There’s only one instance where yet another regular-season calamity keeps Marinelli’s — and, yes, believe or not, Matt Millen’s — hide off the hot seat for yet another disastrous regular season.
And that’s a commitment to Stanton as the Lions’ new starting quarterback at some point next season.
They’re rebuilding this season.
The tone of their recent draft reflected that sentiment, regardless of Jon Kitna’s insistence that anything short of 10 wins this season — yet again — would be an extreme disappointment. It presents a conundrum that’s so vintage Lions — Kitna’s experience provides the best chance of avoiding 10 losses for the second straight season, but Marinelli must offer some semblance of legitimate advancement to quell growing suspicions that he’s overmatched as a head coach.
The idea of possibly — finally — unearthing that young franchise quarterback remains the one sure remedy in this town of keeping the hounds from baying at the head coach’s heels.
When you’ve enjoyed consistent success with first and second round draft choices, you can more easily cut loose a high draft choice and accept the salary cap ramifications and the possibilities that the player could thrive at his next destination.
But the Lions don’t have that luxury.
Their payroll is flooded with “dead money,” prorated signing bonus money for the Lions’ high draft choices long since gone. Millen and Marinelli cannot sacrifice Stanton without first knowing if he possesses the requisite skills of becoming a quality NFL quarterback.
Both Stanton and Dan Orlovsky have positioned themselves as helpless pawns in Mike Martz’s sadistic mind game last season. Stanton told the Free Press last week that Martz only told him what was wrong, but never provided a road map to the right approach. The coaching staff largely ignored him after knee surgery in training camp placed him in injured reserve, shelving him for the entire season and denying him the opportunity to take practice repetitions during the regular season.
Orlovsky resided in Martz’s doghouse because the former offensive coordinator didn’t believe Orlovsky was smart enough to handle the intricacies of Martz’s offensive scheme. He’s more comfortable now with the new streamlined offense, but since Orlovsky was a fifth-round draft pick three years ago, there’s little salary-cap consequence if the Lions bailed on him this season.
Money dictates opportunity for young players in the NFL.
Should Marinelli provide Stanton with that opportunity, he just might get an opportunity to survive another horrible season.
