Can the Detroit Lions bounce back?
A.J. Reilly: can the Detroit Lions bounce back after the by week they’ve rested up, hopefully, recuperated? Can they beat the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas? Eric, what do you think?
Eric Vincent: I’m not gonna lie to y’all or fool y’all, or suck all in no more. I did enough with the Kool-Aid. I did enough with, you know, psyching up for the fam. Let’s just be real now. Nah, it’s not gonna happen. It’s not really, And it’s not because they can’t, it’s not because it’s impossible.
They have a chance to do it. But I’ve answered the question, will they? No, it’s not gonna happen. I’m sold on that at this point. I’m excited to see the team come back and be healthy because I at least wanna get a general synopsis of that. But, The way that this team is losing is being confirmed every week.
And it’s not a talent issue. That’s not a talent issue that has driven the lion to this point. And I don’t believe going into Dallas with a Dak Prescott who was motivated to, to submit and submit his job back, even with Cooper Rush throwing the three picks, he’s like, they still, you know, excited about him.
Seeing where Dallas is with their defense, Michael Parsons possibly gonna have a fierce game against our offensive line. I don’t have any faith that the Detroit Lions can turn it around. I don’t think it’s gonna happen this week against this team.
And I think this is gonna be the trend at this point, is there any time for them to build and establish momentum? It was to start the season. The schedule doesn’t get easier from this point. Like it only gets harder. So I, yeah. I have no faith that this is gonna be a turnaround game for this team at all.
A.J. Reilly: It could. I’m gonna go with it. Could Eric? Sure, sure. And. Look, Dak Prescott’s, most likely gonna be back, Okay? Mm-hmm.
Which may actually hinder the Cowboys if we’re being honest.
Eric Vincent: All right. This is the Cooper Rush bandwagon. Here it is.
A.J. Reilly: No, I, listen, I look, I went back and I watched the Cowboys games. I went back and watched them.
Eric Vincent: Mm-hmm.
A.J. Reilly: and I am more fearful of Cooper Rush throwing the ball than Dak Prescott. Now, Dak is an added element in the fact that he has the legs he commands the offense, and he’s a very good leader.
So I’m not saying he’s the better overall quarterback, but Cooper Rush is, can toss the ball a little bit. And that’s how they won a lot of these games. I mean, in the Cincinnati game, he was throwing the ball. Noah Brown was huge for them in Cincinnati. Specifically Right. you think I’m crazy and I, understand that you think I’m crazy.
Eric Vincent: Yeah, I do.
A.J. Reilly: But I just don’t think that Dak being in the game is gonna be much different than Cooper Rush being in the game, in my opinion. Now do I think that that’s going to mean that the Detroit Lions can beat the Cowboys in Dallas? I don’t know. There are a lot of things that I think the Detroit Lions hopefully got cleaned up over this bye-week.
I did an article on Aidan Hutchinson in the roles that they kind of moved him to, in the first five games he was playing a, consistently strong side defensive end and like a seven technique. And they were trying to move him. Eric going back and watching the film, I think we actually need to make a correction cuz they actually were moving him more.
They had him and Charles Harris on, you know, the same side most of the time with Hutch inside. And they would stunt or cross or you know, twist or whatever. And it wasn’t working. It wasn’t working at all. And then in the Patriots game, what they did is 95% of his snaps, he was playing in a wide nine, which is way outside the defensive end.
Eric Vincent: And Jim Schwartz. Yeah. Yep. Jim Schwartz technique. Yep.
A.J. Reilly: But on the weak side specifically, and if you look at his PFF grades, Hutchinson threw the first four games, and averaged 58 points like four on pff.
Eric Vincent: Mm-hmm.
A.J. Reilly: in game five, week five when he played the Patriots in this new-like role mm-hmm. , he was at 80.
So a significant difference over the first four weeks. Right. I think that is more comfortable and having more time to work into that. I think having the ability or trying to find a way to keep Ezekiel Elliot down because for whatever reason the Dallas Cowboys are loving feeding Ezekiel Elliot when they have a more dynamic back in their backfield than Tony Pollard, right?
So if they can be stubborn and continue to feel fed Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott’s coming back on a comeback game, and the lions now definitely have a chip on their shoulder and something to prove, even though I don’t know if that’s really speaking that much for anything because they’ve had something to prove all season and haven’t done it right.
I think they can bounce back. But when you look at the upcoming schedule, Dallas, Miami, and Green Bay cooked, so you have ’em more than seven.
Eric Vincent: Yeah. At this point, again, if there was any time when you wanted to get hot, it was before Thanksgiving for sure. Like that’s where you go see bills.
A.J. Reilly: They’d better be before Thanksgiving because
Eric Vincent: Exactly.
A.J. Reilly: You need to forfeit that game and host a potluck.
Eric Vincent: A hundred percent. But see, that’s a game where you can afford a loss and a beat down where it doesn’t hurt his bed. Playing against a rookie fourth-round, third-stringer for the Patriots or the team that’s run by Matt Patricia, that’s not somebody you should be getting blown out by.
And that’s the problem that I have in giving them the benefit of the doubt. It’s not the players, it’s not their talent level. It’s the ways that they’re losing in terms of coaching because we just saw this week alone, the jets go on the road and beat the packers. Sure. Just saw the Falcons beat the Niners.
Like we’ve seen the team, we see the Giants. If you look at who rosters to the roster, the Detroit Lions are more talented than the Giants, and they’re five and one. Right. Yeah, absolutely they are. Yes. It’s on offense. You really believe they have a better offense.
A.J. Reilly: Yeah. And we have not complained about the Detroit Lions’ offense though.
Eric Vincent: Right. But then the beginning of the Jets don’t have that many, like household names, or they defense like that either. Like they’re Kayvon just got back into the lineup. He’s been hurt and they still managed to win games without him. Like, Kenny George was supposed to be their number one receiver, their double one guy.
He’s not even doing anything and he’s still fighting ways to win the game. Daniel Jones is their quarterback and there are still fighting for ways to win games. Like, it’s no excuse for that. It’s the Seattle Seahawk, same thing. Like, it’s just nuts. So they’ve been able to blow these kinds of games. So, I have no faith in them doing the turnaround in turn what they can do.
A.J. Reilly: So Dre brings up the point that everybody wants to make, right? What if it’s not the coaching but the ownership? Like Dre, we’ve known Dre, that’s. We know that it’s the ownership. Yeah. It’s always been and I will say that I, I think that Sheila is a little bit different than previous owners and ownership.
But Eric, if what you’re saying is true, okay, and we’re gonna take this to its logical conclusion, okay? If the New York Giants are less talented than the Detroit Lions, but they are five and one, you are one and four.
Eric Vincent: Mm-hmm.
A.J. Reilly: they just beat the Baltimore Ravens, who we both thoughts were a good team.
Eric Vincent: Yep.
A.J. Reilly: If that’s the case and news flash, here’s a stat of the day for you, Brian Daboll has more wins than Dan Campbell does. If that’s the case, and if that’s what we really believe, then when do you fire Dan Campbell? Because to me that’s a coaching issue.
Eric Vincent: I agree, and again, I’m still of the mindset where this season, unless he just keeps doing the same issues, like if he keeps fighting ways to go forward at like terrible spots then yeah, you might wanna think about doing it before the end of the season.
I don’t think it’s going to happen. I would give him the benefit of the doubt that he’ll be smart enough to not repeat the same mistakes, but then again, I might just be too nice because I don’t really see a reason for him to have that. There’s nothing that we’ve seen outside of the motivational speeches and the rah-rahs of him and the coaching staff around him that gives the implication that, okay, he knows how to get this team home in a fourth quarter.
That’s tight. He knows how to ice a game when the cl, then the clock needs to wind down. We haven’t seen that from him at all, but it seems like we just talked about the Giants. They also just beat the Packers on the road a couple of weeks ago, if I’m not mistaken. Like they’ve had games that are not just questionable like we’ll see what the Commanders look like at the end of the season.
We’ll see if that was a good win or not. But as of right now, they don’t have anything credible to really look at. And I don’t have much faith that he’ll survive these six years. They gave him a six-year deal for Dan Campbell. Right? Like I don’t think he’s gonna be able to withstand that if these kinds of mistakes keep happening.
A.J. Reilly: And if only it were so easy, Dre, if only it were so easy. The reality is the Fords are not going anywhere until the Fords decide to go somewhere.
Eric Vincent: Dre, real quick. Dre brings up a good point though because one person that we don’t talk about in terms of the blame pie is Brad Holmes. Do you think now is the time to turn some attention to him? Because what did they do during the free agency? outside DJ Chark.
A.J. Reilly: Sure. But the only contention that I would bring up that Eric, and the only problem that I have with that line of thinking who was hired first. Right. That’s fair. Dan Campbell was hired first. That’s fair. Yep. Right. Mm-hmm.
And so if Dan Campbell’s hired first, even though Brad and he seemed to get along very well mm-hmm. , is that who Brad would’ve chosen? I don’t know. When you look at Brian Daboll from the New York Giants, there was a brilliant article that was written on Detroit Sports Nation by our good friend Dylan, saying, that the New York rebuilds are what Detroit wishes it was.
Eric Vincent: Mm-hmm.
A.J. Reilly: because they are, the Jets have three road wins this year with a coach that is from our backyard, and most likely should have been the head coach of the Detroit Lions.
Eric Vincent: Mm-hmm. Didn’t they interview Robert Saleh first?
A.J. Reilly: They did and then let him go to the Jets. And the Jets did not let him come back to Detroit.
Eric Vincent: No. Everybody was so confused after that.
A.J. Reilly: Smart. Good for them. Good for the New York jets. So when I think about the Detroit Lions and where they’re at, if you want to remove the bad taste that’s in your mouth from the last, you know, five weeks. Okay. Six with the bye-week, but it’s really five weeks cuz they played five games.
You have to find a way to beat two out of these next three teams and you have to beat three and six after nine. You have to find a way to beat Dallas, which I don’t think Dallas is unbeatable. I think you can go in there and win. You had to find a way to beat Miami with a potential of two of being back.
Mm-hmm. and Tyreek Hill, Who’s on pace to break? Calvin Johnson’s single-season receiving record going crazy over there. Yeah, I traded him. That was a bad idea. But, then you’ve gotta play Green Bay and of the three teams that we just mentioned, the most susceptible is Green Bay.
Eric Vincent: Green Bay, honestly. Yeah.
A.J. Reilly: So you gotta find a way, if you’re the Detroit Lions, to find that GRIT word that we hate to say in here anymore. You gotta find a way to dig down and get a win over the next, you know, two, you gotta win two out of the next three for there to even be, I would say even an opportunity for this season to be considered a success, right?
Just because. It’s brutal. It’s been completely brutal. Where do you think, what do you think they do over the next three games? Do you really think they’re gonna lose the next three?
Eric Vincent: I truly don’t, I don’t think it’s off the table. I don’t think they’re the same team on the road. Especially offensively like we’ve shown that they’ve shown the ability to struggle, especially even protecting Jared Goff.
And they’re facing some good defenses too. Dallas has a great pass rush. Miami has a pretty fierce pass rush in Green Bay and also covers the field in their secondary as well as gets to the quarterback. So oh three is not off the table, man. Even if you look past that, I mean, we both have suspicions and fears about what’s gonna happen against Chicago.
We think that’ll be Justin Fields coming out. Mitch Trubisky’s party against this team, like 0 and 3 is not off the table for this team. And if they don’t find a way to put things together consistently and show that they can. I’m taking injuries off the table at this point. It’s not injuries, it’s not talent that’s killing this team.
It’s their own horrendous game planning and their inability to adjust on the fly. And considering we haven’t seen anything to really give us any hope with that, I can’t give them any benefit of the doubt. I think three is absolutely on the table for this team and I think it’s gonna happen. Honestly,
A.J. Reilly: I hope you’re wrong. I’m gonna be honest with you.
Eric Vincent: Me too.
A.J. Reilly: I hope you’re wrong because There’s nothing worse than, another bad football season.
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