This is The Litterbox, a Detroit Lions podcast
with your hosts, Chad West and Bill Patterson.
Welcome to the Detroit Lions litter box. Thank
you all for listening. I am your co -host Billy
P from the D with Chet West. We are here to talk
about the Lions on Sunday Night Football at Arrowhead
Stadium losing to the Kansas City Chiefs 30 to
17. There were a lot of frustrating moments in
this game, Chet. I'm going to turn it over to
you after I say one thing and one thing alone.
What is that one thing, Bill? There were only
four penalties called in the game. Why was Terry
on Arnold hurt for this game? It would have been
the play. It would have been the game for him.
It would have been the game for him. He could
have mugged people and not gotten a gotten flagged.
He could have committed second degree murder
out there and he wouldn't have gotten a P .I.
on it. It would have been amazing. So I don't
know how much I want to feed. The general theory
that the Kansas City Chiefs are in like, you
know, the NFL is like in their back pocket I
don't know how much I want to feed this I hate
the whole the whole conspiracy theory stuff that
the NFL like would do something along these lines
Then again, it's a product, you know, they want
to keep it They want to improve their product
and a two -and -three Chiefs team doesn't do
much for them like Patrick Mahomes and Travis
Kelsey and Taylor Swift have to be on top of
the world I was gonna say you bring more money
in for the product You buried her third. She's
the most important chief right now. I forgot
about that. So, sorry for overlooking that. And
Toreko made more comments. About Taylor Swift
last night on the broadcast Then he did about
some of the players who were playing a major
role in the game on the field Which I found very
funny at any rate couple things that I noticed
that sort of stuck out to me There were some
egregious calls. There were a couple big calls
that were missed I didn't feel like Travis Kelsey's
pass interference when they were in fourth down
and they hurled the ball up to him going on the
field I felt like that pass missed him by like
15 yards and that was a ticky -tack pass interference.
I mean that was ridiculous and I kind of sat
there and said ah major turning point in the
game on that penalty right there and it wasn't
like he got mugged it wasn't a Terry and Arnold
level mugging it was like what would happen if
like you were passing me at the bar and I was
like hey grab me a beer and I tap you on the
shoulder it was very it was it was just it wasn't
that malicious or even worth a flag and the pass
wasn't even close anyways I feel like Rock Yasun
got picked on on that he got picked on on that
play He got picked on because he actually got
picked. Yeah. And he had to cover Kelsey, who
he hits up many inches and many pounds to. Yeah.
And then a pass that was nowhere in the stratosphere
to be caught. So and he it was ticky tack. So
that one I disagree with. The other one I disagree
with. And really where I think the game turned
is the Lions got the kick. They marched down
the field and they used a little of Benedict
Johnson's trickeration. However a rule that nobody
knew because it took the chat that was a three
-minute review before anybody could provide any
clarity from Either the broadcast booth, you
know, I was on NFL calm at the same time. I was
on Twitter at the same time was a really bizarre
Penalty flagged it's almost like they were like
can we call anything to stop this from happening?
Because it embarrassed the hell out of the Chiefs
first and foremost Jared Goff has no place in
the world where he should be catching a contested
pass Which is basically what that was Bouncing
off of people's backs into his arms and then
running it into the end zone It was a thing of
beauty and I'm telling you if we if that counted
that would have been a backbreaker for the Chiefs
that would have been like man the Lions are back
up to their tricks and they're just embarrassing
people and then We come up with this very bizarre
penalty where, apparently, Goff, in order to
be an eligible receiver, had to take a step back,
set himself as though we were, what, like a halfback
or something in a Wildcat formation, and then
run his route? Like, what? Yes. I have never
heard of anything along those lines. Terry McCauley
explained it last night. Yeah. He was the rules
analyst, and it was one of those I was begging
for Gene Sterator or... Yeah. somebody else for
the Dean Blandino, because even Terry, as accomplished
as he is, seemed a little bit suspect on everything.
So, can we give a shout out though? Not only
did Goff kind of bobble the pass and barely get
in the end zone, even if it had counted, he would
have never gotten there. Did you see the block
St. Brown set? Yes, St. Brown set a block, and
this was not St. Brown's best game. All right,
but that was a thing of beauty. That was a thing
of beauty. I mean, St. Brown basically cleared
the path for multiple runners to run through
there. He made that play. I mean, it was crazy.
So no block, no rock was evident there. But I
really do think that's where the game, you know,
it set the tone. Because the Lions had had a
really I mean, I think at that point, they can
almost turn it into a field goal. And they had
taken eight minutes of the clock off. They were
running the ball with authority. After that,
the Lions really struggled to move the ball.
They did. The rest of this is on them. I mean,
you got you got Saint Brown dropping balls for
first downs that he never drops. That thing was
in the breadbasket. You've got and these are
key. You know, any game like this, any fourth
down conversion is going to be a key conversion.
The run game seemed like it was fairly effective.
But what happens with this Lions team is when
they get down by about a touchdown or more, by
about 10 points or more, they have to switch
into this mode that they are just not comfortable
running. They don't play from behind very well,
is what I think I'm trying to say. They don't
have like that. They need that play action. They
need that run game. So the opening drive was
key number one that we discussed. Key number
two was Aman Ra, not first down this time, had
a first down catch that he couldn't bring in.
Sure. I'm not going to say it was the best ball,
but it's usually a catch he makes. Yeah. And
the Lions turned it over on downs at that point
and the Chiefs went ahead. That's when the game
started getting. Not out of reach, but then the
Chiefs received the second half. Sure, sure.
You know, you're correct. The Lions really abandoned
the run game. There was something else amiss,
though, and I can't decide if this is on Johnny
Morton of the OC or if something else was going
on. It seemed like the Lions were getting decent
protection. But Dan Skipper was the starting
left tackle this game. Who is your third string
left tackle? Yeah, yeah. I have to imagine when
that happened. Johnny Moe had to throw out a
lot of what he wanted to do and really shorten
that up because possible It seemed like everything
was a check down or let the hot route and they
couldn't really get much of Anything set up outside
of the Laporta touchdown that was deep ish down
the field I'd buy that I mean I I will say this
I don't think our Receivers as a whole had a
very good game outside of J Moe. This was kind
of a J Moe game And he was running a lot of the
same routes you'd normally see maybe Amon Ra
running, like the short crossing routes. They
were getting him into space a little more with
the ball, which I like. I mean, it doesn't have
to always be a deep ball to Jamo or a ball down
the sideline. Like running him across the field
is equally as effective. He's very fast. And
so I would like to see more of that. But the
rest of the receivers seem to take a night off
to some degree or another. Did you feel that
way? You know, I can't say anything bad about
St. Brown. I know I'm going to leave him. immune
from this. Sure. It was a bad game by his standards,
but he still had five catches. Yeah. I mean,
he had that one drop, but he moved the ball and
did what he needed to do. He blocked like crazy.
I just think the offense somehow got out of rhythm
and never really regained it. And there's multiple
points. You know, we mentioned the two big ones.
The Chiefs were able to run the ball. It's a
good way of putting it rhythm. I don't feel like
they had a rhythm. They did not have a rhythm.
And the hysterical part is one of our previews
was that the Chief's leading rusher was Patrick
Mahomes. I know. Who did have a pretty excellent
rushing touchdown. Yeah. But then they got Pacheco
going and the running game started flowing. They
did a couple, I'm going to call them cute things
with Worthy and some others, you know, to kind
of get them in space and use the whole field.
They have some talent on that team. They have
an incredible batch of skilled players on that
team still. If we can circle back, neither of
us picked the Lions to win this game. And a two
and four Chiefs team just, they're still really
good. There's still a ton of talent to the point
you just made. I don't really want to get into
conspiracies, but it is a little curious that
there are no penalties called on them. That penalty
called on Goff was pure puzzlement, if to say
the least. And then the Rakyasin, I feel like
he got picked on. Got picked on. It could have
also been that the officiating crew forgot that
T .A. was actually not playing. So one other
thing I would call out to. I mean, these are
all offensive things here. Our pass rush seemed
to take a little vacation again. Yes. What were
your thoughts? Did you I just didn't hear the
names getting called like they typically do in
the last. Now, granted, we've gone up against
some weak opponents for a few weeks here. OK,
up against a broken bangles team, gone up against
the Browns team is, you know, offensive line
is suspect to say the least. A Bears team that's
the Bears. I like in the Ravens aren't good and
the Ravens just aren't good now. Like they've
just gone south. Yeah, I mean, they haven't been
good for a month and we'll see, you know. But
so, yeah, I think there's something to say for
the fact that our defense just didn't. The pass
rush just wasn't there. There wasn't any penetration.
I rarely heard Reader's name getting called.
I rarely heard. I rarely heard Hutch's name getting
called. It did a couple of times. He had a couple
of nice, you know, pressures. But I think Al
-Qadim Mohammed toward the end of the game got
a sack in there maybe. But you're talking about
some speckled efforts that and and then the defensive
backfield is just maligned right now. There's
so many issues. So going back to your question.
Yeah. This defense goes as Hutch goes, and Hutch
did not have a great game. And it's interesting
because both tackles were, one was a starter,
but the other was almost a third string tackle
for the Chiefs. And he really struggled. And
if you recall the last time the Lions played
at Arrowhead, the starting tackles would... I
mean, it was almost like they were out of their
stance and they were almost in the backfield.
It didn't even seem like they were on the line
of scrimmage. And they took a similar approach
where it seems like if you can give yourself
another step against Hutch, you can. mitigate
some of the damage. And that's some of the complaint
from some of the calls in this game was there
were a lot of false starts that didn't get called
a lot of lining up, you know, off the line to
get an edge that didn't get called. And some
of those offensive line for the Chiefs have suffered
many calls recently. I mean, one of the great,
you know, if you go on the Chiefs Reddit thread
right now, I think I saw a post about their left
tackle was, you know, no penalties tonight. Oh,
my gosh. Look at that. He's like, you know, it's
like, yeah, that doesn't that. Sort of make you
think that there's something suspicious up then
at the least the refs just weren't watching You
know, they just did decided to call it real loose
in this game along the line I don't know but
you're right Like they do seem to get that extra
step or that extra jump and if the officials
aren't calling it That's a huge advantage huge
advantage So one last thing Derek Barnes is really
disappointing me this year. And here's why he
was supposed to be that third linebacker that
could be helpful off the edge. And this is the
third week in a row that if you heard his name,
you had to be listening very carefully. He is
one that I know that Spielman and Brad Holmes
and Dan Campbell, the brain trust, absolutely
believe in the guy. But to this point, I've wanted
to believe in him, too. I love that they re -signed
their own draft picks. I love that, you know,
he's your, I think, a fifth -rounder that they've
invested in and believe in. Chet, he needs to
step up his game. Do you feel like he has, like,
an all -star game or he's just gone and just
completely null and void from the game plan?
It's like one or the other with him. He is Kyle
Van Noy 2 .0. Think they don't know what to do
with him Well, I you know and Campbell can have
those games too and granted Campbell is a little
more consistent with his performance But Campbell
can have games like I didn't see much of Jack
Campbell last night And when I did see him he
was getting blown by you know either Kelsey or
somebody was absolutely leaving him in the dust
So I I don't know. Maybe we just don't have a
linebacking core. That's that great It was I
have to give a squared credit Alex and Saloni
played it Well, he was all over the place. He
had a game. However, he was also just cleaning
up everybody else's mess Yes, overall the Lions
D didn't play well They didn't rest the pet Russia
passer and they didn't tackle there were so many
broken tackles yet We can't even go through play
-by -play and then I know you've been a little
bit hard on him this year And I've tried to soften
it our rookie defensive tackle Was nowhere to
be found. Yeah, I think I think I leak is not
He has been missing in action the D tackles on
this team just seemed to be missing in action
We get no pass rush from up the gut and I don't
see him doing a ton of run stuffing not last
night. No And then let's talk about what happened
post game. So the lines are out of it It ends
and then Brian branch whether Juju Smith Schuster
blocked him illegally or did anything in the
game that Doesn't matter because what he did
was Bush League punching Juju Smith Schuster
down down also my homes is I don't want to he's
like a manning He's like NFL royalty. Yeah, if
the guy wants to shake your hand shake his hand
Okay, like you're not gonna win this PR battle
sure Patrick Mahomes And so, then he takes a
bad situation after ignoring Patrick Moe's. Makes
it worse. Makes it worse. And then, ironically,
Dan Campbell, who had nothing to do with any
of this, apologizes to Andy Reid, the chiefs,
to Juju Smith's sister, to Patrick Moe's, which
is a class act thing to do, you know, so that
the lions... Sure. That the branches stink doesn't
carry over to the lions. 100%. My question for
you on this, though, is I'm thankful I did not
buy my Brian Branch jersey because... Don't know
that this is he's as talented as anybody out
there check. I don't he makes a lot of hot -headed
mistakes This is not gonna fly. He's the shit.
Yeah of the defense is what he makes a lot of
hot -headed mistakes I mean if it's not Terry
and Arnold doing you know things that are but
that's on the field Yeah, then it's Brian branch
I mean how many he's gotten booted from a game
or two over the past couple seasons for doing
some stuff He just has had a bad kind of run
with his discipline maybe Yes. And they were
talking, you know, Mahomes last night was kind
of talking a little trash in the end zone to
him. I'm sure Schuster had his mouth running
all game long, but you got to be above it. You
got to get past it. You got your butt whipped
and you got to turn around and just shake hands
with the guys and call it what it was. You lost
and take your L on it and walk off. But yeah,
Branch, there's some question marks there. There's
a few question marks there and I don't want to,
you know, it happened. Yeah, well, but I do think
this is one with Hutch needing to be extended,
which, you know, we agree needs to happen. I
think Branch moved himself down a few pegs that
Campbell might get an extension, that Laporta
might get an extension, that other guys in this
organization might have jumped ahead of him because
the Lions took their time with Jamo because of
his off field or dumb things, you know, the gambling.
I still think that was a bad signing, but whatever.
Yeah, and I agree with you on that. So should
we talk about the performance of some of these
guys here? Please do dive into the numbers. And
then I've got a pretty good preview of the next
game as well. Well, let's do a quick overview
of the PFF grades for the offense. Sam Laporta
capped everything off with a 90 .4. He had the
best offensive game PFF grade wise of the whole
no surprise. And he gets my offensive. He had
some awesome, awesome routes, catches, blocks.
He also had that touchdown catch that was unbelievable.
I kind of just, you know, right in Kelsey's house
nonetheless, which was kind of cool. I was like,
yeah, you're not the only tight end of the field.
He doesn't have Taylor Swift to go along with
it at this point, but. You know, have you seen
his? No, I have not. I was just about to say,
I don't know who he's got. Maybe he's got something
better. Who knows? She features heavily. She's
good buddies with Christina Goff, Jared's wife.
OK. And I would say that Jack's done OK for himself.
OK, great. Sam has done OK for himself. Good
job, Sam. OK, so second on the list, Christian
Mahogany got an 85 .1. Now, here's the interesting
thing about Mahogany. And I'm seeing this all
season. His pass block grade. .1 bill his pass
block grade was a 25 .9 his run block was a 92
how that's amazing to me. And that might have
been the skipper effect over there on the left
side, maybe pulling them out of position, whatever.
I mean, a lot of these PFF grades aren't just
the success of the action. It's like, are you
in the right place at the right time? Are you
in your position, playing your position, doing
what you're expected to do? If you miss an assignment,
something like that, you're going to get graded
down. I had him on our call sheet or shot sheet
is having played really well. I didn't think
the pass grade would be that low. Thought he
did fine. Yeah. However, playing next skipper
did not look good out there. I thought he looked
Fine. I didn't think he looked great. I thought
he looked better than Manu. Let's put it that
way. Alright, we can debate that another time.
Yeah, next. Next on the list, number three was
Jameson Williams. Jamo had his game. He had an
84 overall. Good grades across the board. So
give Jamo his props. Jared Goff came in fourth
with an 80 .6. Solid game. So that tells you,
like, there must have been a gap somewhere else
in this deal. It wasn't quarterback play necessarily.
Fifth was Panay Sewell with a 78 .3. So those
are your top top scorers as far as PFF goes.
For Sewell, that's like failing a class. Yeah,
I know, I know. So he's gonna come out, so what
this tells me is the offensive line has nowhere
to go but up. Yeah off has nowhere to go but
up Johnny Moe has nowhere to go but up I'll tell
you the guys that were surprising here Tesla
Tesla had the worst grade of the regulars out
of 46. He played 25 total snaps He looked like
a regular's but it was still only half the snaps.
He was not he has gone down He just doesn't seem
to be involved and I think he missed a block
or something I did around last night and it came
over who was one of the receivers to tune them
out I think it might have been Amon Ra, but Brock
Wright was next With a 48 .3. He's just a guy.
Yep, just a guy. Amon Ra St. Brown had 48 snaps.
He had a 56 .1 overall. He did not score above
60 in any metric yesterday. So this was just
a bad game. That's what a bad game for Amon Ra
looks like last night. And Sewell. I think that's
what a bad game for Amon Ra looks like. Your
two best offensive players, not named Jared Goff,
both had subpar games for themselves. And then
your next guy to call out was Dan Skipper. at
left tackle at a 56 .7 overall. He had a better
pass block grade than Christian Mahogany, but
he had a similar run block grade in the 50s.
So he didn't quite live up to it. But you know
what? He's our third string left tackle. I don't
know what we would expect. No, nothing more.
I mean, next man up is a thing, but like, geez,
how far down the depth chart can you go to get
there? You can't. You're not supposed to start.
Which scares me because we have nothing at left
tackle past Taylor Decker. I mean, too soon on
Manu and Dan Thayer. Yeah. Can I comment really
quick? Yes. One of the things that I found really
curious in this game, and I don't want to go
into the grades on it, but Gibbs and Montgomery
both didn't have the below average games for
them. And curiously enough, Montgomery wasn't
involved very often. I want to say that he only
had five or six carries or touches. He only had
17 total snaps all night. And that is something
that I think has to change because That opening
drive the Lions were instilling their will and
running the ball very effectively. And it seemed
that they gave up on that far too early. And
that bothers me. David Montgomery only had four
run plays. that he was in on. Gibbs had 17. So
you're looking at a very large imbalance there
and I've seen this all season. I'm trying to
tell, trying to discern. Are they trying to save
Montgomery? Is he still aching, aching? Are they
kind of trying to keep him in good shape? Or
are they kind of trying to hand the reins to
Gibbs on more of a full -time role? I just like
Monty and the way he runs up the gut. I don't
like watching Gibbs run up the gut as much. I
just don't think he finds the holes as easily
and he gets stuffed up behind the line a little
more. I like Gibbs out around the edges. So,
you know, it depends on the defense you're going
against. Do you have a defense that goes and
protects out around the edges? Then it becomes
a Monty game up the gut. But look, they use them
how they're using them. But that gives you a
good idea of what you thought. Dead on like they
didn't use Montgomery much at all last night
and maybe they don't because they weren't in
the lead ever Maybe he's the back that gets the
call when they're in the lead and they need to
clock and run that could be the case Let's go
to the defensive side for grades and then we'll
preview next week's Monday night football tilt
against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thomas Harper,
free safety, had 10 total snaps last night. He's
been on the team for like a week, I think, or
something like that. Had an 87 .5. He graded
out with an 80 cover grade. Thomas in his 10
snaps. I wanted to call it out because he had
a big play. He broke up a pass there early on.
Roy Lopez had a 77 .1. We said we didn't hear
anything from defensive tackles. Apparently he
had a good game, but he only played 23 snaps.
Those were your top two on defense. Everybody
else was below a 70. Amique Robertson was a 69
.3. He's the 62 snaps big corner started 69 .3.
You know, I that's not great for your highest
Regular no, it's not everybody else is below
that. It's al -qadim mohammed with a 65 .4 and
zaloni with a 65 .2 and Hutch with a 64 .8 And
Hutch's run defense and tackle grades were terrible.
They're never good, actually. His pass rush was
an 87 .2. He had the highest pass rush grade
of the crew. And if we go down to the bottom
of this thing, you're looking at guys like Kirby
Joseph had a 32 .6 overall. He was hurt and probably
hurt played. He was hurt going into it and then
he got hurt again. Went to the tent. Somehow
came out, psyched himself up, and played worse
after he came out. I know, it was really odd.
And then that's when Harper came in and actually
played well -ish for ten plays or whatever, so.
At Campbell? And Tyleek Williams are your next
two. Jack Campbell had a 49 overall and Tyleek
had a 54 .1. So lending a little to our thoughts
on where were those guys or they just kind of
weren't out there. Ryan Branch was in the middle.
Reader in the middle. Derek Barnes had a 61 .2.
He was on the top half. It was really Campbell
that got dinged on his grades. Apparently his
coverage scores were terrible and his tackling
score was terrible, which is you don't want to
see that from your middle linebacker. and cap
in the defense. So some stuff to chew on there.
We can guarantee that MCDC is going to have them
hitting in practice despite the injuries and
tackling quite a bit. Next opponent up is the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers who had an impressive win
over the San Francisco Four winners. They are
now five and one on top of the Entire national
football conference Lions Monday night. We always
get excited about this The Lions are four and
a half point dogs. The total on this is 52 and
a half people or Vegas is expecting a lot of
scoring in terms of money line Tampa Bay's plus
200 Detroit's gonna be minus 240 Christine Lee
enough chat The Buccaneers might be as beat up
on offense. The Lions on defense. And I'm just
going to read you through this. Clearly, the
Buccaneer story of the year so far has been Baker
Mayfield and the fact that he is. Yeah, he scares
me. Having an MVP type season. Bucky Irving is
their stud tailback. He is out. Mike Evans is
out. Chris Goodwin Jr., who's their two receiver
is out. And then their emerging rookie, Amike.
Abuqa is now he had an injured hamstring yesterday
and is going to have an MRI tomorrow. So he is
to be determined, which leads us with Rashad
White is the backup tailback. And then your receiver
room is going to look like this. Sterling Shepherd,
Tez Johnson and Ryan Miller may be a Cameron
Johnson sighting if the top three can't go. That's
interesting. So the other interesting note on
this is that The Lions backup quarterback extraordinaire
from the previous two seasons, Teddy Bridgewater,
is Baker's backup. So, you know he can run the
scout team for the Buccaneers this week. The
other injury is Luke Haggard. The right guard
is questionable. And then the right cornerback,
Zion McCollum, is out. There's also the left
backup cornerback or nickel. Benjamin Morrison's
out. So there's a lot of injuries, so I don't
know that the Lions can fall on that excuse this
week, Chad. It's just an imbalance that it's
offensive injuries versus that of defense. Can
I give you one more thing to look forward to
because of those injuries? Yeah, please. Guess
who is going to be in at cornerback more than
likely this coming weekend or possibly? A gentleman
by the name of Kendall Vildor for the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. What? Yes, he is the backup to the
backup. Zion McCollum's backup is Benjamin Morrison.
Benjamin Morrison missed Sunday's game, so Kendall
Vildor had to play. That's great. It's very possible
we may see some Kendall Vildor. So let's maybe
you'll be back for blood. Who knows? So I my
initial pick is either money line or take the
points and the Lions. I think Baker Mayfield
comes down to earth. I think Hutch in the pass
rush rebound and have a really good game. I think
it's going to be tough sledding without Bucky
Irving running the ball. The 49ers weren't necessarily
they're walking mash unit or injury unit as well.
Fred Warner got hurt and is going to miss the
rest of the season. So They weren't exactly a
good parameter. I think, I mean, this isn't a
49ers pod, and we don't play them in the regular
season, but what Kyle Shanahan's been able to
do to keep them afloat with the injuries they've
had is nothing short of amazing. I do think Baker
comes back down to Earth. I have him on fantasy.
I don't plan on playing him. I don't see anybody
on the offense outside of white and maybe a Gookba
if he... is healthy enough to play, but I would
stay away from starting any Buccaneers in this
game. Maybe if you've got K -dot and is at your
tight end, but that's a low, I mean, sure low.
As far as fantasy on the offense, I think Jared
Goff's going to have himself a whale of a game.
I think both JMo and St. Brown have a game. I
think Gibbs has a game. I don't know what to
expect from Montgomery, so I'm going to leave
that out. And I don't think Laporte is going
to have two big games in a row. Not that it was
a huge game for him, but he was the game ball,
the only game ball that we gave out. So that's
kind of my fantasy outlook. What's yours? I think,
first and foremost, the Lions at home on Monday
night. are gonna drop this game. I think Mayfield's
playing too good right now. Mobile quarterbacks
expose us. And we said it the first time this
season, when we played Jordan Love, he got a
little mobile on us and exposed us. Lamar Jackson,
mobile didn't expose us. We obviously turned
that one around, so I was wrong there. Mahomes
exposed us last night. You're gonna see Baker
Mayfield running all over the place. Hutch chasing
him, and he's gonna make some plays. He's hot.
hotter than the sun right now. And the rest of
that Tampa Bay team is actually, I think, better
than the Chiefs. So I'm trying to figure out
what game plan we're going to throw together.
Now, the Lions are bounce back team. OK, they
always have been. So maybe we get that good bounce
back and that good vibe being at home. I just
ripped on Kendall Vildor. He did pick a ball
off this past weekend. So congrats, Kendall.
Maybe you're having some sort of a renaissance
of your career. But if they are as beat up as
we as as they appear to be. then we have a chance.
But some of these guys that we have beat up,
for instance, Branch has been beat up. You know,
you've got a couple guys there that I'd like
to see healthy and I don't know how much, you
know, Kirby, we can't have Kirby beat up running
around out there too. Both safeties, starting
safeties are beat up. Yeah. And not to mention,
Brian Branch might be suspended for this game.
Yeah, he may be. So that is part of the news
coming out today is that for the punch he might
be suspended. If he is. I can't argue against
it and it certainly he doesn't have his coaches
support. Yeah Whatsoever. I just don't know that
we have the defense to contain Baker Mayfield
and any of the receivers the Tampa Bay chooses
to throw at us They have some fairly talented
young guys there. That said you never know We
could just, you know, restore the roar for the
next weekend and the Lions win the game. But
I just I'm not that five and a half line that
I think it opened at Lions minus five and a half.
I am taking Tampa Bay in the five and a half
all day. I saw four and a half and I'm going
Lions four and a half line. OK, OK. So we're
in a disagreement here as the outcome of this,
which is good. That's healthy or either. I wouldn't
do both. Yes. And I'm going to ride the Lions
on this one. And here's why. If the Buccaneers
had Bucky Irving. and the full slate of Goodwin,
Evans, and the rookie. Yeah. That's kind of what
gives me my only pause in this, is they don't
have their guys. No way, no how. Mike Evans is
a mismatch galore because he's huge, awesome,
he runs great routes. He's probably future Hall
of Famer. Yeah, I was just about to say, future
Hall of Famer. Yeah, without those guys, I think
it's who's Baker's gonna throw to. If the Lions
can stop White in the running game, they're gonna
make the Buccaneers very one -dimensional. And
Baker has not turned the ball over with great
frequency this year. Yeah. And I can see it a
game where you're gonna see a few turnovers going
the lion's way. The defense can win this game
then. They can turn the ball over a few times,
flip the tables. If it's a shootout, I think
it's gonna go a lot like yesterday's game win.
And I think the Lions will come up short. So
they are going to need to stop the Buccaneers
three, maybe four times. The Chiefs only punted
once yesterday. And that's probably the secret
to the game, is that they could never get the
Chiefs off the field when they needed to. For
the Lions, you asked me about fantasy. For the
Lions, fantasy -wise, Gibbs and Amun Ra are like
automatic plug -and -play every game. It really
comes down to would you play Jared Goff? Would
you play... I said I would. Would you play Laporta?
Would you play... I think... I don't think I
would play Goff in this one. I would play Laporta,
though. He's kind of been coming up pretty big
lately. Sure. Four, five, six catches a game.
60 yards seems to be about... the norm for him.
So the name to watch for our loyal listeners
and insiders, Vita Vea is the three technique
defensive tackle galore for the Buccaneers and
the Buccaneers have given the Lions fits. Yep.
And Vita has been on the... Last season they
beat the Lions at Ford Field and the season previous
they gave the Lions fits and everything they
could handle in the playoffs. And Vita's name
gets called almost every play. He is an absolute
stud. So Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany and
Tate Ratledge are going to have their absolute.
It's going to be a nightmare day for them. They're
going to be black and blue. That's going to be
the key to the game. He can disrupt the game
and single -handedly probably put the Buccaneers
in a position to win it. The last thing I was
going to say is coaching. You've got Todd Bowles
up against Dan Campbell. This is a clear mismatch
in the favor of Campbell. Bowles has done a great
job getting sharp offensive minds in. The problem
is they always leave. And so Liam Cohen was their
offensive coordinator last year. He's now the
head coach of the Jaguars and sort of a good
problem to have, bad problem to have. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's one of those. We know about that.
Yeah, we do. It worked out OK for us to this
point. Yeah, so. Just a couple more things to
look at. I would suggest listeners focus here.
The Litterbox Detroit Tigers podcast has come
to an end like the Tigers season. And with that,
go Honolulu Bloons Silver. Go Lions. We will
have a Tigers season wrap up. So look out for
that on the Litterbox Detroit Tigers. But yes,
for now, it's all football all the time outside
of that one. So go Lions. Let's hope for the
best on Monday night.