Sharp: Detroit Lions should make an example of Raiola
Dominic Raiola shouldn't start Thursday against Chicago.
It can be argued that the Detroit Lions' center shouldn't play at all.
He should get the "Jonas Gray Treatment." Stand on the sideline, helmet in hand, ready to come in but never getting the call. And living in the embarrassment.
Gray didn't take a snap Sunday for New England against the Lions. He had made the cover of Sports Illustrated following a tremendous out-of-leftfield effort with 201 rushing yards against Indianapolis the previous week. But he overslept. Missed practice. And coach Bill Belichick rightfully punished him for not fully appreciating the basics of championship football.
Instead of Lions apologists whining that only Belichick could do that because he has won multiple Super Bowl rings, perhaps they should consider such extremes as the foundation for such sustained success.
Belichick reacted similarly before he won Super Bowls and became this generation's Vince Lombardi. But few paid attention then; it didn't warrant headlines because nobody paid attention to the Patriots, an organization that previously proved as laughable as the Lions.
Many are paying attention to the Lions now. This is a chance at changing perceptions. But coach Jim Caldwell is screwing this up if he doesn't make an example of Raiola.
The veteran center admittedly took a cheap shot, diving at the legs at an unsuspecting New England defensive lineman on the last play of the Lions' 34-9 loss. Raiola was ticked off that New England went for a final touchdown in the closing seconds of what already was a blowout.
The NFL didn't sanction Raiola.
"I don't live life with regrets," he said Tuesday. "I didn't try to intentionally hurt anybody. I didn't try to do anything out of the ordinary."
Raiola's actions further embellished the overriding sentiment that the Lions are playoff pretenders. His childish petulance symbolized a good team not ready for the proving ground that distinguishes excellence from expectations. The Lions had an opportunity the past two weeks at Arizona and New England to gain a greater public trust even though they lost both games.
But how they lost — no touchdowns in their past 21 offensive possessions — proved that the Lions, though improved, still aren't ready for NFL prime time. And Caldwell must understand that makes Raiola's actions appear more indicative of a lack of institutional cultural change.
If Caldwell doesn't strongly discipline Raiola, he becomes another in the long line of his Lions' coaching predecessors who compromise their beliefs for the sake of winning now and pacifying the desperate praying of long-suffering fans for anything that might justify their emotional support.
It never fails in this town. Detroit can't help but overreact when it comes to its one true sports obsession. Emotion overwhelms facts. Lions' victories are hoisted higher than their rightful place and losses assume a lower depth. There's a reluctance in accepting the simple truth with this particular team.
The Lions aren't terrible. They're not a laughingstock. They're no longer a victim of vaudevillian slapstick, lurching their face forward in anticipation of the approaching pie.
But the problem — as documented ad nauseam in this column the plast 15 years — is that Detroit too easily accepts football competitiveness as excellence. Desperate for the tiniest strand of hope, those who've languished for decades with this team's futility mortgaged their sports sanity on a 7-2 start built on late-game comebacks against equally suspect teams.
And now that the Lions failed miserably on the road against the two teams that could emerge from a customarily bloody regular season as the top conference playoff seeds, those who adamantly believed that these Lions were different from their predecessors must acknowledge that they are good. But they just aren't good enough to be taken seriously as a team capable of a playoff run.
That's all that matters now.
Contact Drew Sharp: dsharp@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @drewsharp.