Jim Schwartz has won the hearts of pretty much 100% of the Lions fans. If you don’t like Jim Schwartz, then you’re a female author because this guy pretty much embodies everything coaches of Detroit Lions past failed to. Monday afternoon Schwartz provided another tally to chalk up to the ole “Jim Schwartz is SOFA King Cool” dry erase board (that exists in the corner of my bedroom):
Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz says he will not take an upcoming bye into consideration when deciding if quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson will play at Green Bay. Schwartz said Monday, “we’re trying to win,” when asked if he might rest Stafford and Johnson against the Packers because Detroit is off the following week. [via ESPN]
Almost immediately my initial thought was that Stafford and Johnson would probably not play against the Packers. Most coaches, including past Lions’ coaches, would have already written the season off and would see the bye week as an opportunity to give the young guys an extra week to rest their boo-boos. But Jim Schwartz wasn’t running those queer love boats. He’s running a tight ship here where winning is to be expected, not prayed for.
Sure, ultimately, if they can’t play it’s okay considering the Lions’ realistic chances at winning football games, no less at Lambeau where they haven’t won since before Brett Favre took pain killers, are not very good this season. But Jim Schwartz wants to make it clear that if these guys are healthy enough to pad up, they sure as hell will to give the Lions the best chance to win possible. This is the NFL and guys never really play at 100% anyway, so if they were healthy enough to go in a must-win game, they are going to go against the Packers.
And I would expect nothing less from a coach who loves heavy metal. After all, he still performs his job on a daily basis despite suffering lasting affects from his headbanging days in Nashville:
“If I could sing, my hair would be long, and I’d be in some small club in Western Ontario, sitting there trying to find a gig tonight,” he said in a WRIF interview in May.
Don’t let the clean-cut appearance and Georgetown economics degree fool you. Schwartz is a metalhead. Plain and simple.
“Oh, man, I had one of the original mullets — 1984 or so,” Schwartz, 42, told host Mike Clark. “I spent a lot of money on hair gel. And I tell you what, I had a lot of sore necks from head banging, too.”
Some of Schwartz’s faves are Queensyrche, Judas Priest, AC/DC, Metallica (Master of Puppets), and Motley Crue. Hopefully we’ll see Stafford and Calvin Johnson to the tune of Dr. Feelgood, and not some Jonas Brothers song because his children overruled the stereo at home.
Here’s a video of Schwartz rocking out on the drums back in the day:
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