MichiganCardinal

Ben Johnson should spend some more years as a coordinator so he can better connect with his players before becoming a head coach.

The fact they got five and Amon-Ra wasn't one of them is an absolute joke. He's better than either Mike Evans or Puka Nacua. While I'm at it, Gibbs is better than Swift and Kyren Williams and Goff is better than all three of Dak, Purdy, and Stafford. It's okay though, they'll be too busy preparing for Vegas to attend anyway.

This is what I expect too. I don't blame him, that LSU money is no joke.

Fair enough. I don't think they get respect from the league now. I'm more so saying the way to get that respect might not be the Jerry Jones way. Certainly it's not the David Tepper or Daniel Snyder way. There has to be some sort of middle ground, and we really don't know what is occurring behind closed doors. I also think the Cowboys are just inherently different, which kind of goes to what MTB just said.

Jerry Jones is different. I wouldn't want a Jerry Jones as our owner. There is a reason the Cowboys are good but not great and haven't won a Super Bowl in forever.

In fairness to Sheila, we don't know what is going on behind the scenes. She doesn't strike me as someone that will air dirty laundry in the public for the sake of appeasing the angry mob, even when the angry mob has a point. If the critique is that she should say more publicly to some degree, then maybe. But that's got to be a very calculated decision and statement, she can't cut the team's nose off to spite their face. She can't just call some impromptu press conference and rip the state of officiating and how the Lions are treated by the NFL in front of cameras and expect things to then get better. Something like that would hurt both herself and the Lions franchise in the grander scheme of NFL operations. Maybe not in a conspiracy theory type of way like was suggested, but I'm sure they're not giving NFL Drafts to cities with franchises that are run by the problem children, they're giving them to franchises who play by the rules and have their outward facing ducks in a row. Likewise, Sheila is on the NFL Fan Engagement Committee, the Major Events Committee, and the NFL Foundation Committee. Rod Wood is on the NFL Investment Committee. These are all things that passively help the Lions and I think are actually ways to get the league to respect the franchise more. Ron Rivera is one of three head coaches on the Competition Committee. When he's fired next Monday, it would be great if Dan Campbell was to be considered for that vacancy... That's the kind of stuff that won't happen though if you make it us versus them in the public eye. The "establishment" will exclude you, and make it us versus them behind closed doors too. When Campbell says that Rod Wood is handling the situation with the league office, I take him at his word. I do think there have been conversations - maybe even heated ones - occurring behind the scenes. I'm just not sure that bringing that private advocacy to the public eye would do more than get us fired up again with the knowledge that the owner has our backs. I'm very confident she does by the last three years of evidence.

And still insisted that Skipper was who reported.

This one is less surprising to me than Buggs. Irvin was always a temporary stopgap. He was good for that one sack though, which was great fodder for us to yell at the Okwaras and Harris with. "Old Man Winter gets signed and is immediately productive across from Hutch, while you're all here for an entire season and nothing"

It's not the PA announcer who announces it, it's the referee through his field mic. Same as penalties, it's just the TV broadcast turns his mic down so not everything he says is broadcast to TV. That said, I doubt Campbell or the coaching staff heard it or registered it. They're worried about other stuff and it's very loud. It should really be a given that the officials - who were provided the play before the game began - are on the same page and don't make such a dumb mistake as thinking you're talking to tall white guy #70 when it's actually tall white guy #68.

They know where their bread is buttered. Schefter can't start straying from the company line or all those sources of his will go find someone who will.

He was in a lot of pain leaving the field. I have to imagine he won't be 100% even if he gives it a go.

On 97.1 this morning, he said probably not Houston this week but he’s still progressing.

🤡 Even in this ridiculous prop of a video, where he puts on a freshly provided Lions hat, wears blue, and recites Lions history…… he never admits that Brad Allen ****ed it up. Note: I haven’t found this anywhere but this random Twitter profile. Might be fake. But it’s a good fake if it’s fake. Looks and sounds just like him.

I think Michigan-Texas would have surpassed it too. Michigan-Washington probably matches.

I agree with both of these. I just mean to say it’s not a given. Many programs can speak thinking they have a revolving door of talent and realizing too late that it’s a step down… their recruiting has been good, and should only get better with this success, but they’re not at Alabama’s point of “next 5* up”. The offensive line changes is one factor in Edwards’ decision.

This is comical. I didn’t make it past them cropping the video from revealing the referee acknowledging Decker. I would love to see Rod Wood release our own passive aggressive video memo as a reminder to all referees to ensure they know what number is reporting as eligible.

I think it's possible they expressed interest in re-signing him to the practice squad and he declined. I doubt they would just completely quit on a semi-contributor at this point. Need depth guys. Also, my man needs to learn proper capitalization, it's like he's trying to encode a secret message with capitalizing the first letter of every word.

There is the official announcement. Wonder if Cabinda asked for another couple hours in free agency to speak his mind publicly on Twitter some more.

I think it will be a game decided by identity. UW reminds me some of the CJ Stroud-led OSU teams. Lots of talent and lots of athletes, but they can be worn down on their lines. Michigan will want to win it in the trenches and just wear down the defensive line for UW. Death by a thousand blows. Three yards, four yards, three yards, first down... Six yards, five yards, first down... Play action to Loveland, first down... If they start to cheat up and bring some extra guys into the box, start taking some shots (see: OSU 2022). Washington will want to make it more of a shootout. I'd expect them to receive if they win the toss, and they will aim to make Michigan play from behind and air it out in a race to 40+ points. Based on what we saw from Michigan and UW yesterday, the path is probably a little easier for Michigan. Michigan had to play from behind against Alabama and, as you said, they were nothing if not resilient. There was no panic at all. Unlike Texas, which inexplicably abandoned the run (despite gaining 6.4ypc), I think it will be very difficult for Washington to get Michigan to deviate from their game plan.

I agree. It's just a delicate balancing act for a guy like him. You're really relying on one day of performance to get scouts to overlook a season worth of stats. If he bets wrong and goes in the 5th or 6th round to a team with a terrible offensive line, he's doomed his career before it's even taken off. It's probably no guarantee that he succeeds at Michigan either if he stays next season with how much turnover the OL will experience.

After the first three possessions, between the near-interception leading to a 3-and-out, the fantastic defensive rush nullified by the muffed punt, and the easy 35-yard run for a TD on 3rd and short, I thought for sure we were going to get schlacked. Looked just like TCU, except against a team that wasn't going to keep us in it. This is what the ESPN analytics had for probabilities at your timepoints. You were pretty close on all of them: - Kickoff: Michigan 56.9% - Muffed punt into Alabama TD: Alabama 50.6% - End of 1st quarter: Michigan 53.3% - Halftime: Michigan 61.8% - End of 3rd quarter: Michigan 55% - Midway through 4th quarter: Alabama 86.6% (Alabama maxed out at 88.8%, which came after Michigan's first play when they got the ball back with about 4 minutes to go down 7). - After Michigan tied it 20-20: Alabama 51.8% - Start of OT: Alabama 52.9% - After Corum's OT TD: Michigan 75.5% - 4th and 3: Michigan 73.4%

My go-to source for a draft big board has Corum as the 2nd rated RB and Edwards as the 10th. I checked around after reading your reply and PFF has Corum 2nd and Edwards 4th. PFN has Corum 9th and Edwards unranked, but they only ranked 10. I guess that's why they have agents. If Edwards thinks he would be a day two pick, he should declare.

I agree. I think it speaks to just how good they are that that game may have been a double digit win if they make their field goal, make their extra point, and don't muff the first punt. Kudos to them for winning anyway, but they should probably try to cut out those mistakes this week if they want to finish what they started.

I would be surprised. He’s a late round prospect if he declares, so he would make more money with NIL by staying in college. With the short shelf life of an NFL RB, and the dependence on an offensive line, he’s better off making that money while he can. NFL teams see what we do. Where’s the production? He’s gone over 50 yards rushing once this season. I think he stays. He may be one of the only pieces that stays. If Sherrone Moore takes over as HC, while JJ, Jim, and Blake head to the NFL, Donovan would have the opportunity to become the centerpiece of the Michigan offense, for better or worse.

I remember the tantrum in week one when he wasn't activated being a bit of a distraction too. I wouldn't be surprised if that stuff is used as something of a tiebreaker in decisions like this.