NYLion

The Lions now control their destiny for the 2 seed. The next 2 weeks will be really tough games but it's all there for them now.

He might make his return to Detroit before then.

I can only see Tomlin and Vrabel being gone if they choose to resign, I can't see Saleh being fired yet either due to the Rodgers injury. Rivera and Smith are toast. McDermott is likely gone if the Bills miss the playoffs or even if they lose in the 1st round I'd think.

I think he wanted to challenge one of the calls at the goal line and Wilson snapped the ball before he had a chance to. Denver got screwed several times on that possession by the refs, wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game but still noteworthy considering that the Lions have usually been on the other side of that.

I wonder if Ben was saving some Gibbs and Jamo plays for the playoff stretch. Kind of keeping the weapons on the shelf until they REALLY need them. He's a really smart guy so that wouldn't surprise me.

I hope this narrative that the Lions haven't beaten good teams dies now. The Broncos were arguably the hottest team in the league and the Lions wrecked their donkey asses. Still a longshot but if they beat Minny next week, the game against Dallas could potentially be for the 2 seed or even home field throughout if everything breaks right. This win allows us to think bigger now.

Uh yeah, that was a decent half I'd say. Now don't **** the bed in the 3rd quarter for once and take this puppy home. Going forward I'd like to see more Jamo and Gibbs especially on that turf. Nobody can contain their speed. Get them in space and profit.

This may be the worst team in sports history, period. The games aren't even competitive, which was the last game that came down to the last couple of minutes of the 4th? We're talking about a month ago possibly. This is history we're witnessing, for all the wrong reasons.

Cade with 4 points, now he's broken as well. Monty Williams might be the worst thing that ever happened to this franchise outside of Gores and I don't say that lightly because there's a lot of candidates to choose from over the last 15 years or so.

Oh I don't know, I would just like to see that Weaver has a pulse but I'm sure he'll be like a fly on **** the moment the next reclamation project becomes available.

The Pistons should be all over Markannen yet I don't see the Pistons anywhere on the "interest" list. I guess he shoots too well, or isn't a failed former high pick or a center or a guard/forward that can't shoot so why would they need that guy?

I disagree. I think he wants to win as evidence by him giving an unlimited budget to pour into getting HIS guy, I just don't think he knows how to win as evidenced by his complete inability to hire competent people. The will is there but the execution of the plan is severely lacking.

Ok, I know the roster isn't good and they should have a bad record but it's blatantly obvious that Monty is a big problem. Not only are these young players regressing but they look miserable and completely disconnected as a team. I'm sorry, but no NBA franchise especially one with as many high picks as the Pistons have should be this non-competitive so many nights. Think about it, who is actually progressing? Where's the development? I'll go down the list... Cade - Pretty much the same more or less but I'd actually say regression in terms of him crumbling down the stretch (the rare games that are actually competitive down the stretch) whereas in his rookie season he was thriving. Hayes - Same player pretty much. Maybe the only guy who has progressed a tiny bit Ivey - His shooting percentage is actually up but he just looks worse in general. Goes without saying that he's not playing with the confidence he had to close last season Duren - Same but I'd say actually worse defensively and he wasn't great defensively in his rookie season. Stewart - Guy is getting worse all the time. Get him out of the starting lineup, I don't care if you have to go small all the time. Bagley - He is what he is Wiseman - He wasn't much to begin with but at least he was doing "some" things last year, he's a nothing this year Ausar - Great start but has definitely trailed off and I bet that's at least partly due to being relegated to the bench. Could be a rookie wall he's hitting and now being immersed into this toxic culture but he's definitely fighting it lately Sasser - Some of it his own doing as his shooting cooled off but now he's not even getting minutes etc. etc. Coaching is a problem guys. You could be a bad team but also see some progression from some young guys. I'm not seeing any. This coach got his fat paycheck which admittedly was pretty much the only reason he came here in the first place so he can just sit on his stacks and coach like he don't give a ****. Congrats on the money Monty

And, yes, a certain portion of the media are insufferable but JEIII in particular is a shill so what did you expect?

I predicted a while back (maybe it was on another message board) that Gores would lose patience and force the next version of a Blake Griffin trade on to Weaver. He is not a patient man by nature (few billionaires are) so I had a feeling some of this stuff about "shakeup trade" was going to start to leak if they started slow this season. Going all in for Monty and overruling Weaver's intentions to bring in a more inexperienced coach was the first sign that his patience was wearing thin.

It matters, it's the same core of players that won a Superbowl and went to a Superbowl respectively so naturally Superbowl teams will receive more benefit of the doubt than a team that hasn't even made the playoffs yet.

The Eagles went to the Superbowl last season, the Lions haven't even made the playoffs yet so, yeah, the Eagles get the benefit of the doubt. You don't see a difference? It's a silly comparison

Actually they're over 3 years apart and while they may be relatively close in age they're far different in terms of experience. We know what Goff is, he's a good QB that needs to be in a pretty ideal situation to succeed. Hooker COULD be better than just good unlikely as it may be because he has a more dynamic toolkit and, more importantly, will be roughly $45m cheaper for the next 3 years to give them a whole whack of cap flexibility plus the assets from the Goff trade to strengthen the roster. You run the risk of Hooker being a complete bust but the Lions also have the type of roster with their offensive line and weapons to properly ease in a developmental QB while also being competitive. They'll also have a load of assets to strengthen the defense. Don't get me wrong, I've been a Goff advocate but this 7 game stretch is illustrating that if things break down Goff is mincemeat pretty much. He still has time to change the narrative with a strong close down the stretch and winning a playoff game but, right now, he's sinking and he along with others need to right the ship quickly

It's been the complete flip of a switch and just about all of it has to do with the offense/Goff all of a sudden becoming turnover machines. The defense was always suspect even when they weren't giving up as many points mostly because the offense was possessing the ball and essentially playing keepaway. Now it seems like defenses have adjusted to the Lions intermediate game and are sitting on those routes and the Lions/Ben Johnson have had no Plan B to adjust. This is one of the big reasons why it's hard to imagine extending Goff at franchise money because once you take away what he's good at, he doesn't have another gear to solve it. That's a hell of a decision they have with the Goff extension. If you extend him, you're hitching your wagon to him as THE guy and probably cap your potential as a result while also restricting what you can build around Goff because of the big contract but if you look to trade him and roll with Hooker then you risk a setback for more potential down the road and a lot more cap space along with the assets gained from the Goff trade to build a stronger roster. I don't envy Holmes with this decision.

Multiple people on this site said they thought the Lions were better than SF and Philly? I know MB was posting stats comparing the Lions defense to the Eagles defense but I think most outside of TP of course have had some pretty measured expectations throughout.

I'm pretty down on the Lions but it is amusing seeing TP yelling at himself.

This was the year to win the division. The Bears and Packers have ascending young teams that won't be down for long and the Vikings have a lot of talent. If the Lions blow the division this year, the drought might last quite a bit longer.

They can only draft defense if he's a perfect saint off the field and he has to be a gritty, try hard guy. Must pass Campbell's "I love and breathe football and need to eat kneecaps for breakfast, lunch and dinner" test first talent be damned.

They're not though. They haven't played "to their potential" since before the Baltimore game. It's been a mess since then, got trouced by Baltmore, just about gave away the Raiders game, looked horrible against the Bears twice and against the Packers, gave up 5 straight TDs to a Chargers team that has been a popgun offense since and got lucky against New Orleans that Winston sucks. They're roughly a .500 team disguised as 9-4. Beat up on the god awful NFC South and has largely struggled against everybody else. The main thing to take away from this is that Goff has turned into a pumpkin. I wonder how they handle this going forward.

I said this last week and will say it again. This is the '22-'23 Vikings with the difference being that the Vikings built up enough of a good record to still win the division despite the late season collapse. They MIGHT still win the division but this is a one and done team. Also, I was wrong about Goff, he's starting to show his true self down the stretch. Need to give Hooker some reps next season.