MichiganCardinal

It’s like the D is just guessing run or pass. If we are right we stop them for a short gain. If we are wrong they get a first down.

A completely one-dimensional team and the defense is still lost.

Can the defense force a punt?!? Not holding my breath.

Scary. Hope he’s alright.

It didn’t look like he was hit though. He just went down.

I was criticizing FOX for not showing the injured player, but I hope it wasn’t for a serious reason.

I’m fine with going for it. If you’re going to win games, it’s going to be your offense that wins them. But 22 players knew that Jamaal was getting that ball up the middle when the Lions lined up.

As foreseeable a play call as you’ll see

It’s not outside the realm of possibility for sure. My hope is that last week is the new version of a meltdown.

Seven-leg parlay… Saints -5.5, Vikings -7.5, Bucs -10, Lions +3, Titans -1.5, Chargers -1.5, Eagles -5.5 $10 to win $945.78. Book it. If you can’t tell I started drinking early today. Probably went without saying.

I want Okudah to go flip Patricia the game ball after the pick. I’ll chip in to help pay that fine.

Amani appears to be a healthy scratch today.

The defense will bounce back, but still look lousy at times. The offense will still look good. Detroit 34 New England 31

Especially if you mentioned that we would trade away Stafford from the gate.

Wide Receivers are just having a day out at Dave and Busters. Kennedy wasn't invited.

Ironically, an immobile Mac Jones may be a better matchup for us than Bailey Zappe. The defense in the first three games did a good job creating pressure, and Glenn loves to blitz. It just didn't make a difference with Geno Smith because he was getting rid of the ball so quickly on those bootlegs, and wasn't afraid to tuck it and run when the interior of the line spread. To Geno Smith's credit, a few of those deep passes were made as he was getting hit or facing pressure. He was able to avoid all but one sack to my memory (the intentional grounding). If Mac Jones cannot - or struggles to - run, dip, dive, duck, or dodge to avoid pressure because of his ankle, I'd prefer to have him in there. The pocket will collapse on him and he'll have nowhere to go. If the bootlegs are going to kill us again, it won't matter who's in there. Both Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe should be able to throw ten yard outs without problem.

In pro ball, I think the defer rate should be near 100%. Both teams have an offensive script to start the game, so you won’t be able to change much by sending yours out first. Adjust at the half and start the second half on your terms. There are rare exceptions where I would receive, but these are exceptionally rare. The first instance that came to mind is a white-out blizzard expected to arrive 20 minutes after kickoff. In youth ball and to an extent in college ball, I think there is more value in receiving. Those games are much more determined by momentum and crowd energy, and if you think you can get it on your side early, you can ride that for quite some time. All that said, I think the difference between deferring and receiving is so minuscule, that it actually affects probably less than 1% of game outcomes in any given season. The amount of mental energy that was expended to the topic last year in these threads was entirely disproportionate.

I sent this yesterday to one of my fantasy football group chats.

This game reminded me a lot of that Saints playoff loss from the Schwartz era, where the Saints did not have to punt a single time. I guess if we are at that level, that's something good. At least that was Drew Brees that burned us though instead of Geno friggin Smith.

The second we won the toss and elected to receive, followed by an opening drive 3-and-out, this board would crash.

I don't think the defense will be as bad as they were against Seattle. For one, it would be nearly impossible to be worse. For another, even if we say that the defense is no better than last year (even though it should be), the trends from last year's worst performances (giving up 44 to the Eagles in week 8 and 51 to the Seahawks in week 17) were followed up with bounce back performances, giving up 16 to the Steelers in week 10 after a bye and 30 to the Packers in week 18. The same holds if you count the COVID-depleted Broncos loss, where we gave up 38 and bounced back to trounce the Cardinals. I also think the Dan Campbell run-through-a-wall mentality works best when there is external motivation in addition to the intrinsic. A lot of these players, particularly on defense, have every incentive in the world to embarrass Matt Patricia's offense.

Stafford just threw a pick six and the Rams look likely to move to 2-2, in a four-way logjam in the NFC West.

If Paschal can just make offensive lines attend to him, Hutch will have a really good second half of the season.

I think it's a fair criticism of the organization en masse, but I have a hard time transferring blame from regime to regime. I don't want to judge Holmes for the 2nd Round blunders that Quinn, Mayhew, and Millen made, because for one it gives me a shorter fuse than is fair to Holmes, and for another, it can quickly dash the hope that I have that Holmes can be the guy that all of his predecessors weren't. FWIW based on 2021 alone, the Vikings didn't have a 2nd round pick but picked Kellen Mond with the 2nd pick of the 3rd round, who they've already waived. The Packers selected the center Josh Meyers, who was also hurt last year - only played in six games - and is starting this year, but is anchoring an offensive line that has allowed Rodgers to be sacked nine times thus far (tied for 10th most in the league). Jury is definitely still out, and it's also worth mention that pick was one selection before the Chiefs also took a center, Creed Humphrey, who was the only offensive rookie to receive PFF 1st Team All Pro... The Bears selected an offensive tackle Teven Jenkins, who was also hurt for almost all of last year, and is now splitting snaps at guard.... on the Bears offensive line. I'm not out here to say "it's okay to whiff because our divisional rivals whiffed too", but taken in context, maybe having a bust in the 2nd Round (at least in 2021) isn't such an indication on a poor GM and scouting department as it was when Quinn took Tavai over Maxx Crosby or Mayhew took Ryan Broyles over TY Hilton.

I think a bit much is being made of the current regime's history on second-round picks. Counting Levi, they're 0/1. Of course the rest of Lions history sucks at second round picks.... pretty much everything related to the Lions history sucks. We shouldn't be surprised. Just because Paschal was hurt though doesn't mean he's going to be chronically hurt like Levi, or that he's even remotely close to being a bust right now. We aren't saying that Jaymo is a bust just because he hasn't seen the field. Let him develop and let's be fair.