Week One: Detroit Lions (0-0) @ Green Bay Packers (0-0)

[Sports_Freak]

7 hours ago, Jason_R said:

MB makes an excellent point. Any OC should be able to put up points with a roster like he had in Detroit. The trick plays were cool and gave him an aura, but as we know all too well sometimes they backfired. And sometimes it seemed Ben was calling plays for his resume, not necessarily to win games. I think Dan alluded to this when he said Johnnie Morton was a grinder, didn’t want to be a head coach, just wanted to coach offense. I think they’ll try to run a little more and take a little bit of the load off Goff. 

What turned me off on Ben was in our playoff game last year when he did a WR option and let Jaymo throw the ball...it ended being an interception when, I think, we were down by 14 points and moving the ball. No reason for a risky trick play in that situation.

[sagnam]

14 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

The question should be if Ben Johnson remains elite without Goff. He was a nobody and Goff is the only QB he has ever worked with. 

I don’t care much about the Ben Johnson. He’s the coach of another team now, his success or failure has little to do with this team. How this team performs at the skill positions may be impacted by changing coordinators. That matters to me. And it doesn’t say Johnson is some sort of savant. It could just say that his ideas worked with this combination of players.

Edited yesterday at 03:04 AM by sagnam

[Jason_R]

I have zero belief that Goff is going to line up behind Decker/Sewell/Glasgow/Mahogany/Ratledge, with Montgomery and Gibbs in the backfield, ASB, Jaymo, and Teslaa as his wide outs, and LaPorta as his tight end and they're all going to say, "We don't know what to do without Ben!" They will score a lot of points. 

[Jimbo]

I feel like our biggest loss in the off-season was Ragnow.  If he was hurting as much to make him retire, it wasn't as much as his dominant play as is his mind.  Good thing is we are putting a veteran to replace him.  Won't be as dominant although Glasgow is a smart player. The thing that scares me the most this season is the health of our offensive line.  Maybe they are deeper than I think although a major injury to either tackle or Glasgow could be the end of our Super Bowl aspirations.  Every time a player is down is going to be scary after last year.

The whole Parson's trade and us losing coordinators doesn't scare me because I think the health of the team is most important.  The beginning of the season is going to be tough regardless and I can't wait for texts from my friends that are always negative Nancy's if they lose this game or go on a two game losing streak or lose to a team that is just a better team this year.

Lions win 27-23

[gehringer_2]

58 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

the health of the team is most important.

Absolutely. In the NFL injuries are almost always what sorts out the handful of teams that start out a season with SB potential. Holmes does seem to understand this better than any Lions GM in my memory and always tries to build depth.

Edited yesterday at 01:35 PM by gehringer_2

[Tigeraholic1]

Speaking of health, glad to see TeSlaa is only dealing with an illness.

 

[Jason_R]

42 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Speaking of health, glad to see TeSlaa is only dealing with an illness.

 

Yes and the illness is his sick route running, amirite?

[Motown Bombers]

This is why the Lions don’t have to trade for Parsons. They draft stars. 

[Jason_R]

24 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

This is why the Lions don’t have to trade for Parsons. They draft stars. 

yEs buT they lOSt Two cOordiNatorS.

Watch them go into Baltimore this year and give the Ravens the Honolulu Blue Flu and send Baltimore into losses against KC and Houston the next two weeks. 

[Sports_Freak]

3 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Absolutely. In the NFL injuries are almost always what sorts out the handful of teams that start out a season with SB potential. Holmes does seem to understand this better than any Lions GM in my memory and always tries to build depth.

And save some of the salary cap to bring in replacement players for injured ones. I hope.

[Sports_Freak]

4 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I feel like our biggest loss in the off-season was Ragnow.  If he was hurting as much to make him retire, it wasn't as much as his dominant play as is his mind.  Good thing is we are putting a veteran to replace him.  Won't be as dominant although Glasgow is a smart player. The thing that scares me the most this season is the health of our offensive line.  Maybe they are deeper than I think although a major injury to either tackle or Glasgow could be the end of our Super Bowl aspirations.  Every time a player is down is going to be scary after last year.

The whole Parson's trade and us losing coordinators doesn't scare me because I think the health of the team is most important.  The beginning of the season is going to be tough regardless and I can't wait for texts from my friends that are always negative Nancy's if they lose this game or go on a two game losing streak or lose to a team that is just a better team this year.

Lions win 27-23

I read an article in the Free Press today that said Ragnow quit because of injuries AND he didn't like his contract. That's the first I heard anything about money. An article from Carlos Monarrez. I think he's lying, to be honest;

"Signs of impending personnel problems were evident in the offseason contract drama with center Frank Ragnow and linebacker Alex Anzalone. Ragnow was playing in hellish pain and he wasn't happy with his contract, so he retired two years early."

 

[Hongbit]

Carlos Monarrez is the Cleveland Browns of sportswriting. 

[Jason_R]

21 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Carlos Monarrez is the Cleveland Browns of sportswriting. 

He should be taped to the goalposts at Allen Park and left indefinitely. 

[number20]

6 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I feel like our biggest loss in the off-season was Ragnow. 

Agree, and losing our all-world center to retirement is certainly a blow. A bit of consolation though, for whatever it’s worth… Philly lost their all-world center to retirement last year as well (Jason Kelce) - who was just as impactful/important to the Eagles as Frank was to the Lions - and still won the Super Bowl

 

[Motown Bombers]

Bears one of the worst run. 

 

[sagnam]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

Bears one of the worst run. 

 

It’s amazing the difference Shiela Ford Hamp has made. She seems to be fully aware of her strengths and limitations and humble enough to leave the football decisions to football people. Love to see it and glad she’s the owner.

 

It is almost universally a bad idea to hire the coach before GM and yet, the Lions did just that and knocked it out of the park. I was terrified when Campbell wore the helmet to the press conference that fiery year. I thought he was a clown. I was completely wrong. He knows what he’s doing, when to push a player and when to crack a joke. The guy really is a master of managing people. The there’s the game that made many question his in-game management, when they failed to get a field goal off at the end of a half. What that game actually proved is that he’s humble enough to take the blame and cares so much that he was legitimately disappointed in himself for hurting his players. He’s never made that mistake again.

 

It’s really fun to have a well run organization to cheer for. It’s even better that the people in charge seem fun too. The coaching staff and front office mostly seem like they’d be fun to hang out with on a summer Sunday just talking about whatever.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

Bears one of the worst run. 

 

Ahh. This story hitting probably explains why Valenti et al were ragging on Lions ownership with particular vigor today when I heard a few minutes in the car earlier this afternoon. "Don't want to win enough", "We're good, it's good enough", "Ownership isn't driven to win", "Windows are real and they close" - and on and on and on.....

Edited 19 hours ago by gehringer_2

[ben9753]

19 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Ahh. This story hitting probably explains why Valenti et al were ragging on Lions ownership with particular vigor today when I heard a few minutes in the car earlier this afternoon. "Don't want to win enough", "We're good, it's good enough", "Ownership isn't driven to win", "Windows are real and they close" - and on and on and on.....

I dont mind Valenti. There's been so much positivity around everything the Lions do the past few years in the media. I don't mind the jerk who points out, hey, they haven't actually won a SB. Yeah, they've been good for a couple of years, but they're not the 07 Patriots.

[Sports_Freak]

5 hours ago, Jason_R said:

He should be taped to the goalposts at Allen Park and left indefinitely. 

Or stuffed in a locker overnight. 

[Jason_R]

He and Rob Parker deserve each other. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Jason_R

[Motown Bombers]

Rob Parker blocked me on Twitter because I tweeted one of his articles at him after Stafford won the Super Bowl where he said Stafford would never win a Super Bowl. 

[sagnam]

 

Guess it’s official. Parsons is a little bitch. Wonder if he hates play action passes and stunts? Soft as OSU.

Edited 12 hours ago by sagnam

[ben9753]

Love the trash talk. Sunday is going to be awesome.

[RedRamage]

On 9/3/2025 at 7:13 PM, Motown Bombers said:

Jared Goff is the luckiest QB to ever play. He always ends up on the teams with the best players and coaches. 

If this is intended to be a response to my post, then you completely missed the point of what I was saying. I said it's not fair to ask if Goff can be elite without Johnson. It's not fair because Goff has had at least some level of success under two different coaching staffs. In a worst case senario (ie, if I was trying to give Goff as little credit as possible) this implies that he as at least basic skills and he can be taught/trained by multiple people to play at an elite level. At worst Goff has great talent and great ability to learn and follow instructions.

I went on to further say that Morton has been handed an load of talent. If Goff and/or the offense faulters it's on Morton, not Goff.

I'll say straight for the record: I was definitely one of the ones who was questioning Goff when he first came to the Lions. Even after the amazing finish in 2022 I still had doubts. Straight up: I was wrong. My post was not questioning if Goff is good... there's no question there. Goff is very good. Would he have the same success without the great players around him? No, of course not because football is a very interconnected sport. Would AMSB have the same success with a lesser QB? Would Gibbs has the same success without a great OL? No, because football is interconnected.

[RedRamage]

21 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

An article from Carlos Monarrez. I think he's lying, to be honest;

 

 

Yeah, this should be the default response to any article from him.