Were the Lions Trying to Run Up the Score on the Rams?

PFT.com - Now I've heard everything: The Detroit Lions are being accused of running up the score on a hapless opponent. With less than 10 minutes to play in a game the Lions would win 44-6, Detroit called for a trick play, with running back Jahvid Best throwing a pass. The pass fell incomplete, but Lions coach Jim Schwartz has been asked this week whether calling it was an attempt by the Lions to humiliate the Rams. Schwartz says that as long as the Rams were still playing hard ("I didn't see any white flags being waved on their sideline") the Lions were going to keep playing hard, too. "Well, I've been trying to get that called for about four weeks now," Schwartz said on WXYT-FM, per the Detroit Free Press. "We've run it a bunch in training camp and things like that, and it was on our must-call list in this game. A lot of times when you do get a lead in a game it gives you an opportunity to freewheel a little bit to set some things up for the future. We have run that toss-sweep a bunch of times with Jahvid Best and teams were cheating on it. Teams were attacking and disregarding the coverage and if we want to keep running that play, keep being effective, we need to keep them honest."

There was no chance the Lions were gonna slow down in this game regardless of what the scoreboard said and I loved every cornbread eating minute of it. When a team has lost 41 of the last 45 games they're given the right to woodshed anyone dumb enough to go out back with them. The Lions have been on the receiving end of plenty of beat downs and I was hoping they'd hang 50 plus on them to be honest. The Rams should be blame themselves for going out and performing like that and if they wanna get upset about something their only real beef is that the Lions were being outright ridiculous in their celebrations. Bitching about that I would understand.

Bottom line is that Schwartz didn't throw the halfback pass to put more points on the board or to keep upcoming teams honest. I highly doubt the Giants were watching film of the 4th quarter in a 44-6 blowout. Schwartz just wanted to see if would work and it didn't. Doubt we'll see it again for awhile.