NYLion

It was poor. They left no choice but to play for the field goal at the end with only 30 seconds left and still not over the 30 yard line. It made going for a TD a lot more difficult even if they converted the 3rd down.

Conservative is bleeding a ton of clock, they were clearly playing for the FG, and then not going for it on 4th down and short. I knew right there and then that Allen would take them down the field and kick the game winning FG.

I usually don't agree with you but you're right in this case. You play to win these types of games against elite teams, not simply not to lose. They played aggressive the entire game then wussed out on the last drive, I just didn't understand that at all.

That game was there to be had and boy did they botch that final drive. Clock management was questionable then they refuse to run or throw a short pass on 3rd and 1 and I would have gone for it on 4th down. Playing conservative against the Bills is usually a losing strategy. I hope this doesn't start a spiral downward similar to when they blew the Vikings game.

I was frustrated with this initially but the team REALLY needed to end that hideous road losing streak and Ivey was overwhelmed by the moment and CoJo was having a good game so I'm ok with it as a one off.

No need to tank anyway. The Rams got us covered. Like I said last week. We're going streaking. The tank can kiss my all of a sudden honolulu blue kool aid drinking self's ass. We play to win the games, lets get another.

I watched a lot of Jamo at Alabama. He's much more than just a deep threat. He's like Tyreek Hill where he's always a threat to take a short crossing route a long way, he also catches the ball in traffic and addition to having the ability to stretch the field. Edit: I see that bombers posted a video of exactly what I was talking about. Also of note about Jamo's impact. Alabama offense struggled mightily against Auburn last season after he went down early in the game and in the National Champioship without Jamo after destroying Georgia's defense with Jamo in the SEC Championship. He's a major impact player and will transform this offense to a different level once he gets his footing at this level, which might be next season but when he does, he's going to be a massive addition.

Oh I agree. I think the Lions are in house money territory now that they topped last years' win total. Of course losing out would be brutal but I think the Lions have shown enough at this point in the season to be confident that this is a team headed in the right direction. Unless it completely goes off the rails in the last 7 games, I think there should be some good vibes going into the offseason even if they only end up with 6-7 wins or so.

Jets too. All teams that have been scraping by and got exposed a bit today. This is what I said earlier this week in this thread. The Lions might have been 3-6 and the Giants 7-2 but I feel there was very little separating these teams so while I didn't think the Lions would win today especially as convincingly as they did, I thought it was pretty much a coin flip. The margins are razor thin in this league. There's a few elite teams and a few really bad teams but about 18-20 teams are pretty evenly matched and the Lions are in that group. Even Minnesota I don't think is much better than the Lions despite what the record states.

Yep, that's what I've been saying for a couple of weeks. Lets root for Lions win and for this group to build a winning culture and just root for the Rams to continue to lose to get that high draft pick. I'm done with rooting for losses and the tank unless it was the last game of the season and big draft position was at stake.

Well, that was certainly a nice win I'd say. Kind of like buddha in Bears Country, I'm here in Giants/Jets land and was surrounded by Giants fans today so it was nice to stick it to them after today. I don't want to get too excited because...Lions but you just get the feel of a team that is about to turn a corner. Of course it could all blow up this week if the Bills manhandle them but you can see the confidence growing with the young guys and there's plenty of good talent on IR that will help out in the coming weeks/next season so I think some cautious optimism is there to be had which is a major upgrade from the apathy of felt for this organization for way too long. Also, that Rams bean continues to become more magical so... good day indeed.

Well, the Lions are usually in the 20% by Thanksgiving so lets give thanks, so to speak, for Lions games to still have "some" meaning this time of year. With that said, we'll likely get a dose of reality the next 2 games and be talking draft with a 3-8 Lions team but for now, we're in the hunt baby.

The score was deceiving in the Dallas game. That was a one score game late until Goff threw that untimely interception. The margins are razor thin in this league. Lets look at the Lions losses... Right there with Philly, make one final stop and they probably win that game based on well their offense was playing Vikings - The Lions controlled the majority of the game. Their kicker sucked, the Vikings kicker didn't Seahawks - Just like the Philly game. Shootout but just couldn't make that final stop to get the ball back. Patriots - Complete disaster but a one off as it turns out Cowboys - As I mentioned before, this was a 10-6 game late then the wheels came off. Lions were missing all their offensive weapons in this game, it was a minor miracle that they even had a shot in the 4th Dolphins - Similar to the Eagles and Seahawks games. Defense optional game but they were right there at the end, just couldn't get that final stop The Lions have been right there in every game but one. Lets look at the Giants wins... Titans - The Titans had control a lot of this game. Credit to the Giants for coming back but the Titans missed a very makeable FG at the end Panthers - Late FG to eek one out against a bad team Bears- Grinded out a win against a Fields who isn't nearly the player he is now Packers - Looked like a good win at the time but a close win against what turns out to be a mediocre Packers team Ravens - Good win but a fortunate win. I watched this game, the Ravens controlled large portions of it and gave it away pretty much. Good win though no doubt. Jaguars - Eeked out a win against the Jags Texans - Grinded out a win against the worst team in the league at home I'm not saying that the Lions are as good as the Giants and the Giants deserve credit for making the plays in crunch time that the Lions didn't but the margin between the teams isn't nearly as big as the record would indicate. With that said, I do think the Lions will be in tough this week because it's a bad matchup for them in terms of playing a team that runs, runs and runs some more.

Stuck in the middle? The Lions drafted 7 and 2 the last two drafts, are in line for two top 10 picks possibly, top 15 at worst (unless the Rams go on some miracle run) and will have five top 75 picks in this draft. It's a clear direction, a clear rebuild. There is no wandering in purgatory, treadmill team thing here. This is a full scale rebuild. Whether it leads to better things down the road is another question but there's a clear plan here.

A couple of things here. It's 9 games into the season so the wins aren't meaningless when you're still within striking distance of a playoff spot and q young team winning games should never be considered meaningless. I know some disagree but winning culture is built by...winning. I'd say the closest thing to a meaningless win is the final game against the Packers last season when the Packers were playing a lot of backups and that win dropped them from 1 to 2 in the draft order (Thanks Jags for making the win hurt a lot less) but these two wins are important in that the team is learning how to win the close games that they lost so many times in the last two years and... the season isn't over yet. They're not making the playoffs but at least it's nice to have "something" to play for as we near Thanksgiving. The other thing is that I'm not going to hold the previous regimes drafting record against this current regime so I don't subscribe to the theory that Holmes and co. will screw up drafting and developing just because previous Lions regimes did. We joke about "It's the Lions, they always screw up" and I've partook in these jokes but am also willing to give these guys a chance. Hell, it's been 65 years so the Lions are due for a winning regime, right? RIGHT?

Uh.... Nope, but of course nobody media person will mention that because, well you know why. Some society we live in.

Sigh

THE craziest game I've ever seen in my 35 years or so of watching football. I can't think of another that measures up.

That was an awesome 4th outside of the long Fields TD run, D stepped up big time and Hutch was a menace all game. We should be thanking our lucky stars that the Jags Jagged and passed on Hutch. And what in the living hell just happened in the Vikings game.

Yeah, stacking the starting lineup and leaving the bench bereft of any useful players was always a poor strategy. Granted, having Burks and Bagley out of the lineup makes putting together quality rotations together a task but Casey has found a way to make the worst of these rotations. Still not a fan of Bey and Bojan in the same rotation, kind of redundant.

Their skillsets are a perfect match, the thumper and the playmaker. Too early to anoint Joseph but his emergence greatly lessens the need to draft a safety now. Corner, on the other hand, will likely be one of the top priorities.

My point is, nobody is saying that the Lions had bad injury luck. It's always, the Lions just suck that's all. Even today, with Green Bay's injuries, the Lions were still ravaged by injury. They're still missing most of their receivers, their star RB was barely a factor (as much as Aaron Jones was) adn are without their best defensive player for the rest of the season, their highest paid defensive player and the guy who was their best defensive player in this game got knocked out of this game by his own teammate so, with all due respect, I'd rather not hear about the poor Packers injury luck being the major reason why the Lions won.

I mean, the Lions have had 5-6 key guys out all year, at minimum, so that excuse for another team doesn't hold water with me.

The Lions tried everything to SOL this game but ultimately didn't. I thought this was earmarked for a 16-15 loss the moment the Packers kicked the field goal to make it 15-9. Nice to see the young guys ball out. Joseph has been a revelation and then he gets hurt of course but he looks like a player. Barnes looking good too, Paschal as well.

Yes, Ragnow's extension kicks in next season I believe and Decker restructured his contract to defer to future years but those are already counted against the cap. I thought you were referencing unsigned players that were due for raises, like UFAs or rookies coming off of rookie deals. Ultimately, the Lions fate will be decided largely by their drafting. The Lions aren't at the point where free agents are going to make much of a difference.