Mr.TaterSalad

Not to forget that he wanted to trade up from the second round back into the first to draft a player with back problems (Levi) too according to reports at the time. I like Holmes a whole lot, but it is clear he is willing to take the risk on injured and/or injury-pronged players.

Here is some non-Jason Isbell country music that I thoroughly enjoyed from 2023 and think are worth giving a listen to. Perhaps my favorite non-Jason Isbell/Weathervanes song of 2023 was The Wild by Gabe Lee. If you're into a modern honkytonk sound Mamma Coal's Dance Hall Crush is fantastic. If you're into Outlaw Country then you have to give Cody Jinks' aptly named Outlaws and Mustangs a listen. Margo Cilker's Lowland Trail is another fantastic song from 2023. Easier and Harder by William Prince is a short, but sweet song from 2023 that I really enjoyed. it checks in at under 3 minutes, but is so good.

One player I'd love to get here at Michigan is Julian Fleming. I doubt we're getting any Ohio State transfers. He'd add a nice wrinkle though to our offensive arsenal for next year.

**** Jauron is the only Lions HC in the Super Bowl era to ever go onto get another HCing job after having coached the Lions. Way to go ****!

Having Wayne Fontes as the winningest coach of all time is really sad and sorry for the organization. I think/hope when it's all said and done that Dan Campbell will be high atop this list. I think we're trending in the right direction for sure, so let's hope he can eclipse the low, low bar of Wayne Fontes.

Where's Gary Moeller on this list? He went 4-3 and had a winning record.

I always called him the Big Buck or Rasputin. I forgot all about Fontes' coke habit.

Wasn't the Run & Shoot Fontes' scheme that he brought in? I thought Fontes was the one who implemented the Run & Shoot with Mouse Davis and June Jones? The Andre Ware thing I get, that was an all time bad move, followed closely by bringing in Scott Mitchell.

Am I excited for thus, yes, it's Patrick Kane. How can you not be at least a little bit excited. But I've taken the time to actively and seriously temper my expectations. I in no way ever expect him to be what he was before the injury. His PPG days and 90 point seasons are looooong past him. But even if he gives us what he was in his last year with the Hawks I'd take that and be happy. I'm going to wince the first time he takes a big hit though or gets thrown to the ice. Let's hope that hip is healed and ready to go.

The Big Buck is still my favorite head coach of all time. I still believe with a better QB and a slight upgrade along some positions of the offensive line his Run & Shoot offense could have really thrived. Fontes had some great weapons on that team. Obvious among them is Barry Sanders. But he had Pro Bowl WRs in Herman Moore, Brett Perriman, and Johnny Morton as well. He had a three headed monster for a season or two at WR with all of them in place. It's really too bad Fontes, Russ Thomas, and Schmidt kept settling on terrible QBs to be their starters. Rodney Peete, Andre Ware, Scott Mitchell, were all terrible. For the Lions to give Scott Mitchell such a big contract was really an all time bad move for a franchise that has many qualifying all time bad acquisitions. Forget having Steve Young, Brett Farve, Troy Aikman or Jim Kelly (all of whom they could have had in the draft), with even a decent starting NFL QB Fontes' teams could have really been something. Oh well, that was my childhood in the 1990s.

A spineless loser who had the chance to do the right thing on dozens and dozens of occasions and chose not to. Your contributions were none to this country of ours and history will remember you for the spineless coward that you were and still are.

New Chris Stapleton music out this year with his single White Horse. As you would expect from Stapleton, it's raw, real, and amazing songwriting. Stapleton has perhaps the best voice in modern country music too.

It's my understanding though that if Chase Young doesn't resign with the 49'ers they will likely get a 3rd round compensatory pick back for Young signing elsewhere, depending on the deal he signs with the other team. If that's the case, where is the risk for the 49'ers? You trade a 3rd and likely get a comp 3rd back if he doesn't resign with you in the offseason.

You literally trade a couple of draft spots down for the hope that he develops into what he has the potential to be. If Chase Young doesn't work out then it doesn't matter because you get the 3rd round pick back as a comp pick likely anyways. Unless you think he's an Antonio Brown-like problem child or distraction for this team, what's the risk exactly?

Chase . . . Bank, I'm thinking of setting up an account at Chase Bank later today. The day is Young, so they haven't closed yet. I don't want to pressure myself into having to set up an account but I have a big sack of money that needs to get home somewhere. I would hate to be that customer though, rushing in at 4 when they're about to close and blitzing the staff last minute.

We're down to seven seconds. Not bad.

Before words get put in my mouth, I am not nor did I say the words fire Aaron Glenn or imply he needs to go ASAP. Putting more heat on the defense means a little more public criticism and a bit more pointing out where we can improve. I don't expect Campbell to go and throw a coach directly and publicly under the bus. But there are ways to show your public displeasure and need for improvement without doing that. Two questions, do you think this defense, lead by Aaron Glenn, has been good on the whole this season? Also, do you trust this defense enough that we can win at least one playoff game?

I agree with this to a point. I think there some of us, myself included, who need to sit back a bit and just enjoy the ride and be happy more often. I am elated they are 9-3, I truly am. I am elated that, barring a complete meltdown over the next 5 weeks, we are going to win the NFC North for only the second time in my entire life. I haven't had this much fun watching the Lions since the 2014 season and before that, since Barry, Herman Moore, Brett Perriman, and Robert Porcher were around. I do believe in what Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell are doing, most of the time. I have a few criticisms of decisions they have or have not made. Campbell sometimes is overly aggressive when I don't want him to be. He seems to give Aaron Glenn a pass at times for this defense when I feel Glenn should take more heat. He doesn't force schematic changes to the defense when I think there need to be some. He also agrees with Brad Holmes on some of the personnel decision that haven't worked out just yet (Levi, Paschal, Martin). But all in all, I am beyond happy with the state of this franchise. What needs to be understood though, and this is by no means a slight at you or anyone, is that when you get good, the bar has to be raised. With raised expectations comes raised criticisms. As well, a raised bar doesn't mean that all is well overall. A raised set of expectations means the things fans will critique and criticize is different than it was before. We criticized Russ Thomas, Darryl Rogers, Wayne Fontes (Winningest coach in Lions history), Bobby Ross, Matt Millen, Martin Mayhew, Bob Quinn, Matt Patricia for rightly being downright awful at times or throughout the entirety of their tenures here. Campbell, Holmes, and company in no way deserve the kind of heat and level of criticism that say Matt Millen got. One of the raised expectations that fans have is that we now not only win our division, but the expectation that we win the playoff game that we will host as well. On a side note, division winners should be granted a playoff birth. No one from the NFC South deserves to be in the playoffs this year as it stands now. So being the best of a very bad lot should not get you into the playoffs. Back on track though, winning a playoff game will be a key metric and measurement for this team and where we are truly at versus where we perceive we are at. You mentioned negative fans and posters above. I've been one of those negative fans and posters along with a few others, when it comes to Aaron Glenn and this defense specifically for the past two seasons. The long and short of it is that many of us don't believe this defense is good enough to win us a playoff game. In-fact, we believe it is a liability that will cost us a game. This defense, on the whole, is a liability, and hurts our chances to win a playoff game. You can't keep asking this offense to carry the team every single week and go punch for punch with an opposing offense. For example, if we had to play Seattle again, or any decent offense with an above average QB, which most all playoff teams have, it sure feels like we'd likely lose. Many fans have sat through years of one and done Lions teams in the playoffs and we want more than that. 1979, 1982, 1983, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2011, 2014, 2016 were all one and done Lions teams in the playoffs. The bar has been raised and many fans want more than that now. It doesn't matter if Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell, Ray Agnew, John Dorsey, Aaron Glenn, Sheila Ford, whoever in this organization thinks we are ahead of the schedule they originally had us on. What matters is our window to be a contending team for an NFC Championship and ultimately a Super Bowl is now open. In the NFL, your window doesn't stay open forever and you have to take advantage of the times it does open up. No, that doesn't mean you sell the farm like the Rams and go all in for one season. Though, I'd take a Super Bowl, even if it only meant one year of success. Shooting for anything less than a Super Bowl is a complacent, losers mentality. Right now, Aaron Glenn and this defense feel like a liability. It feels like they might be likely actively preventing us from winning a playoff game, let alone multiple playoff games, to be able to get to a Super Bowl. Some of the stats don't look all that bad on first glance. I believe we are 10th in defensive DVOA. We're also middle of the pack, not bottom tier, when it comes to total yards given up and yards per game. A big part of that is the very solid run defense that we have. Major props to Brad Holmes for the player acquisitions he's made to improve this run defense. Props to Aaron Glenn for the scheme and position he's put these guys in to be able to effectively stop the run as well. But counter to that we're 12th from the bottom in total passing yards, we're bottom 10 in total points scored against. We're bottom 5-10 in blitz rate, win rate, QB pressures/hurries, total sacks and sacks per game as well. This seconday looks like a sieve at times. He has Jerry Jacobs out there in man coverage, with no safety help. Asking any CB, let alone a second string guy like Jacobs, to hold coverage for longer than 5 seconds is a problem. He needs reliable safety help over the top out there and shouldn't be on a coverage island by himself. I also get it right, QB sacks and pressures don't paint a full picture and tell the full story about a team. Just look at a team like the Browns, great defense, mediocre offense, no QB, and a team that's on the downward trend. I'd rather be us, with our defense and a healthy QB, than them on the full decline with a QB out for the season. Sacks and pressures are defensive stops though. Sacks and pressures create turnovers and stop drives. Sacks and pressures force punts. Sacks and pressures mean you disrupt plays and provide support for your secondary and LB'ers in coverage. You can't expect any secondary, no matter the talent level, to hold coverage for 5-6-7+ seconds. Any CB or S is going to get burnt or won't be able to contain tight coverage for that amount of time. I believe, and I think there are others who do as well, that this defense is a liability to us winning in the playoffs. We believe this because of our inability to pressure opposing QB, our poor coverage at times, and the scheme Glenn is employing by generally, only rushing 4. Example, even though we won yesterday it felt extremely lucky. This defense got carved up in the second half. Yesterday, they allowed the Saints to march right back in and almost get the win. Had Derek Carr not gotten hurt and knocked out of the game, that sure feels like a loss for us. Jameis Winston is not an accurate or good QB. He had Chris Olave sitting in the middle of the field wide open and he didn't even look him off and make the throw late in the 4th quarter. That feels like a throw Carr would have made The other thing that gets me and some other fans is the Aubrey Pleasant situation from last year. I'm not trying to manufacture consensus when I say this, but we were told last year it was incorrect and flat out wrong believe that Aubrey Pleasant was a scapegoat for the poor defensive performance. That indeed, it was wrong to blame Aaron Glenn for most or any of this defense's problems and that it was largely Pleasant's fault. Things did get better for a time after Pleasant was let go, but it feels like we have regressed back down. I don't think our inability to get after the QB, to generate pressure, to cover mobile QBs, or to hold coverage for 5+ seconds was/is Aubrey Pleasant's fault. I think that is the fault of the personnel they have (which injuries play a role in) and the defensive coaching staff up to and including Aaron Glenn. In the end, the bar has been raised and there are different expectations from a year ago and from regimes of Lions teams past. I love where we are at as a franchise right now. I love Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson. I love Jared Goff, most weeks. I love Amon'Ra St. Brown, Sam Laporta, David Montgomery. Pennie Sewell, Frank Ragnow, Jonah Jackson. I love the players and weapons Brad Holmes has added on offense and what this coaching staff has done with them. Watching the Lions overall is incredibly fun. I do believe we are setup for years to come on offense. I do not feel that way yet about our defense. I do not feel that we yet have the right personnel and scheme to get us out of the first round of the playoffs. Maybe that all changes when James Houston comes back and we can generate more pass rush and pressure. Maybe it changes because some else steps up or Aaron Glenn makes adjustments. I'd really like to hope and think so. I'd really like to be proven wrong and for us to win a playoff game and make a run for it!

And we all know what happened there. Michigan and Florida St. co-national champions baby.

I'd love to have JJ back first and foremost, but going pro is probably his best bet. Riley Leonard seems to fit what Michigan would want to do and is a solid, accurate pocket passer. I'd love to get a QB like Cam Ward and see how his mobility could transform this offense, but I just get the feeling that a QB like Leonard fits what we would want to do moreso.

The NFL needs to add a playoff tiebreaker about if you are using a backup QB or not since that matters quite a bit these days. That would guarantee the Lions a division win over Minnesota.

I've never saw a trade tree like this before for the Eric Lindros trade. I knew he was traded for an insane haul, but to follow it all the way down the rabbit hole like this . . . DAMN!

I get that. I get that they were better than likely they even thought they'd be at this point too. But in the NFL your window doesn't stay open forever, if long at all. For every Kansas City Chiefs that has a 5+ year run of success, you have a Minnesota Vikings who has the hot hand for a season or two and falls back down to Earth. If Chase Young ends up injured again or just not that productive in San Francisco then I'll shut my mouth and admit to being wrong. However, I just can't get over them having such a glaring need on the edge and still managing to pass up on a dynamic pass rusher that could have been had for a 3rd round pick. I'll be complaining about this one until Young proves me a fool. Had they traded for Young that would have signaled to me that they fully recognize their window is open and they are going for the NFC title now.

What a gigantic play by Goff there to get that off and completed. This should be ball game.

Laporta is such a stud!