Word of advice to anyone who goes out for Sunday lunch with family and they try to have a
conversation with you while the Detroit Lions are on the TV, just don’t go. I’m joking of course,
but there were many times where I just straight up wasn’t paying attention to anything other than
the game. And who could blame me, 21 points in the first quarter made for a wild game.

The Lions moved to 9-3 on the season to another late game thriller, beating the New Orleans
Saints 33-28. I am deeply concerned about Dan Campbell, not because of the inconsistencies
from both sides of the ball these past few games, but because of his neck veins that look like they
are about to rupture every time the camera pans to him. The Lions battled their way to the W,
and with a loss from the Philadelphia Eagles to the San Francisco 49ers, the NFC is getting more
shaken up by the day.

It looked like it could be a record setting day from the boys in blue, when David Montgomery
got the scoring started on the first drive with a 2-yard scamper to the corner of the endzone.
Thanks to a combination of Saints QB Derek Carr being trash, his receivers being even worse,
and Lions corner Brian Branch being the absolute dawg that he is, we got the ball back with
Branch’s interception. Three plays later, Jared Goff connected with Sam LaPorta for a 13-yard
TD. Next drive, AMon-Ra St. Brown took a ten yard checkdown pass an additional 20 to the
promised land and the Lions had 21 points with seven minutes left in the first quarter, unreal.

In the second quarter, Jimmy Graham got the Saints’ first score with a receiving touchdown.
That touchdown seemed to just reset the defense for the Lions and made them forget how to play
football, again. Riley Patterson nailed a kick through the uprights to put three on the board in
Detroit’s favor, closing the first half at 24-7.

Third quarter was all Saints, Alvin Kamara got chippy with Kerby Joseph after his touchdown
run. Taysom Hill put Saints on his back for the following drive in the redzone when he bulldozed
his way for a one yard rushing score. New Orleans was flirting with a score again, but myself
and every other Lions fan thanked their lucky stars when a muffed transfer caused a fumble
recovered by Detroit to send us to the fourth quarter.

In classic Ben Johnson fashion, Detroit does a double reverse trick play to get the ball in
Jameson Williams’ hands and he delivers with a massive high flying 19 yard touchdown run to
lengthen the lead. Jamo is so fast that when people see him run they’re like, “Man, that guy is
fast.” Time ticked away, but the Saints scored once again with Kamara on the one yard line.

The Lions closed it out with a big defensive stop, as well as the most athletic play from Jared
Goff that I have ever seen on 3rd and 9. Once again, I almost had a heart attack, but a win is a
win.

This game taught us one thing, no lead is safe with how inconsistent our defense has been.
We’re for sure not a team that I’m confident in going into playoffs, and to be honest, I’m not
confident in our abilities to win both games against the Minnesota Vikings. We finally did
something when getting more personnel with Bruce Irvin, who is a veteran presence and got a
sack this game, but another pass rusher is what we need.

An additional question that I had during this game too is, how stable is Jared GOff if we want to
be a Super Bowl contender? The guy can’t scramble, he falls down when the pocket collapses,
and I’m not confident if we get matched up against the 49ers or the Eagles, even in week 17
against the Dallas Cowboys I’m worried. Out third string QB Hendon Hooker is back from his
injury, and during his time with Tennessee in college he was in the Heisman contention before
his torn achilles.

I think that teams are starting to figure out Aidan HUtchinson as well. He’s in a slump, which
happens with a lot of guys in the NFL, but you can only do so many spin moves at the line before
the Quarterback gets the ball off. Not only that, but when you watch him next week look at the
way he runs, it’s like a guy trying to run in waist deep water.

My last thought about this game is to get Jameson Williams the ball more. He’s been producing
big plays in the last five games, and he has a touchdown in the last two. Utilize the speed that he
has a little more, and with the rushing touchdown he picked up, I think you can Ben Johnson get
a little more versatile in the playbook.

Our third division game is next week against the Chicago Bears in the windy city. I’m really
hoping that we can win this one handily to let me have some bode of confidence with the
toughest part of the conference coming up. But if not, I guess my constant state of stress is my
new life now, which is great.

The keys to a win are simple. All they have to do is keep Justin Fields contained in the pocket,
minimize Montez Sweat’s effect on the defense, keep an eye on Cole Kmet, and just clean up
basically everything that went wrong this week, which was everything. Seems easy enough,
right?

You know what they say, a sloppy win is better than a clean loss, and I’ll be happy as long we
put W’s in the column. Hopefully we get back on the winning streak, do the right things, and
keep us Lions fans happy. Continue sipping the blue Kool-aid, it tastes so good everytime.

 

Lions head to Chicago to take on the Bears this Sunday at 1:00pm. All Detroit Lion football games air on WBRN 1460am, 107.7fm, & 96.5fm.

The Lions are brought to you by Michigan ADAS Calibrations and Glass: when your windshield needs replacing, the experts at Michigan ADAS not only replace the glass, they also recalibrate the cameras your car depends on to keep you safe. Trust the expert at Michigan ADAS Calibrations.