Week One: Philadelphia Eagles (0-0) @ Detroit Lions (0-0)

[Hongbit]

27 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Not sure if it's cause our fans are this pumped for the season or not cause Philly fans tend to travel well and I know their fanbase is drinking their own kool aid this year so that could be the reason as well. 

Yes, No blackout!    
 

Looking back on that, how stupid was the blackout rule.  Purposely not making your product accessible to hundreds of thousands of the most devout local fans because they had an extra 10,000 tickets available.   Seems so archaic to market anything that way now.  

[MichiganCardinal]

35 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Not sure if it's cause our fans are this pumped for the season or not cause Philly fans tend to travel well and I know their fanbase is drinking their own kool aid this year so that could be the reason as well. 

Openers always do well. Last year against SF was by far the highest attended game. I think you add in Hard Knocks, general excitement, and an opposing fanbase that travels well and Ford Field will be popping.

[RedRamage]

24 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Openers always do well. Last year against SF was by far the highest attended game. I think you add in Hard Knocks, general excitement, and an opposing fanbase that travels well and Ford Field will be popping.

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

[Hongbit]

I left out two of the biggest things i’m excited to see.   I want to see how they use Swift and all the things they try to do to get him the football.  To even talk about 2000 total yards means that he’s going get a bunch of touches in a number of ways.  

The second is Hutch.  I’ll honestly be a little surprised if he doesn’t have a big game.  He’s got the motor and speed that all the great young DE’s have.  He looks like a Bosa clone. I think the only one thing that can stop him is the the same that slowed them down.  Injuries.  If he can stay healthy he’s got a chance to do amazing things here.     

[buddha]

the falcons had two running qbs who ripped them up.  hopefully that was just preseason bs or hurts is going to have a field day.

they seemed to get better at stopping the run as the pre season went on, including keeping trubisky in check.

if they can keep philly honest on the ground that will go a long way in this game.

[NYLion]

On 9/4/2022 at 2:26 PM, MichiganCardinal said:

I think the Eagles might be the second best team we play all year, next to the Bills.

The Eagles are overrated, don't understand all the love they're getting this offseason. It's a passing league and they have a below average passing QB which sort of negates the value of bringing in a guy like AJ Brown. They're strong in the trenches but it's hard to go far with a running QB who doesn't pass particularly well. The NFC is weak outside of the top 3 of The Bays and Rams so I guess the Eagles could be the 4th best team in the NFC but that's not saying much.

With that said, it's a bad matchup for the Lions because the Lions can't stop the run and the Eagles run as well as anybody, they also struggle massively against mobile QBs. The Eagles also have a strong defensive line and the Lions offensive line is banged up so...yeah...expect some pain this Sunday.

Edited September 7, 2022 by NYLion

[NYLion]

On 9/5/2022 at 4:26 PM, MichiganCardinal said:

Not that I endorse it... but there are a plethora of less-than-legal streams available online as well if you trust your antivirus and don't mind semi-frequent interruptions and a couple billion pop-ups.

Yep. I've been living on "less than legal" streams to watch Lions football for over a decade, if I'm not watching at a friends' house or elsewhere.

[TP_Fan]

1 hour ago, NYLion said:

The Eagles are overrated, don't understand all the love they're getting this offseason. It's a passing league and they have a below average passing QB which sort of negates the value of bringing in a guy like AJ Brown. They're strong in the trenches but it's hard to go far with a running QB who doesn't pass particularly well. The NFC is weak outside of the top 3 of The Bays and Rams so I guess the Eagles could be the 4th best team in the NFC but that's not saying much.

With that said, it's a bad matchup for the Lions because the Lions can't stop the run and the Eagles run as well as anybody, they also struggle massively against mobile QBs. The Eagles also have a strong defensive line and the Lions offensive line is banged up so...yeah...expect some pain this Sunday.

Before the season starts how can anyone say the lions can’t stop the run?  We have no idea if they can or not. 

[MichiganCardinal]

2 hours ago, NYLion said:

The Eagles are overrated, don't understand all the love they're getting this offseason. It's a passing league and they have a below average passing QB which sort of negates the value of bringing in a guy like AJ Brown. They're strong in the trenches but it's hard to go far with a running QB who doesn't pass particularly well. The NFC is weak outside of the top 3 of The Bays and Rams so I guess the Eagles could be the 4th best team in the NFC but that's not saying much.

With that said, it's a bad matchup for the Lions because the Lions can't stop the run and the Eagles run as well as anybody, they also struggle massively against mobile QBs. The Eagles also have a strong defensive line and the Lions offensive line is banged up so...yeah...expect some pain this Sunday.

I think if you look at the 21 starters that don’t play QB on every NFL team, the Eagles would be top 5-10 in terms of pure talent. They’ll only go so far as Hurts will take them for sure, and I am not a Sirianni fan, but we’ve seen mediocre to worse QBs lead deep runs in the playoffs before when they’re surrounded by a playoff roster.

[buddha]

eagles are a good team.

the lions beating them in week one would mean a lot.

[gehringer_2]

LOL - given last year's record, the Lions beating any team, any week will mean a lot.

[John_Brian_K]

On 9/6/2022 at 3:50 PM, Hongbit said:

Yes, No blackout!    
 

Looking back on that, how stupid was the blackout rule.  Purposely not making your product accessible to hundreds of thousands of the most devout local fans because they had an extra 10,000 tickets available.   Seems so archaic to market anything that way now.  

Yup that was before the huge TV deal IIRC.  They make more on the TV deal then the tickets now, I do not think that was always the case, but could be wrong...I did not look it up.

[buddha]

ragnow and kraemer both did not practice today.  lions looking at major injuries on the oline already.  against a team with a good interior dline.

hopefully precautionary for ragnow.

[NYLion]

21 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I think if you look at the 21 starters that don’t play QB on every NFL team, the Eagles would be top 5-10 in terms of pure talent. They’ll only go so far as Hurts will take them for sure, and I am not a Sirianni fan, but we’ve seen mediocre to worse QBs lead deep runs in the playoffs before when they’re surrounded by a playoff roster.

Not too many really. I guess you can say Foles as a fairly recent example (funny enough, an Eagles QB) but Wentz played at an MVP level a good chunk of that year to put them in position to make a playoff run.

Of course there's the possibility that Hurts can grow into the role and the Eagles did have a nice offseason/draft but they've brought a lot of guys back from a 9-8 team that got blasted in the wildcard round by a Tampa team that was ravaged by injuries. These were their wins last year (Washington x2, Giants, Jets New Orleans, Detroit, Denver, Carolina and Atlanta), they didn't beat one playoff team and most of those teams weren't even close to the playoffs, so I just don't get why some folks are crowning them as a great team that can make a legit SB run. 

They're better than the Lions for sure and should be favored this week but I'm not seeing a team that's in the upper echelon of the league.

Edited September 8, 2022 by NYLion

[RandyMarsh]

On top of Foles, Garrapolo went to a SB once and damn near did it again last year and I would say he is middle of the pack at best, Alex Smith/Kaep went to a SB, then there was of course Goff with the Rams, Flacco won a SB, Eli won twice including one of the years where he led the league in INTs and posted a highly mediocre 52 QBR. So there's been quite a few outliers the past 15 or so years and the narrative that you NEED elite QB play to get to the SB is false. It certainly helps but it's not mandatory like needing Superstars in the NBA to win in today's game. 

[Motown Bombers]

It's weird seeing a Little Caesers commercial with Stafford in a Rams jersey.

[Motown Bombers]

6 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

On top of Foles, Garrapolo went to a SB once and damn near did it again last year and I would say he is middle of the pack at best, Alex Smith/Kaep went to a SB, then there was of course Goff with the Rams, Flacco won a SB, Eli won twice including one of the years where he led the league in INTs and posted a highly mediocre 52 QBR. So there's been quite a few outliers the past 15 or so years and the narrative that you NEED elite QB play to get to the SB is false. It certainly helps but it's not mandatory like needing Superstars in the NBA to win in today's game. 

I know a lot of people bring up Goff, but he was really good that year. They didn't win in spite of him.

[MichiganCardinal]

59 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

On top of Foles, Garrapolo went to a SB once and damn near did it again last year and I would say he is middle of the pack at best, Alex Smith/Kaep went to a SB, then there was of course Goff with the Rams, Flacco won a SB, Eli won twice including one of the years where he led the league in INTs and posted a highly mediocre 52 QBR. So there's been quite a few outliers the past 15 or so years and the narrative that you NEED elite QB play to get to the SB is false. It certainly helps but it's not mandatory like needing Superstars in the NBA to win in today's game. 

I would add Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, and Blake Bortles to the list. No championships, but deep runs.

[TP_Fan]

If ragnow misses week 1 you have to be concerned about his ability to stay healthy. He is good when he plays, but he hasn’t been dependable. 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Tigeraholic1]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:25 PM, NYLion said:

Yep. I've been living on "less than legal" streams to watch Lions football for over a decade, if I'm not watching at a friends' house or elsewhere.

I switched to Directv stream this year. Cuts all cords and with FIOS 1GB service and 4K I thought I hit the golden ticket for sports watching. Little did I know the AT&T deal with Directv did not include streaming content so no Sunday ticket... I bought a VPN and paid for NFL Gamepass International. I picked Germany for my VPN location as Germany is the only EU country with zero team blackouts. Seemed to work well for preseason.

[buddha]

4 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

I switched to Directv stream this year. Cuts all cords and with FIOS 1GB service and 4K I thought I hit the golden ticket for sports watching. Little did I know the AT&T deal with Directv did not include streaming content so no Sunday ticket... I bought a VPN and paid for NFL Gamepass International. I picked Germany for my VPN location as Germany is the only EU country with zero team blackouts. Seemed to work well for preseason.

directv is gonna lose sunday ticket soon so you should be ok moving forward.

[NYLion]

22 hours ago, RandyMarsh said:

On top of Foles, Garrapolo went to a SB once and damn near did it again last year and I would say he is middle of the pack at best, Alex Smith/Kaep went to a SB, then there was of course Goff with the Rams, Flacco won a SB, Eli won twice including one of the years where he led the league in INTs and posted a highly mediocre 52 QBR. So there's been quite a few outliers the past 15 or so years and the narrative that you NEED elite QB play to get to the SB is false. It certainly helps but it's not mandatory like needing Superstars in the NBA to win in today's game. 

I think the 49ers are a good comparable for high end outcome for the Eagles but the 49ers have the best Front 7 in the league, they're special. I don't see the Eagles defense on that level.

I'm just saying that the Eagles have no pedigree to believe that they're going to all of a sudden jump into the upper echelon of the league this season. As I posted earlier, 9-8 losing to every good team they played. Is AJ Brown and their draft picks THAT much of a difference maker? We'll see, but I'm skeptical. They could win that division but that would be by default since the rest of the division is el stinko including Jerruh's 'Boys who could very well take a step back this season.

[buddha]

2 hours ago, NYLion said:

I think the 49ers are a good comparable for high end outcome for the Eagles but the 49ers have the best Front 7 in the league, they're special. I don't see the Eagles defense on that level.

I'm just saying that the Eagles have no pedigree to believe that they're going to all of a sudden jump into the upper echelon of the league this season. As I posted earlier, 9-8 losing to every good team they played. Is AJ Brown and their draft picks THAT much of a difference maker? We'll see, but I'm skeptical. They could win that division but that would be by default since the rest of the division is el stinko including Jerruh's 'Boys who could very well take a step back this season.

they did beat the lions 44-6 last year...

[sagnam]

I got tickets to next weeks game.  If the Lions win I may try to resell them for a profit and get cheaper tickets. Otherwise, I’ll have the best seats I’ve had to any sporting event.  And I’ll be with my kids.