RedRamage

https://www.amazon.com/Ty-Cobb-Terrible-Charles-Leerhsen/dp/1451645791/ This is a great read on Ty Cobb where the authors try to get to the source info as much as possible. Their conclusion (if I'm remembering correct, it's been a few years since I read it) is that Ty Cobb, for his era, was not really a stand out. Obviously this doesn't make him a saint, but much of the idea that he was an evil guy who was very racist, very aggressive, hated women, etc. is either greatly exaggerated or straight made up fiction.

I would say yes, it has improved. Dramatically?? Eh, probably not dramatically, but I do believe it's better. Having said that, last night's game did NOT look better.

I did think it might have been a good idea to run more late in the game to eat up clock and try to give the defense a breather, but at the same time I'm not going to complain too much with scoring fast when you're already leading.* *Obviously in select situations, like 4 minutes to go, down by 5 pts, you're prefer to use up as much time as possible before scoring a TD, but this wasn't one of those situations.

Win percentage for the Lions means as much as playoff chances for the Tigers.

Currently: Geno is leaving the league in passing yards (Granted, getting 383 against the Lions helped that). Geno is second in completion percentage for players who have 50+ passing attempts. Geno is first in attempts, and first in completions Smith may not be top tier QB, but he's far from a bottom feeder.

Totally agree. Many times I thought the calls on the Lions were bad and many times the calls on the 'Hawks were: "UImm... o... okay, I'll take it I guess.... it helped us so..." The 2-pt attempted especially... that was pretty clearly a successful try there and I think the refs were so worried about enforcing the penalty on the Lions that no one thought: "Hmmm... should we double check if he made the catch or not?"

Look, I fully get that emotions run high during the game an all, but dude... your flip flopping here is off the charts.

Very much agree on that. Get in the end zone, then celebrate. And speaking of celebrations, why the heck is dunking still a foul? That's beyond stupid. I mean I get why it was a foul back when the NFL was the ultimate No Fun League with cracking down on TD celebrations, but now that they're not doing that anymore (thank goodness), why is dunking still a foul?

I really didn't understand it. I don't know that that decision lost them the game, but it was very odd. I think it certainly changed the attitude of both teams a bit though so I'm glad they tried and failed.

I mean Goff has scored a TD on 50% of his receptions while Jefferson scores on just a bit over 8% of his receptions. It's hard to argue that Goff isn't an elite receiver in the NFL with that kind of production.

Yeah but... he knew that he had a chance for a perfect throwing performance so didn't want to ruin it on his first possession.

I was NOT a fan of the blue helmet when they were revealed, but I think they actually went pretty well with the black unis.

It would not shock me if the Lions lost. If I was betting man I wouldn't bet on that, but I'm also not going to be overtly surprised if it happens. I felt the Lions did quite well last week in containing Murray (just 45 yards), but they haven't historically been great against mobile QBs. Hopefully last week was an indicator that they're putting more importance on containment, but I'll believe it when I see it. So I'm already feeling a bit nervous. And then as you said @Mr.TaterSalad, Geno some how just LOVES playing in Ford Field: Across two games he's 55 of 71 passes complete for 648 yards - 4 TDs, only sacked once, also ran for 69 yards and a TD as well.

I'm sure that's because of the opponents being faced the last three games.

And just because it's fun to kick them while they're down... if you look really closely, there actually are five lines in this graph. Seriously!

As dramatic as that is, this one seems even more amazing: On August 11th, we had a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs. In 47 days that changes rose 99%. On average each day during that span the Tigers added more than 2.1% to their chance of making the playoffs.

Like the 2003 Tigers, the Sox are pushing through a bit of a winning streak to end the years. They are actually 5-5 in their last ten games... a .500 record! They've won two in a row. That's the good news. The bad news is that unlike the Tigers they've already hit 120 losses and even winning out means they'll finish worse than the '03 Tigers and at least tied for the most losses in the WS era. And there does not appear to be any way that the Tigers can clinch a playoff spot prior to that first game against Chicago so the Tigers will not be coasting... at least for that first game. The chance that the Sox don't lose at least one more game is very low. Still, giving them credit where it's due... they've already won as many games in September as they did in all of July and August combined.

I think the Lions should trade Paschal for Crosby. Maybe throw in a 7th round pick to make the deal happen. I'm sure the Raiders would do that, right?

I'll also point out that Houston is still on the roster.

According to the ESPN story the guy just wanted the season to be over. They were fighting with the Flying Tigers for a playoff spot. The thing I found interesting is this: So the Twins minor league team had a solid lead heading into the final weeks of the season, but blew the lead and let the Flying Tigers get ahead. That story seems familiar...

My guess is that it's more than "just lost faith." There's gotta be something they are seeing that's not doing right. No idea if it's attitude or dedication or that he's just a one-trick pony and hasn't been able to adapt. I do recall, after Houston's rookie season, some talking head asking about Houston from one of the beat writers years ago... something along the lines of: "Do the Lions feel about Houston the same way fans do?" And the beat writer replied: "No. The Lions aren't nearly as high on Houston as fans are."

Isn't there a limited number of players who can come back off the IR? Let me rephrase that: I know there's a limited number of players who can be put on the IR with an option to come back. What I don't know is if players put on the IR before the season starts count towards that limit.

Don't forget Mosely. Very easy to forget him given that he's played what... one snap for us??