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Now that I am dead I can say this without fear of reprisal. Why waste time predicting what is going to happen? Just let 2023 happen and be disappointed.

What's frustrating to me is that you have teams in year 1 or 2 of their rebuild and they already have better records, with worse QB situations and worse offenses than the Lions have. The Giants have a brand new GM and a brand new, first time head coach and are 5-1 and second in their division. They are 5-1 with Daniel Jones as a starting QB and no good offensive playmakers outside of Saquon Barkley. The Jets are 4-2 with a second year head coach and a carousel of QBs with both Joe Flacco and Zac Wilson having started and won games for them. Albeit it, this is Joe Douglas' third year as GM but only second with Robert Saleh as the Head Coach. The Seahawks were supposed to be contenders for the #1 pick this year and are now 3-3 and tied for the division lead. They have a career backup starting in Geno Smith and lost their best RB, Rashad Penny to an injury. They lit us up for 48 points with Geno Smith in at starting QB. I always knew this was going to be a 3 year process. But it is still frustrating none-the-less to see teams you though would be worse, Giants, Jets, Seahawks, doing it quicker than we are.

that teacher is now known as Cheddar Man, right? Has to be.

Philadelphia and Minnesota are a combined 11-1 with the Vikings only loss coming to the Eagles. Add in Seattle who has been better than expected and the Lions lost to three teams with a combined record by 14-4 by a total of 10 points.

Zach Lowe. Sports journalist. He used to work for Bill Simmons on grantland. He’s been a part time contributor at espn for a few years now, since grantland closed down. Known for a more analytical approach to NBA analysis. Knows his stuff, seems pretty laid back, and isn’t obnoxious or hate worthy as some NBA analysts. Pretty sure he’s a Celtics fan too. But then nobody’s perfect.

Since we’re talking about postseason here this photo came up on my Facebook memories feed from 10 years ago today after the Tigers defeated the Yankees 8-1 and then moved on to be humiliated by the San Francisco Giants in the WS. Wow, it was really that long ago.

I think we both know what it is. We just seem to disagree on how often it is used. Utah ran drop coverage with Gobert. We sit here and laugh at them every year in the playoffs when it blows up in their faces. Hedging/doubling/blitzing just doesn't work in todays game if the other team is competent. Even if Casey wanted to run that style of defense they don't have the players for it. We all say how slow and unathletic the Pistons are. Well in that defense you are constantly rotating and that requires speed and athleticism. It would be career suicide for a coach to implement that type of defense with this roster. Anyway, his offense is bad enough to fire him. So like I said, I wont get upset if they do get rid of him.

On a more positive note, here's a nice breakdown from Bryce at Motor City Hoops of Jaden Ivey's passing and creation skills as show during preseason:

Teams average 110 points per game. The offense is going to score now and then.

How much criticism does Brad Holmes deserve for not being more aggressive in targeting defensive free agents? I know Marcus Williams was the not name around here and I believe he is now on IR. But when you read some of Holmes' quotes from this past offseason, it really feels like they (mistakenly) trusted the talent they already had on the roster and what they would end up doing in the draft. They stood largely pat in free agency and didn't make any splash moves. SeShaun Elliot was the biggest free agent move they made on defense. They have the statistically worst defense in the NFL this season, well they did pre-bye week. Again, I say all this as a supporter of a lot of what Brad Holmes has done and am not even discussing moving on from Holmes, before someone infers that.

Holmes has built a nice offense, when not missing 4-5 key pieces. They are thin at TE and only have one decent backup lineman in Evan Brown though. Defense is where they don't seem to be making much progress. His first draft has only yielded one decent player in McNeil. Levi was drafted about where he was projected, some had him as a late first rounder. That miss is probably just bad luck. Barnes is a long term project at best, and Melanfonwu looks like another injury bust. Missing on 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounders from the same draft is not good. Add in that they traded for Brockers who hasn't helped at all. This draft is a little better, but they need Paschel to contribute. Some of the slow progress is Holmes and some is bad luck. They inherited only a couple of decent players from the previous regime and ironically all three have suffered Achilles injuries. Next year they will address the defense and if they are still bad then Campbell's and Holmes seats become hot.

🤣

getting cominsky back would be a real help. he was their best pass rusher and freed up hutch on a lot of those stunts.

Evergreen

Elon Musk should STFU

Joel Klatt has seen enough. He's got Stockholm Syndrome from his time as captive of Michigan. :--)

Everybody probably likes Correa better than the guy they already have, and nobody is going to give him Lindor's contract.

I freely admit I'm old and not the market, but I'm struggling to understand Zuckerberg's vision of VR. Why do I want to have my real time reality linked animated avatar interacting with another person's similarly powered animated avatar in a meeting when we can just look at each other's real faces and expressions given garden variety video and IP tech? Sure I get it for gaming, but Zuck's ambition for the abstraction of direct human interaction is way beyond gaming. Seems like a screaming case of a tech solution searching for a problem. Also oddly discordant as facebook was all about achieving greater direct person to person contact.

OK that last scene was a bit much and sort of reminds me a bit of season 8. It was basically, have Meleys roast all the Greens and avoid a huge war. Or have a season 2. If you aren't going to kill the Greens there, just fade to black with Aegon raising his sword in the air. Why even bother having Rhaenys bust in on Meleys? Really good episode other than that nitpick.