But they’ve been to the Super Bowl twice.
That’s two more than the Lions of the NFC have been to.
And two more than the Browns.
And two more than the Jags.
And two more than the Texans.
I have an odd question.
Wouldn’t a ball thrown with a slight wobble ( just slight) as opposed to a perfect spiral be easier to catch?
Any wobble makes the exact position of the ball (orientation of the long axis in 3D space) when it gets to your hands unpredictable.
Still, the Lions won the NFL championship in 1935, '52, '53 and '57. Cleveland (the Rams) won in 1945, 1950 (the Browns), finally beat the Lions in '54, the LA Rams in '55 and the Packers in '64. The Jags have been to the conference final once. If the Texans have been in the post season, I doubt they have been beyond week 1.
The Lions uncover weird rules and invite bizarre calls as creative ways to lose. The Bengals find new and interesting ways to implode, but usually you don’t need the unabridged rules digest to figure out why. I think each has their own unique style of losing.
I don’t think it’s that simple and I bet individual players would have opinions on what’s easiest to catch.
I know a really tight spiral on a rocket pass used to sometimes spin through between my hands when I played in HS. The lack of wobble usually left catching the ball entirely down to grip strength and friction. A wobbly ball moves a little slower and usually ends up hitting a finger directly so it won’t squirt through. But, for some people, that also increases the odd of a deflection.
Gloves certainly make the former less likely, really big hands could make the latter preferable.
Were the Lions the team that lost a touchdown because they challenged an automatically reviewed play?
I saw a piece on Steve Largent a while ago and he said that when the ball was coming to him, he didn’t just look at the ball but he tried to see the leading point of the ball as the focus for his attention. That might be tougher if the ball is wobbling.
Seemed to work for him, anyway.
Yep. Also, the craziness of trying to define a “catch” stems from the Lions.
I die on this altar almost every Sunday. I can’t figure it out.
How did this happen?
What I remember was this:
- Other team fumbled and the Lions recovered and took it back for touchdown.
- Refs called that the Lions player was down by contact before reaching the endzone.
- The play was going to be automatically reviewed because it was a turnover, but Jim Schwartz threw a challenge flag anyway.
- The refs then ruled that was an illegal challenge and a penalty, and because of that the play could no longer be reviewed (the replay was pretty clear that he wasn’t down).
They changed the rule after the season now that it’s still a penalty to challenge a play that’s already going to be reviewed, but it won’t cancel the review any more.