lordstanley

I’m not sure the Domi and Bertuzzi surnames wee part of the reason they were signed, but I can say with confidence that their surnames were part of what raised Leafs fans’ expectations for them.

They are. This year. The feel good underdog from a hard knocks city led by a rah rah coach. It will never be quite the same again. Once you start getting good and knocking teams out you pick up enemies along the way. And by next year there will be a new darling team.

Toronto isn't a sure thing for the playoffs. They've had good production from Nylander and Matthews and Marner, haven't had much games lost to injury except goalie Woll for a bit, yet they're still just a point above the Wings with a game in hand. Similar goal differential (+12 Leafs, +11 Wings). Wings have more wins in regulation (17-13) and more wins before the shootout (20-17).

Bertuzzi has been a bust in Toronto. $5.5mm, 42 games, 6 goals, 13 assists, 19 pts.

Took a reporter 25 seconds to ask one of the dumbest questions ever.

Several years I put together an audio file I entitled "80 Years of Classic Detroit Sports Memories" (I have an updated version ready to go). Clips of 65 big moments, 1935-2014. You can hear the climax of Schmeling-Louis II at the 1:32 mark. Hearn's knockout of Duran is around the 31:30 mark.

I've always thought Motor City Mathman would be a good moniker for a local sports analytics guy.

That's exactly what I said .. in 1982. But in all seriousness, this is a dream situation for the Lions. Home playoff game vs a 9-8 team to advance to the NFC championship game. And despite Love's talents, I'll nonetheless be cheering for the Pack on Saturday. A Packers @ Lions matchup in the NFC championship game would pretty much be the most anticipated event in Detroit sports history.

In the AFC, seeds 1-4 are left. In the NFC, it's seeds 1,3,4,7. So the Packers are the only intruder.

Of course. I have no doubt that neither Dan Campbell nor any of the players will be dumb enough to do so, and that is all that matters. But will some Lions fans be counting their chickens if it’s Tampa? I bet.

Right. And if internal dissension is a reason for their slump, a playoff win would go a ways to resolving that. Looking good for the.Bucs now though, 25-9

Neither of those teams looks scary for the Lions. Let next week not be a trap game though, lol.

10-0 Tampa midway through the 1st. What the heck happened to the Eagles, did they have a clubhouse mutiny or something?

This is from a few years ago but I saw a similar graphic last weekend. It’s probably not so black and white once one digs into the numbers https://www.si.com/nfl/chiefs/gm-report/the-recent-history-of-resting-starters-in-week-17-provides-a-warning-for-the-chiefs#:~:text=Comparing the win percentage of,in their first playoff game. Using data from the past 10 years to see if resting has an impact on the first playoff game a team plays, the data is a bit surprising. Comparing the win percentage of teams who rested their starters to those that didn’t, the rested teams had a staggeringly poor .333 win percentage in their first playoff game. The teams who did not rest their starters had a .786 win percentage in their first playoff game.

And it's really the exact same lament Ohio State fans had after this year's Michigan game. In both cases, the more aggressive coach won.

Few fans realize that the Lions actually won something called the Playoff Bowl three straight times, 1960-1962. It was basically a post-season consolation game to decide 3rd place in the NFL. The ten Playoff Bowls, 1960-1969, were official playoff games at the time they were played; today, the NFL consider the games as exhibitions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playoff_Bowl

Get a QB in the spring portal to start and maybe ease in Jaydn Davis late in games, and the roster will be decent. It's the tough schedule that makes a 9-3 quite possible.

And the Lions will be obligated to play a video montage of Slay and Swift highlights on the big scoreboard, set to Green Day's "time of your life" song.

Stafford addresses the booing here at the 30 second mark with a perfectly acceptable, chill answer.

I thought McVay’s post-game words about Goff were very gracious.

I wonder what the Rams would have done if the Lions had declined the holding penalty, for a 4th and 4 from the Lions 34. Probably would have attempted the 52 yard FG instead of going for it, but they’ve had kicking issues all season. Right decision by Campbell to accept the penalty

I think the Leafs and Bolts are both vulnerable. We are so to used to pencilling them into playoff spots automatically. I’d say only the Bruins and Rangers are sure things at this point.