OT - Lomas Brown purposely missed block to get Scott Mitchell hurt
“We were playing Green Bay in Milwaukee,” Brown said. “We were getting beat, 24-3, at that time and he just stunk up the place. He’s throwing interceptions, just everything. So I looked at Kevin Glover, our All-Pro center and I said, ‘Glove, that is it.’ I said, ‘I’m getting him out the game.’ . . . So I got the gator arms on the guy at the last minute, he got around me, he hit Scott Mitchell, he did something to his finger . . . and he came out the game. [Lions backup quarterback] Dave Krieg came in the game.”
Host Ryen Russillo expressed shock that Brown would admit such a thing, but Brown showed no remorse.
December 22nd, 2012 at 5:48 PM ^
It puts that into perspective I guess. Also underscores the Lion's inability to win...everybody was rowing their own boat.
December 22nd, 2012 at 5:58 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:35 PM ^
Actually, Dave Krieg did do a much better job. He basically led the Lions into the playoffs that year and posted significantly better stats.
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:39 PM ^
If you listen to the rest of the interview, the Lions ended up losing by three. They were down 24-3 when Mitchell went down. So, yeah, he did play better.
It might not be the smartest or cleanest thing to do, but the point of the story was that teammates get super frustrated with terrible quarterback play, i.e. Mark Sanchez. Brown talked about how the o-line was busting its collective ass and mitchell was making terrible mistakes, killing the team.
The dirty part was when the host suggested why not tell mitchell to fake an injury and sit out. Brown insinuated that, because he was so frustrated, he wanted mitchell to get hurt. That's pretty low, but I certainly can understand getting frustrated at awful QB play, especially when it appears he isn't giving it 100 percent.
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:43 PM ^
He kind of did. Went 5-2 from there on out with 14 TDs and 3 INTs. I could tell he was better even though I was about eight years old. I still remember him getting sacked at the end of that playoff game against the Packers... although that doesn't exactly help my point.
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:08 PM ^
Can't be held against him. The Lions never, ever win in Green Bay, and that playoff game was a classic example. Of course, in '94 the memory of the last win ('91) was still recent, but we know now that the Lions basically enter an infinite improbability field whenever they cross the Wisconsin state line.
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:54 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:29 PM ^
Ugh, tomorrow's Festivus Airing of Grievances thread can't come soon enough so I can complain about the Lions.
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:09 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:14 PM ^
I bet Mr. Brown gets the bill for Scott Mitchells bill for that finger injury
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:20 PM ^
"There’s never an excuse for a football player to step onto the field and not give his best effort, but to fail to give your best effort because you want one of your teammates to get injured is totally unacceptable. " - from the article
I absolutely agree, and I would love to hear Brown explain this to kids who are learning to play as a team at any future football camps he might hold in the Detroit area, or indeed, at one of his next motivational speaker engagements.
You know, he spoke to the Southeast Michigan Entrepreneurs Association about "winning" and "teamwork" in September at a gathering in Southfield. Obviously, these don't mean what he thinks they mean.
December 22nd, 2012 at 6:47 PM ^
Scott Mitchell made my eyes bleed, but to do this is indefensible. I met Lomas Brown when I went to a Lions camp as a kid. To do this as a teammate is dirty.
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:01 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:25 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 10:45 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 10:11 AM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:31 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 8:51 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:44 PM ^
In the past, I've always thought very highly of Lomas. He was one of my favorite players, until now. If this is true, it really changes my opinion of him. I don't care how bad your QB is playing, or how much you may not like a teammate, but to intentionally miss a block in hopes that your teammate gets hurt???....to me, that is just the UNTHINKABLE. That is the ultimate betrayal, and completely breaks any football code, whether unwritten or written. Wow.
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:52 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 7:49 PM ^
This epitomizes the kind of culture that permeates the Lions.
Most dysfunctional and poorly-managed team in all of pro sports, hands down.
December 23rd, 2012 at 5:43 AM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:21 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 6:13 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^
No. The Cubs have won more than one playoff series in the past 50 years and have come very close to making it to the World Series. The Lions have never even come close to playing in the Super Bowl. They are one of only four teams that have never played in a Super Bowl. And the other three are expansion teams. Hell, the Jacksonville Jaguars have come closer than the Lions.
There is no bigger train wreck in the four major sports leagues than the Detroit Lions. Not the Cubs, not the LA Clippers, not the Toronto Maple Leafs. And there is no owner more incompetent than William Clay Ford. That is an objective fact.
December 22nd, 2012 at 8:09 PM ^
Mitchell was totally irresponsible with the ball, I can't remember a game he played that didn't involve an interception! That and Lomas wasn't on his blindside so Mitchell again....idiot.
December 22nd, 2012 at 8:47 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 4:34 PM ^
No idea why this was downvoted. That pathetic excuse for an owner represents everything that's wrong with corporate America. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but the day the Ford family sells the Lions will be a great day for football.
December 22nd, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^
It was wrong. Lomas shouldn't have done it.
But you know, I feel for him. I can imagine that he thinks he's doing it to make his team better. Which, arguably, he did. He probably rationalized it as he's just going to let himself make a play as bad as one of Mitchell's plays, and this time Scott would suffer the consequences.
So, yeah, he shouldn't have done it. But as a Lions fan, I sort of understand where he's coming from.
December 22nd, 2012 at 9:00 PM ^
Yeah, Lomas is the type of guy I'd like in the foxhole next to me. What a tool. I obviously live in a fantasy world where teammates would do anything to protect each other and make each other better, but not Lomas. Makes me sick.
December 22nd, 2012 at 10:19 PM ^
December 22nd, 2012 at 10:16 PM ^
and now I like him even more. Scott Mitchell was hot garbage and deserved to get taken out
December 22nd, 2012 at 11:28 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 12:41 AM ^
Considering how celebrities and coaches are currently being held to a much higher standard of morality than the rest of us if they want to keep their jobs, I wouldn't be surprised if Brown got suspended or even fired.
In his favor, though, ESPN is being run by part-timers and interns until the "big boys" come back on Wednesday. If this could turn into a huge story on Monday with the "heavy hitters" in the media slamming him, he would at least get suspeneded. Considering the current public attention span, everyone might have already forgotten it by Wednesday.
This was a stupid move, but great timing.
December 23rd, 2012 at 8:59 AM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 10:31 AM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:02 PM ^
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
Wow, I've played with some QBs that I didn't exactly love, but come on it's your freaking job to protect him.