MichiganCardinal

Yes!! Your two-seed Detroit Lions! Who thought we'd ever be this happy to not clinch a playoff spot? Or at least me, others may draw different conclusions.

Seattle leads by 3 with 28 seconds left. Hurts has a chance.

No doubt. He's really got nothing on that offensive side. It seems like they are of the mindset "the offense is fine as long as they've got Mahomes, let's buy a defense." Which, to be fair, has worked.

Why is the Eagles' push so effective? Is it their offensive line? Hurts? They're the only ones who execute it so perfectly.

Mahomes isn't the same without Bienemy. Good thing Goff will be the exception.

I lead 311-304 in my two-week semifinal. I'm done and he's got Smith and Goedert.

As someone whose fantasy existence is hanging on for dear life hoping Dallas Goedert and Devonta Smith take the rest of the game off, I disagree.

That's not bad. It's about as much as I could ever do I'm sure. Even so, feels like something of a nice routine. Not that I don't have one for Lions games, but mine is just more akin to cramming in with those next to me, some semi-familiar faces and some not, high-tenning whoever came with me (who has also bought my beer), and high-fiving strangers after Amon-Ra somersaults into the end zone. None of my concern whether those strangers were fans for Bobby Ross, Marty Mornhinweg, or Rod Marinelli, as long as they put on deodorant we are friends.

I think football is a bit different in that way. I couldn't do Tigers season tickets, even if I was the biggest fan... Eighty-one games. Eighty-one! And those are just the ones you attend, there are 81 more to listen or watch at home. It's just such a grind that I have to applaud those of you who follow them day-in and day-out. And while we make it something of a year-round experience here, and God knows the NFL is capitalizing on us suckers to make it so, it all explodes in a once-weekly three-hour spectacle in the fall, and then it's over. Eight or nine times at home, eight or nine times away. Ford Field sells out every game; even when they were bad they were getting 50-60,000 easy. I can only speculate, but I'm sure there becomes a routine with the Tigers. I know when I was in undergrad, I would go to baseball games because they were free and I would (kind of) study in the mostly empty stands or grass. There was something of a nice routine to it. If my 81-days-a-year thing became overgrown with people who weren't a part of that routine, I could see being annoyed. There just isn't that same routine feel to football.

Where did you see 4%? The lowest I’ve seen is 20%, and the highest I’ve seen is literally double. Like I said earlier, mine went up 73%. I have no real problem with an increase, but I definitely think it could have been done more tactfully.

The back judge is supposed to yell “fair catch” after it’s signaled. But it’s a loud stadium and they’re wearing helmets so that’s imperfect too.

I think this is something of a non-answer. “Done with the season” doesn’t necessarily mean at the end of week 18. I would be surprised if the guy who didn’t play starters at all in the preseason played starters in a meaningless week 18.

You’re welcomed aboard the train as a fan as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never understood the mentality of yelling at people who hop on when a team is good yelling about who is a “real” fan is. Like, you’re the sane one! You’re the one who hasn’t wasted your entire life (up to 60 years) on a terrible product. I don’t blame you at all for not wasting the mental energy, we are the crazy ones. And we are all happy at the same times for the same players, so it’s all good in the hood if you ask me. I doubt they walk it back though. You said it yourself, this is a football city and a home playoff game will be insane for this city. People will pay whatever they charge, even if it makes the game atmosphere worse as middle class fervent fans get priced out in favor of affluent fans who show up at halftime after a late brunch at Parc.

I’m pretty pissed. I fully expected an increase after prices have been stagnant since 2018. But for being a “Lions Loyal Membership” I definitely expect that they’re going to price out some of their most loyal fans. I don’t think it would be too much to ask to announce a three-year price increase of this sort... An additional 25% per year instead of 73% all at once would take a lot of the sting away.

They ain’t kidding. I just looked when I saw this, 73% increase on mine.

I still wouldn’t be surprised if he gets fined for the hit. The NFL is not a fan of hits that causes skirmishes to break out.

James Houston too. Imagine those two, Teddy Bridgewater, and Hendon Hooker leading our scout team to a win over a Minnesota team needing a win for the 7-seed.

Seriously. Win on Christmas Eve and prioritize health over everything. Don’t sacrifice health for a chance at the 2-seed instead of the 3-seed, because if we have a patchwork offensive line, we aren’t winning any playoff game, home or away.

He decided he would be checking all concussions that day. The independent neurologist is sleepin with tha fishes if he stood in the way.

I didn’t get that replay at the stadium. Watching it after the fact I agree.

We need to get this guy at all games moving forward if Iffy is going to play like that with him there.

My issue with Caldwell was that when the games mattered most, the team came out flat. There was no inspiration and the season was monotonous. The game that always stuck out to me about his tenure was Week 16 of his final season. We went into Cincinnati at 8-6, playing a bad Bengals team at 5-9, needing a win to have a shot at the playoffs. We should have wanted it way more and we should have been the better team. But we just came out flat and lost 26-17.

The amount of hype surrounding him as a prospect created expectations he was never going to be able to meet in Jacksonville.

You missed an important detail but I fixed it.

Assuming we don't get the bye, who would we like to see in the wildcard round, if we had a choice? Right now it's (6) Vikings (7-7), (7) Rams (7-7), (8) Saints (7-7), (9) Seahawks (6-7), (10) Falcons (6-8), (11) Packers (6-8)... the Giants and Bears are technically not eliminated, but for all intents and purposes aren't worth considering. The Rams, Falcons, Saints, Packers are probably my four preferred in order. Stafford's return to Detroit being in Ford Field's first playoff game would be cinematic. And I don't think they're that great of a team. While I think they are going to capitalize on your mistakes if you make any (any playoff team would), I think they would be playing with house money as a 6 or 7-seed. They're a middle of the pack team across pretty much every metric, and I think Goff would have a field day against McVay. Neither the Saints or Falcons impress me. We've done it once and we can do it again. While a rubber match against the Packers doesn't seem appealing, they've plateaued since that matchup, and I think the Lions would be ready to roll over the Packers more akin to the first meeting. The Vikings I don't love, but I also think we should win. I don't love the idea of playing three out of four consecutive weeks against one opponent. Hopefully we would only be playing starters for one of the first two games, and I'm sure either way we would have cards close to the chest in the second match if we saw the third one coming, but it just feels weird. In any event though, I think we would win. The Seahawks scare me a bit. They just seem to have our number for some reason. Another game we should win, but we should have beat them in week two. And last year.