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ATL (5-2) at DET (1-6)
1:00 PM ET

November 5, 2006 - Ford Field


DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Atlanta Falcons (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=atl) ended the Steve Mariucci era. Rod Marinelli has to deal with Michael Vick (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5448) on Sunday.Vick and the Falcons visit Ford Field for the second time in as many seasons when they face the Detroit Lions (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=det).
Last Thanksgiving, Vick connected with tight end Alge Crumpler (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5482) on a pair of touchdowns and the Falcons rushed for 256 yards in a 27-7 victory here.
The NFL's fastest quarterback, Vick directed scoring drives on five of Atlanta's first eight possessions. He accounted for 203 yards - completing 12-of-22 passes for 146 yards and running six times for 57 yards before leaving in the fourth quarter.
As usual, Crumpler was Vick's favorite target, catching seven passes for 104 yards, including touchdowns of six and 32 yards.
Warrick Dunn (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=3893) led the running game with 116 yards on just 17 carries.
That turned out to be the last game for Mariucci, who was fired as coach just four days after the loss and replaced by interim Dick Jauron. Joey Harrington (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5889) and Jeff Garcia (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4924) were the quarterbacks then for the Lions
Now Marinelli is in charge and Jon Kitna (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4157) is at quarterback, but Detroit is in last place in the NFC North with a 1-6 record.
Kitna has a quarterback rating of 84.0, completing more than 55 percent of the passes for 1,199 yards and 10 touchdowns with five interceptions.
Kitna may have to put up plenty of points on Sunday because Vick and the Falcons are on a roll. Also, the Lions will have difficulty stopping the run without their starting defensive tackles Shaun Rogers (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5508) (suspension) and Shaun Cody (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=7213) (knee injury). Two weeks ago before their bye, the Lions yielded 221 yards on the ground in a 31-24 loss to the New York Jets (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=nyj).
The Falcons have been the NFL's best rushing team in the league for the last three years, thanks to the scrambling ability of Vick.
Often criticized for being inaccurate with his passes, Vick has displayed pinpoint precision over the last two weeks, throwing for seven touchdowns in wins over Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
Vick had never passed for more than two touchdowns in a game before tossing four in a 41-38 overtime victory over Pittsburgh. Last week, he completed 20-of-28 passes for 291 yards and three scores and also rushed for 55 yards in a 29-27 win at Cincinnati.
Crumpler caught three touchdown passes in the win over Pittsburgh and had four receptions for 72 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown, at Cincinnati.
The Falcons will again be without Pro Bowl end John Abraham (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=5042), who remains sidelined following abdominal surgery.
Atlanta recorded five sacks in the win here last season. End Patrick Kerney (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4679) and tackle Rod Coleman (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?statsId=4803) each had 1 1/2.

No DL + Vick + Dunn = 400 yards rushing for Falcons in a 30-20 win.

Is this the game where the Fire Millen movement finally gets going again?

Falcons in a blowout.

The problem with firing Millen is that I actually think Rod and Mike are good coaches for us. If you fire the GM, they might want their own coaches and then we start over again. I'd almost rather bring in a great head of scouting and hope Millen can't screw it up any more. At least long enough to see if Rod is going to pan out as a coach. If not, then you change everything at once.

im not sure about that. rod marinelli has been alright, imo, and the offense has been great. but thats over in another year (at most), but at that point marinelli probably will have lost all of his luster. im guessing, when the OC goes is the time to clean house. not saying it will happen, but thats when i'd do it.

and i have no faith in millen's ability to change. he makes the same mistakes over and over again, he will never learn, never improve.

this will be the first Lions game i've ever attended.

is it too much to double their win total for the season?

The Lions are on fire. 1st game I have seen (Nat TV) in about 2 years and they look like A LEGIT pro football team...wired.

this will be the first Lions game i've ever attended.

is it too much to double their win total for the season?

wow......that was actually fun :)

Ford Field is pretty damn nice. crowd was into it. they sang a weird song after every once and a while that i didn't know, but everyone sang along (ended with "gooooooo lions!!")

good win today and Roy William's one handed grab was excellent.

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061105/capt.b0e077df991c4803bfe55db10bc3f7cc.falcons_lion s_football_dta109.jpg

they looked pretty solid today on both sides of hte ball. If you look at our skedge over the next 5 or 6 weeks, we only are facing 1 team above 500 I think.

I thought this season was lost...maybe we can be close to 500 by the end of the year. We'd be back to where we were before Millen took over...mediocre (sp?).

edit...I do like watching our offense. Its actually kind of entertaining.

nothing more predictable than the lions completely fucking up a season twice. once by starting 0-5, then again by climbing out of the hole--not to make the playoffs but also ensuring they get a mediocre pick.

then next year we'll go 9-7 maybe. maybe even get into the playoffs (and lose), but then martz is gone and we'll still be a poorly constructed team run by a bad owner and a worse gm.

Matt...something like this?

UP AND DOWN THE FIELD...
A LIONS TEAM THAT WILL NOT YIELD...

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!

Forward down the field,
A charging team that will not yield.
And when the Blue and Silver wave,
Stand and cheer the brave.
Rah, Rah, Rah.
Go hard, win the game.
With honor you will keep your fame.
Down the field and gain,
A Lion victory!

lol, that's it!

the least they could have done was put the lyrics on the jumbo screen!

Well, I was dead wrong on the Lions this week. Happy to be wrong though.

Falcons in a blowout.

Yeah, my football predictions have been below par as of late.

3-10 in the confidence pool this week as well. [smilie=sayitaintso:

It was fitting that there was no game thread posted this week.

The old Lions are back!!

Another week without a game thread. They don't deserve one anyway. I missed the whole game (listened on the radio only).

Did anyone watch the play that Miller and Brandi were complaining about? The one where Fitz caught the ball way out of bounds? Was that a bogus call like they said?