RedRamage

Obviously Stafford couldn't win in Detroit because he wasn't very good. The only reason he's winning in LA is because they have a good team around him. 😉

Green Bay lost? Oh man... I feel so terrible -- that I didn't watch the game.

I happen to be browsing through Youtube and found a video complication of controversial calls in sports. The sad thing was that Detroit was in it three times on the losing end. One of the plays through was the Golden Tate non-TD catch at the end of the Falcons games. If you don't remember, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZkFCYU3QoU Now, as much as I hate the play, I do think the refs called it right AND I think the applied the rule correctly... I just think it's a stupid rule. If the call has been made correctly on the field, the Lions would have had 9 seconds to get in position and spike the ball (or do a QB sneak a la the Dallas game). But because the refs botched the call, it penalized the Lions. I had a thought on this while watching it. I know on the "old" board we had a long discussion about this and tossed around rule modifications for how far away the play was or what other circumstances were. To be honest while I advocated for a rule that would take into account the distances from scrimmage of where the play was, I never loved it because I felt it was cumbersome. But I think my new suggestion is pretty elegant and relatively easy: In an event where an official's mistake results in a 10 second run off, the offence may elect to instead lose one down and only have a 5 second run off. Essentially this is saying the offense, had they been given the chance, could have come to the line and spiked the ball in 5 seconds. Now, this isn't perfect of course. Obviously this would only be an option if there was more than 5 seconds left on the clock and if it was less than 3rd down. If there's less than 5 seconds then the assumption is there would be no way to get set and spike. If it's 3rd or 4th down then it wouldn't made sense to spike the ball. Now, obviously this isn't a perfect solutions. There will be times (a long Hail Mary maybe?) where it's unreasonable to think that the team could get in place in 5 seconds and there will be times if the whole team was already there (like a try for the 1 yard line) where 5 seconds might be enough to get set and spike the ball. But I think this will cut down on the number of times where a play may a reasonably been done but the team gets jobbed because of an official's mistake.

Was that the Dallas game where they picked up the flag for PI on Pettigrew?

Talk about another bad ending the Lions on a long FG by the opponents... ugh.

IIRC, didn't Caldwell fancy himself as something of a QB whisperer? I seem to remember he came to the Lions interview and sold the front office on all his talk of what he could do and how he could mentor Stafford. That would seem to fall in line with your thinking that he'd be interested in jobs with a young QB that he can bring along.

I shared this with my family and my sister-in-law didn't know what this was a reference too (or forgot) so I shared this video from Dan Campbell's introductory presser. It's only 25 second long and I'm sure you've heard it before, but take another quick listen: Now that the season is done... does it not feel like this was the Lions by the end of the season? If nothing else I think that Campbell has put his imprint on the team. Obviously it remains to be seen if he can lead them to a winning season and (dare we dream?) a playoff victory. But the team was gritty and (in most games) fought hard until the end.

That is amazing!

I've just finished the Dutch Clark biography and I've also been listening a lot to Detroit City of Champions podcast and it was sorta suggested during one of those episodes: Why not play a pre-season game in Portsmouth? The team was originally founded in 1928, just 6 years away. I think it would be very awesome to honor them by playing one of the preseason games down there. Schedule with the Bengals who are just a short distance away. The original stadium down there still exists and is kept in "playing shape" as it's used by the local highschool football team. Granted, it can't seat nearly the capacity of an NFL stadium but still I find it extremely cool if the Lions did this. Heck, if they work 'Spartans' uniforms for the game and then offered them for sale I suspect they'd make nice profit on those.

This one pisses me off... how can 30% of people still be in favor of it?

Here's hoping it went badly!

So if we win 8 games that would (on paper of course) means we should beat Washington, Seattle, Chicago (x2), Carolina, NY (x2) and Jacksonville. That seems reasonable. Now obviously we have the full off season to go and some teams will go and down, but over all I think 8 wins seems like an obtainable goal.

Yeah, that's the hard part... I mean, it's much easier to trade out of the top spots with the rookie salary cap, but you still need to get value for those picks. If someone offers you their 1st and 4th round pick to move back spots... that's just not a good return. And without a few big names at the top of the draft, I'm not sure you'll have people willing to pay a premium to move up. I'm not sold on Hutch either... but I'm not sold on anyone. Unless you get a really good offer I think you pull the trigger on Hutch because he fills a position of need, he's a local guy, and he's a big(ger) name than many others. I think if nothing else he's someone who will get the fans excited. Granted, grabbing a player for just that reason is a stupid thing to do, but it's not just for that reason... the fan excitement is just an added plus.

In case anyone (like me) never saw the video of the Eagles war room, check it out here, near the end of the article. It's well worth the watch. https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2021/5/4/22419045/philadelphia-eagles-detroit-lions-sniped-pick-alim-mcneill-nfl-draft

Given how many teams make the playoffs in the NFL each year, it is pretty sad that the Jets have more than decade since last appearance. Heck if the Lions have less than half as many years since they've been in that your team has made it then you KNOW your team sucks.

So, now that the season is done, what grade would you guys give Dan Campbell? For me it's a solid B. This grade is takes into account that this is a rookie season for the guy and I expect rookie mistakes. It also takes into account that he didn't have a great team to work with. I think over all he has a positive impact on the team. The players seem to obviously love playing for him and tried hard every game. For the most part the Lions fought hard and were not blown out regularly. That's not to say that everything was good. Campbell gets a bit of a negative mark for hiring Lynn who didn't work out, but this is offset by his ability to see that it wasn't working and taking over mid season. From my armchair and using my vast experience and knowledge of coaching, I thought he made some questionable calls and wasn't great with time management, especially early. But I also thought he improved on that as the season progressed... especially in the 4th down area. I like the direct of the team... I like the aggressiveness on offense... I like how well the defense played given how injury riddled they were all year long. There's no question in my mind that the players are behind him right now and that's great... but it needs to start translating into wins.

I tend to think that most players who are 2nd or 3rd stringers in the NFL but are diamonds in the rough will rise to the top eventually. Obviously not everyone will, but suspect the majority will rise up. Given the minimum NFL salary of more than $600K, it would be a substantial risk to bet on yourself and accept a (probably around) $50K-$100K to play in the USFL and hope that you shine bright enough to earn a bigger paycheck before getting a career ending injury. I could see some players doing it though... but I'd guess more 6th round or 7th round guys. Football is just a weird animal because of the violent nature of the game. It's what makes a minor league where the NFL is paying salaries so unattractive for them. I guess that's why I'm trying to find some convoluted (probably completely idiotic) way to incentivize a minor league for NFL teams.

While I agree that a NFL "minor league" could work, honestly the NFL doesn't need it. Colleges provide an excellent avenue for teams to be able to watch players develop without any of the risks of paying a big contract for a guy who ends up a bust after a few years in the minors or has a career ending injury. I supposed one possibility is for NFL teams to put in long shot type players and have the team pay their salary. Maybe even expand the draft for another round, expand the practice squad and allow NFL teams to put as many practice squad players as they want into the USFL. NFL teams would need to pay these players the USFL salary on top of the NFL practice squad pay, but any player who played in the USFL gets protection for the up coming year... sort of a "restricted" practice squad where a team can choose to reject another teams attempt to sign a practice squad player, but then must double that players salary for the remainder of the season. The other options is to target the guys who are first or second year college players who want to make money now rather than wait until they are eligible for the NFL. But how many good players are they going to be able to find who fit in this category?

Surprising to no one, Campbell is confirming that Lynn is out: https://www.detroitlions.com/news/campbell-confirms-lions-are-parting-ways-with-anthony-lynn Who's up next? Ben Johnson?

Fairly high chances imho.

Are you suggesting that if the Lions get the ball first that it will then be easier to stop Rodger on the GB next possession? I suppose one could make the argument that if the Lions march down the field and get a TD that it will build momentum and let the defense feed off that to have "better energy" or whatever to stop Rodgers. But one could just as easily make the case that had the Lions had to punt, or worse fumble or give up an INT, that it would have built momentum for the Packers and allowed their offense to feed off from that.

Deferring the opening kick extremely common.

While I agree with this, I expected it to be from the other direction... that Lynn would want to move on sooner than the Lions wanted him to leave... that he'd start getting HC looks. Instead it seems to be the Lions who are ready to move on.

200% agree (That is... I wanna see 'em at least 4x per season! 🙂 )

I mean, in a perfect world I'd like the coordinators to be great fits who work out well for the team, so yeah... if one already essentially failed half way through the season sure... that's a bit of a mark on Campbell. But I guess it's a relatively small mark. As someone else said, Coordinators change regularly and it's hard to know why this partnership failed. Without knowing more I'm not ready to put too much weight on this, especially given that the offense seemed to improve under Campbell's play calling and there doesn't seem to be any friction with Campbell and Aaron Glenn. (This seems to me to point out that it's not an ego thing. It's not Campbell saying: "I want to me the guy calling the plays regardless of whether that hurts the team or not!") On an interesting side note, Lynn was only an OC for 14 games with the Bills in 2016. Other than that he's been Assistant HC and/or various position coaches. I'm not sure if he called offensive plays when he was HC for the Chargers from '17-'20).