More Blackouts In Week Three

NFL News - September 25th, 2009 - Written by John

A week after the Jaguars came hilariously short of selling out their game against the Cardinals, thus instituting a black out to local areas, the economy claimed the lives of two more television markets this week. 

The Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders were unable to fill their stadiums and per NFL rules, will not be able to broadcast their games locally. A shame considering many experts are picking both teams to pull off a rare win. The Lions are 0-2 this year after completing a winless season in '08. The Raiders get a home game against an unbeaten, yet unremarkable Denver team. 

ProFootballTalk has picked the Lions to beat the Redskins this week, much in part because of Washington's inability to convert yards into points. Despite being in the top half of the league in yards per play, they have only hit the end zone twice, being picked off in the red zone two times last week and fumbling on a long run by Santana Moss. Detroit has actually been competitive, outscoring their opponents 20-13 in the first half this year. But Matthew Stafford has only been able to connect with All-Universe wide out Calvin Johnson once for a touchdown and has been shaking up in his rookie season.

"It is on us because it's our job to win," Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said. "It's our job to get fans excited and to give them a reason to come to the game. And when we do that, we won't have to worry about blackouts or sellouts or anything else."

More than 10,000 tickets were still available for the Lions game, according to the team. Teams can apply for a 72 hour extension from the league to allow them to make up that lost ground, but efforts were abandoned when there was no indication the results would improve. 

Both teams employed that tactic in their home openers to success, and were able to avoid black out. But the shine wore off with dismal performances, winning one game between them and the economy finally won. 

This is the seventh game blacked out in the Oakland area since taking over ticket sales in 2006, according to ESPN.com.

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