Peete Gets Little Support in 13-7 Loss to Seahawks

When former USC football player Rodney Peete came back to the West Coast Friday night, he returned as the quarterback of the Detroit Lions, who aren’t a very good football team.

The Lions couldn’t keep the Seattle Seahawks from controlling the ball in the first half, when five penalties against the Detroit offensive line and four dropped passes interrupted Peete’s offense on every possession.

As a result, nobody in the packed crowd at the Kingdome could tell if Peete is or isn’t quarterback with potential to be a winner in the National Football League.

A game that a stumbling Seattle team led at the half, 6-0, was eventually won by the Seahawks, 13-7.

Peete completed five passes in 11 attempts for 39 yards in the first half and seven of 20 for 48 yards altogether before he left the game late in the third quarter.

Both teams scored later with reserves after identical interference penalties at the one-yard line.

“It was a rough day for all of us, “ Peete said afterward. “There were some mistakes, some drops, and some bad throws.”

“But the thing I feel good about, was that everything was there for us. The new offense practices the run-and-shoot and got the receivers open. We just didn’t execute.”

“I felt very comfortable out there. I’m optimistic, I’m excited, about this offense. I was only sacked once, and I didn’t get hit after passing any more often or any harder than in a conventional offense.”

“As soon as we execute, we’ll be all right.”

The essential problem for Detroit is that new Coach Wayne Fontes doesn’t have many good football players. The Lions finished 28th on offense in the 28-team league last year. Friday night it was apparent immediately that they haven’t yet improved enough to give Peete much support.

In the first quarter, the Lions held possession for only five minutes, in which they could get off only 10 plays.

They had only 12 plays in the second quarter, when Peete completed one of three attempts. Of his other attempts in that quarter, one was a throwaway and one was a 20-yard bullet off the hands of one of the 16 wide receivers still on the Detroit roster.

Peete, at the start of the first quarter, had completed four of eight passes, but he couldn’t move the team when wide receivers Stacey Mobley and Richard Johnson each dropped first-down passes, when Mobley dropped another, and when holding penalties wiped out other gains.

Peete was throwing mostly catchable passes, but almost every strike failed to count as a result of holding penalties or drops--twice, most conspicuously, with the Lions in scoring position.

In the second quarter, with a rusher in his face, Peete lofted one for 14 yards to running back James Jones for what would have been a first down at the Seattle eight-yard line if it hadn’t been eliminated by a holding penalty.

In the third quarter, rolling to his left, Peete threw a perfect pass 26 yards to wide receiver Keith McDonald at the Seattle seven-yard line, where McDonald committed his third, and costliest, drop in three consecutive tries.

Thus, neither Peete nor the new Detroit offense could be evaluated with any accuracy. Playing minus a tight end in their novel four-wide receiver offense, the Lions could get receivers open in the Seattle secondary, they could get them the ball, often enough, but the big passes were rare, and never consistently held.

A former Rose Bowl performer, Peete, whose long-ball strength is sometimes questioned, showed the required NFL power on mid-range passes that produced no yardage due to scrimmage-line penalties or downfield muffs.

If the Lions can’t find a few sure-handed receivers and linemen with the ability to block effectively without holding their opponents, the name, rank and skill of their quarterbacks won’t matter.