Ex-Lion Redding on his exit: 'It was just time for me to move on'
He was overpaid and under-producing, and Cory Redding wanted out, too. So the offseason trade that sent the former defensive end/tackle -- a franchise-tagged player the Lions signed to a seven-year, $49 million deal after an impressive 2006 season -- to Seattle in exchange for Julian Peterson wasn't a huge shock.
That's part of the reason why Redding, who'll face his former team Sunday when the Lions play at Seattle, isn't vowing revenge.
"Nah, I don't have that kind of hate in me," Redding said Wednesday, speaking on a conference call with Detroit media. "I left a lot of good people there. I tried to leave on good terms."
On good terms maybe, but after a bad season, admittedly. Redding went on IR late last season as the Lions stumbled to 0-16. But his final two seasons as one of the highest-paid players in the league at his position were a huge disappointment. After eight sacks in an 11-game stretch in his first season at tackle, had just four the next two seasons.
And by the end, it was clear the Lions wanted out from under that contract, while Redding simply wanted out. (Likewise, Seattle was looking to unload the back-end of Peterson's contract with a way-too-pricey linebacker corps there.)
"I felt like I gave Detroit six years of all that Cory can give, the best that I could, and I felt like it was just time for me to move on," said Redding, 28, who's a backup now behind young starters at end (Lawrence Jackson) and the three-technique (Brandon Mebane). "I felt like I did it the right way. I went throught the proper channels. I didn't try to leave on bad terms. I wanted to do things professionally. I just tried to leave the way a professional is supposed to leave."
So where did all go wrong?
"I don't think there's one thing that you can pinpoint and say, 'This is why everything went sour or south in Detroit,'" Redding said. "It's been a collective of things. But ultimiately, it was tough that we went down that road. And that's something I gotta carry for the rest of my life: 0-16. But all I know is, every single day at practice and in the film room, my teammates and I, we tried to do all that we could to get a win."
Faggins to IR; Lions sign CB Jason David
The Lions made another roster move involving their secondary, but again it's out of necessity. Demarcus Faggins, injured early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to St. Louis, went on IR today, and the team replaced him with free agent cornerback Jason David. David spent the last two seasons with New Orleans, after the Saints had signed him to an offer sheet to get him from Indianapolis. He started 18 games for the Saints and had eight INTs the last two years, but he got burned quite a bit last season and was waived in mid-August. (His $2.4 million salary made that move sort of a no-brainer.)
What this means for the Lions' defensive backfield isn't clear. Faggins was rotating with starter Phillip Buchanon on Sunday, with Will James still the starter at left cornerback. Kevin Hobbs played some in nickel, while Anthony Henry remains in the doghouse and was inactive. You'd have to imagine he'll be back up this week, while David gets up to speed, though.
The Seahawks were busy today, too. They released running back Edgerrin James (he actually moved into 10th on the NFL career rushing list Sunday), ex-Lions cornerback Travis Fisher and safety C.J. Wallace. They then signed three players from their practice squad, including them former Michigan safety Jamar Adams.
Stafford on his critics: 'They're not gonna run me out of town'
If Matthew Stafford is Clifford Peache, then Dominic Raiola is Linderman. Call it "My Bodyguard 2: The Sequel," and give the Lions' offensive captain credit for defending his rookie quarterback, even if you want to question Raiola's short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) methods.
Stafford got his first official taste of the Joey Harrington treatment Sunday in a 17-10 loss to St. Louis at Ford Field. And Raiola didn't like it one bit, jawing with fans who were taunting Stafford from the stands behind the Lions' bench in the final minute of the game.
"That just hit home with me," Raiola said. "Because I've been through it with Joey (Harrington). They sent him packing, quick. They're not gonna do it to this guy. I'm gonna be right here next to him."
Stafford wasn't available to the media Monday, but he was asked about Raiola's outburst during his weekly WJR radio appearance.
"He didn't say anything terrible," Stafford said. "It was, you know, 'Give him a break. Get outta here.' That kind of thing. It wasn't a big-time verbal altercation or anything. But he's right. They're not gonna run me out of town. So I'm not too worried about it."
Added Stafford: "I was standing by the water cooler and just gettin' it from fans, and that's understandable. They want to win probably as bad as we do. It's understandable that they're gonna get after guys when your team's not playing well. I like to think that I do a pretty good job of just letting that stuff go.
"Dom was just standing there saying, 'Hey, man, don't let that stuff get to you.' And I know that. I've been in tough situations before. It's just great to have a guy like Dom on your side."
Follett: From the flu to a 'full rage'
Zack Follett promised to "bring some fire" to the Lions' special teams units when the Lions promoted him from the practice squad a month ago.
Sunday, he certainly provided a spark with a clean, crushing hit on kickoff coverage that left the Rams' Danny Amendola with a concussion. Not bad for a guy who was still recovering from a serious bout with the flu late in the week, missing practice Wednesday and Thursday while on team-mandated quarantine.
"I think I had some angels with me or something," Follett joked Monday.
Follett's hit on Amendola came in the fourth quarter immediately after Matthew Stafford scored and added a two-point conversion to tie it at 10-10. And the rookie linebacker out of Cal admitted Monday there was some pent-up energy there on that hit.
Said Follett: "I had a hit kind of like that in the preseason, and I was all mad: I was like, 'Did I waste my only good play in the preseason?' I've been hungry for that. ...
"When I came down on kickoff, the front-line guy tried to block me. I take that guy on with, like, a full rage, because you've got to hit him to get to the ballcarrier. Once I dumped him, I tried to fill the lane, and they're running a return that I know. He opened up right in the lane, and the rest was history."
Can't fake this: Rams won the coaching battle, too
Coming off a bye week, you'd expect the Lions to be the ones pulling off a perfectly-executed fake field goal Sunday. Instead, they were the ones who looked completely unprepared. And that's just one more reason Stan Kwan's job probably is in jeopardy at the end of the season.
On a day where the coverage units finally did their job -- Zack Follett's thunderous hit was arguably the Lions biggest highlight Sunday -- Kwan's unit still managed to give up points.
On fourth-and-8 from the Detroit 36, the Rams initially lined up to go for it. But quarterback Marc Bulger called a timeout -- he said receiver Danny Amendola was confused about what route he was supposed to run -- and then the Rams changed their mind, sending out Josh Brown and the kicking team.
"Just a lucky guess, I guess," Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said.
But it was more than that. Studying film last week to prepare for the Lions, the Rams -- and special teams coaches Tom McMahon and Darius Swinton -- had found a tendency or two.
"They saw something," Spagnuolo said. "Tom's always knocking on my door saying, 'We got it, we got it,' during the week. So we just felt like if we got the opportunity, we'd give it a shot."
Sunday, they called their shot -- and made it. Holder Donnie Jones took the snap, pitched it to Brown, and Brown tossed a wobbly pass to tight end Daniel Fells, who raced 36 yards for the touchdown, shaking off a would-be tackle by Cliff Avril along the sideline. (Ko Simpson jogging in pursuit after the pass went overhead probably won't look too good in film study Monday.)
"I'd like to tell you that was well thought-out, but it was during the time-out that we just made the decision that, 'Hey, we think we can get it,'" said Spagnuolo, whose team took a 10-2 lead with 54 seconds left in the half.
Lions coach Jim Schwartz didn't have much of a defense for his team getting burned on the play. Brown attempting a 54-yarder was believable, he said, and he's right about that -- Brown already has a couple 50-yarders this season. But on the heels of a would-be fourth-down play by the offense, antennae should've been raised, no?
"We got probably too aggressive there," Schwartz said. "They had a good call on for what we had, and they executed the play. ... Give them credit. They had a good call on right there. They executed. We didn't."
Category: Lions
Posted by Dana Wakiji (The Detroit News) on Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 2:05 PMRams 3, Lions 2 at 2-minute warning
DETROIT -- I bet Kevin Smith never imagined that his first score today would be a safety. But when Matthew Stafford threw an interception to James Butler, who then turned into the end zone, Smith was there to tackle him and get the Lions on the board. The Ram's Josh Brown kicked a 41-yard field goal in the first quarter, which is how we arrived at the odd 3-2 score.
Bad football rules the day: Rams 3, Lions 2
On third-and-10 from the St. Louis 12 early in the second quarter, Matthew Stafford's pass went right through the hands of Aaron Brown. Quincy Butler, making only his second NFL start at cornerback, intercepted the tipped pass in the end zone, then crossed the goal line making an ill-advised attempt to return it. He ran back into the end zone to avoid a tackle -- unsuccessfully, as Kevin Smith's ankle tackle tripped him up for a safety.
If that doesn't sum up a game between two teams that are a combined 3-42 since the start of last season, I don't know what does.
All's quiet: Rams 3, Lions 0
A questionable roughing-the-passer call on Julian Peterson put the Lions in jeopardy of going down 7-0 early. But after a pair of incompletions by Marc Bulger and a stop on Steven Jackson for no gain, the Rams had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Josh Brown on their opening drive.
Early guess at what they'll announce as today's attendance: 38,000. But it looks less than half full in here, and it sounds as quiet as you could imagine for an NFL game.
OchoCinco: I thank the Lord every day I don't play for the Lions
The Lions aren't the worst team in the NFL these days, or so it would seem. But they're still a punchline for the late-night talk shows. Thursday night, it was Chad OchoCinco's turn to have a little fun at the Lions' expense as a guest presenter of David Letterman's Top 10 list on the Late Show.
No. 1 on his list of the "Top Ten Revelations In Chad Ochocinco's Autobiography" was: "I thank the Lord every day I don't play for the Lions."
Here's the video clip:
Lions cut Tristan Davis, add Cedric Peerman to practice squad
The Lions have released running back Tristan Davis from the practice squad, replacing him with fellow rookie RB Cedric Peerman. A sixth-round pick out of Virginia, Peerman was among Baltimore's final preseason roster cuts Sept. 5. The Cleveland Browns claimed him, but he was inactive the first couple weeks of the season, before getting waived and re-signed to the Browns' practice squad. He was released by Cleveland earlier this week, and the Lions, who drafted Aaron Brown seven picks after Peerman went to the Ravens, obviously felt he was an upgrade as a developmental RB with kick return ability.
Peerman's draft stock suffered a bit due to injury problems in college. But he's a surprisingly tough runner with good hands that might have a future as a third-down back in this league.
