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Detroit radio host: Lions would gladly take Jerry Jones as GM; Stafford not good enough to win Super Bowl
Jon Machota
Published: January 2, 2015 3:18 pm
ALLEN PARK, Mich. – To get a better sense of the franchise the Cowboys will be facing Sunday at AT&T Stadium, I got in touch with a popular Detroit sports talk radio host this week.
Mike Valenti, one half of the Valenti and Foster drive time show on 97.1 the Ticket [WXYT-FM], gave his no-holds-barred opinion of the team he discusses on a daily basis.
You’ll likely come away from this interview feeling very confident about the Cowboys chances of advancing Sunday.
How would you describe this current Lions team?
Valenti: “Beyond frustrating. Lucky. I think they’ve had an incredible amount of good fortune this season, whether it be the miracle vs. New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta. Even at Green Bay, Rodgers goes down, takes the air out of the stadium. From an Xs and Os standpoint, the defense is going to try to take the run away and they do a really good job of it. They give up a lot of yards between the 20s and then they tighten up. They’re hard to score on. They just find ways, whether it’s creating turnovers, whether it’s a goal line stand like last week against Green Bay. They have a way of tightening the screws in the red zone, so they can be very frustrating to play. Offensively, they’re terrible. There’s really no other way to put it. They can’t run it with any consistency. They have a hard time protecting Stafford. And when you look at Stafford on his own accord, his accuracy is questionable at best. They got a couple of good weapons in Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate. But a number of personnel changes. They’re constantly running people in and out of the game. There’s no flow. They’re very disjointed offensively.”
How would you describe the Lions organization?
Valenti: “They’re clearly better now than when [Matt] Millen was there. I still don’t think they do things totally the right way. If you’re going to use one word, I would say inept. They just make so many mistakes. Look back at the first round draft pick this year. No, it’s not fair to say that Eric Ebron is a bust. That’s not fair. But he surely isn’t productive. In and around Ebron there were guys like Zack Martin, Aaron Donald, Odell Beckham Jr., these are impactful rookies that this team really needed. And they did what the Lions do, they tried to be the smartest guy in the room, they got cute, they took a tight end and for this season, it’s been a disaster. I would say it’s an organization that’s just not good. There’s no other way to put it. They have one playoff win since 1957.”
Do Lions fans feel like the team is close to winning a Super Bowl?
Valenti: “No. I think you always have a certain percentage of fans that are lemmings, they don’t know any better. You probably have fans of the Buccaneers who thought they were going to win the Super Bowl this year. You can’t help them, they’re incorrigible. But a great majority of people I think have just sadly lowered their expectations, ‘Hey, let’s just make the playoffs, or, Hey, let’s just win a playoff game.’ I don’t even think the Super Bowl is something that is disgusts in any realistic term here. You have an organization that has consistently and effectively eroded people’s hopes over not a 10-year period or 20-year period. Almost a 60-year period. So yeah, a Super Bowl? No.”
Is Matthew Stafford good enough to win a Super Bowl?
Valenti: “No. I don’t even know if he’s good enough to win a playoff game. I’ve been very anti-Stafford since the beginning, so I am biased. I just don’t think he has the accuracy, I don’t think he has the acumen. For having the weapons that he has, it’s very underwhelming. I think he’s a numbers guy. When the chips are down and you got a road game against a good team, winning record, Matthew Stafford is 0-16 lifetime. There’s something to that. This is a league where the Rams can beat the Broncos, bad teams beat good teams. Stafford is 0-16 on the road against teams with a winning record. Come on. At some point, that big arm, I don’t care. You got win me some games.”
Would Lions fans gladly take Jerry Jones the GM?
Valenti: “I think Lions fans would take just about anybody. I think in the end it’s almost unfair. The issue with Martin Mayhew is he was affiliated with Matt Millen. He was at Millen’s side. Instead of shockingly just getting rid of everybody, it was the worst period in the history of the league, they decided to keep somebody around who had Millen ties. That didn’t sit well with people. They made the playoffs in 2011 and people backed off a little bit, then they were terrible the last two years. Now, this year, a little bit of magic in a bottle. They’re really an 8-8 or 9-7 team. They had an incredible amount of luck to get to 11.”
Jon Machota
Published: January 2, 2015 3:18 pm
ALLEN PARK, Mich. – To get a better sense of the franchise the Cowboys will be facing Sunday at AT&T Stadium, I got in touch with a popular Detroit sports talk radio host this week.
Mike Valenti, one half of the Valenti and Foster drive time show on 97.1 the Ticket [WXYT-FM], gave his no-holds-barred opinion of the team he discusses on a daily basis.
You’ll likely come away from this interview feeling very confident about the Cowboys chances of advancing Sunday.
How would you describe this current Lions team?
Valenti: “Beyond frustrating. Lucky. I think they’ve had an incredible amount of good fortune this season, whether it be the miracle vs. New Orleans, Miami, Atlanta. Even at Green Bay, Rodgers goes down, takes the air out of the stadium. From an Xs and Os standpoint, the defense is going to try to take the run away and they do a really good job of it. They give up a lot of yards between the 20s and then they tighten up. They’re hard to score on. They just find ways, whether it’s creating turnovers, whether it’s a goal line stand like last week against Green Bay. They have a way of tightening the screws in the red zone, so they can be very frustrating to play. Offensively, they’re terrible. There’s really no other way to put it. They can’t run it with any consistency. They have a hard time protecting Stafford. And when you look at Stafford on his own accord, his accuracy is questionable at best. They got a couple of good weapons in Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate. But a number of personnel changes. They’re constantly running people in and out of the game. There’s no flow. They’re very disjointed offensively.”
How would you describe the Lions organization?
Valenti: “They’re clearly better now than when [Matt] Millen was there. I still don’t think they do things totally the right way. If you’re going to use one word, I would say inept. They just make so many mistakes. Look back at the first round draft pick this year. No, it’s not fair to say that Eric Ebron is a bust. That’s not fair. But he surely isn’t productive. In and around Ebron there were guys like Zack Martin, Aaron Donald, Odell Beckham Jr., these are impactful rookies that this team really needed. And they did what the Lions do, they tried to be the smartest guy in the room, they got cute, they took a tight end and for this season, it’s been a disaster. I would say it’s an organization that’s just not good. There’s no other way to put it. They have one playoff win since 1957.”
Do Lions fans feel like the team is close to winning a Super Bowl?
Valenti: “No. I think you always have a certain percentage of fans that are lemmings, they don’t know any better. You probably have fans of the Buccaneers who thought they were going to win the Super Bowl this year. You can’t help them, they’re incorrigible. But a great majority of people I think have just sadly lowered their expectations, ‘Hey, let’s just make the playoffs, or, Hey, let’s just win a playoff game.’ I don’t even think the Super Bowl is something that is disgusts in any realistic term here. You have an organization that has consistently and effectively eroded people’s hopes over not a 10-year period or 20-year period. Almost a 60-year period. So yeah, a Super Bowl? No.”
Is Matthew Stafford good enough to win a Super Bowl?
Valenti: “No. I don’t even know if he’s good enough to win a playoff game. I’ve been very anti-Stafford since the beginning, so I am biased. I just don’t think he has the accuracy, I don’t think he has the acumen. For having the weapons that he has, it’s very underwhelming. I think he’s a numbers guy. When the chips are down and you got a road game against a good team, winning record, Matthew Stafford is 0-16 lifetime. There’s something to that. This is a league where the Rams can beat the Broncos, bad teams beat good teams. Stafford is 0-16 on the road against teams with a winning record. Come on. At some point, that big arm, I don’t care. You got win me some games.”
Would Lions fans gladly take Jerry Jones the GM?
Valenti: “I think Lions fans would take just about anybody. I think in the end it’s almost unfair. The issue with Martin Mayhew is he was affiliated with Matt Millen. He was at Millen’s side. Instead of shockingly just getting rid of everybody, it was the worst period in the history of the league, they decided to keep somebody around who had Millen ties. That didn’t sit well with people. They made the playoffs in 2011 and people backed off a little bit, then they were terrible the last two years. Now, this year, a little bit of magic in a bottle. They’re really an 8-8 or 9-7 team. They had an incredible amount of luck to get to 11.”
