MichiganCardinal

I’m not going to defend the MGoBloggers who have moved goal posts on a daily basis surrounding this whole thing, but…. I don’t think head coach culpability is all that comparable here to what happened at Northwestern. A head coach should absolutely know what kind of culture is existing in front of his own nose, and when it’s a toxic or dangerous culture, that has to fall at his feet and I won’t accept any excuse. Fitzgerald had to go. I don’t think I feel the same way about a staffer spending his time off recording opposing sidelines. Now if it’s shown that JH did know and it was a coordinated effort, that’s one thing. If the regular sign stealers just did their job though, and Harbaugh didn’t think anything of it, it still falls at his feet ultimately as the leader of the program, but I’m a bit more sympathetic. Its the degree to how much one should have known, if I’m to accept that they didn’t.

I think the Chiefs are better than the Ravens, and winning at Arrowhead in those conditions is possibly the most impressive win in the NFL this season. Yes, they were missing two players. That's the nature of the NFL. The Ravens beat them soundly, no escaping that. The Seahawks needed three turnovers, a coin flip, and some questionable officiating. Not excuse making, but that probably could have - if not should have - been a win, and I like our chances in a rematch. More importantly than any of that though, they've taken care of business against every other team they've played. It hasn't always looked pretty, but they're not lucking into wins like last year's Vikings either. They're finding ways to win, and good things happen to teams that win.

Gardner-Johnson seems like the type who could make an impact even if it’s not on the field. His personality is one that the room notices, even if the on the field production isn’t there. Houston I tend to agree, though I’m hopeful he can save our pass rush two years in a row.

The way that’s gone I think it was a much more serious injury than they led on. It started as a 6-8 week injury.

Exactly. I’m not seeing the quid pro quo.

Conferences don’t mean anything that they used to. There is no tradition, or academic prestige, or history at play any more. It’s all money. And with that being the case, it doesn’t make sense for the Michigans, Ohio States, and USCs of the world to invite the Rutgers, Northwesterns, or Vanderbilts of the world to the table. If Michigan was serious about entertaining the formation of a new league, I think they probably band with USC, Texas, Notre Dame, Alabama, and Georgia. That’s your proverbial Original 6. From there, you converse on how large you want the league to be and who is worthy of an invite. Invites are based on football money exclusively, and the member institutions leave their conferences for football only.

I wonder what changed, or if they really just saw they were going to lose tomorrow. You’d think they would see it as worth a shot, unless maybe the B1G or NCAA told them that they would plan to vacate wins if they secured a TRO but lost the ultimate case, or even that the NCAA would suspend him for all of 2024 if he didn’t drop it. Lots of saber rattling to drop the court case before it’s even heard.

With the trajectory of the season, I expect that they try to ease him back in in mid to late December, maybe give him a full load in week 18 (which hopefully won’t matter significantly) with the plan to have him at 100% for the wildcard round.

The way things are going I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheila matched whatever they offered if it meant keeping him. The Lions are rolling in the dough like never before this season.

“please hold” *transfers to season ticket reps

I think Harbaugh thinks a lot of himself and wants to feel wanted. If anything, this latest scandal and Santa Ono standing behind him will push him to stay in Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future.

And a career win % of 0.193. Hell, Bagent won more games in four starts than Fields had in his prior 16 starts, so I'm not really too afraid of facing Fields instead.

Maybe it’s just me, but I find the whole Dan Campbell to Texas A&M rumors, even if just media nonsense, to be so insulting to this organization. It’s like they think of us like a MAC school where success isn’t expected but if you get it, you can use it as a launching point to a better job. We ARE the better job (we are also the one who knocks). I know it would never happen, but that’s not the point. How come Kyle Shanahan isn’t rumored to the Texas job every time that’s open? Or Zac Taylor to Nebraska? Keep winning and change this narrative of the Lions bring some poverty organization.

I think it's an acknowledgement that they should have done more at the deadline. I'm worried they'll be kicking themselves for not doing more to get Chase Young.

The back injury couldn’t have been foreseen, but Quinn signing the Eagles backup tackle to be our starting tackle was doomed from the beginning.

Y’all are old.

The secondary I understand. They added four pieces in Sutton, CJGJ, Moseley, and Branch. Injuries have plagued three of them, and one of them was a rookie to start. The defensive line is more puzzling. They knew Hutchinson couldn't do it on his own. He was not good last year when teams could just double team him, knowing the other side wasn't a problem. It's what made James Houston so dynamic. I don't understand what they saw in Charles Harris that made them say, "no let's not address that position". The game plan would work if we had two pass rushers who could get home in a one-on-one scenario, but they only have one. They have no one to blame but themselves for that missing piece.

I don’t love the last five words here

I think it's far more likely that the OC would be promoted from within. The relationship between Campbell, Johnson, and Goff is too important to risk bringing in extraneous factors to replace Johnson. If Glenn leaves, then DC is a position I could see us going outside the organization for. Probably will be lots of good options too.

I re-watched the game last night and I didn’t realize that the 30+ consecutive runs wasn’t exactly organic. Moore didn’t say “we aren’t going to pass”, in fact there were three pass plays called in that sequence. One JJ took off when coverage was solid, one screen never got off because of a timeout, and one deep shot got called for DPI. The headline of so many consecutive runs would make you think the pass was abandoned but it’s really just how it turned out.

I just looked the game up and the hilarity of this sequence of events to end the game is just too much. - This was Matt Prater's Lions debut and first Lions kick after he was released by Denver. The Lions had not made a kick from 40+ yards yet that season. - Nonsensical defensive holding penalty was called to move the Lions five yards closer. - The delay of game happened in the first place because Prater wanted one more practice kick. - I don't think it actually was delay of game, it looked like they snapped it as the clock hit zero.... Complete opposite of the Ravens game last year. - They put this graphic that definitely wasn't foreboding bad things to come for the Falcons on TV after the Lions made the re-do.

I remember a Lions-Falcons game in London a few years back where almost the exact same thing happened. Prater came out for the game winning kick and missed it, but the Lions own ineptitude led to a delay of game penalty being called before the kick. Backed him up five yards and, naturally, he drilled it.