Rick Forzano and Tommy Hudspeth.

It was 1976 and ’77.

He was a special teams and wide receiver coach at the newly opened Pontiac Silverdome and it was his first decent paying NFL coaching gig. Not bad for a 24 year old just a year removed from graduation at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

I know one thing; he really doesn’t like talking about those two years working for the Fords.

I know… because I have pushed him on it.

“Yeah, they were ok,” Belichick has said when asked about Forzano and Hudspeth.

“Sure, it was good,” he responded when I asked if he enjoyed his time in Detroit.

Pretty sure I have caught him rolling his eyes when repeatedly questioned about his role as a Lions’ assistant in what must feel like a million moons ago.

Hell, even his DAD had Lions ties.

Steve Belichick, who died in 2005, told the tale of being an equipment manager under Bill Edwards. One day he mentioned to the Lions’ head man that HE (Belichick) was a better player than most guys on the 1941 Lions roster.

Edwards took him up on the challenge and Belichick was signed as a player.

In six games, three as a starter, Steve Belichick ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns, made one catch for ten yards, picked off a pass on defense and ran back one punt for a 77 yard TD.

The 1941 Detroit Lions went 4-6-and-1.

Belichick retired to coaching and spent most of his career at the Naval Academy. He passed away living in Annapolis, Maryland.

But, for part of ONE season… Bill Belichick’s dad was a badass football star.

We already know Tom Brady’s Michigan connection.

Steve Belichick’s story is cooler.

And, it’s now possible that Jonas Gray’s story is even cooler than daddy Belichick.

All Gray did Sunday night was set a Patriots’ franchise record with four rushing TD’s on the road at Indianapolis. His 199 yards on the turf came on a truck load 38 carries.

It was only his THIRD game in the NFL.

Gray will face the Lions this week having rooted for them as a kid growing up in Pontiac.

He went to Detroit Country Day HS and during his senior season of 2007, Gray blew the doors off at Lahser and 13 Mile. Rushing for more than 26-hundred yards and scoring 32 touchdowns, Jonas led the Yellow Jackets to the state championship with a 305 yard semifinal game effort.

From DCD, Gray went on to Notre Dame where he had an unspectacular four years. His 791 yards and 12 TD’s as a senior didn’t get him on any All-American lists.

In the 2012 NFL Draft? No one called.

After two years of injuries and insignificance with the Dolphins and Ravens, Gray was signed to New England’s practice squad this past September.

He was activated on October 16th and played his first NFL game in Week 8 vs. the Bears, gaining 86 yards on 17 carries.

Jonas Gray was FINALLY a pro running back.

Fast forward to Sunday and Jonas Gray was finally a star in the making; a feeling he hadn’t had since his DCD appearance in the Michigan state championship at Ford Field.

This week he gets to face the Lions at his new home in Foxboro.

The way Gray played? Brady may be the afterthought.

Caldwell has a chance to make up for the disaster in the desert.

He’ll get to work right away and figure out how to stop Brady and now the newest Patriots’ lightning bolt, Gray.

There’s no doubt the former Michigan QB has had a resurgence in New England. Brady has been spectacular the last six weeks; throwing for 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions.

Two of those picks came last night in Indy.

Brady has hardly looked like a grizzled 15-year NFL veteran who turned 37 back in August. Then again, his fabulous supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen keeps him pretty youthful.

I guess it shouldn’t be that big a mystery that T.B. has found his way the last two months.

New England has won ALL six games scoring 243 points in the process; an average of about 41 per contest.

Good luck with that one, Teryl Austin.

If ever there’s going to be a pop quiz on Austin’s defense, it’s going to be Sunday 1 PM at Gillette Stadium.

The Lions are 2-and-3 all-time in Massachusetts. They’ve only played nine times total through the years. The Pats are one of the teams that Detroit has played the fewest games against.

Brady doesn’t have much history with Detroit.

He DID however; complete his first ever NFL pass at the Silverdome.

As a rookie sixth round pick in 2000, the former University of Michigan signal caller backed up Drew Bledsoe. He was lucky just to MAKE the team. Originally, he was running fourth on the depth chart behind Bledsoe, John Friesz and Michael Bishop.

Belichick took a chance on Brady… and Bishop was sent packing.

On Thanksgiving Day 2000, the Pats were getting pounded by the Lions 34-9 and Brady came in to relieve Bledsoe.

He threw three passes, completing one to tight end Rod Rutledge for six yards.

First NFL completion.

Brady didn’t throw another pass during 2000.

In 2001, that one completion earned him the starting spot for Belichick when Bledsoe was injured in Week Two. Brady hasn’t given up the job since. Save for the 2008 campaign when Tom went down in the opener, Brady has started every single Patriots game at QB.

Last week, Brady started his 200th game for New England. His 201st came in the win over the Colts.

Start number 202 will be against the Lions.

The early forecast for Sunday isn’t that bad. Rain is expected but temperatures will hover near 50 degrees. It won’t be a snowy, cold day along the eastern seaboard.

What might be more disturbing is that Matthew Stafford is only 8-and-22 as the Lions’ starting QB in road games.

Our old pal Bernie Fratto gave me that stat. It was surprising in the sense that, with all the records, Stafford had only played 30 NFL road games; feels like it should be more than 30.

We already know that his record against teams over .500 is short of horrible.

The Cardinals were 8-and-1 going in. New England is now 8-and-2 and on this six game win streak.

Detroit stands at 7-and-3.

As mentioned earlier, the 1962 Lions group is safe for another year. That season, they got their mark to 11-and-2 but lost the final game to miss out on the playoffs.

Caldwell is thinking that no way should a team he’s coaching NOT make the playoffs after a 7-and-2 beginning.

A win at Foxboro would show that this ISN’T the “Same Old Lions.”

After the Pats, Thanksgiving is next.

The Chicago Bears come to Ford Field for another Turkey Day feast. Despite the victory over Minnesota, the Bears have been awful and Marc Trestman’s job is on the line. Jay Cutler will be geeked about playing on T-Day and want a win badly downtown Detroit.

It also starts a string of three consecutive home games for the Lions.

Tampa and the Vikings follow Chicago and all three are highly beatable.

Yet, how many times have we danced to that tune over the decades?

This game with New England is now the crossroads game.

I said a few weeks ago, show me how they roll vs. Arizona and the Patriots on the road and I can decide if Caldwell really has something cooking in his first foray as Lions coach.

So far, so bad.

Beat the Patriots and then motor through the Bears, Bucs and Vikes?

All of a sudden, the Lions are 11-and-3 with season-ending tilts in the cold and most likely frozen tundra of Soldier Field and Lambeau Field.

It is WAY too early to start looking at that December 28th match up at Green Bay.

We all know what the deal is THERE.

Zero victories over the Packers in Wisconsin since 1991.

Who knows what might be on the line when the Lions and Packers meet to end the slate.

For now, it’s all about Brady, Gray, Belichick and the Patriots.

There is no more talk about the 1962 Lions because the third loss took care of that bit of business.

So, take heed Milt Plum, Earl Morrall, Joe Schmidt, George Wilson and the rest. You’re good to go. The 11-and-2 start won’t be matched 52 years later. This current group remains tied with the 1993 Lions that began 7-and-2.

But! If the Lions can get to 11-and-3? You’re on the clock again. It all starts with an upset in Foxboro.

Somewhere right now, in their big Massachusetts mansion, Tom and Gisele are rolling their eyes.