Detroit Lions: We're Going to Bite a Kneecap Off

Hard to complain about any win. Certainly think getting Jamo involved was more important than worrying about ARSB or LaPorta getting a certain amount of targets. No concern at all that either of those guys are gonna start squawking about lack of catches, but likely Johnson feeds them next week just to keep everybody happy

Loved seeing the Lions exert their will to run the ball in OT, Monty made it look so easy. The O-line continually firing off the ball at the snap while the Rams DL looked tired and defeated was joyous

Agree run-D looked good, can only get better with Reader right? Rams did love the quick throw and underneath routes so not surprising they didn't get a ton of sacks even against a makeshift O-line, would've liked to see more dominance. No complaints about the rookies, sure Arnold is gonna get beat and have some silly penalties but he definitely looks like he belongs in the NFL

Almost everything went wrong on offense. Play calling sucked. Run game wasn't consistent. Goff looked bad. Some serious screw up at the end of the first half. A hilarious 1 for 7 in the red zone with only 4 of 7 resulting in points. Some questionable reffing. And they lost to a likely playoff team by 4. I've seen worse. Clean it up please.

While it wasn't Ben Johnson's finest game, it was Goff's worst game indoors since forever. He was ****ing AWFUL. Completely inaccurate, bad decision after bad decision.

The Defense stepped up and played a decent game. Certainly good enough to win if the offense doesn't **** the bed.

Warren > Goff

Alim signs for 97M w/55M guaranteed. Obviously I'm in favor of this.

What else is going on? Lions offense looks like one of the leagues best, Jamo looks as advertised, Lions pass defense in the End Zone may be the best of all time thru 5 games.

This may be the only year ever that 1/3 of the way thru the season I have no complaints, well none if you dont count injuries.

The offense looks damn close to perfect. Monty is so much fun to watch, and so is Gibbs, and JFC so is Jamo, and ofc so is ARSB, and the Oline is masterful, and even if LaPorta regressed it just seems like it's because there are too many mouths to feed.

Losing Hutch hurts so much. I was completely wrong about that guy - I was very much in the camp that he'd be a high floor/low ceiling guy that will always try hard and always be a good part of the team but not a superstar. He's a superstar. (Although it probably is at least worth mentioning that his league leading sacks/hits/pressures had him fortunate enough to be playing a kind of absurd amount of 2nd- and 3rd-string tackles in the first five games.) Without trading away an obscene amount of draft capital (and if we're going to be drafting in the back-8 of every draft for the next 3 years maybe we should loosen those strings?), we're just going to get a lot less pressure and production out of the d line, and who knows how much that will affect the whole defense. Even if we do slide from being a good defense to a below-average one, though, the offense looks so good that maybe we could still compete for a ring just shoot-outing our way through the playoffs? But man, if Hutch is in that lineup we'd be feeling like an honest-to-God juggernaut.

(It's also possible the Cowboys are just a bottom-six team right now btw and the above excitement should be tempered accordingly.)

I like McNeil a lot, and I can appreciate Holmes' strategy to sign them with years remaining to try to end up saving 5-15% compared to signing in later years. And I love Monty. But we're eventually not going to be able to pay top-1, top-3, top-5 or top-7 money at every position. It feels like the we're going to see some painful players walk (Jamo? Gibbs? Kirby? Branch? LaPorta?), although probably not painful until '26.

One random thought: I haven't seen more than parts of games, but I feel like Jack Campbell has been popping off the screen a bit.

Every time I get too confident about the offense I scroll up and remember that they completely **** the bed week 2.

I enjoy the people who think that Holmes will trade for Reddick, Crosby or Hendrickson. I just don't see him meeting the asking price for any of the three. I think he'll patch with guys he can pull off practice squads or get cheap. Might be a revolving door for a while until they find someone who can give them decent performance.

I like the McNeil extension, he's been coming on strong and he's only 24. As for Montgomery, I don't know how much sense it made, but I've become a total believer, he plays his ass off, has all the dog. I want that guy on my team until he can't play any more.

People on the radio bring up the LA Rams saying **** them picks and winning a super bowl. But now they suck. Sure, they won a SB, but there was no guarantee of that happening and they were prolly gtd to eventually suck after trading away all their picks.

Terrion Arnold is hopefully about to have himself a game facing off against Justin Jefferson, and people want to trade 3 Arnolds away for Max Crosby, who is an absolute beast of a player, but just about nobody can fill the equivalence to what three Brad-Scouted first round picks will do for the team.

Expect to see a massive trade just about never.

Especially since the roster is so young. This team has a multiple-year window if they don't **** it up.

Monty is Thunder
Gibbs is Lightning

Nah, Monty is still a beast, and RBs do well with fresh legs. Minny has a really strong front 7 which was going to make this a tough game for Monty, and it was. But I think against other teams they'll keep splitting carries.

Hutch's absence was definitely noticeable. It feels like you really want to add a pass rusher to this roster if the price is right. They are good right now, and it was a shallow position before the pile up of injuries.

Also holy **** almost getting burned on that rule loophole. How is it not a 10 second runoff if the offense isn't a legal formation when they spike it? The whole point of the clock runoff is to prevent the offense from stopping the clock faster than they could get off a snap. But the NFL just outright admitted today that the proper procedure now for a spike play after a downfield pass is to have your ball carrier stand up and be the center, the next closest guy get under him, and immediately snap it. As long as the rest of the team is "set", even if they are all 20 yards in the backfield, it's just a 5 yard penalty no runoff. You trade 5 yards for probably 5ish seconds on the clock, which can make a massive difference. Hell, half the time you probably get an offsides penalty on the defense and they offset. So ridiculous.

We really miss a pass rush - hard to believe the Lions actually had 4 sacks(3LB, 1DE).

Looks like Reader messed up the perfect game by having a QB hit without a sack.

Knuckles & Sonic IMO

One thing we can say about Brad Holmes is he does not appear to lie to the fans. He said after the 2023 draft they had 14 players with first round grades and Branch was one of them (so obviously were Gibbs & Campbell) which makes it slightly interesting they took Laporta at 34. In the war room video they are clearly resigned to Arizona taking either Laporta or Branch and they would just take the other - the Will Levis trade up threw a monkey wrench.

I, too, would like to phase out Monty after giving him a big extension, and give the bulk of the carries to our <200lb guy!

c'mon man

this week showed two things. Hutch was a huge blow (which we all knew) but they still have a ton of SB equity. initially I was sick to my stomach when he got hurt as I saw the dream floating out the window. this week was a good reassurance. minny is a pretty good football team and these Lions fully believed they were gonna march down the field and score to win it. that was a good road win.

Exactly - plus the way he gave up in overtime week 1. Dude is lucky to still have a job

Forget Magnus and bullet chess.

This guy Brian Branch is LEGIT.

Brian Branch is playing like prime Glover Quin right now and he's been a starting NFL safety for 6 games.

Lions beat Ravens in Superb Owl

34-31

It's so nice when what looked like a trap game turned into an absolute beat down. You're next packers.

The historic run continues. This team is so insanely good right now that even with an absolute bloodbath at the DE position they are playing reasonably good on defense while the offense continues to put up historic efficiency numbers. It's going to suck if they fall just short with all the injuries this year, but I don't really see this team slowing down much either.

There's also a rumor that the Za'Darius Smith trade is all but a done deal at this point. I hope that's right. They just need some competent bodies on the line. John Cominsky should provide some help if he can make it back. I know they said Davenport is out for the year but it's a torn triceps. You wonder if he couldn't make it back late for a playoff run too.

Smith trade now completed. I think it was pretty clear he was the best realistically available DE and sending a late 5th for him seems like a bargain. Like this trade

Pretty sure Davenport not coming back this year but like you said Cominsky supposedly back in December. Guess that leaves us with Smith + Paschal as starters with Levi having the ability to play both DT or DE and hopefully Cominsky back in 4 weeks. Houston can probably be cut at this point - not sure he has any magic left to show us and I would not be mad at Holmes if he makes another minor move at DE but if that doesnt happen I suspect they will be scouring practice squads looking for a 265lb+ DE that can set the edge against the run (lol - because every team probably has a couple of those guys on their PS)

I'm torn on Houston. Actually I'm not that torn, he can be cut. He was getting some decent pressure on Love late in the game when they had to throw. The few times they ran at him earlier in the game, he gave up his rush lane. It's clear his 2022 breakout was a bit of a fluke. If he was still an elite pass rusher, I'm sure they work him in. But he's merely an OK pass rusher and a bad run defender.