MichiganCardinal

I don’t think Tennessee is good enough for this to be a trap game, even if the Lions did overlook them. There’s just no one of note on offense for them. They’ll try to run with Pollard but when that doesn’t work, because it never works against the Lions, they’ll be forced to throw with either Levis or Rudolph, and that’s a recipe for disaster (for them). Trap games come against 6-11 or 7-10 teams. Good enough to win most games, bad enough for it to not matter. Tennessee is closer to a 3-14 team. Just bad.

Technically true. The Lions were 3-4 against the Houston Oilers though.

NFL Week Eight Power Rankings Pre-MNF Kansas City Chiefs (6-0) Detroit Lions (5-1) Green Bay Packers (5-2) Buffalo Bills (5-2) Minnesota Vikings (5-1) Houston Texans (5-2) Baltimore Ravens (4-2) San Francisco 49ers (3-4) Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) Philadelphia Eagles (4-2) Washington Commanders (5-2) Seattle Seahawks (4-3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2) Chicago Bears (4-2) Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) Atlanta Falcons (4-3) Cincinnati Bengals (3-4) Indianapolis Colts (4-3) Arizona Cardinals (2-4) Denver Broncos (4-3) Dallas Cowboys (2-4) Los Angeles Rams (2-4) New York Jets (2-5) New York Giants (2-5) Miami Dolphins (2-4) New Orleans Saints (2-5) Cleveland Browns (1-6) Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) Tennessee Titans (1-5) Jacksonville Jaguars (2-5) New England Patriots (1-6) Carolina Panthers (1-6) Lions have beaten 5, 12, 19, 21, and 22. Lost to 13. Have games against 29, 3, 6, 30, 18, 14, 3, 4, 14, 8, and 5 to go... Nobody said it's gonna be easy. They'll sure be battle tested by January.

Part of the equation too is who will be making the decision. It's probably fair to say Warde would not hire another Harbaugh. I think the general alumni/donor base would be fine with a Harbaugh, because Harbaughs are associated with winning. If we are replacing a non-winner, winning will be the most important characteristic of a hire. But who knows. Maybe Sherrone shocks the world and beats OSU in Columbus. That would save the season for him.

This is an insane stat.

Why do you feel that they have a smaller window than SF? Seems to me that Holmes & Campbell are just as good as Lynch & Shanahan... The core is in place and has largely been locked down. So long as the draft picks we have (even if we trade some away) continue to develop into serviceable players, this is sustainable for the foreseeable future.

COTY is a weird award because you have to win when it's unexpected. So if you improve gradually like the Lions, it's ships passing in the night. Looking at the last ten years of winners though - Ron Rivera, Bruce Arians, Ron Rivera, Jason Garrett, Sean McVay, Matt Nagy, John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski, Mike Vrabel, Brian Daboll, Kevin Stefanski - maybe it's best Campbell doesn't win it. Of all those winners, John Harbaugh is probably the only one happy right now.

Jay Harbaugh will get a long and serious consideration.

This. As soon as his body begins the motions of a slide (upper body moving back, leg curling up) he is down. It is usually two or three yards behind where he actually first makes contact with the ground.

I think this is more a byproduct of being so aggressive in man coverage than it is the defensive line. If the opponent runs four or five receivers twenty yards downfield, we are going to have six or seven defenders twenty yards downfield. And with the possible exception of Branch and/or Joseph, they are largely locked onto their man. They're staying on that receiver's hip, ideally checking back to see if the QB takes off, but not at the expense of leaving a gap in coverage. So if the QB escapes the pocket, it's either on a lineman to shed their block and take the QB down or for a near defensive back to recognize the breakdown, shed his receiver, and pursue. Unless you've got a very mobile QB like Lamar Jackson or Justin Fields, it's not a sustainable game plan, because more often than not you don't have every defensive back 20 yards from the QB when it breaks down, so you're depending on your less athletic and much more fragile QB to break a tackle to gain anything more than five yards. Might be an unfortunate component to man coverage once or twice in a game, but obviously Aaron Glenn is okay with that side effect.

Look, it just added a little flavor to the win. What fun is blowing everybody out?!

Don't get much closer than this.

Decker did not have a great game. He stepped up when it mattered, but edge rushers ran right by him several times. His age may be catching up to him.

Justin Jefferson against the Lions the last four years: 2021 Game 1: 7/124 2021 Game 2: 11/182 2022 Game 1: 3/14 2022 Game 2: 11/223 2023 Game 1: 6/141 2023 Game 2: 12/192 2024 Game 1: 7/81 With the exception of that early 2022 game (also the last time we lost to the Vikings), he's been a Lion killer. Excellent work by the secondary to limit him.

I was going to wait until they beat the Titans to pull that out. 😉

But the counter-counterpoint is that in 2024, 4* QBs aren't hanging around in the wings as backups. If they're not starting, they're going somewhere where they will. Michigan had two starting QBs... until one of them transferred to Iowa. It's hard to convince a kid to come to any school - not just Michigan - for the chance to compete for the starting gig, if the kid ahead of you declares for the draft as a Junior. And if they stay, sorry, just keep holding that clipboard kid. Arch Manning is the exception, not the rule, and probably wouldn't be doing what he's doing if his last name wasn't what it is. Now, the fact that Orji is as bad as he is after multiple years of tutelage? No excuses for that.

By this time in the season, the very good teams are starting to look very good. The very bad teams are starting to look very bad. Each of these teams fits into one of those categories. Looking around the league, there aren't a lot of good games on paper this week. Vikings-Rams might be close if the Vikings have a post-Lions let down. Cowboys-Niners might be interesting. Eagles-Bengals maybe. Bears-Commies maybe.

vs. Setting: 10/27/2024 1:00pm EST on FOX Site: Ford Field in Detroit, MI Weather: Climate Controlled Opening Spread: Lions -9.5 All-Time Series Record: Titans lead, 10-3 Last Meeting: 12/20/2020, Titans won 46-25 Tennessee Titans (1-5) Head Coach: Brian Callahan (1st Season: 1-5) Projected Starting QB: Will Levis (2nd Season: 4-10) or Mason Rudolph (7th Season: 8-5-1) Last Week: 34-10 L @ Buffalo Bills (5-2) Looking Ahead to Week #9: Sunday v. New England Patriots (1-6) Your Detroit Lions (5-1) Head Coach: Dan Campbell (4th Season: 29-27-1) Projected Starting QB: Jared Goff (9th Season: 71-51-1) Last Week: 31-29 W @ Minnesota Vikings (5-1) Looking Ahead to Week #9: Sunday @ Green Bay Packers (5-2) Elsewhere in the NFL Primetime: Vikings @ Rams (TNF), Cowboys @ 49ers (SNF), Giants @ Steelers (MNF) 1:00pm: Ravens @ Browns, Packers @ Jaguars, Colts @ Texans, Cardinals @ Dolphins, Jets @ Patriots, Falcons @ Buccaneers, Eagles @ Bengals 4:05/4:25pm: Saints @ Chargers, Bills @ Seahawks, Bears @ Commanders, Panthers @ Broncos, Chiefs @ Raiders

This has kind of been their MO in recent years. They like to start shaky and then go on a tear. That said, I don't think they're as good as they were the last two years.

Finally home after having to watch the game in like six different locations, driving all over the state today. What a god awful start. I don't get the fake punt call at all, though I'm still not sure if that came from Fipp/Campbell or JRM. Either way, not the time or place. Fake punts should come when you catch the defense on their heels, after a lucky third down stop, when they're hoping you're about to punt, when you need a score on that drive, and when you're 95% confident you'll convert. That fake didn't meet any of those categories, let alone all of them. After a dreadful start, major kudos to the coaching staff for not panicking, not throwing in the towel, settling the troops, and pushing forward with the game plan. If the Bucs loss was a coaching loss (Campbell says it was, I'm not so sure); this win is a coaching win.

This feels like Baltimore all over again

When Jack Fox is sending punts too deep you know the team is off their game.

They may have. It looked like they sent someone in motion at the line, may have liked the look and it’s possible JRM has a fake in the back pocket to shift to when they like the look.

Now can we get an edge?

I think Ben Johnson may head to the Eagles, if he leaves this year. That's a team with all the pieces in place but the coach.