This is the Litterbox, a Detroit Lions podcast
with your hosts, Chad West and Bill Patterson.
Lions Litterbox listeners, we've got a preview
for you today. Lions Bears in Detroit at Ford
Field. And I think Along with everyone who listens,
I'm pretty sure we all know we need a little
comeback here this week. We need a little bounce
back to the norm. Lions are favored by six and
a half. Forty six and a half is the over under.
Six and a half is a large spread. I mean, the
Lions are going to get that three points for
being the home team. So the odds makers think
they're at least a three and a half pointer on
neutral field. We're at six and a half. Bill,
you got any take on this? What are your thoughts?
been listening to a lot of Chicago sports radio
all week and after the Bears basically let the
Vikings back in the game with a two -score lead
on Monday night football and allowed the Vikings
to really gouge and gash them from a running
standpoint in the second half the Lions this
week I think are gonna be able to run the ball
so effectively against the Chicago Bears defense
that it's gonna be It'd be a mismatch all the
way around. You know, let's do a deeper dive
into some of the injuries on this as well, you
know, to support what I'm saying. Grady Jarrett
was a free agent acquisition of the Bears and
he's questionable with a bad knee. Kyler Gordon's
probably the only difference maker that Ryan
Poles, their GM is drafted. He's questionable
with a hammy and then TJ Edwards, which is their
stay at home Mike. linebacker, you know, that
really kind of makes the defense click and has
a bad hamstring. So those are the injuries on
defense that I think are going to help the lions.
So from a fantasy standpoint, I think Jamo's
going to get a touchdown for sure this week.
You are going to see a real big day for Sam Laporta.
And if you have either David Montgomery or Jamir
Gibbs Sonic and Knuckles stardom I think they're
all gonna have huge days as far as the Bears
go the only starter that I would say on offense
from a fantasy standpoint would probably be that
of Deandre Swift who got almost 70 % of the carries
and on field time against the Vikings on Monday
Night Football and I am thinking a Lions victory
chat to the tune of 34 to 10 34 to 10. That's
a okay. That's a big spread there. It's a three
touchdowns on a field goal I'm not gonna go that
big yet. I don't know that we got it all together
quite yet There are a couple things that I look
at when I look at this game one I think a Mon
Ross st. Brown who has shredded the Bears over
the past few meetings Should have a big game
the Bears have as you mentioned some injuries
all over their defense right now And one of those
happens to be in their defensive backfield They
may be down a cornerback or two, a D -back or
two at this point. Jalen Johnson was a full participant
in practice yesterday, and they said that he
looked good today. I did check that before we
got on. He's there. A lot can change between
now and 12 p .m. Sunday, as we all know, but
the latest that I'm hearing from the local media
is that Jalen Johnson should play. Kyler Gordon
would be the guy that would probably cover St.
Brown and who has in the past. and who has been
torched by him. He is injured. His backup Blackwell
is also injured. Unless, and they're saying that
we're looking at veteran Nick McLeod as being
the guy who would probably end up covering St.
Brown if those two are out. So I don't know if
Johnson will be on his side of the field or not
at this point. That said, That's too many men
missing from their defensive backfield. Both
those guys are out some pieces are gonna move
around I still think st Brown's gonna have a
huge game at home in game two of the season here
the bigger question and one of the bigger problems
one of the things we have to address here and
it's been talked about all week is that interior
offensive line that matchup against the Bears
interior defensive line is gonna be the one to
watch because If Glasgow, Mahogany and Ratledge
cannot get push against these guys, we are going
to have a very, very long season. And some of
it in the last game wasn't just push. It was
actually blocking assignments. I mean, there
are video, if you watch any of the video for
afterwards, some of the breakdowns of the missed
blocking assignments by Glasgow in the second
level where he's supposed to go out and grab
a linebacker. Just open up a hole. He couldn't
get there and he couldn't hold a block to save
his life Rattledge and mahogany actually didn't
do too terribly bad They didn't do great, but
Glasgow was a major weakness in the middle and
he's been called out left and right He needs
to pick his game up if he is gonna play center
for this team He had a terrible game in the playoffs
last year. He's having a terrible season to start
things off right now I am putting him under a
microscope Graham Glasgow is my microscope player.
The other two guys are young and can improve
Grasket Glasgow's got to show me something here
really fast or we are gonna be in deep trouble
Center is far too important position to be bad
at it Bears D line not that great and they have
injuries on that D line too So we'll see what
happens there with our best PFF score ended up
getting hurt and the guy that filled in for him
the two guys that filled in at tackle D tackle
in that game We're both the two lowest scoring
defensive players for the Bears. So it's a huge
drop off from starter to to the sub there. So
that'll be a huge matchup. And then, of course,
it's just going to be Kelvin Shepherd against
Ben Johnson. How's that going to line up? I think
our offense is going to have its way to some
degree or another. I don't think they're going
to be prepared for our offense as long as we
can block up front. We have another bad blocking
game. This game is going to be a this game will
be down to the wire. So how did you feel about
Dan Campbell's press conference where he said
that very calmly and very succinctly that so
much of this is correctable and so much of it
was lack of communication? I liked how he took
accountability for it, especially saying that
Mahogany and Ratlidge should have played a lot
more in the preseason. But we talked about that
last episode. What I want to know is how did
you come out of his presser feeling better and
more optimistic? Did you feel neutral in the
same or did you feel worse? I felt neutral and
here's the deal. I feel badly about this offense
right now because they're like I said One of
the strongest the glue of that offensive line.
The center is the weakness. That's horrible You
can't have that every offensive line every successful
quarterback had a good center Think of it all
the way on down the line I think back to like,
you know Peyton Manning in his days when he ran
that clinical offense for the Colts Saturday
was his center. The guy was a beast. Everybody
else on the line could be kind of here, there,
missing a few things, but Jeff Saturday was the
guy that made that thing work, because he assigns
the blocking. He's the one making the calls at
the line. If they're wrong, everything falls
apart. If he misses his block, if he doesn't
take care of his assignment, Everything falls
apart. So it's kind of something we had had to
worry about We've had this stud named rag now
for so long and now we don't and now we're gonna
have to figure this out and every time We've
seen Glasgow take this role. It's been a disaster
and I don't see it changing I see us struggling
a little bit, but I do see the Bears just aren't
that good their defense Just isn't that good,
but you know what I thought that about the Packers
So we'll see what happens. Maybe our O line is
that bad. You don't think Hank Freely probably
the top assistant remaining on Dan Campbell's
staff. Do you believe he can get this fixed?
I don't think he can because I don't think it's
about scheme. I think it's about execution. If
Graham Glasgow cannot execute as the center,
it doesn't matter what Fraley calls. Now, if
they make a decision to put Ratledge in that
position or Iguacun comes up and plays that position,
that's what they can do. Outside of that, I don't
think this has anything to do with a scheme at
all. I don't think there's anything to do with
that. Of course, I agree with Campbell in the
sense that they didn't play these guys enough
in the preseason. I ranted about that in our
first episode and the preseason episodes. But,
you know, how much would you have learned and
what would you have done? There weren't many
centers on the market. You could have tried other
guys out, but they're all backups. And they're
backups for a reason. And if they're backups
and they shouldn't be and they should be starting
instead of Glasgow and you put Glasgow in there
because he's a veteran or because he's getting
paid, well, then shame on you. That's that should
not happen. They need to put the best guy in
there right now because this season will go up
in flames. If this continues, offensive line
is extremely important to this. The production
of this team rant over. Let's talk about the
Lions defense and special teams. The defense,
I think, is going to have a good game. in a much
improved game because I think they will get home
on Caleb Williams and force him to either hold
the ball too long or throw off his back foot.
And I also think that yards will be given up
to Deandre Swift and others running the ball.
But one of the things that surprised me about
Monday night with the Bears offense was just
the sheer amount of weapons they have and the
fact that they drafted Luther Burden the third.
out of Missouri in the second round and barely
found him touches. And they drafted Roma Douzay
in the first round, not this year, but the previous
year season, and they struggled to get him involved
in the offense. So it's almost as if the Bears
have an embarrassment of riches and don't have
possibly the right signal caller and Caleb Williams
to be able to. get all these weapons utilized
as best as possible. I fully expect the Lions
D -line to play better this week. My only concern
on the defense is that Jack Campbell's ankle
is bothering him and he's questionable, but he
has been a full participant. Hopefully that's
something they can tape and maybe give him a
shot and get him out there because he is a difference
maker for us. That is what I see. happening in
this game. I think the defense is going to pressure
Caleb Williams. I think they're going to force
mistakes. I think it's going to frustrate the
Bears. And I know I didn't expect a lot of scoring
and that's just 10 points. I think Benedict's
going to get frustrated with Caleb as well. I
think Caleb can't hit the broad side of a barn
with a pass first and foremost. Not a thinker.
Guy steps out of bounds and loses four yards
for his team while he's rolling out to the right.
These are things that he, you know, this is the
book on him. And I don't think I don't see him
improving against our defense. I think our defense
is going to be better than Minnesota's defense.
OK, so I'm agreeing with you a lot on this. I
think they're going to fluster him. I think they're
going to drive him crazy. They also don't have
Josh Jacobs. Stepping up to fill the holes from
the running back position in the blocking Josh
Jacobs caused nightmares for our defensive pass
rush in the last game If you watch any of that
video that guy picked everything up. He is valuable
running back for the Packers I did not see that
coming. That was incredible. The Raiders really
should have reset because 100 % he did the same
thing when he was at Alabama and The Packers
because Matt LaFleur is a great coach utilizes
him to the best of the ability. Jordan Mason
and Adam Jones carved up this Bears defense.
Adam Jones is a good running back. Jordan Mason
is a good running back. I would say they're repay
replacement level, maybe slightly above that.
They are not Jameer Gibbs and they are not David
Montgomery. And I don't see, I don't see a Bears
line. that is on par with what we saw with the
Packers the other day either. And they didn't
score well. They scored very similar to ours.
And by the way, I'll throw this little nugget
in there. This will make you glow with happiness.
Jonah Jackson was between both teams, between
the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, was
the lowest scoring defensive player. On both
teams 66 snaps the guy had a 31 overall PFF rating.
He was the lowest scoring player He was terrible
his pass block rating was a 22 .6 His run block
was a 44 .8. That might be the worst in the league.
He was a disaster. There's no way that Braxton
Jones and Theo Benedict are going to be able
to hold them hold off our pass rush. They're
going to need a lot of help. And Swift is a decent
pass blocker. Don't get me wrong. He's OK. He's
pretty good with it. He's not enough. He's no
Josh Jacobs and he's not enough. And by the way,
Caleb Williams is no Jordan Love either. So Caleb
Williams. I have this strange feeling our defensive
backfield might actually have a field day this
week. Excellent. I like all your points. One
last Chicago point. The media here was very harsh
on Jonah Jackson and rightfully so. The other
guy was their center, Drew Dahlman, who, if you
look up his PFF grades, he played an awful game
against the Vikings as well. Not Jonah Jackson
bad, but Jonah Jackson hasn't played a good game
when he's not playing next to a guy named...
Yeah, sure. This is where PFF may not tell the
whole story I mean drew dolman's grades were
like a 60 across the board So he wasn't terrible
his overall grade was a 60. He was average Pff's
not the end -all be all right We use it a lot,
but so we have to evaluate but it's it's not
everything the other thing to keep an eye on
in this game I'm gonna say is You know the home
field advantage first game back at Ford Field
This crowd's going to be behind the team after
what happened with Green Bay. And if things go
south, though, Bill, I mean, there are crazy
people out there making all sorts of like fire
Dan Campbell. The staff has lost it. Blah, blah,
blah. What a ridiculous bunch of malarkey. I
will be curious to see if they struggle with
the Bears at home. This is going to be a long
season. This is a little bit of a little bit
of a temp check here. It's the old lions. A get
-right game, as they like to call it. A get -right
game is what it should be. All right. So let's
get your... Not a get -wrong game. Let's get
your prediction and let's get out of here. Yeah.
So I'm going to go 21 -10 lions. And I think
they're going to start a little slow. But I think
they're going to pull it out by 11. I think it's
going to go way under. I just don't see that
much offensive maneuvering. Juice. All right.
Go Lions. Honolulu Bloomsilver. Let's get them.
One and one is in our future.