Third Time's the Charm

A season like the Lions' 2007-2008 season would get some guys down. Not Jon Kitna. He expects to win 10 games this season. Of course. Let's break the Lions down for a bit. Last year, they had no running game, partly because the didn't actual try to run the ball. So they fire Martz and will presumably focus more on the run this year. To help with this they, uh, cut Kevin Jones and let go of T.J. Duckett, leaving them with Tatum Bell, rookie Kevin Smith, Brian Calhoun, and Aveion Cason. Well, that's one approach. Sure, they'll have more yards, but just handing the ball off more than twice a game will guarantee that. Defense? They drafted a LB. I'm guessing pretty much a wash here. Same at offensive line. WRs are about the same, possibly slightly better if Calvin Johnson improves. Kitna should be about the same; decent but making too many important mistakes. The schedule looks relatively favorable, so I'm going to say they'll end up between 6-10 and 8-8. Wildcard: If Drew Stanton comes back strong from injury and shows the spark he had in college, the Lions might just be able to push close to 10 wins. But probably not.