RedRamage

But how much of that was because of Slater? Bob Quinn was with the Patriots from 2000-2015, only two losing season during that time.

And while we're on the topic of side notes: Was anyone else surprised at how little Ben Johnson was featured? Now I'm sure part of that was just that the Duce/AG part was very entertaining, but honestly it just felt like Johnson wasn't around.

Agreed... and the stuff they did show was very interesting to me. Showing a bit of the players themselves... some of the players families... how things like cuts down decisions are made... how Brad and Dan handled cutting players. That was very entertaining to me. On a side note: Does anyone not think that if (when?) Aaron Glenn gets a HC job that Duce Staley won't be gone in an instant as his OC?

There's probably truth there. I don't think we really saw any secret intel on the Lions in the show, but of course there's probably hours and hours and hours of footage that exists that we never saw, and of course there were parts that were blurred. A team may worry that if they are filmed each and every day that possibility of some of that film leaking out to the opposition would increase. Now, if the team itself was in charge of the filming, editing, and distribution that might lessen the chance of operational secrets getting out but then each team would have to have a greatly expanded media division and it's questionable if the revenue from a one hour a week show for each of the 32 teams would merit that increased cost.

If you're talking about things that are against NFL rules, why wouldn't the NFL want that footage? I mean I guess you could say they know rules are being broken and they're all okay with it (for example, baseball and steroids in the 90s). If you're talking about real illegal things... I would hope that the NFL would want evidence of that as well to get that out there. Maybe I'm just not understanding what you're trying to say.

Just finished the last episode. Damn man... that was very enjoyable watching hard knocks. I seriously wish they had something like this all season long. It was be so much fun to have a hour show each week between the games just showing some of the behind the scenes stuff. Mix in some of the highlights from the last game... What would be pretty much must see TV for me.

Yup... the correct answer is: D. All of the Above.

I honestly don't understand this. Boyle looked awful. It's not that Blough was that much better, but he was better. Why would you not try to get Blough back from the Vikings Practice Squad. I guess that assume that Blough wants to come back, but I think even the 3rd string QB on a bad team is preferable to practice squad on a semi-decent team, isn't it? Edit to make clear: I'm NOT saying that I want Blough or that I think he would contribute towards Lions success. I'm just just saying that I feel Boyle will contribute even less so if I had to pick between them I'm picking Blough.

Yeah, I mean a part of me says "Keep him around cause Sudfeld doesn't know the system and if Goff goes down right away we're be stuck with someone who doesn't know the team or plays." But realistically, Blough didn't look great after knowing the teams and plays anyway. Plus there's almost two week until the first game... Sudfeld should at least be semi-familiar with things by then, and if Blough is on the practice squad it's not like they could use him in a game in which Goff got injured anyway.

But, but, but... Sandra Bullock said LT was the most important.

That's like saying Crimea probably isn't am ideal vacation destination right now.

2022: Paschal - injured 2021: Onwuzurike - Did start any games in 21 but played in 16. Now injured 2020: Swift - Good player, but also had some injuries 2019: Tavai - Bust, Only two years with the team, just 6 starts 2018: Davis - Showed some promise, but never paned out. 3 years and off the team. 2017: Tabor - Bust, two years and gone. 2016: Robinson - Has some success, but never was a star player, 4 years with the team. Rams picked him up and he started 14 games for them last year in their super bowl drive. Probably worthy of a 2nd round pick for his career so far, but the Lions certainly didn't get 2nd round value for him. 2015: Abdullah - Another promising player who was frequently injured and failed to accomplish much with the Lions. 2014: Van Noy - A bust for the Lions but made a decent name for himself away from Detroit. 2013: Slay - a bonafide good player, good value in 2nd round. 2012: Broyles - Bust, played 21 games across 3 season before leaving the game 2011: Young & Leshoure - Bust, and bust. Young played 26 games, Leshoure 17 2010: The Lions did not draft a bust in the second round this year... 2009: Delmas - Delmas wasn't exactly a star player, but I believe he was decent. Played 5 seasons for detroit. 2008: Dizon - Bust, 28 games over two season, zero starts. 2007: Stanton, Alama-Francis, Alexander - Stanton was a backup QB drafted way too high. Alama-Francis had injury issues, Alexander also had injury issues. 2006: Bullocks - Two seasons and he was out of the game. 2005: Cody - Played 4 season for the Lions, but only started 11 games. Not much for a 2nd round pick. 2004: Lehman - Decent first year, then injuries sidelined his career. Stuck around for 4 season with the Lions. 2003: Bailey - Decent enough player but I seem to remember he got injured frequently. Stuck around for 4 years. In the past two decades of drafting we had one star player come out of the second round.

This is supposed to be Brad Holmes specialty right? Finding late round gems? He's certainly looked good on Hard Knocks and the coaches seem to love him, so here's hoping!

Not that I believe it, but I would guess the argument would be that he's remorseful that his actions had the unintended consequence of damaging the NFLs public image. Everything he did he feels was fully consensual, but in hindsight he understands that it presents a poor look for a NFL QB and he should have been a better roll model. (Just to be clear: I'm saying that I don't believe that he's actually remorseful.)

This is not for the faint of heart. Lots of bad memories here... but interesting none the less. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aoJlztc_YA

My guess is the reality is somewhere in the middle. I expect the Lions to be improved, but I think people who are expecting/hoping for a division win or even the playoffs are being unrealistic. Obviously it could happen, but I just don't think it will. I think 6 to 7 wins will be a solid improvement and what we should reasonable expect.

Are you daring to criticize the Manager?!? Honestly I have some questions about AJ myself. Last season I felt like he didn't have a lot to work with, but was getting the best he could out of the players he had. This year I feel like he had a (slightly) better team but it's gotten much worse. To be fair, injuries have been a major issue this year, but it just doesn't feel like the players are trying as hard as they did last year. I don't get the feeling they are all pulling together. I'm not sure why this is, and I'm not ready to throw out AJ just yet, but I'm far less impressed and excited about the future now than I was last year around this time.

Because Stafford is the best player the Lions have had in a long time at the biggest position in football? I mean other than Calvin Johnson's number, I suspect Stafford's would be the closest to be worth of retirement (not saying it should be retired, just that of all the numbers out there, you could make a stronger case for '9' than just about any other number with the Lions). The fact that there are "Detroit Rams" shirts made prior to the super bowl kinda shows that Detroit still have a fondness for Stafford. Williams didn't need to do this of course, but honestly I think it's a pretty classy thing to do if true and shows that Williams understands that off the field stuff is important too.

That part I can totally understand... I dunno, I know I'm picking nits here a bit. I really like Campbell, but I wonder sometimes if we're falling too in love with a person that we just don't know enough about. I can foresee a situation 3-4 years down the line where he get fired for never getting about 5 or 6 wins a season and the next guy we bring in is a big cerebral guy and comments start coming out like: "Yeah, Campbell was a great cheerleader and all and he sure bonded with the guys, but we don't need a coach who can do burpees with the team... we need a coach who can understand the game and out plan the other coach. I don't care how many reps he can get... I care how many wins he can get over the other coach."

As much as Patricia was a failure, I don't think his weight was the reason. I think the fact that Campbell is a former player who can still "mix it up" his he players definitely helps him relate better and helps the players bond with him. But being able to work out with your players isn't the only way to bond and certainly not a requirement for success. One need look no further than Andy Reid who's coached his teams to the conference championship 9 times, winning it 3 times and winning a SB once in his 23 years as a coach. If Patricia did that with the Lions no one would care one bit that he was overweight.

I honestly hate that Watson settled with so many of the women. I mean, I know it was the right thing for him to do to get the legal issues out of the way. But it leaves so much uncertainty. I'm not sure what to believe. What we know is that he definitely made advances on the masseuses and some of the cases actions went further. Watson claims any action that happened was consensual. The accusing masseuses say it wasn't. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle, but we just don't know.

I think I could get on board with that. You're right that the local team would have a better insight into what's going on and would be the ones to have to defend their actions more. There are some risks involved in this for the whole league though. Silly example, but let's say a Dolphin player murdered someone but gets off on a technicality (just go with it... I know it's a silly example). The Dolphins say: "He wasn't found guilty by the court, so we're okay with getting him on the team." You could end up with a protest against the league as a whole, not just the Dolphins. Honestly, what might be the smartest thing to do is codify it in the CBA where certain classes of legal issues equal x-number of games automatically suspended, but have that number relatively low. Then (again codified in the CBA) allow the individual teams to punish above and beyond that at their sole discretion. If those are the rules and they are spelled out in the CBA the NFL could at least say something like: "Listen, if it were up to us we'd say blah, blah, blah... but by rule it's a team decision. We can recommend, but we can't force the action."

Yeah, I'd like to know how they are judging that. I'm sure this isn't new information to anyone here but I think football is one of the hardest sports to judge individual or unit performances on. Soooo much of your (or your units) performance relies on how the rest of the team does. An elusive RB makes your OL look better at run blocking... A QB with a quick trigger means sacks and pressures are reduced... A great receiving corps makes the QB able to have a quicker trigger... A great defense that limits opposing scoring means you're not reduced to just a big pass playbook... Makes it hard to just look at simple numbers of draw a conclusion. Presumably ESPN also knows this and is trying to evaluate on more than just raw numbers. But I'd agree that something isn't right with their equation if this is what the results are.

To me it often comes back to a matter of "crimes against the sport" vs. just "normal crimes." And I know that this won't sit well with a number of people, but the NFL's job isn't to police and punish for "normal crimes." If an NFL player goes out and drives drunk he should be held accountable for this crime the same way as if any ordinary joe drove drunk... the criminal justice system should punish that person. Now, "crimes against the sport" are another thing. These things (generally speaking) are completely legal outside of the the sport. Your average Joe and go and bet that his favorite team will lose its upcoming game... that's 100% legal (assuming he's doing it in a legal manner), no problems, no issues, no police, no court, no jail time or fines or anything. If Tom Brady goes to a casino and bets on his team to lose... well, that's a major issue. This is a "crime against the sport" and the league has to punish heavily because they are the only one who will. Watson's accusers had their day(s) in court. The grand jury (where the prosecution lays out their case without the defense being able to say anything) didn't find enough evidence to indict. Many of the civil cases are settled. That's the courts punishing Watson for his "normal crimes" against society. Anything the NFL does on top of that is more window dressing and for PR reasons than anything else.