First of all, I don’t really believe in curses. You probably shouldn’t either, at least when it comes to sports. But the Lions are building yet another curiously compelling case.
The purported Curse of Bobby Layne — the last great Lions quarterback — finally was shooed by Matthew Stafford, who threw for more than 5,000 yards last season. It surely didn’t hurt that Stafford came from the same Texas high school as Layne.
Now I must ask, with considerable trepidation: Are we dealing with the Curse of Barry Sanders?
Since the all-time great shockingly retired before the 1999 season, Lions running backs have gone through an incredible spate of misfortune. The latest is Mikel Leshoure, the second-round pick from Illinois who missed all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon. Leshoure compounded matters the other day when he was charged with marijuana possession for the second time in barely a month.
Oh, it goes back even farther. Virtually every Lions running back that has shown promise since 1999 has somehow been stricken. Current starter Jahvid Best has been severely limited by concussions. Kevin Smith (knee), Kevin Jones (foot) and James Stewart (shoulder) all carried the ball decently before being felled. Stewart is the Lions’ only 1,000-yard rusher since Sanders’ departure.
You think I’m imagining this? Well, yeah, I probably am. But what about these unfortunate Lions running backs: Greg Hill, Ron Rivers, Artose Pinner, Sedrick Irvin, Aveion Cason, Olandis Gary, Rudi Johnson, Tatum Bell, Aaron Brown.
My radio partner on 97.1 The Ticket, Jamie Samuelsen, did some tremendous research and found 28 of the NFL’s 32 teams have had at least one Pro Bowl running back since 1999.
The four missing: Raiders, Browns, Cardinals, and of course, the Lions.
Sanders bolted without much explanation 13 years ago. He slowly has accepted a Lions ambassador role, but remains about as low-key as he was as a player. When he left, we doubted we’d ever see another remotely like him around here. How hauntingly right we were, so far.
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