MichiganCardinal

On the other side of the ball, I think Campbell declining to provide Sheppard with a vote of confidence on 97.1 was telling. I think he will ultimately be back, but I don't think it's guaranteed, if there are better options that present themselves. Most notably, I think you have to call Jim Schwartz. If Schwartz isn't retained by the new Browns coach, I would gauge his interest in a reunion. If you follow his track record, the guy is legitimately one of the best DCs in NFL history. Everywhere he goes, he makes the defense a top unit in the NFL. I think he could get Hutch to break Garrett's record. Other guys I may have some interest in are Brian Flores, Jonathan Gannon, and Todd Bowles. But I wouldn't get too risky with it, I think you can do a lot worse than bringing Sheppard back.

My OC Tier List Top Three 1. Kliff Kingsbury, Free Agent: Probably my top choice at the moment, though I think it would be polarizing and many would hate it. On the surface, his background is in college and he's failed in both Arizona and Washington. But he's a very good OC. He's why Washington went as far as they did last year, a large reason why Jayden Daniels won OROY, and it's not as if he's the reason the Commies lost this year. I see a lot of Washington fans confused why he is leaving and wondering if he was fired or just quit. That said, it's not as if there are no potential drawbacks. Kyler Murray and Jayden Daniels are different quarterbacks than Jared Goff. He would need to adapt his offense to suit the type of talent Detroit has. 2. Kevin Stefanski, Free Agent: I think this is the most logical move if he doesn't get a head coaching gig. He'd be a good hire. But, it also feels like he's a very short-term solution. Either he's good and he bolts for a head coaching gig next offseason, or he's bad and he's the OC version of Matt Eberflus in Dallas, fired after one season. Naturally, anyone you hire for OC will hope to one day leave for a HC position. But ideally you could get at least a few years out of a good candidate before you go back to the drawing board. Stefanski likely won't stop being a hot candidate for open jobs unless he sucks as a coordinator. 3. Pete Carmichael Jr., Broncos Senior Offensive Assistant: This would be a little John Morton 2.0, which makes me nervous, but at least Carmichael has had tangible success as an OC, unlike Morton. If the goal is to replicate the Saints' offensive success with Drew Brees, there's no better man to do it than one of its architects. During the Saints run, Payton and Carmichael actually traded play calling back and forth, which may be something that intrigues Campbell... Now, Carmichael got worse and ultimately fired when Brees and Payton left town. But, it's not as if he had much to work with, trotting out Jameis Winston, Andy Dalton, and Derek Carr while suffering from the cap hell his old bosses put him in. His last year in New Orleans they still finished 9th in scoring and 14th in offensive yards despite starting Derek Carr. When they ditched him for Kubiak, they dropped to 24th and 21st, respectively. Good Candidates 4. Mike Kafka, Giants OC and Interim Head Coach: Kafka is young and a sharp offensive mind. The Giants development of Dart and Skattebo is in no small part thanks to him. He's also not that far removed from a lot of head coaching interest, and he might get interviews this cycle. But he's also not really proven himself as a play caller like some of the above names. I do like him more than his former boss though. 5. Brian Dabboll, Free Agent: It's easy to remember why Dabboll got hired in New York for his work with the Patriots and Bills and forget that he had previously been fired by the Jets, Browns, Dolphins, and Chiefs. Is he a good OC? I think he is. But I'm not sure if he's the chicken or the egg based on the successes of Tom Brady in New England and Josh Allen in Buffalo. I won't hate this if it's the direction Campbell goes. But I won't be surprised by any which direction it goes. Less Enthusiastic 6. Marcus Brady, Chargers Passing Game Coordinator: Brady was the OC for the Colts from 2021 to 2022, where he was pretty good in 2021 with Carson Wentz and then very bad in 2022 with Matt Ryan, getting fired in November. Reich called the plays in Indy though, so fair to say he was something of a scapegoat. He probably deserves another shot, and I wouldn't hate this, but I also don't think it's super likely. He's never called plays, so it would be a weird marriage. 7. Nate Scheelhaase, Rams Passing Game Coordinator: Scheelhaase is a young, up-and-coming OC candidate who has done well this year in the McVay machine and seems likely to get his chance soon as an OC. But he's also unproven, has never called plays, and is in only his second year in the NFL after working with Matt Campbell at Iowa State for five years. I don't hate the idea of finding a young up-and-comer, but it's hard to ignore the known unknowns. Wildcards 8. Mike LaFleur/Klay Kubiak/Grant Udinski, Rams/49ers/Jaguars OC: I lump these three together because I don't think any are particularly likely, but I also wouldn't be shocked by Campbell trying to poach an OC from an organization like the Rams, 49ers, or Jaguars, where their head coach calls the plays. You don't really hear about any of these guys for head coaching gigs (maybe notwithstanding Udinski this cycle), because they are overshadowed by McVay, Shanahan, and Coen. If they don't want to be stuck in coaching purgatory, it's not crazy to think one may take a jump to a play calling role in an offense with weapons like what the Lions have to offer. Though worth noting that Mike LaFleur called plays for the Jets and was terrible (kind of a recurring theme for Jets play callers). 9. David Blough, Commanders Assistant QB Coach: Already mentioned by MTB, this would be out of left field, but I don't hate it if Campbell wants someone to mold who would likely keep the role for a few years. He's very young, but the regime obviously likes him. But, he's never called plays and Campbell would presumably retain play calling duties. I like him more to join as Passing Game Coordinator assuming Shaw leaves with Morton. If they really want youth, Kafka and Scheelhaase are both in their 30s and seem like better options. Internal 10. Scottie Montgomery/Hank Fraley/Mark Brunell: All leave something to be desired. I'd like to keep all three, but frankly if they weren't the guy last cycle, what about 9-8 has set them apart this season? In addition, this would probably come with Campbell keeping play calling, which I am not a fan of. No Thanks 11. Tanner Engstrand, Jets OC: I don't think they would be interested, but I do think he would accept if they were. It could be they didn't see the experience they wanted in an OC last year, and he's now got a year under his belt. I saw nothing out of the New York Jets offense worthy of a promotion though. 12. Eric Bienemy, Bears Running Back Coach: After everyone got up in arms about Bienemy not getting a head coach gig, he's kind of proven everyone right by failing in Washington and at UCLA (though I'm not sure what success actually would look like at the latter). I think there are worse choices out there, but there are better choices too. Ultimately I don't think he will be on the Lions list and I wouldn't at all be surprised if he ends up taking his old job back in KC this offseason.

Vegas is expecting some mostly close games. Saturday 4:30pm: Rams -10 @ Panthers Saturday 8:00pm: Packers +1.5 @ Bears Sunday 1:00pm: Bills -1.5 @ Jaguars Sunday 4:30pm: 49ers +4.5 @ Eagles Sunday 8:00pm: Chargers +3.5 @ Patriots Monday 8:00pm: Steelers +3 @ Texans I'm surprised by the Eagles/49ers spread. Philly has played five playoff teams since October and gone 2-3, scoring an average of 15 points per game. Hard to win by 5+ when you can't break 20. I also think the Panthers cover. Did people forget they beat the Rams like a month ago? Bills/Jaguars is a sneaky pick to be the game of the weekend, . Rams over Panthers, 34-31 Packers over Bears, 17-13 Bills over Jaguars, 33-30 (OT) 49ers over Eagles, 20-10 Patriots over Chargers, 31-23 Texans over Steelers, 24-9

This was as big of a victory as the final score for me, being at Soldier Field. If I had to watch those bums finally get a 4000-yard passer it would have sucked. The Bears fan I went with knew all the marks Caleb needed. He only needed 108 yards to pass Kramer's (16-game) record and it still took him into the 4th quarter.

First person I thought of was Dan Campbell's 20-something year old son. Couldn't imagine where he got that kind of money to support his dad's rival.

I'm really bummed to hear that. Pat would drive me crazy in recent years with his weird off-the-wall takes, it was like he had taken a page from Valenti's book inexplicably. But his voice was unmatched. You knew who you were listening to when you turned on the station and he was (and is) a voice of Detroit sports, in the same way Ernie, Ken Kal, and Dan Miller are. His institutional knowledge of local sports was also unparalleled. In his heyday, he could tell you the kicker's names at both Warren Mott and Waterford Mott, and which one would be more reliable from 40 yards out.

(2) Patriots over (7) Chargers (6) Bills over (3) Jaguars (5) Texans over (4) Steelers (7) Packers over (2) Bears (6) 49ers over (3) Eagles (5) Rams over (4) Panthers (6) Bills over (1) Broncos (5) Texans over (2) Patriots (1) Seahawks over (7) Packers (6) 49ers over (5) Rams (6) Bills over (5) Texans (6) 49ers over (1) Seahawks (6A) Bills over (6N) 49ers

Shoot your shot and expect the unexpected.

I expect Joseph will be back. Branch should be back by Thanksgiving. Though can’t foresee whether either be their former self. LaPorta should be back. My understanding is that it’s just a tricky situation and a dangerous injury so they’re being careful. I’m holding out hope there is a call between Decker and Ragnow where both agree to give it one more go. And then the call gets detailed in the documentary made about the 2026-2027 Detroit Lions.

Soldier Field was fine. Probably ranks last in NFL stadiums I’ve been to though, and around equal with the old Oakland Coliseum. Those fans are a weird bunch. Up in the 400s if you were just listening in without context you would think the Bears were 4-13 not 11-6. A real sorry bunch. (Not that they had much to cheer for for 45 minutes but still). Only one tool bag who tried to start beef though. Too damn cold for that.

it’s cold

Garrett set the record. I wouldn’t mind hiring both Stefanski and Schwartz

This is fair. “The sport” isn’t really one thing after all. What I want as a fan, versus what another person wants as a fan, versus what Warde Manuel wants as an administrator, versus what ESPN wants, versus what the NCAA wants, are all very different. For me, I’m an NFL fan above all. I have my alma maters that I will like to see win. But when they’re not playing, I’d much rather see Indiana, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, or Arizona State win a national championship over (yet) another Ohio State, Alabama, or Georgia.

Ultimately it's just my opinion, but I don't think a 136-team league, or even just the 68 in the power conferences, should be reduced to three or four who go to and usually win the championship every year because of a dichotomy in how the sport is designed into haves and have nots. It's a similar problem that I have with baseball with five teams combining for something like 30% of all the money paid to players (and surprise surprise, two of them meeting in the World Series each of the last two years). In the four-team playoff eight teams accounted for 83% of all the playoff teams: Alabama (8/10 years), Clemson (6/10), Ohio State (5/10), Oklahoma (4/10), Michigan (3/10), Georgia (3/10), Washington (2/10), and Notre Dame (2/10). They also accounted for all but one of the champions. But since the expansion, with a limited sample size, eight different teams have appeared. Half of them (Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss, Penn State) had never appeared in the four-team format and another two (Oregon and Texas) had only appeared once. Water will find its level and I'm sure in 10 years the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia will appear more often in the semifinals than Indiana and Ole Miss. But I do think a bit of dilution is a good thing if it means giving the "other" 60 power conference teams a puncher's chance at winning--or at least seriously competing for--a national championship.

So he’s kidnapped a foreign country’s president in order to charge him with a crime on US soil? Not exactly a precedent I might create as a felon in chief.

I’m not sure if it’s NIL, the expanded playoff, or both, but having a Final Four of Indiana, Miami, Ole Miss, and Oregon is really good for the sport.

Michigan still being #2 is silly.

This drove me crazy about Holly and Max earlier in the season. In S4, Max missed an opportunity to leave the abyss because she wasn’t fast enough to jump through a portal, and now she has a second chance and is going to take five minutes for a dialogue with Holly about how she believes in her?!

Alabama firing DeBour and hiring Kiffin would be the cherry on top of this hiring cycle.

I liked the finale more than I thought I would. [LOTS OF SPOILERS] In hindsight the lack of main character death, and the ambiguity of Eleven's fate makes sense. This is modern day E.T., not Breaking Bad. I will choose to believe that Eleven is dead, because I think a scenario where she survives in some Nordic paradise is no different than Dexter Morgan surviving in some remote lumber yard. What makes less sense is the lack of grief shown by Hopper. They built it up that he could never lose two daughters, and then he did, and then.... he's fine? At Enzo's? Getting remarried? Moving to New York? I mean, good for him I guess, but the grief of the loss of Sara nearly killed him. Does not compute. I still think they should have killed off Nancy and Jonathan in the lab in S5E7. That would have been a tragic but fitting end to their arc. And you have to set aside any notion of realism to enjoy this show, because the utter incompetence of the military combined with absolutely no one facing consequences of any kind for the mass murder of American soldiers on American soil and Dr. Kay just.... leaving? ... is a bit much. Speaking of uselessness, it also feels like Kali was brought back just to have someone to kill. I mean they gave her some important scenes, like hiding the kids from Henry, but I could have lived without her ever having been introduced to the series. And I was bummed we didn't get an epilogue from either Murray (other than his appearance at the graduation) or Dr. Owens. Setting aside my complaints, I still liked it. The Duffers did not lean into the whole "everyone is redeemable" trope with Henry that was there for the taking. He was evil, he chose to be evil, he needed to be killed. They could have done a lot worse. For having so few scenes, I thought Raphael Luce was phenomenal in his role as Young Henry. So much emotion from so few lines. Lots of good parallels to the ending too. Stand by Me comes to mind. "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" At its heart Stranger Things was meant to be a coming of age story, and we got that. I'm not sure it's a series I will rewatch anytime in the next 5-10 years like Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul were. But it was a fun run that just took probably 2-3 years too long. [/SPOILERS]

Winning the Super Bowl isn't a perfect formula. You have to have the talent, but you also have to have the health and be hot at the right time, along with the luck to win 3-4 single elimination games in a row, in a league where like 80% of games are decided by one score. Campbell and Holmes have done enough to satisfy the talent piece. At least they did in 2023 and 2024. Now it's about maintaining that talent, and having everything fall together in a perfect January storm. Jacksonville winning it all would be no more an indictment on the Holmes and Campbell regime than had Washington won it all in 2024, or the 2017 Jaguars, or the 2014 Colts, or the Mark Sanchez led Jets, or even the 2007 Giants. The NFL format is such that a fairly mediocre team can do little things right, capitalize on a few turnovers, and find themselves a game away from a Super Bowl... If anything, it would just be an indictment on this version of the Detroit Lions that they couldn't put themselves in the position to be that team that's just a few lucky bounces away.

Setting aside Moore being a closeted basket case for a moment, it was grossly negligent of him to not get a competent quarterback in the transfer portal. They didn't even have to be good, they just needed to be better than 9/12 for 73 yards bowl performance Davis Warren. By not doing so, starting Underwood was the only decision. Moore went 8-5 fresh off a national championship. Good grace was fading fast, he got saved by the NIL donors in landing Underwood, and his choices were trotting out Davis Warren again and hoping a worse defense could win more games, or starting a true freshman. Any coach would have started Underwood, but a good coach wouldn't have been forced to in the first place.

I'm willing to admit that despite watching plenty of high school, college, and NFL football, I am not nearly knowledgeable enough to see a 17-year-old quarterback play and say "yeah, he's worth $10MM next year." Clearly there are folks out there on Michigan (and LSU's, and Rivals/On3/ESPN) staff who fancy themselves that good. That said, I really don't know how you look at Underwood against a high school schedule including teams like Fordson, Ann Arbor Pioneer, and Wayne Memorial and say "yep he's the one. Five stars. Future NFL talent. Let's play him immediately against Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Texas." Hell, in his last high school game against Catholic Central (a very good team) he went 11/23 for 219 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs. It's not just Underwood either. I'm not convinced there is any 18-year-old in the world who should play Big Ten or SEC football as a true freshman in the year 2025, especially not at quarterback. The game is too fast, too physical, the defenses are too good, and you're just asking to get him hurt or to delay his development.

Same here. I won't be able to watch until tomorrow. Hopefully I don't stumble into a spoiler by accident.

In order: 1. Panthers 2. Chargers 3. Bills 4. Jaguars 5. Broncos 6. Texans 7. Patriots 8. Steelers 9. Ravens 10. Seahawks 11. Buccaneers 12. 49ers 13. Rams 14. Eagles 15. Bears 16. Packers