MichiganCardinal

With Anzalone, Iffy, Rakestraw, Kalif, JRM, and maybe even Hutchinson still to come.

Selfishly I care a lot about the in-person experience. I know I would never have Lions season tickets if it was an outdoor stadium. My interest in being comfortable outweighs my interest in seeing them in-person. But I really love seeing them in-person. It just sounds miserable to have eight or nine home games, and for two you’re sweating your butt off, two you’re getting wet, and two you’re freezing your butt off. There’s also the competitive piece to it, Buffalo will never host a Super Bowl. Though I’d love to see them host a Draft.

It would make a difference to their having to host a home game at Ford Field every few years, but your point remains.

They're already at a disadvantage practice wise too, having six days off to our nine. Good thing they're building a new stadium. Also without a roof.

Same here. If I didn't work I would get bored, and probably end up blowing it all.

He should probably retire. Like today. I'm sure the 49ers can recoup their money on his current contract. He's breaching his contract if he's not injured.

The Lions offense was not clicking in that game. Since they've started firing on all cylinders (whenever you define that as being but certainly after week two), they haven't lost a game. The Rams offensive line is still a mess. They've benched their blue chip free agent Jonah Jackson after they realized they didn't have a role for him, and have lost games to the Bears (in week four) and Dolphins (in week ten) this season, and have been smoked by the Eagles at home just a few weeks ago. If they're playing at their best, they're a playoff team, and no playoff team is an easy out. But I would expect a third rematch to be along the lines of what the Lions/Bucs game looked like in the Divisional Round last year, where it's set at a -6 to -7 spread, and if the Lions play their game, they win it far more often than not.

I think the Rams are good, but the Lions are on another level. The Lions have beaten them twice in the last year, and I think the Lions are better now than they were in week one (as evidenced by week two). I wouldn’t really be worried about playing them in the Divisional Round, at least not relative to the Eagles, Packers, and maybe Vikings.

Niners are done, put a fork in em.

Why is OPI a ten yard penalty while DPI is spot of the foul? It seems disparate, even in a league that loves itself some offense. College has it as 15-yard penalty for OPI, and a spot foul under 15 yards for DPI, to a max of 15 yards. NFL reduces the OPI and increases the DPI. OPI should be more onerous. Loss of down, 15 yards, something to make it sting on the same level as a DPI does.

Old Man Stafford can't find the edge.

They should both have like three by now.

Prime was due. The Lions and Packers gave them their best game in history, a return to the mean requires an even worse TNF game than normal.

Speaks to how good the Lions and Packers are that they were able to both perform so well in this god forsaken Thursday Night game. Though they both had six days between games, these teams both had three.

Who are we rooting for in Rams/49ers? I think the Rams are better, but a Rams win may help eliminate the Niners before they play the Lions.

The Lions are algorithmic based in their prices, while a lot of teams have Personal Seat Licenses. If they maintain this level of good for the next five years or so, I could see them transition, but PSLs require like ten-year contracts. The algorithm allows them to have dynamic prices based on demand. So people with front row seats, in any section, will see higher price hikes than plebes like me.

Don’t tell the Lions, but after last year (73% hike), I got off suuuuper easy. 7% increase. I posted about my increase in a STH Facebook group. Left for dinner and checked the post a minute ago.

It's a dumb take by Orlovsky. The defense is overall really good, there is not some glaring weakness in the secondary that has just gone untapped by opposing offenses. Especially with Branch as a free floating safety. He claims that they are "good, not great" and I think that's significantly underselling how well Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph have played, who are the reinforcements coming on those very deep shots against man coverage. If you're an opposing offense facing a healthy Lions defense, you're probably not going have success running the ball and you're probably not going to sustain a long drive, so in that sense, sure, might as well try to take a deep shot every now and then if you can get single coverage. If one connects you're in business. But you're going to get some of those picked off if you're doing it three times a quarter.

He was a healthy scratch last week to allow for more defensive linemen to dress in the rotation, but if I had to guess there is a growing lack of trust there.

This feels like a really stupid decision all around.

The real possibility in my mind if you kick it there is that your offense doesn’t see the ball again. If the game goes to OT tied at 34, whoever wins the toss is marching down, scoring 6, and winning the game 40-34. So you’re either kicking it and asking your defense to prevent 30 yards in 40 seconds, or you’re asking your offense to gain a half yard. And if your choosing the latter, and your offense doesn’t get it, you’re just asking your defense to prevent 40 yards in 40 seconds to force OT, with what would likely be a slightly more conservative Green Bay offense. I like the defense’s odds to force OT in the latter scenario. I don’t love the defense’s odds to prevent OT in the former. That being said though, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if the Dan Campbell calculus here is a little different in the playoffs, where both teams are guaranteed a possession in OT regardless if a TD is scored. Of course, then he’ll just go for two in OT of the NFC Championship Game. Probably with a run up the middle.

If it's touched behind the line of scrimmage but still goes beyond the line of scrimmage, it's no different than a shanked punt. So AO touching it is no different than it being muffed by the return man.

The Niners/Rams game Thursday Night will be interesting. If the Rams win, the Niners will be 2.5 games back of both the division and wildcard with three games to play, holding no tiebreakers. They play the Dolphins in Week 16, but with Week 17 being Monday Night against us, there’s probably a decent chance they’re mathematically eliminated at 7-8 by kickoff (again, if they lose Thursday). That didn’t matter for the Lions in 2022, but who knows if they would shut down their veterans at that point. If they beat the Rams though, they’ll be in the thick of it, probably entering Monday Night at 8-7, in must-win mode.

We would be too if the Bills had just beaten the Packers 34-31 and we had just lost to the Rams 44-42. These teams are both very good. Man coverage tends to struggle against elusive QBs. This should be another very good game.

This is helpful reassurance that the Eagles cannot catch the Lions on Strength of Victory. It feels more likely the Lions go 4-0 than that they go 2-2.