2026 NFL Postseason

[Nate7474]

1 hour ago, sagnam said:

The need to act like Holmes and Campbell are always right is near cult like. It’s acceptable to be a fan of someone and still disagree with some of their decisions. You are allowed to expect more and still support them. You are even allowed to openly question them without wanting them replaced!

 

Why are people like this? If we aren’t winning then the plan didn’t work. It’s not really even debatable. The “rebuild” is over, no more looking toward the next draft. There is enough talent on this team to be in the playoffs. Something went wrong. It’s not just injuries, SF has an entire conspiracy theory around their injuries and they won a road playoff game.

Criticizing is fine and I think for this year there is a couple valid things that I would.

1) Counting on Glasgow and rookies on the line

2) Relying on Davenport to be healthy and productive 

3) This may be just my opinion but I didn’t like the RB usage this year. Monty didn’t get used well and Gibbs got overused. 
4) Overaggressive approach offensively the second half of the year. Gimmick plays when not needed and 4th down calls 
5) Defense being stubbornly stuck to high usage of man to man even when injuries caught up. 
 

Things that I don’t think are fair criticism is for injuries and not trading for players. I am of the opinion that you basically never trade middle of the season on the NFL unless you need only 1 player. That was not the Lions this year. 

[Motown Bombers]

Let’s make a trade to make a trade so we can say we did something. 
 

If the Eagles would have just kept Sweat and Williams instead of trading for Phillips, maybe they’re still playing but they made a trade because they want to win!

Edited 22 hours ago by Motown Bombers

[sagnam]

Eagles won the Super Bowl last year and made the playoffs this year. It’s a weird angle to take, but OK. The Lions missed the playoffs. They failed. Throwing your hands up like, “welp, nothing at all we could have done differently, hopefully we get lucky next year” is a loser mentality. What could they have done better? What decisions held them back? These are valid questions.

 

As Nate said, it looks like the RB usage has driven one half of our inseparable duo to want out of town. Is he cooked? Or was it inability to see the value of Montgomery? In mid October, “Gibbs has played 230 snaps this season, or 62 percent, while Montgomery has played 143 snaps, which equates to 39 percent of the team's action.” Would Gibbs have been more productive later in the season if he wasn’t overused in the first third?

[gehringer_2]

6 hours ago, sagnam said:

Eagles won the Super Bowl last year and made the playoffs this year. It’s a weird angle to take, but OK. The Lions missed the playoffs. They failed. Throwing your hands up like, “welp, nothing at all we could have done differently, hopefully we get lucky next year” is a loser mentality. What could they have done better? What decisions held them back? These are valid questions.

 

As Nate said, it looks like the RB usage has driven one half of our inseparable duo to want out of town. Is he cooked? Or was it inability to see the value of Montgomery? In mid October, “Gibbs has played 230 snaps this season, or 62 percent, while Montgomery has played 143 snaps, which equates to 39 percent of the team's action.” Would Gibbs have been more productive later in the season if he wasn’t overused in the first third?

Both RB saw their success rate fall by about the same % - which goes right to the OL. But Gibbs rushes per game were about the same as last season. A chunk of the shift was that Montgomery lost rushing attempts to not to more runs by Gibbs but pass targets to Gibbs.

[Motown Bombers]

Like I said, if the Eagles keep their star defensive lineman, maybe they are in the Super Bowl again. But drafting, developing and retaining isn’t fun. 

[MichiganCardinal]

7 hours ago, sagnam said:

Eagles won the Super Bowl last year and made the playoffs this year. It’s a weird angle to take, but OK. The Lions missed the playoffs. They failed. Throwing your hands up like, “welp, nothing at all we could have done differently, hopefully we get lucky next year” is a loser mentality. What could they have done better? What decisions held them back? These are valid questions.

I don't think it has to do with throwing your hands up. I think it's just a matter of understanding that (1) they're not that far away, (2) drastic departures from the course are not needed, and (3) any drastic changes--at least as it relates to player personnel--have downstream consequences that you'll have to pay.

While I think "luck" in some sense is a requirement to win three straight in January, in order to play in February (look at the damn Patriots path), I also don't think that's a real plan or part of their calculus. I just think they have their plan, believe in it, and aren't going to knee jerk away from it because of a 9-8 season in what was a very difficult schedule.

That is just to say I think those questions are being asked internally. I think they recognize and appreciate that they had the worst center in all of football last year starting in between two rookies, and that the run game was never going to get off the ground (no pun intended) with that setup. Obviously they recognized Morton as a problem, they fired him before everyone had even flown home for the offseason, and hired his replacement by mid-January. I just would be a little surprised if they make any huge moves (maybe notwithstanding Tyler Linderbaum, that would actually make a lot of sense if Decker retired and they planned to draft his replacement).

[MichiganCardinal]

RE Montgomery: While I love Monty, and I think his return is probably the best bet for the offense, he's also not irreplaceable, just like Jamaal Williams wasn't irreplaceable. The advanced metrics that brought Montgomery here in 2023 aren't what they once were (though, again, neither was the offensive line). Monty averaged 2.2 YAC/Attempt this year (a low in Detroit) and had only three broken tackles all season. He hadn't had below 16 broken tackles to this point in his career. He's also getting up there in years for running backs. He'll be 29 next season. For context, Saquon's drop off this year happened after he turned 28. When you look at current NFL RBs performing at a high level past 28, you're looking at a very limited list: Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffery, and Saquon are the only three above 600 yards. Is Monty among that elite group?

As potential replacements go, Javonte Williams recorded 2.5 YAC/Attempt behind the Dallas offensive line and was 2nd to only Jonathan Taylor in broken tackles. He's a free agent and three years younger than Monty. JK Dobbins is two years younger (which surprised me) and averaged 2.4 YAC/Attempt with 9 broken tackles in Denver this year. Thinking outside the box, De'Von Achane is entering the final year of his rookie contract and the Dolphins have Jaylen Wright in the wings. They may trade Achane, even if it's a one-year rental option.

[Motown Bombers]

I still like Vaki. His build, measurable, and style are all exactly like Montgomery. Injuries really slowed his progress this year. 

[MichiganCardinal]

14 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I still like Vaki. His build, measurable, and style are all exactly like Montgomery. Injuries really slowed his progress this year. 

I do too. I probably wouldn't trust him as Montgomery's replacement next year, but he could be penciled in for 2027 if they had to replace Monty with a one-year rental.

[Stanley70]

Of all the Holmes picks, Vaki is the most questionable. He spent a fourth on him, and traded up adding a 6th and a 2024 and 2025 fourth.. He isn't fast enough to be a safety, so he is a RB. He had 42 total carries at Utah. 

He has been, when healthy, the fourth option at RB. I wouldn't count on him to be more than a RB3 on reliability alone.

I guess if you like a guy you take him but trading up wasn't a good idea. Kind of a nitpick in Holmes draft record, but they could have used actual depth at positions they needed like safety or TE.

 

[Motown Bombers]

9 minutes ago, Stanley70 said:

Of all the Holmes picks, Vaki is the most questionable. He spent a fourth on him, and traded up adding a 6th and a 2024 and 2025 fourth.. He isn't fast enough to be a safety, so he is a RB. He had 42 total carries at Utah. 

He has been, when healthy, the fourth option at RB. I wouldn't count on him to be more than a RB3 on reliability alone.

I guess if you like a guy you take him but trading up wasn't a good idea. Kind of a nitpick in Holmes draft record, but they could have used actual depth at positions they needed like safety or TE.

 

In 2024 they had Joseph, Branch and Melifonwu at safety. They were set at safety. At TE they had Laporta and Wright. They were fine there. Montgomery’s original contract with the Lions would have been up now. Drafting a developmental running back who is an excellent special teamer made sense.