RandyMarsh

I can't remember what exact game but there was a Lions home game recently where the crowd was going crazy and the TV analyst point blank asked the rules guy in the booth(may have been Blandino) if the home crowd ever effects how you officiate and he said something to the effect of it shouldn't and you try not to but sometimes it's hard not to get caught up in the moment. Basically admitting that yeah sometimes you may get the benefit of the whistle at home.

If it comes down to the Chiefs and Bills in the AFC Championship game the game will be held at a neutral site, so hey maybe Ford Field will finally host a playoff game after all.lol

So the whole 8th playoff team being added has officially been taken off the table so we indeed are going to need the Rams help on Sunday.

Maybe he'll put up some great combine numbers but atleast as of now everything I've seen suggests he will be an end of the draft type pick at best. May even have to make it by being an UDFA.

Ronnie Bell just declared for the draft.

Still refuses to give a hard no to the NFL rumors but it atleast sounds like he is committed to being here next year.

Sounds to me like the NFL is using the Bengals/Bills situation as a convenient excuse to add an 8th team and generate more playoff revenue cause there's no reason why there can't be another solution to the problem namely using winning percentage like mentioned above.

He didn't communicate vocally but instead it was through writing but still encouraging news nonetheless.

Man I couldn't imagine what's going through his mind even though it was a complete accident. I hope it's something that doesn't weigh on him forever and he gets over it as quickly as possible. BTW there has been "remarkable improvement" by Hamlin according to his team and that he appears to be "neurologically intact". I'm not sure what that last phrase means, like does it mean it appears that he appears to be safe from long term brain damage? but whatever it means it sounds promising.

Fox announced that they will be showing the Ram/Seahawks game at 4pm in the Detroit market so we'll be able to actually watch the game instead of just keeping tabs via twitter/scoreboard watching.

At the very least it could explain the poor effort by the Lions. People don't realize when teams travel on the road they only travel with so much equipment including shoes/spikes, the ones they traveled with may have not been suited for how the field ended up. Whereas the home team has all that stuff in the locker room so it's easier for them to make the correction.

Ah didnt know that, in that case yeah Id imagine a team would rather take Jim than give up a fortune for Payton.

One variable to consider is the Sean Payton factor. It sounds like he is ready to coach again, if so he may have his pick of the litter over Harbaugh.

Assuming he leaves if they don't go in house I wouldn't mind Georgia oc Todd Monken. Not only did he do wonders for Stetson Bennett but apparently he has been a key recruiter for UGA.

Unless he feels he can turnaround Wilson no way I'm going to Denver. That trade crippled their future draft capital plus you gotta deal with Mahomes and Herbert in the same division. Indy wouldn't be bad if he likes Stroud or Levis,both of which they may be able to get.

Yep was thinking the same thing. I hate to see him leave but this distraction every offseason can't be good for the overall health of the program.

Doubt he finishes above Sauce or Woolen for Rookie DPOY but Hutch has definitely been coming on strong down the stretch. BTW Houston is 6th among all DEs in that time as well.

I've long been an advocate against the short week so I have no problems if they change it up. I never liked them not only for player safety but just because I don't think the result of the game is that reliable since you're not getting teams playing at the health and readiness level that they play at in other games. I think it makes a game/league who's game results already have extreme volatility that much more extreme.

If you're worried about teams playing on a short week perhaps you could make it where any team playing on a Thursday has to play it coming off their bye week. Not sure how that would work logically scheduling wise but it seems like it could be an option. edit: Sorry didn't see MCS suggest that above. Another option if you don't want to have bye weeks at the start of the year would be just like they have Saturday games at the end of the season they could have Saturday or even Friday night game(if they don't want to compete with CFB) the first few weeks of the year and the teams that play on Thursday have to play on Friday/Saturday the week before. Yeah it wouldn't be a full 7 days but it would give them an extra day or two which would help.

Not a Doctor but it sounds like what I feared initially when I first saw the play. I couldn't remember the medical term I just remember the pro wrestler Jerry Lawler talking about it happening to him like 10 years ago. It didn't happen right away like it did with Hamlin here but Lawler ended up collapsing at the announce desk some 15-20 minutes after his match. The Doctors said that it was likely due to the impact on his chest during the match disrupting his heart beat, so when I saw this play that incident was the first thing that came to my mind.

Not a ton of surprises here, some may wonder how Hutch was higher than Houston considering Houston had 3 sacks but Hutch had twice as many pressures as him plus the interception of course. Good to see Melinfonwu and Amani put up strong grades but considering the competition not sure how much it means long term but it beats the alternative.

I really want the Lions to make the playoffs just cause I do think the NFC is pretty wide open and I could potentially see them making a run, particularly if they get to draw Minny in the 1st round. If it was a normal year and we were just going to go on the road and face a 2 seed that would likely kill us I wouldn't be as invested in making it but I don't think that is the case this year at all. I think they'd be damn near 50/50 against Minny and probably 40% against a Brock Purdy led 49ers team so a relatively good chance for them to finally get that playoff win so we don't have to hear about that drought anymore.

I brought it up in the week 17 thread but considering the Colts are playing the Texans there's a relatively good chance the Rams move up to 5 and possibly even up to 4 with a loss, if they win they're picking at 9 if none of the 3 six win teams win on Sunday. So going from potentially picking at 4 with a loss to 9 is a pretty big drop off so if the Rams do indeed pull the upset we better take advantage of it.

Still can't get over the closing speed on that last sack, like he was shot out of a cannon. Also insane how low he can get when rushing, it'll be interesting to see if he can keep this up for a full season or if he is just benefiting from being fresher than the opposition but it's hard not to get excited about his future just based off of the freak athleticism he appears to have.