Detroit Lions keep winning same games

5. Matt Stafford is one of the great young talents in the league when healthy. Stafford threw for 5,038 yards last season, 5th best all-time.

DETROIT – In honor of the late, great Joe Falls, it's a Fish Fry Friday...

Winning is winning.

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You never want to discount it or pooh-pooh it. However, there is a pattern that can't be ignored with the Detroit Lions.

They beat bad teams and usually lose to good teams. It's been going on for years.

In trashing the lowly Philadelphia Eagles 45-14 on Thanksgiving Day in front of a national TV audience at Ford Field, the Lions won their third straight game.

They are now 4-7 after starting this much-anticipated season 1-7.

Three of their four wins have against sub .500 teams. The other victory was against Packers in Green Bay.

Last year, when they went 11-5 and made the playoffs, they were 10-1 against teams under .500. And they were 1-5 against teams over .500, including the playoff game.

The point isn't about hate. The point is who you beat does count if you goal is to make it and win the Super Bowl.

In order to win a championship, you have to beat the best of the best.

In this game against the Eagles, you saw the Lions playing at their best. QB Matthew Stafford threw for five touchdowns, WR Calvin Johnson had three TD scores and DE Ezekiel Ansah had 3.5 sacks.

It all made for a great day at the ballpark and perhaps an even better tasting Thanksgiving dinner.

But even Lions' coach Jim Caldwell didn't get to crazy about the powerful offense. He knows things normally don't come that easily.

"This is an unusual day, this is not a typical day," Caldwell said. "Most games in this league are decided by a touchdown or less, and that's the norm.

"So this is not a typical day in that regard, but when you do have a day like this, you certainly feel good about it. But it doesn't last very long, it's pretty fleeting."

The bottom line is that the Lions have to beat good teams as well. If things are honestly going to change around here, it has to start there.

Games like Thanksgiving Day are fun and make fans feel good about a bad season. But the Lions, with the talent they have, shouldn't be where they are - still in last place in the NFC North.  

Roberts' Hire By Dodgers a Big Step for MLB

With baseball's biggest payroll and too much recent playoff failure baggage, few thought the Los Angeles Dodgers were in position to take a chance, give an opportunity.

But that's exactly what they did when they hired Dave Roberts as their new manager this past Monday, replacing Don Mattingly.

Many thought the Dodgers would need to grab an experienced manager, one with a history of success and a pedigree.

The plain truth is that there just aren't a lot of those type managers around anymore. Father Time has caught up to many of these past winners like Jim Leyland, Joe Torre and Charlie Manuel, leaving the cupboard bare.

Enter the new young bucks getting managers job, many with no previous experience in the minor leagues of running a team.

It's a trend that can't be denied. Since 2013-2014, there have been 18 managerial hires. Roberts is the 12th first-time manager.

What's different is that Roberts is the first of color in that group. Previously it seemed like that opportunity was only available to white former players.

For example, this offseason, Scott Servais was hired by the Seattle Mariners with no managerial experience. Last winter, Paul Molitor got the Minnesota Twins gig with no managerial experience, either.

The Detroit Tigers also hired Brad Ausmus without any experience. Ausmus wasn't even a coach in the minors or majors before he was hired.

And many believed Gabe Kapler, an Ausmus clone, was a shoo-in to get the Dodgers' job. He's a smart guy who works in the Dodgers' front office.

But it didn't happen. Roberts, a long shot when the process started, won out.

Roberts, 43, impressed the Dodgers, landing one of the most coveted gigs in the game.

"He has developed strong leadership qualities and accumulated a breadth of baseball experience over his career as both a player and a coach," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in a statement.

This is a breakthrough. There should be equal opportunity for all. That's what the Dodgers did in this case.