Caputo: Optimism Prevails For Lions, Despite Penalties and Injuries
The Lions' road has traditionally been littered with penalties and injuries.
It's uncanny how many times year-after-year - and it just isn't this way as consistently with other NFL teams - the Lions have made a big play, and there is the plenty marker on the turf negating it.
It's the same with injuries. Football is a rugged game. Injuries rear their ugly head for all teams. But it seems like the not-so-funny injury joker card turns up more often for the Lions.
This is a team that seemed to be making progress in '78 - and their top two quarterbacks went down in '79. They were 2-14. Do you remember James Stewart getting hurt in that final preseason game against Buffalo? Matthew Stafford is by far the most talented QB the Lions have had that I can remember.