MichiganCardinal

Sometimes I wonder why I was dumb enough to live in Michigan when there are many other states where the air doesn’t hurt my face when I walk outside. And then I remember that hometown stupidity is relative.

Appears that both presale opportunities (one for Bills Season Ticket Holders and one for Lions Season Ticket Holders) have sold out. The aftermarket is lively too. By the looks of it, they’ll only sell the upper deck end zone seats tomorrow. I snagged two during the Lions one. Really nice seats too, row 4 by the tunnel, for $20 each. Still undecided if I’ll go, will see what my buddy wants to do. I have a few friends who are casual Bills fans and a few who are casual Browns fans. Might just give them away and go to the bar for the Lions game. Would be a fun and unique time though…

Haven't thought through the logistics, but whatever it takes.

Pretty sure the producers wanted the Rams in the graphic and couldn’t put the Rams in and not the Lions.

Should have Buffalo trade us their snow for Ford Field. We can put it to good use next Saturday.

Middle of June, MCDC shows up with the bus at the SB Champ's winning facility. SB Champ has a game go into OT on the Lions bye week? There's Dan Campbell, cashing it in. Midway through the NFL Draft, Frank Ragnow takes the podium and instead of announcing the pick, cashes it in. Would make millions.

Sheila should stop being nice to the NFL and letting them use our stadium when it's too "cold" or "snowy" for the dumb franchises who built a stadium in Buffalo without a roof or in Minnesota with a lousy roof. My list of demands include: - An extra 1st Round Pick in every draft until we get one right. - Josh Allen has to play for the Lions on Thursday - Sheila gets to own Washington too, but uses them as a Minor League franchise for the Lions - A "Money in the Bank" card that allows the Lions to play the Super Bowl champion at any time in the next year and if they win, they get named champion. - Green Bay gets stripped of all wins in the Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre eras and the NFL publicly admits that both of them are kind of a dick.

It makes a lot sense to move the Bills game to Detroit on Sunday. They’d probably commute between the games though. I’m not sure where they’d keep them if they were going to just stay here through the holiday, unless the Lions would be amenable to allowing the use of Ford Field as a practice facility for a practice or two. Allen Park is ours. They used the Silverdome as one practice facility for the Super Bowl. There aren’t many domed and available venues in the area anymore that can handle a large event like that on short notice.

Paschal seems like he’s working out so far. Still very early in a rookie year that didn’t have a training camp, but my hope is that Levi is a one-off for this regime.

I think these are two remarkably similar teams. Their common opponents are the Cowboys (both lost), the Seahawks (both lost), the Bears (both won), and the Packers (both won). If you swapped their non-common opponents and had the Giants play the Eagles, Commies, Vikings, Patriots, and Dolphins, I think they probably go 1-4 or 2-5 ... If the Lions had played the Titans, Panthers, Ravens, Jaguars, and Texans, I think they probably go at least 3-2 and have a record better than 0.500 right now. A road game against an evenly matched opponent should at least be a one-score game. I don't want to get blown out (obviously), but I also don't think it's fair to allow every game to be a referendum on the regime.

Will need him for the 2v7 game against the Vikings.

I forgot just how close last year's team was to losing multiple games. Wins against Rutgers by 7, Nebraska by 3, and Penn State by 4 before they took off. I find it hard to believe the B1G has taken such a step back that they would run the schedule like they have this year without having gotten at least a little bit better. It's really remarkable how easy they've made it look this year. Only one game decided by single digits (and that one was a 15-point game until 45 seconds were left). An average margin of victory of 30.2 points. Even removing the non-conference games, a margin of victory average of 21.8 points in conference. They've coasted through a B1G schedule. For context, the 2006 Michigan team had an average margin of victory of 17.3 heading into The Game (16.0 in conference). The 1997 National Championship team had an average of 19.7 heading The Game (18.7 in conference, 17.3 for the season).

Last year's success came as a total surprise because of 2020, but I do recall a steep upward trend in terms of the play-calling complexity and the offense's overall abilities to stretch the field when they wanted. It felt like after MSU, and particularly after Penn State, they really opened up the playbook. There were quite a few gadget plays against OSU (the flea flicker, the screens to Edwards, bringing in JJ for a couple plays) that when combined with Hassan's rushing and the line's domination never allowed OSU to stand tall. They were on their heels from the first possession. Then we saw much of the same against Iowa, who was completely outmatched by it... then much of the same against Georgia, who laughed in their face. I can recall them running a flea flicker against Georgia that it looked like Georgia was just absolutely anticipating from the jump. I doubt they've completely lost that ability to stretch the field. Maybe we'll start to see some flashes this week against Illinois.

Michigan on the whole is such an enigma this year. Clearly they’re good. You don’t go 10-0 without being good. But they could seriously be the #1 team in the nation or somewhere between #10-20, and I wouldn’t be surprised either way. Are they limited because their skill set is limited? Or because they have been able to be limited and still win games easily? Or do they just make it look easy? You can’t be upset at how they’ve won games, because it works. Take care of the ball, win in the trenches, take your points, and get out. Are they good enough at that style of play though to beat the Deep South Buckeyes and the SEC though? Are they doing that play out of necessity or convenience? Two weeks from now will be telling.

Same here and same for Stafford. I’d be okay if they shut him down soon, let him have his Tommy John surgery. They're probably less apt to do this soon without much draft capital to speak of, but it’s looking increasingly likely that there will come a point where the Rams invest in 2023 over 2022, which is a good thing for the Lions.

About the way I feel about Hooker. Why not both? If Penix starts to fail go get a Hooker. Nope. Can’t be trusted.

The difference in draft position that comes from particular games being wins and losses is often overstated. The Lions got Sewell two years ago at #7, who was probably #2 on their board to Lawrence. The Lions got Hutch last year, who was either 1a or 1b… to make significant difference, you’re talking about multiple games, and when you’re talking about multiple games in the NFL, you’re talking about the difference between making the playoffs and not. No matter where you’re picking, you just have to hit on those picks and your team will improve.

I think it’s very possible that one of the mid-range QB prospects (Levis, Hooker, or Richardson) ends up being the best QB to come out of the class.

I think he was definitely a kneecapper. He was a bit more reckless about it though, his teams were terribly undisciplined.

I still like Schwartz as a coach. I think he would have succeeded if he was given a second shot somewhere. He was young, made some stupid decisions, and didn’t have a good grip on how to manage his team, but was a good coach.

If we are on a similar path that Jim Schwartz took us (which I think is a similar rebuild in terms of sheer overhaul), we should be a playoff team next year. I don’t think that’s a surprising trajectory either, although the Giants and Jets have made that more frustrating to wait for. 2-14 to 6-10 to 10-6. 3-13-1 to 3-6(+)

What’s up with Swift? He didn’t have an injury designation on him, but if you watch his body of work from the Eagles game or Commanders game and compare it to yesterday or against the Packers, it’s night and day. He is far less explosive and agile. The 3rd and Goal run in particular was agitating - a starting running back should have been able to find the hole and punch that in, not get driven out of bounds. Is it still the same lingering injury they just stopped bothering to disclose? Did he take an inexplicable step back? I don’t get it.

Sounds like we are heading straight for seven straight wins and a wildcard berth for Christmas, right??