MichiganCardinal

How do you fumble the ball twice in an OT possession? it was a game of who wanted to lose more.

Raiders are Raidering despite Kliff doing everything possible to lose.

I’m also of the opinion that the cap shouldn’t stop you from making big name signings. The salary cap does seem to prevent any NY Yankees approach from appearing in the NFL though so that must mean it means something.

This is like the Arizona game with a real crowd….. Ford Field is INSANE. please keep this up and FINISH!!

Call it a lack of balls, but Michigan is in a better position heading into Week 4 to make the CFP than Sparty is. If Michigan loses one game from here to December, they’ll still have a fair shot to make the playoff. If MSU loses one more game from here to December, they won’t make the playoff. It won’t matter that Michigan scheduled Cupcake City College and MSU scheduled Washington. It will hopefully get better with an expanded playoff, because teams will want to set themselves apart for the six wildcard spots (where a two-loss team with one good non-con loss may look better than a two-loss team that played no one good non-con)… until then though, Michigan’s route this year is the way to do it.

I think a lot of what you said is fair and accurate. When I think of what my top ten would be, a lot do come within or following that 2007 season. The context is what provided the long-lasting shock, not as much the actual objective teams themselves.

Looking back upon that game, I feel much more weight was (and continues to be) put on it at a national level than it ever deserved. App State beat #6 Texas A&M last week and it’s out of the headlines by this week. Why is App State’s win at The Big House so revered as one of College Football’s greatest all time upsets? They came in as two-time defending FCS Champions, as good if not better than a large number of Power Five schools. In terms of sheer talent and expectations, there are a handful of games that immediately come to mind (Ohio State v Purdue in 2018, Stanford v USC in 2007, Pitt v WVU in 2007, and even Kansas v Texas last year) that I think are larger upsets. Further, in terms of objective point spreads, Michigan/App State doesn’t even crack the top 15 in the last thirty years. I think the gravity that loss seemed from the outside to bring to the Michigan program over the next decade (associated with Lloyd Carr stepping down, Rich Rod+Brady Hoke coming in) has truly elevated that game into a category it never really deserved as one of the greatest upsets of all time. People have pointed to it as some “turning point” for the program that devolved it into mediocrity, which is incredibly overly simplistic to the dynamics of the program in 2007 and beyond. It’s not as if had that field goal been good against App State, Lloyd Carr wouldn’t have resigned after losing to OSU again, or Rich Rod would have come in and gone significantly better than 3-9 in 2008. I think it was a meaningful and huge upset that no one saw coming. I don’t think it’s top five - maybe not even top ten - in NCAA history. It’s also another reason why there should be no ranking of teams until at least week four. Seeing “Appalachian State @ #5 Michigan” as if Michigan was ever actually a top five team that season is disingenuous to the actual talent level of that team, as could be seen the following week when they got smoked by Oregon. I’ll sit down now.

Syracuse would have been smart to onside kick this. Worst case it's still likely inside or around the 25, which is all that happened when they kicked it to the 30th row of the end zone seats.

There likely goes any chance of a sustainable run game. Practice Squad LG, Backup C, and 3rd String RG by week two. Unbelievable.

Go for two, you bums

I like Karsh a lot. I think if he stays the PBP guy for a long time he could become one of the best.

Evan Brown was a strong replacement last year. The line can still have strong performances starting Decker/Jackson/Brown/Stenburg/Sewell,but one more down (particularly Jackson) and the line becomes a liability.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.... I think we see a very similar game on Sunday as we saw against the Eagles, but against an inferior team the Lions pull out a win. Frustrating moments, exciting moments, and everything in between. I think we will see Aiden make his real debut as well with a clutch sack or two. Detroit Lions 38 Washington Red Football Commies 34

Under normal circumstances, I would immediately call BS on the report. There are some unique pieces to Lamar’s situation though. Woodward Sports links to a Miami-based blog as their source. With Lamar and his mother negotiating the deal and being Florida natives, it’s plausible that someone in their close circle knows someone with that blog. Plausible. Assuming it’s true for a moment though, I wouldn’t want to pay Lamar anymore than what the Ravens offered. He’s a mobile quarterback who gets hit a lot and he turns 26 in January. He wants a fully guaranteed contract exactly because it’s very likely he gets much worse or injured in the course of the contract. He’s better than Goff right this minute absolutely. But Goff is better than Cam Newton. Imagine having two years of guaranteed money to pay to Cam Newton right now (or even a couple years ago). Lamar might make sense for a team who says “we have a 2-3 year window to win a Super Bowl or we’ll have to blow it up”. I don’t think he makes sense for the youngest roster in the NFL.

Now to hope that he doesn't have to run in front of Swiss cheese.

This team’s complete inability to stay even remotely healthy is stupefying.

Ugh.

This the same ESPN that projected the offensive line to be in the bottom quarter of the league? At the end of the day, it doesn't mean anything, but those Disney geniuses should probably stick to raising prices on things with a mouse on it.

This is the first game the Lions have been favored in since 11/22/2020 against the Panthers (the week after the Washington game). Naturally, they were shutout 20-0 in that game.

Looks like that's smart sharp money too, not the public. Generally a good sign that the money makers like what they see.

I didn't realize until I typed up the OP just how similar Goff and Wentz's career has been in the seven years since they were drafted at #1 and #2 overall. 45-40-1 record for Wentz, 45-38-1 record for Goff... Wentz won a Super Bowl with the team that drafted him before falling out of favor, Goff led his team there before the same happening. Even just at face value, I think they're both very similar quarterbacks in their ability to both "not lose" games with the right talent surrounding them, as well as their general inability to put the team on their back and win a game by themselves.

If the team is going to be around .500 as some think (myself included), I think that they should win this game. Washington is in purgatory, hoping to squeak into the playoffs in a poor NFC East, but not having the talent to really compete for a title. It's a game I would expect to lose last year that we should probably win this year, if substantial improvements are being made.

What drove me nuts about the secondary yesterday was the lack of awareness to Hurts' rushing ability. On the 3/15 for instance, where Hurts scrambled for 16, there was a corner (can't recall who) who with the slightest glance back for the ball (or better communication across the field) could have identified that the play broke down and that Hurts was coming towards him. Instead the receiver played him like a fiddle and Hurts practically ran right to him, with his back turned the entire time.

A day later, I'm really satisfied with the Lions performance. When you can score 35 points, all on offense, you're going to win more games than you lose, even with a below-average defense. I'm hopeful we see a defensive progression this year the way we did last year, whereby the defense is clearly better in the second half of the season than the first. I have a hard time pointing fingers at the defense, when they played about how I expected (though I did hope for better contain of Hurts). I have a hard time pointing fingers at the offense, when they put up 35 points (though the second quarter stagnation certainly kept them from scoring even more). I have a hard time pointing fingers at coaching, when I want our coaching to be aggressive and they were (it just didn't work out). I wouldn't be surprised to look back on this game in a month or two and see that these were really two pretty decent teams battling it out.