MichiganCardinal

They know they can’t run on this defensive line so they abandoned it on Tuesday

For an optimistic take, I like the Lions tonight for a variety of reasons. Enough to justify bullets. The offense still has a lot of untapped potential, even if the defense takes a step back between the injuries and in facing All Pro Lion Killer Geno Smith. There were comments made by the team in the preseason about games that they had circled. The three that come to mind are this one, the Cowboys, and Thanksgiving. It's a new coach in Seattle, who I personally don't think is as good, and definitely isn't as experienced, as Pete Carroll. The Seattle defense has not played an offense nearly to Detroit's caliber. I would go as far as to say that Detroit's offense on its own is probably better than an All Star offense comprised of the best players Denver, New England, and Miami had available when they played Seattle (i.e., minus Tua). I think they may be caught on their early season heels by whatever Campbell and Johnson dial up. It's a primetime game. In regular season primetime games under Dan Campbell, the Lions are 6-1 and should be 7-0. The only loss came at the hands of Brad Allen in Dallas. When the lights are brightest they show up the mostest. All that is to say, I like the Lions a lot. I wouldn't even be all that surprised to see a similar offensive explosion as we got against Green Bay on Thursday Night Football last year, where they took a 27-3 lead into the half. It's possible that Seattle is better than I am giving them credit for, but I think we see Detroit football at its best tonight.

1. Doug Pederson: he won't make it to Black Monday at this rate, though no one else on the staff has the resume that really supports getting a chance at a full-time gig. Lawrence is in bust territory, which I always thought was likely based on the unrealistic expectations that were set for him going back to high school. 2. Mike McCarthy: feels like a dead man walking, and has ever since losing to the Packers last year. He doesn't have the roster to make it to the NFC Championship Game, but that's probably what he needs to do to keep his job. 3. Matt Eberflus: the Bears are such a self-perpetuating cycle. Caleb Williams looks like any other rookie QB. They won't win the North and probably won't make the playoffs. So they'll fire Eberflus and install someone else, who probably won't be good either. But hey, maybe in three years they can tank, get the #1 overall pick and trade Williams to the Steelers! Eberflus is a bad coach though who can single-handedly lose games through poor game management. He should have been fired last year. 4. Robert Saleh: sell your soul to the devil and this is what you get. Aaron Rodgers is on the wrong side of his hill, no one in New Jersey wants to admit it, and the Jets will probably blow this up when they fail to make the playoffs. Rodgers to Minnesota next year to complete the Favre career cycle? (Just wait until he embezzles millions from the Mississippi welfare system). 5. Brian Dabboll: this isn't working. Blame Danny Dimes if you want, but Dabboll is the regime that has overseen his regression while failing to find anyone better. 6. Nick Sirianni: they can't lose by 17 to the Bucs and have his seat not be hot. It's early but a .500 finish and wildcard exit (or worse) probably leads to a change in Philly. The seat has been getting warm ever since they collapsed last season, and they don't look much better right now. 7. Dennis Allen: he wasn't a very inspiring hire to begin with, is not a very good coach to end with, and the team has fallen down to Earth since their offensive explosion to start the season. He wasn't setup for success with the way they mismanage the cap there, but if they blow it up in New Orleans, he's probably going down with the ship. 8. Kevin Stefanski: I think Stefanski is pretty safe for now. He just won his second Coach of the Year award, both with the Browns. It would be pretty hard to can him four games, or even just one season, off of that, notwithstanding a truly dreadful . I also think Cleveland leadership, and certainly their fan base, knows that Watson is a major problem, and Stefanski can use him as a scapegoat to a certain extent. They may jettison Watson, Russell Wilson style, next offseason.

Kindle Vildor and Stephen Dorsey are both better than Okudah ever was at the NFL level. Maybe Rakestraw too. The fact that Arnold is starting right now means to me that the staff feels he is better than those guys. They're going to put the 11 best on the field to win us games. Which means that the staff feels (and I trust the staff in their assessments) that right here, right now, Arnold is better than Okudah ever was. He's handsy at times, but there's only been one time where I saw him panic and grab. It's more just aggressiveness. Which he'll learn to do more subtly, in more appropriate times, and just generally less, as he gets NFL experience and trusts his skillset more. I'm not worried at all.

Let’s not lose in the sauce that we delivered the White Sux the modern day record loss too. You can PUT IT ON THE BOAAAARD… YES! YES!

Especially when you can’t print the Seahawks’ injury report on one page

That's just it. With Hendrickson, I don't see how they re-sign and/or effectively replace the group of Hutchinson, Alim, Jamo, Barnes, Levi, Zeitler, and Iffy. And that's just those expiring (or sure to be extended in Hutch's case) after this season. Next year, add in Anzalone, Montgomery, Reader, Raymond, Paschal, and Kerby. I think Alim would have to leave for sure, and at that point, the center of your defensive line suddenly looks much worse while the edges look better, and you're counting on guys like Martin and Wingo to step up. Your trade options - at least for a big name like we are talking about - have to be either a three-month rental, who leaves and whose salary gets replaced by Hutchinson's extension, or a player who is already under a reasonable contract, who would allow you to maneuver the above deals you make to push money to after they are gone. Adding someone like Hendrickson or Reddick is virtually guaranteed to make you weaker elsewhere (and, hey, maybe you're okay with that, which I get looking at their stats).

Dan told Frank he can tend the rabbits this week

Probably just that he’s in competition. They can elevate someone from the practice squad three times before they have to make a decision on him. That’s six weeks of competition between Patrick and Robinson, or nine between Patrick, Robinson, and DPJ.

Actually not as bad as I was expecting. Alim being limited and not out is a big surprise.

Point Tater

If the price was right, sure, but I think his contract and attitude (at least how it’s portrayed) distinguish him and make him less likely to be of interest to the Lions. He never seems to be satisfied with his contract. He complained about his deal (4/60), got a raise (1/21), and then less than a year later threatened retirement and requested a trade if he didn’t get an extension. Wherever he goes, he’s not going to want to play 2025 on a lame duck deal, instead wanting a big money extension at the age of 30, and I don’t think Holmes will be prepared to give him one at the expense of guys like Alim, Barnes, Jamo, and even Levi. Which effectively makes him a rental. That Cincinnati will probably want a 1st for, if they even answer the phone. As opposed to Crosby, who you’d have through at least 2025 (he’s signed through 2026), and who’s younger, better, and brings no drama. At roughly the same price, and who I wouldn’t be as upset about losing a guy like Alim in order to keep on an extension. I wouldn’t be upset if we somehow got Hendrickson, but I would be pretty surprised.

Be respectful. Throw in James Houston.

Is there room on the bandwagon? Asking for a friend.........

That's exactly it. We are where we are because the NCAA was forced to do something. In court. So they just said "okay, inmates can run the asylum!" ushering in this whole wild west era. The solution will not lie in the NCAA. It will lie in something new, eventually.

Maxx Crosby is probably the only one who I’d approve going out and getting. He’s a game wrecker, perfect mindset for the locker room, is from the area, and combined with Hutch would lead to teams needing jumbo package offensive lines just to get passes off. He’s worth two 1sts and maybe then some. He’s also already signed through 2026, which would work with when all the contract extensions they’ve already signed get into the massive money. But it’s a pipe dream. The Raiders are terrible but won’t admit it so he’s stuck.

Those stats come out every year (more often about teams starting 0-2 or 1-2) and I don’t put much stock in them. Of course starting 0-3 is bad. But what matters more is that you have the talent to right the ship, and the Bengals are talented. Not to mention they are all in on winning now and have demonstrated a lack of interest in trading talent. They’ve pissed off half their receivers room in addition to Hendrickson, and are likely far from throwing in the towel on this season. If they give up now, they’re also giving up on Zac Taylor, Duke Tobin, Tee Higgins, and JaMarr Chase and are likely rebuilding their entire team over the course of multiple years while saddled with a (very good) QB (but) whose APY is $55 million. 95% of teams that start 0-3 suck. That’s why the stats are so grim. The Titans suck. The Jaguars probably suck. I don’t think the Bengals suck. They should have beaten the Chiefs a week ago. Our own 2021 squad shows that you can recover from worse than 0-3. If they’re 2-7 or 1-8 at the trade deadline, then sure that might change and they’ll probably offload some talent that they won’t be able to re-sign. But they wouldn’t even entertain a conversation right now, or at 0-4.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Assistant Coach probably conditioned $100k on him being a success. UNLV can pay that in NIL to a starting QB, but only when they really need to. Probably not on any given grad transfer. Kid then had early success. Meanwhile, an SEC school like Ole Miss quietly offers him $500k to redshirt and transfer. Now kid says “I never got my $100k.” Nonsense like this will keep happening until the money-makers in the room (B1G and SEC) leave the NCAA and regulate themselves. And even then it might still happen to schools like UNLV, unless the powers that be don’t want it happening to UNLV out of their own self interests.

I don't think it's dirty. Davenport is trying to muscle Paris Johnson backwards to collapse the pocket. Johnson tries to break the arm (not literally) and for whatever reason, Davenport's elbow snaps before his grip/wrist does. Normally that move should just result in Davenport going face first into the turf, or if he's good, maintaining his balance and re-establishing his charge. Just a freak play. That tends to happen more to injury-prone players like Davenport.

I’m just saying I think the Lions are the better team. I also think water tends to find its level around this time and through the next few weeks. Weird stuff happens in the first few weeks, that we all look back on in week 15 and say “how did they beat them?!” Because teams like Cincinnati will go on a run and win 8 of their next 10, while teams like Washington will lose eight in a row. Not claiming either of those will happen, but they tend to. It’s a week to week league to some extent, but the better team should still win more often than not. There will never be a year with 16 teams at 9-8 and the other 16 at 8-9. Though that would be fun.

Call me crazy but I don’t think the sea chickens are very good. They’re 3-0, but have beat Bo Nix and the Broncos by 6, Jacoby Brissett and the Patriots by 3 in OT, and Skylar Thompson and our old friend Tim Boyle, where Miami only scored 3 points. The Lions are the best offense and best defense they’ll have seen yet. We should win.

You're both right. Holmes hits far more than he whiffs and I'm not about to complain about the overall job that he's done, but damn would it be nice to have some consistent production at the edge across from Hutch. Maybe it's all chess and he's trying to drive down the price of Hutch's extension. "Well, Mr. Agent, I would pay him $175 million over five years, but I read a certain message board and was told that pressures are not as effective as sacks!"

This is exactly their problem with him. It’s using a roster spot on a guy who they don’t trust on running plays and who is below replacement on special teams. So he’s only useful on 100% passing downs (i.e., 3/long and 4/medium, depending on the opponent). That is only about 1-5 snaps a game. He saw three snaps against Tampa for instance, the lowest snap count of anybody on the entire team when you include special teams contributions. If you have the roster spot to spare, sure, it doesn’t hurt, particularly if he’s as effective on those 1-5 snaps as he was last season. Which is why we might see him active against Seattle with spots opening up for Barnes and Davenport.