FanHouse Georgefoster

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

I'm going to do my best to avoid use of the phrase "Well, things can't get any worse," or anything like that. Really, I am. But it's worth pointing out that this is a true statement. Things are looking up for the Detroit Lions because they absolutely can't get any worse.

With two first-round picks and a ton of available cap space, a well-managed organization could make a significant dent in one year.

*Jon Kitna just can't quit him.

I think it's official. Besides Kitna, who apparently views Mike Martz as the Dr. Cox to his J.D., I think we've heard from every other 2007 Lion, and the consensus is that Martz is Lucifer.

The latest in the parade is right tackle George Foster, who was acquired in the trade that sent Dre Bly to Denver. Foster was a disaster last year, getting flagged for nine false starts in a stretch of nine games that eventually led to his being benched for Damien Woody, who had never played right tackle before in his career.

But Foster, like all those other Lions, thinks he's about to go from Oh No to All-Pro now that Martz is gone, because Jim Colletto has crafted the greatest offensive scheme known to man. Or, you know, because he's implemented one that suits his players' talents.

For Foster, its the zone-blocking scheme and the use of more running that will make the difference. Foster was a first-round pick in Denver and, while never a great player, was better than last year because he was playing in the scheme the Lions are now using. He's also worked on those jittery feet, going without a false start penalty all preseason.

Still, if/when Foster starts on Sunday, it'll be less because he's earned the spot than because Gosder Cherilus, the team's 2008 first-rounder, has failed to adequately step up and claim the job. When he does, you can be sure no matter how good Foster is playing he'll be hitting the bench. And he won't have Martz to blame.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: Jon Kitna -- man of God, man of many passing yards, man of many lapses in judgement. With Kitna, Mike Martz found a quarterback who could air it out appropriately in his offense. Appropriately, in this instance, means bombing away with little regard to risk, and the interception and sack totals with Kitna under center reflect that. Martz is gone and the Lions are shifting to a more conservative offense. Kitna isn't the right man to helm it, and, turning 36 early this season, should be on his last tour in Detroit. The problem is that the Lions aren't sure if they have anyone behind him to take over, with Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton possessing exactly zero starts and only 17 passing attempts between them, all Orlovsky's. Heat Index: 5

Running back: That conservative offense will put more work at the feet of the team's tailbacks. The Lions' running game in 2007 was 31st in the league and lost their best runner in Kevin Jones. Still, they're going about improving in the right way. They kept Tatum Bell and Brian Calhoun from last year and tailored their attack to a one-cut zone blocking system that suits their skills. Bell had almost 2,000 yards and 10 touchdowns running in that system in 2005 and 2006. Assuming he stays healthy, he should bring a big-play punch. But the biggest impact will be made by the biggest unknown -- rookie Kevin Smith. He also excels in a zone system, and the wildly productive college back is one of the players I think is going to absolutely turn heads this year. Heat Index: 7

NFL Offseason Roadmap is a series focused on the needs of NFL teams as they begin the offseason.

1. Offensive Tackle. A disaster zone. Forget the 54 sacks Jon Kitna took last year. As terrible and incriminating as it is, it doesn't even come close to scratching the surface of all the crimes against football the Lions' tackles have committed. Running backs dream of rushing for 2,000 yards; I don't think any offensive line wants 2,000 yards of penalties in a season, but the Lions looked like they were trying hard, particularly the tackles. Jeff Backus was terrible and, when George Foster wasn't riding pine, he was worse. Damien Woody did pretty well stepping in at right tackle towards the end of the year, but he looks likely to sign somewhere else this summer. So that leaves zero NFL-caliber tackles on this squad. As for answers, well, teams don't let starting quality tackles hit free agency, so they're kinda screwed if they want experience. While their 15th pick puts them out of the running for Jake Long, they could decide to go with Ryan Clady or Jeff Otah, the next tier in this class.

Even if Jon Kitna doesn't prove himself right and the Lions fail to reach 10 wins, he'll at least have proven that he's a tough son of a gun. He's stayed strong despite receiving a beating all year. It's at the point where instead of buying his offensive linemen watches, they'll be pooling their funds to buy Kitna a whirlpool to soak his crippled body in at home. Kitna's been hit so hard this season that he's seen God.

For you number nerds, the Lions have allowed 47 sacks this year, most in the league and on pace for 68. That 68 wouldn't rank very far behind Houston's 76 in 2002, the season that gives David Carr horrible 'Nam-esque flashbacks. Those 76 sacks are third-worst in NFL history, so at the very least the Lions are on the fringes of historical badness in that area.

Part of this is lack of talent on the line, part of it is the nature of Mike Martz's offense. And now Martz is worried about the well-being of his quarterback.

I am worried about him, and we're trying to help him as much as we can in that respect.

To help rectify, the Lions are moving guard Damien Woody to right tackle this week. It's his first appearance there since high school. I understand this is a move that had to be made -- George Foster has just been terrible there -- but it's beginning to look like the Lions are beginning to lose the shiny veneer, doesn't it?

Here's a fun little blemish on the Lions' otherwise splendid start to the season -- not only does tackle George Foster share the NFL lead for false starts (with nine), he's second in the league in sacks allowed with 9 3/4. First, naturally, is Lions left tackle Jeff Backus, who has 10 1/2. All told, the Lions offensive line in general has allowed 40 sacks, which is ... you guessed it, most in the NFL.

That's bad enough on its own -- Jon Kitna has been beaten so many times he's not a polytheist. But it's especially bad this Sunday when the Lions play the Giants, who lead the league in dropping the quarterback with 31 sacks (all 31 of them, you might recall, were allowed by Winston Justice).

To throw off the scent, the Lions will need to run the ball -- and better than they did against the Cardinals -- to negate the Giants' pass rush. The problem with that is that the Lions won't be getting a full contribution from ailing feature back/overall-good-player Kevin Jones, forcing them to rely more on T.J. Duckett, and that's rarely a good thing. Which leads me to this: if Tatum Bell's career dies in a forest, does anyone hear it?

Today, the Lions' march towards the Super Bowl the playoffs a 10-win season respect a .500 record something other than crippling embarrassment began in a big way.

Joke all you want about 'em, but the Lions scored 36 points and put together a late fourth-quarter comeback against a top five defense, and got big plays on both sides of the ball in the process. Moxie? Hard work? Resiliency? These aren't your father's Lions. These aren't anybody's Lions, actually.

But oh, did it look like the bottom was falling out, as Josh McCown led the Raiders on a 21-3 run in the second half that put them up 21-20 after going down 17-0. Lots of people expected the Lions to put up points, but the Raiders were downright frisky on offense as well and, actually, both groups resembled legitimate NFL squads. It's true.

If you run an NFL team, and you want success, you might want to make sure your coaches don't contradict each other out of childish spite.

The line's biggest collisions involved line coach Larry Beightol and offensive coordinator Mike Martz...

Sometimes, Beightol would give the linemen instructions on how to block a certain play. The linemen would follow his orders in practice, and Martz would yell at them for following Beightol's instructions.

The players were like kids caught in the middle of a big nasty divorce. Some weeks, they wouldn't know what they were supposed to do until Saturday.

That sound you're hearing is that of Lions season ticket holders expressing their gratitude for getting such a fine-tuned product for their money. In all fairness, I see what the Lions were doing -- in college, I always did best on the exams I crammed for last minute. You may call it a lack of cohesiveness, organization, and professionalism; I call it a bold managerial strategy.

With new starters in George Foster and Edwin Mulitalo, Martz is optimistic about the state of the Lions' offensive line. It doesn't hurt that, with Beightol gone, the players can focus more on blocking schemes and less on blaming themselves for the split and what weekends they get to see Daddy.

To get you ready for the season, FanHouse is previewing all 32 NFL teams. Here's Detroit's outlook.

2006 record: 3-13

2006 Offense: People tend to hold the misconception that Detroit's offense last year was good despite their poor record, based on the presence of Mike Martz and Jon Kitna's 4,208-yard, 21-touchdown year. What those people are overlooking are Kitna's 22 interceptions and the Lions' dead-last run game, which averaged only 70.6 yards per contest. For some perspective, 21 individual backs averaged more. Including Edgerrin James. Who ran for the Arizona Cardinals. Embarassing? You bet.

2006 Defense: This is a unit that ranked near the bottom five in just about every major defensive category last year. Linebacker Ernie Sims and safety Daniel Bullocks both showed promise, but the star of the defense, Shaun Rogers, was underwhelming. The Lions have some new blood that, on paper, should improve the unit, but that's not exactly a task, either.

2006 Special Teams: Eddie Drummond (no, you're not getting the Bermanism) had a solid, unspectacular season as the Lions' main returner, and kicker Jason Hanson is a keeper (the Lions relied on a lot of field goals, and Hanson had the third-most in the league). Still, the Lions special teams was middle of the road, at best. Noticing a theme? I should have just heeded that old "If you can't say anything nice ... " saying and saved myself the last 20 minutes.

The injury report for this week's game against the Bengals is in - and it's good news all around for the Broncos. Darrent Williams will likely make his return to the lineup just in time to cover T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and it'll be interesting to see how Mike Shanhan handles the situation. Last week, the Broncos successfully contained the Cardinals' outstanding receiving pair of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald without Williams, who's claim to fame this season was being torched by Reggie Wayne when the Colts came into town. I'm betting we'll see a lot of Domonique Foxworth (maybe playing safety like he did against the Chargers?) on Sunday, especially because Williams is still recovering from his toe injury.

Adam Meadows will also likely be available this weekend after missing a few games with hamstring problems. Just before Meadows was injured, he was promoted ahead of George Foster, who has been one of the weakest links in Denver's offensive line this year. Last week that line produced just 106 rushing yards for a team that normally racks up at least 150, so we could see Meadows starting ahead of Foster again, or possibly in place of Erik Pears, who took over when Matt Lepsis was injured earlier this season. Either way, the Broncos must re-establish the run if they want to win against Cincinatti.

Other notable Broncos on the list: Stephen Alexander is probable coming off of a rib injury, Jason Elam is still recovering (but probable to play) from his "rainbow right" hammy pull, Javon Walker looks to be ready after suffering a first degree shoulder separation last week, and as always, Al "Ironman" Wilson is ready to play despite his season-long thumb injury.