Week Five: Carolina Panthers (0-4) @ Detroit Lions (3-1)

[MichiganCardinal]

I just wish Harbaugh would stop scheduling all these boring cupcake opponents.

oh wait

[Sports_Freak]

59 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

I’m cheering against all of Minnesota, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Because I see the Lions’ competition being as much the other division winners for seeding as it is the Packers for the NFC North title. 

I'm not afraid of Minnesota. Their horrible start means they'll play for a draft choice. And Green Bay has very little talent on their roster. The Lions put up 42 points with our best receiver and #2 RB not in the lineup. This division is ours to lose. But yeah, Philly and SF could be a problem.

[buddha]

3 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

I'm not afraid of Minnesota. Their horrible start means they'll play for a draft choice. And Green Bay has very little talent on their roster. The Lions put up 42 points with our best receiver and #2 RB not in the lineup. This division is ours to lose. But yeah, Philly and SF could be a problem.

ummmm....seattle?

and dallas?

[MichiganCardinal]

10 minutes ago, buddha said:

ummmm....seattle?

and dallas?

If the Lions played Seattle ten times I think the Lions win 7 or 8 times. Gifted them 14 points and it still took a coin flip.

Dallas is good but will never be great so long as Mike McCarthy is their coach.

[buddha]

1 hour ago, MichiganCardinal said:

If the Lions played Seattle ten times I think the Lions win 7 or 8 times. Gifted them 14 points and it still took a coin flip.

Dallas is good but will never be great so long as Mike McCarthy is their coach.

i said before the season that i will believe the lions are better than seattle (and dallas) when they beat them.

they didnt.  at home.

its a long season and things can change quickly, but as of right now there is no evidence that the lions are better than seattle.

[buddha]

regardless of all that, the lions just put 42 points on one of the better defenses in the nfl.  that's impressive.

especially for a team with the worst coordinators in the league...   🙂

[gehringer_2]

47 minutes ago, buddha said:

regardless of all that, the lions just put 42 points on one of the better defenses in the nfl.  that's impressive.

especially for a team with the worst coordinators in the league...   🙂

Williams is still a big key to their ceiling going forward. When your best downfield receiver is a TE, you need better downfield receivers. Which, just to be clear -  is no knock on LaPorta,

Edited October 9, 2023 by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

The best part about this win is that it was a blowout. Good and great teams are supposed to blow out bad teams, not play them close. This was a big step in that direction. 

[buddha]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

Williams is still a big key to their ceiling going forward. When your best downfield receiver is a TE, you need better downfield receivers. Which, just to be clear -  is no knock on LaPorta,

i understand your point about williams, but josh reynolds is their best downfield receiver, imo.

no knock on laporta, he's been great.

[RedRamage]

16 hours ago, TP_Fan said:

Not great half time adjustments.   Have to target Jaymo.  I just don’t understand why Ben Johnson hates fast players.  He won’t use them in his offense. It’s beyond bizarre now.  

I've always kinda thought in the back of my head: It's hard to may halftime adjustments when you're playing well. I mean, what do you adjust? You scored 4 TDs and kept the other team to just one and a FG. I know there's always little things that you can do and you can spot trends here and there that you can work on... but honestly, why would you make serious adjustments when you're destroying a opposing team?

[RedRamage]

16 hours ago, sagnam said:

Odd that a safety isn’t where the ball is.

Yeah, I mean it's a (potential) scoring play so you'd think it's would be based on whether the ball broke the plane or not. 

[RedRamage]

16 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Hey, Jaymo made a couple mistakes today but he played some good TEAM ball making some key blocks.    You know the coaches are gonna love that!

Yep. He dropped an easy pass... The TFL wasn't really his fault, you can't help it if there's defenders on you the moment you get the ball. So his is receiving grade is an "Inc." in my opinion, but he did well block and I really love to see that because for me it means two things:
1. He's going out and doing what the coaching tell him to do. He's not pouting or trying to be a primadonna.
2. He knows the play book because he's doing his assignments.

I still have my doubts about Jamo. This certainly wasn't a great game for him, but it also wasn't a horrible game either.

[RandyMarsh]

I don't put too much stock into the slow 2nd halfs after having a big lead at half time. The reason being its hard to dominate an NFL team for all 4 quarters, there's almost always going to be atleast 1 part of the game where the losing team plays well and starts to come back, just the nature of the NFL and for the Lions it just so happened to be after halftime.

Now If it's an ongoing thing even in games that are really close I'll start to be concerned about it but not at this point. Just think it's random right now. 

[buddha]

1 hour ago, RedRamage said:

Yep. He dropped an easy pass... The TFL wasn't really his fault, you can't help it if there's defenders on you the moment you get the ball. So his is receiving grade is an "Inc." in my opinion, but he did well block and I really love to see that because for me it means two things:
1. He's going out and doing what the coaching tell him to do. He's not pouting or trying to be a primadonna.
2. He knows the play book because he's doing his assignments.

I still have my doubts about Jamo. This certainly wasn't a great game for him, but it also wasn't a horrible game either.

i dont know.  he stood in front of somebody and hand slapped him for a bit.  i suppose he could have been all "chase claypool" and just did nothing, but if were counting that block as a win the bar is very very low.

he's there to catch passes and run.  he was wide open and dropped it.  he was outplayed by the corpse of marvin jones.

give him time because he's coming off his self inflicted suspension and hasnt been practicing, but that game was not a sign he's ready.  if anything, it was more of the same disappointment.

like you, i am still wary but hopeful.

[Tigeraholic1]

12 hours ago, chasfh said:

The best part about this win is that it was a blowout. Good and great teams are supposed to blow out bad teams, not play them close. This was a big step in that direction. 

Were you able to view the game in Big Shoulders yesterday? I was suprised I got it in NE Indiana but since Bears and Packers were not in action they reluctantly aired the Lions.

[chasfh]

47 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

Were you able to view the game in Big Shoulders yesterday? I was suprised I got it in NE Indiana but since Bears and Packers were not in action they reluctantly aired the Lions.

Yes, it did air here. Since I've moved here the local Fox station always prioritized the Lions behind the Packers and Vikings. Now that the Lions are actually on the brink, local Fox might start airing Lions over Vikings. But I can't see them ever airing Lions over Packers no matter how good the Lions get.

[RandyMarsh]

Mosely out for the year with a right acl tear. 

[buddha]

oh well.  not all gambles pay off.

[RedRamage]

https://youtu.be/8N0jK9wvR2A?t=51

Check out the highlight video starting at this point... this is the Montgomery long run for a TD. Watch number 9 come into the screen at the end.

Look, I'm still not sold on Jamo... but the speed is on display here. If he can stay healthy and get integrated into the game plan that speed is impressive.

[RandyMarsh]

After posting a grade of 93.9 Sunday Jared Goff is now the highest graded PFF QB on the season. 

[MichiganCardinal]

47 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

After posting a grade of 93.9 Sunday Jared Goff is now the highest graded PFF QB on the season. 

“bUt hE cAn’T hIt tHe dEeP BaLL¡”

-someone, somewhere

[gehringer_2]

31 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

“bUt hE cAn’T hIt tHe dEeP BaLL¡”

-someone, somewhere

It's almost funny that the Lions have gone so 180 deg at QB. Stafford to Goff is almost whiplash: Stafford, who could make all kinds of 'wow, did you see that' plays, but often (at least early in his career) made mistakes, to the ultimate methodical, workman, almost never make a mistake surgeon where at the end of day the opposition says, "How did *that* guy beat us?"

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

"How did *that* guy beat us?"

Also Brock Purdy. 

Literally every team could have picked him multiple times. And he is now the front runner for NFL MVP. 

[RandyMarsh]

Aside from the aforementioned Goff, Hutch is the 5th highest graded DE in the NFL(first the last 3 weeks) and McNeil is top 5 DT and 1st in the last 3 weeks as well. Not that I think PFF is gospel or anything but considering how poorly the Lions usually are ranked there its good to see some names being ranked that high that also pass the eye test. 

[buddha]

brock purdy and jared goff have two of the best play callers in the nfl calling plays for them.

/ducks

(they still have to execute the plays...)