Detroit Lions 2023 Season Thread

mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated

Detroit Lions' win creates a rare moment in time: Everything lines up perfectly for them​

On Monday evening, I parked in a garage and walked to Ford Field, coming across one of the wildest scenes I’ve ever seen before a Detroit Lions game.
The streets were jammed with cars — nobody was moving. It was like everybody was stuck in the excitement. The sidewalks were filled; and it might have been the rowdiest, craziest, well-lubricated, jacked-up pregame crowds I’ve ever seen.
Finally inside Ford Field, the Monday Night Football theme music blared, and the opening video played on the scoreboard. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the ABC/ESPN crew, were up in the booth and the crowd was going crazy.
“It’s going to be a fun night — they are pretty jacked up,” Aikman said.
And then?
America got to see the real Lions in a 26-14 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders.

The Lions might have flaws and make some mistakes, but they are fun and explosive. Determined and dangerous. They don’t get rattled, not even after Jared Goff threw a pick-six, or they fell apart in the red zone (1-for-5), or missed a field goal.
It didn’t matter. They don't get rattled. They were built to overcome.
That debacle in Baltimore? Forget it. This team learned from it. Bounced back from it. Shook it off.
“I told the team the most important thing about this game was us getting our identity back,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “And that was what all the work that we put in this week was about, the whole focus was about getting back to what we do and that was the most important thing and that really showed through today. Was it perfect? It wasn’t perfect but ultimately we got what I wanted to get out of it and you come away with a win.”

Set up for a fun run​

We are way past wondering if this team is real. Now, it’s safe to look down the road and take a look at the big picture. The Lions are 6-2 for the first time since 2014 and have a two-game lead in the NFC North Division. Minnesota just lost Kirk Cousins to an Achilles injury; and the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears are awful.

Everything is setting up perfectly for the Lions. They are entering a bye week at a perfect time and have a chance to get healthy.
They could even add another piece at the trade deadline — I’d vote for a pass rusher or defensive back.
The playoffs seem inevitable. It’s not crazy to think this team has a shot at the No.1 seed.
The Lions have the talent to make a deep run — with an improved defense and playmakers on offense — but it all starts with a Rubik’s Cube of an offensive line. No matter how you twist them, no matter what combination you put together, it seems to work.
Graham Glasgow, a Swiss Army knife of an offensive lineman, started at center. Colby Sorsdal, a rookie, started his first NFL game at right guard and Kayode Awosika started at left guard.

“Sorsdal and Yode (Awosika) and Skip (Lions OL Dan Skipper) all battled in there at guard,” Campbell said.
Then, they had Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell handling Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ feared sack machine, holding him to just a quarterback hit but no sacks.
“I thought Decker and Sewell did an outstanding job against a premiere player on the perimeter," Campbell said. "So, I just thought the guys bounced back. They played with confidence and they were ready to go.”
How many times has that combination worked together on the offensive line in practice?Never.
And it didn’t matter.
Because the Lions still ran the ball 43 ties for 222 yards — a whopping 5.2 yards per carry.
That’s the identity of this team — establish the run because Goff is so good at play-action passing.

Gibbs getting better each game​

After the game, Jahmyr Gibbs sat at his locker with a towel wrapped around his waist.
He was electric on Monday, running 26 times for 152 yards and a touchdown.
“I mean, it's part of the plan,” Gibbs said. “Ben (Johnson) told us he was on the ball 40 times.”
He turned and looked at Craig Reynolds.
“How many carries you have?” Gibbs asked.
“Fourteen,” Reynolds said.
That was 40 between them.
Behind a makeshift offensive line.
Just amazing.
Gibbs finished with 189 scrimmage yards, tied for the sixth-most scrimmage yards in a game by a rookie in franchise history.

He proved he can run up the middle with power but also bust out with his speed and fly into the stands to celebrate.
“We’ve never felt like he was just an outside back," Campbell said. "Here’s what the allure of some of the outside stuff is his speed, but I mean sometimes you can use his speed to go downhill right now, it’s a little bit quicker to go here than it is here and then turn back up, so no we don’t feel like he’s some finesse back. That’s not his deal and he runs on his tippy toes, and we think we can do it all, we think he’s a pretty good gun runner, but certainly he can run out of the dot (I formation) so no, we feel like he’s pretty versatile that way.”

Only getting better​

After the game, I kept thinking about the crowd.
Because these fans feel a part of this.
This crowd isn’t some outside entity.
This crowd felt part of this team, as if the game and the scene could not be separated.
“It was one of the best home crowds we’ve ever played in front of and they’re doing a hell of a job for us on defense, being loud and hard on (the opponents), and it was fun," Goff said.

It’s like the crowd is feeding off the players and the players jack up the crowd.
It all works together. The crowd and the team. The passing game and the running game. The offensive and the defense. The pass rush and the secondary. The Lions held the Raiders to 80 yards on the ground and got six sacks.
But this team isn’t finished.

"There’s so much meat on the bone for us offensively," Goff said. "And I think that’s why you kind of — you get a win, but you kind of wish you could’ve done a little bit more to feel real good about it. But a win’s a win and we’ll move on.”
Yes, they will move on.
After taking a well-earned break.
Rest up, folks.
This is about to get wild.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.
 
Dell Dude

Dell Dude

EOG Master
The Lions leap in that corner of the endzone with that blonde is going to happen every time now. Let's see Taylor Switft try that with Kelce instead of fake celebrations in the press box. She's drop him on his stupid head.
 
mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
Lions updated futures odds:

To win the NFC north -1450

To win the NFC championship +650

To win the Super Bowl +1100

Adjusted win total 11.5 over -185 under +150
 
Heim

Heim

EOG Master
It's interesting, Lions dominated possession time, but if Garopollo makes that throw late they are only down 6. That's the
mystery of DET....how good are they really?
 
mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
Heim said:
It's interesting, Lions dominated possession time, but if Garopollo makes that throw late they are only down 6. That's the
mystery of DET....how good are they really?
Click to expand...

The Lions are still a very good team, and I see your point Heim.

I think if the Lions played a B- game vs a team like Cinci, Dallas, etc, they don't win this game.

You can't win games by kicking a bunch of FG's.

We desperately need a quality pass rusher by the trade deadline today.

They got beat by Seattle because Geno Smith had zero sacks and was never rushed or hurried.

The Lions can probably win a playoff game, but if they have to go on the road to Philly or SF, they will have a difficult time winning.

It's also disappointing to see the Bears acquired Montez Sweat for only a 2nd round pick. This is the type of player the Lions needed.
 
Viejo Dinosaur

Viejo Dinosaur

EOG Master
mrbowling300 said:
The Lions are still a very good team, and I see your point Heim.

I think if the Lions played a B- game vs a team like Cinci, Dallas, etc, they don't win this game.

You can't win games by kicking a bunch of FG's.

We desperately need a quality pass rusher by the trade deadline today.

They got beat by Seattle because Geno Smith had zero sacks and was never rushed or hurried.

The Lions can probably win a playoff game, but if they have to go on the road to Philly or SF, they will have a difficult time winning.

It's also disappointing to see the Bears acquired Montez Sweat for only a 2nd round pick. This is the type of player the Lions needed.
Click to expand...

And then the 49ers acquired Chase Young…the Lions missed the boat….
 
Heim

Heim

EOG Master
The problem when you get really good, especially in a short time, others raid your coaches for the secret formula.

Lions DC & OC for sure will be looked at for HC next season.
 
howid

howid

EOG Dedicated
Billy Sims ... never mind the karate kick, given the ball from the 5 yard line, numerous times he would dive into the end zone, never seen anybody stop him when he was in the air. even from a standing stop.

countless times, including today's Cowboys game, runners getting tackled at the 2, just don't want it like BS did ...
 
mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated

A Detroit Lions-free Sunday still provided plenty of clues to this season's ultimate fate​


Halfway through the Detroit Lions' season — give or take a game — it’s time to put things into perspective. We didn't have a Lions game to watch Sunday, but there were plenty of options on the remote to describe this campaign ... TV-style.

"Love It Or List It"​

Lions general manager Brad Holmes has started a complete renovation on the Lions’ roster, tearing it down to the studs and rebuilding it with draft picks. But it's not done, which is important to keep in mind. Holmes could have made a significant move at the trade deadline, giving up future draft picks and trying to add pieces to win now, thanks to the team's great position. But he stayed the course. He stuck with his guys, adding only Donovan Peoples-Jones while giving up a mere sixth-round pick for the former Detroit Cass Tech star.

We won’t know for months if Holmes' strategy was a good decision, or if he wasted a chance to win now.
And we won’t know for years how many chances like this season the Lions will get.
But Holmes’ formulative years were spent with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, an organization that had a basic working premise: Trade everything not nailed down. (And if it is nailed down, get a hammer and pry it loose.)
That wheeling and dealing led to a Super Bowl title, led by former Lions QB Matthew Stafford. Good for them.
But the Rams were unable to find sustained success; they went 5-12 in their Super Bowl follow-up last season and dropped to 3-6 this year.
That Holmes didn’t deal his future picks tells me he learned from the Rams’ mistakes. He is trying to build for the long term, trying to create a sustained winner and not just cash in for one year.
“Yeah, I think, ultimately, we said — Brad and I said from Day 1, man, we have a plan in place that we don’t want to alter,” coach Dan Campbell told reporters last week. “We don’t want to mess with that and we’re in Year 3 of this right now, our beginning of Year 3, and everything had to be right. I just go back — it had to be the right player, it had to be the right fit and it had to be the right price, all three of those, and that’s not an easy thing to do, but that’s how we look at it. And so, you know what? We found one.”

"60 Minutes"​

It's a Sunday tradition on CBS, which will broadcast the Lions' next game: Tick tick tick tick tick ... I’m planting my flag right here. Obviously, it’s one game at a time, and the players can’t look ahead, but I can — even beyond Sunday's game against the L.A. Chargers. The most important, ahem, 60 minutes looming in the future will be against Dallas on Dec. 30 (a Saturday, actually). And it will determine where the Lions will open the playoffs: at Ford Field or on the road.

"The Good Doctor"​

The Lions are in a tremendous position, at 6-2 and still leading the NFC North by 1½ games despite Minnesota's four-game win streak.
Even better? The Lions should get healthy soon.
Offensive linemen Jonah Jackson (ankle) and Frank Ragnow (calf) should be back Sunday, which will offer a boost to the offense.
And running back David Montgomery, who has been out with a rib injury, is expected back as well.
Jahmyr Gibbs was fantastic against the Las Vegas Raiders last Monday, but Montgomery has been outstanding all season when healthy. With this team, everything starts with the run. And having two healthy running backs will give this team a huge advantage.
“I think we’re going to get reinforcements back when we get back for the Chargers, that are going to be critical to helping us,” Campbell said last week. “Certainly, it’ll only help us. And then we’ve got a number of guys that, just the nature of the way we play, that I think, just to get a little more energy back, get their legs back under them.”

"Whose Line Is It Anyway?"​

There’s an old adage about offensive lines: The best ones grow together over time. Consistency requires stability and healthy bodies. It requires just being together, playing together.
But the Lions have done it the hard way, starting seven different offensive line combinations in eight games.
That, in itself, is remarkable, winning despite that kind of instability.
The Lions' offensive line has been so strong, so consistent — no matter who is in the game — that we have almost come to expect it.
The credit goes to offensive line coach Hank Fraley.
MORE FROM JEFF SEIDELLions' win creates a rare moment in time: Everything lines up perfectly for them

"Survivor"​

If the Lions don't want their torch extinguished, either in the regular season or the playoffs, at some point, it likely will come down to a field goal.
Lions kicker Riley Patterson is 11-for-13 this season, which offers some comfort. He has experience kicking in the playoffs — he made all three of his field goal tries with the Jacksonville Jaguars in January — which is fantastic. Granted, it was just two games. But he won’t freak out.

But it's hardly an immunity idol: His career long is just 53 yards and he’s just 3-for-6 from 50 yards or more.
Which is concerning.
And it’s bound to impact the Lions at some point, setting up a huge fourth-down play when a strong-legged kicker could go for it but the Lions will be forced to gamble.

"The Voice"​

To this point, the Lions' most impressive success has been their response to last month's disaster against the Baltimore Ravens. In days of old, this team would have folded the following week against the Raiders, especially with an extra day to mull it over.
But Campbell has such a strong message, such a strong voice, that he got this team back on track.
So even if the Lions drop an unexpected game during the regular season — and this is the NFL, so it’s bound to happen — I don’t think it will linger.
Because of that voice, setting the tone.

"The Equalizer"​

It’s time to give defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn credit. He has turned this into a top-10 defense. And it starts with stopping the run.

"The Neighborhood"​

The Lions are in first place in the NFC North, and nobody looks scary anymore. Not the Green Bay Packers. Not the Chicago Bears. Not even the Vikings, who won their first game with Joshua Dobbs at QB in place of former MSU standout Kirk Cousins, who's out for the season.

"Top Chef"​

So who's the one player — aside from the obvious choice of QB Jared Goff — who will be the most important for the Lions the rest of this season?
You could make an argument for Amon-Ra St. Brown. Or Aidan Hutchinson. Or Gibbs or Montgomery.
Part of me thinks rookie defensive back Brian Branch will have a huge impact the rest of the way, if he can stay healthy and continue to take steps forward.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone has played fantastic, and he is so smart that he’s like a coach on the field.
As the names went through my head, it dawned on me: That’s the beauty of this team. There is so much talent at the offensive skill positions, so many cogs on the offensive line, so many improving players on defense ... I don’t think it will come down to one player. There is no “Top Chef,” and that’s a huge credit to Holmes and the roster he is building, a group of diverse ingredients sure to satisfy almost any palate.
Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff
 
mrbowling300

mrbowling300

EOG Dedicated
Gibbs sure seems like the next Barry Sanders......announcers gushing over the Lions, "gotta be in the top 3 teams in the NFC discussion"
 
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