Beleaguered coach Jim Schwartz watches his Lions melt down in the second half. (US Presswire)
NEW ORLEANS -- Lions center Dominic Raiola angrily shouted for everyone to hear Sunday night what the rest of those watching his team are saying:
"Grow the [expletive] up! Grow the [expletive] up! That's all the [expletive] I have to say!"
Another game filled with unwarranted personal-foul penalties while public enemy No. 1 Ndamukong Suh sat at home in Portland, Ore., far away from the mess he helped stir up, made Raiola lose it following the Lions' 31-17 loss to the Saints. Detroit is losing it in the standings (five losses in the past seven games), and the players are still losing it mentally.
This could have been the Lions' "it" moment.
Every team floating around in the NFC playoffs standings all woefully lost. That's you, Falcons, Bears and Cowboys. A victory in the Lions' first primetime game since FDR against the Saints (who before Sean Payton and Drew Brees hadn't made it anywhere), and Detroit would have been riding high despite the colossal distraction of the Suh stomp.
Instead, take out the 'u' in Suh and add 'it' and that's what the moment transformed into in the span of about 30 minutes on a play clock. It turned into an expletive that rhymes with it as the Lions are officially diagnosed as the most psychotic team in the NFL. Something tells me Raiola wouldn't disagree.
They need help. Like Dr. Phil. Or Dr. Drew. Or Dr. Seuss.
The Suh situation has followed the Lions since Thanksgiving Day. Sunday night's game could follow them throughout the rest of the season. The officials will take notice. The league will take notice. The opposition will take notice.
In total, the Lions finished with 11 penalties for 107 yards. But the messiness didn't start until the Lions' opening drive of the third quarter. Detroit had already lucked out when -- with the Lions inside the Saints 30-yard line -- Nate Burleson's face-mask penalty was negated by an unnecessary-roughness penalty on Saints corner Jabari Greer.
Then the Lions went batty once again when rookie wideout Titus Young blew a gasket and received an unnecessary-roughness penalty a little too close to the same part of the field where Suh went stomp last week. Young's foolish act turned what would have been third-and-1 from the Saints 3 to third-and-16 from the Saints 18.
Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- from the Lions went nuts. Teammates chewed out Young on the field right after the flag. Lions coach Jim Schwartz laid into Young on the sideline, and then even more players piled on Young. Again, it cost Detroit points in a game against the league's elite.
"I let the emotions get the best of me," Young said, at least having learned some personal PR skills after Suh's laughable excuse last week. "I really wasn't thinking about anybody other than myself. I would definitely say it wasn't a good time to have a penalty, period, but definitely in that situation, I was completely wrong. It's something I have to learn from. It's something I can't let happen again. ... It's things that we have to work on as growing up as men and being accountable for your actions and being in control of ourselves and having composure."
It kept happening.
Kick returner Stefan Logan chucked the ball at the chest of Saints linebacker Ramon Humber after a punt return only three plays into the fourth quarter. Another unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. Another 15 yards. The offensive possession resulted in a missed field goal, and the Saints turned that failed chance into a game-clinching touchdown.
So instead of swearing off the cheap shots, Brandon Pettigrew outdid himself and maybe all of the Lions' nutcases. The Lions tight end didn't like how the Saints' Roman Harper defended him on a play. So instead of talking to the official, Pettigrew shoves the official, warranting another unsportsmanlike-conduct flag.
I have no idea why he wasn't tossed. This was borderline worse than what Suh did on Thanksgiving.
The Lions officially need straightjackets.
"We had a lot of stupid penalties," Stafford said. "It's the same old song and dance. We're tired of talking about it."
Then lock yourself in a padded room if you're tired of talking about it.
"I've never been a part of a game like that, where every time you look up -- usually we feel like we're getting the short end of the stick with the crews sometimes -- but I've never seen that many offensive pass interferences and then just the dumb things they were doing after the whistle," Saints linebacker Scott Shanle said. "You can't do that on the road against a good team. You just can't do it and win a game."
Saints wideout Marques Colston added: "We know that this is a chippy team. We knew coming in we had to continue to keep our composure. I think we were able to do that [Sunday] and we got some big personal fouls against them tonight and it definitely hurt them."
That's why the Saints are the Saints and the Lions are still the Lions.
Here's Schwartz on his team's philosophy: "We were at a point last year where we were pretending we were in a playoff run. Well, guess what? We're in one now. We need to act accordingly. And by that, we have to be a team that doesn't beat ourselves. We have talent. We have good coaching. We cannot afford to be selfish and put the team at risk of taking points off the board. There was way too much of that today."
Well, Jim, how do you stop it now that it's certifiably out of control?
"Yeah, don't play guys that make penalties. ... I've been very understanding for penalties of guys during the play. ... There's no excuse," Schwartz said.
I'm not sure if the Lions could field a team.
"Smart football teams are playing in January," Stafford said.
I think you see where I'm going here.
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