MichiganCardinal

My first pass... subject to change... 1 - @ Kansas City Chiefs - L 42-41 (0-1) 2 - v. Seattle Seahawks - W 36-28 (1-1) 3 - v. Atlanta Falcons - L 31-28 (1-2) 4 - @ Green Bay Packers - W 28-17 (2-2) 5 - v. Carolina Panthers - W 31-16 (3-2) 6 - @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers - W 36-20 (4-2) 7 - @ Baltimore Ravens - W 24-23 (5-2) 8 - v. Las Vegas Raiders - W 42-24 (6-2) 9 - BYE 10 - @ Los Angeles Chargers - L 31-13 (6-3) 11 - v. Chicago Bears - W 49-17 (7-3) 12 - v. Green Bay Packers - W 31-21 (8-3) 13 - @ New Orleans Saints - L 35-31 (8-4) 14 - @ Chicago Bears - W 27-21 (9-4) 15 - v. Denver Broncos - W 31-7 (10-4) 16 - @ Minnesota Vikings - W 24-14 (11-4) 17 - @ Dallas Cowboys - W 31-21 (12-4) 18 - v. Minnesota Vikings - W 23-21 (13-4) NFC North: (1) Detroit Lions (13-4), (2) Minnesota Vikings (8-9), (3) Green Bay Packers (8-9), (4) Chicago Bears (7-10) NFC Playoffs: (1) Philadelphia Eagles (14-3), (2) Detroit Lions (13-4), (3) San Francisco 49ers (12-5), (4) Atlanta Falcons (9-8), (5) Dallas Cowboys (11-6), (6) Seattle Seahawks (10-7), (7) New York Giants (9-8) Wildcard Round - v. New York Giants - W 31-10 Divisional Round - v. San Francisco 49ers - W 27-23 NFC Championship Game - @ Philadelphia Eagles - L 33-31

Realistically the only thing that I think could get in the way of the Lions having success this season is significant injuries.

The answer to the question "why wouldn't the Lions be good" can probably be found hidden in the weeds here: they are still a very young team, and their success is dependent on the emergence of rookie and sophomore talent that is expected to be good out of the gate... If Campbell, LaPorta, and Gibbs start their careers flat, and/or Hutch and Jameson don't have an upward trajectory, there is the possibility they will struggle. But the author loses all credibility by citing a failure to realize their potential "over the years". Claiming the Lions won't be good because of things that happened when literally none of the current players or management were with the franchise is about as astute a projection as using a Magic Eight Ball to predict the outcome of games.

There will be joint practices with the Giants as well. Scheduling the Panthers though is bizarre. We play them in week five. I’ve never seen a preseason opponent be someone we play in the regular season. I’m sure with the amount of video available to these teams, the act of playing an opponent is at least somewhat insignificant, but I still can’t imagine any week one starter sees the field, or that the playbook is opened to even page two in that game.

This would be phenomenal if they had gotten the AI to actually sound like any of those it was representing.

Looks like this is pretty official.

I think I read that the suspension bars him from team facilities for the first three weeks of the regular season, but that he can still participate in training camp and the preseason, and can request permission from the NFL to resume workouts and meetings in team facilities at week four. Between training camp, preseason, and weeks 4-6, I don’t think he should need a significant transition period.

All that’s missing from this update is at Baltimore and the bye. Looking to be a favorable bye week though, better than the stupid early or stupid late ones.

Not sure if this is posted to the public... I don't think I am logged in, so it should be... Holmes and Dan Miller did a film review of the draft picks for season ticket holders that was pretty cool. They provided this link to the recording. Draft Recap with Lions GM Brad Holmes and Player Personnel

I think Atlanta will be better than a lot of people expect this year. They seem to be building something over there, although we should certainly be ahead of them in that build, especially early in the season. We also always seem to play bizarre and close games against them. The Stafford comeback after Gurley accidentally scored, the clock runoff game, the game in London where a delay of game penalty gave Prater two tries at winning it as time expired... Even 2021 was a game that came down to the final minute as Tim Boyle tried to lead us to a comeback win. Who will have more APYs in that game? Bijan or Gibbs?

Lions/Packers is week four I believe.

The one I posted was Bears/Commanders, nothing new on the Lions that I have seen.

A TNF Throwback game! Should be a classic 9-3 final.

I'd be pretty salty if they made us play three road primetime games and didn't give us anything at home to show for it outside of Thanksgiving.

I agree that it is best to play your toughest opponents early, when it is more of a crapshoot. Neither a win nor a loss will mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of the season, though I'm sure overreactions will be abound either way. It will also be helpful to get the long rest into week two, which will presumably be at home.

If there was any doubt remaining, it's gone now. This is huge for this franchise and city.

POD didn't cite their sources but are reporting that the games against the Vikings will come in weeks 16 (away) and 18 (home). Could be some late season drama if both teams perform to ability.

Three Thursday games is really annoying, but at least one of them is the opener and another is early too. Hard to get guys healthy on a short week.

The Chiefs tend to start out slow and cruise through the season after the first six games or so. I think MCDC would have the guys ready to rock out of the gate too on National TV.

This Twitter account reportedly has a multi-year track record of correctly leaking the Lions schedule.

I think there is “knew they couldn’t and did it anyway”, “should have known by common sense and did it anyway”, and “should have known by reading and fully understanding the rules and did it anyway”. The difference between #1 and #2 is insignificant, and is what everyone who got the year-long bans did by betting on football. I am okay putting Jamo in the third category.

Deducing the TNF season opener.... Looking at the Chiefs' home slate and eliminating division games and the international game, you're left with the Bills, Lions, Bears, Bengals, and Eagles. Bengals were announced for Christmas Eve.... Eagles are rumored for week two via a Donna Kelce Facebook post (below). She also said that Chiefs/Bears would be international, so grain of salt, though she would seem to be a very good source for the Philly/KC game. That would leave the Bills, Lions, or Bears.... which probably leaves the Bills or Lions.

With the NFL and the betting companies being so in bed with one another, it would be remarkably easy to 'force' compliance among NFL players and have zero, or close to zero, gambling related suspensions. The ones that remain would have intentionally circumvented the rules. If they can tell Jamo placed a bet from the Allen Park training facility, they can block bets from the Allen Park training facility. They choose not to. They could also block access to any and all illicit bets from the devices of players. They choose not to. I'm sure part of this has to do with the (relatively little) time and energy this would cost. More likely it does have to do with money, as if millionaire players want to be stupid and bet their millions, I'm sure the betting companies don't mind collecting it (until the NFL comes calling and they can tattle to dad).