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Week Four: Seattle Seahawks (3-0) @ Detroit Lions (2-1)


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It's fair to critique Arnold, but the difference between he and Okudah is that Arnold is in position to make plays far more often than Okudah ever was. His coverage has been pretty good, he's just got to get use to the NFL game. Also, I think many of the plays he's getting flagged on now won't get flagged later in the season. And I say all this as the guy who flippantly called him "Terrion Okudah" last week.

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4 minutes ago, holygoat said:

It's fair to critique Arnold, but the difference between he and Okudah is that Arnold is in position to make plays far more often than Okudah ever was. His coverage has been pretty good, he's just got to get use to the NFL game. Also, I think many of the plays he's getting flagged on now won't get flagged later in the season. And I say all this as the guy who flippantly called him "Terrion Okudah" last week.

What do those numbers look like if we leave out two of his four DPI calls. They have all been a little bit weak, but two of them, in my view, were wholly unjustified. 

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5 hours ago, Jason_R said:

What do those numbers look like if we leave out two of his four DPI calls. They have all been a little bit weak, but two of them, in my view, were wholly unjustified. 

Rookie cornerbacks take some time to start getting respect from the officials. It's just the way it is. They can get away with more in college and they didn't play against all the talent that the NFL has. And the game speeds up. Arnold will be a very good player, eventually. Fans just need to have patience with the kid 

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3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Rookie cornerbacks take some time to start getting respect from the officials. It's just the way it is. They can get away with more in college and they didn't play against all the talent that the NFL has. And the game speeds up. Arnold will be a very good player, eventually. Fans just need to have patience with the kid 

Agreed. The refs are picking on him. 

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To me Arnold has looked much better than Okudah ever did. Yeah he is handsy and definitely needs to work on that but he consistently is in position to make plays but unfortunately for him just hasn't made them enough. But the fact that he isn't getting ran off screen like previous DBs we had is a positive as far as I'm concerned. You figure sooner or later he will adjust to the NFL game and/or start getting the benefit of the whistle, and if that happens I think he will end up being a good one. 

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Kindle Vildor and Stephen Dorsey are both better than Okudah ever was at the NFL level. Maybe Rakestraw too. The fact that Arnold is starting right now means to me that the staff feels he is better than those guys. They're going to put the 11 best on the field to win us games. Which means that the staff feels (and I trust the staff in their assessments) that right here, right now, Arnold is better than Okudah ever was.

He's handsy at times, but there's only been one time where I saw him panic and grab. It's more just aggressiveness. Which he'll learn to do more subtly, in more appropriate times, and just generally less, as he gets NFL experience and trusts his skillset more. I'm not worried at all.

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This is an important game.  They come back from the bye week and have 4 out of 5 road games against very tough teams.  Its been a different NFL season so far and very difficult to predict who is truly a playoff team.  There are going to be a lot of Lions fans that are going to have to see a therapist lol. 

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This is a tough one to call.  I don’t have a very good read on what to expect tonight.  

The only thing that I’m really sure about is TP wrecking the game thread with his constant whining and complaining  about the best coaching staff this franchise has ever seen.   

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No to go all TP here, I can be fairly glass half empty about the Lions myself, but I have only small amounts of faith in Aaron Glenn's defense against Geno Smith. I thought for a while that it was Aaron Glenn's defenses against any mobile QB with an arm, Geno or otherwise. They got rolled last year by Lamar in addition to struggling against Geno. But then they clearly limited Kyler Murray this year.

I'm still in the believe it when I see it category I guess as it relates to this defense being able to contain Geno Smith and prevent him from looking like Montana out there. I feel this is still going to be an 11-12 win team, but this game won't be one of them. Even at home, they just don't seem to have an answer for Geno Smith and so I feel we're losing tonight.

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It would not shock me if the Lions lost. If I was betting man I wouldn't bet on that, but I'm also not going to be overtly surprised if it happens. I felt the Lions did quite well last week in containing Murray (just 45 yards), but they haven't historically been great against mobile QBs. Hopefully last week was an indicator that they're putting more importance on containment, but I'll believe it when I see it. So I'm already feeling a bit nervous.

And then as you said @Mr.TaterSalad, Geno some how just LOVES playing in Ford Field: Across two games he's 55 of 71 passes complete for 648 yards - 4 TDs, only sacked once, also ran for 69 yards and a TD as well.

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The Lions have had a hard time containing mobile QBs including Geno Smith because they have had bad players on defense. Now that they have better players on defense they are playing better defense. 

I don’t know if Detroit will win tonight, and it won’t be good if Branch has to sit, but I would be really surprised if Seattle puts up 30 this time. 

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For an optimistic take, I like the Lions tonight for a variety of reasons. Enough to justify bullets.

  • The offense still has a lot of untapped potential, even if the defense takes a step back between the injuries and in facing All Pro Lion Killer Geno Smith.
  • There were comments made by the team in the preseason about games that they had circled. The three that come to mind are this one, the Cowboys, and Thanksgiving.
  • It's a new coach in Seattle, who I personally don't think is as good, and definitely isn't as experienced, as Pete Carroll.
  • The Seattle defense has not played an offense nearly to Detroit's caliber. I would go as far as to say that Detroit's offense on its own is probably better than an All Star offense comprised of the best players Denver, New England, and Miami had available when they played Seattle (i.e., minus Tua). I think they may be caught on their early season heels by whatever Campbell and Johnson dial up.
  • It's a primetime game. In regular season primetime games under Dan Campbell, the Lions are 6-1 and should be 7-0. The only loss came at the hands of Brad Allen in Dallas. When the lights are brightest they show up the mostest.

All that is to say, I like the Lions a lot. I wouldn't even be all that surprised to see a similar offensive explosion as we got against Green Bay on Thursday Night Football last year, where they took a 27-3 lead into the half. It's possible that Seattle is better than I am giving them credit for, but I think we see Detroit football at its best tonight.

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I would love to see an offensive explosion but I expect it will be a close  game. Detroit will try to pound Seattle’s decimated DL. Goff can’t be back there in 3rd and long. Seattle will pick on Arnold and whoever is replacing Branch at safety if he can’t go.  

Detroit 26 Seattle 24

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Division is really tough, probably the toughest division in the league, the Lions have to win games like this at home. Plus the schedule gets quite a bit tougher after the bye week, can't lose this game.

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1 minute ago, NYLion said:

Division is really tough, probably the toughest division in the league, the Lions have to win games like this at home. Plus the schedule gets quite a bit tougher after the bye week, can't lose this game.

They also have to win games like this for tiebreaker and home field advantage purposes. Seattle is a team they may very well see again in the playoffs, should both teams make it. We need this win to hold the tiebreaker if that situation arises.

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4 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

They also have to win games like this for tiebreaker and home field advantage purposes. Seattle is a team they may very well see again in the playoffs, should both teams make it. We need this win to hold the tiebreaker if that situation arises.

I'm not buying stock in Seattle yet. They beat Bo Nix in his first start, Walter White's wife and the Tankriots. Seattle has plenty of talent and shouldn't be underestimated but I'm not convinced that they're a playoff team yet.

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Pete Carroll was one of the greatest in-game football coaches in history.   He was able to see things and make adjustments on the fly like few ever have.   Removing him from the equation of this rivalry changes so much about this matchup.    

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1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

Pete Carroll was one of the greatest in-game football coaches in history.   He was able to see things and make adjustments on the fly like few ever have.   Removing him from the equation of this rivalry changes so much about this matchup.    

Great point.

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