This is The Litterbox, a Detroit Lions podcast
with your hosts, Chad West and Bill Patterson.
Welcome to the Litterbox, Lions fans. I've got
to eat some crow today because I had us pick
to lose along with just about every other pundit
in the nation. You've got your host, Chet, and
Billy P. Patterson from The D is with me here.
And Bill, we got to give you your kudos here,
man. You picked this win. I don't think the score
was terribly close to what you picked, but you
picked a win out of this one. Why did you think
they were going to win? They were due. They were
due. It's just a due date. It's just a due date.
The milk wasn't going bad yet. The Ravens Dee
had shown serious signs. We reviewed it or previewed
it. I mean, without having that three technique
that can penetrate and really disrupt what was
going on between the guards and center, the Lions
had their way. And if I can start now, the game
ball doesn't go to... Us, the game ball goes
to the Lions and Sonic and Knuckles each deserve
a game ball. I know that Knuckles actually got
one from Dan Campbell, well deserved, but they
feasted running up the middle of the Ravens defense.
And I know Lions fans are feeling High on cloud
nine right now. It was a 38 30 win on Monday
night football. It felt much bigger than the
final score To which you mentioned earlier. I'm
curious to see if this Ravens team is The team
that people thought they were or if they regressed
somewhere because that D Boy, the Lions had their
way with them. They did and they were missing
we talked was they were missing a couple You
know, they're missing Van Oy key edge rusher
They're missing interior linemen. They're missing,
I believe, a D -back likewise. So we have some
holes there, but we're missing people, too. I
mean, we don't have, you know, guys like Oli
McNeil. We're trying to fill things in. That's
the NFL. I debate the Sonic game ball. The Knuckles
game ball, yes, for sure. Sonic, I think what
was interesting about this game in the beginning,
they kept trying to run Sonic out around the
edge and he was going nowhere. And the second
they got Knuckles involved and started running
up the gut with that full steam ahead, bruising
running he does, that was kind of the difference
maker in this game. I also think whenever they
get Laporta involved, especially on third downs,
good things happen. I wish he would get a couple
more catches per game. Just a few. He was used
primarily as a blocker, and he... Yeah. played
a great game. And I've got to give you props.
You said that it wasn't going to be a good Gibbs
game. He still got two scores. He did some good
things, but it really was not a Sonic day. The
fact is it was really the offensive line that
opened things up. We talked about how similar
both backs are, Sonic and Knuckles. The difference
is Sonic would have scored a hundred times out
of a hundred on that long run that Knuckles had,
that he got dragged down after, I don't know,
X amount of yards. And that's the difference.
You had other game balls to give out. What else
did you want to, like they've, we've given Sonic
and Knuckles their kudos. Who else do you want
to give a game? Well, the O line deserves it.
And then Johnny Moe, the offensive coordinator.
But he called his second straight. Yeah. I don't
want to say perfect game, but like he was great
job. I mean he was above 95 % and They scored
38 points in this game. They put a 52 burger
on the Bears. That's 90 points in two games.
Yeah, that's unreal They're operating at a high
level right now and the Ravens don't have the
defense they once had but it's not a bad defense
by any stretch we still beat a good defense there
and I think it was you that sent this video to
me. Was it Emmanuel Ocho that was breaking down
the reprogramming of the Ravens defense that
Johnny Morton was doing. That is an incredible
video. Everybody should go out and search Emanuel
Ocho's video on the reprogramming that Johnny
Morton did to the Ravens defense throughout the
game. Quite a telling and insightful video there.
You had one other game ball, though. You've mentioned
the O -line. So we got Sewell, Ratledge, Johnny
Moe covered. What about a certain receiver that
you wanted to give a game ball to? Yeah. Our
boy. Amen. The Sun God. Ra. Saint Brown. The
Sun God gets a game ball. I feel he is, there
is something about him. He's not huge. He's not
some imposing possession guy that shrugs guys
off and catches balls like a la Calvin Johnson
or a, but he runs his routes. The man is an artisan.
at route running. You watch the routes he runs
are freaking perfect, and you gotta hand it to
Goff. He puts the ball on the freaking money.
On the money. Quote, in pure props to Jared Goff.
He was amazing. That throw he made, where Gibbs
couldn't even see it to get the first down, was
perfect. But anyway, going back to this, quote,
Goff said the best receiver he's ever played
with was St. Brown. Yeah. And I'm starting to
dig the Cooper Cup there. Eh, fair. It's fair.
Fair. Fair. I'm starting to think that the comp
for our guy, the Sun God, could be a really high
ceiling. I used to think it was Golden Tate,
but I think they just look alike in a way. They
aren't really that similar. This was years ago
when Sun God was just starting his ascendancy.
I was like, Oh, he's like another golden tape.
This will be great. So, uh, so much better. So
can I, who would you, who's your comp? Jerry
Rice. Jerry Rice. Runs great routes. Yeah. Fast
enough, strong enough, blocks well, and is missing
a few inches on height, but makes up for it in
other areas. Yeah. I would say he's a little
stronger than Rice. Stronger than Rice. But I
know he's the greatest receiver of all time.
Number 80, San Francisco 49er legend. I know
those are big shoes to fill, but at this point,
Chet, I'm going to just lay my chips on the table.
There isn't another wide receiver that I would
want more than Amen. You and Jared Goff. You
and Jared Goff are double dating Amon Ra, the
Sun God, right now. And I may jump in there for
a four -way deal here. Do you want to give game
balls to the defense? Bloody Jack Campbell gets
my ball. Yeah, he had some sort of lip candy
going there halfway through the game. I mean,
that was just a... What happened? I don't even
want to know what his lip looked like underneath
all that gauze. But you liked him, you liked
who else? Alright, so we have a nickname. It's
we're borrowing it a little bit trying from 97
won the ticket. Okay, Bob Muhammad Don't ask
me Bob Muhammad the well -traveled often cut
Muhammad, okay He had a whale of a game and he
got a game ball from Dan Campbell and if he got
one from coach Campbell, that's good enough for
me I'll tell you what he's I didn't realize how
many he's he's played. He's knocked around a
little he's a journeyman Yeah, he's a little
bit of a journeyman. He's finding his feet here
He's finding his sea legs with our Detroit Lions
right now on that line just in time too because
we can use it but Who else he given a ball to
his his line mate? Oh, we got to give shout out
to Hutch. I mean, when a team can generate that
much pass rush, seven sacks on the Baltimore
Ravens, who have what? Either the first... He
was flying around everywhere, old school Hutch.
But Lamar Jackson's either what? Number 1A, 1B,
1C? He's not an easy target. No! Not an easy
target. And we'll do some PFF grades in a bit,
but Hutch... Fared very well. Who else? You had
one of the guys? Well, it's not a game ball,
but it's a shout out. Okay, okay. The Lions have
stuck with him through thick and thin. Yeah.
I know what you're going through here. Yeah.
I gotta give our guy Barnes a shout out. He had
a heck of a game. He was disruptive all game
long. I like that game ball. I give him the game
ball. Give him a game ball. Not a shout out.
He gets a game ball, too. Game ball. He gets
one. Give him a game ball. They're cheap. We
got tons of them in the hopper over there. Slightly
deflated Tom Brady style ones, too. So you had
some guys you weren't terribly happy with. Who
drove you crazy in this one? Well, the obvious
answer is going to be Terry and Arnold. He had
as bad of a first half as I've seen. And Chet,
I texted it to you during the game. I'm real
worried about the 2024 draft for the Lions because
we've got rake straw that can't seem to find
the field. We've got Arnold who seems to be,
I think I read today he's the 77th rated of 82
or 83 defensive backs that have played a hundred
snaps for their teams through three games. So
he is bottom five. or bottom six in the NFL.
The other guy that had a bad game that I'm really
shocked. You had a surprising one here. Yeah,
I'm curious about this. Brian Branch just didn't
have a great game. It wasn't a Brian Branch -esque
game. He had some trouble covering Andrews in
a few of the assignments he got. Not that that's
an easy task. No. But Andrews did abuse him a
little bit. And this goes beyond just the interception
that he should have had that he didn't. The key
thing is Couldn't really cover tight ends and
he was really struggling also on Justice Hill
out of the flat. So last guy We're gonna go as
he goes. Yeah the O line I Already gave kudos
you gave kudos we can send bouquets. I'm still
really worried about Graham Glasgow Yeah, that's
it and in all honesty his grade did improve We'll
get to the PFF here in a second, but his grades
have improved but that's like I mean, we're inching
our way up from a very low level. So we'll talk
about that here in a second. So you've got your
game balls out there. You feel good about that.
What about, I'm going to give you another call
out. Yeah. You nailed the punting aspect of things,
didn't you? You and your special teams call.
I think you even threw a little hint in there
that Jake Bates was going to do something. Guy
saved the touchdown. Okay. Save the touchdown,
kicked a field goal, almost set an NFL record,
hooked it a little left on one. I tell you what,
Bill, you were on it with the special teams.
That was really good. So I nailed Montgomery.
You nailed special teams. What else did we hit
on there? We hit on probably just you hit on
the win. The win. Yeah. I'll take that. All right.
Let's do them. You want to do them? Yeah. I want
to hear these grades. Give them to me. I'm going
to give you the top six on the offense. OK, wait.
Top six on the offense. Number one coming out
of the gates. And this is a very High score,
this is actually kind of incredible. Penne Soole
overall had a 98 .7. What? 98 .7 grade in this
game. I knew he played well. That's almost a
perfect grade. His run block grade, Bill, was
a 99 .3. So he destroyed whoever was in front
of him. His pass block was a 75 .4, not quite
as good, but his run block was a 99 .3. They
won the game running the ball. Yeah. Yeah, it's
incredible for Panay and that's just like this
is why Panay is one of the best league He gets
grades like that and he did an excellent job.
I think he's the best right tackle in the league.
He's probably the best right tackle I'm talking
about one of the best football players in the
league. He's up there. So real quick. How many
times has Jared Goff sacked in this game? I believe
it was a goose egg, man. I don't remember him
on his back. No, it was a big fat goose egg.
I don't even remember him really getting rushed
a whole lot, like much pressure. Maybe in the
beginning of the game. I remember him having
to roll out and throw a ball or two away in the
first quarter or so. But after we got that run
game with Montgomery going, he had all day to
pass. You could tell they were, they took them
completely off balance. You want number two is
going to be a surprising one. Tate Ratledge.
Oh, the rookie, I love it. The rookie comes in
with a 91 .4 overall, a 90 .2 run block, and
a 68 .5 pass block. The right side of the line
graded very high for blocking. The right two
graded very high for blocking. 68 .5 pass block,
not great. So the right side of the line wasn't
stellar in their pass blocking. Number three
on the list, David Montgomery, Knuckles. 89 .5
from your running back. Whoo. That is pretty
darn good. He had a run grade of 84 .9. So number
four, the Sun God, your guy, my guy, Jared Goff's
guy. 86 .9 on that one and 84 .6 in the passing
game. Excellent, excellent score for Aman Ran.
He's our number four guy. In week one, we didn't
have a guy that had 86 .9 overall at all. So
you're seeing the climb up the stairs, the long
stairway here of PFF grades for us. Taylor Decker
was number five. So you had three guys on the
O line that were in our top five in PFF. Decker
had an 82 .9. 72 .6 pass block, but had excellent
run blocking at 84 .1. That's our third lineman
with a great run blocking score. And then Sam
Laporta rounded it out at six for the top six,
which I was sort of shocked at that. I didn't
think he got He only had so many plays, but he
had a 71. It dropped off, or excuse me, an 81
.6, my bad. What was his blocking grade? His
pass blocking grade was a 65 .9. His run block
was a 76 .6. Okay, that's where... So he did
a little better in the run block and he did the
pass blocking. I'll go to the bottom two. I'm
going to give you your bottom two. Well, real
quick, just... Yeah. Decker deserves a shout
out because he's playing hurt. Yeah. to the point
that he's barely practicing. He's only in there
for formational lineups and walkthroughs, non
-contact. And he's a veteran. He's a veteran.
I mean, he knows what he's getting. He's a wily
veteran. And I just, I think we need to... Just
recognize that. Go ahead. I agree. I fully agree.
So I'm going to give you the bottom two. The
first one's kind of cheap because they only got
14 total snaps. So Isaac Tislaw was the bottom.
Two small sample size. We don't want to hit him
too hard. The bottom guy, the only guy that got
at least half the snaps, 33 snaps, was Khalif
Raymond. So he's a 56. He's your third or fourth
receiver. Who cares? Yeah. So the next guy up
was Brock Wright, and he only got 38 snaps and
he was a 61. So our, you know, you're looking
at a guy who was a 61 in week one. We were okay
with a 61 as bad as things went. And now our
bottom guys are like 61 and 56 and they're, they're
kind of role player type things. And if you want
to go one more up from there, since I gave you
a couple of cheapies, the one guy who had the
full playing time at 62 snaps that had the lowest
score was Jamison Williams and he had a 63 .2.
So Jamo didn't have a. Terrible game. I don't
think by any stretch, but he got dinged a little
on run block. I whatever I'm not gonna worry
too much about that He had two huge catches in
the opening two huge catches first quarter drives
that were Graham Graham Glasgow is the lowest
graded offensive lineman. I think we're gonna
see that every single week He cracked sixty three
point eight overall. So that's those are your
offensive grades. I'm gonna jump over to defense
real quick You have anything to add on any of
that before I do D nothing whatsoever. All right,
we're gonna outside of yeah I hope Graham Glasgow
digs himself out of this hole. I hope he does
too. We need it We need a center you saw I mean
part of Baltimore strength, they have one of
the best centers in the league. All these good
quarterbacks seem to have good centers. So Graham
needs to help. Maybe he'll climb. He is chipping
away. He's slowly, gradually getting up there.
I'd like to see him just crack 70. Number one
defense, our guy, Aiden Hutchinson, 91 .8. His
run defense score is the impressive one here
93 .1. He was a he was great on the run pass
rush 84 .3 not too shabby at all Shockingly,
I'm gonna skip over the guy who's number two
because he only had two snaps Shockingly the
number two guy the second guy in the starters
DJ Reid With an 83. I'm shocked. I'm actually
Plum Shock that he scored that high. I didn't
think he had a bad game. I didn't think he had
a great game. I think Arnold was definitely worse.
That's awesome given where he was against the
Packers. 100%. And he didn't even have that great
of a game against the Bears. So again, we're
seeing steps in the right direction. Maybe a
step. Maybe a step for DJ. Love it. Jack Campbell
got number four and in 80 .1 he and his busted
up lip. He was awesome. The number five guy,
I'm gonna skip number five, he only got eight
snaps. Number six was Al Khadid Muhammad, Bob
Muhammad. Bobby. Bobby Muhammad got a 74 .5,
not bad for him. I thought he would have been
a little better. Pass rush grade was a 75. Makes
me wonder if he benefited from the other guys
on the line, like Hutch or somebody else. DJ
Reader. Opened some things up for him. Yeah,
and DJ Reader didn't get a great grade. Lopez
didn't get a great grade. Lopez shouldn't. You
know, so those guys are down the way a little.
Same with Tyleek. Tyleek's grade, none of those
guys cracked 60 that I just mentioned, which
is sort of shocking. So it was all Hutch and
Muhammad, apparently. Yeah, I thought Williams
held his own. Yeah. Yeah. I think he's again,
he's a rookie. So yeah, I think he held his own.
I'll tell you that this the bad ones. Go ahead.
Who's in the naughty chair or in the back of
the classroom? Because he was a starter in this
game and he took 20 snaps. Patrick O 'Connor.
Got a thirty four point nine. He's not a real
starter. It's not a real starter We did in this
game the next guy up of Meek Robertson had had
a thirty eight point seven I don't remember Amiek
being that bad. I don't remember him being good.
He must have gotten torched on a few plays or
something happened there. He had a really low
coverage score at 37 .7 and a really low tackle
score. So he must have slipped off a few tackles.
If you, the name you're looking for here, the
name you're looking for, Terry and Arnold was
the third lowest overall and he had 51 snaps.
So he's the guy that scored the lowest of the
regulars. So can I give you a couple things that
just to chew on, it's too soon to say it's concerning.
In Dan Campbell's presser, he basically alluded
to the fact that Arnold's struggling and they're
aware of it and that Robertson only plays nickel
primarily, meaning when three linebackers are
on the field, he's not on the field. Yeah for
defensive backs. So if you want your two guys
that played all the snaps, it's Arnold and branch
They scored the lowest and they both basically
got a 45. So that's your That's your sore spot
for this. All right. Let me finish this Yeah,
Campbell basically said that Robertson's gonna
be taking some of those snaps interesting away
from Arnold Interesting just something for our
listeners to keep an eye on. I wonder if that'll
benefit us that much I mean is our own there's
is Robertson that much better don't know We will
find out. Dirt. So that's a great, there it is,
lead in to the next opponent that the Lions play
from the AFC North. That would be the Cleveland
Browns, the city that I was born in. And the
Browns currently are nine and a half point dogs.
That line has jumped a full point since it opened.
That is shocking. The over under is 44 and a
half. If you want to take the money line in the
Browns, it's plus 400. And my thoughts on this,
and I will let you go, you know, as soon as I'm
done, I'm giving the points all day long. Browns
have the number one defense in the league right
now, and they're number one against the run.
I am not taking the Lions and the points on this.
I'm also taking the under, and I wouldn't touch
that money line for all the tea in China. Remember
how I said the last game was going to be low
-scoring? I think this is going to be a low -scoring
affair. This might be a... Very low -scoring.
This might be a knock -down, drag -out type deal.
I don't see the Browns having much offense. No.
That's our one saving grace. That's going to
be a very, very interesting... I mean... Let's
just hope that we don't have the letdown of losing
to a Browns team after we just did what we did
in Baltimore. They gave fits to the Packers.
They gave fits to the Packers and beat them.
I've got a great prediction for you, so just
wait till we get to it. Okay. Okay. I understand.
So let's do our, do you have anything to add
on betting until I go to fantasy? I'm not touching
the line in that game either way. Okay. I'd probably
take the under on the 44 and a half. And that
would be about it. Yeah, I agree with that. I'm
taking the under. Okay, to your point about the
putrid or non -existent Browns offense, if you
have any Brown starters outside of Jenkins, and
even if you have Jenkins, I would sit every single
one of them. They are not going to score a lot
of points this week. When you hear my prediction,
you're going to understand why. If you're in
a kicker league, maybe, but... The Browns almost
early taking kickers. You are a big special teams
fan these days. I am and So let's go to the Lions
and who who I think I would skip on Sonic and
Knuckles this week I think the Lions are gonna
struggle to run the ball. I do think catches
will in the intermediate routes will be Available
tell me we're gonna have a Laporta game this
week. That way I have good Two picks to click
fantasy wise. One is the Sun God. The other is
your boy, Sam Laporta. I think he is going to
feast this week to the tune of at least one touchdown.
I think he's going to get double digit targets
and I don't know, six plus catches. I think the
Sun God is basically a plug and play. pick to
click for basically every game for the rest of
the season. But Laporta, I liked seeing that
you had him on your little list here. My notes
say Laporta and I was getting very excited. Have
your prediction first or fantasy? Here's what
I'm going to say, OK? I agree with you in the
run game for fantasy I wouldn't touch Sonic or
Knuckles if I had to touch either one of them
it'd probably be Knuckles again I think they're
gonna run him if anybody with against these strong
defensive lines and these fronts I think he's
the guy to go with I still think Sonic can do
damage I just don't think he's gonna get what
Knuckles will get in types in these types of
games And as far as as far as, uh, yeah, St.
Brown, the product totally agree. You got me
on that. Let's let's maneuver here. What's next
prediction prediction. And I agree with your,
uh, knuckles, uh, if I had to pick one of the
two, but I'm still staying away and I am going
to go 2316 lions. Really? Okay. Low scoring affair.
It's gonna hit the under and I think the Browns
are gonna Score a lot of field goals. I'm gonna
I'm gonna go close. I'm going 2013 Lions. Okay,
great I think there's gonna be a couple of field
goals in this game. Yeah, I mean you and I are
Yeah, we're pretty aligned on this one, which
scares me. I feel like we're in trouble here,
but we don't want to jinx anything. Knock on
wood in your head. But at the same time, I think
that's, I think those are sensible picks for
a game like this. I don't think they're going
to cover the spread, but I think they may flirt
with it. And I think that's going to stay somewhat
close throughout the game. It might be kind of
a messy game at Fordfield. I think being a home
game helps us. That's, that's immensely helpful.
Bill any final thoughts go Honolulu blue and
silver and we'll talk to you Hopefully once we
get the victory. I love it