0-24...that's what Kevin Smith probably remembers best...that a team that had just lost 24 straight games didn't think he was good enough to play for them.  He wasn't even brought to training camp as a roster fill in back when they could have 82 guys to practice with.

So he sat on his couch for the last eight weeks...working out in the morning and then....coming home and waiting...

He had six different try outs with NFL teams and....he wasn't picked up until Jahvid Best missed his third straight game with concussion symptoms....and even when the Lions picked him up, they figured he'd only do spot duty until Best came back.

Let me just say this, because it scream of how good of a story this is, Matthew Stafford bounced back from throwing two awful interceptions with his broken finger to throw FIVE touchdown passes to five different receivers and NONE of them were named Calvin Johnson...and nobody's talking about it...everybody wants to talk about a guy that Matt Millen drafted and the Lions cut and then brought back off of the trash heap.

Let me also say this...despite the Lions 7-3 record...I don't think this team has proven anything...in fact, it's brought up a heck of a lot more questions than it's answered. 

The Lions were down 24-7 to a 2-8 football team.  This game should have been a blow out.  We learned last week that if you go down by 17 or 20 points to a GOOD football team...you don't come back. 

And, outside of maybe Minnesota, the Lions don't have any gimme games left on their schedule. They cannot fall into huge deficits against the Packers (twice) or the Saints or the Chargers or Raiders.  The Lions are 7-3 and will need to win at least three of their remaining six games to make the playoffs.  Which means if the Lions can find a way to win this week against the Pack....they may just be able to write their own ticket to post season play.

But back to Kevin Smith...during his rookie season, which was pretty impressive, he still didn't rush for a thousand yards.  He is not an every down back.  Kevin Smith is the minimum of what the Lions were hoping to get out of Mikel Leshoure...and for right now, that's OK.

In 2008, when Smith was drafted, he ran with reckless abandon...but he never had the top end speed to take any runs the distance.  After he suffered two injuries in successive years...he no longer broke all those tackles and he still didn't have top end speed...that's why the Lions decided not to bring him back this year.

Now, he appears to be healthy, he is again making people miss and breaking tackles...but he STILL does not have that top end speed...that's why he was a third round pick to begin with.  He is a compliment to Jahvid Best, not a replacement.  Smith is a pounder and grinder and he may very well be exactly what the Lions need for the rest of this season in order to keep defenses honest.  He should average about four yards a gain...and if he does that the Lions should be ecstatic.

If he does it against the Packers this week and the Lions manage the upset...Smith may have to show he can do it in the playoffs too.

The Lions, currently 6-3 and poised to fall down a really familiar and ugly deep well after losing three of their last four games, should be incredibly eager for the Carolina Panthers to come to Ford Field on Sunday.  They should be eager to prove that history will, in fact, NOT be repeating itself this year.  These are NOT the same old Lions.

But they have to win this Sunday, simply MUST, against a 2-7 Panthers team at home where they are favored by 7+ points.  The world expects the Lions to win this game...

Which is why I'm scared.  This the kind of game that bad gamblers bet on...because it seems like such a sure thing....this is the kind of game the Lions are supposed to win...but the "Same Old Lions" will always prove you wrong.  Over the last ten years the Lions pretty much lost every game they were "supposed" to win...along with all the games they were supposed to lose too...before that, in the 90's the Lions were a decent team...but an enigma...you never knew when they'd win and if you were ever 100% certain that they'd win on a given week...they'd be sure to put you in your place with a loss.

This season...they've won on the road, which they haven't been all that successful at in recent seasons...but they came home from a road trip and promptly lost two in a row at Ford Field. 

For all intents and purposes, the playoffs start for the Lions this week.  The Leos are 6-3...already 3 games behind the 9-0 Packers in the NFC North.  The chances of catching them is slim...even if they still have two head to head games with them coming up.  Even if they could win both...they'd still be a game behind.

The Lions chances to make the playoffs exist only as wildcards.  Which means their main competition is against Chicago (6-3), Atlanta (5-4, and who we've already lost to, so they have the tie breaker) and Dallas (5-4, who the Lions have already beaten and hold the tie breaker over).  Over the next seven weeks, two of these four teams will step up and claim the two wild card spots...and sadly, the Lions have the hardest schedule.

A win against the Panthers is vital to their chances of staying in the race.

Panthers Offense vs Lions Defense

The Panthers offense looks a lot like the Lions offense in this regard...they have a big time QB-WR connection.  Cam Newton to Steve Smith has turned out to be one of the most dangerous batteries in the NFL so far this season.  While Newton to Smith might pale in relative comparison to what Stafford to Johnson has been able to do this year... On the other hand, even though the Panthers have been unable to single out a go to running threat...they are still averaging almost 30 yards a game more than the Lions on the ground.

Newton loves to put the ball in the air, which means the strength of the Lions (the pass rush) will be put on display.  In my opinion, this is the whole game right here.

Advantage: Even

Panthers Defense vs Lions Offense

The Lions are being hurt by the loss of Jahvid Best.  He might not always have been the unstoppable running threat...but he was an all around threat, capable of taking it to the house on any play.  He had to be game planned for and he was feared far more than Maurice Morris or...Kevin Smith....

A lot of writers are saying that since Calvin Johnson didn't have a great day against the Bears CB Charles Tillman, a long physical corner, that the Panthers' CB Chris Gamble can have the same results....I don't by this at all.  This game will be played in the friendly confines of Ford Field without "40 mph" winds...and Stafford's finger has had another week to heal.

Again, I don't think that Johnson can be stopped.  Look for him to get back into the endzone, hopefully at least twice.

Advantage: Detroit

Prediciton

Detroit 38 Carolina 10