NYLion

12 hours ago, buddha said:

people seem to love troy weaver but i dont get it.  this team sucks.

That's the design, this is a rebuild ya know. I hope you didn't expect them to be good in Year 2 of roster teardown with 90% of the roster being early to mid 20s players.

CoJo the entire 4th quarter, no Saben Lee at all despite him looking great in preseason, runs isolation offense with players who are incapable of beating their defender 1 on 1. Casey is the worst when it comes to rotations and system implementation. Good motivational coach, players play hard for him but he's positively atrocious when it comes to X's and O's.

14 minutes ago, buddha said:

but if you get the qb wrong, you're usually stuck for the next four years (ask the bears).  unless you get it SO wrong, you're picking #1 again next year and have the balls yo admit you screwed up the last pick -which usually requires the last regime being fired first (ask the cardinals).

i dont want to take a qb just to take one when this team has so many needs and the draft has some really good prospects at those positions of need (linebacker, cornerback, defensive end).  

and what they need almost as much as a qb is a big time receiver.  i'd rather get a olave or a dotsun with the rams pick than chase a qb who is falling.

This is the thing, the Lions are at the point where they need franchise level players, they need playmakers. Sure there's a risk if the QB doesn't pan out, but the reward would be greater than taking any other position and with a pick in the 20s, is the risk really that high? If you can get a franchise defensive player and a franchise QB in 1 round, that's a homerun. Then there's a 2nd+ two 3rds to fill other needs.

I don't disagree that QB isn't the biggest need currently but I sure as hell know that Goff isn't THAT guy to lead you to the promised land, not this broken version of Goff, but a legit dual threat QB with high upside COULD be THAT guy.

The funny thing about this draft is that Willis and Corral have a similar skillset to two other QBs who weren't taken that long ago that were considered reaches at the time in Mahomes and Allen, interestingly enough that it was also a QB playing for a mid tier Big 5 conference team and the other from a small school. I just don't see a big risk in taking a shot at one of them later in the 1st round. Trading up like those teams did for Mahomes and Allen would be a much bigger risk. That's a different story altogether. There's also the matter of Green Bay possibly drafting right behind the Lions and blocking them from taking the next Favre/Rodgers.

On 10/10/2021 at 4:18 PM, Motown Bombers said:

I draft defense with the Lions pick and WR with the Rams pick. Doesn't really matter the position on defense. 

I agree with defense with the 1st pick especially with the way this particular draft is setting up, Thiibodeaux or Hamilton to be specific, but this seems like a good draft to get a potential QB steal in the late 1st if Willis or Corral drop to the Rams pick then you can take WR with the 2nd depending on how the board looks at the time. QBs with huge upside but also raw enough that they could slip into the 20s. Not to mention that there aren't many teams with QB needs after so many were taken last draft.

I know that a lot of you don't like the idea of taking a QB high in the draft this season but the Lions are actually in a pretty good spot to take a flier on one now with their building strength on the offensive line and a good bridge QB in Goff to allow them to redshirt the rookie QB so if you have a chance to nab a potential franchise QB with the late 1st, you'd have a potential foundational piece on offense and defense in the 1st round alone with many more picks to build elsewhere. QB is THE most important position, better to jump on one sooner or later if you fall in love with the potential of one. This is the luxury that having that extra 1st affords them.

5 hours ago, buddha said:

looks like cade may not play the season opener either.  is this going to be a season long thing?  how long does it take to heal a sprained ankle?

If it's a high ankle sprain, it could be a 1-2 month thing. Of course nobody knows what's going on because the team is giving us absolutely nothing which is kind of a slap in the face to people who paid a lot of money to watch Cade in person.

1 hour ago, buddha said:

they werent playing "prevent" defense.  they rushed 4 for every play but the last one, and the vikings beat them on each play.

the vikings decided to play into the lions' hands (paws?) by running the ball all the time.  every time they threw to jefferson, he was open.  but they decided to run the ball continually instead because that's how mike zimmer coaches.

they just got beat.  it wasnt because they rushed 3 or 4 or 2.  its because the vikings had the ball last and made a play.  it happens in the nfl continually, every week.

I know and it doesn't make it any less dumb to rush 3 and have 2 safeties deep when protecting a 3 or less point lead with less than a minute left. It's chicken shit coaching.

I could see if there were like 10-15 seconds left but with 30+ seconds left, that's just way too much time to freely allow a team to complete several 15-20 yard passes down the middle.

2 hours ago, buddha said:

every time teams lose a game people have to say someone made a "mistake" or it was the losing team's fault somehow.

sometimes the other team makes a good play and just beats you.  its not because you messed up.

Playing prevent defense with 30+ seconds left when all a team needs is a FG to win almost always never works out for the defense yet stupid teams continue to employ that strategy.

16 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

He's made some pretty bad calls. Going for it on 4th down with a lack of quality players. And his clock management hasn't been too impressive. Rushing 3 on critical plays with a horrible secondary. But yeah, we'll give him a pass until we get some players that are capable of playing in the NFL. But some of his calls are mistakes that hopefully he'll learn from.

Agreed on those being bad calls (although going for it on 4th down late in the Bears game was the right call) but rushing 3 is designed to protect the secondary by not leaving them on an island and insulating them in a zone. The bigger mistake was keeping the 2 safeties deep opening up the middle of the field when all the Ravens err... Vikings needed was a FG to win.

20 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I suppose it comes down to foundation > QB or QB > foundation. I think I would argue the former and you the latter.

I would rather have Holmes/Campbell (or any two new quality minds hired to start fresh) picking my franchise QB without one already on the roster than have Baalke/Meyer picking Lawrence (as obvious as that was) or Pace/Nagy picking Fields in an attempt to save their job, and those QBs being stuck with someone new in year two as the franchise presses the reset button. I think the latter leads to Ron Rivera being handed Dwayne Haskins and Kliff Kingsbury being handed Josh Rosen more often than it is successful.

That's a valid take although I think it's too early to crown Holmes/Campbell as quality minds until they actually win something. I do like the direction the team is headed in though despite the record, they've been more competitive (especially with the rash of injuries) than I thought they'd be headed into the season.

14 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I agree that the Lions will need a franchise QB before they'll take the next step into being a true contender. I just think that where things stand right now, the Lions (even with that question mark) are better positioned to be good before the Jaguars/Bears/Giants/etc., when those clubs don't know who their leadership may be for when they are ready to take that next step, and don't have a set three-plus year plan either because of it.

If your position is that TLaw is the wildcard such that even without that plan, just having him on your team puts your team in a position to win, I can understand that. I don't think I agree with it, as I think the start he has gotten in Jacksonville is more likely to either waste his generational talent or have him be the next Stafford rather than him lead that team out of the NFL's cellar.

I agree that having Lawrence alone isn't a guarantee of success but having the franchise QB as a base is a great foundation to build off of. I'd rather be a team with a franchise QB to build around than one with more stable leadership and no franchise QB to build around. 

With that said, the Jags are in danger of wasting Lawrence's career if they have a revolving door of coaches throughout his career. Hiring Urban Meyer is not a good start.

12 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

 

17 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I don't think either the Jaguars or Bears have "bottomed out" and cleaned house though, which is what we are doing right now. As long as the Jags have Urban Meyer, and as long as the Bears have Nagy/Pace, they won't have commenced a successful rebuild towards being successful.

Give me two seasons of 2-15 and 7-10 ball before continued 10-win seasons over perpetual 8-9 or 9-8 purgatory.

The Jags definitely bottomed out, they drafted a QB with the #1 pick and are in line for another top 3 pick so certainly no purgatory there and I doubt Urban is long for the NFL. He's the type of snake to slither out the back door when the going gets tough.

I agree with the Bears, they have a lot of vets to team with a young QB so they're right in that Purgatory Zone but at least they have that potential franchise QB to build around.

The Lions will never compete for the big prize without a franchise QB. I know that Goff played in a SB once upon a time but he's not THAT guy anymore. It doesn't mean that they need to draft a QB right now but soon, like 2023 draft at the latest or else they'll be that team stuck in purgatory with an average QB that can't take them to new heights.

13 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Rough game. Zero defense and when they tried they fouled instead. Pistons just looked outclassed in every way and Memphis looked more skilled and more athletic in every way. Shot making, rebounding, defense, finishing, you name it, Memphis did it better. Turnovers were out of control because they couldn't handle the defensive pressure.

Killian - I really don't see anything here. Looked the same as always. Broken shot (2-9) and no real contribution elsewhere.

Bey - Just couldn't get anything going, mostly because he couldn't get open against the Memphis D. Went out with an injury after the first half - didn't see anything other than one hard fall but he played plenty after that.

Stewart - He was efficient, had some nice blocks, and grabbed a few boards so he played ok, but the team is going to struggle without an additional rebounder next to him (Grant doesn't rebound). He's not skilled enough to move to the 4 alongside another big, so this will continue to be an issue.

Frank Jackson - Had a poor shooting night, as did most of the team, but he was one of the few bright spots in the second half with some aggression and some nice plays.

Olynyk - 5 Turnovers and his shot was off. He couldn't find space to get open looks (nobody could) because Memphis was faster and more athletic.

Joseph - Played well when he looked to get his own layups in an Ish Smith kind of way. 

Josh Jackson - One of the bright spots. Had an efficient game with very few turnovers.

Diallo - Really had a subpar performance until garbage time in the 4th when he started to show more aggression and ball hog a bit. The rest of the game was pretty rough for him and he had 5 turnovers as well. I think his 3pt shooting last year was a bit of an anomaly. Shot doesn't look smooth at all and he's reluctant to shoot it.

Probably a bit of a wake up call for those who think this team will be in the play-in tournament. Looking at the early schedule, I'm seeing probably 2 wins in their first 10 games and 4 or 5 in their first 20.

Cade could change some things, but he's still a rookie and he's not a great athlete either, which was part of the problem last night (and will be on a nightly basis). I don't know if this is even a 25 win team. They certainly aren't going to win a lot of road games with this much youth. Good news is, that will mean another high lotto pick.

 

Preseason means virtually nothing. This game wasn't an indicator of anything.

With that said, the Pistons are going to be a bad team but we knew this going in as they are extremely young and just not as talented as most other teams. Anybody talking about play in possibilities are completely delusional. 30 wins is probably the ceiling for the team this season.

9 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

I have no interest in taking any of the QBs with our first pick, take BPA with our 1st and WR with our second.

2023 looks to be shaping up much better for QBs with guys like Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and more.  Since we're gonna suck next year too might as well wait and get a better guy while also building up the rest of the team first.

The Lions definitely need a Goff replacement but I don't think they should be so desperate to replace Goff now to feel forced to reach for a QB with their 1st pick. If they see a guy they really like in the mid 1st then maybe trade up to get one but definitely not with their 1st pick.

What they need is playmakers, offense and defense. No more fat guys on the lines with the top 5 picks, load up on playmakers on both sides of the ball.

2 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

It was meant to. It was just meant to say despite having what is likely the worst roster in the NFL, I would rather be the Lions than a lot of NFL teams right now. The Jaguars, Texans, Dolphins, Giants, and Bears all come to mind.

I'd definitely rather be the Jaguars or Bears. They have their potential franchise QB already. They're sort of like the Pistons, not a good enough roster to win now but they have the potential star in place already whereas the Lions best player is a center who is now out for the season because... Lions.

Finally made the time to register my account here after the "other place" got cooked so hello gentlemen. I just have three letters to say... SOL.