Pettigrew is mediocre at blocking and mediocre at receiving. Which somehow makes him a better option than Joseph Fauria who's a better receiver but can't block or Michael Williams who is a better blocker but poor receiver.

Of course the new coaching staff believes they can get Pettigrew to be better than mediocre but I doubt it after 5 season.

Fauria can't even complete routes correctly out side of the red zone. He's not a better receiver right now than Pett and no one knows anything about how Williams will do in the NFL. Pett has really only had one significantly bad season in his 5 seasons played so far. Pett is a catch and fall TE who has shown the ability to be a high level blocker. He's a very average TE that got an average contract that can easily be cut in two years with little to no consequences.

Fauria was also a rookie, and I can't imagine absorbing a professional football playbook in one pre-season training period and having it down crisp. With his age, and experience, I can only imagine that he MIGHT get better.

However, Pettigrew KNOWS the playbook, and is in the right spot to catch the pass, but then suddenly turns up field and forgets to catch the ball, or he catches it and doesn't secure it.

My thinking is, (if it's legal per contract) start docking him $500.00 for every dropped ball in a game. Start hitting him in the wallet, and see how long it takes for him to get focused on catching the ball.

Good idea. But, the NFLPA would have a konipsion fit.

Dude just signed a $16M contract. Docking him $500/dropped ball wouldn't hit him in the wallet at all. He dropped 3 passes last season, that would be $1,500 or 0.00009% of his contract. That is equal to $4.69 for someone making $50K - you think that would get someone to change their behavior?

BTW - everyone seems to focus on Pett's drops but Bell dropped twice as many, CJ had 8 and Bush lead the team with 9. As for the drop rates, Pett' was 4.8%, CJ was slightly higher at 5.1%, Bell was about twice as much at 8.7% and Bush's was 11.3%. Scheffler was at a whopping 25% and Broyles was 21.4%, both in limited action.

People make lots of assumptions based on preconceived notions, those pesky things called facts tend to get in the way if you actually look at them.

agree that drops were a big problem last year esp among the backs but that doesnt make pettigrew any better. im not blaming pett for last seasons record but he s still far from reliable - ducks balls, fumbles and drops td passes

I remember one duck ball (it was really ugly however) and one fumble last year. He's had only 3 lost fumbles in his 5 years. By comparison, CJ has 9 lost fumbles in his 7 years - although he has more targets/receptions. As a team, the Lions had 23 fumbles last year and lost 13 of them. Funny how we seem to put so much focus/blame on Pett.

then maybe we need to factor in the situations, which I doubt is a measureable entity. Pett dropped or fumbled at key moments, but based upon your numbers, I can't see where any of the other fellars didn't do the same. So how do you correct it for everyone?

I think the Lions believe a change in the head coach will help solve the issue. Let's hope they are right.



Pett's fumble came in the first game of the year, a 10-pt win against the Vikes. Hardly a key moment. I don't remember when each of his 3 drops occurred, but I have a hard time believing they were as costly as some of the turnovers Bush, CJ and Staff had that I remember - all lead directly to losses.

I 100% agree with you Pablo on your stance RE: Pett, but thought I would point out that many remember Pett ducking a ball that went for an INT in an important game. To me that was much more sour than a fumble or a drop (that happens to even the best players).

The duck ball was a bad play on Staff. Staff threw that ball behind his head and I don't know any team that would train a player to let a ball hit your helmet when your unable to catch it. The DB had that pass read the entire time and was breaking on the ball before it was even near Pett. If Pett was a contortionist and somehow able to move his body in a way to try for the catch or break it up he still would have been beat out by the DB. If he had not ducked it would have popped the ball into the air, again making for an easy INT. Unless there was some sort of info out there proving Pett ran the wrong route that play is 100% on Staff.

Not suprised. thanks for the clarification. I dont have any issue with Pett or the signing anymore.

the duck ball for example became a pick 6 - probably any other player in the league and its an incomplete pass not a game changing moment. remember when he got stripped for a TD vs TEN in 2012...the guy is unreliable and not paying attention. its not something the stats are necessarily going to show but he is consistently unrelieble. sure calvin dropped a ball at the 5 yard line (vs tampa?) that ended up getting picked and that hurt but calvin also does almost all of the heavy lifting for the offense. pettigrew doesnt. bush last season was also extremely unreliable with horrible hands in the passing game and a ridiculous tendency to fumble. you have players like that and you lose games, its not a surprise. its not the talent level, its that they have trouble staying dialed in. id much rather have a less talented player at lower cost that doesnt throw games away like scott chandler or jeff cumberland instead of pettigrew.

Lets not forget the fumble in overtime against houston, where he got stripped by a guy who weighed at least 70lbs less than he does for the second time in a season. Everyone makes mistakes, but pettigrews mistakes just make you think(actually i usually scream out loud) ARE YOU f***ING KIDDING ME HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO SCREW UP THAT BAD?!?!?!?!??!?!?! albeit, its not a bad move to bring him back, but the contract is a tad bit pricey.

Thats an easy one to forget. The turning point in that game (IMO) was where Swartz needed to "Know the F'n Rules" ~ to quote the mastermind himself...