I'll have to confess, when reading about the Lions this season, I completely forget about head coach Rod Marinelli. It's easy to do when Mike Martz is the O coordinator for a team, especially for a Rams fan whose memory of Martz is mostly of his ego.
I think there's probably some surprise among those in the know that the Lions are 0-3. There's probably as much surprise in the Rams being 2-1...and that loss coming against the 49ers as opposed to the Donkeys in week 1.
Keys to the game:
The Lions have a bad pass defense. Not baaad, but bad. They're 29th in the league and allowing an average of 349 YPG. Mark Bulger and Holt and Bruce will need to remind Martz of his salad days in the Gateway City with lots of passing.
The Lions like passing also, probably in no small part due to having that Martz guy calling the plays. And last week against the once proud Packers, Kitna threw for 342 yards and his first TDs (2 of them) and INT of the season. The surprisingly improved Rams secondary will have to continue to the level of play that started a QB controversy in Denver and last week left a new group of Kurt Warner fans wondering whether or not the guy should go back to sacking groceries.
The Rams rushing D hasn't been the league's best, 129 yards per game, but they're playing Mike Martz how much rushing will they actually have to worry about?
Fantasy player of the game:
Our very own Tory Holt, which by proxy means Bulger will have a nice game too. Start 'em both this weekend.