E54: "Biting Re-Caps" - Playoff Ready: Lions Seal NFC North Victory; Lions vs Vikings - Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Jason Harwood (00:41):
Welcome everyone to another episode of Biting
Recaps here at Talking Grit.
I'm Jason Harwood and with me isJacob Litton.
We finished the regular season,finally 18 weeks of football
what a finish it was.
We started out the season onSunday night football.
We ended the season on Sundaynight football.
win 31 to nine.

(01:01):
Let's get, I'm done with thisintro, Jacob.
Let's talk about this game.
How are you doing?

Jacob (01:06):
Awesome, right?
15 and 2 record, even betterthan we could have imagined.
Best regular season franchisehistory.
564 points scored fourth alltime.
Just an outstanding season.
But, as far as last night's gamewent, the stakes obviously were
at an all time high.
There may never be another NFLgame with the stakes as high as

(01:27):
that one.
And, for the first half wasclose, but we, the close on the
scoreboard, it just didn't feellike it was close.
It felt like we had the upperhand pretty much the whole time.
Which was nice.
It was refreshing.
It was not as much a, pressureas we thought it wasn't going to
be another one, like the lasttime where.
We need Jake Bates to kick afield goal there at the end of
the game, just a good way to putan exclamation point on the

(01:49):
season and, leaving no doubtabout who the NFC North
champions are.

Yeah, it was.
The end score just shows that wepretty much dominated, but up
until the middle of the thirdquarter, it was still largely up
in the air until the lines waslike, said, Nope, we're tired of
this and we're just going totake over the game.
Love being an Alliance fan, lovethat the Vikings spent 2 million
for their fans to leavedisappointed.

(02:16):
we could talk, we'll talk alittle bit about some of the
stuff that I saw in the stadium,which I thought was hilarious.
But first, let's have thisconversation.
Let Dan Campbell coach of theyear.
Is he the coach of the year inyour opinion?

Jacob (02:30):
Obviously his resume speaks for itself.
We have the injury plague teamfranchise record one seed.
It's like I was talking aboutwhen we had a reef on where it's
just, The coach of the yearaward just doesn't seem to go to
the best coach of the best team.
It's not like the MVP awardwhere you can kind of tell who
it's down to like that.

(02:52):
And the thing that hurts DanCampbell's case for coach of the
year is just the fact that wewere a great team last year.
We got better, we did improbablethings, but if you told someone
before the season started thatwe were going to be the one seed
in the NFC, most people probablywould have thought that was
accurate and that wasbelievable.
And then, you flip that aroundand that's why I think that most

(03:12):
voters are probably leaningtowards O'Connell, Jim Harbaugh,
people didn't think the Chargerswere going to make the playoffs
in his first year.
No one expected the Vikings tobe as good as they are.
And yeah, just when you look atthe history of coach of the year
awards, I mean, Andy reads one,how many Superbowls, he has won
one coach of the year award andit was with the Eagles back in

(03:32):
2002 coach of the year.
It does not really mean the bestcoach of the best team.
I feel in my opinion, it justseems to be like the most
improbable record of the year.
If I had a vote, I absolutelywould put Campbell number one,
completely unbiased.

yeah, exactly.
Here.
yeah, we're completely unbiasedhere.
We're definitely not wearing mylions had My lion shirt.
My lion socks.
Definitely not bias, but no,we're not biased.
you look at the totality of theseason, you're right, everything
is built on expectations cominginto the season, which, builds

(04:12):
those expectations we do bytalking about it or how the
national media built it, thatdoesn't mean how good your team
is, Kevin O'Connell, definitely.
Was a great coach.
He got more out of his team thanany of us expected, but it's not
like his team is not full ofplayers either.
I mean, they have really goodlinebackers, edge players.

(04:34):
Justin Jefferson, JordanAddison's really good.
You had TJ Hockinson in there.
Aaron Jones is solid.
Sam Darnold was the questionmark and he had a really good
season, but he was also set upwith a lot of weapons too.
So, everything was built offexpectations, as for this coach
of the year award.
But when I look at Dan Campbell,you tell him, yes, we had a

(04:57):
solid team.
and two were number one seed allbelievable coming into this
year.
So did he exceed thoseexpectations?
Maybe not, but you also tell methat we're going to have 15
players or how many on the IRAiden Hutchinson being one of
them who most oddly would havebeen defensive player of the

(05:17):
year.
If he would have just continuedhis tear that he was on the
first third of the season.
Dan Campbell is the coach of theyear.
Not only when you look at.
Okay.
We're 15 to it's the decisionsthat he's made.
And that, is obviously a talkingpoint around the league because
he is gutsy.

(05:37):
He does all these things,they're very intentional things
that he does.
He doesn't just do them out ofemotion.
Teddy Brewski be darned.
And, he doesn't do things.
Campbell does not do things justout of emotion.
He.
Does what he does needs to winthe game.
And a lot of those decisionshave helped win the game for the

(06:00):
lions.
That's beyond whatever, he'sbuilt with this team, the trust,
and all that, and beyond all theinjuries and getting the next
man up.
So yes, in my opinion, DanCampbell deserves and last
night's game might've been forthe coach of the year.
Cause it's probably betweenthose two guys any other year,
Jim Holbrook would definitelybeen had a good chance, but.
You got a two 14 and two teamsplaying last night and, our guy

(06:25):
fortunately came out on top andI think that he deserves coach
of the year.

Jacob (06:30):
Absolutely deserves it.
100%.
And if you told me that he woncoach of the year, I would say,
the right man won.
Definitely.
I just, in my opinion, and basedon the way this goes with this
associated press award likethat, it just doesn't history
does not show that's usuallywhat happens.
If you guys noticed that Jason'svoice is gone, he went to a
Taylor Swift concert and

Yeah,

Jacob (06:53):
that's why he sounds funny.
He was singing Shake It Offreally hard.

yeah, my hips hurt, man.
I was going to just get rightinto that.
I was going to say.
We're going to talk about ouroverall thoughts from the game.
I was at the game last night.
I want to tell everybody what myexperience at the game was.
Jacob, you were at home.
I always like to get yourexperience just listen to the
announcers and how everything'sbuilt in the narrative.

(07:18):
I think for me, it's fun.
I mean, I go back and listen tothe broadcast.
I watched the condensed one thismorning, before work.
And so I had a chance to seesome of it, but.
There's something about livingthrough that moment that you
don't know what's going tohappen next, that, you get, you
have a nice experience and a lotof our listeners they watch it

(07:38):
at home.
They're not at the stadium.
So tell me what your thoughtsgoing through the game, just
with the announcers and what wasgoing on.

Jacob (07:45):
I find the announcers most of the time to be annoying
honestly, just, I would say mostof the fan perspective had the
Lions winning this game.
A lot of the media perspectivepicked the Vikings to win.
And you can say it's theinjuries and whatever, but it
just seemed like the Vikingswere, they weren't favored
betting favorites, but it seemedlike they were favored by most.

(08:07):
You see all these analystspicking the Vikings to win and
everything, but, um, I know whatthis team's about, I know what
we're capable of, and we'vetalked about this before, and I
told you, I mean, I would,afraid's not the right word, but
I would be more concerned withfacing the Packers again than
facing the Vikings.
I said that before this matchupeven happened, and, the first
half is close, it's going backand forth, we have a couple

(08:29):
plays that don't go our way, itnever felt like this one was out
of hand.
Whereas you got the Texans game,where it's okay, things keep, we
keep getting kicked further andfurther down, when do we hit the
panic button, which was alsodifferent than the bills game
where we were performing wellagainst the bills.
We just weren't able to stopthem.
This really just I don't thinkrelaxing is the way right word
for a football game, but I mean,towards the end of the game, it

(08:51):
was just nice to know that wewere going to get it done.
I didn't have any doubts towardsthe end, but

Yeah.

Jacob (08:56):
what was the environment like being there?
Because I mean, this is one ofthe best games to ever attend.
So walk us through that.

So my, my boys decided not to go.
So it was just my wife and I.
Up there.
So that was unique in itself forus.
We're used to going as a family.
I felt bad, not, the boysdecided not to go.
We were going to let them stayup and, either go to late to
school, miss school.
My boys are good students,school's important, so don't

(09:24):
think that I don't want them tobe there, but They're not
behind.
Let's just say that.
So I was willing to do all thatfor them.
They didn't want to do that.
So they wanted to stay home andwatch it with grandma and
grandpa.
We get up there early.
We go to dinner.
We line late when the stadiumopens.
The line is long.
And we're talking, this is atfive 30, the game, they open the

(09:45):
gates at five 30.
The game starts at eight 20.
So we're talking three hoursbefore kickoff and the line,
even at the secondary gates, theline moves fairly quickly, but
it took a good, like 20 minutesto get through the line just to
get in the stadium we get in, Imean, it's already.
Buzzing in the stadium.
It was very comparable to theRams game in the sense that

(10:06):
people were there early.
I'm talking about the Ramsplayoff game from last year.
So I was like, I was excited.
I was like, okay, the crowd'sinto it.
I go actually meet up withMorton Cannon, we hang out for a
little bit and then we get inour seats and it's 45 minutes
before kickoff and they showAlexander Anzalone like on the

(10:26):
screen, not it, not theintroduction.
He was just coming out forwarmups and the crowd.
This is 45 minutes for the game.
The lights are fully up.
We're not even like into theintro and the crowd just goes
crazy and it gets loud already.
And I was like, Oh yeah this isgoing to be awesome.
It gives me goosebumps to justthink about it right now.

(10:47):
I was just so excited for Alexto get that response, to act,
get them back as a fan.
I knew what it meant for thisdefense.
I was watching as much as wewatched Jacob, we knew what we
were We knew we needed Alex backand you could make the argument
getting Alex back.
Maybe more important thangetting hutchback at this point,

(11:08):
just for what we need in that.
It's like what we need from thelinebacker crew with all the
injuries that happened there.
You could, I could make, as apart of this team right now, I
can make the argument that Alexis more important than getting
hutchback at this moment.
Not that getting hutchbackwouldn't be awesome, but I just
feel like.
was where we were getting gashedin the linebacker room the last

(11:30):
few weeks.
He just calmed that all down.
And the game played out that waytoo, let's just say that.

Jacob (11:36):
Absolutely, I just think that drop off the drop off in
the linebacker for man's Lonnieto, our backups was just so it
was, it was a lot to try toovercome.

Yes, exactly.
And so then they did, theyannounced the defense coming on
the field.
They're going through, they getto check Campbell.
He's like in the middle, theyhaven't hit the line yet.
And I was like, all right.
Alex is going to be next.
Then they go jail and ReeseMaven.
I was like, all right, we'resaving Alex.
And then they went to the lineand they saved Alex all the way

(12:05):
for last.
And when they announced hisname, was like loud.
It was just awesome.
So the crowd was just so intoit.
They were loud the whole gamethe Rams game had higher peaks,
I would say for the playoffslast year.
But as far as like loudnessthroughout the whole game, I

(12:26):
feel like this matched it.
We were talking at work earlierabout this, Jacob, it was a
matter of us getting a lot ofthird down stops been, do a lot
of lions games and when you,when your defense gives up third
downs.
next third down, especiallyafter it's happened time and
time again, you just feel letdown and the crowd just doesn't

(12:47):
get into it.
We kept stopping and I'm onthird down and fourth down.
And so the crowd was just makingan effect on the game.
They should have called moredelay penalty.
Games.
I saw that later on.

Jacob (12:59):
Yeah.

really noticing that much inside the stadium.
But you know, I heard that was anarrative afterwards after I got
on social media after the game.
So it was just an unrealenvironment and about, I don't
know, at some point.
So my wife, has eyes on whereHutch is playing.
Sweet boxes.

(13:19):
So for the game, she's lookingin there.
She goes, there's

Jacob (13:22):
sounded dirty.

one in sorry.
No, she might be doing that too.
I don't know, but she's lookingfor where his suite the suites
are.
And so she looked in there.
She's he's not in there.
And then finally she's Oh, hisfamily's in there, but he's not
in there.
I was like, I bet you he's inthe locker room.
And then.
He never went into the suites.

(13:43):
And so then Sarah found him onthe sideline, I don't know,
probably midway, first quarteror something like that, you're
telling everybody around us, Iwas like, Hutch is on the
sideline, but they never playedhim on.
screen until the fourth quarter,huge third down, they put the
cameras on Hutch and he put abump on the big screen and it

(14:03):
got super loud in there and itwas like the stadium crew had
just said, we're going to savethis for a really big moment
strategically to show it andbecause from what I understand,
Jacob, they showed him on TV alot, throughout the game.
Is that

Jacob (14:19):
Yes, no, yes, they absolutely, they showed him
early on, they showed him, theyshowed Montgomery, they showed
them on the sidelines andeverything.
So yeah, that was a part like atthe beginning of the game, they
also showed Calvin Johnson andDrew Brees and you know how they
do.

Yeah.

Jacob (14:32):
yeah, the TV crew was just, trying to much more on top
of it like that.
Yeah.
But, of course, Ford Field, theLions crew, they're waiting for
the right moment, and I guessthey nailed it, right?

They did.
One more quick thing that Ithought was super cool at the
game was about midway throughthe fourth quarter, the Lions
pretty much had the game inhand.
There was a purple line ofpeople walking out of the
stadium as the Vikings fans weregiving up and the whole crowd in
unison does the skull chant.

(15:07):
Awesome.
It's just great.
Especially with the whole 2million Vikings spend all this
money.
There wasn't as many Vikingsfans in there as I thought there
was going to be.
I had argued that there was moreBuffalo fans a few weeks ago
than there were Minnesota fansin that stadium.
But the way that game thatplayed out, even when there was
that turnover, when they.

(15:28):
It wasn't that loud in there forMinnesota fans.
Like when we, when golf throughan interception, I would expect
it to be louder because BuffaloAllen, like they were chaining
and it was noticeable in thestadium.
You could hear them.
They were loud.
So either there were moreBuffalo fans or they just
happened to be louder.
They were also winning the game.

(15:49):
They had a little more juicebehind them.
Whereas the Vikings, never tooka lead in that game.
So took away all their buzz.
But.
The skull chant was a highlightof the night for me.

Jacob (15:59):
Did you participate?

Oh yes.

Jacob (16:02):
Yeah.

standing up.
I, we sold our tickets, like Imentioned earlier.
And so we didn't know the peoplewe sold it to.
We are, they were like friendsof a friend.
I made sure they were lions fansbefore we sold them to them.
That was important to me becausenumber one, I wanted more lions
fans in there.
Number two, I was going to besitting next to this person the
whole night.
So I did not want sitting nextto a Vikings fan.

(16:24):
I would have.
my night.
The guy was just as much as afan as I was.
so he's screaming and I felt, sothere, he's you kind of feel
like when you got someone nextto you screaming, you get egged
on and you're just doing it too.
That's why I don't have a voicenow.
It's cause I

Jacob (16:41):
Yeah.

I was part of the 120 decibels in that stadium.
It was awesome.

Jacob (16:47):
What a good night.

Yeah, it was great.
DJ played another song,ludicrous song called move B I
won't say the word, that was afun, that was a fun night just
hearing the whole crowd singthat it was, it just felt once
we scored that like secondtouchdown, we went up by two
scores.
We, it was like, it wasbasically saying move over.
We own this, we own the NFC now,and that's what it felt like.

(17:11):
And the whole crowd was into it.
It was great.

Jacob (17:14):
Awesome.

Let's talk quickly about special teams
here.
Jake Bates, 1 for 1, 48 yards.
He also had an awesome squibkick, which pinned them down to
the 20 yard line.
That was a great kickoff and theVikings tried it later on.
They did not execute.

Jacob (17:33):
No, they did not.
That actually is why Jake Batesgot the field goal, right?
The Vikings tried to kick ittowards the end of the first
half.
They kick it out of bounds.
Lions start with the ball at ourown 40.
Couple quick passes, and we'rein range for Jake Bates to hit
it.
Which actually was kind of abig, because that allowed us to
go into halftime.
We were up 6 10 instead of 6 7.

And the Vikings were going to get the ball
first.
It kind of gave us momentum.
We scored right before has, itwas good.
It was good for me as a fan tohave some momentum going in.
I'm sure it was great for theteam.
They felt that the only otherspecial teams that play that I
want to mention is it was greatto have Khalif Raymond back his
first return.
It was inside the 10.
He made the first guy misc allthe way out to the 20.

(18:18):
The Lions had a lot of stuff.
Starting field positions,terrible.
So it was good to get outside ofthe 10 on that one, especially
for our first as would that havebeen our second possession that
would have been, cause we

Jacob (18:29):
was the touchdown drive, though.

yeah.
And so it was nice to get out ofthe shadow of the end zone.
So it was really nice havingcleave back.
We missed the dynamic returnerwhile he was out with injury.
So he's got to prove vital inthe playoffs.
Now that we have a defense thatcould force a team to punt.

Jacob (18:47):
Yeah, absolutely.

Much else on special teams other than, for
their kicker, miss a vital 51yarder, which, you could argue
whether they should have wentforward or not, Dan Campbell.
Would have went for it in thatcase Kevin O'Connell decided not
to, but he also maybe has areason since they were
unsuccessful two times in thered zone going for it.
So, It's a difference betweengolf and Darnold right there.

(19:13):
once experienced pressure, onehad not as of yet, that was
probably the most pressureDarnold had faced and didn't
fare as well.
Let's talk about this defensebecause.
This makes me feel really goodabout the playoffs, the way the
defense played gave me a lot ofconfidence going into the
playoffs, whether we had to goon the road or not, I felt,

(19:33):
okay, Alex is back.
He settled things down.
We're going to be good.
I mean, I'm really glad we wonand we get the buy and
everything, but The real win forme tonight was how well this
defense played as far as likelooking into the future and the
playoffs.

Jacob (19:47):
Agreed.
I mean, we talked about thatbefore, like, how many stops do
we need for our offense to beable to outscore the opponent?
With Anzalone back, it lookslike we are going to be able to
stop them, much more than we didbefore.
We held them to 3 out of 13 on3rd down conversions, and they
were 0 for 3 on 4th downs.
And 2 of those 4th down trieswere inside the 5 yard line.

Exactly.

Jacob (20:08):
No touchdowns scored for the Vikings tonight.
This was actually their worstoffensive game of the season.
And it was on the biggest stage.

Yeah, it was the lowest point total this year.
I think the stat I saw was like,from like mid season last year
was the last time they didn'tscore double digits.
So defense just, I mean, up tallin the biggest of moments and a
lot of that.
Let's be real is Alex comingback and settling all that down

(20:36):
and it's not a coincidence thatour defense took a big slide
when he left.
When you look at the advancedstatistics and you could just
see it on the field.
This game was one in the redzone with our defense.
The Vikings ran 14 red zoneplays total throughout the
night.
Eight of those red zone playswere inside the five yard line.

(21:00):
They got a total of those eightand those eight five total yards
and Sam Darnold was one for six.
That's inside the five.
There were additional three redzone plays inside the ten.
Sam Darnold over three on those.
They won that game right there.
Sam Darnold was one for nine onred zone plays inside the ten.
Inside the 10.

(21:20):
When you have Justin Jeffersonand Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson
at your disposal, that justtells you how good we were on
our back end.
Yes.
Sam Darnold did miss somethrows, but a lot of that was
cause we were getting pressureand moving them off his spot
too.

Jacob (21:36):
We also matched up well, right?
I mean, we had Alex Anzalone wascovering Hawkinson a lot when he
wasn't being covered by, 1 ofthe safeties.
You've got Terry on and JordanAddison and, I really just want
to talk about a meet Robertsonbecause he did not give up an
inch of space to JustinJefferson.
The 1st drive, I don't know ifyou saw this because you were
there, but the 1st drive, it wasafter the false start against

(21:56):
the Vikings.
That's when Justin Jefferson tomeet Robertson already 1st
drive.
They're already in each other'sface.
And Justin Jefferson, points atthe ground and slams on the
ground.
And then you know this is gonnabe a battle.
They both know, they know thematchup.
They know they're gonna be oneon one.
We know how hard it is to coverJets.
And Amik just played his tailoff.
Held Justin Jefferson at threecatchers for 54 yards.

(22:20):
And one of those was a 31yarder.
And that was actually on one ofthe delay game penalties.
So that was, it hits zero, anextra second goes by.
And that was the first playwhere Anzalone kind of jumps up
in the air, he's like jumping,like trying to get them like,
Hey, it's as zero.
So it took was that half stepfor Justin Jefferson to get out
and get 31 yards.

(22:40):
And then that was actually thedrive where they went Oh, for
three passing inside the five orinside the 10, but you know, a
meek was right on them everysingle time.
I love the quote Amik had afterthe game.
I don't know if you saw that.
He said, they can't bury whatcomes from the effin dirt.

Yes, yeah,

Jacob (22:57):
Just so good for Amik.

It was a lot of good quotes after the game.
There was just so much goodlocker room talk after there.
Taylor Decker had some goodstuff.
I mean, yes, it was awesome.
Felt great for Amik.
Carlton Davis goes down andCarlton Davis has played it
awesome this year.
Amik's come in and just said,This is my job, and he's done
it, man.
I mean, it's we're so lucky tohave him be able to take that

(23:22):
because it is not easy to shutJustin Jefferson down.
Amik just did an amazing job.
Justin Jefferson, I don't knowif you saw it after we're
saying, they were getting awaywith some holds Justin Jefferson
was getting away with some passinterference, offensive pass
interference, too.
I think Amik on that play couldshove to the ground.

(23:42):
Justin Jefferson fully extendshis arm.
They don't really call that veryoften.
Yeah, I don't know.
There was a lot of talk aboutthe refs being, pro Lion.
That's just loser talk.
Just

Jacob (23:54):
Yeah.

We used to have a lot of that talk when the Lions
were losing.
We had to point our finger atsomewhere.
It was easier to point ourfinger at the refs than it was
at ourselves and ourdeficiencies that we had as a
team, as a whole,

Jacob (24:09):
I don't have those numbers in front of me, but
after the, delay of gamepenalties, and I know they had a
couple first downs that werefrom like a legal contact or
defensive holding or whatever.
So I don't know how you can saythey were biased towards us
somehow.

know we had more penalties called against us.
They got more first downs frompenalties, like four first downs
compared to us.
One first down, on due topenalties the one penalty that
think that we got the first downon was getting them off sides
when it was,

Jacob (24:38):
Yeah.

It was that When we get to the offense, I
definitely want to talk to youabout

Jacob (24:42):
For sure.

So me, again, got a game ball, totally deserved
it.
Another defensive player thatgot a game ball was Alex
Anzalone.
Talked about him at the intro,but he was matched up with T.
J.
Hawkinson, one on one.
Alex has not played in sevenweeks.
He played every snap except forone in this game.

(25:04):
I know that.
It's helped that he had an arminjury, so he was probably able
to do the bike exercise and,stay in shape.
But there's a difference betweenstaying in shape and staying in
football shape.
the fact that whole TJ Hawkinsonfor two receptions on eight
targets for nine yards.
That is awesome.

Jacob (25:25):
Yeah, I mean, Darnold was feeling the pressure, and it
just seemed like he was tryingto get Hawkinson way too much
when he wasn't open.
Anzalone's right on him, andyou're right, you can't
understate the importance ofhaving Anzalone back.
Been saying it forever, I knowyou especially have just been
saying if Anzalone could justcome back, if Anzalone could
just come back, once Anzalone isback.

(25:45):
And, you were absolutely right,here we are, we're just a more
complete defense with him outthere.

Yeah, and that's my argument of why he's at this
point in the season.
He is more important than Hutchthe fact that what we need right
now, not arguing.
He's a better defensive player.
That's That goes to Hutch if wegot Hutch back, he could affect
the game and a lot, getting morepressure on the quarterback.
And we may see a very similarresult just by a different

(26:11):
method.
However, for what we need rightnow, with all the injuries we
have, getting Anzalone back wasright what we needed.
You mentioned about JustinJefferson, only on 54 yards,
Jordan Addison, one catch.
Six targets, zero yards, andthat one catch, Amik Robertson
made a heck of a play.

(26:32):
They tried to do a littlescreen, Amik got by the first,
the blocker and just took aJordan Addison down for zero
yards.
Jordan Addison's having a goodseason.
I have him on my fantasy team.
I know he's been lightingdefenses up because they're all
focused and shaded on JudsonJefferson.
Jordan Addison has been open,getting him on zero yards, win

(26:53):
in my book, huge win,

Jacob (26:56):
Absolutely.
Just shut down defense, man.

Yeah, especially on a day you hold Justin
Jefferson to 54 yards.
You could say then they wereshading everybody over, towards
Justin.
We, someone had to guard someoneand they shut Jordan down and,
we can all put this back, maybeall those happen because Sam
Darnold, but he's had a goodyear.

(27:22):
It's he's passed for what do youend up with?
Like 4, 200 yards this year, 43,pretty

Jacob (27:27):
Almost 43.
I think

Yeah.
They're throwing champagne onhim last week after he beat the
Packers.
He's going to win comebackplayer of the year, which is
weird because what's he comingback from?

Jacob (27:40):
Actually, he's not the favorite for comeback player of
the year after last night'sgame.
I don't know if you saw that.
So the new favorite for comebackplayer of the year is Joe Burrow
again.

I could understand that Joe Burrow went
down with injury.
I don't get about Sam Darnold.
Sam Darnold was never here tocome back from anything.

Jacob (27:56):
Is that most improved player?
It's not come back.

Yeah.

Jacob (27:59):
make sense.

means you had an injury or you left for a while
and then, you.
Lit things up.
Sam Darnold didn't come backfrom anything.
I'm not taking anything awayfrom a season.
He had a good season, night, SamDarnold had to come into an
environment that was a toughesthe's ever had to play in the
lions.

(28:20):
Fans came out, made it extremelytough.
There was pressure.
Lion's got, we're able to getsome pressure on him, move him
off his spot.
And Sarah Arnold did notrespond.
Be interesting to see how heplays next week and similar.
I wouldn't say the Ramsenvironment is going to be
anywhere like the Lionsenvironment, but you know,
you're talking playoff, playoffatmosphere.

(28:43):
Monday night.
So it'd be interesting to seehow he does.

Jacob (28:46):
Yeah.
Next week's going to be reallytelling.
I mean, he went 18 for 4166yards.
We got the pressure on himearly.
A few of those times he startedfeeling phantom pressure.
The announcers were quick topoint that out to just, we were
getting pressure on him enoughto where he just was not able to
make throws.
And then when he didn't havepressure on him, he still was
not making the proper reads.

(29:06):
And I mean, really just kind ofreverted back to what Sam
Darnold has been in the past,which is, he just, unfortunately
he's just looking average outthere.

He's seeing ghosts.
I mean, that's,

Jacob (29:18):
Yeah.

he, that's essentially what it came down
to, that whole thing that he,they cut the cameras, caught him
saying that with the jets, I'mseeing ghosts out there.
And I knew that was a distinctpossibility if we could get some
pressure on them, but it's beenhard for us to generate any of
that pressure.
Defense for being able to dothat, get them off his spot.
And once they made himuncomfortable, it's They could

(29:42):
never get him in rhythm.
I know what the broadcast at onepoint, they're like, yeah, they
need to get him in some rhythmthrows.
They could never get him in arhythm.
Even the short outlet passeslate in that third quarter and
fourth quarter, the lions werejust stopping it for one or two
yard gains.
They were on top of it.
They knew that stuff was comingand they could never hit the big
shot.
They just, it was never open.

(30:04):
It's too bad I wanted Kirby toget another interception just to
throw it in the Pro Bowl votersface, but didn't need to.
We pretty much, I'll take this.
18 for 41.
Man, is awesome.

Jacob (30:16):
we have the Vikings 262 total yards of offense, which is
the lowest yards given up sinceweek 11 since the Jaguars.
And who was injured in week 11and was out for the last 6
weeks?

Yeah, exactly.

Jacob (30:29):
Yeah, so Anzalone, once again, just huge.
I also want to shout out LeviAnzarique.
Okay.
So he actually had eighthurries.
He had three tackles, but Imean.
He was constantly plugging holesin the run game.
He was crashing the pocket sohard against the past.
And it just seemed every singletime he was just bringing it,
the center and both guards justhad a really long night.

(30:52):
I'm sure they're feeling ittoday because Levi was just in
their face the entire time, justcrashing back.
I think that, it affectedDarnell for sure.
He's trying to, he doesn't havea clean pocket.
It's crashing every single time.

They just got him getting him off his spot.
That's where Jared Goff has beenso good, even when they get him
off his spot and he's able toslightly move here and there, he
can make big time throws.
When we get to the offense, Idefinitely want to hear your
opinion of Jared Goff.

Jacob (31:17):
Yeah.

he had two turnovers, but yeah.
Before we get on that, I justwant to say that with the crowd
reaction to Alex, was, I don'tthink I was alone or you were
alone in the fact that everyoneknew what this meant for us.
Part of it was, Hey, we'refinally getting a defensive
player back.
We've been losing them all.
But I think a lot of people justknew what type of person Alex

(31:38):
was and what he was going tobring to this Lions defense.
And we got to see it last night,Troy Aikman last week on Monday
night football.
The narrative was.
don't know how far this teamcould go because of this
defense, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah.
We get annoyed when we hearannouncers and it is tough.
I mean, They have to come upwith this stuff to talk live.

(31:59):
They tend to harp on the samethings because it's hard to
change what you're talking aboutmid, midstream.
Troy Aikman saw that game and Iknow he's probably watching.
I bet you his mind changedbecause the defense has played
like a totally different teamlast night.

Jacob (32:13):
Definitely showed, we're right back to what we were
capable of doing before.

Exactly.
And that's scary.
When we get, I don't want to gettoo far ahead of ourselves, but
when we go to the off season, itis going to be crazy to talk
about, we're going to be addingHutch to this team.
You're adding a defensive playerof the year next year.
It's like getting a trade.
We were already playing so well,and then we're going to add this
awesome player next year.

(32:38):
And we, training camp could notcome soon enough after the
Superbowl because I want to seeHutch out there with the team
again.
I'm dying for it.

Jacob (32:47):
Hey, he's trying to come back for the Super Bowl man

I know.

Jacob (32:50):
would be unbelievable.

on the sideline, I gotta find that super hard to
believe for him to come back.

Jacob (32:57):
Right?

but he's still openly limping.
And for him to get back intofootball shape,

Jacob (33:03):
Yeah.
No, he's he's running underwaterand everything like he's
training.

yeah.

Jacob (33:10):
That'd be a difficult decision for the lions if he
wants to play and wants to getout there and be, play 10 snaps
or something like that.
Do you allow him to come outthere and play or do you tell
him that we need you for nextyear?
We got to play it safe.
Yeah.

Yeah.
It's gonna be an interestingdecision.
It's too bad if he does comeback, though, that it won't be
in Detroit.
Like

Jacob (33:30):
Yeah,

I'm the avoid ovation that Alex got it hutch
coming back.
It'd be even louder I can't evenimagine that hopefully we get

Jacob (33:42):
you'll get to see it

game that happens They do something for Hutch and
we can get those cheers out ofthe way All right.
Is there anything else on thedefense that you got notes on
that you want to talk about?

Jacob (33:52):
real quick.
Terran Arnold Titan coverageagain.
I thought he had another reallygood game.
He had that huge fourth downstop.
I think that was on Addison.
Diving stop.
He got hurt later in the game.
X rays came back negative.
Definitely the bi weeks comingat a good time.
He seems to think that he'sgoing to be good to go for the
next game.
And then Kindleville door had tocome in late for Terry on, and

(34:14):
he actually did not allow acatch.
He knocked the ball loose fromJustin Jefferson on that one
play.
It was ruled a fumble on thefield when they overturned it to
incomplete.
Yeah, it was nice.
Cause usually in the past, whenVildor comes in, we know, okay,
they're going deep on him righthere.
They're going to start, tryingto target him.

You were calling it, you texted me and you're
like, they're about to go deephere.
And it was nowhere to be seen.
Vildor played well.
Outside of that first game, hisfirst game he's had, he's played
really solid this year outsideof the very first game.
That was the Colts game.
If I believe he had a kind of arougher game in that one, but
then the next week he settleddown and yeah, he's been when we

(34:53):
needed him to be hopefullyTarion's back, but if not, I'm
okay with, I'm okay with Vildorright now.
Rather have Terry on back.
Cause like you said, he's, hehad some past breakups.
He was playing in coverage, nopenalties last night.
I look for him to have a goodnext year, like to get, to get

(35:14):
some growth this off season.
And I look for him to be reallysolid in the future for us.

Jacob (35:20):
Yes.

Yeah, so that's pretty much all I got on a
defense.
I was, I'm

Jacob (35:25):
Yeah,

over to the offense.

Jacob (35:26):
let's do it.

All right.
I'm letting you start out.
What do you want to talk aboutfirst?

Jacob (35:31):
Alright, let's just break down, I mean, Offense, we go 5
for 12 on 3rd down conversions,2 for 4 on the 4th down
conversions.
Let's just talk about this play,I know you mentioned I wanted to
talk about it too, but We alsohad a nice hard count to draw
them off sides to convertanother 4th down without having
to run a play.
I mean, we just have these teamsright where we want them with

(35:52):
4th down.
Because it's just another downfor the lions, the stakes are
not any higher, the play callingdoesn't seem much different, the
moment doesn't ever feel too bigfor us, and I think that's
probably why the Vikings keptfailing, because the Vikings
before this game only went 4thon 4th down 10 times all year,
and then they tried to do it 3times in this game, and it was
just too much, they didn't havethe right play calling, they

(36:14):
weren't able to execute, andthen, for the situation for us,
it's 4th and 2, and we could berunning literally anything.
We're inside the 5, it's 4th and2.
We, I believe we had an eligiblelineman on the field.
Any one of those other 6 guyscould be touching the football.
And we've seen it time and timeagain, we could snap it with 10
seconds on the play clock.
We can snap it with 2 seconds onthe play clock.

(36:36):
We can be doing literallyanything, and that's impossible
for them to defend.
So then of course the Vikingsjumped off sides because they
thought we were running a play.
And it's the opposite for mostteams, where, you watch football
games and they line up on fourthdown.
They don't even look likethey're running a play.
They don't even look likethey're running a real
formation.
They just come up, they give ahard count, they're trying to

(36:56):
get somebody to jump off sides,they either call a timeout or
take the delay of the game.
That's not what happens inDetroit.
That's not how things work.
We line up to run a play.
Everyone on the field thought wewere running a play, we go for
the hard count, and it wasalmost too easy.

Do you think they were going to run a play?

Jacob (37:15):
It didn't look like it.
The play clock was running down,it didn't look like they were
going to run a play.
And I don't know, we still hadtimeouts, I think maybe we had
that timeout in our pocket andthen we were going to run a
play?
But definitely, I mean, that, bythe design, they were trying to
make them jump off sides.

I, that was next to me talking, I was like, they
can't be thinking about goingfor it.
And I said, they, kicking afield goal, get some up three
scores just too risky.
I was like, they gotta be tryingto draw them off sides.
The thing that makes them drawthem off sides is the fact that
we do go for it.
So often, and Dan Campbell isalmost say unpredictable and

(37:56):
they could sell it.
right.
Other teams try to sell it, butthey don't have the guts to go
for it.
we did in the Packers game toseal that game and run it all
the way down and get the kick.
Dan Campbell.
I mean, they get those callsearly in the season, whether
they work out or not, help setup this play and gave us the

(38:17):
first down without even riskinganything without even running
the play.
They gave us that first down andtherefore we go and score and do
what we need to do.
I'm not saying that you just gofor everything and then you're
unpredictable, but all thatstuff that Dan Campbell's made
decisions he's made early in theyear, help set up a play like
that.
And that's going to happen againin the playoffs and the stakes

(38:40):
get bigger.
Dan Campbell's gonna have thestones to go for it or to do
something like that.
And Jared Goff is so good.
He's not the best heart countquarterback.
Aaron Rodgers is probably thebest hardcore, at least he was,
he always, he just would getpeople to jump off sides.
I hate to praise him, but I'mgoing to in this case, but

(39:03):
Jerichoff,

Jacob (39:04):
How dare you mention him on this episode?

I know everything that that they've done, that Dan
Campbell's done and built hereled to being able to draw them
off sides.
So you could sit here and argue,we go for too often, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
What makes us unpredictable.
us so hard to defend.
And in that case gave us a freefirst down.

Jacob (39:26):
In your opinion, I mean, I know we do this too much
anyway, but would you have beenupset if we went for it there
and didn't get it?
I mean, we're on their six yardline and that's fourth and two
were on their six yard line andwe're up 24 to nine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

is it 24?
Yeah.
I don't know if I'd have beenupset because I just know that
we probably could have got thatregardless.
I would have said this is a timewhere we kick the field goal is
up to me.
But I would have done exactlywhat they did line up, what do
you got to lose?
Even if we take a delay again,penalty, we don't want to use a

(40:03):
timeout or whatever, you're onthe 11 yard line now worried
about leg with Jake Bates,obviously from that distance.
So he had nothing to lose andeverything to gain.
And, even if we do a false startor whatever, still no farm, no
fall.
We're going to kick the fieldgoal, go up three scores, still
win that game.
but.

(40:24):
I mean, if he'd have went forit, I would have not been
shocked.
But it played out the way itneeded to play out, for me, but
he's lining up, he's ready to gofor it.
And if anything would have beenin spite to show Kevin O'Connell
this is how you do it.
This is

Jacob (40:38):
Yeah, they're not like us.

no, no one's like us.
And.
Anyone that would try to copystyle, it's why, for the years,
Patriots way, it didn't work forother teams cause they didn't
have ever, it wasn't built acertain way.
You're going to have to getcertain players, certain built
and everything to build from thelion's way.
And there's only one DanCampbell.

(41:03):
There really is.
So trying to replicate that'sgoing to be impossible.

Jacob (41:08):
I saw a video of some Vikings fans and they're, live
streaming or watching the gameand it might've been a play
where Terry on knocked the balllike it was fourth down and they
were just so mad.
And the one guy was like, you'renot Dan Campbell.
What are we doing?
We should have taken the points.
I love it.

Yes, is so great watching fan reaction videos.
Much like defense stopping themin the red zone, our offense
went to work in the red zone.
Three for three, touchdowns,difference in the game, right?
I mean, they, we stopped them onthe red zone and we scored.
It's a great recipe because theother recipe is to win the

(41:46):
turnover battle and we didn'twin that.
We didn't win that yesterday.
If you're not counting turnoveron downs.
And the

Jacob (41:54):
Which they don't.

official statistic, but I mean, you're
essentially are taking thepossession away from them.
Not only did we have a turnover,we had a turnover at the five
yard line on that tip pass thatgolf through.
That could have been huge forthem.
And then our defense came outand said, we're not going to let
you score and that's that was ahuge momentum swift back to
Detroit as opposed to a quickscore for them, we kept them.

(42:20):
I think that one, did they getthe field goal or did they not
get an effort down on that one

Jacob (42:26):
They did get the field goal on that one.

how did they?
Okay.

Jacob (42:29):
Yep.

All right.

Jacob (42:32):
incomplete passes inside the, from the seven yard line
and then they kicked the fieldgoal,

Okay.

Jacob (42:37):
but yeah, it was funny because the Vikings they had
their own ball don't lie moment

of the

Jacob (42:41):
we had that play where golf was in the end zone and

a two

Jacob (42:44):
he had Brock right and he had Gibbs right there, but he,
was under pressure and was justtrying to kill it.

what

Jacob (42:49):
then they got together and talked about if that was
intentional grounding.
Obviously, you didn't hear itbecause you were there, but
then, they've got whatever rulesanalyst or whatever that was on.
He was like, yes, this is thisshould have been a penalty.
The receiver they called in thearea was Brock Wright, but Brock
Wright's turned around blockingand Goff doesn't throw it
anywhere near him.
He's just trying to kill it.
So they're like, yes, thatshould have been called a

(43:11):
safety.
They let that go.
And then it was like two playslater, they get this tip ball
interception.

Yeah, little Rashid Wallace ball.
Don't lie.
But, and then they, what'sironic is they got a,
intentional grounding penaltylater on when Darnell was
clearly throwing it away, heshould have had to was, I think
the receiver threw the wrong,ran the wrong route, but I've

Jacob (43:32):
Right.

intentional grounding before.
Maybe not so much this season,but last season when there was
throwing that flag a lot.
And, it's like one of thosechoice routes there.
Donald thought the receiver isgoing to go deep.
He cuts it off, but he throws itout and there's no one within 20
yards of throw.
They could have easily caughtthat.
Intense sort of grounding.

Jacob (43:50):
Yeah.
By rule, that's supposed to beintentional grounding.
They did not call it.
Dan Campbell wasn't happy aboutit.

That's what I saw.
And that's what other peopletold me that, that Dave
Campbell's live it on thesideline about them.
How, all right, we're in theoffense, right?
We've been talking this long.
We haven't mentioned JameerGibbs.
go ahead and mention JameerGibbs.

Jacob (44:13):
Jameer Gibbs, man.
He just continues to be aproblem.
I think that Cam Bynum mustreally hate Gibbs now, because
he's on the wrong end of almostevery big run that Jawa has
against Minnesota.
Almost every single one, you seeCam Bynum over pursue, or get
juked out of his shoes.
Gibbs got popped really good byVan Ginkle though, and I thought
the worst for a few minutes, andI think that affected him the

(44:35):
rest of the game.
But you know, he still went off,four total touchdowns he breaks
the Detroit Lions touchdownrecord.
Set by Jamal Williams just a fewseasons ago.
And, the offense is just runningthrough him.

It's very similar to how last year came.
I know that this year isdifferent because Dave
Montgomery's hurt, but it feltlike Gibbs was coming on into
the playoffs and we leaned onhim in the playoffs.
And I think it's setting up tobe the same way.
Now we may get Dave Montgomeryback for.
The divisional series we'll see,and that'd be awesome.
But make no bones about it.

(45:10):
Jamir Gibbs is the breakoutplayer.
He is the game changer.
He could, and he did it, again,multiple runs like that first
touchdown.
Awesome.
I mean, he just broke tackles,made people look stupid.
Runs to that corner, that endzone.
He's just faster than everybodyelse.
That long run.
He had the 47 yarder.

(45:30):
Oh man.
I just want to have that momentback and have him beat that guy.
Just so the crowd reaction, Ijust gives me goosebumps to even
think about it.
So I, it was awesome.
And then the wheel route orwhatever, dig route or whatever
you want to call it, where onthe fourth down play, where he
just ran, he got held on thatplay too.
The linebacker totally justgrabs his shoulder and they

(45:52):
didn't call it.
Cause Gibbs caught it, but itwould have, have been a penalty
because he knew he was beatGibbs.
It's just put his foot in thedirt and cut right up in the
middle.
There was no one there and theygrab his shoulder, but Jameer
just fought through it andcaught it.
And that play is just sounstoppable.
You got to they thought Jameerwas going to go on the flat and

(46:14):
he just put his foot in the dirtand just cut right up in the
middle to an open part of thefield.
It's really hard to stop thatplay.
And.
run that on fourth down beforein the red zone.
I think it was a Packers game.
They ran that we were closer tothe end zone.
I think we were like on the twoor three.
This one was a little furtherback, but yeah, Gibbs just makes
people look silly and

Jacob (46:35):
yeah, I think that was on Van Ginkle too.
I mean, how do you expect thelinebacker to be able to cut
with Jamir Gibbs and getoutfield?
It's just, he has to grab on fora second, which is funny because
then he kind of just let him go.
And then Gibbs caught the ballwhen he catches it.
I think he's still four or fiveyards away.
And Linebacker didn't even try.
He just did one of those thingswhere you like, turn around,

(46:56):
there's no safety or anybody tohelp you, and you know you just
gave up a touchdown.

Yep.
Yeah.
He had nothing.
Um, Gibbs broke the lion'stouchdown record, but he leads
the NFL in touchdowns this year,20 touchdowns, which is so crazy
to think because from vastmajority of the season, he's
splitting refs with DaveMontgomery.
If he was the main back, I can'timagine what he'd be able to do.

Jacob (47:23):
I mean, we know what he's capable of, but I mean, the
level that he's been playing at,and, Saquon leads in yards, but
Saquon also has a hundred moreattempts than he does, I think
we have a good thing going,right?
I mean, you don't want him tohave 350, 400 carriers a year.
Cause then that's, it's takenseasons or games off of his
career in the long run.

I mean, you want them strong for this time of the
year, right?
And now we're going to have thisextra week of break.
They're going to get, two weeksoff.
It's just going to make himstronger because in this game,
you could definitely tell thedifference between first half
and second half, as far as.
The domination of Jamir Gibbsrunning the ball, they, the
defenders started to get reallytired.

(48:01):
We were teeing off on our blocksand it just, we just dominated
it.
We were, we took their will awayin the second half of the third
quarter.
And then all of the fourthquarter, that offensive line and
the offense in general just tookthe defense's will away.
And that's a good defense.
And they played really well inthe first half for the Vikings,
but we were just too much forthem.

(48:25):
I can't.
Not mention this guy, CraigReynolds.
Don't sleep on Craig.
It carries for 39 yards.
He averaged almost five yards ofcarry.
played really well when weneeded him.
When we needed to give Gibbs aspell, Craig came in and was
very good.

Jacob (48:41):
I always count on Craig to be ready to go whenever you
call his number.

Yeah.
I.
It's a shame that when Democomes back that Craig will get
less touches, but he's kept theship afloat while Demo's been
out.
Just giving Gibbs, just enoughrest that Gibbs can, do what he
needs to do on the field.

Jacob (49:01):
Yeah.
I mean, he came in on a coupleof short yardage situations and
I mean, he was letting hisblocks develop.
He was hitting the holes whenthe time was right.
He, he played a pretty goodgame.

He's been very patient.
With his runs I've seen, and Ireally liked that, he lets the
blocks develop and, he takeswhat they're going to give him.
He doesn't try to overcreate.
He just doesn't get fancy.
He's I'm going to get my four orfive yards and, just keep us
ahead of the sticks.
And I'm sure that's what theytold him.
Craig, this is what we need youto do.
Keep the six moving.

(49:31):
And that's what We don't needyou to get 70 air plays.
We don't need you to get 30 airplays.
We'd like them, but we don'tneed that.

Jacob (49:38):
Yeah.

what they're going to give you.
Jared Goff probably had a downnight as far as statistically,
but he made some throws.
I mean, clutch throws thatfourth down throw to Jameson
Williams over the middle whilehe's got a free runner coming
right at him, hitting him, justgave him solid hit.

(50:02):
And he just delivered that ballto JMO.
Got the first down.
This is difference between himand Darnold.
Jared Goff had composure and wasable to deliver in big
situations and Darnold was not.

Jacob (50:16):
Yes, Goff had another one too went to Amun Ra, where it
was like he had a linebacker infront, there's a corner on Amun
Ra, he knows there's a blitzercoming in, stands in, throws it
where he's supposed to, and AmunRa, Mr.
Reliable is able to catch it.
Amun Ra, JMO, Laporta, they allhad a couple big plays.
They all came up where theyneeded to.
I had a question for you though,how did you feel about the

(50:37):
interception that Goff, when hejust chucked it deep into double
coverage?
How I mean, it didn't feel likeit was necessary, I'm sure they
wanted to try to take a shot,but JMO didn't have them beat,
it's double coverage, did youthink that Stafford was back
there for a second?

that's what I was gonna say.
That is a Stafford throw, but itwasn't third down.
The arm punt I'm confused aboutthe whole situation.
It's very uncharacteristic ofJared to just throw it up like
that.
So it's, it makes me questionwhether he thought JMO was going
to do something else, but therewas, A deep safety back there.
So I don't know, he just kind ofjust like flung it up there.

(51:15):
That was, I was more upset aboutthat one than I was the other
one that got tipped because thatone was just play on the
defense, whereas this one, hejust kind of gave the ball up
and yeah, I was confused.
What did you think about that?

Jacob (51:30):
I didn't get it at all.
I don't know if he just didn'tsee the safety.
I mean.
It hurt because it was like,that was at a moment where we
really needed to have at least along drive.
We had stopped them on FourthDown.
We needed to get a decent drivetogether.
We were starting, inside ourfive yard line.
So for us to just chuck it deepand give it right back to them
at the 50 was like, what are wedoing?

Yeah, that was a frustrating part that we Just
defense had just gotten off thefield on a tough stop.
I guess I should have lookedthis up before I started, but
the average starting fieldposition to be wildly in favor
of the Vikings because we wereconstantly starting, stopping
them and forth down twice insidethe five yard line.
And we had some punts that were.

(52:13):
It took us inside the 20 but theVikings started on the five yard
line or seven yard line once.
And then we gave them that ballat the 50.
It seemed like they werestarting a very good field
position.
They couldn't do anything withit.
We were starting in bad fieldposition, as.

Jacob (52:28):
drive that they didn't start at their own 30 or behind
were field goals when theystarted on our seven that led to
a field goal, they started ontheir own 42, that was a field
goal.
They started on their own 46.
That was a field goal, which Ithink their own 42 was another
one.
That was that was when we wentfor it on fourth down and didn't
get it.

And that, that would have been a completion,
but it got tipped on the line.
I mean, they, the receiver waswide open on that one, but,
unfortunately it.
got tipped You mentioned aplayer that I wanted to talk a
little bit about Sam Laporta hada he's been coming on lately.
We talked about him in the mostrecent podcast.
He's got to prove vital in theplayoffs.
I know this.

(53:07):
I just have this feeling thathe's going to make huge first
out catch after huge first outcatch and he's going to move the
sticks.
You may not be a touchdownmachine, but he is going to
provide A big catch in theplayoffs.
I know it's going to happen.
just see it coming.
We keep giving him the ball moreand more.

(53:27):
Just, this is, mark my words.
Sam Laporte is going to have areally good playoffs.

Jacob (53:32):
Yes, I mean, he's just a reliable target and then, a
couple of these plays aredesigned to him.
A couple of them are checkdowns, but seven targets, seven
catches and you're right.
The last, I think three or fourweeks, he's just been playing at
a, a really high level.

I think golf is getting back to trusting him,
looking for him.
And then when you get into theplayoffs, you're going to have
these teams looking to take awaypeople.
And they're not going to haveenough people to take away
everybody.
And I think at some pointthey're going to say, we're
going to leave Sam, one on oneand Sam is the type of player
that will win one on ones.
And he hasn't had a lot of yakthis year.

(54:09):
He's been seen to get tackled.
When he catches the ball lastyear, he was getting a lot of
yards after catch.
I'm hoping that happens in theplayoffs, but regardless of it
happens or not, Sam Laporta is areliable person.
He's going to catch third andfourth downs and get the first
down and it's going to happenthis playoff.
What else do you want to talkabout in the offense?

(54:32):
Anything else?

Jacob (54:33):
I think I've touched on everything, man.
I mean, solid play by theoffensive line, another tough
game, tough defense, and we wereable to move the ball, scored 30
points against him again.

I know it was awesome.
It didn't look like it was goingto happen.
Early on with the score being solow at halftime, 10 to six, but
you know, we ended up putting 30points on Flores again.
All is right with the world.
Love it.
Let's talk about our greatguarantees.
You pick the over.
Obviously we didn't hit that anight.
I'm going to offer 10 pluscatches.
The offense was kind of stalledin the first half and that

(55:04):
didn't allow it, but I'm goingto try his darndest to get the
10 catches just didn't happen.
I want to ask you a questionabout the fumble that happened
that didn't happen where Fildorknocked the ball out on Justin
Jefferson they didn't rule it afumble.
Number one, do you think it's afumble?

(55:25):
number two, if you don't thinkit's a fumble, do you think it
should have been a fumble?
Do you think a play like thatshould be called a fumble?

Jacob (55:32):
It's interesting about whether I think that it should
because by rule right now itdefinitely wasn't.
Cause they've got the wholerule.
You gotta have two steps and afootball move.
You got to tuck the ball.
You got to turn out field.
You have to have legitimatepossession for it to be a
fumble, but you know, if youtake two steps like that in the

(55:52):
end zone and then the ball getsloose, then it's a touchdown.
So I don't understand the rulingor the reasoning behind all of
that.
But, watching it live, Idefinitely thought, okay, that's
a fumble.
But then as soon as I saw thereplay, I knew there's no way
that they're going to let thatstand.
It just happened too quick.
As soon as he tucks the ball, hedoes just get that second step
down and then they punch theball out.

(56:13):
I think going forward, itprobably needs to stay the same
way that it is that you need toactually establish that you have
possession of the ball beforeit's considered a fumble.
How do you feel about that?

Just watching it.
I mean, I understand why theycalled it the way they called
it, but I just don't like that.
He clearly has possession.
He tucks the ball away.
And I think as soon as you tuckthe ball away, you're a runner
and that should be a, that's afumble.
I, there are some plays that arereally close.
And I don't think it has, itshould have anything to do about

(56:45):
a football move or anything likethat.
To me, you have that ball firmlytucked in your arms, you have
caught the ball at that point.
And if you punch it out, that'sa fumble in the play like that.
Now, there might be plays wherepeople are in the air or there's
multiple bodies that's hard tosee.
To me, under, I think it was theright call on the field.

(57:06):
Let me just be clear.
However.
I don't like that.
I think that's a fumble.
Amun Ra had a play similar inthe Buffalo game.
I think he took an extra stepand that's why they called that
one a fumble.
Vildor made a great play and Idon't think it should be
rewarded with just an incompletepass.

(57:27):
I think he knocked that ballout.
And, cause Vildor, I mean, thatwas a heck of a punch out.
You see, as soon as he iswinding up, as soon as he sees,
Justin's got it.
He is winding that arm up.
He must've been talking to ameek cause

Jacob (57:41):
Yeah

that's the Carlton Davis move.
I didn't see Vildor doing thatbefore.
And he just like if that ballmade a perfect punch on the
ball.
So I don't, we're not going tocome to a resolution on that,
but I was just curious yourquestion.
My other rules question is delaya game.
What's your solution to thedelay of game?
I don't like the way it is rightnow.

(58:02):
I think it's too ambiguous, toostupid.
How would you do it?

Jacob (58:05):
It's not though, it shouldn't be.
The reason is that the refereesthat are on the field are
screwing that up.
I mean, it hits zero when ithits zero, if the ball is not
being snapped, it's supposed tobe delay a game.
It's supposed to be prettyeasily if the ball is not in the
motion of snapping when it hitszero, it's delay of game.
And somehow it's become ifthey're about to snap it or if

(58:25):
they almost got it or.
You should never have an extrasecond or sometimes two full
seconds to snap that when it'sat zero.
That's not, that's not what it'ssupposed to be for.
If it hits zero and the ball isnot in the process of being
snapped, then it should be overwith.
And they really later in thegame Anzalone, he had the one
where he jumped up the secondtime he jumped right across the
line of scrimmage.

(58:46):
It hit zero, he jumped rightacross the line and then they
had to sit and talk about it.
It was like, okay, are theygoing to call offsides on that?
Really?

I know Ed's alone.
He had enough of it.
And that's why he's I'm takingthis into my own hands.
I'm going to force them to makethis call.
I think it's stupid because whatthe rules people explain is
like, all right, they'rewatching the snap or they're
watching the clock.
And then if it hits zero, theycan look back at the ball.
And if it's not in the motion ofsnap, no, it should be like a

(59:15):
shot clock in the NBA.
As soon as it hits that, likeeverything lights up.
And if the ball's not snappedpenalty, I know he probably
talked about a lot on thebroadcast.
I know that he openly hates thedelay a game penalty.
Think it's so stupid.
They should be like some sort ofbuzzer or something that just
it.

(59:35):
And I think that how I would doit is you have timeouts left in
a delay, a game penalty happens,this is a penalty where you
could say the offense has chosento take a timeout instead of a
delay of game penalty.

Jacob (59:46):
Okay.

let them

Jacob (59:47):
Like a 10 second runoff thing.
Allow them to take a timeoutinstead of accepting the
penalty.

I would let, because there's so many times
that the coach is about to callit, or did he call it in time?
I would just take all that outof it.
And I would just say.
I would go to the head coach andbe like, you're getting a delay
of game penalty.
Do you want to use a timeoutinstead?
And just let them decide at thatpoint whether they want to use
the timeout or not.
But I would be hardline stanceit hit zero and you have not

(01:00:12):
snapped it.
Penalty.
It's too subjective if you'redoing this thing, cause some
referees will give it a fullsecond afterwards.
Some don't.
I mean, it's dumb.
It should be

Jacob (01:00:23):
That's not the actual rule though, right?
It's supposed to be if theball's not in the act of
snapping when it hits zero thatit's supposed to be delaying a
game.

Jason Harwood (01:00:29):
Yeah.
So I'm hoping next spring ornext fall when they were in
preseason that the they've madethis announcement that we're
going to hardline the delay agame and it's going to be at
zero.
We're going to call it.
You're going to see tons offlags for all the preseason
games and then it's fixed by theregular season and there's just
penalties sporadically or that'show I'd fix it.

Jacob (01:00:51):
I think they should have one referee on the field with an
Apple Watch.
And the Apple Watch is synced tothe play clock.
And as soon as it hits zero thewatch starts vibrating and
flashing and then they know.

Nope.

Jacob (01:01:01):
just keep an eye on it and ready for it.

here is how I fix it.
is a watch on the center's handand it's tied to the clock.
And if it doesn't, it sends anelectric shock through his hands
and he can't spike it.
It just freezes them rightthere.
And then the place then that's,and then that way the center
would have to snap it.
There would be no delay gamepenalties.

Jacob (01:01:21):
For fear of being tased.

yeah, it's like a dog that doesn't want to go
through an electric fence.
That's what it'd be like.
The center would be like, I gotto get rid of this ball.
I don't want to get shocked.

Jacob (01:01:30):
Be a lot of premature snaps.

Yeah, sorry.
You know about premature stuff,right?
All right, Jacob, I think we'vewrapped up this game, huge game.
I think this week, we obviouslyhave a buy the lines of earned a
buy, but here at talking grit,we didn't earn a buy.
We're going to talk about otherstuff this week.
I think we're going to record onThursday, release one on Friday.
Sounds like Morgan wants to joinus.

(01:01:52):
He's got tons of stuff to talkabout that he wants to get off
his mind.
We're going to.
Give them the platform for that.
And we'll have stuff to talkabout too.
So look forward to that later onthis week, we're going to let
you get, a couple of days todigest wind before we come back
and on the airwaves here.
So Jacob, I'm hoping my voice isback tomorrow.

Jacob (01:02:12):
I kinda like you not having a voice.

It,

Jacob (01:02:16):
You have to shut up a little more.

Yeah.
We're not even working togethertomorrow, so it doesn't matter
to you.
Maybe like by Wednesday when wework together, but anyways,
Jacob, I'm Jason, let's golions.

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E54: "Biting Re-Caps" - Playoff Ready: Lions Seal NFC North Victory; Lions vs Vikings

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}E54: "Biting Re-Caps" - Playoff Ready: Lions Seal NFC North Victory; Lions vs Vikings