WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_03]: Hey everybody, this is Matthew Soltisiac, and you're listening to not the Samod Lions podcast.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The Detroit Lions are now in a new, gritty or era, and we look beyond just an e-caf when it comes to the analysis.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to another episode.
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[SPEAKER_00]: This is Tyler Confland, and you're listening to not the same old lines podcast.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome Lions fans joining me today is as often the case is James Cook, the senior sports writer for the Traverse City record eagle he was also named community newspaper holdings incorporated sports writer of the year.
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[SPEAKER_03]: James, good to be talking Lions football with you no matter what day the week no matter what month of the year it is.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, especially getting to talk some football during the by week, don't have the Lions action necessarily as much as normal.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So throwing this in here to to fill some space.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So to speak, that we are in in this episode.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to do some little different, right?
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[SPEAKER_03]: You and I had the chance to attend a film study session with Chris Spielman just before the season started.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So even though it's a by week, we thought to be a perfect time to talk about what Chris shared.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was pretty cool, pretty cool event that they put on with him, Dan Miller was moderating it, and they also had Mike Disney, the Chief Operating Officer of the Lions, and just kind of a cool little peek behind the curtains a little bit, at least, I think that a lot of people don't necessarily get to see a lot.
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[SPEAKER_03]: for sure, and so we're gonna get into that James and I will, but I was also able to catch up with former Detroit Lions, Titan, Rob Rubik.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We talked about the start to the season and how he sees the club doing so far.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So two great things in this episode, let's start with Rob's interview, and then we'll share our notes on Chris Spielman's film session after that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Joining me today is former Detroit Lions Titan Rob Rubik.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Rob, we often cross paths at Detroit Lions Legends basketball events that you guys run around the state in the springtime.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We always talk Lions balls to a lot of fun.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So it's nice to talk ball with you during this season as well.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for taking time to join me today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I always enjoy speaking with you Matthew.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I appreciate that.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That's nice to hear.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
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[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to start with a very wide open question for you to get us started.
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[SPEAKER_03]: What do you make of this Detroit Lions team through five games this season?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Well, like with most NFL teams right now, it's still, you know, it's a small sample size.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And you think you have enough.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's still hard to tell, it's because of injuries and everyone fights the injury.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Like I understand, I'm a green basement fighting it since day one as well as the lions.
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[SPEAKER_02]: There's other teams around the league.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You see the Rams won't get miles geared and they can't keep him on the field.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So it's one of those things.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And it all depends on your injuries where you get them, if you get them in one position.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what happened to the lions in the secondary.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And that secondary was not good.
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[SPEAKER_02]: they were not good for the first few weeks for the season.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think against Arizona, they worked out a few issues.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They seem like they're in phase more.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You don't you're going to get past as completed.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They're at least bodies in the area.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So it looks like between, you know, Calvin Shepard and the players on the field, they're starting to work out a few cases.
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[SPEAKER_02]: There was too many broken coverages and to me, that reflects one of two things.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Either you don't have players where skilled enough or smart enough to be able to run the right coverages you're calling or the coverages aren't fitting your personnel.
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[SPEAKER_02]: watching the Arizona.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And now let's see how full of every so high Arizona's bad football team.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know what?
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's the NFL.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to win a week Matthews.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I've told you many times you understand it, you know, you have a pod and you talk football the time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You understand how hard it is to win a game.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's the horrible Cardinals team that the 49ers beat him 36 to 30.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So obviously they can compete in 49ers and everyone's, you know, just, you know,
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[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone's picked the wind at all right now, because they're five and oh, so that's a good wind I tend to be going to road the end if I can get a wind that's good So I think they look better.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think the offense after the first quarter really settled down So I guess I'm getting a little bit more detail.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I guess a broad stroke would be If branch comes back and me's comes back if they make the impact we think they can We should be a little bit better to often and we should be a little bit better on defense
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[SPEAKER_02]: But a little bit better on this offense is that that's a pretty good offense.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And a little bit better on defense can make you an average defense.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You just need to be average.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If they could be average on the defense aside the ball, limit people to 22, 24 points a game.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Man, that offense could make it, they can roll.
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[SPEAKER_03]: that they can and you know many people expected the team to be foreign one after five games so the only one game off that number the defense as you point it out they have struggled a lot more in those games than i think people were expecting to before the season started the offense has been pretty good but a little inconsistent
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[SPEAKER_03]: Now, if you look back the last two seasons 20, 24, 20, 25, the lion started both of those seasons four and one.
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[SPEAKER_03]: One year they made the playoffs the other they just missed it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Do you think this team is closer to being the 24 playoff team bound or more close to last year's team that just missed the playoffs?
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's, that's a good question.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's a hard question, you know, you're trying to put on the Sue Sair hat here.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're more going to make the playoffs.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're going to only be maybe 10 and 7.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If they get a few breaks, it could be 11 and 6.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But everyone in this division, it's going to be hard to win the division on the road.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So if you just, if you go 500 with in the division, there's schedule definitely benefits them.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But let's not forget about schedules.
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[SPEAKER_02]: People, we see we had at 4 and 1.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We didn't expect Carolina to be what they are right now.
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[SPEAKER_02]: The NFL, that's a beauty of it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's why it's king and all the professional sports is where they had the system with the draft and free agency in the salary cap.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You can go from being a five and 12 team to a 12 and five team in one year.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It does the whole rebuilding thing should take two to three years any longer.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And we're seeing that with the turnover coaches that they don't get that long anymore because your GM and coach should be able to make you competitive.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's so close, Matthew, between the worst team, which I would think maybe the Titans, right now on the NFL and then the best team, the 49ers.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If they played 10 times, the Titans are going to win one or two, you know, it's not like if the Eastern Michigan, if we have to go play Alabama, we're going to play 10 times, we're not going to win.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, and I love Eastern.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I do radio for Eastern, but it's just not going to happen.
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[SPEAKER_02]: The difference in talent at the NFL level is miniscule.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, who doesn't turn it over?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Who has good quarterback play?
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[SPEAKER_02]: They end up winning those games.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And it's so it's hard to say, but this is a good team.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And they give them up the lines.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Matthew, let's look at the roster.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have in a running back room?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have a elite running back?
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[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have an elite quarterback?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
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[SPEAKER_02]: How about a wide receiver?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the port was borderline elite as tight end, offensive line of Penae's Sua.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Deep linebacker, you have Jack Campbell, Rush N, you have 8 in Hutchinson, and the second there, you got Brian Branch.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So you have elite players sprinkled through this line, not every team can say that in NFL.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They're in all the different,
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[SPEAKER_02]: positions groups that they have elite players alliance do.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That can get you through some iffy games sometimes, elite players can win you some games that maybe you might have lost.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I put a lot of weight in that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think Dan Campbell is solid as a head coach.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I really think he gets his guys.
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[SPEAKER_02]: They play hard for him, you know, Brad Holmes, you know, for a while, everything he touched during the goal.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But right now he's been,
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's been getting second guest a little bit for the fact that the secondary look beat up at times.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You often find like beat up last year at times in his philosophy is not to go and just buy players to fill in spots.
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[SPEAKER_02]: This is to vote players, draft players, or get a deal on a free agent somehow.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'll say this, he stuck to his guns.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Now whether or not that's the right recipe.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a retired guy that up on a lake here in the U.P.
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[SPEAKER_02]: and loving it.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That makes a lot of sense and you talked about health, Rob.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk about Sam LaPorte and Brock Wright.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Those are two guys that are healthy.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They're a nice combination to see out there.
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[SPEAKER_03]: We miss both of them in the second half of the season last year.
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[SPEAKER_03]: The offense did as well.
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[SPEAKER_03]: What does that tight end position bring to this Detroit Lions offense?
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[SPEAKER_02]: It brings the short intermediate passing game on the front for Jared Gough.
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[SPEAKER_02]: When a quarter, you know, a lot of your reads, the progression reads in at all levels where you're going high to low, maybe on the outside, you're going to go out, sail route flat route or shallow dig coming across a lot of our progression reads.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But a lot of times you have like a two read, your safety valve is a tight edge just in the sitting in the hulker in the curl area, just checking down and sand report is proven that he catches the ball extremely well in a crowd in a crowd.
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[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of guys can catch it when they're open, but he can catch it with being covered.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Also, that Sam's loss, a little bit of his twitchiness, a little bit of his quickness senses injury, but I swear his hands have gotten even better.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He is just so dependable, and you know if you're jerseys golf, you can throw the ball in this area, this general area where Sam is, it doesn't have to be perfect.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to grab it, he's going to position, use that big body, and as a good chance he's going to come up with it, and then the wide receiver you have, I'm not saying Brown doing the same right thing, and then James will take the top off, now his catching has been suspect.
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[SPEAKER_02]: at times, but he still is such a valuable asset because he just flushes the secondary every known and you just run him on the gold route and it makes that safety say, whoa, I can't jump on that crossing route because if I do, I take one half step too slow, he's gone.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, yeah, I think you know, and broad stroke is going to be a big hit.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be playoffs going to be tough because their division is three teams that very well could be in the playoffs, so it's going to be hard.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Be nice to the wind at a vision.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I see the bears turn things wrong and Caleb Williams comes back.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So we need them to lose as many as they can right now when he's out.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That we do and I'm going to actually ask you for a little bit more on the division in just a moment, but before we get there, I want to go back to the defense.
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[SPEAKER_03]: They started this season with some pretty bad numbers when it comes to yards allowed points given up.
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[SPEAKER_03]: These defensive coordinator Calvin Shepard's name has been brought up a lot.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That said, there is some real talent on that side of the ball.
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[SPEAKER_03]: You've already laid some right out.
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[SPEAKER_03]: There's a real past rush that we haven't seen from this team in a recent years.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So, as someone who's played through multiple NFL seasons, how much change can a team make in season and how much improvement could fans realistically expect or hope for from a unit like this during the season?
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[SPEAKER_02]: because the fact that Lee McNeill has been around the world.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If you had some first years second year guys up front, they could improve, they could figure things out.
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[SPEAKER_02]: A Lee McNeill's figured it out.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Hutch is figured it out.
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[SPEAKER_02]: These guys aren't going to get it much better.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And Hutch has already placed what as well as he can because he plays so hard.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And part of what makes him a really good NFL defensive, I don't consider him great.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I consider him really good.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think he's quite at that elite level, but he's right underneath it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he's the next teardown, if he's not one in the one group, he's one A, but his effort is incredible.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Now, Rod, let's go back to the defense.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Something we talked about a little bit earlier.
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[SPEAKER_03]: As we mentioned, they've put up some pretty bad numbers when it comes to yards aloud, points given up.
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[SPEAKER_03]: Defense of coordinator's kelvin shepherds, names been brought up a lot.
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[SPEAKER_03]: That said, as you pointed out, there's some real talent on that side of the ball.
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[SPEAKER_03]: There's a real past rush that the lions haven't had since Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes of God here.
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[SPEAKER_03]: So,
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[SPEAKER_03]: The question is, how much change can a team make in season?
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[SPEAKER_03]: You've played multiple seasons in the NFL.
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[SPEAKER_03]: How much improvement could that defense make or fans hope to see from that defense during the season?
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[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think you see a lot of improvement from the front seven, because Hutch has been around and he was been around in a lineback in that Campbell and Derek Barnes.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's guys have been around.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So they're not going to get better figure in a game out learning.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And they're ever, all of my already offered guy.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We look at Hatchenbe.
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[SPEAKER_02]: He's made himself an upper tier player because of some skill, but also because of great effort.
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[SPEAKER_02]: But that secondaries where we need to see the improvement from that, if that password continues, where we have three guys on the top 15 for Sax right now, if that continues throughout the year, in the secondary can improve 15%.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We become an average defense.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If we can be an average defense with this offense, I stayed it earlier in the broadcast.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna be pretty good.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna have a chance to make a run.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And NFL is so close.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's, it's, it's swear the talent, the difference is getting closer and closer every year.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Not far they're apart.
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[SPEAKER_02]: There's so many teams that can compete and win and you get teams like the Chargers, they're on five who, who would have called that?
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's not heard or was considered one of the maybe top five or six quarterbacks.
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[SPEAKER_02]: The NFL and he struggled, but our guy hasn't, I don't know if you knew this.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Our guy has not thrown a pick.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's amazing that this is what 12 maybe 12 studies, no picks and you know, we we kind of get on Jared because he's so in mobile, but he is what he is and is an O.C.
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[SPEAKER_02]: you know what you have.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So you design your offense.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know, a lot of under the center that I'm show the ball.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Get the play.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I should get that defense line to move one way before they engage in their pass rush.
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[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of get it.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Let them get the ball all quickly every now and then after you've heard them in the run game and get that go a little bit and then maybe you can try a little passion to deepball down the field.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone wants to see him to jable five.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Well,
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[SPEAKER_02]: You also risk taking a sack on those two, and NFL a sack is much worse than a penalty because you lose the down.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You lose the yards and the down a penalty.
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[SPEAKER_02]: She should get that down back from most of my recent tensile ground and you don't, but you get that down back, Matthew.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know, I think the offensive has to keep going, try to improve a little, just maybe be a little more efficient, but I mean, they scored on seven drives.
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[SPEAKER_02]: against kids.
14:20.993 --> 14:22.755
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, uh, you're going to have punt.
14:22.995 --> 14:24.356
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a pun on the simple reason.
14:24.376 --> 14:28.900
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to have to punt sometimes and those lion fans we get spoiled because we see what we have.
14:28.940 --> 14:31.722
[SPEAKER_02]: We think, oh my gosh, why don't we complete them?
14:31.782 --> 14:36.666
[SPEAKER_02]: Because the other team is trying, you know, wherever you play, this kills me too.
14:37.046 --> 14:37.627
[SPEAKER_02]: It was kills me.
14:37.647 --> 14:40.709
[SPEAKER_02]: They're like, I talked to my buddies like, other than a car on those they should win.
14:40.909 --> 14:41.109
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
14:41.430 --> 14:43.231
[SPEAKER_02]: Why should the lions win if it's Cardinals?
14:43.831 --> 14:44.692
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, because we're better.
14:44.952 --> 14:45.673
[SPEAKER_02]: How much better are we?
14:46.981 --> 14:48.042
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's my friends.
14:48.322 --> 14:49.363
[SPEAKER_02]: We're this much better.
14:49.643 --> 14:52.926
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we're, and I want to 10 if we're 10, they're an eight.
14:53.446 --> 14:54.667
[SPEAKER_02]: If we're five, they're a four.
14:55.488 --> 14:56.148
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of those things.
14:56.188 --> 15:01.453
[SPEAKER_02]: So all of a sudden you throw two picks are you going to pick in a bubble and they don't you're four and they're a five.
15:14.233 --> 15:16.775
[SPEAKER_02]: every kind of lines like when things are 100% we're gonna win.
15:17.296 --> 15:23.922
[SPEAKER_02]: This isn't like, you know, you're playing a team that you know, you play common opponents, they beat everyone by 40, we lost those people.
15:24.342 --> 15:27.685
[SPEAKER_02]: No, they're the best, they're the dudes that they're college team.
15:27.705 --> 15:31.829
[SPEAKER_02]: These are the best guys, they get 10FL, they still, they're that mentality, they're gonna win.
15:32.390 --> 15:33.531
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's hard to win.
15:33.591 --> 15:40.036
[SPEAKER_02]: I just, and I have to remind myself of that sometimes because I get an mood of like, I get a little frustrated with this too.
15:40.737 --> 15:45.861
[SPEAKER_02]: But I guarantee everyone of those players on that field, including the coaches and stuff, it doesn't benefit anyone to lose.
15:46.321 --> 15:46.641
[SPEAKER_02]: Does it?
15:47.662 --> 15:48.543
[SPEAKER_03]: No, and you brought it up.
15:48.583 --> 15:52.385
[SPEAKER_03]: They played the 49ers really tight and then looked at that first quarter.
15:52.485 --> 15:56.248
[SPEAKER_03]: The Lions had negative yards and the Cardinals had seven points.
15:56.308 --> 16:00.951
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, how many teams in that Falcon score 45 and three quarters, so?
16:01.011 --> 16:02.632
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, Lions scored 45 yards.
16:02.953 --> 16:04.414
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and call the dogs off late.
16:04.454 --> 16:06.175
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, it's a potent offense.
16:07.110 --> 16:09.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, you already started bringing up the NSC North.
16:09.432 --> 16:15.336
[SPEAKER_03]: So let's talk about the Lions are yet to play an NSC North opponent, but that's about to change your quickly.
16:15.576 --> 16:18.558
[SPEAKER_03]: Their next two games are at home against the Packers and the Vikings.
16:19.059 --> 16:21.340
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, everyone in the North has a winning record.
16:22.001 --> 16:26.604
[SPEAKER_03]: Who do you think is the biggest threat the biggest challenge to the Lions in the division?
16:26.904 --> 16:28.705
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it the Vikings with their 5-0 record?
16:28.986 --> 16:30.587
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it the Bears or is it the Packers?
16:32.847 --> 16:35.149
[SPEAKER_02]: I know people aren't going to agree with me, but I think it's the Vikings.
16:35.169 --> 16:36.810
[SPEAKER_02]: And both people say, well, they're, it's a small community.
16:36.830 --> 16:37.530
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the deal with the Vikings.
16:37.550 --> 16:38.031
[SPEAKER_02]: Their defense is mud.
16:38.051 --> 16:38.971
[SPEAKER_02]: Their defense is like our offense, okay?
16:38.991 --> 16:39.211
[SPEAKER_02]: It's legit.
16:39.231 --> 16:39.331
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
16:39.371 --> 16:47.617
[SPEAKER_02]: It is in, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh uh, uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh
16:49.488 --> 16:50.389
[SPEAKER_02]: D.C. Help me out here.
16:50.429 --> 16:51.250
[SPEAKER_02]: Not I must say.
16:51.370 --> 16:53.051
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, right before us.
16:53.111 --> 16:53.251
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
16:53.291 --> 16:53.711
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
16:54.172 --> 16:59.435
[SPEAKER_02]: The dude can coach and they get at your defense travels.
16:59.495 --> 17:02.057
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to be at home and have a great defense, defense travels.
17:02.077 --> 17:11.404
[SPEAKER_02]: So that makes, you're, when you go on a road, your opportunities don't diminish that three to four points because that defense, and their offense is mid, their offense is not great, but it's mid.
17:11.424 --> 17:12.605
[SPEAKER_02]: They still got some weapons now.
17:13.145 --> 17:26.800
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you got Hawkins in and you got Jefferson and they got the kid from Green Bay Aaron Jones that they got now they got the corpse of Person went playing quarterback or Tyler I saw what's his face come back now though Tyler Murray back, but memories back, so
17:28.040 --> 17:29.481
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think they're the biggest threat.
17:29.862 --> 17:36.967
[SPEAKER_02]: The bears have the biggest upside But the packers are also fighting injuries Early season wars.
17:37.247 --> 17:44.873
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no reason they can't flip a switch here and also and they're there put a four to five wins in a row two I can't pick a front run.
17:44.913 --> 17:51.317
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I'd say I guess the Vikings is because they're five and oh and they're there two games ahead of everyone right now Everyone else is three and two is that correct the other three?
17:51.438 --> 17:51.658
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah
17:52.123 --> 17:52.824
[SPEAKER_02]: or all three or two.
17:52.844 --> 17:57.988
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would say the Vikings, I mean, you're chasing them until they show that they can lose and you're chasing the five and oh team.
17:58.388 --> 17:59.109
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a great division.
17:59.129 --> 18:15.602
[SPEAKER_02]: I think along with the West and the NFC, the two best divisions, I even think the ours is better because maybe San Francisco and Seattle are a little more elite right now than maybe the lions, the packers, or any of the foreign ours, but we don't have a team that's one and five either.
18:16.437 --> 18:18.118
[SPEAKER_03]: right now excellent points.
18:18.158 --> 18:22.882
[SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be a fun season to watch and unravel and a lot of great competition.
18:23.182 --> 18:27.825
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad these divisional, divisional opponent games haven't happened early.
18:28.025 --> 18:33.509
[SPEAKER_03]: It gives some teams the time to figure it out and now we're going to see these teams hopefully getting towards their best.
18:34.410 --> 18:34.750
[SPEAKER_03]: Rob.
18:35.371 --> 18:39.713
[SPEAKER_03]: Before I let you go, though, I got to talk Detroit Lions Legends basketball.
18:39.753 --> 18:42.815
[SPEAKER_03]: You guys continue to entertain folks around Michigan.
18:43.115 --> 18:46.157
[SPEAKER_03]: You help local communities raise money at the same time.
18:46.457 --> 18:48.698
[SPEAKER_03]: Are you guys going to be touring the state again this spring?
18:48.738 --> 18:50.839
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we're doing our northern tour.
18:50.879 --> 18:54.922
[SPEAKER_02]: We go through Alpina and Trevor City Cadillac and usually end up done by Grand Rapids.
18:55.562 --> 18:56.983
[SPEAKER_02]: But I'm hoping to get through new bodies.
18:57.023 --> 18:58.143
[SPEAKER_02]: I talked to Jeff Baccus.
18:58.624 --> 19:00.285
[SPEAKER_02]: He used to do this with me 20 years ago.
19:01.065 --> 19:03.127
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a few health issues after he played it.
19:03.527 --> 19:04.507
[SPEAKER_02]: So he's kind of healing up.
19:04.568 --> 19:06.669
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, you know, we want to let it down to Florence.
19:06.689 --> 19:10.091
[SPEAKER_02]: If you don't have to run, so I'm hoping to get him into the fold.
19:10.151 --> 19:13.534
[SPEAKER_02]: Ty Hallick, former Michigan State Spartan lion bear.
19:13.554 --> 19:15.895
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm trying to get, I talked to Ty as well.
19:15.915 --> 19:19.838
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was doing a little bit of recoup just, I'm trying to, my guys do awesome that I have.
19:19.998 --> 19:22.080
[SPEAKER_02]: But I've just tried to inject some new blood.
19:22.500 --> 19:23.020
[SPEAKER_02]: I won't be going.
19:23.040 --> 19:25.302
[SPEAKER_02]: I just had a triple fusion back and made my back.
19:25.322 --> 19:28.044
[SPEAKER_02]: So my days of being on the floor are done.
19:28.064 --> 19:29.244
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll just have to be the voice.
19:29.325 --> 19:29.725
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all.
19:30.558 --> 19:34.340
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, you've got a voice and you do a great job with that as well.
19:34.380 --> 19:36.041
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's a perfect segue.
19:36.381 --> 19:36.922
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, all right.
19:36.962 --> 19:37.822
[SPEAKER_02]: But thank you.
19:37.842 --> 19:38.342
[SPEAKER_02]: I enjoyed it.
19:39.183 --> 19:39.543
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
19:40.744 --> 19:41.764
[SPEAKER_03]: And Rob, thanks so much.
19:41.784 --> 19:43.846
[SPEAKER_03]: Look forward to seeing you at the basketball courts.
19:43.906 --> 19:45.266
[SPEAKER_03]: This spring, thanks so much for talking.
19:45.286 --> 19:47.708
[SPEAKER_03]: Lions basketball, Lions football with me today.
19:47.728 --> 19:49.029
[SPEAKER_02]: Matthew, when will last plug here?
19:49.389 --> 19:49.769
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
19:49.829 --> 19:53.111
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, if anyone goes to for a few, I also do in how it's shown the stadium.
19:53.131 --> 19:54.712
[SPEAKER_02]: I know if you knew this every home game.
19:55.252 --> 19:57.834
[SPEAKER_02]: It's in the Bud Light Zone, which on the second concourse level.
20:00.707 --> 20:08.349
[SPEAKER_02]: But the games like the pack games at 425 there's be like 230 or two to three o'clock We're gonna open the doors.
20:08.769 --> 20:10.090
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I bring an alumni guess.
20:10.130 --> 20:11.090
[SPEAKER_02]: I hosted.
20:11.410 --> 20:16.251
[SPEAKER_02]: I've I've had I've had In so far I had a glover Quinn one week.
20:16.351 --> 20:17.312
[SPEAKER_02]: I had Eddie Murray.
20:17.392 --> 20:20.813
[SPEAKER_02]: I had I got Jeff back as coming in.
20:20.913 --> 20:21.793
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh at Eric Hipple
20:22.507 --> 20:25.009
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to have Charlie Batch, different Robert Porsche.
20:25.309 --> 20:27.451
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have a alumni come in and I host it.
20:27.471 --> 20:30.733
[SPEAKER_02]: We talk about last week's game and then we also talk about the game that day.
20:30.793 --> 20:37.818
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you come in and have cheaper drinks and food during the power hour before the game gets started, come down and say hi and tell me you're from Trevor City area.
20:38.419 --> 20:39.319
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll give you your shout out.
20:40.020 --> 20:40.420
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
20:40.440 --> 20:41.261
[SPEAKER_03]: That's great to know.
20:41.281 --> 20:42.021
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll be looking for you.
20:42.041 --> 20:43.623
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll be at the next game with my family.
20:43.683 --> 20:45.644
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's what I look for.
20:45.664 --> 20:46.325
[SPEAKER_02]: Light zone buddy.
20:47.285 --> 20:47.666
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
20:47.706 --> 20:48.706
[SPEAKER_03]: Rob, thanks so much.
20:49.407 --> 20:49.947
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, Matthew.
20:53.988 --> 21:00.171
[SPEAKER_03]: James, did you know that Rob's final year with the Lions was 1988, which was Chris Spielman's rookie year.
21:00.231 --> 21:02.693
[SPEAKER_03]: So they actually had a brief overlap these two guys.
21:04.174 --> 21:04.654
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
21:05.394 --> 21:06.055
[SPEAKER_03]: Good segue.
21:06.615 --> 21:07.155
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
21:07.235 --> 21:07.435
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
21:07.456 --> 21:08.796
[SPEAKER_03]: Trying to work on that segue part.
21:08.836 --> 21:20.042
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, as we mentioned, just before the season started, you and I went to Ford Field, the session with Chris Spielman, Mike Disney Reserve, and it was hosted MCD by the one the only Dan Miller.
21:20.363 --> 21:22.424
[SPEAKER_03]: The event was held right at Ford Field.
21:23.024 --> 21:32.410
[SPEAKER_03]: And as you kind of alluded to, it was a peak behind the scenes as you will, that included actual film breakdown and insights on what their observations were.
21:33.071 --> 21:37.894
[SPEAKER_03]: Ironically, Coach could not go with us because he was busy breaking down film of his own.
21:38.234 --> 21:40.876
[SPEAKER_03]: So this was a nice, like, class session for UNI.
21:41.396 --> 21:44.038
[SPEAKER_03]: James, what stuck out to you about this event?
21:45.525 --> 21:56.174
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just pretty cool, you know, Spillman was pretty actually engaging, you know, normally normally a lot of times in his interview stuff, he's, you know, he's trying to give anything away.
21:56.194 --> 21:59.297
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's a little plays a little close to the vest.
21:59.577 --> 22:03.280
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a little more open and candid in this and it was a pretty cool experience.
22:04.782 --> 22:07.843
[SPEAKER_03]: that it was and he didn't mince words multiple times.
22:07.883 --> 22:13.264
[SPEAKER_03]: He was pretty, you know, straight forward with things and they started by talking about last year.
22:13.285 --> 22:14.785
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't shy away from it.
22:15.205 --> 22:18.306
[SPEAKER_03]: He said the team lost their grit last year.
22:18.346 --> 22:20.407
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, how did you take that?
22:20.427 --> 22:21.507
[SPEAKER_03]: weren't you surprised to hear that?
22:22.781 --> 22:45.012
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a little surprised to hear it, you know, because it just wouldn't think that you that somebody from the team would say that, but, but it's also good that the people in the team have that kind of self-realization and be able to set back and say, this isn't what we wanted here, you know, we wanted that grit and that's going to be part of us and we're bringing that back.
22:47.803 --> 22:54.187
[SPEAKER_03]: for sure, and I appreciate it hearing that as well because it's was what they talked about by doing a deep dive in self reflection.
22:54.728 --> 22:59.491
[SPEAKER_03]: And he also though said, Dan has got his grit back.
22:59.531 --> 23:00.352
[SPEAKER_03]: He's running hot.
23:00.392 --> 23:01.592
[SPEAKER_03]: He's dialed in.
23:02.093 --> 23:07.496
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that kind of backs up what I think we saw from Dan all summer and kind of his approach to the season.
23:07.516 --> 23:08.037
[SPEAKER_03]: Wouldn't you say?
23:09.505 --> 23:10.285
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that a little bit.
23:10.345 --> 23:19.210
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, and also, Dan, not having to take the reins as offensive coordinator for the second time and his tenure with the Lions.
23:19.290 --> 23:25.553
[SPEAKER_01]: So I imagine that he is able to get his fingers and to a little bit of the other things.
23:25.593 --> 23:30.195
[SPEAKER_01]: We know he's spent a little bit more time on the defense this year, maybe even special teams.
23:30.215 --> 23:33.016
[SPEAKER_01]: So I know he emphasizes that a lot and stuff.
23:33.036 --> 23:38.179
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think him having to be the play caller might have taken away a little bit.
23:38.619 --> 23:44.755
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of those other duties that the head coach has to do, and that can be definitely part of it.
23:44.975 --> 23:46.599
[SPEAKER_01]: It just took a little bit of an edge off.
23:47.547 --> 23:54.992
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, some of those things he does are the intangibles, the things that you can't just delegate to somebody else, because he's the one that is the master at doing them.
23:55.012 --> 24:02.637
[SPEAKER_03]: And you brought up Drew Petzin, you know, Chris Spielman said the reason they hired him over other big names was he fits.
24:02.718 --> 24:13.525
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, that's the one thing that's got to work, no matter who you are, no matter what position you have, whether it's on the field, on the coaching staff, in the front office, you have to fit the organization.
24:15.086 --> 24:24.351
[SPEAKER_03]: a handful of games into the season, you know, it's seeming to line up with Drew Petting and seeing some of the other offensive coordinators who were big names out there.
24:36.485 --> 24:40.247
[SPEAKER_01]: In Mike McDaniel, they're not doing very well and their offense is not looking very good.
24:41.128 --> 24:43.369
[SPEAKER_01]: And being a fit can just be a thing.
24:44.230 --> 24:51.074
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that I had heard about Drew Patsing when he came in in the summer is he didn't just scrap the playbook.
24:51.854 --> 24:54.255
[SPEAKER_01]: He took what the Lions did and built on it.
24:54.336 --> 24:58.458
[SPEAKER_01]: He even kept a lot of the verbiage so that the players wouldn't have to adapt to him as much.
24:59.639 --> 25:03.381
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I think the fit thing is pretty apt.
25:04.848 --> 25:14.817
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or it makes a lot of sense of trying to keep that verb is not trying to build everything from ground up because some players have gone through offensive coordinator after offensive coordinator.
25:15.217 --> 25:16.458
[SPEAKER_03]: It slows down the system.
25:16.678 --> 25:19.941
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that was smart for him to do that and you talk about the offensive line.
25:20.802 --> 25:23.884
[SPEAKER_03]: Those guys have made a big difference this year.
25:23.904 --> 25:25.785
[SPEAKER_03]: And they started with take rat-lidge.
25:27.005 --> 25:28.966
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris actually demonstrated.
25:28.986 --> 25:40.112
[SPEAKER_03]: He got to somebody out from the crowd and got them to come up on stage and was demonstrating technique and talked about how take was making himself a big target and then how he worked on his technique with Hank.
25:41.233 --> 25:46.217
[SPEAKER_03]: is that you know what that's going to help them move people off the line of scrimmage more by working that technique.
25:46.577 --> 25:50.900
[SPEAKER_03]: And I love how he showed those technique things with somebody there alive.
25:50.920 --> 25:52.061
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't just talk about it.
25:52.321 --> 25:56.284
[SPEAKER_03]: He showed it and he talked about that's how it's going to make this offense better.
25:57.750 --> 26:01.752
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, an interesting thing he talked about Rattlage was that he was making himself a little bit.
26:02.192 --> 26:13.198
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a little too upright in making himself a you know, a big target, you know, and so that a lot of defensive limes to get in, get their hands in there and where you're not going to get called for holding.
26:14.278 --> 26:20.766
[SPEAKER_01]: and getting on a side of him last year and he said he's really worked on that.
26:20.806 --> 26:21.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Got better at that.
26:21.547 --> 26:22.948
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we've seen it this year.
26:23.028 --> 26:28.094
[SPEAKER_01]: He's rated inside the top 15 among all cards in the NFL according to PFF.
26:28.134 --> 26:34.141
[SPEAKER_01]: So obviously something is clicking and he's even better than last year and the just moving people.
26:35.302 --> 26:56.410
[SPEAKER_01]: aspect of it is is something that the Lions have to be salivating over because that's what they are able to do back when they had the the great offensive line They were able to just move people and tell them they were on the ball and then just do it Yeah, and another guy helping him do that is rookie Blake Miller We talked about having to be a fit and Chris just said this guy fits the team They talked about his stance.
26:56.430 --> 27:03.173
[SPEAKER_03]: They talked about his ability to recover if he does get beat and that's one of the reasons they liked him coming out and
27:03.733 --> 27:06.637
[SPEAKER_03]: how many reps he's had at that position.
27:07.077 --> 27:09.781
[SPEAKER_03]: All things that just Chris was lighting up about this guy.
27:10.141 --> 27:19.173
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, you know, five games in, you know, he's still a rookie, but we're seeing Blake Miller grow and we're seeing him look like the person they're envision that they drafted.
27:20.432 --> 27:26.537
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that the fact that he played bright tackle in college was something that they that they really liked.
27:27.058 --> 27:30.981
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of times you draft a left tackle in college and you move them to the right.
27:31.521 --> 27:41.850
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't, you know, the, the, you've seen with Monroe Freeling, it, it's, he struggled a bit because it's a big, it's a big change.
27:42.630 --> 27:45.213
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Penaisool did it pretty well.
27:46.120 --> 27:59.946
[SPEAKER_01]: But he does everything well and then he moved back to left tackle after years of being a right tackle and barely missed a beat, I would say, still great it out as one of the top tackles in the NFL.
28:00.346 --> 28:08.970
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that having that continuity with Miller and him just being able to come in because they knew that they wanted him to start from day one.
28:09.670 --> 28:19.179
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that was the plan with the hope was he want to start from day one and to make him flip sides would have been a big a big thing, you know, or any tackle would have been a big thing.
28:19.260 --> 28:26.286
[SPEAKER_01]: So for him to just be able to come in play a comfortable position is, it's got to be big for him just because there's.
28:27.123 --> 28:31.467
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's just one other factor that he doesn't have to worry about.
28:31.587 --> 28:32.668
[SPEAKER_01]: He's used to that.
28:32.748 --> 28:34.430
[SPEAKER_01]: He's used to slide him off to that side.
28:34.810 --> 28:36.612
[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing all the same things he did in college.
28:37.132 --> 28:43.298
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's 350 pound guys instead of 330 pound guys maybe, or something, you know, guys a lot stronger.
28:43.838 --> 28:45.760
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's going to be that adjustment.
28:45.920 --> 28:49.063
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't want to have the additional adjustment of having to switch sides.
28:50.197 --> 28:50.477
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
28:50.778 --> 28:56.024
[SPEAKER_03]: And also, you know, you pointed out they want to be able to, they've been able to push people off the line of scrimmage.
28:56.824 --> 29:01.770
[SPEAKER_03]: They added that the emphasis is, they must be able to run the ball to do well.
29:02.431 --> 29:05.194
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's all we've ever seen since they got here.
29:05.334 --> 29:08.658
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it a desire to get that offensive line to run the ball?
29:08.978 --> 29:27.254
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, they passed the ball phenomenally, but they've also been able to run the ball well also, and so they want to be able to complement each other, and so that's what this young rebuilt offensive lines goal is to be able to do and get better as a year goes on, which is what we're banking on and what Lions fans are hoping for.
29:29.567 --> 29:32.209
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, in addition to running, you got throwing.
29:32.629 --> 29:38.694
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know Jamison Williams has not had the quickest start to the season, but his last game was pretty impressive.
29:39.374 --> 29:55.245
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was a real interesting thing that Chris shared about him is about why being stronger is important for Jamison Williams, because he was rounding off his routes, he said, because his core wasn't strong enough.
29:56.026 --> 29:58.308
[SPEAKER_03]: So what did you take away from that, Jamison?
29:59.299 --> 30:04.020
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it sounded like he was basically saying that James and Williams was too fast for his own good.
30:04.481 --> 30:13.543
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he could control his own speed because he wasn't strong enough to stop it or slow it down when he needed to break in a route.
30:13.783 --> 30:23.366
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and having extra course strength, extra leg strength is hopefully going to enable him to do those things and for that play to stay on time.
30:24.512 --> 30:32.674
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and we saw him a few times make some crazy stops and, you know, the defensive back just has no chance in some of those situations.
30:33.154 --> 30:46.156
[SPEAKER_03]: As James was getting stronger, I do think his numbers, the rest of the season are going to continue to grow, or if they don't specifically grow, he's going to continue to pull defenders with him, which will open things up for some other guys.
30:46.616 --> 30:50.057
[SPEAKER_03]: One of which is, hey, there's the always dangers I'm on Ross St. Brown.
30:50.797 --> 30:56.401
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the interesting thing about him is he said St. Brown runs routes with his eyes.
30:56.961 --> 31:04.065
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, I don't know if I understood it correctly, but I think he was saying he uses his eyes to trick the defensive backs.
31:04.105 --> 31:08.808
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not quite sure, but that was an interesting terminology that he used.
31:09.869 --> 31:14.772
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's kind of like the equivalent of the quarterback using his eyes to move the safety.
31:16.050 --> 31:40.864
[SPEAKER_01]: You know how they they will look at a certain place to make the safety think that that's where they're going and then once the safety starts going there Then they go where the safety was and I think it's kind of the same thing with with with with I'm enrossing Brown where Yeah, he's he's trying to fool the defensive back by Looking particular places while he's running it around and making it think that that's where he's gonna go and then just Completely different direction
31:41.624 --> 31:42.204
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
31:42.684 --> 31:51.389
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, well, there's another wide receiver who we didn't really think, well, maybe we weren't sure, or maybe it was a surprise to make the roster, and that was Tay Martin.
31:51.809 --> 31:55.531
[SPEAKER_03]: And that becomes, that's because of his special teams.
31:55.991 --> 32:08.577
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris talked about how you get out of NFL roster, and he said, your pathway to an NFL roster is to stand out in special teams, and he said, that's what got Tay Martin on this squad.
32:11.438 --> 32:18.705
[SPEAKER_03]: He has, sorry, on the offensive side of the field end games, he's been making some plays on defense and making his presence felt there.
32:19.105 --> 32:28.655
[SPEAKER_03]: But Chris alluded to a play in the preseason game, that's one of the shots of film he broke down and showed us over and over of Tay Martin out there.
32:29.862 --> 32:34.924
[SPEAKER_01]: yeah and it wasn't even close to where the ball was like like this was so far away from the actual play.
32:34.944 --> 32:47.510
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think the ball was even in frame but the film was following Tae Martin in this play and he was just blocking his guy and just kept blocking him and blocking him.
32:47.570 --> 32:51.452
[SPEAKER_01]: The guy was farther and farther away from the play and then finally he just took the guy right out of bounds.
32:52.485 --> 32:55.646
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was on a pun, it was about 50 yards away from the play.
32:55.686 --> 33:01.149
[SPEAKER_03]: But Chris said that guy was doing his job and working to the whistle.
33:01.529 --> 33:05.751
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, is that type of effort as what gets noticed?
33:05.771 --> 33:06.671
[SPEAKER_03]: And that got him on the team?
33:08.492 --> 33:11.553
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's been very good and special team so far for the line into the season.
33:12.620 --> 33:39.420
[SPEAKER_03]: that he has been and you know what else has been a really good cherry republic products folks whether it's chocolate covered cherries or their famous barbecue sauce or proud of partner with cherry republic as a supporting sponsor of the podcast and they're all about celebrating the best of northern Michigan with delicious products perfect for game day gifts are just treating yourself so visit cherry republic dot com and thank them for supporting the show we really appreciate it.
33:40.667 --> 33:42.348
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, well over to defense.
33:43.128 --> 33:45.089
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk in his rake straw for just a minute.
33:45.790 --> 33:47.911
[SPEAKER_03]: They talked about him having a good camp, right?
33:48.251 --> 33:51.732
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris said, you know, you don't, well, let's start with rake straw.
33:51.753 --> 33:52.853
[SPEAKER_03]: Then I'll bring up the other part.
33:53.453 --> 33:54.634
[SPEAKER_03]: He said he was having a great camp.
33:54.654 --> 33:58.216
[SPEAKER_03]: We know there were some injury things, and that's been the thing with rake straw.
33:58.756 --> 34:01.177
[SPEAKER_03]: But now that he has been healthy, he has been playing some games.
34:01.557 --> 34:02.938
[SPEAKER_03]: We are starting to see a little bit out of that.
34:02.978 --> 34:04.639
[SPEAKER_03]: What we were taking away is on his rake straw comments.
34:05.202 --> 34:17.892
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, the video that he showed a rake straw was just him completely mirroring a wider receiver, you know, and, and then yeah, he went into the thing where he's idea the defensive back doesn't always have to look for the ball.
34:19.333 --> 34:22.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And part of that's true, sometimes you can just blush the eyes of the receiver.
34:24.131 --> 34:33.698
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that way, unlike what St. Brown does, you know where the ball is coming because the receiver has to look at the ball when it's coming in.
34:34.018 --> 34:36.460
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and then you can just get, you can get your hand up.
34:37.160 --> 34:42.344
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have the time to turn your head around and do those kind of things, and still can make a play.
34:43.782 --> 34:56.028
[SPEAKER_01]: and the preseason games the film that he showed was so much on his guy that that's kind of all he had to do is just put his arms up and that there was not going to be a very great chance that that guy was going to catch that ball.
34:57.049 --> 35:01.391
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I also appreciate a Chris saying that you don't always have to look back at the ball when playing DB.
35:01.431 --> 35:10.396
[SPEAKER_03]: He said even though they say it on television all the time, because if you are watching the eyes, if you are making a play on the ball, that's what matters, right?
35:10.656 --> 35:11.136
[SPEAKER_03]: And so if you
35:13.317 --> 35:15.538
[SPEAKER_03]: you're still guarding him and you're still making the play.
35:15.858 --> 35:29.502
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, obviously looking back at the ball can be a good thing if like the if it's under throne and the receiver tries to jump through you and force a flag which watching football this past weekend, not even quite sure what a flag is anymore in the NFL.
35:29.582 --> 35:32.823
[SPEAKER_03]: It's such a variety of calls, but that's a whole nother story.
35:33.443 --> 35:33.643
[SPEAKER_03]: So
35:34.443 --> 36:02.626
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, and the other thing is, is uh, you know, when you're running stride for stride for somebody, it's not that easy to turn your head all the way around and try to find a ball that's coming at you at, you know, 20, 30 miles an hour, you know, some of these quarterbacks with someone that didn't there, but with, with experience, you can, you can see where the guys eyes are and where his hands are and know where the ball's going to be and then you just get your hands there.
36:04.317 --> 36:04.717
[SPEAKER_03]: For sure.
36:05.017 --> 36:05.298
[SPEAKER_03]: For sure.
36:05.318 --> 36:09.280
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, another defense player he talked about with Skyler Gil Howard.
36:09.541 --> 36:10.721
[SPEAKER_03]: He said he plays bigger.
36:11.122 --> 36:12.563
[SPEAKER_03]: He gives an interior rush.
36:13.063 --> 36:15.965
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, McNeill's in the best shape he's ever seen him in.
36:15.985 --> 36:17.766
[SPEAKER_03]: Now we know that phrase best shape of your life.
36:18.166 --> 36:20.248
[SPEAKER_03]: But all the training camp we were seeing in McNeill.
36:20.788 --> 36:23.650
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what we're seeing on up both of these guys right now.
36:23.890 --> 36:26.072
[SPEAKER_03]: They're both making a big difference right now, James.
36:27.735 --> 36:37.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one of the things that was interesting that he mentioned about Skylar Girl Howard was that after they drafted him, they were still not convinced that he would be able to hold up against the run.
36:38.763 --> 36:43.967
[SPEAKER_01]: But then he came into practice and when they saw him more one on one in person.
36:45.390 --> 36:50.516
[SPEAKER_01]: made them confident that this is not going to be as big of an issue as we thought maybe it was.
36:50.576 --> 37:03.031
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to guess if that's maybe the issue that other teams had, and that's why he slipped to the sixth round, because we've seen some pretty good plays out of him, pretty good reps and that defensive line.
37:04.759 --> 37:11.303
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that we have and you know, that's nice that they really get him in and see this out of him because it's one of those things.
37:11.323 --> 37:16.986
[SPEAKER_03]: We know how in exact of a science the NFL draft is and you don't know until you get guys in and see things.
37:17.786 --> 37:24.290
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, in addition to Chris sharing a lot of information, my business spoke and I think one of the things he said in
37:25.661 --> 37:30.165
[SPEAKER_03]: Take this for what you will, he said he would take the lion's core versus any other core.
37:30.205 --> 37:35.669
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know, a team's going to say that, you know, most of the time, about their team.
37:36.489 --> 37:38.951
[SPEAKER_03]: But I have a hard time arguing against that.
37:39.532 --> 37:46.637
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, that core group of players at the lion's have, there is a lot of talent on this team.
37:47.178 --> 37:53.743
[SPEAKER_03]: And Mike Disney also talked about once the players get paid, he says they tend to get even better.
37:54.183 --> 38:03.948
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, there may have been one or two who have had some injuries, but in general, they've been able to get guys, reward them, and it's on an up swing, so they're not overpaying bad contracts.
38:09.636 --> 38:14.981
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, they've been able to draft guys who have the attitude of, I want to play football.
38:15.121 --> 38:16.262
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be really good at it.
38:16.362 --> 38:20.906
[SPEAKER_01]: And once I make a lot of money, that's even more pressure on me to earn that money.
38:21.706 --> 38:30.253
[SPEAKER_03]: James, another guy that Mike Disney brought up was Tom Kennedy, you know, it's unfortunate that he is injured and he's out the rest of the season because he was contributing quite a bit on the team.
38:30.614 --> 38:32.936
[SPEAKER_03]: But that's a guy who I believe is the longest
38:35.310 --> 38:41.538
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it seems like the one that I think Disney had the most personal interaction with because he was signing contracts so frequently.
38:42.219 --> 38:47.145
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time he gets elevated from the practice squad or put on the 53, he'd have to sign a new contract.
38:48.086 --> 38:51.630
[SPEAKER_01]: So Disney was having him in his office at Decent amount to get this paperwork done.
38:53.873 --> 38:55.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's funny how that works out, but you're right.
38:55.936 --> 38:58.178
[SPEAKER_03]: That would be a lot of frequent interactions there.
38:59.580 --> 39:05.567
[SPEAKER_03]: One other thing Chris kind of dropped was he talked about dance that it's all about protecting the ball, which would be limiting turnovers.
39:05.947 --> 39:07.609
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's something that we saw them do.
39:07.689 --> 39:11.854
[SPEAKER_03]: And we talked about the path to the roster, which is get on the special teams.
39:12.895 --> 39:13.655
[SPEAKER_03]: part of the group.
39:14.716 --> 39:28.901
[SPEAKER_03]: Mike Disney also talked about the chaos that existed after round seven when you're trying to sign all those UDFAs because they weren't just focused on a 53-man roster but a 90-man roster to create as much competition as possible.
39:29.401 --> 39:36.744
[SPEAKER_03]: I think most beat writers would tell you that so a training camp looked this year with how much competition they brought in.
39:37.444 --> 39:42.346
[SPEAKER_03]: And they also said Jackson Meeks is ahead of schedule with this position move.
39:42.686 --> 39:50.429
[SPEAKER_03]: And that doesn't surprise us to hear that considering he made the 53-man roster about that most people weren't really expecting.
39:51.588 --> 39:56.773
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and people should keep in mind that this was this thing that we did before this season even started.
39:57.253 --> 40:00.056
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you're saying back then that Jackson Meeks was ahead of schedule.
40:01.277 --> 40:11.106
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was it was pretty interesting, you know, that part talking about the undrafted free agents, how like they start contacting players and agents in the seventh round.
40:12.187 --> 40:16.690
[SPEAKER_01]: and saying, if you don't get picked, we don't have any more picks in this round.
40:16.970 --> 40:19.091
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't get picked, we want to sign you.
40:19.631 --> 40:24.494
[SPEAKER_01]: And just getting in contact with the people and letting those guys know that they were interested in them.
40:24.774 --> 40:27.135
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of like old-fashioned recruiting.
40:28.636 --> 40:30.017
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
40:30.057 --> 40:40.643
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've heard stories of that from other people who I've spoken with before about them who became undraft of free agents, or were drafted in 7th round and kind of what it went like.
40:41.810 --> 40:55.163
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, James, another thing they did was they talked about what a typical week looks like for training, not training camp, but just the season, and they kind of went through a weekly schedule.
40:55.543 --> 41:06.654
[SPEAKER_03]: Monday, I think, was a coach's day for review day or whatnot, or no, Monday was review and Tuesday was game plan and the players take the day off so the coaches are working.
41:08.814 --> 41:10.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, and I think it was Wednesday.
41:10.575 --> 41:11.975
[SPEAKER_01]: They put the game plan in.
41:12.015 --> 41:33.181
[SPEAKER_01]: They they changed their calls and signals if they're going to change them that week, which a lot of teams do From week to week and then and then yeah, then they go ahead from that and install the game plan on Thursday and There was interesting that they said Friday is just red zone work Yeah, that's that's what they concentrate on on the Friday is just working on red zone stuff
41:34.024 --> 41:37.487
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, and he talked about him Thursday, they they implement the passing stuff.
41:37.727 --> 41:41.771
[SPEAKER_03]: But Friday, that red zone work, Chris said, this is where games are one in loss.
41:41.851 --> 41:43.913
[SPEAKER_03]: It's the red zone, which makes a lot of sense.
41:43.933 --> 41:45.334
[SPEAKER_03]: You got those red zone stats over.
41:45.354 --> 41:47.536
[SPEAKER_03]: You get in field goals, touchdowns, or nothing out of it.
41:48.196 --> 41:49.418
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, but you're right.
41:49.578 --> 41:52.060
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a lot of attention to red zone there.
41:52.500 --> 41:57.325
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, they're doing a lot of tweaks every week and you have to, because think about it.
41:57.705 --> 41:59.847
[SPEAKER_03]: Last week, the Lions played the Cardinals.
42:00.227 --> 42:03.830
[SPEAKER_03]: Offensive coordinator for the Lions went against that defensive coordinator.
42:04.031 --> 42:05.432
[SPEAKER_03]: They worked together for how many years.
42:05.932 --> 42:07.254
[SPEAKER_03]: They're playing the Packers this week.
42:07.494 --> 42:10.437
[SPEAKER_03]: They're defensive coordinator, Arizona's former head coach.
42:10.797 --> 42:11.978
[SPEAKER_03]: So there are familiarity.
42:11.998 --> 42:13.820
[SPEAKER_03]: You've got to change that game plan up.
42:14.180 --> 42:16.142
[SPEAKER_03]: So it makes sense to do all these different things.
42:16.262 --> 42:18.785
[SPEAKER_03]: And the Lions are going to have another challenge.
42:19.025 --> 42:20.987
[SPEAKER_03]: And a few weeks, they're going overseas.
42:21.007 --> 42:21.847
[SPEAKER_03]: They're going to Munich.
42:21.888 --> 42:25.371
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, their biggest challenge was to try and make it normal.
42:27.325 --> 42:32.933
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because they have to take about a hundred support personnel people with them on the road.
42:33.053 --> 42:43.128
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and this, and this, I'm guessing the Munich one, maybe that they have to do a little bit more of this stuff that that maybe the home team would normally take care of.
42:44.295 --> 42:46.836
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you don't have to worry about how you get in the stadium.
42:46.856 --> 42:51.818
[SPEAKER_01]: And oh, yeah, just a bunch of just a bunch of this stuff that the other home to the home team has down.
42:52.279 --> 42:57.621
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think maybe they have a little bit more people there to make sure that everything goes well.
42:58.281 --> 43:00.322
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes smoothly and all that.
43:00.662 --> 43:01.903
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, they said they're going to.
43:02.403 --> 43:08.688
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to leave Thursday night for Munich and then do walk throughs on Friday and Saturday and then play Sunday.
43:08.728 --> 43:11.310
[SPEAKER_01]: So not really full practices more just walk through.
43:11.350 --> 43:17.435
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would think that the early part of that week maybe is going to be more regular practices a little earlier.
43:18.892 --> 43:20.533
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, changed the clock on the act.
43:20.593 --> 43:22.093
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a six hour time difference.
43:23.934 --> 43:29.035
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, the interesting thing about the red zone is that I was because the lions were on the buy this week.
43:29.055 --> 43:35.057
[SPEAKER_01]: I was watching red zone on Sunday and it was there 300 episodes.
43:35.077 --> 43:36.938
[SPEAKER_01]: So they were hauling out all these.
43:37.878 --> 43:52.510
[SPEAKER_01]: old stats and you know about people who would have been on red zone the most and how many Hall of Famers they had showed highlights from and all this stuff and one of them was a was a chart of what teams had the buy highest success rate when they switched to them on red zone.
43:53.597 --> 43:56.119
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, most of the time you're on the year in the red zone.
43:56.599 --> 43:56.799
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
43:56.879 --> 44:12.009
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Detroit lions were first in that metric in the red zone, just by chance when we switch to you, that you were 61% I think it was 61% that the lions were successful on a play when red zone switched to them.
44:12.649 --> 44:16.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, hopefully red zone will be switching to them a lot for the rest of the season.
44:18.052 --> 44:18.372
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
44:18.413 --> 44:32.150
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, James, one of the things Mike Disney or Chris Bielman were asked about was a favorite moment during their time with the team and, you know, they talk about winning the NSC North.
44:32.190 --> 44:33.112
[SPEAKER_03]: You want to share that one?
44:34.398 --> 44:38.081
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they were talking about how, after the game, they were just, they were in an equipment room.
44:38.662 --> 44:48.651
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was just Spielman and Disney, and maybe a couple of other coaches, but just how they were just taking in that win after that.
44:48.671 --> 44:52.494
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they talked about how, you know, having a hat and t-shirt game.
44:53.615 --> 44:59.576
[SPEAKER_01]: means that it meant something because you know when you have a hat and t-shirt printed ahead of time you know that means you won something.
45:00.536 --> 45:19.160
[SPEAKER_01]: In this case it was the NFC they clinched the NFC North and I think they also clinched a home game in the playoffs then but you know winning the division is something that you do a hat and t-shirt for so that was when it kind of sunk in that they had really really done something and had really turned things around with this franchise because
45:21.893 --> 45:22.794
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, for sure.
45:22.814 --> 45:33.481
[SPEAKER_03]: And I believe Mike brought up the the atmosphere before the Rams play off game and Dan Miller, even echoed what that felt like as he talked about how early he got into the stadium and gets into the stadium for work.
45:34.061 --> 45:46.510
[SPEAKER_03]: I can tell you I was at that Rams game and and I'm going to tell you if you want one of my favorite Lions moments it is that Rams game it was zero degrees outside it was so cold getting there.
45:47.050 --> 45:48.131
[SPEAKER_03]: but it was magical.
45:48.191 --> 46:06.689
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I still remember being somewhere, going into an establishment and grabbing a drink ahead of time, and there were no TVs in the whole place, but everybody was on a cell phone watching the Packers Cowboys game because if the Cowboys lost, the lions, if they won would host another game.
46:07.029 --> 46:08.030
[SPEAKER_03]: So you watch that, you
46:08.871 --> 46:16.516
[SPEAKER_03]: the Cowboys lose, then you make your way to Ford Field, and it was just electricity in there, like you could just feel the buzz.
46:17.096 --> 46:22.200
[SPEAKER_03]: And I still have told this before, I told my wife, this may only be a wild card game.
46:23.231 --> 46:35.895
[SPEAKER_03]: but this may be the greatest football game I've ever seen because of how much time had been between and it was a whole playoff game and you had to go through a former Detroit Lion quarterback to get the win.
46:36.316 --> 46:38.076
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I'm echoing that one.
46:38.096 --> 46:39.757
[SPEAKER_03]: That was probably my favorite Lion's moment.
46:39.797 --> 46:41.757
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I didn't like the first game you ever went to.
46:41.777 --> 46:43.338
[SPEAKER_03]: That's always a special moment, too.
46:44.426 --> 46:48.887
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, first time, first game for me was way back in the silver dome days.
46:49.508 --> 46:49.988
[SPEAKER_01]: Did it.
46:50.748 --> 46:54.229
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that, I mean, that was a cool, very cool experience.
46:54.449 --> 46:59.191
[SPEAKER_01]: A friend of mine from college took me in his dad, had some tickets that he'd gotten through work.
46:59.211 --> 47:04.092
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were like on the sixth row on the 40-year-up line or something, and yeah, it was pretty sweet.
47:04.252 --> 47:06.293
[SPEAKER_01]: Like those were probably the best tickets I've ever had.
47:07.013 --> 47:11.014
[SPEAKER_01]: And two professional sporting event.
47:11.134 --> 47:12.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Outside of a CMU game.
47:13.055 --> 47:17.176
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're not going to have a lot of time to the Central Michigan Bowl game.
47:18.456 --> 47:19.416
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll find your right one by.
47:20.096 --> 47:25.237
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Central Michigan tickets are a little easier to come by, but still a great experience.
47:25.977 --> 47:28.438
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know where my seats were for the first game of the silver dome.
47:29.058 --> 47:36.619
[SPEAKER_03]: They were the top row corner of the end, so I'm like the legit top row we kept walking and I'm like, where are we going to get there and didn't get there till we got to the top?
47:36.739 --> 47:38.540
[SPEAKER_03]: So pretty special place, so.
47:41.122 --> 47:44.205
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, well, hey, James, Final Takeaways here.
47:44.386 --> 47:49.912
[SPEAKER_03]: What would he, has been a lot of fun conversation about time to wrap it up with something you got, you learn more than you want to share.
47:51.244 --> 48:02.268
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the funniest moment of the whole thing was when Chris Spielman came in and he Detroit Lions jacket kind of almost like a varsity jacket type, but a little bit lighter.
48:03.389 --> 48:12.052
[SPEAKER_01]: And at one point, Spielman took it off and set it on the table or set it on the chair and then Disney picked it up and threw it to a fan in the crowd.
48:13.152 --> 48:20.035
[SPEAKER_01]: And uh, which Spielman would kind of, was seemed really cool with and then he realized that the jacket still had his phone in it.
48:20.775 --> 48:23.596
[SPEAKER_01]: And they had to go retrieve the phone from a guy in the seeds.
48:24.817 --> 48:29.698
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, that was funny because oh Chris was almost like, wait a minute, I didn't get my, can I get least get my phone back?
48:30.319 --> 48:30.619
[SPEAKER_03]: So.
48:31.683 --> 48:48.448
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well, I also thought it was funny that, you know, Chris talked about they let themselves down and he said he let the fans down, you know, the team did and a great quote by Chris was, when we lose, you should go home and break your furniture.
48:49.208 --> 49:02.478
[SPEAKER_03]: and it's just talked about how riled up and excited he is for the game might Disney was quickly there to point out that that comment was not speaking for the organization at that point it was just Chris you know having some fun.
49:03.338 --> 49:10.063
[SPEAKER_03]: Another great moment was right at the end as Chris was walking off I was able to have a quick shout out to him and
49:10.343 --> 49:26.197
[SPEAKER_03]: I was wearing my Chris Spielman jersey from high school that actually still fits because as I pointed out we wore thing bag we wore things baggy in the 90s so that benefited me but just thanked him for all he's given to the organization and stuff so that was a pretty sweet moment to be able to do that.
49:28.519 --> 49:35.585
[SPEAKER_03]: So well James this has been a lot of fun has been nice to think back to that memory right before the season started and any last words.
49:37.248 --> 49:37.808
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's cool.
49:37.848 --> 49:38.209
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cool.
49:38.229 --> 49:38.969
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cool.
49:38.989 --> 49:39.769
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for taking me.
49:40.690 --> 49:40.970
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
49:41.150 --> 49:41.790
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for going.
49:41.810 --> 49:42.691
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a lot of fun.
49:43.091 --> 49:43.431
[SPEAKER_03]: Folks.
49:43.611 --> 49:44.771
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for listening.
49:44.832 --> 49:45.872
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for tuning in.
49:46.192 --> 49:48.093
[SPEAKER_03]: Please tell your family and friends about this show.
49:48.353 --> 49:50.134
[SPEAKER_03]: You can find more episodes and content.
49:50.374 --> 49:52.055
[SPEAKER_03]: And not the samolines.com.
49:52.095 --> 49:52.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Until next time.
49:53.315 --> 49:54.416
[SPEAKER_03]: Stay gritty, my friend.
00:05.974 --> 00:11.655
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey everybody, this is Matthew Soltisiac, and you're listening to not the Samod Lions podcast.
00:11.976 --> 00:18.477
[SPEAKER_03]: The Detroit Lions are now in a new, gritty or era, and we look beyond just an e-caf when it comes to the analysis.
00:19.097 --> 00:20.838
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome to another episode.
00:23.659 --> 00:28.380
[SPEAKER_03]: Not the Samod Lions podcast is proudly presented by TBA Credit Union.
00:29.021 --> 00:31.142
[SPEAKER_03]: Membership is more than opening an account.
00:31.502 --> 00:39.125
[SPEAKER_03]: It's having a trusted financial partner by your side with access to financial education that helps you make confident money decisions.
00:39.585 --> 00:42.186
[SPEAKER_03]: Learn more at tbacu.com.
00:42.686 --> 00:43.907
[SPEAKER_03]: TBA Credit Union.
00:44.327 --> 00:45.547
[SPEAKER_03]: Bank on the plus side.
00:46.168 --> 00:49.609
[SPEAKER_00]: This is Tyler Confland, and you're listening to not the same old lines podcast.
00:50.365 --> 01:02.451
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome Lions fans joining me today is as often the case is James Cook, the senior sports writer for the Traverse City record eagle he was also named community newspaper holdings incorporated sports writer of the year.
01:02.871 --> 01:07.693
[SPEAKER_03]: James, good to be talking Lions football with you no matter what day the week no matter what month of the year it is.
01:08.600 --> 01:14.584
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, especially getting to talk some football during the by week, don't have the Lions action necessarily as much as normal.
01:14.644 --> 01:18.786
[SPEAKER_01]: So throwing this in here to to fill some space.
01:18.986 --> 01:21.808
[SPEAKER_03]: So to speak, that we are in in this episode.
01:21.828 --> 01:23.169
[SPEAKER_03]: We're going to do some little different, right?
01:23.229 --> 01:29.472
[SPEAKER_03]: You and I had the chance to attend a film study session with Chris Spielman just before the season started.
01:29.512 --> 01:33.955
[SPEAKER_03]: So even though it's a by week, we thought to be a perfect time to talk about what Chris shared.
01:35.223 --> 01:51.209
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was pretty cool, pretty cool event that they put on with him, Dan Miller was moderating it, and they also had Mike Disney, the Chief Operating Officer of the Lions, and just kind of a cool little peek behind the curtains a little bit, at least, I think that a lot of people don't necessarily get to see a lot.
01:52.354 --> 02:00.480
[SPEAKER_03]: for sure, and so we're gonna get into that James and I will, but I was also able to catch up with former Detroit Lions, Titan, Rob Rubik.
02:00.860 --> 02:05.003
[SPEAKER_03]: We talked about the start to the season and how he sees the club doing so far.
02:05.083 --> 02:13.289
[SPEAKER_03]: So two great things in this episode, let's start with Rob's interview, and then we'll share our notes on Chris Spielman's film session after that.
02:16.927 --> 02:20.289
[SPEAKER_03]: Joining me today is former Detroit Lions Titan Rob Rubik.
02:20.629 --> 02:26.793
[SPEAKER_03]: Rob, we often cross paths at Detroit Lions Legends basketball events that you guys run around the state in the springtime.
02:27.113 --> 02:29.094
[SPEAKER_03]: We always talk Lions balls to a lot of fun.
02:29.435 --> 02:32.437
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's nice to talk ball with you during this season as well.
02:32.477 --> 02:33.917
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for taking time to join me today.
02:34.798 --> 02:36.199
[SPEAKER_02]: I always enjoy speaking with you Matthew.
02:39.147 --> 02:39.828
[SPEAKER_03]: I appreciate that.
02:39.848 --> 02:40.708
[SPEAKER_03]: That's nice to hear.
02:40.788 --> 02:41.269
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
02:42.049 --> 02:45.312
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm going to start with a very wide open question for you to get us started.
02:45.712 --> 02:49.535
[SPEAKER_03]: What do you make of this Detroit Lions team through five games this season?
02:51.251 --> 02:56.055
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, like with most NFL teams right now, it's still, you know, it's a small sample size.
02:56.696 --> 02:57.756
[SPEAKER_02]: And you think you have enough.
02:57.857 --> 03:00.939
[SPEAKER_02]: It's still hard to tell, it's because of injuries and everyone fights the injury.
03:00.959 --> 03:05.263
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I understand, I'm a green basement fighting it since day one as well as the lions.
03:05.343 --> 03:06.944
[SPEAKER_02]: There's other teams around the league.
03:07.304 --> 03:10.567
[SPEAKER_02]: You see the Rams won't get miles geared and they can't keep him on the field.
03:10.607 --> 03:11.568
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's one of those things.
03:12.349 --> 03:15.691
[SPEAKER_02]: And it all depends on your injuries where you get them, if you get them in one position.
03:15.772 --> 03:17.473
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what happened to the lions in the secondary.
03:17.533 --> 03:19.635
[SPEAKER_02]: And that secondary was not good.
03:20.035 --> 03:22.339
[SPEAKER_02]: they were not good for the first few weeks for the season.
03:22.960 --> 03:26.646
[SPEAKER_02]: I think against Arizona, they worked out a few issues.
03:26.666 --> 03:27.888
[SPEAKER_02]: They seem like they're in phase more.
03:27.908 --> 03:29.831
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't you're going to get past as completed.
03:29.851 --> 03:31.894
[SPEAKER_02]: They're at least bodies in the area.
03:32.888 --> 03:38.272
[SPEAKER_02]: So it looks like between, you know, Calvin Shepard and the players on the field, they're starting to work out a few cases.
03:38.292 --> 03:43.135
[SPEAKER_02]: There was too many broken coverages and to me, that reflects one of two things.
03:43.255 --> 03:51.181
[SPEAKER_02]: Either you don't have players where skilled enough or smart enough to be able to run the right coverages you're calling or the coverages aren't fitting your personnel.
03:52.492 --> 03:53.273
[SPEAKER_02]: watching the Arizona.
03:53.293 --> 03:55.934
[SPEAKER_02]: And now let's see how full of every so high Arizona's bad football team.
03:55.954 --> 03:56.334
[SPEAKER_02]: You know what?
03:56.474 --> 03:57.075
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the NFL.
03:57.115 --> 03:58.355
[SPEAKER_02]: It's hard to win a week Matthews.
03:58.415 --> 04:02.918
[SPEAKER_02]: I've told you many times you understand it, you know, you have a pod and you talk football the time.
04:02.938 --> 04:04.539
[SPEAKER_02]: You understand how hard it is to win a game.
04:05.319 --> 04:10.182
[SPEAKER_02]: That's the horrible Cardinals team that the 49ers beat him 36 to 30.
04:10.882 --> 04:14.905
[SPEAKER_02]: So obviously they can compete in 49ers and everyone's, you know, just, you know,
04:16.010 --> 04:23.572
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone's picked the wind at all right now, because they're five and oh, so that's a good wind I tend to be going to road the end if I can get a wind that's good So I think they look better.
04:23.592 --> 04:28.273
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the offense after the first quarter really settled down So I guess I'm getting a little bit more detail.
04:28.293 --> 04:38.815
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess a broad stroke would be If branch comes back and me's comes back if they make the impact we think they can We should be a little bit better to often and we should be a little bit better on defense
04:39.653 --> 04:42.254
[SPEAKER_02]: But a little bit better on this offense is that that's a pretty good offense.
04:42.894 --> 04:45.575
[SPEAKER_02]: And a little bit better on defense can make you an average defense.
04:45.595 --> 04:46.796
[SPEAKER_02]: You just need to be average.
04:47.576 --> 04:52.218
[SPEAKER_02]: If they could be average on the defense aside the ball, limit people to 22, 24 points a game.
04:52.958 --> 04:54.439
[SPEAKER_02]: Man, that offense could make it, they can roll.
04:55.592 --> 05:12.298
[SPEAKER_03]: that they can and you know many people expected the team to be foreign one after five games so the only one game off that number the defense as you point it out they have struggled a lot more in those games than i think people were expecting to before the season started the offense has been pretty good but a little inconsistent
05:12.518 --> 05:18.986
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, if you look back the last two seasons 20, 24, 20, 25, the lion started both of those seasons four and one.
05:19.587 --> 05:22.491
[SPEAKER_03]: One year they made the playoffs the other they just missed it.
05:22.931 --> 05:30.862
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you think this team is closer to being the 24 playoff team bound or more close to last year's team that just missed the playoffs?
05:32.117 --> 05:33.158
[SPEAKER_02]: That's, that's a good question.
05:33.178 --> 05:37.281
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a hard question, you know, you're trying to put on the Sue Sair hat here.
05:37.922 --> 05:39.704
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're more going to make the playoffs.
05:39.784 --> 05:41.705
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're going to only be maybe 10 and 7.
05:41.745 --> 05:43.707
[SPEAKER_02]: If they get a few breaks, it could be 11 and 6.
05:44.087 --> 05:47.530
[SPEAKER_02]: But everyone in this division, it's going to be hard to win the division on the road.
05:48.291 --> 05:52.975
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you just, if you go 500 with in the division, there's schedule definitely benefits them.
05:53.375 --> 05:54.917
[SPEAKER_02]: But let's not forget about schedules.
05:54.957 --> 05:55.817
[SPEAKER_02]: People, we see we had at 4 and 1.
05:57.480 --> 06:00.181
[SPEAKER_02]: We didn't expect Carolina to be what they are right now.
06:00.741 --> 06:01.901
[SPEAKER_02]: The NFL, that's a beauty of it.
06:01.921 --> 06:08.403
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why it's king and all the professional sports is where they had the system with the draft and free agency in the salary cap.
06:08.843 --> 06:13.304
[SPEAKER_02]: You can go from being a five and 12 team to a 12 and five team in one year.
06:13.604 --> 06:18.146
[SPEAKER_02]: It does the whole rebuilding thing should take two to three years any longer.
06:18.566 --> 06:26.128
[SPEAKER_02]: And we're seeing that with the turnover coaches that they don't get that long anymore because your GM and coach should be able to make you competitive.
06:27.176 --> 06:34.565
[SPEAKER_02]: It's so close, Matthew, between the worst team, which I would think maybe the Titans, right now on the NFL and then the best team, the 49ers.
06:35.066 --> 06:45.478
[SPEAKER_02]: If they played 10 times, the Titans are going to win one or two, you know, it's not like if the Eastern Michigan, if we have to go play Alabama, we're going to play 10 times, we're not going to win.
06:46.194 --> 06:47.254
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, and I love Eastern.
06:47.274 --> 06:49.855
[SPEAKER_02]: I do radio for Eastern, but it's just not going to happen.
06:50.536 --> 06:53.937
[SPEAKER_02]: The difference in talent at the NFL level is miniscule.
06:53.997 --> 06:55.277
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like, who doesn't turn it over?
06:55.678 --> 06:57.178
[SPEAKER_02]: Who has good quarterback play?
06:57.498 --> 06:58.719
[SPEAKER_02]: They end up winning those games.
06:59.499 --> 07:02.040
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's so it's hard to say, but this is a good team.
07:02.080 --> 07:03.441
[SPEAKER_02]: And they give them up the lines.
07:03.541 --> 07:04.801
[SPEAKER_02]: Matthew, let's look at the roster.
07:05.641 --> 07:07.222
[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have in a running back room?
07:07.242 --> 07:08.683
[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have a elite running back?
07:09.723 --> 07:09.963
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
07:10.203 --> 07:10.703
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
07:11.284 --> 07:12.384
[SPEAKER_02]: Do we have an elite quarterback?
07:12.904 --> 07:13.504
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
07:13.865 --> 07:14.825
[SPEAKER_02]: How about a wide receiver?
07:16.660 --> 07:22.663
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, the port was borderline elite as tight end, offensive line of Penae's Sua.
07:22.723 --> 07:27.646
[SPEAKER_02]: Deep linebacker, you have Jack Campbell, Rush N, you have 8 in Hutchinson, and the second there, you got Brian Branch.
07:28.066 --> 07:33.269
[SPEAKER_02]: So you have elite players sprinkled through this line, not every team can say that in NFL.
07:33.309 --> 07:34.469
[SPEAKER_02]: They're in all the different,
07:35.878 --> 07:38.739
[SPEAKER_02]: positions groups that they have elite players alliance do.
07:39.159 --> 07:44.901
[SPEAKER_02]: That can get you through some iffy games sometimes, elite players can win you some games that maybe you might have lost.
07:45.321 --> 07:46.981
[SPEAKER_02]: So I put a lot of weight in that.
07:47.001 --> 07:49.322
[SPEAKER_02]: I think Dan Campbell is solid as a head coach.
07:49.382 --> 07:50.502
[SPEAKER_02]: I really think he gets his guys.
07:50.942 --> 07:55.544
[SPEAKER_02]: They play hard for him, you know, Brad Holmes, you know, for a while, everything he touched during the goal.
07:55.564 --> 07:56.564
[SPEAKER_02]: But right now he's been,
07:57.144 --> 08:00.785
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been getting second guest a little bit for the fact that the secondary look beat up at times.
08:00.805 --> 08:06.947
[SPEAKER_02]: You often find like beat up last year at times in his philosophy is not to go and just buy players to fill in spots.
08:06.967 --> 08:11.169
[SPEAKER_02]: This is to vote players, draft players, or get a deal on a free agent somehow.
08:11.609 --> 08:13.770
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'll say this, he stuck to his guns.
08:14.270 --> 08:15.810
[SPEAKER_02]: Now whether or not that's the right recipe.
08:16.111 --> 08:17.051
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
08:17.111 --> 08:19.752
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm a retired guy that up on a lake here in the U.P.
08:19.772 --> 08:20.232
[SPEAKER_02]: and loving it.
08:22.210 --> 08:26.473
[SPEAKER_03]: That makes a lot of sense and you talked about health, Rob.
08:26.814 --> 08:28.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk about Sam LaPorte and Brock Wright.
08:28.915 --> 08:30.496
[SPEAKER_03]: Those are two guys that are healthy.
08:30.697 --> 08:32.578
[SPEAKER_03]: They're a nice combination to see out there.
08:32.878 --> 08:35.600
[SPEAKER_03]: We miss both of them in the second half of the season last year.
08:35.620 --> 08:36.841
[SPEAKER_03]: The offense did as well.
08:37.302 --> 08:41.605
[SPEAKER_03]: What does that tight end position bring to this Detroit Lions offense?
08:42.345 --> 08:48.050
[SPEAKER_02]: It brings the short intermediate passing game on the front for Jared Gough.
08:48.964 --> 08:59.871
[SPEAKER_02]: When a quarter, you know, a lot of your reads, the progression reads in at all levels where you're going high to low, maybe on the outside, you're going to go out, sail route flat route or shallow dig coming across a lot of our progression reads.
09:00.291 --> 09:12.999
[SPEAKER_02]: But a lot of times you have like a two read, your safety valve is a tight edge just in the sitting in the hulker in the curl area, just checking down and sand report is proven that he catches the ball extremely well in a crowd in a crowd.
09:13.499 --> 09:16.301
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of guys can catch it when they're open, but he can catch it with being covered.
09:18.942 --> 09:26.024
[SPEAKER_02]: Also, that Sam's loss, a little bit of his twitchiness, a little bit of his quickness senses injury, but I swear his hands have gotten even better.
09:26.424 --> 09:34.167
[SPEAKER_02]: He is just so dependable, and you know if you're jerseys golf, you can throw the ball in this area, this general area where Sam is, it doesn't have to be perfect.
09:34.447 --> 09:45.951
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to grab it, he's going to position, use that big body, and as a good chance he's going to come up with it, and then the wide receiver you have, I'm not saying Brown doing the same right thing, and then James will take the top off, now his catching has been suspect.
09:46.571 --> 09:59.396
[SPEAKER_02]: at times, but he still is such a valuable asset because he just flushes the secondary every known and you just run him on the gold route and it makes that safety say, whoa, I can't jump on that crossing route because if I do, I take one half step too slow, he's gone.
09:59.936 --> 10:03.738
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, yeah, I think you know, and broad stroke is going to be a big hit.
10:04.458 --> 10:10.367
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be playoffs going to be tough because their division is three teams that very well could be in the playoffs, so it's going to be hard.
10:10.728 --> 10:11.970
[SPEAKER_02]: Be nice to the wind at a vision.
10:11.990 --> 10:14.734
[SPEAKER_02]: I see the bears turn things wrong and Caleb Williams comes back.
10:15.375 --> 10:18.180
[SPEAKER_02]: So we need them to lose as many as they can right now when he's out.
10:19.207 --> 10:26.851
[SPEAKER_03]: That we do and I'm going to actually ask you for a little bit more on the division in just a moment, but before we get there, I want to go back to the defense.
10:26.911 --> 10:31.493
[SPEAKER_03]: They started this season with some pretty bad numbers when it comes to yards allowed points given up.
10:31.913 --> 10:34.795
[SPEAKER_03]: These defensive coordinator Calvin Shepard's name has been brought up a lot.
10:35.195 --> 10:38.076
[SPEAKER_03]: That said, there is some real talent on that side of the ball.
10:38.096 --> 10:39.417
[SPEAKER_03]: You've already laid some right out.
10:39.757 --> 10:43.299
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a real past rush that we haven't seen from this team in a recent years.
10:43.839 --> 10:58.086
[SPEAKER_03]: So, as someone who's played through multiple NFL seasons, how much change can a team make in season and how much improvement could fans realistically expect or hope for from a unit like this during the season?
11:02.516 --> 11:05.098
[SPEAKER_02]: because the fact that Lee McNeill has been around the world.
11:05.118 --> 11:09.882
[SPEAKER_02]: If you had some first years second year guys up front, they could improve, they could figure things out.
11:10.223 --> 11:11.444
[SPEAKER_02]: A Lee McNeill's figured it out.
11:11.564 --> 11:12.545
[SPEAKER_02]: Hutch is figured it out.
11:13.426 --> 11:14.967
[SPEAKER_02]: These guys aren't going to get it much better.
11:15.988 --> 11:20.171
[SPEAKER_02]: And Hutch has already placed what as well as he can because he plays so hard.
11:20.592 --> 11:24.535
[SPEAKER_02]: And part of what makes him a really good NFL defensive, I don't consider him great.
11:24.916 --> 11:26.077
[SPEAKER_02]: I consider him really good.
11:26.597 --> 11:28.980
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think he's quite at that elite level, but he's right underneath it.
11:29.140 --> 11:35.108
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, he's the next teardown, if he's not one in the one group, he's one A, but his effort is incredible.
11:35.827 --> 11:37.248
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, Rod, let's go back to the defense.
11:37.268 --> 11:38.989
[SPEAKER_03]: Something we talked about a little bit earlier.
11:39.650 --> 11:44.693
[SPEAKER_03]: As we mentioned, they've put up some pretty bad numbers when it comes to yards aloud, points given up.
11:45.093 --> 11:48.155
[SPEAKER_03]: Defense of coordinator's kelvin shepherds, names been brought up a lot.
11:48.536 --> 11:52.398
[SPEAKER_03]: That said, as you pointed out, there's some real talent on that side of the ball.
11:52.678 --> 11:57.501
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a real past rush that the lions haven't had since Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes of God here.
11:57.562 --> 11:57.762
[SPEAKER_03]: So,
11:58.322 --> 12:02.244
[SPEAKER_03]: The question is, how much change can a team make in season?
12:02.264 --> 12:04.125
[SPEAKER_03]: You've played multiple seasons in the NFL.
12:04.525 --> 12:10.209
[SPEAKER_03]: How much improvement could that defense make or fans hope to see from that defense during the season?
12:10.909 --> 12:20.714
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think you see a lot of improvement from the front seven, because Hutch has been around and he was been around in a lineback in that Campbell and Derek Barnes.
12:20.734 --> 12:21.715
[SPEAKER_02]: He's guys have been around.
12:21.735 --> 12:25.277
[SPEAKER_02]: So they're not going to get better figure in a game out learning.
12:26.298 --> 12:27.839
[SPEAKER_02]: And they're ever, all of my already offered guy.
12:27.879 --> 12:28.639
[SPEAKER_02]: We look at Hatchenbe.
12:28.659 --> 12:33.662
[SPEAKER_02]: He's made himself an upper tier player because of some skill, but also because of great effort.
12:34.202 --> 12:46.208
[SPEAKER_02]: But that secondaries where we need to see the improvement from that, if that password continues, where we have three guys on the top 15 for Sax right now, if that continues throughout the year, in the secondary can improve 15%.
12:48.106 --> 12:49.447
[SPEAKER_02]: We become an average defense.
12:49.687 --> 12:53.989
[SPEAKER_02]: If we can be an average defense with this offense, I stayed it earlier in the broadcast.
12:54.329 --> 12:55.030
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna be pretty good.
12:55.050 --> 12:56.431
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna have a chance to make a run.
12:57.051 --> 12:58.952
[SPEAKER_02]: And NFL is so close.
12:58.972 --> 13:04.195
[SPEAKER_02]: It's, it's, it's swear the talent, the difference is getting closer and closer every year.
13:04.235 --> 13:05.215
[SPEAKER_02]: Not far they're apart.
13:05.576 --> 13:12.980
[SPEAKER_02]: There's so many teams that can compete and win and you get teams like the Chargers, they're on five who, who would have called that?
13:13.540 --> 13:17.482
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, that's not heard or was considered one of the maybe top five or six quarterbacks.
13:17.502 --> 13:21.184
[SPEAKER_02]: The NFL and he struggled, but our guy hasn't, I don't know if you knew this.
13:21.204 --> 13:22.344
[SPEAKER_02]: Our guy has not thrown a pick.
13:23.245 --> 13:34.530
[SPEAKER_02]: That's amazing that this is what 12 maybe 12 studies, no picks and you know, we we kind of get on Jared because he's so in mobile, but he is what he is and is an O.C.
13:36.065 --> 13:37.306
[SPEAKER_02]: you know what you have.
13:37.987 --> 13:39.528
[SPEAKER_02]: So you design your offense.
13:39.768 --> 13:42.050
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, a lot of under the center that I'm show the ball.
13:42.331 --> 13:42.791
[SPEAKER_02]: Get the play.
13:42.811 --> 13:46.154
[SPEAKER_02]: I should get that defense line to move one way before they engage in their pass rush.
13:46.614 --> 13:47.175
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of get it.
13:47.195 --> 13:54.622
[SPEAKER_02]: Let them get the ball all quickly every now and then after you've heard them in the run game and get that go a little bit and then maybe you can try a little passion to deepball down the field.
13:54.962 --> 13:56.423
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone wants to see him to jable five.
13:56.463 --> 13:56.603
[SPEAKER_02]: Well,
13:57.484 --> 14:04.668
[SPEAKER_02]: You also risk taking a sack on those two, and NFL a sack is much worse than a penalty because you lose the down.
14:05.008 --> 14:06.869
[SPEAKER_02]: You lose the yards and the down a penalty.
14:06.889 --> 14:12.151
[SPEAKER_02]: She should get that down back from most of my recent tensile ground and you don't, but you get that down back, Matthew.
14:12.191 --> 14:19.795
[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know, I think the offensive has to keep going, try to improve a little, just maybe be a little more efficient, but I mean, they scored on seven drives.
14:20.473 --> 14:20.973
[SPEAKER_02]: against kids.
14:20.993 --> 14:22.755
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, uh, you're going to have punt.
14:22.995 --> 14:24.356
[SPEAKER_02]: You have a pun on the simple reason.
14:24.376 --> 14:28.900
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to have to punt sometimes and those lion fans we get spoiled because we see what we have.
14:28.940 --> 14:31.722
[SPEAKER_02]: We think, oh my gosh, why don't we complete them?
14:31.782 --> 14:36.666
[SPEAKER_02]: Because the other team is trying, you know, wherever you play, this kills me too.
14:37.046 --> 14:37.627
[SPEAKER_02]: It was kills me.
14:37.647 --> 14:40.709
[SPEAKER_02]: They're like, I talked to my buddies like, other than a car on those they should win.
14:40.909 --> 14:41.109
[SPEAKER_02]: Why?
14:41.430 --> 14:43.231
[SPEAKER_02]: Why should the lions win if it's Cardinals?
14:43.831 --> 14:44.692
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, because we're better.
14:44.952 --> 14:45.673
[SPEAKER_02]: How much better are we?
14:46.981 --> 14:48.042
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's my friends.
14:48.322 --> 14:49.363
[SPEAKER_02]: We're this much better.
14:49.643 --> 14:52.926
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we're, and I want to 10 if we're 10, they're an eight.
14:53.446 --> 14:54.667
[SPEAKER_02]: If we're five, they're a four.
14:55.488 --> 14:56.148
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of those things.
14:56.188 --> 15:01.453
[SPEAKER_02]: So all of a sudden you throw two picks are you going to pick in a bubble and they don't you're four and they're a five.
15:14.233 --> 15:16.775
[SPEAKER_02]: every kind of lines like when things are 100% we're gonna win.
15:17.296 --> 15:23.922
[SPEAKER_02]: This isn't like, you know, you're playing a team that you know, you play common opponents, they beat everyone by 40, we lost those people.
15:24.342 --> 15:27.685
[SPEAKER_02]: No, they're the best, they're the dudes that they're college team.
15:27.705 --> 15:31.829
[SPEAKER_02]: These are the best guys, they get 10FL, they still, they're that mentality, they're gonna win.
15:32.390 --> 15:33.531
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's hard to win.
15:33.591 --> 15:40.036
[SPEAKER_02]: I just, and I have to remind myself of that sometimes because I get an mood of like, I get a little frustrated with this too.
15:40.737 --> 15:45.861
[SPEAKER_02]: But I guarantee everyone of those players on that field, including the coaches and stuff, it doesn't benefit anyone to lose.
15:46.321 --> 15:46.641
[SPEAKER_02]: Does it?
15:47.662 --> 15:48.543
[SPEAKER_03]: No, and you brought it up.
15:48.583 --> 15:52.385
[SPEAKER_03]: They played the 49ers really tight and then looked at that first quarter.
15:52.485 --> 15:56.248
[SPEAKER_03]: The Lions had negative yards and the Cardinals had seven points.
15:56.308 --> 16:00.951
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, how many teams in that Falcon score 45 and three quarters, so?
16:01.011 --> 16:02.632
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, Lions scored 45 yards.
16:02.953 --> 16:04.414
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, and call the dogs off late.
16:04.454 --> 16:06.175
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, it's a potent offense.
16:07.110 --> 16:09.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, you already started bringing up the NSC North.
16:09.432 --> 16:15.336
[SPEAKER_03]: So let's talk about the Lions are yet to play an NSC North opponent, but that's about to change your quickly.
16:15.576 --> 16:18.558
[SPEAKER_03]: Their next two games are at home against the Packers and the Vikings.
16:19.059 --> 16:21.340
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, everyone in the North has a winning record.
16:22.001 --> 16:26.604
[SPEAKER_03]: Who do you think is the biggest threat the biggest challenge to the Lions in the division?
16:26.904 --> 16:28.705
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it the Vikings with their 5-0 record?
16:28.986 --> 16:30.587
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it the Bears or is it the Packers?
16:32.847 --> 16:35.149
[SPEAKER_02]: I know people aren't going to agree with me, but I think it's the Vikings.
16:35.169 --> 16:36.810
[SPEAKER_02]: And both people say, well, they're, it's a small community.
16:36.830 --> 16:37.530
[SPEAKER_02]: Here's the deal with the Vikings.
16:37.550 --> 16:38.031
[SPEAKER_02]: Their defense is mud.
16:38.051 --> 16:38.971
[SPEAKER_02]: Their defense is like our offense, okay?
16:38.991 --> 16:39.211
[SPEAKER_02]: It's legit.
16:39.231 --> 16:39.331
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
16:39.371 --> 16:47.617
[SPEAKER_02]: It is in, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh uh, uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh
16:49.488 --> 16:50.389
[SPEAKER_02]: D.C. Help me out here.
16:50.429 --> 16:51.250
[SPEAKER_02]: Not I must say.
16:51.370 --> 16:53.051
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, right before us.
16:53.111 --> 16:53.251
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
16:53.291 --> 16:53.711
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
16:54.172 --> 16:59.435
[SPEAKER_02]: The dude can coach and they get at your defense travels.
16:59.495 --> 17:02.057
[SPEAKER_02]: You don't have to be at home and have a great defense, defense travels.
17:02.077 --> 17:11.404
[SPEAKER_02]: So that makes, you're, when you go on a road, your opportunities don't diminish that three to four points because that defense, and their offense is mid, their offense is not great, but it's mid.
17:11.424 --> 17:12.605
[SPEAKER_02]: They still got some weapons now.
17:13.145 --> 17:26.800
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you got Hawkins in and you got Jefferson and they got the kid from Green Bay Aaron Jones that they got now they got the corpse of Person went playing quarterback or Tyler I saw what's his face come back now though Tyler Murray back, but memories back, so
17:28.040 --> 17:29.481
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think they're the biggest threat.
17:29.862 --> 17:36.967
[SPEAKER_02]: The bears have the biggest upside But the packers are also fighting injuries Early season wars.
17:37.247 --> 17:44.873
[SPEAKER_02]: There's no reason they can't flip a switch here and also and they're there put a four to five wins in a row two I can't pick a front run.
17:44.913 --> 17:51.317
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I'd say I guess the Vikings is because they're five and oh and they're there two games ahead of everyone right now Everyone else is three and two is that correct the other three?
17:51.438 --> 17:51.658
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah
17:52.123 --> 17:52.824
[SPEAKER_02]: or all three or two.
17:52.844 --> 17:57.988
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would say the Vikings, I mean, you're chasing them until they show that they can lose and you're chasing the five and oh team.
17:58.388 --> 17:59.109
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a great division.
17:59.129 --> 18:15.602
[SPEAKER_02]: I think along with the West and the NFC, the two best divisions, I even think the ours is better because maybe San Francisco and Seattle are a little more elite right now than maybe the lions, the packers, or any of the foreign ours, but we don't have a team that's one and five either.
18:16.437 --> 18:18.118
[SPEAKER_03]: right now excellent points.
18:18.158 --> 18:22.882
[SPEAKER_03]: It's going to be a fun season to watch and unravel and a lot of great competition.
18:23.182 --> 18:27.825
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm glad these divisional, divisional opponent games haven't happened early.
18:28.025 --> 18:33.509
[SPEAKER_03]: It gives some teams the time to figure it out and now we're going to see these teams hopefully getting towards their best.
18:34.410 --> 18:34.750
[SPEAKER_03]: Rob.
18:35.371 --> 18:39.713
[SPEAKER_03]: Before I let you go, though, I got to talk Detroit Lions Legends basketball.
18:39.753 --> 18:42.815
[SPEAKER_03]: You guys continue to entertain folks around Michigan.
18:43.115 --> 18:46.157
[SPEAKER_03]: You help local communities raise money at the same time.
18:46.457 --> 18:48.698
[SPEAKER_03]: Are you guys going to be touring the state again this spring?
18:48.738 --> 18:50.839
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we're doing our northern tour.
18:50.879 --> 18:54.922
[SPEAKER_02]: We go through Alpina and Trevor City Cadillac and usually end up done by Grand Rapids.
18:55.562 --> 18:56.983
[SPEAKER_02]: But I'm hoping to get through new bodies.
18:57.023 --> 18:58.143
[SPEAKER_02]: I talked to Jeff Baccus.
18:58.624 --> 19:00.285
[SPEAKER_02]: He used to do this with me 20 years ago.
19:01.065 --> 19:03.127
[SPEAKER_02]: He had a few health issues after he played it.
19:03.527 --> 19:04.507
[SPEAKER_02]: So he's kind of healing up.
19:04.568 --> 19:06.669
[SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, you know, we want to let it down to Florence.
19:06.689 --> 19:10.091
[SPEAKER_02]: If you don't have to run, so I'm hoping to get him into the fold.
19:10.151 --> 19:13.534
[SPEAKER_02]: Ty Hallick, former Michigan State Spartan lion bear.
19:13.554 --> 19:15.895
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm trying to get, I talked to Ty as well.
19:15.915 --> 19:19.838
[SPEAKER_02]: So I was doing a little bit of recoup just, I'm trying to, my guys do awesome that I have.
19:19.998 --> 19:22.080
[SPEAKER_02]: But I've just tried to inject some new blood.
19:22.500 --> 19:23.020
[SPEAKER_02]: I won't be going.
19:23.040 --> 19:25.302
[SPEAKER_02]: I just had a triple fusion back and made my back.
19:25.322 --> 19:28.044
[SPEAKER_02]: So my days of being on the floor are done.
19:28.064 --> 19:29.244
[SPEAKER_02]: I'll just have to be the voice.
19:29.325 --> 19:29.725
[SPEAKER_02]: That's all.
19:30.558 --> 19:34.340
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, you've got a voice and you do a great job with that as well.
19:34.380 --> 19:36.041
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's a perfect segue.
19:36.381 --> 19:36.922
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, all right.
19:36.962 --> 19:37.822
[SPEAKER_02]: But thank you.
19:37.842 --> 19:38.342
[SPEAKER_02]: I enjoyed it.
19:39.183 --> 19:39.543
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
19:40.744 --> 19:41.764
[SPEAKER_03]: And Rob, thanks so much.
19:41.784 --> 19:43.846
[SPEAKER_03]: Look forward to seeing you at the basketball courts.
19:43.906 --> 19:45.266
[SPEAKER_03]: This spring, thanks so much for talking.
19:45.286 --> 19:47.708
[SPEAKER_03]: Lions basketball, Lions football with me today.
19:47.728 --> 19:49.029
[SPEAKER_02]: Matthew, when will last plug here?
19:49.389 --> 19:49.769
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
19:49.829 --> 19:53.111
[SPEAKER_02]: Anyway, if anyone goes to for a few, I also do in how it's shown the stadium.
19:53.131 --> 19:54.712
[SPEAKER_02]: I know if you knew this every home game.
19:55.252 --> 19:57.834
[SPEAKER_02]: It's in the Bud Light Zone, which on the second concourse level.
20:00.707 --> 20:08.349
[SPEAKER_02]: But the games like the pack games at 425 there's be like 230 or two to three o'clock We're gonna open the doors.
20:08.769 --> 20:10.090
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I bring an alumni guess.
20:10.130 --> 20:11.090
[SPEAKER_02]: I hosted.
20:11.410 --> 20:16.251
[SPEAKER_02]: I've I've had I've had In so far I had a glover Quinn one week.
20:16.351 --> 20:17.312
[SPEAKER_02]: I had Eddie Murray.
20:17.392 --> 20:20.813
[SPEAKER_02]: I had I got Jeff back as coming in.
20:20.913 --> 20:21.793
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh at Eric Hipple
20:22.507 --> 20:25.009
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to have Charlie Batch, different Robert Porsche.
20:25.309 --> 20:27.451
[SPEAKER_02]: So I have a alumni come in and I host it.
20:27.471 --> 20:30.733
[SPEAKER_02]: We talk about last week's game and then we also talk about the game that day.
20:30.793 --> 20:37.818
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you come in and have cheaper drinks and food during the power hour before the game gets started, come down and say hi and tell me you're from Trevor City area.
20:38.419 --> 20:39.319
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll give you your shout out.
20:40.020 --> 20:40.420
[SPEAKER_03]: Awesome.
20:40.440 --> 20:41.261
[SPEAKER_03]: That's great to know.
20:41.281 --> 20:42.021
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll be looking for you.
20:42.041 --> 20:43.623
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll be at the next game with my family.
20:43.683 --> 20:45.644
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's what I look for.
20:45.664 --> 20:46.325
[SPEAKER_02]: Light zone buddy.
20:47.285 --> 20:47.666
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
20:47.706 --> 20:48.706
[SPEAKER_03]: Rob, thanks so much.
20:49.407 --> 20:49.947
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, Matthew.
20:53.988 --> 21:00.171
[SPEAKER_03]: James, did you know that Rob's final year with the Lions was 1988, which was Chris Spielman's rookie year.
21:00.231 --> 21:02.693
[SPEAKER_03]: So they actually had a brief overlap these two guys.
21:04.174 --> 21:04.654
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
21:05.394 --> 21:06.055
[SPEAKER_03]: Good segue.
21:06.615 --> 21:07.155
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
21:07.235 --> 21:07.435
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
21:07.456 --> 21:08.796
[SPEAKER_03]: Trying to work on that segue part.
21:08.836 --> 21:20.042
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, as we mentioned, just before the season started, you and I went to Ford Field, the session with Chris Spielman, Mike Disney Reserve, and it was hosted MCD by the one the only Dan Miller.
21:20.363 --> 21:22.424
[SPEAKER_03]: The event was held right at Ford Field.
21:23.024 --> 21:32.410
[SPEAKER_03]: And as you kind of alluded to, it was a peak behind the scenes as you will, that included actual film breakdown and insights on what their observations were.
21:33.071 --> 21:37.894
[SPEAKER_03]: Ironically, Coach could not go with us because he was busy breaking down film of his own.
21:38.234 --> 21:40.876
[SPEAKER_03]: So this was a nice, like, class session for UNI.
21:41.396 --> 21:44.038
[SPEAKER_03]: James, what stuck out to you about this event?
21:45.525 --> 21:56.174
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just pretty cool, you know, Spillman was pretty actually engaging, you know, normally normally a lot of times in his interview stuff, he's, you know, he's trying to give anything away.
21:56.194 --> 21:59.297
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's a little plays a little close to the vest.
21:59.577 --> 22:03.280
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a little more open and candid in this and it was a pretty cool experience.
22:04.782 --> 22:07.843
[SPEAKER_03]: that it was and he didn't mince words multiple times.
22:07.883 --> 22:13.264
[SPEAKER_03]: He was pretty, you know, straight forward with things and they started by talking about last year.
22:13.285 --> 22:14.785
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't shy away from it.
22:15.205 --> 22:18.306
[SPEAKER_03]: He said the team lost their grit last year.
22:18.346 --> 22:20.407
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, how did you take that?
22:20.427 --> 22:21.507
[SPEAKER_03]: weren't you surprised to hear that?
22:22.781 --> 22:45.012
[SPEAKER_01]: I was a little surprised to hear it, you know, because it just wouldn't think that you that somebody from the team would say that, but, but it's also good that the people in the team have that kind of self-realization and be able to set back and say, this isn't what we wanted here, you know, we wanted that grit and that's going to be part of us and we're bringing that back.
22:47.803 --> 22:54.187
[SPEAKER_03]: for sure, and I appreciate it hearing that as well because it's was what they talked about by doing a deep dive in self reflection.
22:54.728 --> 22:59.491
[SPEAKER_03]: And he also though said, Dan has got his grit back.
22:59.531 --> 23:00.352
[SPEAKER_03]: He's running hot.
23:00.392 --> 23:01.592
[SPEAKER_03]: He's dialed in.
23:02.093 --> 23:07.496
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that kind of backs up what I think we saw from Dan all summer and kind of his approach to the season.
23:07.516 --> 23:08.037
[SPEAKER_03]: Wouldn't you say?
23:09.505 --> 23:10.285
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that a little bit.
23:10.345 --> 23:19.210
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, and also, Dan, not having to take the reins as offensive coordinator for the second time and his tenure with the Lions.
23:19.290 --> 23:25.553
[SPEAKER_01]: So I imagine that he is able to get his fingers and to a little bit of the other things.
23:25.593 --> 23:30.195
[SPEAKER_01]: We know he's spent a little bit more time on the defense this year, maybe even special teams.
23:30.215 --> 23:33.016
[SPEAKER_01]: So I know he emphasizes that a lot and stuff.
23:33.036 --> 23:38.179
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think him having to be the play caller might have taken away a little bit.
23:38.619 --> 23:44.755
[SPEAKER_01]: Some of those other duties that the head coach has to do, and that can be definitely part of it.
23:44.975 --> 23:46.599
[SPEAKER_01]: It just took a little bit of an edge off.
23:47.547 --> 23:54.992
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, some of those things he does are the intangibles, the things that you can't just delegate to somebody else, because he's the one that is the master at doing them.
23:55.012 --> 24:02.637
[SPEAKER_03]: And you brought up Drew Petzin, you know, Chris Spielman said the reason they hired him over other big names was he fits.
24:02.718 --> 24:13.525
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, that's the one thing that's got to work, no matter who you are, no matter what position you have, whether it's on the field, on the coaching staff, in the front office, you have to fit the organization.
24:15.086 --> 24:24.351
[SPEAKER_03]: a handful of games into the season, you know, it's seeming to line up with Drew Petting and seeing some of the other offensive coordinators who were big names out there.
24:36.485 --> 24:40.247
[SPEAKER_01]: In Mike McDaniel, they're not doing very well and their offense is not looking very good.
24:41.128 --> 24:43.369
[SPEAKER_01]: And being a fit can just be a thing.
24:44.230 --> 24:51.074
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the things that I had heard about Drew Patsing when he came in in the summer is he didn't just scrap the playbook.
24:51.854 --> 24:54.255
[SPEAKER_01]: He took what the Lions did and built on it.
24:54.336 --> 24:58.458
[SPEAKER_01]: He even kept a lot of the verbiage so that the players wouldn't have to adapt to him as much.
24:59.639 --> 25:03.381
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I think the fit thing is pretty apt.
25:04.848 --> 25:14.817
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or it makes a lot of sense of trying to keep that verb is not trying to build everything from ground up because some players have gone through offensive coordinator after offensive coordinator.
25:15.217 --> 25:16.458
[SPEAKER_03]: It slows down the system.
25:16.678 --> 25:19.941
[SPEAKER_03]: And so that was smart for him to do that and you talk about the offensive line.
25:20.802 --> 25:23.884
[SPEAKER_03]: Those guys have made a big difference this year.
25:23.904 --> 25:25.785
[SPEAKER_03]: And they started with take rat-lidge.
25:27.005 --> 25:28.966
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris actually demonstrated.
25:28.986 --> 25:40.112
[SPEAKER_03]: He got to somebody out from the crowd and got them to come up on stage and was demonstrating technique and talked about how take was making himself a big target and then how he worked on his technique with Hank.
25:41.233 --> 25:46.217
[SPEAKER_03]: is that you know what that's going to help them move people off the line of scrimmage more by working that technique.
25:46.577 --> 25:50.900
[SPEAKER_03]: And I love how he showed those technique things with somebody there alive.
25:50.920 --> 25:52.061
[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't just talk about it.
25:52.321 --> 25:56.284
[SPEAKER_03]: He showed it and he talked about that's how it's going to make this offense better.
25:57.750 --> 26:01.752
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, an interesting thing he talked about Rattlage was that he was making himself a little bit.
26:02.192 --> 26:13.198
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a little too upright in making himself a you know, a big target, you know, and so that a lot of defensive limes to get in, get their hands in there and where you're not going to get called for holding.
26:14.278 --> 26:20.766
[SPEAKER_01]: and getting on a side of him last year and he said he's really worked on that.
26:20.806 --> 26:21.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Got better at that.
26:21.547 --> 26:22.948
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we've seen it this year.
26:23.028 --> 26:28.094
[SPEAKER_01]: He's rated inside the top 15 among all cards in the NFL according to PFF.
26:28.134 --> 26:34.141
[SPEAKER_01]: So obviously something is clicking and he's even better than last year and the just moving people.
26:35.302 --> 26:56.410
[SPEAKER_01]: aspect of it is is something that the Lions have to be salivating over because that's what they are able to do back when they had the the great offensive line They were able to just move people and tell them they were on the ball and then just do it Yeah, and another guy helping him do that is rookie Blake Miller We talked about having to be a fit and Chris just said this guy fits the team They talked about his stance.
26:56.430 --> 27:03.173
[SPEAKER_03]: They talked about his ability to recover if he does get beat and that's one of the reasons they liked him coming out and
27:03.733 --> 27:06.637
[SPEAKER_03]: how many reps he's had at that position.
27:07.077 --> 27:09.781
[SPEAKER_03]: All things that just Chris was lighting up about this guy.
27:10.141 --> 27:19.173
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, you know, five games in, you know, he's still a rookie, but we're seeing Blake Miller grow and we're seeing him look like the person they're envision that they drafted.
27:20.432 --> 27:26.537
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that the fact that he played bright tackle in college was something that they that they really liked.
27:27.058 --> 27:30.981
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a lot of times you draft a left tackle in college and you move them to the right.
27:31.521 --> 27:41.850
[SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't, you know, the, the, you've seen with Monroe Freeling, it, it's, he struggled a bit because it's a big, it's a big change.
27:42.630 --> 27:45.213
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, Penaisool did it pretty well.
27:46.120 --> 27:59.946
[SPEAKER_01]: But he does everything well and then he moved back to left tackle after years of being a right tackle and barely missed a beat, I would say, still great it out as one of the top tackles in the NFL.
28:00.346 --> 28:08.970
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that having that continuity with Miller and him just being able to come in because they knew that they wanted him to start from day one.
28:09.670 --> 28:19.179
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that was the plan with the hope was he want to start from day one and to make him flip sides would have been a big a big thing, you know, or any tackle would have been a big thing.
28:19.260 --> 28:26.286
[SPEAKER_01]: So for him to just be able to come in play a comfortable position is, it's got to be big for him just because there's.
28:27.123 --> 28:31.467
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's just one other factor that he doesn't have to worry about.
28:31.587 --> 28:32.668
[SPEAKER_01]: He's used to that.
28:32.748 --> 28:34.430
[SPEAKER_01]: He's used to slide him off to that side.
28:34.810 --> 28:36.612
[SPEAKER_01]: He's doing all the same things he did in college.
28:37.132 --> 28:43.298
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's 350 pound guys instead of 330 pound guys maybe, or something, you know, guys a lot stronger.
28:43.838 --> 28:45.760
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's going to be that adjustment.
28:45.920 --> 28:49.063
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't want to have the additional adjustment of having to switch sides.
28:50.197 --> 28:50.477
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
28:50.778 --> 28:56.024
[SPEAKER_03]: And also, you know, you pointed out they want to be able to, they've been able to push people off the line of scrimmage.
28:56.824 --> 29:01.770
[SPEAKER_03]: They added that the emphasis is, they must be able to run the ball to do well.
29:02.431 --> 29:05.194
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's all we've ever seen since they got here.
29:05.334 --> 29:08.658
[SPEAKER_03]: Is it a desire to get that offensive line to run the ball?
29:08.978 --> 29:27.254
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, they passed the ball phenomenally, but they've also been able to run the ball well also, and so they want to be able to complement each other, and so that's what this young rebuilt offensive lines goal is to be able to do and get better as a year goes on, which is what we're banking on and what Lions fans are hoping for.
29:29.567 --> 29:32.209
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, in addition to running, you got throwing.
29:32.629 --> 29:38.694
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know Jamison Williams has not had the quickest start to the season, but his last game was pretty impressive.
29:39.374 --> 29:55.245
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was a real interesting thing that Chris shared about him is about why being stronger is important for Jamison Williams, because he was rounding off his routes, he said, because his core wasn't strong enough.
29:56.026 --> 29:58.308
[SPEAKER_03]: So what did you take away from that, Jamison?
29:59.299 --> 30:04.020
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it sounded like he was basically saying that James and Williams was too fast for his own good.
30:04.481 --> 30:13.543
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he could control his own speed because he wasn't strong enough to stop it or slow it down when he needed to break in a route.
30:13.783 --> 30:23.366
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and having extra course strength, extra leg strength is hopefully going to enable him to do those things and for that play to stay on time.
30:24.512 --> 30:32.674
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and we saw him a few times make some crazy stops and, you know, the defensive back just has no chance in some of those situations.
30:33.154 --> 30:46.156
[SPEAKER_03]: As James was getting stronger, I do think his numbers, the rest of the season are going to continue to grow, or if they don't specifically grow, he's going to continue to pull defenders with him, which will open things up for some other guys.
30:46.616 --> 30:50.057
[SPEAKER_03]: One of which is, hey, there's the always dangers I'm on Ross St. Brown.
30:50.797 --> 30:56.401
[SPEAKER_03]: I think the interesting thing about him is he said St. Brown runs routes with his eyes.
30:56.961 --> 31:04.065
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, I don't know if I understood it correctly, but I think he was saying he uses his eyes to trick the defensive backs.
31:04.105 --> 31:08.808
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm not quite sure, but that was an interesting terminology that he used.
31:09.869 --> 31:14.772
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think it's kind of like the equivalent of the quarterback using his eyes to move the safety.
31:16.050 --> 31:40.864
[SPEAKER_01]: You know how they they will look at a certain place to make the safety think that that's where they're going and then once the safety starts going there Then they go where the safety was and I think it's kind of the same thing with with with with I'm enrossing Brown where Yeah, he's he's trying to fool the defensive back by Looking particular places while he's running it around and making it think that that's where he's gonna go and then just Completely different direction
31:41.624 --> 31:42.204
[SPEAKER_03]: There you go.
31:42.684 --> 31:51.389
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, well, there's another wide receiver who we didn't really think, well, maybe we weren't sure, or maybe it was a surprise to make the roster, and that was Tay Martin.
31:51.809 --> 31:55.531
[SPEAKER_03]: And that becomes, that's because of his special teams.
31:55.991 --> 32:08.577
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris talked about how you get out of NFL roster, and he said, your pathway to an NFL roster is to stand out in special teams, and he said, that's what got Tay Martin on this squad.
32:11.438 --> 32:18.705
[SPEAKER_03]: He has, sorry, on the offensive side of the field end games, he's been making some plays on defense and making his presence felt there.
32:19.105 --> 32:28.655
[SPEAKER_03]: But Chris alluded to a play in the preseason game, that's one of the shots of film he broke down and showed us over and over of Tay Martin out there.
32:29.862 --> 32:34.924
[SPEAKER_01]: yeah and it wasn't even close to where the ball was like like this was so far away from the actual play.
32:34.944 --> 32:47.510
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think the ball was even in frame but the film was following Tae Martin in this play and he was just blocking his guy and just kept blocking him and blocking him.
32:47.570 --> 32:51.452
[SPEAKER_01]: The guy was farther and farther away from the play and then finally he just took the guy right out of bounds.
32:52.485 --> 32:55.646
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it was on a pun, it was about 50 yards away from the play.
32:55.686 --> 33:01.149
[SPEAKER_03]: But Chris said that guy was doing his job and working to the whistle.
33:01.529 --> 33:05.751
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, is that type of effort as what gets noticed?
33:05.771 --> 33:06.671
[SPEAKER_03]: And that got him on the team?
33:08.492 --> 33:11.553
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's been very good and special team so far for the line into the season.
33:12.620 --> 33:39.420
[SPEAKER_03]: that he has been and you know what else has been a really good cherry republic products folks whether it's chocolate covered cherries or their famous barbecue sauce or proud of partner with cherry republic as a supporting sponsor of the podcast and they're all about celebrating the best of northern Michigan with delicious products perfect for game day gifts are just treating yourself so visit cherry republic dot com and thank them for supporting the show we really appreciate it.
33:40.667 --> 33:42.348
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, well over to defense.
33:43.128 --> 33:45.089
[SPEAKER_03]: Let's talk in his rake straw for just a minute.
33:45.790 --> 33:47.911
[SPEAKER_03]: They talked about him having a good camp, right?
33:48.251 --> 33:51.732
[SPEAKER_03]: Chris said, you know, you don't, well, let's start with rake straw.
33:51.753 --> 33:52.853
[SPEAKER_03]: Then I'll bring up the other part.
33:53.453 --> 33:54.634
[SPEAKER_03]: He said he was having a great camp.
33:54.654 --> 33:58.216
[SPEAKER_03]: We know there were some injury things, and that's been the thing with rake straw.
33:58.756 --> 34:01.177
[SPEAKER_03]: But now that he has been healthy, he has been playing some games.
34:01.557 --> 34:02.938
[SPEAKER_03]: We are starting to see a little bit out of that.
34:02.978 --> 34:04.639
[SPEAKER_03]: What we were taking away is on his rake straw comments.
34:05.202 --> 34:17.892
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well, the video that he showed a rake straw was just him completely mirroring a wider receiver, you know, and, and then yeah, he went into the thing where he's idea the defensive back doesn't always have to look for the ball.
34:19.333 --> 34:22.736
[SPEAKER_01]: And part of that's true, sometimes you can just blush the eyes of the receiver.
34:24.131 --> 34:33.698
[SPEAKER_01]: And in that way, unlike what St. Brown does, you know where the ball is coming because the receiver has to look at the ball when it's coming in.
34:34.018 --> 34:36.460
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and then you can just get, you can get your hand up.
34:37.160 --> 34:42.344
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have the time to turn your head around and do those kind of things, and still can make a play.
34:43.782 --> 34:56.028
[SPEAKER_01]: and the preseason games the film that he showed was so much on his guy that that's kind of all he had to do is just put his arms up and that there was not going to be a very great chance that that guy was going to catch that ball.
34:57.049 --> 35:01.391
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I also appreciate a Chris saying that you don't always have to look back at the ball when playing DB.
35:01.431 --> 35:10.396
[SPEAKER_03]: He said even though they say it on television all the time, because if you are watching the eyes, if you are making a play on the ball, that's what matters, right?
35:10.656 --> 35:11.136
[SPEAKER_03]: And so if you
35:13.317 --> 35:15.538
[SPEAKER_03]: you're still guarding him and you're still making the play.
35:15.858 --> 35:29.502
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, obviously looking back at the ball can be a good thing if like the if it's under throne and the receiver tries to jump through you and force a flag which watching football this past weekend, not even quite sure what a flag is anymore in the NFL.
35:29.582 --> 35:32.823
[SPEAKER_03]: It's such a variety of calls, but that's a whole nother story.
35:33.443 --> 35:33.643
[SPEAKER_03]: So
35:34.443 --> 36:02.626
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, and the other thing is, is uh, you know, when you're running stride for stride for somebody, it's not that easy to turn your head all the way around and try to find a ball that's coming at you at, you know, 20, 30 miles an hour, you know, some of these quarterbacks with someone that didn't there, but with, with experience, you can, you can see where the guys eyes are and where his hands are and know where the ball's going to be and then you just get your hands there.
36:04.317 --> 36:04.717
[SPEAKER_03]: For sure.
36:05.017 --> 36:05.298
[SPEAKER_03]: For sure.
36:05.318 --> 36:09.280
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, another defense player he talked about with Skyler Gil Howard.
36:09.541 --> 36:10.721
[SPEAKER_03]: He said he plays bigger.
36:11.122 --> 36:12.563
[SPEAKER_03]: He gives an interior rush.
36:13.063 --> 36:15.965
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, McNeill's in the best shape he's ever seen him in.
36:15.985 --> 36:17.766
[SPEAKER_03]: Now we know that phrase best shape of your life.
36:18.166 --> 36:20.248
[SPEAKER_03]: But all the training camp we were seeing in McNeill.
36:20.788 --> 36:23.650
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what we're seeing on up both of these guys right now.
36:23.890 --> 36:26.072
[SPEAKER_03]: They're both making a big difference right now, James.
36:27.735 --> 36:37.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, one of the things that was interesting that he mentioned about Skylar Girl Howard was that after they drafted him, they were still not convinced that he would be able to hold up against the run.
36:38.763 --> 36:43.967
[SPEAKER_01]: But then he came into practice and when they saw him more one on one in person.
36:45.390 --> 36:50.516
[SPEAKER_01]: made them confident that this is not going to be as big of an issue as we thought maybe it was.
36:50.576 --> 37:03.031
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to guess if that's maybe the issue that other teams had, and that's why he slipped to the sixth round, because we've seen some pretty good plays out of him, pretty good reps and that defensive line.
37:04.759 --> 37:11.303
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that we have and you know, that's nice that they really get him in and see this out of him because it's one of those things.
37:11.323 --> 37:16.986
[SPEAKER_03]: We know how in exact of a science the NFL draft is and you don't know until you get guys in and see things.
37:17.786 --> 37:24.290
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, in addition to Chris sharing a lot of information, my business spoke and I think one of the things he said in
37:25.661 --> 37:30.165
[SPEAKER_03]: Take this for what you will, he said he would take the lion's core versus any other core.
37:30.205 --> 37:35.669
[SPEAKER_03]: And I know, a team's going to say that, you know, most of the time, about their team.
37:36.489 --> 37:38.951
[SPEAKER_03]: But I have a hard time arguing against that.
37:39.532 --> 37:46.637
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, you know, that core group of players at the lion's have, there is a lot of talent on this team.
37:47.178 --> 37:53.743
[SPEAKER_03]: And Mike Disney also talked about once the players get paid, he says they tend to get even better.
37:54.183 --> 38:03.948
[SPEAKER_03]: Now, there may have been one or two who have had some injuries, but in general, they've been able to get guys, reward them, and it's on an up swing, so they're not overpaying bad contracts.
38:09.636 --> 38:14.981
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, they've been able to draft guys who have the attitude of, I want to play football.
38:15.121 --> 38:16.262
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to be really good at it.
38:16.362 --> 38:20.906
[SPEAKER_01]: And once I make a lot of money, that's even more pressure on me to earn that money.
38:21.706 --> 38:30.253
[SPEAKER_03]: James, another guy that Mike Disney brought up was Tom Kennedy, you know, it's unfortunate that he is injured and he's out the rest of the season because he was contributing quite a bit on the team.
38:30.614 --> 38:32.936
[SPEAKER_03]: But that's a guy who I believe is the longest
38:35.310 --> 38:41.538
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it seems like the one that I think Disney had the most personal interaction with because he was signing contracts so frequently.
38:42.219 --> 38:47.145
[SPEAKER_01]: Every time he gets elevated from the practice squad or put on the 53, he'd have to sign a new contract.
38:48.086 --> 38:51.630
[SPEAKER_01]: So Disney was having him in his office at Decent amount to get this paperwork done.
38:53.873 --> 38:55.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's funny how that works out, but you're right.
38:55.936 --> 38:58.178
[SPEAKER_03]: That would be a lot of frequent interactions there.
38:59.580 --> 39:05.567
[SPEAKER_03]: One other thing Chris kind of dropped was he talked about dance that it's all about protecting the ball, which would be limiting turnovers.
39:05.947 --> 39:07.609
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's something that we saw them do.
39:07.689 --> 39:11.854
[SPEAKER_03]: And we talked about the path to the roster, which is get on the special teams.
39:12.895 --> 39:13.655
[SPEAKER_03]: part of the group.
39:14.716 --> 39:28.901
[SPEAKER_03]: Mike Disney also talked about the chaos that existed after round seven when you're trying to sign all those UDFAs because they weren't just focused on a 53-man roster but a 90-man roster to create as much competition as possible.
39:29.401 --> 39:36.744
[SPEAKER_03]: I think most beat writers would tell you that so a training camp looked this year with how much competition they brought in.
39:37.444 --> 39:42.346
[SPEAKER_03]: And they also said Jackson Meeks is ahead of schedule with this position move.
39:42.686 --> 39:50.429
[SPEAKER_03]: And that doesn't surprise us to hear that considering he made the 53-man roster about that most people weren't really expecting.
39:51.588 --> 39:56.773
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and people should keep in mind that this was this thing that we did before this season even started.
39:57.253 --> 40:00.056
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you're saying back then that Jackson Meeks was ahead of schedule.
40:01.277 --> 40:11.106
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was it was pretty interesting, you know, that part talking about the undrafted free agents, how like they start contacting players and agents in the seventh round.
40:12.187 --> 40:16.690
[SPEAKER_01]: and saying, if you don't get picked, we don't have any more picks in this round.
40:16.970 --> 40:19.091
[SPEAKER_01]: If you don't get picked, we want to sign you.
40:19.631 --> 40:24.494
[SPEAKER_01]: And just getting in contact with the people and letting those guys know that they were interested in them.
40:24.774 --> 40:27.135
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of like old-fashioned recruiting.
40:28.636 --> 40:30.017
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
40:30.057 --> 40:40.643
[SPEAKER_03]: And I've heard stories of that from other people who I've spoken with before about them who became undraft of free agents, or were drafted in 7th round and kind of what it went like.
40:41.810 --> 40:55.163
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, James, another thing they did was they talked about what a typical week looks like for training, not training camp, but just the season, and they kind of went through a weekly schedule.
40:55.543 --> 41:06.654
[SPEAKER_03]: Monday, I think, was a coach's day for review day or whatnot, or no, Monday was review and Tuesday was game plan and the players take the day off so the coaches are working.
41:08.814 --> 41:10.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, and I think it was Wednesday.
41:10.575 --> 41:11.975
[SPEAKER_01]: They put the game plan in.
41:12.015 --> 41:33.181
[SPEAKER_01]: They they changed their calls and signals if they're going to change them that week, which a lot of teams do From week to week and then and then yeah, then they go ahead from that and install the game plan on Thursday and There was interesting that they said Friday is just red zone work Yeah, that's that's what they concentrate on on the Friday is just working on red zone stuff
41:34.024 --> 41:37.487
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, and he talked about him Thursday, they they implement the passing stuff.
41:37.727 --> 41:41.771
[SPEAKER_03]: But Friday, that red zone work, Chris said, this is where games are one in loss.
41:41.851 --> 41:43.913
[SPEAKER_03]: It's the red zone, which makes a lot of sense.
41:43.933 --> 41:45.334
[SPEAKER_03]: You got those red zone stats over.
41:45.354 --> 41:47.536
[SPEAKER_03]: You get in field goals, touchdowns, or nothing out of it.
41:48.196 --> 41:49.418
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, but you're right.
41:49.578 --> 41:52.060
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a lot of attention to red zone there.
41:52.500 --> 41:57.325
[SPEAKER_03]: And so, they're doing a lot of tweaks every week and you have to, because think about it.
41:57.705 --> 41:59.847
[SPEAKER_03]: Last week, the Lions played the Cardinals.
42:00.227 --> 42:03.830
[SPEAKER_03]: Offensive coordinator for the Lions went against that defensive coordinator.
42:04.031 --> 42:05.432
[SPEAKER_03]: They worked together for how many years.
42:05.932 --> 42:07.254
[SPEAKER_03]: They're playing the Packers this week.
42:07.494 --> 42:10.437
[SPEAKER_03]: They're defensive coordinator, Arizona's former head coach.
42:10.797 --> 42:11.978
[SPEAKER_03]: So there are familiarity.
42:11.998 --> 42:13.820
[SPEAKER_03]: You've got to change that game plan up.
42:14.180 --> 42:16.142
[SPEAKER_03]: So it makes sense to do all these different things.
42:16.262 --> 42:18.785
[SPEAKER_03]: And the Lions are going to have another challenge.
42:19.025 --> 42:20.987
[SPEAKER_03]: And a few weeks, they're going overseas.
42:21.007 --> 42:21.847
[SPEAKER_03]: They're going to Munich.
42:21.888 --> 42:25.371
[SPEAKER_03]: And he said, their biggest challenge was to try and make it normal.
42:27.325 --> 42:32.933
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because they have to take about a hundred support personnel people with them on the road.
42:33.053 --> 42:43.128
[SPEAKER_01]: So, and this, and this, I'm guessing the Munich one, maybe that they have to do a little bit more of this stuff that that maybe the home team would normally take care of.
42:44.295 --> 42:46.836
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, you don't have to worry about how you get in the stadium.
42:46.856 --> 42:51.818
[SPEAKER_01]: And oh, yeah, just a bunch of just a bunch of this stuff that the other home to the home team has down.
42:52.279 --> 42:57.621
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think maybe they have a little bit more people there to make sure that everything goes well.
42:58.281 --> 43:00.322
[SPEAKER_01]: It goes smoothly and all that.
43:00.662 --> 43:01.903
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, they said they're going to.
43:02.403 --> 43:08.688
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to leave Thursday night for Munich and then do walk throughs on Friday and Saturday and then play Sunday.
43:08.728 --> 43:11.310
[SPEAKER_01]: So not really full practices more just walk through.
43:11.350 --> 43:17.435
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would think that the early part of that week maybe is going to be more regular practices a little earlier.
43:18.892 --> 43:20.533
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, changed the clock on the act.
43:20.593 --> 43:22.093
[SPEAKER_03]: It's a six hour time difference.
43:23.934 --> 43:29.035
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, the interesting thing about the red zone is that I was because the lions were on the buy this week.
43:29.055 --> 43:35.057
[SPEAKER_01]: I was watching red zone on Sunday and it was there 300 episodes.
43:35.077 --> 43:36.938
[SPEAKER_01]: So they were hauling out all these.
43:37.878 --> 43:52.510
[SPEAKER_01]: old stats and you know about people who would have been on red zone the most and how many Hall of Famers they had showed highlights from and all this stuff and one of them was a was a chart of what teams had the buy highest success rate when they switched to them on red zone.
43:53.597 --> 43:56.119
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, most of the time you're on the year in the red zone.
43:56.599 --> 43:56.799
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And the Detroit lions were first in that metric in the red zone, just by chance when we switch to you, that you were 61% I think it was 61% that the lions were successful on a play when red zone switched to them.
44:12.649 --> 44:16.412
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, hopefully red zone will be switching to them a lot for the rest of the season.
44:18.052 --> 44:18.372
[SPEAKER_03]: All right.
44:18.413 --> 44:32.150
[SPEAKER_03]: Well, James, one of the things Mike Disney or Chris Bielman were asked about was a favorite moment during their time with the team and, you know, they talk about winning the NSC North.
44:32.190 --> 44:33.112
[SPEAKER_03]: You want to share that one?
44:34.398 --> 44:38.081
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they were talking about how, after the game, they were just, they were in an equipment room.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it was just Spielman and Disney, and maybe a couple of other coaches, but just how they were just taking in that win after that.
44:48.671 --> 44:52.494
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they talked about how, you know, having a hat and t-shirt game.
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[SPEAKER_01]: means that it meant something because you know when you have a hat and t-shirt printed ahead of time you know that means you won something.
45:00.536 --> 45:19.160
[SPEAKER_01]: In this case it was the NFC they clinched the NFC North and I think they also clinched a home game in the playoffs then but you know winning the division is something that you do a hat and t-shirt for so that was when it kind of sunk in that they had really really done something and had really turned things around with this franchise because
45:21.893 --> 45:22.794
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, for sure.
45:22.814 --> 45:33.481
[SPEAKER_03]: And I believe Mike brought up the the atmosphere before the Rams play off game and Dan Miller, even echoed what that felt like as he talked about how early he got into the stadium and gets into the stadium for work.
45:34.061 --> 45:46.510
[SPEAKER_03]: I can tell you I was at that Rams game and and I'm going to tell you if you want one of my favorite Lions moments it is that Rams game it was zero degrees outside it was so cold getting there.
45:47.050 --> 45:48.131
[SPEAKER_03]: but it was magical.
45:48.191 --> 46:06.689
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I still remember being somewhere, going into an establishment and grabbing a drink ahead of time, and there were no TVs in the whole place, but everybody was on a cell phone watching the Packers Cowboys game because if the Cowboys lost, the lions, if they won would host another game.
46:07.029 --> 46:08.030
[SPEAKER_03]: So you watch that, you
46:08.871 --> 46:16.516
[SPEAKER_03]: the Cowboys lose, then you make your way to Ford Field, and it was just electricity in there, like you could just feel the buzz.
46:17.096 --> 46:22.200
[SPEAKER_03]: And I still have told this before, I told my wife, this may only be a wild card game.
46:23.231 --> 46:35.895
[SPEAKER_03]: but this may be the greatest football game I've ever seen because of how much time had been between and it was a whole playoff game and you had to go through a former Detroit Lion quarterback to get the win.
46:36.316 --> 46:38.076
[SPEAKER_03]: And so I'm echoing that one.
46:38.096 --> 46:39.757
[SPEAKER_03]: That was probably my favorite Lion's moment.
46:39.797 --> 46:41.757
[SPEAKER_03]: I mean, I didn't like the first game you ever went to.
46:41.777 --> 46:43.338
[SPEAKER_03]: That's always a special moment, too.
46:44.426 --> 46:48.887
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, first time, first game for me was way back in the silver dome days.
46:49.508 --> 46:49.988
[SPEAKER_01]: Did it.
46:50.748 --> 46:54.229
[SPEAKER_01]: And so that, I mean, that was a cool, very cool experience.
46:54.449 --> 46:59.191
[SPEAKER_01]: A friend of mine from college took me in his dad, had some tickets that he'd gotten through work.
46:59.211 --> 47:04.092
[SPEAKER_01]: And we were like on the sixth row on the 40-year-up line or something, and yeah, it was pretty sweet.
47:04.252 --> 47:06.293
[SPEAKER_01]: Like those were probably the best tickets I've ever had.
47:07.013 --> 47:11.014
[SPEAKER_01]: And two professional sporting event.
47:11.134 --> 47:12.535
[SPEAKER_01]: Outside of a CMU game.
47:13.055 --> 47:17.176
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're not going to have a lot of time to the Central Michigan Bowl game.
47:18.456 --> 47:19.416
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll find your right one by.
47:20.096 --> 47:25.237
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, Central Michigan tickets are a little easier to come by, but still a great experience.
47:25.977 --> 47:28.438
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't know where my seats were for the first game of the silver dome.
47:29.058 --> 47:36.619
[SPEAKER_03]: They were the top row corner of the end, so I'm like the legit top row we kept walking and I'm like, where are we going to get there and didn't get there till we got to the top?
47:36.739 --> 47:38.540
[SPEAKER_03]: So pretty special place, so.
47:41.122 --> 47:44.205
[SPEAKER_03]: All right, well, hey, James, Final Takeaways here.
47:44.386 --> 47:49.912
[SPEAKER_03]: What would he, has been a lot of fun conversation about time to wrap it up with something you got, you learn more than you want to share.
47:51.244 --> 48:02.268
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the funniest moment of the whole thing was when Chris Spielman came in and he Detroit Lions jacket kind of almost like a varsity jacket type, but a little bit lighter.
48:03.389 --> 48:12.052
[SPEAKER_01]: And at one point, Spielman took it off and set it on the table or set it on the chair and then Disney picked it up and threw it to a fan in the crowd.
48:13.152 --> 48:20.035
[SPEAKER_01]: And uh, which Spielman would kind of, was seemed really cool with and then he realized that the jacket still had his phone in it.
48:20.775 --> 48:23.596
[SPEAKER_01]: And they had to go retrieve the phone from a guy in the seeds.
48:24.817 --> 48:29.698
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes, that was funny because oh Chris was almost like, wait a minute, I didn't get my, can I get least get my phone back?
48:30.319 --> 48:30.619
[SPEAKER_03]: So.
48:31.683 --> 48:48.448
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well, I also thought it was funny that, you know, Chris talked about they let themselves down and he said he let the fans down, you know, the team did and a great quote by Chris was, when we lose, you should go home and break your furniture.
48:49.208 --> 49:02.478
[SPEAKER_03]: and it's just talked about how riled up and excited he is for the game might Disney was quickly there to point out that that comment was not speaking for the organization at that point it was just Chris you know having some fun.
49:03.338 --> 49:10.063
[SPEAKER_03]: Another great moment was right at the end as Chris was walking off I was able to have a quick shout out to him and
49:10.343 --> 49:26.197
[SPEAKER_03]: I was wearing my Chris Spielman jersey from high school that actually still fits because as I pointed out we wore thing bag we wore things baggy in the 90s so that benefited me but just thanked him for all he's given to the organization and stuff so that was a pretty sweet moment to be able to do that.
49:28.519 --> 49:35.585
[SPEAKER_03]: So well James this has been a lot of fun has been nice to think back to that memory right before the season started and any last words.
49:37.248 --> 49:37.808
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's cool.
49:37.848 --> 49:38.209
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cool.
49:38.229 --> 49:38.969
[SPEAKER_01]: It's cool.
49:38.989 --> 49:39.769
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for taking me.
49:40.690 --> 49:40.970
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
49:41.150 --> 49:41.790
[SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for going.
49:41.810 --> 49:42.691
[SPEAKER_03]: There's a lot of fun.
49:43.091 --> 49:43.431
[SPEAKER_03]: Folks.
49:43.611 --> 49:44.771
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for listening.
49:44.832 --> 49:45.872
[SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for tuning in.
49:46.192 --> 49:48.093
[SPEAKER_03]: Please tell your family and friends about this show.
49:48.353 --> 49:50.134
[SPEAKER_03]: You can find more episodes and content.
49:50.374 --> 49:52.055
[SPEAKER_03]: And not the samolines.com.
49:52.095 --> 49:52.895
[SPEAKER_03]: Until next time.
49:53.315 --> 49:54.416
[SPEAKER_03]: Stay gritty, my friend.