January 15, 2025 • 57 mins
Join Kiel and Tyler this week as we now know who Detroit will be playing in the Divisional round. The guys break down both the Lions and Commanders offense, defense, coaching strategies, and predict some Grit of the Week.
At the backend of the episode, Kiel and Tyler play listener voicemails and discuss, wrapping up with he rest of Detroit sports, Pistons, Tigers and Redwings!
Join the conversation by leaving a listener voicemail for the guys to play and discuss live on the pod! (313)-306-7939
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Alright, welcome to the grit I'm going to show you.
(00:29):
Welcome to the grit iron report.
Your Lions First All Detroit Sports podcast today is Tuesday, January 14th.
And after a well deserved by week, we now know your Detroit Lions will be facing off against the Washington Commanders in their first round of the playoffs.
We also have a ton of coaching updates surrounding the Lions, a few different other Detroit sports things.
(00:52):
So let's get into it.
Obviously, we have no game to review as Lions were off on the bye week.
So we're just going to jump right into the Lions preview.
Again, this against the Commanders.
So let's just jump right into Commanders coming to Ford Field to play the Detroit Lions.
Yeah, yeah.
And ladies and gentlemen, I would love to be the first to introduce you to Kami Hate Week.
(01:15):
That's right.
And I hope that we can all band together as Red Bulleted Americans in support of Kami Hate Week.
And to put an end to the Kami's for good.
I think it's just, you know, it's what we can do as Americans.
And so yeah, a couple of things for me, Ty.
First, Ford Field, it's going to be allowed.
I think there's a chance that they could break the whatever NFL decibel record is out there.
(01:38):
I don't know if the Lions have been like close to breaking it or have broken it previously, but I'm feeling really good about this being one of, if not the loudest environments in NFL playoff history.
Or game history.
And yeah, I guess just a couple of things.
Lions have not played the Commanders very often.
(01:59):
In fact, in the last 10 years, Lions have only played the Commanders four times.
There are three in one in those games.
I do expect it to be four in one.
We can jump into, you know, offensive and defensive thoughts in just a little bit.
But just one more thing.
I actually just saw this on Twitter like 20 minutes ago.
Didn't verify it at all.
But this is the most expensive non Super Bowl game in NFL history with average ticket prices of just under $1,000.
(02:24):
It looked like about $990.
So again, did absolutely no research of my own on this.
Saw it on Twitter.
It's got to be true.
Would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Yeah, well, you can rest assured because I saw the same thing on Twitter.
And if we both saw it, that actually has to be true.
There's no way that it's false if we both saw some sort of tweet or anything about it.
But I saw that $991 average ticket price.
(02:46):
I think the actual cheapest to get in the door is just under $600, which is absolutely insane.
I mean, say what you want about it.
Since the Lions have gotten better, I feel like it's been an ongoing conversation.
People have talked about how we're starting to get, you know, the real diehard fans who were with Detroit, you know, in the hard times,
are starting to get priced out of these games.
And that's a whole conversation for a different day.
(03:08):
But I agree with you.
I think even if the price is going to be astronomical as it already looks to be, I think we're going to set records.
I'm pretty sure Detroit holds the it's either like Detroit and the Chiefs who hold the two loudest games.
I think we got that the last year or two years ago.
We were right up there.
It could have even could have even been the Rams playoff game last year that we broke it.
So I expected to be right up there again.
(03:30):
Like you said, I Detroit is going to show up.
But let's start out with guess the line.
So guess the line real quick.
Those who haven't listened to us, Kyle, guess is what Vegas has set the line at what they think Detroit Lions versus whatever opponent is is going to be.
Kyle, go ahead and guess the line for the commanders coming to Fordfield to play in Detroit Lions.
This is a tough one because obviously I think that the Lions are I'm going to say significantly better than the commanders.
(03:55):
But it is this is a playoff game.
It's a divisional game.
And you know, we know this in the NFL.
It's any given Sunday really.
So I'm kind of gauging off the the Bucks commanders line from last week.
Bucks were favored by three.
I think that, you know, the the Lions are good.
I'm going to guess two and a half points or three points better than that.
(04:16):
So if I had to guess, I would say Lions minus five and a half just given that this is a playoff game.
And you know, I expect this to be decently tight.
Yeah.
So you're dead on it.
I have it right now at Lions minus five and a half.
I have seen it get all the way.
I think it opened that maybe seven Lions minus seven.
So it's obviously coming down a little bit.
(04:37):
I think exactly like you said, I think Fordfield plus.
I think Fordfield plays a huge part in this.
I think just the fact that the commanders are kind of new to this over the last, you know, 15 years and we'll get into that in a second.
But I think all those come into play.
I think what was also really interesting about the the odds and stuff is that the if you if you've seen this on, I think I saw it on Twitter, the anytime touchdown scores, they have like six different Lions who have better odds at scoring a touchdown.
(05:02):
Then I think until like the first commander comes up or maybe it's like three or four or five different Lions have better odds to score a touchdown before the first Washington commander comes up to score, you know, anytime touchdown.
I think it's probably scary Terry or Jade and Daniels there.
But I think that just shows how Vegas thinks that this could possibly be even even more wide of a game than just the the minus five and a half just based on the odds.
(05:28):
I think Craig Reynolds was even on the anytime touchdown list for Detroit.
I think he was at like a plus 400, which is it's it's decently high based on anytime touchdowns.
But for a guy like Craig Reynolds to even be on there is pretty crazy.
So I thought that was interesting as well.
But yeah, Detroit minus five.
Where are you seeing where are you seeing five and a half?
I'm just curious. I'm just pulling up on my phone.
(05:50):
I'm seeing nine and a half. So that's a pretty big discrepancy.
Interesting. So I was just looking on ESPN nine and a half.
That's a that's a huge discrepancy.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Action.
So it looks like it looks like it actually this is open on ESPN open at five and a half.
It actually is sitting at 10 now.
Oh, wow. Okay. I think that's too high.
But yeah. Yeah.
So that means it'll I think is where it's yeah, I think if you're saying five and a half open at five and a half.
(06:14):
I think that's probably so that I mean that just says what people are thinking about Ford field.
And even though the commanders, I thought they looked pretty good.
And again, we'll get into them in a few minutes.
You know, people are heavily leaning towards the Lions more so as the days go on and we get closer and closer to Saturday.
But okay, so Saturday nights, like I said, we now know the commanders are coming to town at 8pm.
(06:36):
Before we can start really about breaking down the offensive defense, we agree we wanted the commanders over the box, right?
Yeah. Yeah, I think that that was the team. I mean, if you're just looking at, you know, playoff teams in the NFC side of the bracket,
you know, I would rather face the commanders than, you know, a hot Rams team.
I even thought that, you know, if the Vikings came back to town, it's tough to beat a team three times, let alone a divisional opponent.
(07:01):
That would have been that would have been challenging.
So I think of the of the teams we could have played. Yeah, it's probably the commanders given they have a rookie quarterback.
I'll be at a rookie quarterback that is playing extremely well.
And so I'm certainly not taking this game lightly.
And I know for a fact that Dan Campbell and the Lions are not taking this game lightly.
Yeah, absolutely. And just, I mean, looking at all the teams in general, who like you said, who we could have played,
(07:24):
don't want to play the Vikings again, just because we play them so many times, the Rams looked absolutely insane.
I mean, they did what we kind of thought the Eagles were going to do.
They handled that game. They handled their business, you know, properly.
So I'm glad we don't have to play the Rams immediately.
So I'm happy with the commanders. I think it offers a new challenge.
In a sense, the commanders are very similar to Detroit in this fact that like they're coming off a really down year in which maybe they showed a little bit of heart,
(07:50):
a little bit of, you know, hope for their fans, but they were able to turn around, get their new get their new guy in there and Jane Daniels and have just kind of been this fun, exciting team.
They have, you know, Cliff Kingsbury brought on the staff. They're really fun, exciting. The fans are having a great time.
They're, in my opinion, very similar to the Lions in which they maybe are just kind of taking it for granted.
(08:13):
Now I saw on Twitter, there's a lot of commanders fans that are saying this is, you know, they're playing with house money at this time because they won their playoff game first one, I think since like 2006.
I might be wrong on that, but they said that, you know, basically playing with house money, which in a sense, obviously, from a distance, as loser talk, you know, they say what you want about, you know,
we were saying last year and whatever they're saying this year, like, I know a lot of Detroit fans felt the same way as soon as we got that first playoff win.
(08:38):
A lot of fans, you know, for better or for worse, were like, hey, we got our, we got our playoff win first one and, you know, how many years since 93 or whatever.
As long as, you know, we got it, we can lose now and I'll, you know, I'll be able to, okay, we'll be moving to next year.
So I kind of see a lot of similarities between the commanders and Detroit fans.
At the same time, I think they, I cautioned them to be careful. There was another video that came out as all the commander's fans who I'm sure were drunk from the game and, you know, amped up from the win and they were all chanting, they want Detroit.
(09:11):
And I don't know, I've liked the commanders. I think they're a pretty fun story to watch this season. I don't really know of anyone that is like absolutely hates the commanders.
But just seeing that fired me up and I'm like, you don't, you don't want Detroit. Like that's not go around chanting, you want Detroit when you really don't.
Like that's, and I know we haven't been at the top of the, you know, the, the standings first for very long. It's really been like what, two years we've been up here.
(09:36):
So we can't really, you know, we can't really act all that high and mighty, but like, you don't want Detroit. Let's not go chanting around. You want Detroit.
I really want to take it to them after seeing that. I don't know what it was about that video.
Yeah, I mean, first of all, buddy, commanders, you have Detroit, you know, you don't, you don't have to chant that. You certainly have us.
And yeah, I would caution them going up against, as we know, one of the leagues, one of the league's best offenses averaging 410 yards per game, 70 touchdowns on the season.
(10:05):
So yeah, yeah, commanders, if you want that, well, you got it on Saturday night, 8pm Eastern.
I think, you know, if we want to jump into first, the offensive thoughts for the Lions and just looking at this commander's team, they rank 13th in the league in terms of yards, but their scoring defense is just 18th.
They have a very good passing defense. It's third in the NFL and their rushing defense leaves a little bit to be desired.
(10:30):
29th ranked rush defense giving up 137 yards per game. So you pair that a weak rushing defense with the likes of Dave Amon Gummery.
He should be back. He should be healthy. You know, I do expect Gibbs to get more carries. I think that they might have, you know, Monty on maybe a bit of a snap count.
(10:51):
Although, let's be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have them on any kind of snap count.
But, you know, I expect some kind of a little bit of a snap count Gibbs to get maybe the majority of carries.
But at any rate, having both backs healthy and, you know, being able to utilize both of them against this bad commies rush defense, I just think that the Lions are going to be able to move the ball at will and really score.
(11:14):
And let's be honest, you know, jam the running offense down the commander's throats.
Washington gives up a lot of points and I expect the Lions to, you know, establish the run and that's going to open up play action.
We know what this team can do on play action.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you look at the team, like you said, their defense are, I think they're 29th or 30th PFF overall defense, 18th in points, allowing 391 on the season.
(11:42):
But I mean, they all coming off a good performance against the box. I thought, like we said, they run their run defense, I thought was better than you just went through the numbers.
I thought the run defense was a little bit better against the box than maybe their numbers stay.
But the box rushing offense isn't anywhere near what Detroit's is.
I know you mentioned Monty coming back.
I think Dan was asked about it today. He said he's going to wait and see to make sure Monty can log a full practice tomorrow before he officially declares him in or out.
(12:10):
But obviously, like you said, he is trending on starting. I agree with you.
I think like we would normally say and expect him to be on a snap count, but we kind of thought the same thing about Alex Anzalone against the Vikings at his first game back.
He was going to be on a snap count and he was in like we said during last week's episode, he was in there longer than we wanted.
When the game was pretty much out of reach, he was still in the game.
So I don't really foresee a snap kind of if he's good to go, I think he's good to go.
(12:34):
I think it's going to get in there and it also helps that we already have the, you know, the one two points.
They're already splitting, you know, carries between Montgomery and Gibbs.
So it's not like he's jumping in and doing 100% of the snaps, you know, like Anzalone kind of was. He's already splitting that.
So yeah, I think having him back is going to be important.
The commander's defense is led by 34 year old Bobby Wagner.
(12:56):
There was a few plays. I mean, Bobby Wagner is still Bobby Wagner.
He's still one of the best linebackers in the entire NFL. He is 34 as I just said.
I saw some plays against the Buccaneers in which he was kind of sluggish a little bit. His age was showing a little bit.
But he still has 132 total tackles, which is second, you know, he's second among linebackers, PFF-wise.
So you got to kind of avoid him and understand that he's so cerebral.
(13:21):
He's so good at breaking down offenses, you know, from a defensive standpoint and being that quarterback of the defense.
And we know Bobby Wagner. We know what he can do. So you kind of avoid him.
Outside of him, you got eight sacks from their other linebacker, Frankie Louvue, and then 10 for linebacker, Dante Fowler.
So really all their defensive productivity is coming from their linebacker core.
(13:44):
And when it wasn't, it was, you know, coming from guys like DeRon Payne up on the line who went down with an injury last week.
I was just, as we were talking, trying to get an update on his injury.
I'm not finding anything, whether he's going to be good to go for Saturday or not.
But regardless, he's definitely not going to be 100% seeing some just different things about quote-unquote gruesome injuries.
It didn't think it looked that bad. But so I don't think DeRon Payne is going to be able to go.
(14:08):
So that, I mean, that really is just the linebacker core that we need to worry about as an offensive side.
They only have seven picks on the year, which is the bottom third in the NFL with Mikey Sandistrail leading the way with two of them.
I mean, Mike Evans, we talked, everyone in the NFL was talking about the Mike Evans vs. Marchion Latimore matchup.
And I don't know about you. I think Mike Evans got the best of that matchup.
(14:29):
I think he really, he didn't go crazy like Mike Evans does, but I think he really had the best of Marchion Latimore.
And so I'm really hoping we can kind of take advantage of that as well.
For sure. Yeah. You mentioned the linebacking core. Completely agree. Kamis have a great linebacking core.
We have seen, you know, a lot of really good success. The Lions, you know, offensive line, they are really tremendous at getting into that second line of the defense,
(14:55):
blocking those linebackers and even getting into the third line and, you know, blocking cornerbacks in safety.
So I think that, you know, linebackers, I don't think they're going to be the X factor for the, for the Kamis.
I really do think that we'll be able to establish that run regardless.
And I think just probably one more thing, just looking at the Lions offense, you got to capitalize on the Red Zone.
(15:16):
Of course, that goes without saying in the regular season, the Lions were awesome at, you know, Red Zone efficiency, Red Zone offense,
but it really, really changes in the playoffs when, you know, it's a little bit easier to pucker up and make mistakes in the Red Zone.
And we see the likes of, you know, Sam Darnold just really making mistakes in the Red Zone.
It could happen to anyone. I'm not saying it's going to happen to Jared Goff, but they definitely have to capitalize on the Red Zone.
(15:38):
The commanders have a bottom third Red Zone defense. They rank just 20 second.
I really think that, you know, the Lions are going to do what they do in the Red Zone.
They're going to capitalize. They're going to finish the drives and they're going to score touchdowns.
And we see it, you know, over under, we talked about the spread over unders like 55 and a half.
So, I mean, there's going to be points scored in this game. That's an absolute given.
(15:59):
And I actually, I like the over in that game on Saturday night, but yeah, you got to finish drives. It's integral.
Yeah, it's funny you brought the over under because I was literally going to be in my next point that 55 and a half over under.
I'm also taking that over. I think Detroit, I think Detroit on offense compared to the Washington defense.
I think we're going to be, we're going to have our way in a certain sense on from the offensive side,
(16:22):
so let's transition over to the defensive side because I also think that's going to be, it's really going to be whichever defense can kind of make the stands.
Because that commander's offense, thanks to Jane Daniels is, is, you know, kind of hitting on all cylinders right now.
We just saw them basically take the Buckinghurst defense completely out of it.
I think Jane Daniels, which is definitely doesn't play well to how Detroit runs their defense.
(16:47):
If you think back to just the game against the Vikings and Sam Darnold, one way we were able to beat him.
And because we are so injured on the defensive side, we don't naturally get a lot of pressure from the defensive line.
So what Aaron Glenn likes to do, he brings a lot of pressure. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but he is at the top of the league in amount of pressures and blitzing that he sends.
(17:08):
And, and Sam Darnold kind of folded like the pumpkin he is when we play the Vikings and that helped us, you know, as to our advantage.
On the other hand, the commanders, Jane Daniels is fantastic against the blitz.
I don't know, he is just so calm and cool and collective when they blitz against him. He can absolutely tear you apart when you blitz.
We kind of saw the same thing when the bills, when we played the bills and we were blitzing Josh Allen.
(17:30):
It got to a point where I was saying like, let's just stop sending pressure.
Like I get he's going to have all the time in the world back there because we don't naturally have a lot of pressure up front with our injuries, with the lean being out, with Hutch being out, you know, and so on.
But like every time we sent pressure, you know, manufactured pressure, it was Josh Allen either scrambling and finding a guy 30 yards downfield that managed to break free or Josh Allen scrambling and getting the first down himself.
(17:54):
It was to a point where I was like, just stop, stop sending guys. Let's just let our secondary go and just try and get natural pressure.
So I'm a little bit worried that Jayden Daniels does that as well. He's third best QBR against the blitz.
And I've seen it. I mean, we've seen it firsthand with him. He's able to find guys like Terry McClaren down the field for 30 yards, you know, after scrambling and keeping the play alive a little bit.
It has me a little bit worried, to be honest.
(18:17):
I'm certainly worried as well. Yeah, I mean, Jayden Daniels, he's electric. He's, in my opinion, you know, the clear offensive rookie of the year.
And he's really elevated this commander's offense, you know, tremendously from where they were even a year ago.
And he's especially nasty in the run game.
So I know we've talked about the Lions and scrambling quarterbacks in the past.
(18:39):
I think, you know, almost what differentiates Daniels is he's not just a scrambler.
They do a ton of design runs for Jayden Daniels.
And we know, I mean, it's football 101, but QB design runs when they are ran properly, they can be deadly.
You know, you essentially, you have an extra blocker because, you know, your ball carrier is now the quarterback.
The guy who is normally, you know, handed that ball off and not doing anything on a run play.
(19:02):
Well, he is now the running back. So yeah.
And, you know, they pair that with the opportunity for RPOs as well.
So run pass options, which, you know, the commanders do all the time.
And it's a really tough ask from a defense to defend that when, you know, you have multiple options and multiple looks, you know, you can do it out of emotion.
So I really do think that Aaron Glenn's number one priority is stopping this commander's run game, RPO game,
(19:29):
but really more than anything else, it's stopping Jayden Daniels because, you know, he accounts for, I think, a third of the commander's total rushing yards.
He ever just, you know, over 50 yards per game on the ground.
So I don't know how you do it because, you know, sending pressure, you know, if it doesn't get home, you know, he's, Jayden Daniels is out and scrambling.
Right.
And you could be running for a while. I don't know if it's, you know, a mixture of sending pressures, potentially a spy, but you just, you can't let him run for 50, 60, 70 yards on you and get these chunk plays that extend drives.
(20:03):
So yeah, it's going to be a very tall task for Aaron Glenn in this defense.
Yeah.
In my professional opinion, being all the experience I had playing Madden and NCAA 25, what I think I will expect Aaron Glenn to do is probably put a spy on him.
On Jayden Daniels, like you said, because he's just so lethal.
I think you're going to trust your big boys up front, DJ Reader, Levi Allen's a workie, you know, the big boys up in the middle to not allow any sort of real run game to get going from the running backs, not including Jayden Daniels, but from Brian Robinson, from Austin Eckler.
(20:38):
And even, I guess, in Jayden Daniels, if we're doing, if they're going to be running their design runs up the gut, you know, some draws and stuff from Jayden Daniels.
I think you kind of trust them. You put a spy in the linebacker core.
And then I think the other thing you can do from the secondary is you have to, I think, just throw, like, mix things up as much as possible.
And we broke it down a little bit last week.
(21:00):
And I think Baldy, Brian Baldinger broke it down on Twitter when the Lions played the Vikings.
Love Baldy. Shout out Baldy.
He's fantastic.
He broke down a bunch of different defensive plays and step by step.
Specifically when we were, you know, how many times were the Lions backed up against their own end zone and they were able to stop, you know, Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison from getting the end zone.
(21:21):
He broke it down that there were so many different plays, defensive plays and defensive schemes that AG put together in which there was robbers, there was handoffs, there was sometimes man, sometimes zone.
When you think we're going to be playing man or playing zone or playing a mixture or playing a hybrid, I think that's going to probably be the way to beat Jane Daniels in that, like, you just got to make sure that he doesn't know, he's having a hard time read the defense.
(21:46):
And then naturally, you don't have to, you don't have to try and manufacture that pressure.
If he's still trying to comprehend and figure out what the defense is, he could get a little bit of natural pressure while he's doing that.
I think that's probably going to be the best way to stop him.
But at the same time, we need our secondary to stay on their guys and not let, you know, Terry McClaren get opened.
On the season, Terry McClaren 82 catches, 1096 receiving yards, 13 touchdowns, a long of 86 yards, which I believe was at the end of the very end of the play or very end of the game in which they end up winning that game, I believe.
(22:19):
I mean, he's a deep threat. You cannot let him get open.
If the defense upfront does their job and contains Jane and Daniels, excuse me, as much as they can, you can't let them break, you know, the coverage break down on the back end.
If you look outside of McClaren, though, the second leading receiver is Zach Erd's with 650 receiving yards.
(22:40):
So it's like it shut down Terry at all costs.
I think you let Zach Erd's and tight ends have a tendency to hurt this Lions defense, specifically the linebackers.
Obviously last week or two weeks ago with Hawkinson, he wasn't able to get anything going.
But normally tight ends kind of hurt us.
So I think you just let Zach Erd's and get those easy under throws and you don't allow anything over top to Terry McClaren.
(23:02):
You don't let Jane and Daniels kind of break containment and you kind of just go from there.
I think you, you know, you pray and give him a whole bunch of different schemes that he's not aware of.
Yeah, yeah, I like it.
Nothing over the top, you know, nothing, nothing easy because we know how good Terry McClaren is.
I think we've both been, you know, saying his praises for years and that's when he's had, you know, horrendous quarterbacks throwing him the ball.
(23:26):
No offense to the Taylor honey keys of the world.
But yeah, I think one more thing for me, just the key for Aaron Glenn and this Lions defense.
First of all, we've talked about it, but you got to stop the run.
You know, as good as Jaden Daniels is, you know, he's very much still growing and developing as a passer.
You know, he's a rookie, obviously.
That's, I mean, that doesn't even have to be said, but you know, I'm saying it anyways.
(23:47):
You know, if you stop that run game and you can contain Daniels in any way to make him one dimensional, I think he's going to struggle.
And I think some of that struggle might even come from just the fact that, you know, you're uncomfortable, you know, a road game.
Of course, he just played in a road game and again, no offense to the Bucks fans, but for field is completely different.
(24:08):
It's not for field, completely different dynamic and it's going to be loud.
And I think that, you know, if you make Daniels uncomfortable, make it harder for him to communicate and audible.
I think it's going to make him a bit less dynamic in that, you know, it might be the difference in the game.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The last thing that I'll say, and I was going to put this in with the offense, but one more thing that I think we should touch on just because it very well could come down to the game of the Dan's.
(24:37):
I mean, you have Dan Quinn and Dan Campbell, both of them love to go on fourth downs.
They are, I think they're like number one and number two on going forward and fourth downs.
I think the commanders actually have a higher rate of going forward and succeeding than the Lions.
I might be wrong on that, but either way, both these teams, I mean, when it's third down, if it's third and long, both of these teams are not trying to pick up all that, you know, yardage to get the first down.
(25:03):
Both of these teams are going to be putting themselves into situations to get a fourth and short kind of way.
So it's going to be really interesting to see, you know, in Detroit for so many weeks, in the last few years, really, it put teams in uncomfortable positions because, you know, we're going forward on fourth downs.
They suddenly have an extra down that they have to account for.
Then on offense, they're thinking like, should we go forward on fourth down? Do we need to start changing?
(25:26):
That's not going to be really a factor in this because the commanders also go forward on fourth down.
So it'll be really interesting to see, you know, a game of the dance.
I mean, they're both very aggressive, so it'll be interesting.
The other thing I will say is Washington field goals.
I think we also maybe have a little bit of an edge when it comes to field goal kicking.
Washington field goals this year, 81% Detroit field goals this year with Jake Bates, 89.7%.
(25:52):
From 50 plus yardage, Washington field goals 25%. Detroit with Jake Bates, 85%.
So if we're not going to be going forward on fourth down, you know, maybe it comes down to a little bit of kicking here and there.
It seems like Detroit has the edge with our man, Jake Bates.
Love it. Yeah, I love that.
You know, you take an edge anywhere you can in the NFL playoffs pause.
(26:17):
So yeah, I guess just before we, you know, wrap this up, do you have a scoring prediction, Tyler, for Saturday nights game?
Wow, okay.
Let me on the spot here. I like this.
Okay, so we said it over and under was what, 55 and a half.
I think it's about 55. Yeah.
Yeah, I think 55 and a half.
I'm going to say it's going to be 35.
(26:46):
35, 35, 17 Detroit.
Wow.
And I think it's going to be closer than closer than the the score, you know, feels, I think looking back to last week, even with the, I keep saying last week,
the last game against the Vikings, like that was 31 to nine.
I think the final score that game was, if you look back at the game when you were watching it, it didn't feel like 31 to nine.
(27:07):
It was kind of the last like eight or so minutes that Detroit busted it open for, I'd say three quarters of that game.
It was close and it really could have gone either way.
I think it'll be more similar to that in which it really kind of, it's touch and go for a little bit whoever was going to make the first mistake,
which defense is going to get to stop.
But then I think towards the end that the, the Lions offense is just going to completely wear down the, the commander's defense.
(27:33):
And I think it's going to be further in the Lions cover and we move on.
I like it. I like it.
So a guy, a guy who was on record not 10 minutes ago saying he likes the over, he's going with the under in this prediction.
No one ever said I was going to miss.
I am, I am, I'm with you.
I think, you know, the Lions are going to win this game.
(27:54):
I think it's going to be closer.
I'm going to go with Lions 34 commanders 24.
And I do like, you know, you mentioned Jake Bates.
I think that a long Jake Bates field goal is going to be, you know, the difference to put, put the Lions up two scores.
Probably sometime in the fourth quarter and it's just going to be too much and the Lions defense is going to hold.
So that's, that's my prediction 34 24 and the Lions march on to the NFC championship game.
(28:19):
I like that. If we're doing predictions off predictions, I predict your prediction is much closer to mine.
I like that 34 24.
Okay.
So before we get into just a few miscellaneous items, let's get into our predictive grid of the week.
So just real quick again, if you are a new listener each week while we're going through our review of the previous week's game,
Kyle and I would both give out a grit of the week, somebody that stood out, whether it's overall performance, a player or two,
(28:44):
someone that deserves some praise getting the grit of the week.
And then when we're doing our preview later on the show, we'll do our predictive grid of the week to kind of see who we think will have the best game,
depending on matchup, you know, who are playing stuff like that.
So who do you have for predictive grid of the week against the Washington commanders?
Yeah, I got, I got a guy who I think, assuming he's good to go, he's going to be hungry.
(29:07):
The big fella has not played in three or four weeks now.
He's going to be hungry and he's going to get fed, especially at the goal line.
And it's going to be David Montgomery.
He's going to be my grid of the week.
I expect him to score on Saturday night.
Again, assuming he's, you know, he's good to go and he's, he's playing.
Yeah.
Okay.
I like that.
And I, like we said, it sounds like he's had full practices.
Dan Campbell just wants to see one more full practice to actually mark him in.
(29:30):
It sounds like he's going to be good to go.
So I love that.
It's so great to see him back in there and you know, shout out Gibbs who was able to hold it down while he was out, but just having that, you know, the guy, you can swap in and out and just get a quick breather.
And shout out Craig Reynolds as well.
He's done a fantastic job, you know, playing in Monty's, in Monty's absence.
But so I have in our show notes, my original predictive grid of the week was going to be Gibbs.
(29:54):
I think Gibbs against this poor, poor rushing defense was going to have a day.
But in talking about this, and I still think he will in talking through this and talking about, you know, who's going to play well and what we need to do.
I'm actually going to switch it, which if you call it, you've been listening for a while.
I did this a few weeks ago and I should have stuck with my original.
I said that Sam LaPorte was going to have a great game and then I switched off him.
(30:18):
He ended up having two touchdowns.
So it's always, almost always never works out for me.
I'm going to switch this from Gibbs to Alex Anzoloni.
I think Anzoloni is going to be flying all over the place. I think he's going to be making tackles on Jane and Daniels.
I think he's going to be running up and down the line in scrimmage, going sideline to sideline, making tackle after tackle.
I think Anzoloni is going to have a fantastic day.
I think he's going to have upwards of, let's see, I think he's going to have upwards of 12 to 14 tackles.
(30:47):
I think he's going to be all over the place.
Love it. Love it. I'm with you on that.
I mean, he's a beast. He had an amazing game last week in his return from his broken arm.
Yeah, I'm with you on that one, Anzoloni.
Okay, so that is it for our preview.
Again, the Washington Commanders coming to Fordfield Saturday night, 8 p.m.
(31:11):
Tickets are very expensive. You can't go.
Make sure you're watching and yelling at your TV because they might be able to hear you through the TV.
Just a few miscellaneous items kind of related to the game.
We already touched on Monty specifically, this is some injury stuff.
We already touched on Montgomery, him being expected to be back.
I guess all these guys are all expected.
There's been nothing I don't think confirmed yet, but Montgomery expected to be back as long as he can log a full practice tomorrow.
(31:36):
You have Terry and Arnold also expected to be back.
He went down with an ankle injury that seemed pretty bad at the time during that Vikings game.
I think it was a little bit of a hyper extension, a little friendly fire.
He actually was one of our own defenders running through his foot and hyper extending that ankle.
He was carted off, looked pretty bad at the time, but it sounds like even after the game, he was in a boot,
(31:57):
but they asked him about it and he's like, yeah, no doubt, I'm playing after the buy.
It sounds like he is on track to do that, so we should be getting Terry on Arnold back,
which as we kind of saw over the last few weeks when we didn't have Terry on Arnold,
it's more important than we maybe thought to start the season.
So great to hear from him. You have Kevin Zitler, who, similar to Ainsoloni,
(32:19):
when we were talking about when the game was out of reach, Kevin Zitler on the offensive line was still in the game.
Myself, I know I was extremely frustrated.
I'm sure a few others were that we still had our starters in there, but as the game was coming to an end,
Kevin Zitler kind of came up lame a little bit.
He was dealing with, I guess he pulled his hamstring a little bit, basically in garbage time, which was frustrating.
(32:40):
But after the game, he was said to be okay. It wasn't expected to be that bad with the buy.
The expectation was that he was going to be good to go.
Everything I'm seeing now is that he is still on track to play, so you can add him to the list of guys
that are expected to come back and play on Saturday night against the Commanders.
And then the final guy is Ennis Raikstraw.
Ennis has been, obviously he was our second round draft pick, the cornerback, this past draft brought in,
(33:07):
kind of was expected to be the one-two new guys with Terry and Arnold.
Really struggled with his injuries this entire year, whether he's coming off of a hamstring injury
and then expected to come back from IR.
He's kind of randomly put back on IR for one reason or another.
I believe they did open his return window from the IR this week,
so I don't think we're going to see him on Saturday night, but it is something to note that his window is being opened.
(33:35):
If it was a veteran who has been in the league for many years, I would expect that the window is going to be open.
He can come in and hit the ground running.
Being that it's a rookie, especially a cornerback rookie,
corners are notorious for having a hard time adjusting from college play to the NFL.
I don't expect to see very much of him, but just knowing that we have that depth,
(33:57):
if something were to happen to anyone else, he can step in if need be, is something good to note.
Yeah, that's huge. Even if it's just a give-or-bree, they're a Terry and Arnold.
Of course, we know we are without a couple of cornerbacks.
In any capacity, if he's ready to go, if he can take some snaps, that's gigantic.
(34:18):
Yep. Let's wrap up Lions Talk with just a little bit of coaching talk here, a little coaching updates.
It's been kind of the hot news over this past week because the Lions had the bi-week and didn't have a game to play.
All the news outlets were just posting all the coaches and where they're all interviewing and stuff.
It's been no secret we've had two of the best coordinators in the NFL for going on two years now in Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson.
(34:43):
Everyone kind of expected last year to be there last year with Detroit.
Both of them came back and I think Aaron Glenn maybe was due back.
I think he was benefited from having a good year.
Ben Johnson could have taken a coaching job last year, but both ended up coming back and said,
they had some unfinished business here in Detroit now that they've gone through such a successful year.
(35:04):
They're both hot commodities out there on the coaching cycle there.
So you had Aaron Glenn interviewed with the Saints on Friday, the Jets on Thursdays,
planning a meeting with the Bears and the Jaguars.
I think the Patriots requested to meet with him last week. He turned them down.
It's kind of wishy-washy and a little bit gray on whether they actually wanted to interview him.
(35:28):
It could have been related to the Rooney Rule, which if you're not aware of the Rooney Rule,
it states that you need to interview, I think it's one or two coaches of a minority in order to fill kind of a quota.
So he kind of turned that one down. They kind of just used that to fulfill the Rooney Rule and then went and hired Mike Vrabel.
A.G. really heavily being tied to the Saints. I think actually as we're recording this,
(35:54):
I just saw something that the Saints are expected to make a strong push for Lyons, D.C., Aaron Glenn.
He obviously played for the Saints back in the day, so he's expected to have strong ties there.
Outside of Aaron Glenn, you had Ben Johnson, who met with the Raiders, the Bears, the Jaguars, and the Patriots all on Friday.
(36:16):
I think actually all of them might have been just virtual, not actually in person, but he's obviously having the strongest
pulls towards the Raiders. The Raiders, you know, they are partially owned by Tom Brady,
so I'm reading and hearing that Tom Brady is making a heavy push for Ben Johnson.
You have the Bears who really want Ben Johnson to kind of mold Caleb Williams and take that offense,
(36:38):
which I think would be great for the Bears. So Ben Johnson getting a ton of love.
Actually, I think one of the best kind of options and openings for head coaching, at least an offensive head coach,
at least with the Bears, the Jags, and the Patriots. The Raiders maybe not so much, but at least they have a high draft pick,
and they can draft whoever Ben Johnson wants.
For sure, yeah. Just going back to Aaron Glenn real quick, I think that him to the Saints makes a tremendous amount of sense.
(37:04):
Of course, he played for them. And actually before he became Dan Campbell's defensive coordinator,
he was actually the defensive backs coach for the Saints from, I think, like, 16 to 2020.
So I could see that, you know, the Saints, I think just as a franchise, as an organization, they pride themselves on defense.
They've had some tremendous defenses in the past. So, you know, hiring a defensive head coach makes a lot of sense.
(37:30):
And then, yeah, Ben Johnson, I think that he could succeed in a lot of different NFL situations.
We haven't talked about the Cowboys yet. That's kind of news that's hot off the press yesterday that they're moving on from Mike McCarthy.
So that's another potential landing spot for Ben Johnson. So it'll be interesting to see where he goes.
But I think it's a win, not an if for me, for both these guys, because they've proven that they can both be NFL head coaches.
(37:57):
Yeah, I think they definitely have proven that, and they definitely could, and I wish them the best.
I think Aaron Glenn is definitely a foregone inclusion. Like I said, it just makes too much sense. Aaron Glenn and the Saints,
like there's too much connections there. I think he would derive there. I think that makes too much sense.
I think there is, and Ben Johnson came out and said this this week, there is a small chance that he stays with Detroit if the right one doesn't open up.
(38:18):
Now, I think, like I said, the ones that he has been connected to make sense as well.
They are probably the best open opportunities. You have Trevor Lawrence, you know, you're looking at teams with good quarterbacks
and young guys, and you have Trevor Lawrence with the Jaguars, you have Drake May with the Patriots, you have Caleb Williams with the Bears.
So I think the opportunities are there. But there is that off chance that Ben Johnson wants to stay with Detroit and like Dan Campbell.
(38:43):
And depending on how the season ends up playing out, there could be unfinished business or there could be, you know, we hit all of our goals this year.
Let's try and repeat or whatever it may be. So yeah, I think they both deserve, are well deserving of these opportunities.
The other thing, it kind of goes along with these. You think about losing these guys, and we've, like I said, going back to last year,
(39:05):
we kind of expected that these guys are going to be interviewing. And I think a lot of people were kind of surprised that they both were able to come back for this year.
But we don't kind of talk about who they're going to be taking with them.
There's, you know, the chance that they just kind of go and they bring in their own guys, you know, not part of our franchise and not part of our organization.
They bring in their own guys or, you know, the keep whoever is there, wherever they go.
(39:26):
But there is also the chance that they go somewhere and they take a guy and elevate them to an OCE or DC position or, you know, a higher position that they're out here in Detroit.
That can leave us even more crippled, you know, not just taking our OCE or DC, but taking, you know, the guy that maybe we think is in waiting that could take over for them.
They're taking them with them. You know, I'm talking primarily about Frank Haley or excuse me, Hank Fraley.
(39:51):
I always do that. Switch those two letters up. Hank Fraley, who is the offensive line coach, fantastic offensive line coach.
Obviously, Detroit is known for the last few years for their offensive line guys, you know, Decker, Suel, you know, Ragnow.
Fraley has been fantastic on the offensive line. There's a chance that wherever Ben Johnson goes, he takes Fraley with him and he gives him the, you know, the OCE position.
(40:14):
If it's not offered here, there's a chance he could go. I know Hank Fraley also interviewed himself for the Seattle OCE position.
So even if he doesn't follow Ben Johnson or any of these other guys, they also could leave.
So it's really interesting. It'll be really interesting to see how our season plays out.
What effects, you know, where these guys end up or if they end up anywhere outside Detroit, who they take with them, who they, you know, who we use in our organization to replace them.
(40:38):
I think as of right now, the two, the guys that are in waiting and everything I've heard and read, you have, let's see, Calvin Shepard, who is the linebackers coach, I believe, for the Lions right now.
He has kind of been the man in waiting for when Aaron Glenn leaves. It's obviously been talked about all season.
Aaron Glenn has kind of really been training him as a DC to take over for whenever he is, or whenever he leaves.
(41:04):
So he's, I think the guy expected to take over. And then on the other side, you have a guy like Tanner Agstrand, who is the offensive passing coordinator for the Lions.
Same as Shepard. He's been the one that's kind of been heavily involved in a lot of the offensive decision making and such.
Seems obviously Detroit has a great passing game. Jared Goff is playing unlike he's ever has before.
(41:28):
I'm in a fantastic Jamo. Waymo is fantastic. So Tanner, I think, I think he's like 34, another young guy expected to take over as well.
So you kind of have those two guys in waiting. So it'd be really interesting to see if those two guys go out and get their own, you know, jobs outside of Detroit.
They follow AG or Ben Johnson, wherever they go, if they go anywhere. It'd be really interesting to see what Detroit ends up having to fill over the next few months.
(41:52):
For sure. For sure. We're going to have to wait and see. Just one thing that I will add to that. The Lions, you know, it's no secret.
They're a very well-ran organization. And you know, Brad Holmes, we know what he can do.
We can almost guarantee you that Brad Holmes and the Detroit Lions have a business continuity plan for both Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson leaving.
(42:18):
And I think that if, you know, if Ben Johnson or if Aaron Glenn, if they have said like, hey, you know, I want to take Shepard or I want to take Tanner and Strant, you know, the Lions, the Lions are taking this into account.
And I think probably more importantly, the Lions are probably telling these guys like, hey, you know, we need them.
And so, yeah, I think there's going to be a plan in place. And I think that whatever happens, if those guys leave or stay, and if they, you know, they take the passing coordinator,
(42:45):
if they take, you know, Shepard on the defensive side, I don't think it's going to be, you know, just completely blind to Brad Holmes.
They're going to have a plan in place and they're going to know what's going to happen.
So it's not going to be, it's not going to be sudden or anything like that. I would have to imagine they are, they are planning extensively for losing both those guys and, you know, potentially any guys that they want to bring with them to their, you know,
(43:08):
respective new organizations. So just want to say I have the utmost, yeah, utmost respect for Brad Holmes and, yeah, the utmost confidence.
Yeah, I think just like the way that this, I mean, it's every single person, every single player, every single staff member, pretty much all the fans, I think the way this Lions team and success has been put together,
(43:29):
we, everyone kind of came up together. I think there really is a true, you know, level playing field that everyone is friends, everyone, we're all working together.
I think there truly is everyone on the same team. And so there, I don't foresee any sort of bad blood or anything like that.
So I agree completely. If someone is going to be leaving a stuff, I think they would 100% like let them know like, hey, I'm planning on, you know, bringing this guy with me wherever it is.
(43:53):
This is who I think would be best to replace myself and this guy I'm trying to take. There's going to be a ton of back and forth and, and leaving nobody out to dry.
I think that's, that's super important. So that's a great point.
Yeah. So that wraps up our Lions talk. Hopefully we're coming on next week, reviewing a great game and talking about our next week.
(44:14):
But outside of Detroit Lions, the, all the other Detroit sports teams are also playing absolutely fantastic.
I want to just take a moment and before we get into the other teams, just like, enjoy this, whatever we say today, Kyle, all Detroit sports teams, including the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans are 32 and one since the start of 2025,
which is absolutely insane. I was, you know, on Twitter making jokes. It was like six and we were like six and oh to start the new year.
(44:42):
And I was counting it down like, oh, six and oh, and then we won the next day and I was like seven and oh, and here we are now 3032 and one two weeks into the new year.
And the only loss has come, I think it was a pistons loss. I mean, everywhere around Detroit is actually fantastic.
Let's truly enjoy this time as Detroit is starting to make this resurgence sports wise.
Yeah, drink it in. This is special. This is something that I mean, not only does that not this run like this, you know, it doesn't happen often to franchises to cities, I should say, sports cities.
(45:12):
It certainly doesn't happen to Detroit and maybe at least not in the last couple of decades. So yeah, absolutely drink it in. This is I mean, what a time to be alive.
Yeah, so with the pistons, pistons obviously, I think there are two games above 500. Now they are on an absolute tear.
There's only two other teams that have played better than them and you know, and since 2025 has started, they are playing fantastic basketball.
(45:36):
Cade Cunningham is now the betting leader to win most improved player. He is absolutely an all star. We said it last week, but we'll say it again this week if you haven't gone out and voted for Cade Cunningham to be on the All Star team, please go out and do so.
Trajan Langdon is the favorite is still a little bit early, but Trajan Langdon is the favorite for NBA executive of the year. Based on all the guys he's put together around Cade Cunningham and this team, even after losing Jay and Ivy to that, that fibula fracture a few weeks ago, they have not missed a beat.
(46:07):
And really making it a really great discussion on like whether we still will be sellers at the deadline, you know, come February in a few weeks or whether we'll be buyers or stamp hat and we'll get more into a lot of those options and who I think we should tackle or target as February comes along.
But it's also fun to note, Pissons are playing the Suns, the Phoenix Suns are coming to Detroit. The game originally was at five o'clock, five PM on Saturday, because of the Lions game that game was moved up to four PM. So you better believe Devin Booker was asked about this.
(46:38):
He will be there. He thought he was on Sunday, so he was just planning on staying an extra day and going to the game. He found out that it was on Saturday.
So he will be at the Detroit Lions game. He has a fun little bet going on with with Kevin Durant. Booker is the guy that we've kind of not just we a lot of people on Twitter have tied to Detroit for years and years and years based on him being from here and him absolutely loving Detroit and the Pistons.
(47:00):
Again, we'll get into more on like whether that's feasible for Detroit to target or not. But it's just fun to note, you better believe Devin Booker after playing the Pistons at four PM will be across the street at Ford Field at eight PM watching the Lions.
Hell yeah, hell yeah. And then not too long that we're going to bring him home for good. Yeah, and you know you mentioned Cade Cunningham. You know, can we talk about Cade Cunningham? I feel like I'm Charlie Kelly right now.
(47:22):
Can we talk about the mail? Can we please talk about All Star Cade Cunningham? Because you know this obviously this is my opinion that Cade has you know all but solidified himself as an All Star in this league and in the NBA.
So my question now is does he have a chance to start in the All Star game and I know these are these are questions you know at the end of the day. It doesn't matter right that doesn't mean shit. Well, it still means some shit to me right so I was just you know looking at you know guards in the Eastern
(47:49):
Conference that you know could quote unquote be ahead of Cade to start in the All Star game and developed a list you know an awesome list. Lamella Ball, Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, Trey Young, Damien Lillard, Tyrese Maxie, Donovan Mitchell and then of course Cade Cunningham and so you know I think how this how this works is you know it's
basically front court and back court so it's not you're not splitting up point guards and shooting guards it's just guards at the end of the day and you know I'm looking at the numbers Cade averages 24 and a half points 6 and 6 and a half rebounds per game and 9 and a half is
(48:23):
this is just insane and I think those numbers are only going up as Cade's been playing so well but his numbers leaps and bounds better than Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, Damien Lillard Maxie and Donovan Mitchell I mean just just across the board they are better.
He's outscoring a lot of these guys and really where his numbers are better he ever just more rebounds than any other guard that I've mentioned and his assists at 9 and a half per game, Trey Young at 12 assists per game, shout out Trey Young that's that's an absurd stat line.
(48:57):
Cade at 9 and a half is the second highest of any player that I've mentioned so I think that it is a realistic possibility that we see that we see Cade Cunningham and Lamello ball start as the guards for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game just a quick shout out to Lamello.
This is granted in 25 games I think he was hurt nearly 30 points per game 5 and a half rebounds and 7 and a half assists so I think that Lamello in my opinion you know assuming that he's not getting penalized for only playing 25 games I think he's a clear starter and I think Cade is right alongside him so we'd love to hear your thoughts there.
(49:33):
If it even matters. No it definitely does. Well it doesn't it doesn't. You're right it is at the end of the day somewhat of a popularity contest and so we can you know shout until we're blue in the face but at the end of the day we need everyone to get out there and vote.
But for a while it was just like is Cade an All-Star like we think he is everyone outside of Detroit we need you guys to see it too now it truly is is Cade a starter like he's not just it's not going to be it maybe or maybe not in the All-Star game it's maybe he may be not be a starter in the All-Star game.
(49:59):
He's been so fantastic the last what two months I mean just watching him the game is slowing down so much there's no other team no other defense is able to speed him up he is absolutely fantastic he's playing his game he's playing at really similar to like
the Ganchic level in which he's an oversized guard and the game is going real slow for him it didn't matter they played the Knicks last night it didn't matter who they put on and whether it's Josh Hart it was Jalen Brunson, Mikhail Bridges who didn't matter who they put on him he was able to slow it down and basically maneuver in any which way he wanted and use his six foot six frame to get what he wanted he had
(50:34):
he had four fouls in the second quarter last night against the Knicks and he still finished finished the game never fouled out and again that we needed him to play the entire one finished I think with 36 points he was absolutely fantastic he went on a run in the third quarter that was
insane I think he had like nine or 12 points in a row or something I mean kid cunning I cannot say enough about that enough about the man and then outside of him I mean and if you get I could talk for hours and hours about the Pistons and as the lion season starts to wrap up we will shift into some of these other teams and other sports and break them down even further
(51:06):
but even outside of Kate I think his supporting cast has been fantastic Malik Beasley is an absolute dog I love Malik so much I love the the development that we're seeing from a Sar Thompson and Ron Holland
Isaiah Stewart is an absolute beast on the defensive end blocking shots they had two block shots last night Jaylen Duren is even starting to pick it up on the defensive end which is super important so yeah absolutely I mean just absolutely fantastic this team is far and away exceeding expectations we're midway through the season almost and they're you know they're about to
(51:38):
I think the over under on the wins of the season was 25 I think it was maybe 25 and you know I think we're at 19 now so it's like I mean we're slated to triple what we were expected to get on the year so absolutely fantastic from the Pistons just keeping things moving along
other other Detroit sports Tigers no big news still haven't signed Bregman Chris Illich I know you're an avid listener you reach out all the time to to talk on the podcast we obviously have no time so we can allow you to but just go out and sign Bregman get it done
(52:12):
let's add Bregman to this this this lineup we need him he wants to be here Hinch wants him get it done
yeah Chris Illich I mean what are we doing you know little Caesars redwinks you have money dude sign the guy like just pay him you know I mean it's got to be it's got to be a I'm not going to say it's going to be a team friendly deal
he's probably going to garner you know quite a bit of cash but I mean just just sign the man meet in the middle ground and and please let's get it done I mean for once do do the right thing Chris
(52:40):
yeah you know you know Mike would have his dad Michael it would have done it so let's do it Chris get it done get Bragg signed I want to be coming on here next week talking about a lion's win and signing of Alex Bregman
nothing else Tigers though redwinks redwinks may never lose again I don't this is insane it's I know it's a thing in the NHL you know the coaching firing the firing of a coach bump it's an actual thing you fire a coach midseason usually you find a bump and for whatever reason
(53:05):
redwinks may never lose for the rest entire season it's feasible you know I could see it they could do the impossible I mean they they beat up on a Seattle crack and team a pretty good Seattle crack and team I mean they went up for goals to none in about nine minutes of
of ice time at ten minutes a game time like it was I mean I literally looked up and they were and they were winning by two goals and I that must have been in a matter of seconds seemingly so I mean they're they're awesome
(53:35):
Lucas Raymond he continues to excel and prove that he is one of if not the best young players in this league he's still only 23 maybe just turned 24 years old extremely young especially for for NF sorry for for NHL terms that's a very very young age he's on pace for 90 points on the season and just quick quick stat since December 29th the NHL points leaders
(54:04):
number one is Patty Kane 13 points number two in the NHL since the 29th Lucas Raymond 12 points fourth is Alex to bring it with 11 points and then six D boss Dylan Larkin with 10 points so I mean this team quite literally the the hottest team in the NHL they're buzzing
yeah absolutely and I think that was what frustrated so many fans for the first half of the season is like we know I mean didn't go out and add technically that the guys everyone wanted to we didn't really make that many roster improvements and if anything he made some strange
(54:38):
acquirings with the terrace ankle and stuff like that but what really frustrated everyone was like the the energy and the effort wasn't there under the lawn for the first half of the season and you know now that the line is gone we're seeing those these guys play with energy they're having fun again they're playing hard
Marco the young guys are getting involved Marco Casper had a second straight multi-point game you know for the ring you got all these young guys that are also coming up with you talk about the all the kids that we have down with the Griffins they're all starting to come up and play fantastic so it's absolutely great to see
(55:08):
we have a very winnable game tonight against the sharks we had to wrap up here in a few minutes because I'm actually headed to the game myself but they may never lose again Detroit may never lose again we have at least like we said we have the the the wings game tonight we have the
pistons I think what tomorrow unless they have a back to back tonight just absolutely like we said to kind of start the Detroit you know sports the outside of lions just take this in enjoy this even like we said the college sports Michigan Michigan State enjoy this we're
(55:38):
winning we're playing really fun all these teams are not they're not just winning they're having fun Michigan State basketball is having so much fun playing these games Michigan's playing fantastic with their two seven foot point guards basically just really take a moment and enjoy all the success of Detroit's having
yeah and just just a quick look around Detroit you mentioned a couple upcoming games Thursday the 16th the Pacers come to town it's always you know a inner inner division game I know divisions don't really matter in the NBA but I feel like the Pacers in the
(56:08):
game are going to be a big one because they always play pretty close game so that's a big one to look at and then actually also on Thursday the wings are on the road they're playing a very good Florida Panthers team so I you know really hope they get the dub tonight against the sharks you're
really excited to get loud and then and then a really big test on Thursday against the Panthers let's see if we can you know keep this win streak going yep absolutely so that is all for our episode thank you guys all for tuning in obviously we have this new this new medium
(56:38):
coming to you live wherever you listen to podcasts Apple podcast Spotify you can follow us on Twitter dot underscore Tyler for myself Kyle is Kyle underscore Marino correct
and yeah honestly guys thanks so much for for listening if you've made it this far you know you've done it you've done your part if we could just ask you know five star reviews and downloads on Apple podcast and on Spotify it helps us more than
(57:03):
y'all know so yeah yeah so much and then the last thing we'll say we obviously have the voicemail set up for the podcast so make sure you guys call in leave a voicemail any sort of topic and be sports related can be Detroit related anything really to get us talking get involved in the
conversation that phone number is 313-306-7939 so give that a call leave a voicemail will play it live on the podcast give you guys a chance to get in on the conversation and we'll add that to the end of the podcast here so that's all we have
(57:29):
we'll talk to you guys next week hopefully after another Lions win let's go out and take it to the commies restore the roar
Alright, welcome to the grit I'm going to show you.
(00:29):
Welcome to the grit iron report.
Your Lions First All Detroit Sports podcast today is Tuesday, January 14th.
And after a well deserved by week, we now know your Detroit Lions will be facing off against the Washington Commanders in their first round of the playoffs.
We also have a ton of coaching updates surrounding the Lions, a few different other Detroit sports things.
(00:52):
So let's get into it.
Obviously, we have no game to review as Lions were off on the bye week.
So we're just going to jump right into the Lions preview.
Again, this against the Commanders.
So let's just jump right into Commanders coming to Ford Field to play the Detroit Lions.
Yeah, yeah.
And ladies and gentlemen, I would love to be the first to introduce you to Kami Hate Week.
(01:15):
That's right.
And I hope that we can all band together as Red Bulleted Americans in support of Kami Hate Week.
And to put an end to the Kami's for good.
I think it's just, you know, it's what we can do as Americans.
And so yeah, a couple of things for me, Ty.
First, Ford Field, it's going to be allowed.
I think there's a chance that they could break the whatever NFL decibel record is out there.
(01:38):
I don't know if the Lions have been like close to breaking it or have broken it previously, but I'm feeling really good about this being one of, if not the loudest environments in NFL playoff history.
Or game history.
And yeah, I guess just a couple of things.
Lions have not played the Commanders very often.
(01:59):
In fact, in the last 10 years, Lions have only played the Commanders four times.
There are three in one in those games.
I do expect it to be four in one.
We can jump into, you know, offensive and defensive thoughts in just a little bit.
But just one more thing.
I actually just saw this on Twitter like 20 minutes ago.
Didn't verify it at all.
But this is the most expensive non Super Bowl game in NFL history with average ticket prices of just under $1,000.
(02:24):
It looked like about $990.
So again, did absolutely no research of my own on this.
Saw it on Twitter.
It's got to be true.
Would love to hear your thoughts on that.
Yeah, well, you can rest assured because I saw the same thing on Twitter.
And if we both saw it, that actually has to be true.
There's no way that it's false if we both saw some sort of tweet or anything about it.
But I saw that $991 average ticket price.
(02:46):
I think the actual cheapest to get in the door is just under $600, which is absolutely insane.
I mean, say what you want about it.
Since the Lions have gotten better, I feel like it's been an ongoing conversation.
People have talked about how we're starting to get, you know, the real diehard fans who were with Detroit, you know, in the hard times,
are starting to get priced out of these games.
And that's a whole conversation for a different day.
(03:08):
But I agree with you.
I think even if the price is going to be astronomical as it already looks to be, I think we're going to set records.
I'm pretty sure Detroit holds the it's either like Detroit and the Chiefs who hold the two loudest games.
I think we got that the last year or two years ago.
We were right up there.
It could have even could have even been the Rams playoff game last year that we broke it.
So I expected to be right up there again.
(03:30):
Like you said, I Detroit is going to show up.
But let's start out with guess the line.
So guess the line real quick.
Those who haven't listened to us, Kyle, guess is what Vegas has set the line at what they think Detroit Lions versus whatever opponent is is going to be.
Kyle, go ahead and guess the line for the commanders coming to Fordfield to play in Detroit Lions.
This is a tough one because obviously I think that the Lions are I'm going to say significantly better than the commanders.
(03:55):
But it is this is a playoff game.
It's a divisional game.
And you know, we know this in the NFL.
It's any given Sunday really.
So I'm kind of gauging off the the Bucks commanders line from last week.
Bucks were favored by three.
I think that, you know, the the Lions are good.
I'm going to guess two and a half points or three points better than that.
(04:16):
So if I had to guess, I would say Lions minus five and a half just given that this is a playoff game.
And you know, I expect this to be decently tight.
Yeah.
So you're dead on it.
I have it right now at Lions minus five and a half.
I have seen it get all the way.
I think it opened that maybe seven Lions minus seven.
So it's obviously coming down a little bit.
(04:37):
I think exactly like you said, I think Fordfield plus.
I think Fordfield plays a huge part in this.
I think just the fact that the commanders are kind of new to this over the last, you know, 15 years and we'll get into that in a second.
But I think all those come into play.
I think what was also really interesting about the the odds and stuff is that the if you if you've seen this on, I think I saw it on Twitter, the anytime touchdown scores, they have like six different Lions who have better odds at scoring a touchdown.
(05:02):
Then I think until like the first commander comes up or maybe it's like three or four or five different Lions have better odds to score a touchdown before the first Washington commander comes up to score, you know, anytime touchdown.
I think it's probably scary Terry or Jade and Daniels there.
But I think that just shows how Vegas thinks that this could possibly be even even more wide of a game than just the the minus five and a half just based on the odds.
(05:28):
I think Craig Reynolds was even on the anytime touchdown list for Detroit.
I think he was at like a plus 400, which is it's it's decently high based on anytime touchdowns.
But for a guy like Craig Reynolds to even be on there is pretty crazy.
So I thought that was interesting as well.
But yeah, Detroit minus five.
Where are you seeing where are you seeing five and a half?
I'm just curious. I'm just pulling up on my phone.
(05:50):
I'm seeing nine and a half. So that's a pretty big discrepancy.
Interesting. So I was just looking on ESPN nine and a half.
That's a that's a huge discrepancy.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Action.
So it looks like it looks like it actually this is open on ESPN open at five and a half.
It actually is sitting at 10 now.
Oh, wow. Okay. I think that's too high.
But yeah. Yeah.
So that means it'll I think is where it's yeah, I think if you're saying five and a half open at five and a half.
(06:14):
I think that's probably so that I mean that just says what people are thinking about Ford field.
And even though the commanders, I thought they looked pretty good.
And again, we'll get into them in a few minutes.
You know, people are heavily leaning towards the Lions more so as the days go on and we get closer and closer to Saturday.
But okay, so Saturday nights, like I said, we now know the commanders are coming to town at 8pm.
(06:36):
Before we can start really about breaking down the offensive defense, we agree we wanted the commanders over the box, right?
Yeah. Yeah, I think that that was the team. I mean, if you're just looking at, you know, playoff teams in the NFC side of the bracket,
you know, I would rather face the commanders than, you know, a hot Rams team.
I even thought that, you know, if the Vikings came back to town, it's tough to beat a team three times, let alone a divisional opponent.
(07:01):
That would have been that would have been challenging.
So I think of the of the teams we could have played. Yeah, it's probably the commanders given they have a rookie quarterback.
I'll be at a rookie quarterback that is playing extremely well.
And so I'm certainly not taking this game lightly.
And I know for a fact that Dan Campbell and the Lions are not taking this game lightly.
Yeah, absolutely. And just, I mean, looking at all the teams in general, who like you said, who we could have played,
(07:24):
don't want to play the Vikings again, just because we play them so many times, the Rams looked absolutely insane.
I mean, they did what we kind of thought the Eagles were going to do.
They handled that game. They handled their business, you know, properly.
So I'm glad we don't have to play the Rams immediately.
So I'm happy with the commanders. I think it offers a new challenge.
In a sense, the commanders are very similar to Detroit in this fact that like they're coming off a really down year in which maybe they showed a little bit of heart,
(07:50):
a little bit of, you know, hope for their fans, but they were able to turn around, get their new get their new guy in there and Jane Daniels and have just kind of been this fun, exciting team.
They have, you know, Cliff Kingsbury brought on the staff. They're really fun, exciting. The fans are having a great time.
They're, in my opinion, very similar to the Lions in which they maybe are just kind of taking it for granted.
(08:13):
Now I saw on Twitter, there's a lot of commanders fans that are saying this is, you know, they're playing with house money at this time because they won their playoff game first one, I think since like 2006.
I might be wrong on that, but they said that, you know, basically playing with house money, which in a sense, obviously, from a distance, as loser talk, you know, they say what you want about, you know,
we were saying last year and whatever they're saying this year, like, I know a lot of Detroit fans felt the same way as soon as we got that first playoff win.
(08:38):
A lot of fans, you know, for better or for worse, were like, hey, we got our, we got our playoff win first one and, you know, how many years since 93 or whatever.
As long as, you know, we got it, we can lose now and I'll, you know, I'll be able to, okay, we'll be moving to next year.
So I kind of see a lot of similarities between the commanders and Detroit fans.
At the same time, I think they, I cautioned them to be careful. There was another video that came out as all the commander's fans who I'm sure were drunk from the game and, you know, amped up from the win and they were all chanting, they want Detroit.
(09:11):
And I don't know, I've liked the commanders. I think they're a pretty fun story to watch this season. I don't really know of anyone that is like absolutely hates the commanders.
But just seeing that fired me up and I'm like, you don't, you don't want Detroit. Like that's not go around chanting, you want Detroit when you really don't.
Like that's, and I know we haven't been at the top of the, you know, the, the standings first for very long. It's really been like what, two years we've been up here.
(09:36):
So we can't really, you know, we can't really act all that high and mighty, but like, you don't want Detroit. Let's not go chanting around. You want Detroit.
I really want to take it to them after seeing that. I don't know what it was about that video.
Yeah, I mean, first of all, buddy, commanders, you have Detroit, you know, you don't, you don't have to chant that. You certainly have us.
And yeah, I would caution them going up against, as we know, one of the leagues, one of the league's best offenses averaging 410 yards per game, 70 touchdowns on the season.
(10:05):
So yeah, yeah, commanders, if you want that, well, you got it on Saturday night, 8pm Eastern.
I think, you know, if we want to jump into first, the offensive thoughts for the Lions and just looking at this commander's team, they rank 13th in the league in terms of yards, but their scoring defense is just 18th.
They have a very good passing defense. It's third in the NFL and their rushing defense leaves a little bit to be desired.
(10:30):
29th ranked rush defense giving up 137 yards per game. So you pair that a weak rushing defense with the likes of Dave Amon Gummery.
He should be back. He should be healthy. You know, I do expect Gibbs to get more carries. I think that they might have, you know, Monty on maybe a bit of a snap count.
(10:51):
Although, let's be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have them on any kind of snap count.
But, you know, I expect some kind of a little bit of a snap count Gibbs to get maybe the majority of carries.
But at any rate, having both backs healthy and, you know, being able to utilize both of them against this bad commies rush defense, I just think that the Lions are going to be able to move the ball at will and really score.
(11:14):
And let's be honest, you know, jam the running offense down the commander's throats.
Washington gives up a lot of points and I expect the Lions to, you know, establish the run and that's going to open up play action.
We know what this team can do on play action.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you look at the team, like you said, their defense are, I think they're 29th or 30th PFF overall defense, 18th in points, allowing 391 on the season.
(11:42):
But I mean, they all coming off a good performance against the box. I thought, like we said, they run their run defense, I thought was better than you just went through the numbers.
I thought the run defense was a little bit better against the box than maybe their numbers stay.
But the box rushing offense isn't anywhere near what Detroit's is.
I know you mentioned Monty coming back.
I think Dan was asked about it today. He said he's going to wait and see to make sure Monty can log a full practice tomorrow before he officially declares him in or out.
(12:10):
But obviously, like you said, he is trending on starting. I agree with you.
I think like we would normally say and expect him to be on a snap count, but we kind of thought the same thing about Alex Anzalone against the Vikings at his first game back.
He was going to be on a snap count and he was in like we said during last week's episode, he was in there longer than we wanted.
When the game was pretty much out of reach, he was still in the game.
So I don't really foresee a snap kind of if he's good to go, I think he's good to go.
(12:34):
I think it's going to get in there and it also helps that we already have the, you know, the one two points.
They're already splitting, you know, carries between Montgomery and Gibbs.
So it's not like he's jumping in and doing 100% of the snaps, you know, like Anzalone kind of was. He's already splitting that.
So yeah, I think having him back is going to be important.
The commander's defense is led by 34 year old Bobby Wagner.
(12:56):
There was a few plays. I mean, Bobby Wagner is still Bobby Wagner.
He's still one of the best linebackers in the entire NFL. He is 34 as I just said.
I saw some plays against the Buccaneers in which he was kind of sluggish a little bit. His age was showing a little bit.
But he still has 132 total tackles, which is second, you know, he's second among linebackers, PFF-wise.
So you got to kind of avoid him and understand that he's so cerebral.
(13:21):
He's so good at breaking down offenses, you know, from a defensive standpoint and being that quarterback of the defense.
And we know Bobby Wagner. We know what he can do. So you kind of avoid him.
Outside of him, you got eight sacks from their other linebacker, Frankie Louvue, and then 10 for linebacker, Dante Fowler.
So really all their defensive productivity is coming from their linebacker core.
(13:44):
And when it wasn't, it was, you know, coming from guys like DeRon Payne up on the line who went down with an injury last week.
I was just, as we were talking, trying to get an update on his injury.
I'm not finding anything, whether he's going to be good to go for Saturday or not.
But regardless, he's definitely not going to be 100% seeing some just different things about quote-unquote gruesome injuries.
It didn't think it looked that bad. But so I don't think DeRon Payne is going to be able to go.
(14:08):
So that, I mean, that really is just the linebacker core that we need to worry about as an offensive side.
They only have seven picks on the year, which is the bottom third in the NFL with Mikey Sandistrail leading the way with two of them.
I mean, Mike Evans, we talked, everyone in the NFL was talking about the Mike Evans vs. Marchion Latimore matchup.
And I don't know about you. I think Mike Evans got the best of that matchup.
(14:29):
I think he really, he didn't go crazy like Mike Evans does, but I think he really had the best of Marchion Latimore.
And so I'm really hoping we can kind of take advantage of that as well.
For sure. Yeah. You mentioned the linebacking core. Completely agree. Kamis have a great linebacking core.
We have seen, you know, a lot of really good success. The Lions, you know, offensive line, they are really tremendous at getting into that second line of the defense,
(14:55):
blocking those linebackers and even getting into the third line and, you know, blocking cornerbacks in safety.
So I think that, you know, linebackers, I don't think they're going to be the X factor for the, for the Kamis.
I really do think that we'll be able to establish that run regardless.
And I think just probably one more thing, just looking at the Lions offense, you got to capitalize on the Red Zone.
(15:16):
Of course, that goes without saying in the regular season, the Lions were awesome at, you know, Red Zone efficiency, Red Zone offense,
but it really, really changes in the playoffs when, you know, it's a little bit easier to pucker up and make mistakes in the Red Zone.
And we see the likes of, you know, Sam Darnold just really making mistakes in the Red Zone.
It could happen to anyone. I'm not saying it's going to happen to Jared Goff, but they definitely have to capitalize on the Red Zone.
(15:38):
The commanders have a bottom third Red Zone defense. They rank just 20 second.
I really think that, you know, the Lions are going to do what they do in the Red Zone.
They're going to capitalize. They're going to finish the drives and they're going to score touchdowns.
And we see it, you know, over under, we talked about the spread over unders like 55 and a half.
So, I mean, there's going to be points scored in this game. That's an absolute given.
(15:59):
And I actually, I like the over in that game on Saturday night, but yeah, you got to finish drives. It's integral.
Yeah, it's funny you brought the over under because I was literally going to be in my next point that 55 and a half over under.
I'm also taking that over. I think Detroit, I think Detroit on offense compared to the Washington defense.
I think we're going to be, we're going to have our way in a certain sense on from the offensive side,
(16:22):
so let's transition over to the defensive side because I also think that's going to be, it's really going to be whichever defense can kind of make the stands.
Because that commander's offense, thanks to Jane Daniels is, is, you know, kind of hitting on all cylinders right now.
We just saw them basically take the Buckinghurst defense completely out of it.
I think Jane Daniels, which is definitely doesn't play well to how Detroit runs their defense.
(16:47):
If you think back to just the game against the Vikings and Sam Darnold, one way we were able to beat him.
And because we are so injured on the defensive side, we don't naturally get a lot of pressure from the defensive line.
So what Aaron Glenn likes to do, he brings a lot of pressure. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but he is at the top of the league in amount of pressures and blitzing that he sends.
(17:08):
And, and Sam Darnold kind of folded like the pumpkin he is when we play the Vikings and that helped us, you know, as to our advantage.
On the other hand, the commanders, Jane Daniels is fantastic against the blitz.
I don't know, he is just so calm and cool and collective when they blitz against him. He can absolutely tear you apart when you blitz.
We kind of saw the same thing when the bills, when we played the bills and we were blitzing Josh Allen.
(17:30):
It got to a point where I was saying like, let's just stop sending pressure.
Like I get he's going to have all the time in the world back there because we don't naturally have a lot of pressure up front with our injuries, with the lean being out, with Hutch being out, you know, and so on.
But like every time we sent pressure, you know, manufactured pressure, it was Josh Allen either scrambling and finding a guy 30 yards downfield that managed to break free or Josh Allen scrambling and getting the first down himself.
(17:54):
It was to a point where I was like, just stop, stop sending guys. Let's just let our secondary go and just try and get natural pressure.
So I'm a little bit worried that Jayden Daniels does that as well. He's third best QBR against the blitz.
And I've seen it. I mean, we've seen it firsthand with him. He's able to find guys like Terry McClaren down the field for 30 yards, you know, after scrambling and keeping the play alive a little bit.
It has me a little bit worried, to be honest.
(18:17):
I'm certainly worried as well. Yeah, I mean, Jayden Daniels, he's electric. He's, in my opinion, you know, the clear offensive rookie of the year.
And he's really elevated this commander's offense, you know, tremendously from where they were even a year ago.
And he's especially nasty in the run game.
So I know we've talked about the Lions and scrambling quarterbacks in the past.
(18:39):
I think, you know, almost what differentiates Daniels is he's not just a scrambler.
They do a ton of design runs for Jayden Daniels.
And we know, I mean, it's football 101, but QB design runs when they are ran properly, they can be deadly.
You know, you essentially, you have an extra blocker because, you know, your ball carrier is now the quarterback.
The guy who is normally, you know, handed that ball off and not doing anything on a run play.
(19:02):
Well, he is now the running back. So yeah.
And, you know, they pair that with the opportunity for RPOs as well.
So run pass options, which, you know, the commanders do all the time.
And it's a really tough ask from a defense to defend that when, you know, you have multiple options and multiple looks, you know, you can do it out of emotion.
So I really do think that Aaron Glenn's number one priority is stopping this commander's run game, RPO game,
(19:29):
but really more than anything else, it's stopping Jayden Daniels because, you know, he accounts for, I think, a third of the commander's total rushing yards.
He ever just, you know, over 50 yards per game on the ground.
So I don't know how you do it because, you know, sending pressure, you know, if it doesn't get home, you know, he's, Jayden Daniels is out and scrambling.
Right.
And you could be running for a while. I don't know if it's, you know, a mixture of sending pressures, potentially a spy, but you just, you can't let him run for 50, 60, 70 yards on you and get these chunk plays that extend drives.
(20:03):
So yeah, it's going to be a very tall task for Aaron Glenn in this defense.
Yeah.
In my professional opinion, being all the experience I had playing Madden and NCAA 25, what I think I will expect Aaron Glenn to do is probably put a spy on him.
On Jayden Daniels, like you said, because he's just so lethal.
I think you're going to trust your big boys up front, DJ Reader, Levi Allen's a workie, you know, the big boys up in the middle to not allow any sort of real run game to get going from the running backs, not including Jayden Daniels, but from Brian Robinson, from Austin Eckler.
(20:38):
And even, I guess, in Jayden Daniels, if we're doing, if they're going to be running their design runs up the gut, you know, some draws and stuff from Jayden Daniels.
I think you kind of trust them. You put a spy in the linebacker core.
And then I think the other thing you can do from the secondary is you have to, I think, just throw, like, mix things up as much as possible.
And we broke it down a little bit last week.
(21:00):
And I think Baldy, Brian Baldinger broke it down on Twitter when the Lions played the Vikings.
Love Baldy. Shout out Baldy.
He's fantastic.
He broke down a bunch of different defensive plays and step by step.
Specifically when we were, you know, how many times were the Lions backed up against their own end zone and they were able to stop, you know, Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison from getting the end zone.
(21:21):
He broke it down that there were so many different plays, defensive plays and defensive schemes that AG put together in which there was robbers, there was handoffs, there was sometimes man, sometimes zone.
When you think we're going to be playing man or playing zone or playing a mixture or playing a hybrid, I think that's going to probably be the way to beat Jane Daniels in that, like, you just got to make sure that he doesn't know, he's having a hard time read the defense.
(21:46):
And then naturally, you don't have to, you don't have to try and manufacture that pressure.
If he's still trying to comprehend and figure out what the defense is, he could get a little bit of natural pressure while he's doing that.
I think that's probably going to be the best way to stop him.
But at the same time, we need our secondary to stay on their guys and not let, you know, Terry McClaren get opened.
On the season, Terry McClaren 82 catches, 1096 receiving yards, 13 touchdowns, a long of 86 yards, which I believe was at the end of the very end of the play or very end of the game in which they end up winning that game, I believe.
(22:19):
I mean, he's a deep threat. You cannot let him get open.
If the defense upfront does their job and contains Jane and Daniels, excuse me, as much as they can, you can't let them break, you know, the coverage break down on the back end.
If you look outside of McClaren, though, the second leading receiver is Zach Erd's with 650 receiving yards.
(22:40):
So it's like it shut down Terry at all costs.
I think you let Zach Erd's and tight ends have a tendency to hurt this Lions defense, specifically the linebackers.
Obviously last week or two weeks ago with Hawkinson, he wasn't able to get anything going.
But normally tight ends kind of hurt us.
So I think you just let Zach Erd's and get those easy under throws and you don't allow anything over top to Terry McClaren.
(23:02):
You don't let Jane and Daniels kind of break containment and you kind of just go from there.
I think you, you know, you pray and give him a whole bunch of different schemes that he's not aware of.
Yeah, yeah, I like it.
Nothing over the top, you know, nothing, nothing easy because we know how good Terry McClaren is.
I think we've both been, you know, saying his praises for years and that's when he's had, you know, horrendous quarterbacks throwing him the ball.
(23:26):
No offense to the Taylor honey keys of the world.
But yeah, I think one more thing for me, just the key for Aaron Glenn and this Lions defense.
First of all, we've talked about it, but you got to stop the run.
You know, as good as Jaden Daniels is, you know, he's very much still growing and developing as a passer.
You know, he's a rookie, obviously.
That's, I mean, that doesn't even have to be said, but you know, I'm saying it anyways.
(23:47):
You know, if you stop that run game and you can contain Daniels in any way to make him one dimensional, I think he's going to struggle.
And I think some of that struggle might even come from just the fact that, you know, you're uncomfortable, you know, a road game.
Of course, he just played in a road game and again, no offense to the Bucks fans, but for field is completely different.
(24:08):
It's not for field, completely different dynamic and it's going to be loud.
And I think that, you know, if you make Daniels uncomfortable, make it harder for him to communicate and audible.
I think it's going to make him a bit less dynamic in that, you know, it might be the difference in the game.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The last thing that I'll say, and I was going to put this in with the offense, but one more thing that I think we should touch on just because it very well could come down to the game of the Dan's.
(24:37):
I mean, you have Dan Quinn and Dan Campbell, both of them love to go on fourth downs.
They are, I think they're like number one and number two on going forward and fourth downs.
I think the commanders actually have a higher rate of going forward and succeeding than the Lions.
I might be wrong on that, but either way, both these teams, I mean, when it's third down, if it's third and long, both of these teams are not trying to pick up all that, you know, yardage to get the first down.
(25:03):
Both of these teams are going to be putting themselves into situations to get a fourth and short kind of way.
So it's going to be really interesting to see, you know, in Detroit for so many weeks, in the last few years, really, it put teams in uncomfortable positions because, you know, we're going forward on fourth downs.
They suddenly have an extra down that they have to account for.
Then on offense, they're thinking like, should we go forward on fourth down? Do we need to start changing?
(25:26):
That's not going to be really a factor in this because the commanders also go forward on fourth down.
So it'll be really interesting to see, you know, a game of the dance.
I mean, they're both very aggressive, so it'll be interesting.
The other thing I will say is Washington field goals.
I think we also maybe have a little bit of an edge when it comes to field goal kicking.
Washington field goals this year, 81% Detroit field goals this year with Jake Bates, 89.7%.
(25:52):
From 50 plus yardage, Washington field goals 25%. Detroit with Jake Bates, 85%.
So if we're not going to be going forward on fourth down, you know, maybe it comes down to a little bit of kicking here and there.
It seems like Detroit has the edge with our man, Jake Bates.
Love it. Yeah, I love that.
You know, you take an edge anywhere you can in the NFL playoffs pause.
(26:17):
So yeah, I guess just before we, you know, wrap this up, do you have a scoring prediction, Tyler, for Saturday nights game?
Wow, okay.
Let me on the spot here. I like this.
Okay, so we said it over and under was what, 55 and a half.
I think it's about 55. Yeah.
Yeah, I think 55 and a half.
I'm going to say it's going to be 35.
(26:46):
35, 35, 17 Detroit.
Wow.
And I think it's going to be closer than closer than the the score, you know, feels, I think looking back to last week, even with the, I keep saying last week,
the last game against the Vikings, like that was 31 to nine.
I think the final score that game was, if you look back at the game when you were watching it, it didn't feel like 31 to nine.
(27:07):
It was kind of the last like eight or so minutes that Detroit busted it open for, I'd say three quarters of that game.
It was close and it really could have gone either way.
I think it'll be more similar to that in which it really kind of, it's touch and go for a little bit whoever was going to make the first mistake,
which defense is going to get to stop.
But then I think towards the end that the, the Lions offense is just going to completely wear down the, the commander's defense.
(27:33):
And I think it's going to be further in the Lions cover and we move on.
I like it. I like it.
So a guy, a guy who was on record not 10 minutes ago saying he likes the over, he's going with the under in this prediction.
No one ever said I was going to miss.
I am, I am, I'm with you.
I think, you know, the Lions are going to win this game.
(27:54):
I think it's going to be closer.
I'm going to go with Lions 34 commanders 24.
And I do like, you know, you mentioned Jake Bates.
I think that a long Jake Bates field goal is going to be, you know, the difference to put, put the Lions up two scores.
Probably sometime in the fourth quarter and it's just going to be too much and the Lions defense is going to hold.
So that's, that's my prediction 34 24 and the Lions march on to the NFC championship game.
(28:19):
I like that. If we're doing predictions off predictions, I predict your prediction is much closer to mine.
I like that 34 24.
Okay.
So before we get into just a few miscellaneous items, let's get into our predictive grid of the week.
So just real quick again, if you are a new listener each week while we're going through our review of the previous week's game,
Kyle and I would both give out a grit of the week, somebody that stood out, whether it's overall performance, a player or two,
(28:44):
someone that deserves some praise getting the grit of the week.
And then when we're doing our preview later on the show, we'll do our predictive grid of the week to kind of see who we think will have the best game,
depending on matchup, you know, who are playing stuff like that.
So who do you have for predictive grid of the week against the Washington commanders?
Yeah, I got, I got a guy who I think, assuming he's good to go, he's going to be hungry.
(29:07):
The big fella has not played in three or four weeks now.
He's going to be hungry and he's going to get fed, especially at the goal line.
And it's going to be David Montgomery.
He's going to be my grid of the week.
I expect him to score on Saturday night.
Again, assuming he's, you know, he's good to go and he's, he's playing.
Yeah.
Okay.
I like that.
And I, like we said, it sounds like he's had full practices.
Dan Campbell just wants to see one more full practice to actually mark him in.
(29:30):
It sounds like he's going to be good to go.
So I love that.
It's so great to see him back in there and you know, shout out Gibbs who was able to hold it down while he was out, but just having that, you know, the guy, you can swap in and out and just get a quick breather.
And shout out Craig Reynolds as well.
He's done a fantastic job, you know, playing in Monty's, in Monty's absence.
But so I have in our show notes, my original predictive grid of the week was going to be Gibbs.
(29:54):
I think Gibbs against this poor, poor rushing defense was going to have a day.
But in talking about this, and I still think he will in talking through this and talking about, you know, who's going to play well and what we need to do.
I'm actually going to switch it, which if you call it, you've been listening for a while.
I did this a few weeks ago and I should have stuck with my original.
I said that Sam LaPorte was going to have a great game and then I switched off him.
(30:18):
He ended up having two touchdowns.
So it's always, almost always never works out for me.
I'm going to switch this from Gibbs to Alex Anzoloni.
I think Anzoloni is going to be flying all over the place. I think he's going to be making tackles on Jane and Daniels.
I think he's going to be running up and down the line in scrimmage, going sideline to sideline, making tackle after tackle.
I think Anzoloni is going to have a fantastic day.
I think he's going to have upwards of, let's see, I think he's going to have upwards of 12 to 14 tackles.
(30:47):
I think he's going to be all over the place.
Love it. Love it. I'm with you on that.
I mean, he's a beast. He had an amazing game last week in his return from his broken arm.
Yeah, I'm with you on that one, Anzoloni.
Okay, so that is it for our preview.
Again, the Washington Commanders coming to Fordfield Saturday night, 8 p.m.
(31:11):
Tickets are very expensive. You can't go.
Make sure you're watching and yelling at your TV because they might be able to hear you through the TV.
Just a few miscellaneous items kind of related to the game.
We already touched on Monty specifically, this is some injury stuff.
We already touched on Montgomery, him being expected to be back.
I guess all these guys are all expected.
There's been nothing I don't think confirmed yet, but Montgomery expected to be back as long as he can log a full practice tomorrow.
(31:36):
You have Terry and Arnold also expected to be back.
He went down with an ankle injury that seemed pretty bad at the time during that Vikings game.
I think it was a little bit of a hyper extension, a little friendly fire.
He actually was one of our own defenders running through his foot and hyper extending that ankle.
He was carted off, looked pretty bad at the time, but it sounds like even after the game, he was in a boot,
(31:57):
but they asked him about it and he's like, yeah, no doubt, I'm playing after the buy.
It sounds like he is on track to do that, so we should be getting Terry on Arnold back,
which as we kind of saw over the last few weeks when we didn't have Terry on Arnold,
it's more important than we maybe thought to start the season.
So great to hear from him. You have Kevin Zitler, who, similar to Ainsoloni,
(32:19):
when we were talking about when the game was out of reach, Kevin Zitler on the offensive line was still in the game.
Myself, I know I was extremely frustrated.
I'm sure a few others were that we still had our starters in there, but as the game was coming to an end,
Kevin Zitler kind of came up lame a little bit.
He was dealing with, I guess he pulled his hamstring a little bit, basically in garbage time, which was frustrating.
(32:40):
But after the game, he was said to be okay. It wasn't expected to be that bad with the buy.
The expectation was that he was going to be good to go.
Everything I'm seeing now is that he is still on track to play, so you can add him to the list of guys
that are expected to come back and play on Saturday night against the Commanders.
And then the final guy is Ennis Raikstraw.
Ennis has been, obviously he was our second round draft pick, the cornerback, this past draft brought in,
(33:07):
kind of was expected to be the one-two new guys with Terry and Arnold.
Really struggled with his injuries this entire year, whether he's coming off of a hamstring injury
and then expected to come back from IR.
He's kind of randomly put back on IR for one reason or another.
I believe they did open his return window from the IR this week,
so I don't think we're going to see him on Saturday night, but it is something to note that his window is being opened.
(33:35):
If it was a veteran who has been in the league for many years, I would expect that the window is going to be open.
He can come in and hit the ground running.
Being that it's a rookie, especially a cornerback rookie,
corners are notorious for having a hard time adjusting from college play to the NFL.
I don't expect to see very much of him, but just knowing that we have that depth,
(33:57):
if something were to happen to anyone else, he can step in if need be, is something good to note.
Yeah, that's huge. Even if it's just a give-or-bree, they're a Terry and Arnold.
Of course, we know we are without a couple of cornerbacks.
In any capacity, if he's ready to go, if he can take some snaps, that's gigantic.
(34:18):
Yep. Let's wrap up Lions Talk with just a little bit of coaching talk here, a little coaching updates.
It's been kind of the hot news over this past week because the Lions had the bi-week and didn't have a game to play.
All the news outlets were just posting all the coaches and where they're all interviewing and stuff.
It's been no secret we've had two of the best coordinators in the NFL for going on two years now in Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson.
(34:43):
Everyone kind of expected last year to be there last year with Detroit.
Both of them came back and I think Aaron Glenn maybe was due back.
I think he was benefited from having a good year.
Ben Johnson could have taken a coaching job last year, but both ended up coming back and said,
they had some unfinished business here in Detroit now that they've gone through such a successful year.
(35:04):
They're both hot commodities out there on the coaching cycle there.
So you had Aaron Glenn interviewed with the Saints on Friday, the Jets on Thursdays,
planning a meeting with the Bears and the Jaguars.
I think the Patriots requested to meet with him last week. He turned them down.
It's kind of wishy-washy and a little bit gray on whether they actually wanted to interview him.
(35:28):
It could have been related to the Rooney Rule, which if you're not aware of the Rooney Rule,
it states that you need to interview, I think it's one or two coaches of a minority in order to fill kind of a quota.
So he kind of turned that one down. They kind of just used that to fulfill the Rooney Rule and then went and hired Mike Vrabel.
A.G. really heavily being tied to the Saints. I think actually as we're recording this,
(35:54):
I just saw something that the Saints are expected to make a strong push for Lyons, D.C., Aaron Glenn.
He obviously played for the Saints back in the day, so he's expected to have strong ties there.
Outside of Aaron Glenn, you had Ben Johnson, who met with the Raiders, the Bears, the Jaguars, and the Patriots all on Friday.
(36:16):
I think actually all of them might have been just virtual, not actually in person, but he's obviously having the strongest
pulls towards the Raiders. The Raiders, you know, they are partially owned by Tom Brady,
so I'm reading and hearing that Tom Brady is making a heavy push for Ben Johnson.
You have the Bears who really want Ben Johnson to kind of mold Caleb Williams and take that offense,
(36:38):
which I think would be great for the Bears. So Ben Johnson getting a ton of love.
Actually, I think one of the best kind of options and openings for head coaching, at least an offensive head coach,
at least with the Bears, the Jags, and the Patriots. The Raiders maybe not so much, but at least they have a high draft pick,
and they can draft whoever Ben Johnson wants.
For sure, yeah. Just going back to Aaron Glenn real quick, I think that him to the Saints makes a tremendous amount of sense.
(37:04):
Of course, he played for them. And actually before he became Dan Campbell's defensive coordinator,
he was actually the defensive backs coach for the Saints from, I think, like, 16 to 2020.
So I could see that, you know, the Saints, I think just as a franchise, as an organization, they pride themselves on defense.
They've had some tremendous defenses in the past. So, you know, hiring a defensive head coach makes a lot of sense.
(37:30):
And then, yeah, Ben Johnson, I think that he could succeed in a lot of different NFL situations.
We haven't talked about the Cowboys yet. That's kind of news that's hot off the press yesterday that they're moving on from Mike McCarthy.
So that's another potential landing spot for Ben Johnson. So it'll be interesting to see where he goes.
But I think it's a win, not an if for me, for both these guys, because they've proven that they can both be NFL head coaches.
(37:57):
Yeah, I think they definitely have proven that, and they definitely could, and I wish them the best.
I think Aaron Glenn is definitely a foregone inclusion. Like I said, it just makes too much sense. Aaron Glenn and the Saints,
like there's too much connections there. I think he would derive there. I think that makes too much sense.
I think there is, and Ben Johnson came out and said this this week, there is a small chance that he stays with Detroit if the right one doesn't open up.
(38:18):
Now, I think, like I said, the ones that he has been connected to make sense as well.
They are probably the best open opportunities. You have Trevor Lawrence, you know, you're looking at teams with good quarterbacks
and young guys, and you have Trevor Lawrence with the Jaguars, you have Drake May with the Patriots, you have Caleb Williams with the Bears.
So I think the opportunities are there. But there is that off chance that Ben Johnson wants to stay with Detroit and like Dan Campbell.
(38:43):
And depending on how the season ends up playing out, there could be unfinished business or there could be, you know, we hit all of our goals this year.
Let's try and repeat or whatever it may be. So yeah, I think they both deserve, are well deserving of these opportunities.
The other thing, it kind of goes along with these. You think about losing these guys, and we've, like I said, going back to last year,
(39:05):
we kind of expected that these guys are going to be interviewing. And I think a lot of people were kind of surprised that they both were able to come back for this year.
But we don't kind of talk about who they're going to be taking with them.
There's, you know, the chance that they just kind of go and they bring in their own guys, you know, not part of our franchise and not part of our organization.
They bring in their own guys or, you know, the keep whoever is there, wherever they go.
(39:26):
But there is also the chance that they go somewhere and they take a guy and elevate them to an OCE or DC position or, you know, a higher position that they're out here in Detroit.
That can leave us even more crippled, you know, not just taking our OCE or DC, but taking, you know, the guy that maybe we think is in waiting that could take over for them.
They're taking them with them. You know, I'm talking primarily about Frank Haley or excuse me, Hank Fraley.
(39:51):
I always do that. Switch those two letters up. Hank Fraley, who is the offensive line coach, fantastic offensive line coach.
Obviously, Detroit is known for the last few years for their offensive line guys, you know, Decker, Suel, you know, Ragnow.
Fraley has been fantastic on the offensive line. There's a chance that wherever Ben Johnson goes, he takes Fraley with him and he gives him the, you know, the OCE position.
(40:14):
If it's not offered here, there's a chance he could go. I know Hank Fraley also interviewed himself for the Seattle OCE position.
So even if he doesn't follow Ben Johnson or any of these other guys, they also could leave.
So it's really interesting. It'll be really interesting to see how our season plays out.
What effects, you know, where these guys end up or if they end up anywhere outside Detroit, who they take with them, who they, you know, who we use in our organization to replace them.
(40:38):
I think as of right now, the two, the guys that are in waiting and everything I've heard and read, you have, let's see, Calvin Shepard, who is the linebackers coach, I believe, for the Lions right now.
He has kind of been the man in waiting for when Aaron Glenn leaves. It's obviously been talked about all season.
Aaron Glenn has kind of really been training him as a DC to take over for whenever he is, or whenever he leaves.
(41:04):
So he's, I think the guy expected to take over. And then on the other side, you have a guy like Tanner Agstrand, who is the offensive passing coordinator for the Lions.
Same as Shepard. He's been the one that's kind of been heavily involved in a lot of the offensive decision making and such.
Seems obviously Detroit has a great passing game. Jared Goff is playing unlike he's ever has before.
(41:28):
I'm in a fantastic Jamo. Waymo is fantastic. So Tanner, I think, I think he's like 34, another young guy expected to take over as well.
So you kind of have those two guys in waiting. So it'd be really interesting to see if those two guys go out and get their own, you know, jobs outside of Detroit.
They follow AG or Ben Johnson, wherever they go, if they go anywhere. It'd be really interesting to see what Detroit ends up having to fill over the next few months.
(41:52):
For sure. For sure. We're going to have to wait and see. Just one thing that I will add to that. The Lions, you know, it's no secret.
They're a very well-ran organization. And you know, Brad Holmes, we know what he can do.
We can almost guarantee you that Brad Holmes and the Detroit Lions have a business continuity plan for both Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson leaving.
(42:18):
And I think that if, you know, if Ben Johnson or if Aaron Glenn, if they have said like, hey, you know, I want to take Shepard or I want to take Tanner and Strant, you know, the Lions, the Lions are taking this into account.
And I think probably more importantly, the Lions are probably telling these guys like, hey, you know, we need them.
And so, yeah, I think there's going to be a plan in place. And I think that whatever happens, if those guys leave or stay, and if they, you know, they take the passing coordinator,
(42:45):
if they take, you know, Shepard on the defensive side, I don't think it's going to be, you know, just completely blind to Brad Holmes.
They're going to have a plan in place and they're going to know what's going to happen.
So it's not going to be, it's not going to be sudden or anything like that. I would have to imagine they are, they are planning extensively for losing both those guys and, you know, potentially any guys that they want to bring with them to their, you know,
(43:08):
respective new organizations. So just want to say I have the utmost, yeah, utmost respect for Brad Holmes and, yeah, the utmost confidence.
Yeah, I think just like the way that this, I mean, it's every single person, every single player, every single staff member, pretty much all the fans, I think the way this Lions team and success has been put together,
(43:29):
we, everyone kind of came up together. I think there really is a true, you know, level playing field that everyone is friends, everyone, we're all working together.
I think there truly is everyone on the same team. And so there, I don't foresee any sort of bad blood or anything like that.
So I agree completely. If someone is going to be leaving a stuff, I think they would 100% like let them know like, hey, I'm planning on, you know, bringing this guy with me wherever it is.
(43:53):
This is who I think would be best to replace myself and this guy I'm trying to take. There's going to be a ton of back and forth and, and leaving nobody out to dry.
I think that's, that's super important. So that's a great point.
Yeah. So that wraps up our Lions talk. Hopefully we're coming on next week, reviewing a great game and talking about our next week.
(44:14):
But outside of Detroit Lions, the, all the other Detroit sports teams are also playing absolutely fantastic.
I want to just take a moment and before we get into the other teams, just like, enjoy this, whatever we say today, Kyle, all Detroit sports teams, including the Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans are 32 and one since the start of 2025,
which is absolutely insane. I was, you know, on Twitter making jokes. It was like six and we were like six and oh to start the new year.
(44:42):
And I was counting it down like, oh, six and oh, and then we won the next day and I was like seven and oh, and here we are now 3032 and one two weeks into the new year.
And the only loss has come, I think it was a pistons loss. I mean, everywhere around Detroit is actually fantastic.
Let's truly enjoy this time as Detroit is starting to make this resurgence sports wise.
Yeah, drink it in. This is special. This is something that I mean, not only does that not this run like this, you know, it doesn't happen often to franchises to cities, I should say, sports cities.
(45:12):
It certainly doesn't happen to Detroit and maybe at least not in the last couple of decades. So yeah, absolutely drink it in. This is I mean, what a time to be alive.
Yeah, so with the pistons, pistons obviously, I think there are two games above 500. Now they are on an absolute tear.
There's only two other teams that have played better than them and you know, and since 2025 has started, they are playing fantastic basketball.
(45:36):
Cade Cunningham is now the betting leader to win most improved player. He is absolutely an all star. We said it last week, but we'll say it again this week if you haven't gone out and voted for Cade Cunningham to be on the All Star team, please go out and do so.
Trajan Langdon is the favorite is still a little bit early, but Trajan Langdon is the favorite for NBA executive of the year. Based on all the guys he's put together around Cade Cunningham and this team, even after losing Jay and Ivy to that, that fibula fracture a few weeks ago, they have not missed a beat.
(46:07):
And really making it a really great discussion on like whether we still will be sellers at the deadline, you know, come February in a few weeks or whether we'll be buyers or stamp hat and we'll get more into a lot of those options and who I think we should tackle or target as February comes along.
But it's also fun to note, Pissons are playing the Suns, the Phoenix Suns are coming to Detroit. The game originally was at five o'clock, five PM on Saturday, because of the Lions game that game was moved up to four PM. So you better believe Devin Booker was asked about this.
(46:38):
He will be there. He thought he was on Sunday, so he was just planning on staying an extra day and going to the game. He found out that it was on Saturday.
So he will be at the Detroit Lions game. He has a fun little bet going on with with Kevin Durant. Booker is the guy that we've kind of not just we a lot of people on Twitter have tied to Detroit for years and years and years based on him being from here and him absolutely loving Detroit and the Pistons.
(47:00):
Again, we'll get into more on like whether that's feasible for Detroit to target or not. But it's just fun to note, you better believe Devin Booker after playing the Pistons at four PM will be across the street at Ford Field at eight PM watching the Lions.
Hell yeah, hell yeah. And then not too long that we're going to bring him home for good. Yeah, and you know you mentioned Cade Cunningham. You know, can we talk about Cade Cunningham? I feel like I'm Charlie Kelly right now.
(47:22):
Can we talk about the mail? Can we please talk about All Star Cade Cunningham? Because you know this obviously this is my opinion that Cade has you know all but solidified himself as an All Star in this league and in the NBA.
So my question now is does he have a chance to start in the All Star game and I know these are these are questions you know at the end of the day. It doesn't matter right that doesn't mean shit. Well, it still means some shit to me right so I was just you know looking at you know guards in the Eastern
(47:49):
Conference that you know could quote unquote be ahead of Cade to start in the All Star game and developed a list you know an awesome list. Lamella Ball, Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, Trey Young, Damien Lillard, Tyrese Maxie, Donovan Mitchell and then of course Cade Cunningham and so you know I think how this how this works is you know it's
basically front court and back court so it's not you're not splitting up point guards and shooting guards it's just guards at the end of the day and you know I'm looking at the numbers Cade averages 24 and a half points 6 and 6 and a half rebounds per game and 9 and a half is
(48:23):
this is just insane and I think those numbers are only going up as Cade's been playing so well but his numbers leaps and bounds better than Darius Garland, Jalen Brunson, Damien Lillard Maxie and Donovan Mitchell I mean just just across the board they are better.
He's outscoring a lot of these guys and really where his numbers are better he ever just more rebounds than any other guard that I've mentioned and his assists at 9 and a half per game, Trey Young at 12 assists per game, shout out Trey Young that's that's an absurd stat line.
(48:57):
Cade at 9 and a half is the second highest of any player that I've mentioned so I think that it is a realistic possibility that we see that we see Cade Cunningham and Lamello ball start as the guards for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game just a quick shout out to Lamello.
This is granted in 25 games I think he was hurt nearly 30 points per game 5 and a half rebounds and 7 and a half assists so I think that Lamello in my opinion you know assuming that he's not getting penalized for only playing 25 games I think he's a clear starter and I think Cade is right alongside him so we'd love to hear your thoughts there.
(49:33):
If it even matters. No it definitely does. Well it doesn't it doesn't. You're right it is at the end of the day somewhat of a popularity contest and so we can you know shout until we're blue in the face but at the end of the day we need everyone to get out there and vote.
But for a while it was just like is Cade an All-Star like we think he is everyone outside of Detroit we need you guys to see it too now it truly is is Cade a starter like he's not just it's not going to be it maybe or maybe not in the All-Star game it's maybe he may be not be a starter in the All-Star game.
(49:59):
He's been so fantastic the last what two months I mean just watching him the game is slowing down so much there's no other team no other defense is able to speed him up he is absolutely fantastic he's playing his game he's playing at really similar to like
the Ganchic level in which he's an oversized guard and the game is going real slow for him it didn't matter they played the Knicks last night it didn't matter who they put on and whether it's Josh Hart it was Jalen Brunson, Mikhail Bridges who didn't matter who they put on him he was able to slow it down and basically maneuver in any which way he wanted and use his six foot six frame to get what he wanted he had
(50:34):
he had four fouls in the second quarter last night against the Knicks and he still finished finished the game never fouled out and again that we needed him to play the entire one finished I think with 36 points he was absolutely fantastic he went on a run in the third quarter that was
insane I think he had like nine or 12 points in a row or something I mean kid cunning I cannot say enough about that enough about the man and then outside of him I mean and if you get I could talk for hours and hours about the Pistons and as the lion season starts to wrap up we will shift into some of these other teams and other sports and break them down even further
(51:06):
but even outside of Kate I think his supporting cast has been fantastic Malik Beasley is an absolute dog I love Malik so much I love the the development that we're seeing from a Sar Thompson and Ron Holland
Isaiah Stewart is an absolute beast on the defensive end blocking shots they had two block shots last night Jaylen Duren is even starting to pick it up on the defensive end which is super important so yeah absolutely I mean just absolutely fantastic this team is far and away exceeding expectations we're midway through the season almost and they're you know they're about to
(51:38):
I think the over under on the wins of the season was 25 I think it was maybe 25 and you know I think we're at 19 now so it's like I mean we're slated to triple what we were expected to get on the year so absolutely fantastic from the Pistons just keeping things moving along
other other Detroit sports Tigers no big news still haven't signed Bregman Chris Illich I know you're an avid listener you reach out all the time to to talk on the podcast we obviously have no time so we can allow you to but just go out and sign Bregman get it done
(52:12):
let's add Bregman to this this this lineup we need him he wants to be here Hinch wants him get it done
yeah Chris Illich I mean what are we doing you know little Caesars redwinks you have money dude sign the guy like just pay him you know I mean it's got to be it's got to be a I'm not going to say it's going to be a team friendly deal
he's probably going to garner you know quite a bit of cash but I mean just just sign the man meet in the middle ground and and please let's get it done I mean for once do do the right thing Chris
(52:40):
yeah you know you know Mike would have his dad Michael it would have done it so let's do it Chris get it done get Bragg signed I want to be coming on here next week talking about a lion's win and signing of Alex Bregman
nothing else Tigers though redwinks redwinks may never lose again I don't this is insane it's I know it's a thing in the NHL you know the coaching firing the firing of a coach bump it's an actual thing you fire a coach midseason usually you find a bump and for whatever reason
(53:05):
redwinks may never lose for the rest entire season it's feasible you know I could see it they could do the impossible I mean they they beat up on a Seattle crack and team a pretty good Seattle crack and team I mean they went up for goals to none in about nine minutes of
of ice time at ten minutes a game time like it was I mean I literally looked up and they were and they were winning by two goals and I that must have been in a matter of seconds seemingly so I mean they're they're awesome
(53:35):
Lucas Raymond he continues to excel and prove that he is one of if not the best young players in this league he's still only 23 maybe just turned 24 years old extremely young especially for for NF sorry for for NHL terms that's a very very young age he's on pace for 90 points on the season and just quick quick stat since December 29th the NHL points leaders
(54:04):
number one is Patty Kane 13 points number two in the NHL since the 29th Lucas Raymond 12 points fourth is Alex to bring it with 11 points and then six D boss Dylan Larkin with 10 points so I mean this team quite literally the the hottest team in the NHL they're buzzing
yeah absolutely and I think that was what frustrated so many fans for the first half of the season is like we know I mean didn't go out and add technically that the guys everyone wanted to we didn't really make that many roster improvements and if anything he made some strange
(54:38):
acquirings with the terrace ankle and stuff like that but what really frustrated everyone was like the the energy and the effort wasn't there under the lawn for the first half of the season and you know now that the line is gone we're seeing those these guys play with energy they're having fun again they're playing hard
Marco the young guys are getting involved Marco Casper had a second straight multi-point game you know for the ring you got all these young guys that are also coming up with you talk about the all the kids that we have down with the Griffins they're all starting to come up and play fantastic so it's absolutely great to see
(55:08):
we have a very winnable game tonight against the sharks we had to wrap up here in a few minutes because I'm actually headed to the game myself but they may never lose again Detroit may never lose again we have at least like we said we have the the the wings game tonight we have the
pistons I think what tomorrow unless they have a back to back tonight just absolutely like we said to kind of start the Detroit you know sports the outside of lions just take this in enjoy this even like we said the college sports Michigan Michigan State enjoy this we're
(55:38):
winning we're playing really fun all these teams are not they're not just winning they're having fun Michigan State basketball is having so much fun playing these games Michigan's playing fantastic with their two seven foot point guards basically just really take a moment and enjoy all the success of Detroit's having
yeah and just just a quick look around Detroit you mentioned a couple upcoming games Thursday the 16th the Pacers come to town it's always you know a inner inner division game I know divisions don't really matter in the NBA but I feel like the Pacers in the
(56:08):
game are going to be a big one because they always play pretty close game so that's a big one to look at and then actually also on Thursday the wings are on the road they're playing a very good Florida Panthers team so I you know really hope they get the dub tonight against the sharks you're
really excited to get loud and then and then a really big test on Thursday against the Panthers let's see if we can you know keep this win streak going yep absolutely so that is all for our episode thank you guys all for tuning in obviously we have this new this new medium
(56:38):
coming to you live wherever you listen to podcasts Apple podcast Spotify you can follow us on Twitter dot underscore Tyler for myself Kyle is Kyle underscore Marino correct
and yeah honestly guys thanks so much for for listening if you've made it this far you know you've done it you've done your part if we could just ask you know five star reviews and downloads on Apple podcast and on Spotify it helps us more than
(57:03):
y'all know so yeah yeah so much and then the last thing we'll say we obviously have the voicemail set up for the podcast so make sure you guys call in leave a voicemail any sort of topic and be sports related can be Detroit related anything really to get us talking get involved in the
conversation that phone number is 313-306-7939 so give that a call leave a voicemail will play it live on the podcast give you guys a chance to get in on the conversation and we'll add that to the end of the podcast here so that's all we have
(57:29):
we'll talk to you guys next week hopefully after another Lions win let's go out and take it to the commies restore the roar
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