Actually, the O-line was horribly inconsistent for the 1st 7 games of the season and many of the 28 sacks that Cassel took was a result of their poor play. Of the 17 sacks that Cassel has taken in the last 6 weeks, many have been coverage sacks. Which are to be expected.
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I have to disagree with your assessment here. George Foster is a very good tackle. Gosder Cherlius is a rookie, but has been playing well. Jeff Backus is no slouch, when healthy. Where they are lacking is the guards. And there will be FA guards that they'll be able to look at.
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You are making an awful assumption that it would be career suicide for Cassel to go to Detroit when, on offense, they have the makings for a very potent team. And, considering that the biggest issue (Matt Millen) is gone, Detroit, with a new coach and new GM, is poised to change things around in a hurry. One only has to look at how Atlanta has changed to see the potential for Detroit.
I live in the Detroit TV market, and have followed the team fairly closely (more closely than I would care to...) at least until the TV blackouts became consistant in the 2nd half of this year.
Taking your most important point, no, the biggest issue is the Ford family. The team has been dog**** since they were taken over from the local business consortium in the 1960s, a group of wealthy "sportsmen" (back when that lifestyle still existed) who knew and cared for the city and the game.
The Fords have demonstrated no knowledge of the game, they don't know how to hire talent, and they have no drive to keep up with the Joneses. Matt Millen was one of the worst GMs ever hired by anybody, in any sport, but THEY hired him and paid his paycheck for quite a few years. I can in fact think of no other owners who would have considering hiring Millen at all. They are not exceptional administrators and what talent they possess is devoted mostly to the automotive company. Unless by sheer accident they hire, top-to-bottom and in synchronization, a front office and coaching staff that can succeed despite no direction or appearent effort from the ownership, they and the players that play for them will continue to put out a mediocre to terrible football product.
If you put George Foster and Jeff Backus together you'd have a pretty good tackle. Foster can run block sufficiently, and Backus is a decent pass blocker. The guards, as you mentioned, are bad. I stand by my evaluation of Raiola as the only guy they'd want to make a commitment to going forward. Cherilus looks promising only because there is little promise anywhere else on that line.
Detroit has an offensive line that has repeatedly lead or come close to leading the league in sacks surrended, along with pressures. This year, as I predicted, they have gotten several QBs injured; Kitna twice, second time for good, Orlovsky twice, once for 4 weeks, Culpepper once, Stanton once. Drew Henson played briefly and was sacked on three consectutive passes. If that line was responsible for protecting Tom Brady or Matt Cassel this board would be in an uproar.
Finally, I am amused by your bias against the Pats o-line. Their level of "inconsistency" early in this year was consistently better than anything the Lions' o-line has displayed since the days of Lomas Brown and Kevin Glover, and even back then the right side was dog****.
