Episode #306: Breaking down the Lions 2024 schedule
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Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Detroit Lions Breakdown Podcast. I'm Joe Cagna. With me as always is Eric Schlitt from prideofdetroit.com. Eric, the show has forged on, but I have been absent the last couple weeks, so this is our first time together in a while.

Hey, how was your vacation, buddy? Yeah. Well-deserved vacation. I wouldn't call it well-deserved, but the vacation was fine. I happened to be in Las Vegas, Nevada for a friend's wedding. And I only, I'm only mentioning it because, you know, like I was often in a lion's hat, you know, it was sunny every day and I was constantly accosted by people that wanted to discuss lions football. You know, it's, it's,

It was bizarre, you know, except weirdly enough, like we had one cab driver that lived in Detroit at some point of his life, had no interest in talking about the lions, but like, you know, there's a valet at the Bellagio where we're trying to get into a cab to get back to our hotel. Like he wanted to talk about the lions and he, the first, he just looks at me and he goes, what do you think about that coach going forward on fourth down in the NFC championship? Yeah.

And you could tell, and I'm getting in the cabin, I could see the next guy in line. He was kind of interested too in what the answer was. And I, you know, I wouldn't think, well, it's what, what the Lions do all the time. You know, we finally have, it's stuff that you always complain about for years. And why don't we have an aggressive coach? Now you finally have one. You can't start going back on it once it happens. But, you know, there was that like,

you know, the random people everywhere. So the, the, the, it's certainly the tide has turned for the lions and being a lions fan that everybody is interested to talk about them. It was bizarre. Well, you see it reflected everywhere, right? Like you see it reflected in, uh, in fans, um, in different, like, like you just said, in different States, you see it, uh,

Even, you know, I see it on social media, which is often a very difficult place to find some positivity. You see other fans of other teams talking very positively about the Lions. You see that in the schedule. The schedule is Lions are getting the star treatment with the schedule release, in my opinion. I think they got, what, nine nationally televised games, five of them in primetime. Six if you count.

thanksgiving because that's kind of considered a prime time game yeah they're gonna be uh they're the bells of the ball right now and so uh yeah i think it's uh i mean there's a i get look i'm getting the same i i'm not in vegas getting that that kind of treatment but there are definitely more you know people that i run into on a daily basis that are uh

You know, that didn't talk to me about football a couple years ago, you know, that are now like stopping me while I'm picking my kids up from school and wanting to chat about them. So it's amazing for...

All the diehards that have been through the tough times. Thick and thin. Yeah. It's an unusual, almost uncomfortable feeling to be this popular. But at the same time, soak it in because it's well worth it, well deserved. And I think it's cool. I think it's cool that you can go to different places and people are so optimistic about the franchise here in Detroit. So that's fantastic. Yeah.

definite drawback of being this popular. Like remember a couple of years ago when they were really bad, but you, every Sunday was defined for you during the season because they were playing at one o'clock, one o'clock Sunday. That was me every week. It would be one week where they play at 1230 on Thursday afternoon. And that was it. And maybe there'd be one four o'clock game. I think there was one year where there wasn't even a four o'clock game. They were all one o'clock games and it was all laid out very simply for us, but not anymore. Yeah.

Yeah, it's complicated now. Geez, they have what? Five or six one o'clock games. I think it is now. I think it's six. It's very low. I think that includes Thanksgiving. Yeah. Oh, geez. And so it's seven. If you include Thanksgiving, it's seven. So but still less than half. Right. Spending a lot of time as the game everybody watches. And it's neat. Like when you look at, you know, like a.

At my house, we put NFL Network on on the background. And if somebody was watching something on TV, they watch it. But when they step away from the TV, it gets flipped back to NFL Network. So I'm getting a lot of breakdowns of other teams' schedules and stuff like that. And every time the Lions pop up on one of those schedules, they always have nice things to say. They're like, oh, this is going to be a tough game for this team here. And it's kind of cool to see that as well. So...

Um, yeah, we should talk about schedule today. Uh, but you know, we haven't talked since the draft. So there's been a handful of things. We did our pre-draft show. Uh, then we had the draft weekend, which was quite insane. And then, um, and then, uh, we haven't really talked since cause you, you were out of town for the wedding. And so, uh,

I think the big news beyond the schedule is Jared Goff. And so we should talk a little bit about Jared Goff's extension. And let's just ease our way back into getting things right. I want to hear your opinions on stuff. I'd like to start with – actually, I'll let you start. What topic are you going to start with? Well –

Let's start with Jared Goff. We eventually have to get back to the draft, but since you've hashed it out over so many episodes while I was gone, we really don't have to hit on it too much. There's two things sticking out in my head that I wanted to talk to you about the draft, but the Goff news is...

The schedule is the newest news, but the Goff news is something we should talk about real quick. Four-year quote-unquote extension. He's going to play 2024 right under the current deal, although there's probably some restructuring. And then there's four years tacked onto that, right? So we got five more years of Jared Goff.

Quote unquote, because they can let them go in the last one. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And the preliminary numbers are kind of out on that contract. They haven't really been solidified and there's a few, there's some wiggle room on how you can structure it. But if the preliminary numbers are correct,

uh his number his cap number in 2024 does go down um 17 million no it could be anywhere well no he's he was supposed to be at 33 or something like that let me just double check because i don't want to when we talk numbers i want to be as accurate as i can be but um so he his original number was uh 32.3 now if

I think at a minimum, it looks like it's probably going to drop down to like 27.3 or something like that. So you're going to lose, you're going to save about $5 million right off the bat. If they restructure with like voided years and stuff, which we don't know, that will lower the cap number even further, which means we could end up seeing golf's contract drop down into like maybe the mid to low twenties, which means you can set a saving five. You might be able to save like eight,

or nine. Just depends. We'll have to see how the, how the, how it all lays out. Don't quite have the details. Like I said, just, just the rough numbers, but he's going to save you another five to 8 million probably this year. The number goes up next year a little bit, but it's still palatable. It gets real tricky the year after that in 2026. Now I saw these numbers and I'm going to be waiting because wasn't that in the sixties?

Yeah, but again... It was one year in the 70s or whatever? No, it was like... This is the high 60s. And then it drops back down again after that. But again, I'm not totally on board with these numbers. And like I said, we don't know how the structures work. Sometimes somebody... One of these guys that are leaking the schedule is getting the numbers from an agent or something like that. And they're not...

fully articulating how the numbers hit, right? Like you may, the agent may have said that there's a, there's a $5 million roster bonus, but maybe it's just like it's included somewhere else or something. And so like that number could go down. Also, if you have voided years added on that spreads out the salary cap hit as well, which could low, which is going to lower things down even further, but it sure looks like 2026 is probably going to be one of his heavier years and

Again, we won't know the final numbers till we see the full deal, but those preliminary numbers do point to that. And then it kicks back down, but it's still stay, it's going to still stay high, uh, over 50 million for those kind of last two. But, um,

At the same time, we're talking two, three years, three, four years down the road, salary cap is going to go up. And if it goes up between 10 and 20 million, like it's been doing, you know, his whole contract, they might have a cap increase of his entire contract by that point. So,

It's the going rate for quarterbacks right now. I think he averages the number two. 53 million compared to Joe Burrow's 55 million. And again, that's on the reported numbers now. That could change as we see the deal. But

He'll be number two. Now there's a, there's a number seven in two years, maybe less. Right. Cause there's a couple of guys that are coming down the pipe on contracts. It's not a lot next year. It's going to be Dan Prescott. Right. And that's pretty much it. That was going to get out, get out, outpaid.

I think there was another one, but I could be wrong. I haven't looked. I'm going to be honest. I haven't looked at the numbers. I thought in my head. Terrible preparation. Wow. For both of us, that's not accusatory. This was a – I wasn't expecting to – I wasn't planning on talking too much about the contract just because I don't know it. Well, we don't have to dig in any deeper. No, it's –

I, I, they had to do it. What, what other option do they have? Unless they traded them straight up for Dak Prescott. Right. That was like the only, cause you, you have to sign them to an extent because even if you didn't want them, you'd have to sign them to some sort of extension. So he has some sort of value for you to trade, which teams don't do that in the NFL really anyways. It's more of like an NBA type of thing. Um,

I'm guessing they're not comfortable in Hendon Hooker. You know, we've never heard anything that how great he looks in practice, blah, blah, blah, probably hasn't even practiced that much. So it's not like they could just play out the string. I mean, I guess that was an option play out next year with golf, but I don't know. I'd have a feeling that he would be more interested in just leaving, you know, like they kind of want to extend. I don't know. This is their move. 53 million with Daniel Jones makes 41 million. He makes 12 million more than Daniel Jones. I think that deal is fine.

Right. And again, I think Dak's going to make more than him, and I think he's a better quarterback than Dak. Dak's got real good numbers and haggard good numbers last year. But I think when it comes down to the elements beyond the stat sheet, Goff has certainly proven himself. So since you brought up Hendon, I do think Hendon is really –

The plan has always been for him to be like one of the, they drafted him to be one of the better backups in the league. I don't think they ever really drafted him with the, with the vision of saying he's going to be our guy. Uh, you know, I think he was insurance of golf. Didn't, you know, pick himself up, um, which, or continue his, his, his hot streak, which he, he finished on at the end of the previous season. But I do think that, uh,

I do think that Hendon was...

you know, you look at the quarterback position in the NFL, it's the most important. It's also one of the hardest to actually get quality players at. And so I think Hennon was a guy they viewed as a quality player and one that they were willing to pay a price to add. And as we've seen with Brad Holmes, third-round picks don't mean a whole lot to him. And so he looked, I think he looked at it and said, I'm willing to give up a third-round pick to make sure that I have insurance during a time when

uh, at the most important position on the roster at a time when we're just starting our Superbowl window. And, uh, I think that's why age probably didn't play a factor in it. The ACL probably didn't play a factor in it because they were, they were bringing Teddy in to help them along anyways. And, uh, I think Hendon is a guy with enough upside to not make it a devastating loss. If Jared Goff has to miss a game or two. And so, uh,

We'll see if Hendon ends up fulfilling that, like if he ends up being good enough to spot start. But I think that was the idea behind it. Like the idea was to, he was willing to give up a, like he gave up a third round pick to go get Manu, right? So why not be willing to give up a third round pick to get a significant insurance plan at the most important position on your roster? So I really don't know if Hendon was ever,

The I like the was never brought in, I think, with that with the goal of being the starter is I think this was always been what they were hoping for was that golf hit his stride. And now they've got a.

I can't say young because he's like 28, right? Or whatever it is. But a young enough quarterback with upside to be a really good quality backup. And that's something that I think is overlooked by a lot of teams in the NFL. I don't know what else there is to say about that. Well, I mean, we don't know anything about Hennon Hooker. We don't. We know what he did in college. We don't know if he's going to be able to process everything quickly in the NFL. And I'm sure...

to a certain level the lions don't know either you know he's he's going to be the backup this year hopefully he he's he's good hopefully he develops you know it's fine that he's he's sitting and watching and hopefully they don't need him this year but there is an eventuality that goss is going to get hurt and miss some games and he's got to be able to at least keep the team afloat yeah you got you got to have a plan this team is it's just layered in um

And in contingency plans, right? That's all it is. It's just contingency plan after contingency plan. And so this is part of it that I that's, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised by this, uh, the move to add Hendon as well. I'm equally not surprised that they, uh, that they, uh, that they signed off for the extension. I think it's, he's played well enough to, to be worth the money. And, uh,

Good for him. I think he's very excited to be in Detroit. And, you know, he's got a no-trade clause that we found out today. There's a no-trade clause in his contract as well. He kind of downplayed it, saying that it's a standard one that every quarterback has nowadays. But at the same time, the fact that...

The fact that they didn't ask, you know, that they didn't insist on there being a trade option, I think is a good sign. It's a good sign they want him. And I think he really wants to stay here as well. So I think it's all positive all around, right? We talked previously about St. Brown and Sewell and now to see Goff. And now you've got your pillars. You've got your pillars. Your four pillars are all under contract. You can't sign Aiden yet because he's still in that rookie deal, but...

You've now established your four pillars. They could extend a Lee McNeil though. And who knows if they will, I guess that's going to be a conversation for another time. Well, go ahead. But real fast. Like I just wrote an article this week that said there's basically five candidates that could get extensions. A Lee McNeil being, I think the one that most people point to, but he's also going to have the heftiest price tag. You could also extend Carlton Davis and,

Remember they restructured his deal, which looked like a precursor to an extension. So they could still extend him. But now with the two rookies in, you know, that came out of the draft, is that even an option for them now? Or do they just want to wait and see? They could extend Derek Barnes. They could extend if he Malafonu and they could extend Taylor Decker, who is in the final year of his contract. So again,

I wrote an article about those five and said, and I put a vote, I have a poll in there. I haven't got the results back yet, but if you had to pick between those five, who do you think is the guy they would go after next? Ooh.

So with Decker, you're going to lower the contract, give your offensive line security for a couple of years. It's a bunch of ifs. Yeah. But with Aleem, you're going to pay a price tag. Yep. Unless he has a bad year. Well...

But let's say none of us would be like, well, maybe they shouldn't bring him back. Well, let's, let's, let's say they're going to do one more extension this off season. If you were going to do one more extension this off season, I'd be interested to see, would you want to extend Barnes or Melifan who are just, you know, just kind of came into their own last year or is it maybe, or a lien who you're going to pay between 16 and 20, 20 million to, um,

or Decker, where you're going to lower the price tag, or invest in the guy that you traded for? Which one of those guys appeals to you the most? I think they all present interesting arguments. I guess, well, to me, I don't know. To me, it would be Decker, I guess, as long as he came on the cheap. But then if you said, well, if we're going to get Derek Barnes, or if you Mellifanmu for under market value, then it's, well, I guess them. It's like, we're going to do it now. I don't know how hefty Barnes' price tag's going to be.

He might be an easy one to extend. Is it going to be eight figures a year? Is it going to be $10 million a year? I wouldn't think so. Maybe it is. I wouldn't think so either, especially with Jack Campbell waiting in the wings to have some leverage. But yeah, I think from a talent-wise, Decker... I'm sorry, Lee makes the most sense. But from a salary standpoint and from a stability standpoint, I think Decker would be the guy who got my vote just because...

You know how I feel about the trenches. I'd be all about lowering that cap hit now and giving him a couple-year extension and really trying to solidify that offensive line and not having to push...

you know, Manu into onto the field any earlier than you need to. Yeah. He's not a one year development. Right. He's going to be a couple of years. That's what I think. And so, yeah, I think Decker's the one that I would try and get done if I was a GM, but I think Aleem is the one that's really the most appealing because he's the, the young talent that I think you really have to lock down because it's a big position of need. So, all right.

We can shift to another topic. Do you want to go back to the draft or do you want to do the schedule? You said you had a couple of questions about the draft or a couple of points you want to make. Yeah, just the points. We're not going to dig into every player because you have done that. I shouldn't say to death. That makes it sound like it's bad. I've done it a little bit, but I think we could talk more.

They, first of all, Holmes lied to us again. You know, he went after need. Well, I remember the first draft or I don't know if it was Holmes or if it was Spielman that said we're going to build from the outside in. And that was a lie. Which is, you know, you got to play that. Yeah. Yeah. Spielman said that. You're right.

So there's a lie again was like, well, we're still going to do things. You were going to just draft the best player on the board, even though that's what they'll say after the fact. Well, Arnold was the best player on the board. That's why we traded up to get him. Ray was the best player on the board. That's why we took him. But right.

And more obviously, that was a big position of need. And they really attacked the position of need. And that's great. I was a big fan of that. Because the more I looked at it, the more I thought about it when I was sitting there watching the drafts, like, if they draft an offensive lineman just to not start

They're trying to win a Super Bowl now, and I get this for long-term stability, but they chose not to do that. They kind of went the, well, let's try to win the Super Bowl now route. Went after Arnold, went after Raikstra.

then they went long-term focus by trading up for Manu, which is interesting. You had them way down on your board and, and yeah, cause I just didn't know enough about him. Right. Yeah. I think he was, he was so late to the process. I hadn't watched filmed on him. The only thing I knew was I read like a couple articles and then I had his numbers and that's really all that I have because he only came into my vision within like the last like 10 days to two weeks.

of the draft process. So I just, I didn't have enough time. No, this was not an indictment on you. No, no, no. The next one, Eric. Oh yeah. Well, this was your guy, Vaki, you know, they trade up, they, they, they give away some draft capital to get both of those guys. And it's, you know, it's an,

It was something that you called it. I'm, I'm dubious of him being a running back though. I don't know why, but them talking about him being a running back, being a running back, being a running back. I don't know. Yeah. Well, he's, uh, his, his, his efficiency numbers are really good, um, as a running back. And, uh,

He's got terrific hands and let's, let's be real. He's going to be a special teams demon and he'll probably be a running back in name, but you know, they'll have a player too for him or they'll, I don't, I want to see, I I'm like you, I want to see it on the field with my own eyes before I really buy into that's where his long-term position is. But I tell you, the film says the film looks good.

The stats, even though they're minimal, look really good. I did like his experience on defense, but they stick him on offense, and I get it. I get his explosiveness and his hands. It's got to make things really appealing. Like I said, the stats are definitely appealing. I will toot my own horn a little bit and say,

When I did my mock draft, my second mock draft, I had the Lions trading up into the fourth round to take Vaki, even though most people had him, including in the PFF similar, had him as a sixth round. But I just looked at him, and it just... The whole...

I don't know, you know, the grittiness, the, the, the ability to play multiple positions, the new kickoff rules. Like it's just so much of what he is as a person, as a player, just fit with this organization. And, and,

That really seems to be the point where Brad Holmes likes to go after those guys he thinks has high upside, like that early parts of the fourth round. That's where they got Amon Ra, that's where they got Derek Barnes, and they were willing to trade up for Derek Barnes, and they're willing to trade up for these two guys here in the fourth round as well. So, you know, hopefully you see the same results, and maybe it's not until year three with Manu, like we saw with Derek Barnes, but...

I expect Vaki to kind of, I expect him to jump right into the mix. Right. So that's a pick they made once again with thoughts of winning now. Here's a guy who's going to play all the time in all the special teams units, and that's what he's going to slot in as. Now the last two guys...

not really suit, not really developmental guys as much as like depth pieces. Right. Makai Wingo, the fine player, you know, I'm not going to be as big of a fan because he's undersized. You know, he's only weighs 284 pounds. I don't like that defensive tackles, but Hey, if he's great, you know, all the better. And then Mahogany, you know, he was, he was a long time starter right at Boston college. He's got a lot of experience and here's a guy who's just, you know, depth on the offensive line.

Yeah, he's a guy that could maybe start next year or challenge to start. The upside's there. I think most people had him as a third or fourth rounder because of that upside. Rumors are he dropped because of a little injury history. He had ACL a couple years ago, but...

It was both. Both those guys were really unusual. I was actually cleaning out some of my notes the other day and I got to my combine notes. And after the combine, I always make a list with players to watch. Right. I'm like, I need to revisit the tape because I liked what I saw from them at the combine. The first guy at the top of the list that was on my go back and watch list was

was Wingo. I didn't realize it at the time, but I liked... I went back and started looking at my notes, and I'm like, I really liked what he did at the Combine, and I really thought, my goodness, there's some stuff there that I wasn't

so sure about because I discounted him because I think of his size, I think like a lot of teams did. And, um, but he was, he was at the top of my list, um, of, you know, to go back and watch. And I think that's one of the reasons why he moved up my board. Um, and he was in the same kind of spot as mahogany in that late third, early fourth round for me, uh, after the combine, because he, he, he had, he, his performance had me looking at him with a different eye and,

and um i liked what i saw so it was neat to be able to go back and and say oh yeah i forgot that he was that he was at the top he was the number one first guy i wanted to go back and watch so i thought that was uh pretty interesting um so all in all a good draft i am concerned about the loss of draft capital and future drafts but at the same time

Holmes has found a way around that in these first few drafts anyway. I mean, keep kicking the can on the road and let it just, I guess, blow up when it's finally time to blow up and then deal with it at that time. Just like in Los Angeles. The nice thing is, is that the fourth rounder he traded to go get Vaki was the fourth rounder he acquired to get Swift in the Swift trade. So it's really not like he lost everything.

I mean, he lost capital, but I mean, when you're looking at like the seven picks he should have, he still has six of those seven. He's just missing. He's now missing the third rounder. So, you know, and ideally, if this team is as good as you think they are, then that that that pick is going to be on the 90s. Right. And so, you know, when you get to that point in the draft in the 90s, you know, you're getting to players that.

you know, have upside, but maybe aren't necessarily guys that are instant contributors. And based on what, how we've seen homes view third round draft picks, you know, look at guys like Hendon hooker at Broderick Martin. Like those are guys that, that he,

Looked at it. He got in the third round as guys that he didn't need to start. Now he also got Kirby Joseph and if he Malafonu in the third round as well. So it's an Aleem. So like he's definitely found talent in the third round before. But I do think his, his position has, has shifted a bit because as the roster has evolved and filled out, I think he looks at it as, as,

our first two picks are going to be contributors and then we'll see what we get with the rest. And, uh, it's certainly that is reflected in how he's utilized his third round picks in the, in the past two drafts. All right. The undrafted free agents. I don't, there's, there's really none I want to hit on, but there's, there's three guys that I think have a chance. That's about it. We've already seen one of them go. Um,

Isaac Rex, the tight end out of BYU. He's already gone. They released him today. They signed Sean McCune. Former Michigan tight end Sean McCune blocking tight end. He made the roster in Dallas the last four years as an undrafted player, basically because of his blocking prowess and ability to contribute on special teams. And so, yeah,

Yeah, I think he firmly puts himself in a battle with Shane Zylstra. Going to give Zylstra the nod. You know, he's been a steady contributor for the Lions outside of last season when he was injured. He was a steady the two years prior. But, you know, if they want to shift to tight end four to be more of a blocker, McEwen definitely could be in the mix for that. So that'll be interesting to see how it goes.

When you look at the upside, there were three players that I had given draftable grades for that the Lions acquired as undrafted free agents.

The first one's Isaiah Williams, the slot receiver out of Illinois. Yeah, he's not going to make it. I don't think he's going to make it either. I think there's a chance he's got it. I think he's got a chance to slip into wide receiver six because that seems to be wide open. I think they're pretty set at their top five.

Isaiah Williams, I think, will have a chance at wide receiver six, but he's going to have to beat out Tom Kennedy and Maurice Alexander and Drees Fountain and Traquan Smith that they brought in to try and compete for the X role. And so there's a handful of guys that are out there that are pretty good, and if you end up going a little heavier at running back,

uh this year especially with like Vocky and Craig Reynolds and stuff like it uh you maybe you don't keep six I don't know but I I think Williams has a shot but I'm I would say he's probably on the outside looking in for me now um Kingsley Ubican he is the center out of Florida they gave him a lot of money um but that's not unusual pure center which is I think um

a position that they don't really have a clear backup at center. And so it's possible. His name is Graham Glasgow. Beyond Graham, beyond Graham. You know, but yes, you're right. Graham would shift in the center and you'd see either source, dull mahogany or how she could play guard most likely. But if UBACON is, is gonna, there's an outside shot to, for him to be all 10 again, again,

I'm with you. I don't think he, I think he's got a hard road. He probably doesn't. It's probably on a practice squad. So the top guy for me, still chambers, the linebacker out of Ohio state. If they keep six, he's yeah. Former running back. Right. Like, um, and, uh, converted the linebacker. He's got good instincts in the run, good speed. And, uh,

If they keep six, he looks like six to me. He's, he looks like linebacker six. But again, I've, I've, I've been talking all season about the fact that I don't know if they keep six this year, just because I, I wouldn't be surprised if they added more offensive players and they took that spot away from the defense because of the new special teams rules. And that's why you keep a fourth tight end or a fifth running back instead of a six linebacker. So again,

If they keep six, though, he's the front runner. So I think he has the best chance, again, though, Huff Road to get in. So I'm probably going to say out on him as well, just based on how I think they construct the roster. So that'd be my guess of the UDFAs. All right. So really, when it came down to the draft, I wanted to give you a lot of credit for the Vocky pick and how you saw it coming from miles away.

I have a giant concern with the Lions. It's finally emerged. It was really quick with the Patricia era because of the stupid pencil because, you know,

these cards are all laminated it's just schtick that he's got this pencil over his ear right you go which is you know it's terrible and then you can you go back to bob quinn who had to fire jim caldwell because he didn't know how to build him a team you know like you're an nfl gm you should be able to know how to build a team for anybody right not just the patriot way uh

So here's where it's finally emerged with this group. Now, I'm not going to say that this is the downfall, right? Like, it's a concern that the red flag is now up.

And it came on, I can't remember, it was day two or day three of the draft. I know where you're going, day three. They were all wearing the Dan Campbell jerseys, right? Well, okay, the Dan Campbell jerseys were for charity. Whatever. But the one before when they were wearing the positional value villains, that one. Yeah, well, that too. Yes, yeah, yeah. I know where you're going. Yeah.

Okay. The cult, it's a cult. It's become a cult. The front office and coaching staffs become a cult, which is, you know, it's not good.

Nobody was playing acoustic guitar in that war room. So maybe we're a step away from a full cult. You're laughing, you know, because you're partially in, Eric. You haven't signed over your bank accounts yet, but you're in the cult. You're not staying on the farm with them, but you're definitely a satellite member. I go to the church. Right. So you're slightly blinded by this, but it's a big concern.

That they're all starting to be on the same page. And, you know, a lot of the time, you know, I don't know if you've read a lot about cults or maybe in today's day and age, you watch a lot of cult documentaries. It usually doesn't end up well. No, yeah, no, it never does. So that's the concern that's finally emerged is that it is a cult and who knows what happens from here.

Well, I think Dorsey was, again, Dorsey was originally brought in to be the naysayer, right? He was originally brought in to challenge and try and curb Brad Holmes' enthusiasm for certain guys. And maybe that's dissipating. Maybe he does need to...

another Dorsey in the mix. Right. They have, they have added, they have added to their, or they're going to add two more front office members to this group. They Tom Roth is a longtime scout with the, the bills and I think the Titans and then Dwayne Joseph was a GM candidate for the lions when they hired Brad Holmes and

And he was a GM candidate for the Raiders when they did their reshift a couple years back. Dwayne Joseph will be brought in, and his experience is in pro personnel, which is the Ray Agnew side of the Lions front office. It's very possible Dwayne is being brought in

to challenge or to, because he was a guy that was up for Brad Holmes's job and it went to Brad Holmes. And so this is a, this is not just a low profile guy. This is a, this is a high profile guy who they could be putting in a, we don't know what position he's going to go in right now, but he could be in a succession position, right? We talked about how, you know, this is front office and rosters built on succession plans. In my opinion, this could be your, your,

if Ray Agnew gets hired to be a GM somewhere, he could be the assistant GM and waiting type of thing because he's got, he's, he's like the anti Holmes in that he's got his experiences on is in a different department than what Brad Holmes is in yet. He's been a guy that's been respected enough to be considered for GM jobs in the past. So I'm really interested to see how they're going to end up using him. Maybe he'll be the disseminating voice. Maybe he'll be the guy who, who pushes against the grain and,

And in a cult, it doesn't that doesn't work. It stops. The leader is right. Well, I you know, it's concerning. I know you're going to dispel me. No, no. I'm filled with mumbo jumbo here. And you're probably right. I believe in a curse. I believe in a cult like behavior. It's just a concern. It's a red flag. There hasn't really been a red flag until now.

Well, look, I mean, I could add fuel to your fire and I could talk about the fact that Brad Holmes was making a, in his pre-draft speech, he was making a presentation or he's making an example talking about,

how if one person has a quiet voice against the majority about a player, right. And then he told a story about how he was the quiet voice and then basically went, well, I'm the one that makes the decision. So I'm going to go with my gut. And he ended up winning, going with his gut and making the right pick anyways. Right. So it's possible.

It's possible it's getting a little bit... It's going to have additives put in all their dissenting voices and their food so they have lower energy and are not willing to speak up against them. Did you... Okay.

Did you, I don't know if you, if, if you read, because this, this came out while you were on vacation, but Jordan Roderick of The Athletic, who writes for the Rams, she did a two-part feature on following the Rams front office. Like she got to spend like days writing.

with like different personnel in the front office learning about how they draft players, how they evaluate players. And I, I, it was first of all, it's fascinating just to read as a football player, but then you also look at the fact that like, this was kind of the system that was in place when Brad Holmes was there. And you have to think maybe, you know, he's at least pulled concepts from the system and, and it's, there's just, there's so much cross check and double check and stuff like that. Like the system is kind of built, uh,

to create different voices, to create overlap. And so you're not falling into that cult of groupthink. Right. Right. And so naming our team, the commanders. And so I do hope,

And like, I mean, I don't know this for certain, but I would hope that, you know, that a lot of those and Brad Holmes has talked about it. There's a lot of these double check systems in place. And I would hope that that's an accurate statement and that Brad Holmes, I look, I love the fact that he's trust his gut and he goes with it and he's willing to gamble on himself. I love that about him. But hopefully he has those checks and balances in place. Like he says he does because he,

I think if you have those in place, maybe you can subdue the cult mentality that may be developing under the surface of this curse.

Well, I don't see, I don't know if the cult and the curse are related. Oh, they're separate. Well, it kind of creates it like the cult created itself. It's, you know, Matt Patricia didn't show up. And because of the cult start putting a pencil behind his ear, he was always kind of an idiot.

you know and he was he wanted to i mean i shouldn't say that he's probably not really an idiot i just don't like him because he was a terrible football coach for my team and subsequently a bad football coach for the other two teams that he was employed by you know after he was employed by the lions

But that doesn't necessarily mean he's an idiot. I should watch how I actually put these things. But like, he wants to stand out from the crowd, right? Like that was important to him that I have this stupid pencil in my ear, even though I'm never going to use it to write anything, you know, like it's things like that. And, and I, and he already had that in his head well before the curse attached itself to him. Right. And I don't know if like, I can't tell you a lot about Kurt, like,

I guess I should be more in tune with Curses. I should probably read a lot more about them. I don't think it attaches. It's always kind of there. It doesn't attach itself to anybody. Didn't Jeff Daniels take care of that for us, I thought? Well, once again, it's just something they put on TV to pretend like they're ending the Curse. Now, you could make a point that the record speaks for itself after him and Peyton Manning did

whatever it was, the bathtub. Why am I already forgetting? Yeah, bathtub of whiskey at Ford Field. Yeah, for Bobby Lane there. Maybe it is broken. It might be. A ball still bounced directly off of Kendall Vildor's face mask. It went straight back to Brandon Ayuk. Could have bounced to the right, could have bounced to the left, or he could have caught the ball. That's not what happened. The momentum kept swinging. I know a lot of people disagree with me about this curse of

It's very likely that curses aren't real. It's just, you know, you're always looking for red flag. I'm waiting for, you know, this team as the bad relationship as it's been below these last 30 or, you know, for a lot of people out there, 60 years, like you're looking for the cracks in the armor. And I've seen one now that there's, it's a cult-like atmosphere. I do think there's an interesting...

We're at an interesting fork in the road with Brad Holmes because there are a group of people who think he can do no wrong. And honestly, he's done so many things right. I get it. I get that. Right. No, he's been excellent. I can't argue. He's not wrong. Right. And then there's another. A lot of people join cults because things are going pretty well for a long time before they start to turn.

And then there's another group of people who look at his bravado and have concerns about that. Like, is he getting too arrogant? Is he getting too... That's the cult thing. Yeah. Well, sure. Okay, I get that. I do... Jeremy wrote an article about it that was very well received that kind of falls in line with him saying

Maybe he's getting a little too arrogant or confident in himself. For me, I do think you kind of hit the nail on the head. I'm probably more in the cult than out because... Right, yeah, you're a little blinded by this, and that's fine. But I dig that. Those are the things that I kind of dig about him. I dig the confidence in himself.

I don't, I'm not as bothered by his pushback towards analytics and stuff. I don't know what it is, what it is. Like, I think you have to have a balance of both. You know what I mean? Like he can, he can, he can push back and then the analytics community can like push back at him and, you know, say he's, you know, not a good GM and whatever. That's silliness, but I'm both sides. That's silliness all around. But I, I,

I have said from day one, even in the Quinn era, I've said I want a GM who is aggressive and goes after what he wants and has the confidence to go get the guys. And, man, Brad has been so good about it that I'm okay letting him cook and unsupervised for a while, and we'll see what happens. We'll see how many –

how many people he baptizes uh during his the next year well if they if they win a super bowl be more than happy to join the cult and i think everybody else would be i think yeah 100 if the cult does lead to a super bowl victory i guess it's worth it yeah totally that was it that was the only thing i wanted to bring up about the draft that i started getting this uneasy feeling because uh

I don't know. Everybody wearing the same shirt started to bother. And it's great that they were, you know, they had the charity and, you know, they're all right. So let me expand on that for a second, a little bit more. The jerseys were the Dan Campbell jerseys. They were wearing the new... Rock right jerseys, if you look at some social media. If you're a San Francisco fool. Yes. So they wore the new black...

Dan Campbell jerseys. And I, I, the way I looked at that was they're promoting the new jerseys. They're respecting Dan. They were, and, and they're actually doing a S a limited sale of Dank of those Dan Campbell jerseys. So I, I think that was marketing, uh, in a lot of ways, but then, uh,

And Spielman, Brad Holmes and Campbell all signed the jerseys they were wearing that day and then donated them to Rich Eisen's Run Rich Run so that it can be auctioned off for the St. Jude charity. So so there's layers to that to to the jerseys.

If you want to argue the sweatshirts, okay, I understand. I'll allow that. But the jerseys, I do think that was marketing and some charities, some good deeds stuff going on with those jerseys. All right. Well, that's enough of that. We'll watch as that develops. And once again, if you're considering signing over your bank accounts, just talk to me first, and I'll talk you down from it.

I'll tell you what, they've already sold out the season tickets, so there's a lot of people that are already signing their vacations. Yeah, there's a lot of bank accounts already being tapped. Right. I mean, that thing sold out super quick, again. The waiting list is thousands of people long at this point. They were bad, though. I mean, they didn't sell out every week, but for being as bad as they are, they didn't.

certainly come close to selling out every week so it's that i mean that's not a shocker yeah it's a football town right like it's yeah it's like i think if the the what we saw at the draft is just a minor look at what would happen if they actually won a super bowl like yeah yep it would be uh it would be insanity squared uh it'd be something to to witness that

Well, the hoopla is also like Detroit on top of being a football town is a party town. You know, like look how opening day with the Tigers is treated. Just any big event around here. Like if Pine, the concerts at Pine Knob, they don't have it Friday and Saturday nights, not the focus. They come on Tuesday night, Wednesday night, because they know they're going to sell out during the week and they'll save the weekends for towns that don't really sell tickets that well. Like

People like to party, you know, people like to be around the party. They may not be the biggest Detroit Tigers fans or they're fans of the Tigers, but they could really care less about opening. They want to be down there for the party, just like the draft. Like maybe they're not the biggest Lions fans, but they're Lions fans. They're Detroit. They want to be down there for the party when, you know, one of the first nice weekends of the year, there's something going down. Like,

So that kind of also explains, you know, all the hoopla. Like I know it's a football town, you know, we've been aware of that for a long, long time, but it is also a party town. I'm very glad that everyone was able to hold their party and check as well too. And there wasn't anything, you know, there wasn't any outlandishly embarrassing moments or anything disturbing the peace or it was just, it seemed to be all very calm and,

and positive and and really put their put their best uh foot forward and uh i was very impressed i was very impressed it was it was i still get chills when i watched that that that expanded view of uh when arnold was drafted and the crowd go and the 250 000 people you know quarter million people go all cheer like the same like that still gives me chills when i see that so um all right

Anything else you want to get to schedule? We got to talk about the schedule and then we got to be done. We've already chewed up loads of time. Okay. Well, I think we can gloss over a lot of things. Open with the Rams, obviously. Lions are three-point favorites, which is nice. It's about where they were for the playoff game as well. So...

Sunday night football, the first nationally televised, uh, a first of the prime time and third or third prime time game. Right. Cause it'd be chiefs Ravens Thursday and then Fridays, the Brazil game. And then Sunday will be the lie. Those, those are your three prime time games. Right. I misspoke. I met the first lions prime time game of the season. Uh, but yeah, third, a third of the NFL season. Um,

Get your familiar Tariq own Collinsworth, uh, voices back on. They seem to do well with Tariq own Collinsworth on the call. So, uh,

I'm excited about that one. I think the place is going to be rocking. Oh, yeah. Well, and they'll be talking a lot about that. You know, like the last time we were in this, although the last time Collinsworth and Trico were in the building was for the Buccaneers, which is the next week. But true. They'll talk about the last time we saw these two teams play, blah, blah, blah, pandemonium. Now, now, here I have a, I don't know, my gut was if this Rams game was like week eight,

I believe Stafford would have got a much friendlier reception. Oh, warmer welcome. Yeah, yeah. Week one? No. No, I think the crowd's going to be up against him again, and they are going to be...

They're going to be all in on this team's kicking off the season and on the right foot on Sunday night. Like it's no, all bets are off. They're going to be chanting Jared Goff's name ahead of the crowd and everything. So yeah, it should be a fun one. Um, and the next game it's, it's the divisional round where you get the playoff rematch. Right. And, um, I think that would be interesting. Tampa's changed a little bit. Um,

But they re-signed Baker, and so they've, you know, they've got some, they've still got a lot of good pieces in place. It's interesting, like, when I start, when I've just started breaking down the other teams to, like, kind of see where they've gotten better, where they've gotten weaker. I feel like both the Rams and the Buccaneers, you know, lost some key pieces but added some key pieces. I don't think there was anything drastic. Yeah, right? And whereas I think the Lions...

aggressively got better, especially on defense. Right. And so DJ reader, and then the additions in the secondary, I think those are all going to be big, helpful assets. And so I still like the lions in both those games. I think they're going to be favored in both those games. Even when the, when it comes down to week one and week two, but it should be, I expect the crowd to be rocking on that one too.

I think Vegas has the Lions favored in 13 of the 17 games as of this second. That's less than I thought they would be. I kind of only figured they might be not favored in a couple. I'll have to go look that up. Yeah, I should have saved it or I should have sent it to you when I sent it. That's all right. First road trip is at Arizona.

Should have been the San Francisco game. Just get it all out of the way. Do all three playoff matchups right away. Man, I think they want to save that one on purpose, right? Yeah, of course. They believe there's playoff positioning involved. Oh, yeah. But the Cardinals won. It's again, I think it's another winnable game. Cardinals could be a sneaky team.

um but i just don't have the confidence uh that they'd be able that they're going to put up a fight back at home in week four monday night football with the uh seahawks for the lions second nationally televised game second primetime game as well team that has had the lions number especially at fort field blow these last few years um

Beat the Lions in each of the last three seasons. So all three times Dan Campbell has faced Seattle, he's lost. The margin of victory has gotten smaller each time, even going to overtime last year. But Pete Carroll's not on the other side of the field anymore, and I wonder how that changes things. Will this still be a Seahawks team that is going to have the Lions number? Or is this going to be...

a tough first month for Mike McDonald up there in Seattle, who's trying to implement a new defense and, and you know, figure things out as a, as a first time head coach. And so again, I, these are, you got three tough games in the first four, but I also wouldn't be surprised if T-Trade goes into week five by with a four and a record. I think there it's a very good chance that,

that I think it sets up really well. Tough games, but favorable being at home and the primetime positions for the two of the toughest ones. So it's an interesting first month. It'll tell us a lot about this team, I think. And yes, they can hit a couple bumps in the road there, but I also think if they could come out 4-0 and be really looking like the team that we expect. Yeah.

You get extra week, uh, you get extra preparation on the buy going into Dallas back in Jerry. We're over on the bi-week. Uh, yeah, I didn't like the bi-week. Um, John, uh, Wicker wrote an article at pride of Detroit about how the lions have had the, have had the lowest average bi-week than any team in the NFL over the last like 10 years. Um, which is, I think not, it sounds right. Yeah, it, it absolutely does. Um,

Dallas, I think the Lions are going to have something, some revenge on their minds for that game, right? It's going to be tough, right? But at the same time, that game just kind of screams revenge to me. Like there's so many Lions players that I think are going to go into that game thinking they got the wrong end of the deal in the last time they were in Dallas. And so...

That should be a fun one to watch as well. You got thoughts on Dallas or any... I've just been kind of talking. I should have stopped. It's a revenge game and

That one does feel of a Lions win, although all this gets thrown out the window if the Lions suffer like two or three key injuries in the preseason or in the first couple weeks, then it's like, wow, okay, then they're going to lose to the Cowboys. But, you know, all else equal, like, they're going to go down there and win that game. They're going to show everybody they should have won that game. And they might not be 4-0 coming into that game, but I think that's

They're going to be on national TV, right? That 4.30 window on Fox. I think that's a Lions win. I think they're going to be a focused team, at least I hope. Campbell said all the right things after the San Francisco loss about how, hey, we may never be back. And I hope that gives them focus of that. Like, yeah, they can't screw around. Yeah, so third nationally televised game here, but this one's not in primetime. It's in the, like you said, the four o'clock slot.

or 425 slot um but another national audience i think brings the appeal level up quite a bit uh at minnesota in week seven and that one's a standard one o'clock game in minnesota this feels like a trap game to me um you're gonna have it's you know you just had your bye you're coming off a potentially emotional game in dallas if you're um

If you have a good month, first month of the season, and then, and then you have the Dallas game at Minnesota could be a bit of a trap game to me. It's one that I'm, uh, I'm, I'm eyeballing as a, uh, as a potential like concern, even though I think I think Minnesota is not going to be as good as, you know, they, they might not be, they're probably not as good as they were last year, but, or the year before, but, um,

Yeah, it feels very trappish to me. Back home against the Titans is another 1 o'clock game. Boy, I have no confidence in the Titans right now. Maybe my tune will change when the regular season comes and I start digging into them more, but I just don't have any confidence. Firing Vrabel and the decision-making that they've been doing with the front office, it's all kind of...

wonky to me. And so I think it's a game that should favor the Lions back on the road. This is where it gets a little tricky here. Wait, wait, wait. So let's the Titans. Now there's 14 playoff teams every year and it's very likely seven of them will repeat as playoff teams and seven of them won't. The Titans don't have a feel of one of the seven that could enter the playoffs. I have, I don't not in my mind. What about Arizona? Yeah,

Maybe Arizona. Seattle would be one of them where I could see that. Well, they didn't make playoffs last year, but they could make it this year. I think Seattle has a nice base. It's not just Arizona's roster. I don't have confidence in that coach. I just don't. I don't know. Maybe it's just his demeanor. I'm not buying Arizona. I'm not buying Tennessee. Seattle's interesting, though.

Week 8 or week 9, back on track. I derailed us. Yeah, Lambeau failed once again at the 430 window on Fox. So this one feels like a loss. It does. Although they've proven they can win at Lambeau. Yeah, won at Lambeau the last two years. Yeah.

This is a tough to do three years in a row. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Tough to do three years in a row. Tough to do with a young team that, that is kind of playing above their heads right now. It's a good roster in green Bay. They've, they've, they've done a real good job of turning around. I still think they have holes and obvious questions amongst some youth spots as well. But I do think green Bay is a, a,

Green Bay is going to be a tough game in Green Bay. And then it doesn't get better. It doesn't get easier the next week because then you're at Houston. Now, this one is back on Sunday Night Football. So you're back-to-back primetime games. If they lose to Green Bay, could you see them losing twice on national television? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Good.

I, it would be, it would be tough. I could, it's possible. I just, I think the way this team is built, I think they could win. I think this is a game that I could see them absolutely like dropping one in green Bay and then bouncing back.

But at the same time, if C.J. Stroud is pushing to be MVP, in his second year, this guy could be an MVP. And now he's on Sunday Night Football, and he's got to make a showing. And it's one of the better teams in the league. I don't know. I could see it either way. That's why I said it's so tough to fork and guess what's going to happen. It should be one of the more exciting...

uh mid-season games that i think non-conference against teams that are absolutely not rivals in any way yeah but it should be interesting games young talent right lots of young talent uh back home jacksonville again i i know trevor lawrence is terrific and that i think always will give them a chance but i just don't know about jacksonville um i want to like him more than i do

And maybe I will when I study them a little bit further, but I don't know. I, I, I'm not buying into Jacksonville. They don't, they don't scare me too much. Uh, following week at Indianapolis, I think, so this is the game before Thanksgiving, which is always, again, another trap spot that you have to be careful of because you don't want to get caught looking ahead to Thanksgiving. Uh, so which the lions did, uh,

Wait, wait, wait. Did they last season? I don't even remember who they played before last. Okay. No, no. They played. Didn't they play? They won. They won in Chicago. See, they won. Cause I was thinking that's the Chicago loss. No, they won at home versus Chicago. And then they lost green Bay on Thanksgiving. I had a mixed up in my head. Got it. Again, the Colts kind of fall into that.

developing team for me. I think if the Lions keep their focus, they can handle their business. They have some Bears votes. Richardson in his second year, a mobile quarterback, he'll be coming off injury. So that'll be interesting. Although the Lions are comfortable, or a big chunk of them will, because they did spend a couple days down there in training camp. So it's not like, I don't know, it's a short flight. It's...

It's a new coaching staff to there. Right. So like, isn't it? Or am I thinking of Shane? Oh, year two. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Year two. Yeah. I don't know. I, I, I'm not worried about it today. Let me put it that way.

Four days later, Thanksgiving against the Bears for the fourth time in the last seven years. Mine finally feels like a win, though, because it's still going to be breaking in Caleb Williams. We'll see. Yeah, they haven't lost their last six. So the last time they won a game on Thanksgiving, was that against the Bears, maybe? It feels like it to me. You don't have to look it up. It's fine. Wasn't it the Vikings? I don't know.

Oh, yeah. It wasn't the Golden Tate where he jumps into the end zone. Wasn't that, I think? Or was that not? Man, I'm starting to blend together. I think my brain is a little mushy. Are people tuning out like crazy right now? They beat the Vikings Thursday, November 24th, 2016. Okay. That's the last win on Thanksgiving. All right. Yeah, man. They got to get it together. And

You know, Chicago has a lot of pieces, but I don't think they're a team yet. Lots of talent. They're adding talent to that roster, but I don't know if they're a team. This is also a coaching staff I don't really believe in, and so I do think opportunity will be there to get the win.

This is the start, the first of a three-game homestretch because the following Thursday after Thanksgiving, they host the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night football. So another nationally televised game, another primetime game, and...

I don't know if I don't like this one. Um, I think the lions win at home, but I mean, I, I don't like the play on Thanksgiving and then place, you know, seven days later on Thursday. I know they did that. One of the teams, the Cowboys or something like that did that last year, but I don't, I don't like it. Um,

You know, you get a bigger gap between... Definitely a toss-up game. Yeah. Those Thursday games are so wacky. Yeah. So I don't... I'm not a huge fan of either slot for the Packers. I think both slots are kind of making me a little uncomfortable when they get to play them. At the same time, that could just be because I think the Packers are the second-best team in the division. So...

Yeah, so Thursday night game there. That gets us into December. Mini bye week, as they call it, 10 days off. Right. So then you get your 10 days off, and then you host Buffalo in Detroit. I still think Buffalo is an extremely talented team. They have shed players this offseason because they're getting to a point where they couldn't afford a cap. Some of them were getting older, but they still have talent. And so...

I'm always scared of Buffalo, but it's also worth pointing out that Jared Goff and his presser today was talking about the fact that he felt like the, the fans really started to shift and get behind them. The last time Buffalo was in town on Thanksgiving two years, a couple of years ago. So be interesting if they kind of keep that in their head is like, they want to bring it full circle and, and, and really, you know,

Take care of business. It's going to be one of the second to last home game of the, of the regular season. And, um, you know, interesting scenarios are starting to present themselves when you get to this point in the year from a playoff standpoint anyway. So I think that's a game they're going to be, uh, focused, ready. And, uh, it's going, it's going to be a tough one.

Now you're at Chicago, December 22nd at Soldier Field. Not ideal. At the same time, I'm not as scared. I think they did okay last time they played in Chicago in the cold weather. It's going to be a couple days before Christmas. Weather might be crummy or they might get lucky and it might be 57 degrees and cloudy that day. Certainly.

So, yeah, that's always a coin toss and that stuff. But again, at this point in the season, you might, the coaching staff might be on the outs. You know what I mean? Like if they don't pull it together, they could, they could be, they could lose the team at this point in the year. So yeah, that, that, that bears coaching staff. I'm just not confident in them. And then comes the,

The second to last game of the year, last road game of the year at San Francisco on Monday Night Football. The last Monday Night Football game of the year. Last primetime regular season game. Last nationally televised regular season game. This is a game that some are looking at and saying, you know, expectations are going to be extraordinarily high. You're going to have playoff seeding probably on the line. There's going to be a lot of...

A lot of meaning going into that game. Detroit's going to go into San Fran. They're probably going to want to prove themselves. At the same time, San Fran is arguably the most complete team in the NFL. And so could be one of the best games of the year right there. And I wish that game was at home because I would have loved to have seen it happen in Ford Field at the same time. Got to go back to the scene of the crime.

A hundred percent. Right. Like that's what you need. Even if you lose, you got to go out there and deal with it. That's what made week 17 against the Packers two years ago. So meaningful. You went into their house and you took care of business. And so you get those same vibes, right? You got to go back. You got to take care of business there.

Season wraps up week 18. They have not scheduled that game. We know that they're going to play the Minnesota Vikings to close out the year. We know it will be at Ford field, but we don't know when or where or when or what time Saturday or Sunday. It's not going to be Monday. There's no Monday night game on in week 18. I don't think there's Thursday night game either. And we 18, they're just Saturday and Sunday games. I believe you're correct. Yeah.

They will... Yes. They will take the games that they think... Excuse me. They'll take games that they think are the most meaningful. If there's a game that has divisional implications, they'll put those on the Sunday night game as well. If there's a standalone win and you're in. Like Lions-Packers two years ago. Right. Exactly. So...

I don't expect Minnesota to necessarily be on the doorstep. I also... They could be. We don't know. They could be. They could be. Win and get in the playoffs. Not necessarily win the North, because that is, I believe, the Packers or the Lions will win the North. But Minnesota, they could be claiming a playoff spot or whatever. It's possible. It's possible. Yeah, sure. Sure. And I think the Lions might have some seeding, you know, playoff seeding implications that could go into that game as well. But...

It's nice to finish the year with a division rival. They had Minnesota last time, and I think it helped them set themselves up for the playoffs. I think that Week 18 game, they were able to get the things done that they wanted to get done, get their minds right, and then they were ready to host a game the next week. And if things play out the way that we expect them to, then you're in a similar scenario. You are basically...

using this Week 18 game to set yourself up to host a game the following week. Unless you're the one seed, then that would be great too. But if you're not the one seed, then you're ideally going to be hosting the game in the wildcard round that following week. And that'll wrap it up. We'll see where they go after that. But it's a schedule that I think I looked at

initially when I just looked at the teams on the list and I thought, man, they have such a tough road because there's so many good teams on the schedule. And then when you start looking at how they're laid out and when you get them, it does change your perception a little bit. And for me, I think getting LA early is an advantage for the Lions and getting Tampa early is an advantage for the Lions, getting Seattle on Monday nights an advantage for the Lions. So I think there's like,

There's some advantageous spots on this roster that really helped the Lions, especially early and then late. And then the middle of the year is going to be a little tougher, you know, like at Dallas, at Minnesota, at Packers, at Houston, all in a five-week span. That's a tough road. And so hopefully they come out of that bye week ready to go. But it's not as daunting a schedule as I had originally thought, you know, just when I was just examining the names. So, yeah.

uh i'm excited for it uh as a fan i think the primetime games bring a ton to the uh you know to the to the aura of the game as a uh as a journalist that has to cover it i hate it uh because it messes with my personal life schedule old man wow

It's easier when they're all one o'clock games. Yeah. And well, and my kids, my oldest is at the age where I have to wake up early as well. So, right. It's, it's tough to get home at just a few hours before you have to wake up. Uh, but you know what, if you start winning those games because they're in prime time, uh, I'll take it. Yeah. It certainly does. So I talked a lot during that. Um,

Anything you want to add? Well, it's a tough schedule. I'm surprised it's only 11th toughest. I thought it would be in the top 10. I thought it would be in the top five. Travel-wise, they do have a long flight to Phoenix. They have a long flight to San Francisco, but that doesn't mean what it used to mean. Right. All the road games then, besides those two, the rest of the road games are in the Central Time Zone. I don't think they have a road game in the Eastern Time Zone, unless Indianapolis...

There used to be, there's a weird thing, right? Where it's part of the year, Indianapolis and Detroit are on the same time. And then like the other half, there's an hour difference, but maybe that's gone now. Maybe they're always the same time. I don't remember. I'm not certain. But that's not a killer, you know, only being, you know, an hour off. Goff doesn't have to go outside, right? Until November.

Right there. They're in the road games indoors in Arizona, in all likelihood, they could have it open. Right. But it's going to be September in Arizona at Dallas, the four 30 window. They're going to have the roof closed for that at the Vikings indoors and then Tennessee indoors. So yeah, it's not until week nine. So the eighth game of the season where they finally go outside and they head right back in for Houston and

um they're inside for indianapolis so they only play one two three there's only three outdoor games chicago san francisco and green bay so that's good for the lions good for golf um and it's all it's all dependent on these last two seasons for the lions something we've talked about for years you know when we started doing the podcast one of the big like

Lions were always hurt. They're bad Lions teams. They always had a lot of injuries. It's one thing they had to improve was the training staff. They certainly done that. They've been one of the healthier teams in the NFL the last two years, but you know, it's going to catch up with them some year. Hopefully it's not this year, but if it does like, yeah, then the schedule gets a whole lot harder.

You know, like this is, I think Dave Burkett's got him at 11 and six. I don't think he's too far off. And that's if all stays healthy. Like, cause did you see him improving on 12 and five, maybe go to 13 and four, 14 and three with the schedule. Jeremy and I do our predictions as well. Jeremy also had him at 11 and six.

Before I tell you what I have, I'm going to point out that last year. Should I have read this already? No, no, no. Last year, I predicted they go 12-5, and they went 12-5. The year before that, I predicted they go 9-8, and they went 9-8. So, so far, I'm batting about the last two years. Good, good, good, good. This year, I predicted 13-4.

So I, I did predict them to, to get one more win and, and to fully get the two seed, not just the kind of like, you know, get in because Dallas lost, but I expect them to lock the two seat up against the Vikings in, in week 18. So when the division a couple weeks before that at Chicago, he went into division and,

Lock up the two seed versus the Vikings in week 18. 13-4, that was my prediction. And I've been right. But maybe the cult Kool-Aid is taking over for me. There is a chance for Keith Hernandez to sing it. I'm Keith Hernandez. They're going to go 13-4 this year. I'm willing them to 13. It's not because they played to 13-4. It's because I'm saying they're going to be 13-4.

As they do it, that's great. That'll be awesome. I just hope injuries don't catch up with them. I think I'm excited to see how this plays out. Oh, yeah. We've been waiting for this season for a long, long time. Uh-oh.

All right. We had some technical difficulties there. So it was perfect because it really just lets us finish up talking about the schedule. Very anticipated season, probably the most anticipated of our lifetimes because they're a bona fide Super Bowl contender. And let's hope it stays that way for all 18 weeks and well beyond that. It's going to be a tough one. It's going to be tougher than last year. Can't wait for it to happen.

Yeah, I think they're ready for it, though. I think they're a prepared team. The experience of going through it, I think, will resonate with these guys. And so I think that experience is part of that. Paying your dues is all part of it, and it's what makes you...

a better team, right? You know, San Francisco didn't become the complete team that they are in one year. You know, it took, it took, it took some time and, you know, hopefully the Lions are, are in that process where they're now, they're going to, they're going to be ready to, to make their push for it. All right. So,

Moving away from that, looking at the reviews, we've had huge rally in the reviews, you know, on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify, mostly because of the addition of Good Morning Pride. Everybody's checking out our show to hear some of their favorite voices from prideofdetroit.com. We have a written review from Noveske16, five-star review, so that's great to see. And then just a myriad of reviews that people didn't even write in anything because our numbers just keep going up and up, and that's great. We appreciate it.

Yeah, it's been really nice. I'm glad that you are finally back from your trip and we were able to get back in. I'm not happy I'm back. I should have just stayed out there and just talked to the people about the Lions. Nomadic life. Well, that's the beauty of it. We could podcast remote.

uh we'll be fine right yeah i still need to pay the bills otherwise um we could there was discussions of remote podcasting but it was it was deemed a bad idea it would have been hard i think um i didn't want to take my laptop yeah a lot of unnecessary equipment to take on vacation just go use your vacation and everything's great um got plenty of uh

Plenty of POD guys that are still waiting patiently in line for me to find the time. You've got to get them on. I will. I will. I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row. But, hey, look, you're back, and I'm excited about that. We'll start dipping into our summer schedule here, which means –

Probably more mailbags. We'll break down the roster a little bit more detail. We'll talk about strengths. We'll have a good, nice, easy summer. And I got some other ideas up my sleeve as well. So I'll leave that as like a little bit of a teaser for later. Yeah, all right. That's it. I don't know. I don't have anything more to add. It's good to get back together with you.

Yeah, I agree, buddy. Full agreement. All right. That's all we got for this week. So until next time, let's go Lions.