Transcript of Packers-Lions Recap: The Next Great NFL Rivalry

On fourth down, Jared up under center, turns, gives it to Montgomery, gets the first down. Jared tripped as he came out from behind center, handed it to DEMO, just barely got it to him. He got the first down to the 14-yard line. You let that clock run now. Down to 30, and the packers can't stop it. Final play of the game, barring a penalty. Lyons going for the win. It's going to be Jake Bates from 35 yards out, left hash to try to win it for Detroit. There it is, box the hole kick away. It is up and it is good. These Detroit Lyons, you want to talk about grit. You want to talk about determination. You want to talk about resiliency. This team is all of those things. What a night for the Detroit Lions.

Hey, you want to talk about the number one seed in the NFC going through Detroit? We're one step closer to that being a reality after the Lions get a 34 to 31 victory in a fantastic Thursday night football game. That was Dan Miller and Loemis Brown on WXYT. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm in the garage, and when we got a big game, we need a big time guest and analyst for one of the best football nights of the year. We can only have Jordan Rodrieg. And we had to play two plays, Jordan, right off the top, because that told the story of a night when Dan Campbell and this lines team was not They're afraid of the moment. They go for it on fourth and 1 with under 40 seconds to go. They pick it up, and they get the game winner from Jake Bates.

I texted Greg Rosenthal in all caps, Dan Onion's Campbell. My God, what a great game. Let's go. That ruled. That ruled so much.

It did. Our great producer, Eric Roberts, is saying, Oh, the first half, I was wondering if this game was totally going to deliver. But a lot of times, great games are like that. There was the chess match early, and we'll get to everything that happened early, and they were feeling each other out. But I found that all fascinating because you're watching this game and you just know these are two of the seven or eight teams that could win the Super Bowl that are on the list where it's realistic, where you can imagine it. Now, the lions are right near the top of that list, and that decision to go for, let's start there on fourth and one. I don't think any other coach in the NFL is going there, but he does not want to give the ball back to Jordan Love, and he is not afraid of not picking that yard up, even though Jordan earlier in the second half, they set up a short packer's field goal by going for fourth and one inside their own 30. That play did not work out, but five times on this night, they went for a fourth down.

Two of them resulted in touch downs. Two others were converted, including including that last play. To me, it's just next-level thinking. Do you trust your defense, or do you know that you're an offensive team and confident that you can pick up one yard there and end the game?

Well, it's true to who they are. I mean, listen, man, and I know I sounded like Dan Campbell there. I've been working on that. Listen, man. Listen, man. Sounds great coming from you, Greg. The ethos of who they are. I mean, this is who this team is. You saw on the Amazon Prime broadcast, you saw the close-up shot of Dan Campbell, and his jaw was set and his eyes were dead inside, and he was ready to go. And then Alan Kirk on the broadcast were sitting, Oh, yeah, they're going to try to get him to jump, right? And everybody in the audience at home, I am certain, was like, They're going to freaking go for it right here, if only to kill Clock and to set up the field goal in a little chip shot a little bit further away than that, but an easier field goal for Jake Bates, who has been nails all season since they picked him up earlier this summer. And it is just so cool to see a team be who it is, and you can't do anything about it. And the packers did, I think, just about... There's a couple of little nitpicks six were going to have, just about everything they could.

I just hit my own microphone. I'm so heckin fired up. They did everything they possibly could. This is who the lions are. And part of me, too, was relishing that short yardage, fourth down, and that fourth and one. Almost unnecessary, depending on who you ask. But if you're Dan Campbell, if you're the lions, that is necessary because Jordan Love was starting to heat up on the other side, executing some beautiful throws late in the game, keeping the Green Bay packers in it, keeping it tight, taking a couple of leads. And Dan Campbell, I feel like almost a part of him, and I want to believe this, went for it there almost because they failed on the previous one. He's like, I I want everyone, all the talking heads on the shows tomorrow morning to shut the hell up because we're going to get this one.

I do not think Campbell thinks that, but I do think he thinks about what it says to the team that this is who we are and we're going to keep doing this. But I think he is so good at game management because he plays to the strengths. And he knows that the packers scored every single one of those 31 points, Jordan, in the previous six drives. So that's 31 points in six drives. That's four touch downs and a field goal. The lines were able to force the packers to kick a field goal with about three minutes and 40 seconds to go. And that almost felt like a death sentence. The lines are so good on offense that you thought, oh, them tying it at 31 with under four to go, I just bet they're going to kill the clock and kick a field goal. And that is what happened. But before that, it was four straight touch downs by the packers. The lines defense, which I thought was really in this game, and they're so shorthanded and started out really well. And they picked the team up early when the offense actually wasn't amazing. They punted a couple of times, and Goff had that interception in their first six drives.

It's a team game. It's complementary, and Dan Campbell knows who can complement it. Now, let's just back up a second in that drive, because I say it, it felt like a fata complete, it's going to happen, but there's multiple moments where they got to go make it happen. It's He's third and nine, and you get Jamir Gibbs, who, as a receiver, is such a difference maker. He caught that fourth down for a TD. You got to pick up that third and nine, or you have another really difficult fourth down decision, or you're kicking a field goal with a ton of time left. Of course, they pick it up. You have second and 17 after a questionable holding call. And it's just like, they'll probably pick up the second in 17. But you can't take it for granted. Jared Goff is just so awesome throwing it over the middle on those in breakers. He gets 16 yards. That was to St. Brown, right? They're just short of fourth down, and they were a little up and down in short yardage on third downs for most of the night, and that set up the big decision. But all the credit goes to Goff, too, for other than the interception, I think, playing a fantastic game.

And him and the lines being able to execute in those huge moments.

Yes, he ended the game on a 13-pass heater. Talk about clutch.

I mean, after that- Wait, no incompletions, you mean in 13 in a row?

Correct, Yeah. Oh, wow. No misses. And to Amun Ra Saint-Brown, of course, on one of those in-breakers, those digs that the packers, for some reason, could not cover all night. And they were doing a hell of a job, the packers were, I think, against this Lion's offense. They were getting a ton of penetration up front. They were winning the line of scrimmage a lot. They forced the Lion's to go into their screen game. We'll talk about some of the moves and counter moves in a second. But after that interception, Jared Goff settled in so well, in part because Ben Johnson and he got in their bag on some of these misdirection plays, some of the screens, some of the quick passes, some of the different things that settle a quarterback down. And then he started heating up And he was so confident. And even on that handoff on the fourth and one, he falls down because he gets stepped on, and he still gets the handoff to the back. Oh, my gosh. And you're having a heart attack watching it because you're like, this gangly creature is just flying all over the dang backfield because he gets stepped on.

And it still works out because this is a tough team. They are tough-minded. They embody their head coach. They embody their city. They embody each other. They trust each other. That was clear up and down, even in the clutch moments that they had to execute on that last drive in the calls that their head coach made situationally. It just is so clear this team absolutely knows who it is and what it can accomplish. This is the sixth one possession game. They have won this season. That is the third most in the NFL. And a lot of it has come down to having the confidence because they've blown some teams out. But a lot of it, too, has come down to having the confidence to just suffocate the opponent and squeeze out these late drives.

Yeah, you sent that stat to me. I was really surprised because you think the Lions have so many blowouts, and they do, but they've won so many games at this point that more than half their games have been one-score games. They lost that one to the Bucks where it was a weird game where they almost doubled them in yardage, and then they've won all the rest of them. Let's hear from Dan Campbell on that fourth down decision.

I felt like we needed to end it on offense, and I did not want to get that ball back, and I believe we could get that. I believe we could convert. And I trusted that old line.

I trusted David, and they came through for it since a hell of a call by Ben.

It just I knew how I wanted to play this game. The team knew it, and everything in me told me to, Let's finish this.

And so we did. I love how he talks after these things, after It's almost like he's pleading. I don't know why his tone is like that because we all are in, man.

I don't think he's pleading.

No, I'm saying his tone. I'm not saying he is doing that. I'm saying his tone is like that urging, that... You know You know what I mean? It's almost like taking so much out of him just to complete the sentences because of how much the game took out of him. It's very earnest, I would say. Every time, we're used to it now for several years, and you don't really quite get used to it because you don't hear coaches talk like that after games.

I read it more as, like you just said, he has put everything into this game, and then he just spoke to his team after It's almost all out of it. It's taking everything of him to even put himself back in those moments to explain where it is. I love it. It's so human. It's firing me up. I think I need to take off my embarrassing winter coat that I'm wearing in the garage still and get comfortable for the rest of the show. Let's actually listen to another fourth down call. While we're thinking about fourth down calls, I want to to back it up, actually, to the first fourth down call, the first fourth down, countdown. It's Jared Goff finding Jamir Gibbs. This is in the first half. To end it, it's at a 10-7 score. It's basically a seven-point play. It's going to change how you feel about the end of the first half.

Goff is going to work out of the gun. He's got Gibbs to his right. Jerry takes the snapback, looking, throwing, head zone, caught, touched down, Detroit Lion. You can't cover that man. Damn. Jameer Gibbs on the receiving end. What a sick route that time. Error route. Error route, man. Oh, my. You got a guy like Jameer Gibbs that can stick his foot in the ground the way he does and come out of his break. There's no linebacker can cover him.

That is such an awesome play call. Also an awesome job by me knowing how embarrassing it would be to take off the coat during the podcast. This is how I know the game is slowing down for me. I'm like, I need a It was a highlight to take it off because it was embarrassing. But that play gets to Ben Johnson's brilliance. There were so many moments, Jordan, where he isolated on just the got to have it type of plays, whether it was Tim Patrick on an inbreaker, on an inbreaker, on an inbreaker, Another fourth down call, whether it was Gibbs there, whether it was Gibbs on that third down. Even the very first third down of the game, I'm thinking how he got Amon Ross, St. Brown matched up on Javan Bullard, the packer's safety. It wasn't perfect because the packer's defense It was out there, too, and they were getting pressure, and they did a lot of good things. But on the biggest plays of the game, they were getting the guys they wanted and they executed. And it really speaks to me of how great this backfield is, because we just said how great Montgomery is and how much faith...

His success rate tonight was outstanding. It was well over 50 %. Gibbs's was terrible, actually. Gibbs did not run the ball well, but Gibbs, in the passing game, was everything, had some of the biggest plays in the game.

Yeah, it was impressive to watch the adjustments in this game. Tim Tim Patrick, by the way, two touch downs tonight after going over a thousand days since his last touch down. I've said this before. I think I've said this to you, too. What a love match between Tim Patrick and the Detroit. What a perfect fit between Tim Patrick and the Detroit Alliance. He does everything well that they want, that they need from him to do, and they reward him for it. And this was cool. And it was cool to watch him getting the two game balls and how hyped up he was. And what a cool moment for him after those injuries and then the team change and all of that. But I loved the coaching in this game for both sides of the ball. I questioned a couple of Matt LaFleur's decision making. There was a delay he took in the third quarter that was a punt. The recommendation for that was to go, but we can nitpick over those things. I really thought that the coordinators and the play callers in this game, and minus even taking out because we've talked a lot about the situational stuff, but taking that out for a second, I thought the adjustments making the most of the players that they had, adjusting extremely quickly, not just half to half, but drive to drive.

And we can go deeper in on this in a minute. But I was so impressed by Jeff Hathley with Green Bay. I was impressed by the game that Matt Lafleur called in the way he adjusted. Situational stuff aside, and we can nitpick till the cows come home either side of the ball. But I was impressed with it with the coaching there. I was really impressed with Aaron Glenn. I always am because he's done a hell of a job this year, but they are decimated, just over a dozen players to injury. They lost Aline McNeill to a concussion or a potential... They're calling it a head injury, but he was in the concussion protocol earlier in the game. They lost him, which is obviously huge because the interior of their defensive line is already decimated. The exterior of their defensive line is decimated. Jonathon Williams, who was just in LA last week, and I said, Hey to him in the hallway, is there now starting for them, playing for the meaningful snaps for them off the practice squad?

To stop you there, just on participation in the very first drive of the game for the packer, so essentially starting, Kwan Alexander is out there. I'm like, Wait, he's on the lines? I honestly didn't know. Kwan Alexander is out there. Jamal Adams is out there, who just came in this week. Jona Williams is out there, who was just in Los Angeles. And then, yeah, you mentioned Aline McNeill goes out. Brian Branch went out in the second half of this game.

Looked like just cramps, though, which is good.

They've had to overcome so much. And the guys that were making plays for them, like Pat O'Connor was actually... It was like a big factor. He had a huge game. Getting some pressures. They needed their defense to just get a couple stops to let their offense win the game. Sometimes it comes early, sometimes it comes late. For them, it came early. By the second half, and you can talk about the adjustments the packers made, the packers had basically figured them out. But they did get enough stops early while the lines offense wasn't humming, and they did force a turnover, Carlton Davis with a nice play on a Christian Watson catch. You had a great night otherwise. They did enough. And that's what winning in the NFL, and that's what's so impressive. I love a team full of just... It's okay to have excellence, maybe. Maybe they won't make it to the Super Bowl. For this regular season, though, they are an example of excellence, and I like that being rewarded.

That could have been huge, too, because after that, the lines only got three points out of that fumble recovery on the other side. That was when the packers defense, I think, was at their peak right there, forcing the Lions into their A minus and B plus plans for a minute there before that game ending drive. What I really loved about... I'm going to start with what Ben Johnson did with his opening script. I I am always such a huge fan of how he... So for listeners who might not know, the opening script, most teams, most offensive coordinators or offensive play callers on the team, they'll use a 10 to 15 play sequence, and they will basically organize that play sheet seating that manner. It's not necessarily intended to react to what a defense is doing, but to assert looks on a defense, to force the defense to react to you in certain ways. If it goes as planned, you can get some answers as to how defenses will react to certain looks that you show, especially pre-snap, especially what you do with motion. A lot of times, because it is such an assertive plan and you're doing different things, teams that are good can score on that opener and then forces the defense to then go to its reaction plan versus play-by-play reaction.

But what I love what Ben Johnson does with his script is he does freaking everything with that thing, man. He'll cluster the two tight ends together and motion one across the stack and then bring them back and then motion one on an exit outside and then bring them back, and then they run the ball in duo. Or he'll have an eye formation, which he opened, or he'll exit motion, I'm on raw, on different sides of the stack to the outside each time to see which defenders move, or they'll hard count, or they'll change the cadence, they'll change the speed of their motions. They do this all on what is a very balanced run past script. So instead of saying, a lot of times you'll see, Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. I want to see where our passing voids are because I want to get a quick lead to allow ourselves to stay in our A plus plan. They don't care because they know that they can run the hell out of the ball, too, and they need to understand where their run voids where they can create space and blocking structure within the run game as well.

So he does all of it. And you could see that on their opening drive, the packers defense had to react to a hundred different things just in that sequence of What, 10 dozen plays, whatever it was.

And they still got their countdown.

And they still got their countdown, which is what makes the lions so good, in my opinion, one of the many things, because they could then stay in their A plus plan. Now, bear with me, Greg, bear with me, listener, because I know I'm in geek out, freak out mode. So what I really, really loved then that the packers and Jeff Hathly did was he just really... That defensive line just got going. And they started really getting after Jared Goff. Jared Goff started getting under duress by their defensive line. But then also they were getting movement in the run game, too. They were getting penetration. They weren't just winning at the line of scrimage. They were getting into the backfield. Kenny Clark had a freaking phenomenal game in year nine, and he was in the backfield all the time.

Okay, so then- Him coming on there lately is one of the most important things that's happening to the backfield because he had about the worst six, seven game stretch of his entire career, I would say, to start this season. And you can see this building. It's coming each and every week because they need their stars to step up. Rasha and Gary also had a nice sack, which was big for them, too.

Yeah. And they were winning the line of scrimage. And yes, I know. And I got a couple of Blue Sky tweet posts at me or whatever it was. People saying, Well, we're missing a couple of linemen. Yes, I know. You They still have one of the best GD lines in the NFL minus.

And they got Kevin Zitler back. He left the game briefly, but he did come back. So they were only missing one. Let's calm down. Yes.

And it's still, I mean, God, Dan Skipper is still great, man. Look at him in the screen game. Then, Speaking of that, so those D-linements. So when they're getting penetration like that, and I'm gesturing, so if you're watching on YouTube, I'm sorry because I look like a psycho person right now, but they're moving north to south. Cook, Jordan. When they're getting penetration like that, when they're winning the line of scrimage, they're going north south. So what does Mad Scientist, Christian Bale in the big short, do on the freaking drum kit besides whaling Metallica? But he starts to move this defensive line side to side, right?

Wait a second. You can't just You can just call out Christian Bale from the Big Short and think anyone knows what you're talking about.

Ben Johnson reminds me of Christian Bale in the Big Short. Keep up, Greg.

We actually have a picture, Jordan. You didn't know this, but let's show that up on the screen. Continue We're walking while we show the Christian Bale picture. Ben Johnson. That's a little bit better. I can see it. Playing on the drums. I love that man.

Okay, so stay with me, guys. So they're moving north to south when they're penetrating in that way, right? But then now Ben Johnson says, okay, let me go I have page five in my playbook, and we're going to go screen game, right? So they start to deploy a wide variety of screens, screens that move to the outside, screens that I'm figuring out and investigating a little bit that do this cool thing where they look like a tunnel screen, but then they work their way up the seam, which is really cool. They start doing these things that basically extend their run game, but they also start moving in the pass game, the defensive line from side to side, so they can't get that penetration. They can't go north to south. And this game, Greg, was full of those little, I'll hit my mic again, drive to drive counter-adjustments that were so... It wasn't just like, Oh, you go in at halftime and you make adjustments and all that. It was drive to drive. When Jordan Love was getting the crap blitzed out him early in the game. The lions brought great pressure. Four of his five initial dropbacks, he faced a blitz.

He only completed two passes for 23 yards at that time. Matt Lafleur is like, All right, we're going to run seven consecutive times. It was All of these moves and counter moves, and it was just a master class in that type of coaching. We could take the situational stuff out and put it in another bucket, but that type of adjustment, understanding your personnel, understanding where you're limited, understanding moves and countermoves like that. I freaking loved this game for that reason.

I did, too.

My face is really red right now.

It's why these two coaching staffs are two of the six or seven best coaching staffs, whatever you want to put on it. There's a lot of great coaching staffs. Now, Well, Hefly, we're still learning about him, and I tried to come up with a comp for him. You could put him up. The best I could do is I was thinking of Michael Stilberg from A Serious Man, but also a great character actor. He was in Boardwalk Empire, but one of my favorite Coen Brothers movie. He reminds me a little of Hefly, and we're still learning about Hefly. As a big picture thought, I think Packers fans do have to wonder, not really about the coaching, but if you're going to go to the Super Bowl this year, you're now going to have to win three straight road games. Very difficult to do. You're probably going to have to beat the lions and or the eagles on the way to doing it. Probably both. Is this defense, even with the adjustments and everything, do they have enough to hang in games like that? If not, in tonight, I think they showed what the recipe needs to be.

Can your offense just be more special than the other offense? Can you win a game like this where you make fewer mistakes? Because the lions are probably going to be healthier and figure some things out defensively, and the eagles defense is fantastic. As good as the packer's offense is, and I think as improved as the packer's defense is because they do force turnovers and they're not a sieve like they were a year ago, are both of those sides good enough in the end? Maybe in a one-game sample, but man, it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard in that one-game sample, and it's going to be really hard to do a back-to-back weeks against these types of teams. I think it's a really good packer's team. I think nine and four is an appropriate record for this team. And Jordan Love made some throws in the second half of this game that cemented why he is on quarterback Island. They were just awesome, and they were able to hang in this game. But ultimately, they weren't quite special enough to even be a banged up Lion's team. So that's more just taking the step back, even though I think there's so many positive things to think about them looking forward.

Do you agree or disagree? Not really talking about the schemes and all that, but just on a bigger picture level.

I think because you are going to expect this defense to grow up with the coordinator this first-time defense I mean, he's been a defensive coordinator, obviously, in football. But in terms of the NFL, working with this staff, working with this personnel, fitting different personnel to the defense, I think the way that he brought this defensive line, and they themselves, the players, obviously deserve all the credit as well. But the way that he brought this line to life was striking to me because they were so active on a snap to snap basis. They were so active. And yes, you saw a combination of scheme, timing, and very gifted players on the Lion's side make these big plays happen in spurts and phases. But when you watch the way that they... It just They seemed so active the entire game to me. The Lion's offensive line just completely had their hands full. And then when they were, I will say, I really don't want anyone, and nobody will on this show, I know, but Jared Goff is not the same Jared Goff that we know from reputationally, and the Alan and Kirk just could not help but bring up on the broadcast tonight.

This dude is calm. He's collected. He works incredibly well under pressure. He really What had pressure, really got to him and flustered him on one possession, really. And then he recovered, and it was a team effort where he was leading the charge and leading the way, of course. But it was a group, a collective that is so clicking in sync, playing together, a four-wheel death machine that just understood how to just settle and get back on track with, like I said, some of that quick game.

Wasn't under pressure that much, though, in the end. Now, part of it is he gets rid of the ball so quickly. Correct.

But that There's one possession where Jeff Hathaway, I think, picked his spots incredibly well to dial up specific types of pressure that was going to get home or force to throw or his defensive backs made the play where they needed to, those types of things. I think that is extremely promising from this packers group. I think if they would have opened up understanding, yes, we really need to heat my quarterback up if you're Matt Lafleur. Yes, we got to heat him up, so we got to throw the ball a little bit. I get that. But if they opened up with that, we are going to try to run it down your throat against your battered defensive front versus some of the dropbacks that he took. I think if the adjustment had happened, I know it happened quick, and I'm praising that, but I think if that was the A plus plan versus, Oh, my God, we're down all of a sudden. What's our A plus plan? What's our B plan? I think that's where you maybe are seeing them go toe to toe a little bit earlier in the game. And then they ended up heating up and taking the lead in a couple of spots.

I think it was back and forth. It was back and forth. Good about this.

It was back and forth. It was so hard for one aspect of either team to get a foothold because I think like, oh, wow, Josh Jacobs ran really well in this game. They were efficient in the red zone when they got down there. He scored. He had some good runs. But the reality is, other than that first drive in the second quarter, the lines defense, as they've done all year, no matter who's on the field, did a pretty good job stopping the run in the rest of the second half. And it did take love making those throws. And packers fans who are listening, appreciate you because I hate listening to stuff if it pains me. For me, it's more Celtics, but I listen to a couple of Celtics podcast, especially Green with Ed and be a shout out to them. But if it's a painful loss, I'm not listening to that podcast. The packers fans will know, yeah, we're really banged up, too. We don't have Jair Alexander, who is the most important player in our secondary, along with Xavier McKinney. We lost Evan Williams, who, if you had a 10-person list for defensive rookie of the year, would be on it and is really important.

I think, did Javan Bullard go in and out of this game, too? I think he came back in. That's a lot, though. And you didn't have Romeo Dobbs in this game. So there are really important players for the packers that, especially in the secondary, Alexander is absolutely a difference maker, and they could have them back for a rematch. And there might be a rematch. Just, again, thinking big picture, and we can dive in a little more on this game, but again, thinking big picture, I love... Man, this This rivalry is awesome. This division is awesome. It's a delight. Because I think the defining Lion's game of the Dan Campbell era so far is still the week 18 win over the packers to knock Aaron Rodgers out of the playoffs in his final game as a packer when the Lion's had nothing to play for. That, to me, was everything this Lion's team is about. But it's gone back and forth. I was getting flashbacks tonight, Jordan. I don't know if you remember, the Lion's He lost in Detroit last year at home to the packers, in large part because they called a fake punt in their own end late in the game that the packers stopped and then scored on a short field and won.

And so when the lines went for that That's what we did last year. He got fourth and 1 and didn't get it and the packers took advantage, I guarantee you there were a lot of Lions fans were like, Oh, this is exactly like last year. The difference tonight being all night, Jared Goff in the Lyons offense responded right away. Anytime when he had the turnover, when they gave up a countdown, they responded right away with a really cold calculated drive. And that's what great teams do. But what a freaking... To use you, man, I'm now sounding like you just being around here. What a freaking cool rivalry this is, Lions, Packers. I hope we It's going to be a third one in the playoffs this year.

Yeah. Also something I noticed that's really cool. Did you wear a shacket underneath your giant jacket?

Oh, yeah. I was going three layers. Got it. It's cold in Los Angeles. There's no heat in there. We've talked so many about the lines so much in this podcast. Let's give some love to our guy, Jordan. Let's go to his- Holy cow, man.

That second half.

Let's go to his shutdown to Tucker Kraft in the first half. This was a big play in the game.

Love and the shotgun with a setback to his right. Third down and 10. Here's the snap. Lids on. The fire ends out. Tucker Kraft got it.Tuchdown.Tuchdown, Green Bay There you go. Oh, a tracer. A tracer from Jordan Love, and they beat Carlton Davis. Wow.

Great call there by Wayne Larravie on W-R-N-W. Just to correct myself, that was early in the third quarter to get on the board. Second half, big second half. Yeah, to make it 17, 14. And that was a drive where Love made a couple of beautiful throws. Really throughout the second half, he was absolutely nails.

Yeah. And his player showed up for him. There was a fumble earlier. That was Watson, who fumbled that earlier in the game. And he ended up making one of the more... I mean, the throw itself was just filthy sick. But then The catch that he made because the DB had two fingers on it, right? And the focus to catch it against his facemask a little bit down the field. I think that was a 26-yarder. That incredible- Yeah, the 59-yarder The 29 Yarder.

The 29 Yarder.

Earlier, that drive, too. The 29-yarder. The 29-yarder. Yeah, and the 29 Yarder with the focus on the catch. I just want to hear you go full, Greg, on this next one. The throw he made to Wix. I have it in my notes as the insane Cuby Island throw I go pocket collapsing in all caps. And then I have in parentheses, let Greg cook.

Why let me cook? Anyone could cook.

Because you were so excited about it. I loved it. It was fantastic.

It was amazing. That's everything you want in a quarterback right there. It's It's the pocket movement. It's the quick pressure by the lines on a blitz on a play. Jacobs did not pick up the blitz. And that's a play, the defense of coordinator one. And that's what separates the very good quarterbacks from the great ones, where he just can overcome a great defensive play call and a failure by his running back. He picked up his running back to slide in the pocket. And then while getting hit, while moving left as a right-handed and put that thing on the money to Watson. It was a great catch. There was no room to put that throw. It couldn't be, no offense to Kirk Cousins, it couldn't be one of those layered throws. You You throw in it, it's a touch pass. That is a very difficult intermediate throw where you have to put some of that tracer on it, too. And love is as physically gifted, I think it's fair to say, as any quarterback. I don't know if you want to say someone is more or not, but as a thrower of the football, he is so gifted.

Watson came through 4 for 114. He's playing really well lately, and that's just a special play. And that's why all three of us, me, you, and Steve, were texting at that point. I know. He was like, Okay, he made us proud. We made the right decision. Any dude making that freaking play needs to be on Cuby Island.

Yeah, and we'll just gloss right over the fact that we need to hold you to task for breaking the rules of the Riftide card, but we'll get to that in another time. The Hard in love. Also, what I really appreciated watching from him, they would cut to him on the sideline a lot. They would cut to him, close-ups of him underneath even his face, mask his helmet. He was so calm. I mean, he was fired up when they would make a play, but he was so calm. They got after him early. Aaron Glenn dialed up some nasty pressure against him, understanding that he entered the game with some of the worst stats against the Blitz in the League. They were improving over the last couple of weeks, but that was his resume to this point, and it worked, and they got after him. It was two passes of five dropbacks that came against the Blitz for 23 yards, like I said earlier, and they were the quick little dump off throws. And he finished. The lions still blitzed him at a 63% rate throughout the entire course of the game, which is insane. The league average is what?

That's crazy. Like, 28%, 26%?

Only a couple of teams are over 40 on the season. Yeah, that's an insane number.

That is insane, right? And he finished 9 for 14. So this is inclusive to the struggle that he started with. But he finished 9 for 14 with a shutdown, specifically against the Blitz. He settled. And that's again, that's a quarterback who, and Dan Campbell knew this. We circled back to it. He knew this when he was going for that fourth down call to ice the game out with the field goal is when Jordan Love heats up, good luck stopping him because he's going to make play after play Play after play, and you are in danger against that man.

And I do get a little worried about this Lyon secondary, even though they've been great all year and Joseph and Branch showed up at different moments. Tonight, Terry and Arnold has a couple of plays every game that rookie plays, very handsy, big penalty, gives up a big play. And it's tough. They actually, the first half of this game, because of the blitz and because of the scheme, I'm like, Man, their pass rush is better than when they had Aiden Hutchinson. They were struggling earlier this year. Now, I know they weren't blitzing like that, but they were making it happen. But they were victimized by the end of this game. And the margins, they're just so small. And I just was thinking, maybe the packers next year at this time, it's such Both of the young team, are just a little more ready. And all it comes down to is each team had a turnover. Each team went up and down the field. They were pretty good in the red zone. The packers punted three times, the lions punted twice. And the The reason the lions only punted twice in part, is because they went for those fourth downs.

Now, one of those that they didn't punt, they handed it right over. But another fourth down decision that was key was on their own 49 to set up another fourth down, touch down on the goal line. They kept possession that one little extra possession. And then the penalty on the packers when they were potentially going in with under five minutes to go. It was a good call. It was a pass interference on the offense, and that backed them up. And they weren't able to overcome that big penalty quite as easily as the lines were able to overcome a couple of bigger penalties. But it's just small margins. And the fact that only one team has Panay Sewell, offensive player of the year candidate, MVP candidate. Just give me some Sewell nerd before we get out of here.

When Tim Patrick scores his second countdown of the night, or no, excuse me, right before Tim Patrick scored his second countdown of the night, and Panay Sewell is lead blocking for Amunra Saint-Brown. I mean, talk about just two football dudes doing football. You can believe me. I'm sorry. But Panay Sewell is just hauling, just grading every road. It just reminds me of when you get the rainbow, you hit the rainbow card when you're playing Mario Kart, and all of a sudden you're like this Unstoppable force, and you could just drive through people and just bounce them out of your way. That's Panay Sewell, and I love that.

Yeah, he was great. He was great on the screens, as you mentioned. Shout out to Jamieson Williams just for Going 5 for 80. It's such a difference. He didn't use to run normal routes, frankly, until the very end of last year. He just had Jamieson Williams routes. The stuff you see with Xavier Worthing now in Kansas City or Nicole Hardman, it's like they're not really real wide receivers. And Jamison Williams is a big-time real wide receiver. Laporta active in this game. He's picked it up a little lately. Just one last play that I wanted to point out. It doesn't have to be the last play. We can talk more. But the play where Tucker Kraft got walloped. I think it was by Joseph and Arnold. I can't even remember. It was two players by the lines going down into the red zone. And I was just like, Oh, that was a hit. I mean, this whole game, they were physical. Both teams were so physical. It was awesome to watch. And then what do you call it that Kraft did to get off the ground, the 260-pound man?

Tucker Kraft weighs 260 pounds, probably closer to 280 in a full helmet and pads. And he is literally down after getting absolutely smacked by two defenders on that catch. He's down for less than half a second before he does a kip-up, which is basically an arch backward, and you push up with your hands and your shoulders, and you flip yourself up to a fully standing position. His knees didn't even buckle on that thing, man. He was just standing straight up from that kip-up. I was like, That's absurd. That's egregious.

That human being should not be able to do that. That played to find it because the whole game couldn't have been more like football guys, as you say, and doing football things and hitting, but then also incredible athleticism.

Yeah, showing you that they are the most extraordinary athletes. Yeah.

It's crazy when you think back to how good that tight-end class was a year ago. I mean, Kraft is right there with Laporte. Laporte is awesome, but Kraft has really come into his own in his second year. He showed flashes at the end of last year, but this young group for them is special.

It's a good tight ends night. It was a big night for the tight ends. They made some clutch plays. They were using them all across the blocking surface. Both teams were. Both teams had tight ends. It made crucial, crucial plays, catches, or spraying open blocks for them. I just thought it was super fun. This is peak. This division is just going to be like this for a minute, and I love that. And this put it all on display, everything it's capable of right now.

Yeah. And we'll get some more big games in this division, including the Vikings, playing both these teams. We're not going to see these two teams play each other again, but huge win for the Lions. You get to 12 and one. Oh, man, I don't want to just say football is back, but when you get to see records like, wow, a team in the NFL has 12 wins now, you know it, we're getting late in the year. But it was so important, Jordan, because they get a little extra rest, Detroit, just to spin it forward a little bit. Little extra rest before a game against the Bills next week. The Bills will be flying back from Los Angeles on Sunday night or Monday morning to Buffalo and then have to come back to Detroit. That's It's a nice advantage and helps them maybe heal up just a little bit, maybe get some of those defensive linemen like Pascal or Onru Zareke back. But you know what's crazy about that game, Jordan? It's a 4-25 game. Okay, that makes sense. But it's the only week of the season Week of the Season, where both networks have a double header.

Shout out to Jimmy Trena on si. Com who pointed this out. I wouldn't have known it. Only week of the season where both networks have a double header. So we have Steelers' Eagles, which is a great week, 15 game, opposite Bills and Lions. One's on Fox, one's on CBS. That right there is actually your best three hours of intense football, I think, all season to have those two games opposite each other. So I'm looking forward to that this season. And I love that the lines held on to the one seed. They're going to have to earn it if they're going to hold it all the way to the end because they still have the bills and the Vikings on their schedule.

It's all fun as crap from here, Greg. It just is. It freaking is, to quote me, quoting Dan Campbell.

Okay, we did it. You join me, Jordan, for the very first Thursday night football game of the season, kickoff between the Ravens and the Chiefs.We got Lamar.Another fun game. I like that we only give you the.

I only throw heat, Greg. I only throw heat.

Only the best for Jordan. Let's get out of here. Let's get her to sleep. She's got Ram's practice to get to in the morning. Awesome game. Only three Thursday night football games left. Jordan. That's crazy. Oh, man. When we've got Jordan's last TNF game of the year with us, you know football is back. We'll be back for the pics on Friday. See you then.