Alaskan Grizzly

I didn’t remember so I had to look it up. Did you know he was recruited by one of the defensive coaches to play linebacker?

Saw this on Facebook with the commentary: ‘Of the 13 QBs chosen in the 2018 draft, Sam Darnold will be the first to go to the Super Bowl.’ Crazy.

I think he’s more Madden like in that he’s not so much the strategist than he is the old school smash mouth style of football guy (which I’m a huge fan of). How many times did we hear Greg Olsen comment on how it was assumed that every time the Lions were short and 4th down Campbell was the guy that would go for it? He’s been doing that for how long? And because he stuck to that “script” and believed he could do it again, he’s now all of sudden being questioned for it. It’s a live by the sword die by it mentality. If he’d been successful and ended up eventually winning, we’d be having a different conversation. Going back to the exchange I had with Adam about levels of experience. When you have a handful of guys who have 7 playoff games among them versus another handful of guys that have 10 times as many, experience will mostly win in those situations. I’d be surprised if Campbell continues making those calls as predictable going forward.

In three years Campbell and the Lions progressively got better. There is 'enough tape' on them that after year two other teams could've/should've figured out how to beat them. They didn't (at least not 12 times). Now if Johnson leaves and the team dips to 'only' 9 wins we'll have to see what played into the 'downfall' (injuries etc) but i suspect Campbell will be around for awhile. He's the "best" they've had in awhile. I was replaying the game yesterday in my head and it seemed SF made some adjustments after halftime to overcome their 17 point deficit. That and they got awful lucky with some penalties (against the Lions) and that one pass that Aiyuk caught late in the game was pure luck. Had Vildor not been there and kept the ball alive with his facemask, Aiyuk would've never caught it.

Agree. I wonder if because Urlacher being a converted Safety made any difference in his pass coverage than say does Edmunds? The most (INTs) that Urlacher ever got was 5 in one season. Edmunds' only other season where he had multiple INTs was his rookie season (2) before getting 4 this year.

In no way would I endorse Campbell as the "second coming" but I could say the Lions have had decent players over the years and not go as far they did this year. Look at when Stafford was playing and had Megatron to throw to. In that time Jim Caldwell was their HC where he compiled a record of 36-28 and all they managed to do was lose twice in the WC round. Stafford threw for at least 4,000 yards each of the years Caldwell was HC by the by. Goff has only had four 4,000 yard seasons - and two of those were his last two in Detroit. Remember Jim Bob Cooter? He was the OC for Detroit halfway through the season in Caldwell's second season there. JBC reminded me a lot of Johnson with the hype surrounding him at the time. So maybe its the players? Stafford goes to LA and the first year with them wins the Super Bowl. Only three years before that the Rams made it to the SB and lost while Goff was their QB. Point here is that McVay is probably a better overall HC than Campbell but couldn't get it done with Goff...

If I remember right they essentially paid for Edmunds and Edwards what Baltimore did for Smith. ?

A coach who led his team to the playoffs for the first time in 50 years and one game from the Super Bowl “overrated”? If only we had that sorta luck. ?? Yeah he screwed the pooch in not going for three when he should have but he’s been lauded plenty of times for being aggressive when others play more traditional. That was inexperience more than anything. Saw a graphic during the game that showed the Lions having players with 7 total playoff games amongst them versus like 70-80 for the 9’ers.

Oh…weren’t Fields and the Bears still in the playoffs? My mistake. ?

Meh…

Oops….i blame the alcohol consumption. ?

This plays into the old discussion about how Lovie coached the players to their strengths (or at least how I saw it). Many said he “inherited” great players like Urlacher, Briggs and Tillman . But still he somehow was able to get the team to consistent winning seasons for the majority of his coaching career while in Chicago. The point being, I can’t tell you how Lovie influenced (aka coached) the players to win games because I wasn’t there when he designed the plays, made the calls from the sidelines or adjusted to his D to what he saw presented by the opposition. Same with Flus. Yes he’s made some bonehead calls as an HC but he’s done a pretty good job in getting the D to perform at a highly functional tick. Theres no denying that. Are these another of them “rhetorical arguments” you speak of? ?

Watching this Baltimore / KC game makes me think how good Fields could be IF given the right coaching. Both Mahomes and Jackson have had to ‘go off script’ several times and either scramble to make a play or look for an open receiver after missing their first read. To be fair the “right coaching” could be in Chicago or whatever team he ends up going to. ?

I don’t know that it was ‘368 tackles’ but they definitely fed off each other well. They both seemed to keep up with their tacking numbers overall from when they were with Philly/Buff but I couldn’t help but notice they jumped significantly in the Int rate. They remind me alot of Briggs and Urlacher in Lovies version of the similar scheme. As far as playing to their strengths, I would agree that Sweats acquisition certainly helped with how others performed (causal/effect), but it was Flus’ scheme that put everyone in the right place. Think about how the defense was crippled early on with all the injuries then as the season wore on how much better they improved when the starters started making it to games. And add in that you had some pretty significant play by rookies like Dexter, Stevenson and Terrell Smith, I’d again make the case that Flus seems to be able to coach up the players to the positions they’re in.

Not for nothing but Cousins was a fourth round pick after RG3 was picked in the first (#2 overall)…the same year by the same team.

Curious if you still feel this way?

We know Warren made a point of going to Justin’s graduation last year. And are quite familiar with one another from the Big 10. Justin was one of the strongest voices to convince Warren to let the Big 10 play games during COVID. And this thing with Poles hugging players in the locker room? Take a look at the GM candidate of the year Brad Holmes (with the Lions) while he hangs out in the locker room. (He’s in the green jacket with his back to us). Believe the player is olineman Penei Sewell.

Reading more on the take of Rattler is intriguing. Kelly says while at SC he played the “toughest FBS schedule” and with the addition of Dowell Loggains ‘began his maturation of being NFL ready’. Loggains is the same guy who was with the Bears as QB coach / OC the last years of Cutler and the sole year Glennon started for us. ?

Can’t recall whether anyone has referenced anything from “First Round Mock” but the author, Daniel Kelley puts an interesting spin on the up and coming QBs. Kelly was once an NFL scout and worked with the Jets on Parcell’s staff. He’s been out of the business for some years (but wants back in) so take what he says with a grain of salt. He claims to have said out loud that Lawrence, Trey Lance and Zach Wilson would all be busts coming out of college. He’s got a bit of a strong opinion of himself…nevertheless…. He ranks Williams as a “third round pick”. And ranks Rattler, Penix, Nix, Daniels and Maye all as 1st round talent. https://firstroundmock.com/2024/01/shocking-2024-nfl-draft-board-released-quarterbacks/

My man! ?️

Yeah that’s essentially what McDermott did in Buffalo. I would suspect that Washington will be heavy on the development aspect (especially along the dline with the young studs) and will be good to see he and Edmunds reuniting while they’re at it.

I’d say a good hire. Reunites him with Edmunds to some level. Although it looks like McDermott still called defensive plays in Buffalo. Still McDermott’s defensive teams led in many categories for a good while. Got his first NFL coaching gig with the Bears from 2008-10 while Lovie was HC.

Regarde, nous sommes d'accord sur quelque chose mon ami

FWIW, I like all this. Not sure I’m as sold on Daniels as I am on Nix (or even McCarthy) but I like the idea of getting a higher-tier QB to compete with Justin AND MHJ. Now that would be a great way to head into the new season. If Justin can win the job over a higher regarded rookie QB, good for us.

I’ll have to take a deeper look at this sometime later. First read is sorta conflicting. On the one hand the author shows a graph where the more isolated the pick (1st round picks vs 1st round overall picks) trend to the positive for the 1st overall choices. But then he writes supporting commentary that’s less than complementary. Even starting off the paragraph with “So those success rates are pretty atrocious”. ??‍♂️Je n’comprende pas.