Lions receiver Calvin Johnson had a frustrating return to the lineup Sunday, catching just two passes for 27 yards against the Seahawks. Some of that frustration apparently spilled over to the sideline when television cameras caught quarterback Matthew Stafford and Johnson in a quarterback-wide receiver tiff.
Stafford said something to Mr. Megatron, who ignored his quarterback and walked away. Several sources told MLive.com that Stafford came over to his star receiver and smoothed things over later in the game.
"Frustrated with the loss. If we win, all of that's out the window,''
Johnson said. "There's no problem with us, people are just blowing it
out of proportion.''
Lions coach Jim Schwartz was concerned enough about the situation to talk to both players, but said it wasn't an issue.
"Good gracious, if there was a camera on every single person on every
single play, you could read between the lines on a million different
things," Schwartz said.
We believe him. Johnson is known for a decidedly non diva-like attitude, and this type of thing happens in some form every game. Stafford's inability to connect with Johnson on the field Sunday is a bigger concern for the Lions than anything that happened off it.
Calvin Johnson denies any rift with Stafford
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 9, 2009 7:02 PM ET
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"Good gracious, ..." Schwartz said.
In the future I will thank you to save your gutter talk for your street friends.
My question to you (even though it will never get answered) is why did you report this? The Lions coach says its a non issue, the players say so, and your last paragraph even states "that this type of thing happens in some form every game".
Where is the news/rumor in this?
like schwartz is wont to say... it's correctable.
Amazing how FOX has enough cameras to cover side line tiffs - because that makes for good follow on week news fodder - but none on the goal line for determining if a QB has been tackled for a safety or not as in the Bucs - Packers game.
Plenty of coverage of the De-ang-a-low Hall vs coach incident too.
Well said Pier588..... I agree fully.
And how about that Favre-cam last week. Pretty sad. Lets finally get some goal line cams.
Also, after watching games this year, there is so much controversy over completions. Please, go back to the old style of a completion. There was way less trouble.
Simply put, a completion should be as simple as two feet down, or another equivalent body part, with control of the ball. No more of this "hold onto the ball to the ground crap". It would be much easier to simply call those catches unless the ball was coming free before going down. After securing a ball the ground should not be able to make you fumble, so neither should it be able to cause an incompletion. This rule has become really stupid and it seems to change by the refs who do the game. Even the coaches are left challenging because the full grasp of the rule never stays the same.
This is my off-topic rant of the day....LOL
And for the record, to get back on topic, good job on Johnson. A truly classy receiver. If anybody deserves to complain it's him. Others should take his lead.
"Good gracious, if there was a camera on every single person on every single play, you could read between the lines on a million different things," Schwartz said.
seriously. schwartz is right, if they had a camera on every player you'd have a bunch of Dr. Phil episodes during the game. emotions run high sometimes, doesn't always mean there's a controversy.
I don't blame him. I know Stafford's a rookie with a terrible offensive line, but he's gotta know that CJ is his #1 guy. On plays where there was adequate pass protection, Stafford was simply miss CJ during his reads when Calvin was wide open in the endzone. Stafford has a cannon yet chose to underthrow Calvin several times, leading to picks by Trufant and other Seahawks.
I'm a die-hard Lions fan yet even I know that Calvin Johnson would be Randy Moss II on any other team. I feel like New England is going to end up with him in a few years.