WEBVTT 00:00:06.140 --> 00:00:11.939 This is the Litterbox, a Detroit Lions podcast 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:15.619 with your hosts, Chad West and Bill Patterson. 00:00:19.100 --> 00:00:22.559 Litterbox Lions Nation. We've got two games left 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:27.879 in this season and our chances of a playoff appearance 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:32.929 are slim. to none at this point at 16%. We need 00:00:32.929 --> 00:00:35.670 two packer losses in two straight wins from a 00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.070 team that looks like it couldn't find a win. 00:00:39.030 --> 00:00:42.149 If it smacked them dead in the face, Bill, I 00:00:42.149 --> 00:00:44.189 have a question for you, and I've been pondering 00:00:44.189 --> 00:00:47.189 this all week. Are we about to see the end of 00:00:47.189 --> 00:00:49.850 Sonic and Knuckles? Chet, unfortunately, it sure 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:52.409 looks that way. Don't see even though Montgomery 00:00:52.409 --> 00:00:56.270 is under contract for next season. I can see 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:59.549 the Lions opting out of it and. What you're referring 00:00:59.549 --> 00:01:04.189 to is he being Monty Knuckles had a quote that 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:07.250 said, God grant me humility and gratitude and 00:01:07.250 --> 00:01:11.590 relieve me of selfishness and fear. Hashtag blessed. 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:16.549 And then he also liked a comment under that post 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:19.430 pushing for a trade out of Detroit. So I saw 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:23.049 that. Yeah, I think he is getting very, very 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:26.170 frustrated with the lack of utilization and we'll 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:29.430 touch on injuries here in a minute. But if the 00:01:29.430 --> 00:01:31.530 Lions are going to win these next two games, 00:01:31.549 --> 00:01:33.909 they've got to find a way to run the football 00:01:33.909 --> 00:01:37.049 and getting Graham Glasgow back is certainly 00:01:37.049 --> 00:01:40.549 helpful on that, which if you told me I'd be 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:45.849 ever saying that this season. Come around full 00:01:45.849 --> 00:01:48.109 circle on Graham Glasgow. You don't know what 00:01:48.109 --> 00:01:51.280 you got till it's gone. Man what a great song 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:56.480 that was anyhow. Yeah, so let's I guess the preview 00:01:56.480 --> 00:01:59.359 is this the Lions are now favored by seven and 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.719 a half points the reason the line jumped is because 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:05.739 JJ McCarthy has a hairline fracture in his right 00:02:05.739 --> 00:02:09.879 hand and Max Brosmer formerly of the you the 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:12.060 University of Minnesota will be the Vikings starting 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:16.719 quarterback He has looked shaky at best in relief 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:20.539 duty or backup duty mop up duty For one, JJ McCarthy 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:24.800 this year. Boychette, I would love to, you know, 00:02:24.939 --> 00:02:28.879 say go Lions on this. The over under is 43. So 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:31.120 the Sharps are expecting it to be, you know, 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:34.860 a fairly low scoring game. It would seem the 00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:38.460 ideal time that somebody on the Lions offense 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:42.300 looking at UMCDC or you, Johnny Morton, figures 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:45.379 out a way to stop that Brian Flores crisscross 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:48.650 inside blitz. And the running game gets open, 00:02:48.689 --> 00:02:51.289 opens up the play action passing game and the 00:02:51.289 --> 00:02:55.569 Lions get out of Minnesota with a victory. I 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:57.729 don't know. What are your thoughts? I'm going 00:02:57.729 --> 00:03:01.509 to be watching this game for, well, one reason, 00:03:01.509 --> 00:03:04.530 and that's just to see if our offense can get 00:03:04.530 --> 00:03:08.909 on track against a decent defense. Outside of 00:03:08.909 --> 00:03:12.090 that, if our defense can't handle Max Brosmer 00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:14.550 and company, we've got problems. And if I was 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:17.400 if I was the Vikings. I don't think I'd let Max 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:19.240 throw the ball a heck of a lot. I think I would 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:22.259 just run a steady diet of Aaron Jones at us. 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:25.759 Mason will be out. He is injured and will be 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.620 out. So you're going to get Aaron Jones, I believe 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:31.360 on his own, but you're going to give us a little 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:34.139 more injury news. Is that correct, Bill? Yeah, 00:03:34.139 --> 00:03:36.759 let's get into that. I'll start with the Lions. 00:03:37.020 --> 00:03:39.280 The two guys that have not practiced thus far 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.219 this week are Avante Maddox and our guy Knuckles. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:45.639 Knuckles is dealing with some type of illness. 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.819 Avante and Maddox has a back injury and some 00:03:49.819 --> 00:03:52.460 type of illness. So those two, I'm not super 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:54.599 optimistic, especially given that it's a short 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:57.979 week and the Lions play it either 4 p .m. Eastern 00:03:57.979 --> 00:04:00.060 Standard Time, 3 p .m. Central Standard Time 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:03.120 on Christmas Day. By the way, we're potting this 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:06.219 on Christmas Eve. So Merry Christmas to all of 00:04:06.219 --> 00:04:08.479 our listeners, all of our loved ones. Going down 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:10.840 the list. Uh, these are the guys that were limited 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.520 for the lions. Tristan Cologne, Marcus Davenport, 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.100 Taylor Decker, Tom Kennedy, Christian Mahogany, 00:04:17.420 --> 00:04:21.860 Giovanni Manu, Alim McNeil, Bob Muhammad, Amique 00:04:21.860 --> 00:04:26.519 Robertson, Aman, Ra, St. Brown, and Graham Glasgow. 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:29.259 We already talked about Glasgow coming back. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:31.540 I imagine it's a short week. Don't read into 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:34.439 limited practice. I imagine MCDC is going easy 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:39.120 on these guys and the two that I would I guess 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.399 we'll let you talk about it in fantasy in a minute, 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:44.420 but I could see Montgomery not suiting up. I 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:47.100 think he might have played his last game as a 00:04:47.100 --> 00:04:50.259 Detroit lion. If Monty doesn't suit up, let's 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:53.740 just suppose he doesn't suit up, is Bakke healthy? 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.560 Who would be playing that second running back 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:01.639 role there? That would be one Sion Baki at this 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:03.519 time. And I would assume if he's healthy, wouldn't 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:05.759 it be interesting if he got like 15 carries and 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.680 ran for a hundred yards? Gosh, would that be 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:09.019 it? I don't even know how the world would have 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:10.759 had that. That would be one of life's greatest 00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:14.899 ironies. That would be. This goes back to, you 00:05:14.899 --> 00:05:18.259 know, I keep reading comments and some of our 00:05:18.259 --> 00:05:20.860 listeners keep saying, hey, they gotta tie up 00:05:20.860 --> 00:05:24.009 or sign Gibbs long -term. Yeah. Here's the thing, 00:05:24.389 --> 00:05:26.110 Lions fans, what we're seeing is if you don't 00:05:26.110 --> 00:05:28.170 have an offensive line, it doesn't matter what 00:05:28.170 --> 00:05:30.509 running backs you have because outside of Barry 00:05:30.509 --> 00:05:33.730 Sanders, you're going to produce and Gibbs doesn't 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:36.430 have Barry Sanders moves and he's not going up 00:05:36.430 --> 00:05:38.290 against the defenders. Barry went up against 00:05:38.290 --> 00:05:40.430 either. All right. The Vikings injury report 00:05:40.430 --> 00:05:42.790 is a lot more encouraging if you're a Lions fan. 00:05:43.029 --> 00:05:46.910 T .J. Hockinson is out. Ryan Kelly, their starting 00:05:46.910 --> 00:05:50.160 center, has a concussion. He is out. The aforementioned 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:52.899 Jordan Mason has an ankle injury. He is out. 00:05:53.160 --> 00:05:55.379 JJ McCarthy, that right hand hairline fraction, 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:59.279 he is out. Now let's get to the unknowns. Brian 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:01.199 O 'Neil, their offensive tackle has been dealing 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:04.240 with a heel issue. He is questionable. Aaron 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:07.139 Jones is good to go. He's going to play through 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:10.060 that ankle issue. Jevon Hargrave, the nose tackle, 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:12.040 is dealing with a thigh issue. He's good to go. 00:06:12.180 --> 00:06:15.040 Eric Wilson, linebacker, has a thumb issue. He 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:17.829 is good to go. A name I have never heard before, 00:06:18.029 --> 00:06:21.709 and this is a mouthful. Gavin Bartholomew, a 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:24.569 tight end. Has a back injury. He is questionable, 00:06:24.589 --> 00:06:27.430 so I don't know that he is going to go. Ty Chandler, 00:06:27.610 --> 00:06:29.569 a backup running back, is dealing with a bum 00:06:29.569 --> 00:06:32.550 knee. He is good to go. And then Austin Keys 00:06:32.550 --> 00:06:36.029 linebacker ankle injury. He is unspecified. That 00:06:36.029 --> 00:06:38.689 is a rarity that I've seen, but given that these 00:06:38.689 --> 00:06:41.430 teams are having a short work week. I think that 00:06:41.430 --> 00:06:44.350 is what we're going to get on this. So Lions 00:06:44.350 --> 00:06:47.629 by seven and a half points over under 43. Chet, 00:06:47.810 --> 00:06:49.910 let's talk about fantasy. What are your thoughts? 00:06:50.389 --> 00:06:52.730 So I wasn't going to take anybody on the Minnesota 00:06:52.730 --> 00:06:55.769 side of the ball at all. Just with Max Brosmer 00:06:55.769 --> 00:06:58.350 running the show, I didn't have a lot of confidence. 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:00.490 They're missing their center. We know what that's 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:03.490 like to be missing your starting center. But 00:07:03.490 --> 00:07:07.709 can I make a joke to really? Yeah. Yeah. Do you 00:07:07.709 --> 00:07:10.959 think Justin Jefferson has? an ounce more confidence 00:07:10.959 --> 00:07:14.160 in Max Brosmer to get him the ball. Successfully. 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:17.100 I don't. I don't. I think this is like I think 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:19.759 this is what we would call a lost season for 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:21.759 Justin Jefferson. And I think he's chalked it 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.120 up to that at this point. I think he's sitting 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.899 on an island somewhere dreaming of having a quarterback 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:29.680 who can get him the ball. Again, you go back 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:31.850 to you don't know what you know. I don't know 00:07:31.850 --> 00:07:34.790 what you had until it's gone, Kirk Cousins could 00:07:34.790 --> 00:07:37.189 get him the ball. He's probably wishing Kirk 00:07:37.189 --> 00:07:39.110 came back and played quarterback for that team 00:07:39.110 --> 00:07:41.490 right now. Do you think he sent Sam Darnold like 00:07:41.490 --> 00:07:44.689 a just amazing... Or Sam Darnold for that, yeah. 00:07:44.709 --> 00:07:47.490 Harry and David, you know, the pears, the chocolates, 00:07:48.110 --> 00:07:52.550 the wines, the charcuterie. If I'm going to take 00:07:52.550 --> 00:07:55.850 a Viking in this game, it's probably Aaron Jones. 00:07:56.269 --> 00:07:59.110 I think he's going to have a steady diet of run 00:07:59.110 --> 00:08:01.250 game. He's probably going to have a couple of 00:08:01.250 --> 00:08:04.009 short passes from Brosmer slung out to him. I 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:06.709 think he'd be the guy to take our defense did 00:08:06.709 --> 00:08:09.230 nothing against the Steelers last week. And I 00:08:09.230 --> 00:08:11.269 think we're going to see similar cast of characters 00:08:11.269 --> 00:08:14.389 out there again this week. So things probably 00:08:14.389 --> 00:08:18.009 won't change in regards to the Lions. You take 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:22.310 your your usual, you take your usual group. OK, 00:08:22.550 --> 00:08:25.079 you're going to take Amanra. You're going to 00:08:25.079 --> 00:08:28.779 take Gibbs. You're going to take Williams. You're 00:08:28.779 --> 00:08:31.959 probably, you know, I, I'm wondering, and we 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:34.100 saw it in the last game a little bit, and there 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:37.639 were some close calls. I'm wondering if they're 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:41.700 finally getting Tesla integrated into this offense. 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:45.159 He almost had a game winner there. He had a touchdown 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:48.500 catch, but he almost had a game winner too. And 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:50.299 he had a couple other catches and attempts over 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:52.590 the middle. I wonder if they're just leaking 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:56.269 him into the game plan slowly. It would it couldn't 00:08:56.269 --> 00:08:59.710 come soon enough for for this co -host. Yeah, 00:08:59.750 --> 00:09:01.450 I love nothing more to see it. That would be 00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:03.649 a great Christmas present. This is what happened 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:05.970 with Amon Ra when he was a rookie. He got kind 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:08.730 of I think it was like the 12th or 13th game 00:09:08.730 --> 00:09:10.870 into the season. We started and then he could 00:09:10.870 --> 00:09:12.830 get thrown. Yeah. Yeah, he was great. And he 00:09:12.830 --> 00:09:15.409 was great in the preseason. And then we didn't 00:09:15.409 --> 00:09:17.730 see him for like 12 games. Yeah, you're right 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:20.059 about that. And they were. firing balls at him 00:09:20.059 --> 00:09:22.279 and he was You know people were saying maybe 00:09:22.279 --> 00:09:25.620 this guy's gonna be okay I so I'm going with 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:28.960 the usual cast of characters I don't know if 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.320 this is a Jared Goff game because if we do get 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:36.919 up on the Vikings early It may become a run get 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:39.100 and may become a let's get the run game healthy 00:09:39.529 --> 00:09:42.169 type of a deal, and they may start running the 00:09:42.169 --> 00:09:43.750 ball on the line. I could see us getting up by 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:45.870 a touchdown or two, and I'm not saying this is 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:48.029 going to happen. I don't trust this team as far 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:50.289 as I can throw them right now. But if we do get 00:09:50.289 --> 00:09:52.029 up a touchdown or two, I could see them trying 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:55.429 to force the run almost to frustration, like 00:09:55.429 --> 00:09:57.110 just jamming the line, jamming the line, jamming 00:09:57.110 --> 00:09:58.950 the line, get it going, get it going, get it 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:01.629 going until we break one so we can show everybody 00:10:01.629 --> 00:10:04.389 we can run again. But, you know, this could be 00:10:04.389 --> 00:10:06.629 one of those types of games. We're in the experimental 00:10:06.629 --> 00:10:09.220 phase of the season here because the games We 00:10:09.220 --> 00:10:12.539 got to win, but man, it's you got to kind of 00:10:12.539 --> 00:10:16.220 know that they're dead in the water. Yeah. Monty 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:18.919 is my last question. Given that he's got this 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:21.179 illness, he hasn't practiced. Do you play him 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:22.860 if you have him in fantasy? I don't think so. 00:10:22.860 --> 00:10:24.120 Do you sit him? I don't think you do. Do you 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:26.179 leave him alone? Okay. He might've had his last 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:28.139 snaps. I think you leave him alone. I don't think 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:31.090 you can play him right now. He's ill. He's had 00:10:31.090 --> 00:10:33.909 a few comments. Dan doesn't deal well with that 00:10:33.909 --> 00:10:36.990 stuff. And I'm not saying where there's smoke, 00:10:37.110 --> 00:10:39.710 there's fire or anything. He could just be sick. 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:42.330 He could be out. Is that time of year? I chalk 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:45.649 it up to that. But yeah, that's where I leave 00:10:45.649 --> 00:10:47.990 that. I wouldn't blame him. If you got him, I 00:10:47.990 --> 00:10:50.539 would find somebody else. Okay. Fair enough. 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:52.639 Fair enough. All right. I do want to give one 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:54.559 shout out before we do our predictions. And that 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:57.440 is the Lions had five pro bowlers announced this 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:00.139 week. They did. Yes. Nobody on this list is really 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:01.899 all that much of a surprise. You've got Jameer 00:11:01.899 --> 00:11:05.000 Gibbs. You've got him on Ross St. Brown. You've 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.279 got Penne Sewell on the offense and then on the 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:11.360 defense on Jack Campbell. Not a surprise. One. 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:15.259 Aiden Hutchinson was a surprise to me. I didn't 00:11:15.259 --> 00:11:17.159 think he'd have that great of a year. No, he's 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:18.899 still got 10 sacks. I mean, he's having a great 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.460 season. Meaningless. I know it's meaningless, 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.019 but you're talking about, you're talking about 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:25.840 a guy with 10 sacks. We didn't have him out there. 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:27.139 I don't know what this would look like. Yeah, 00:11:27.259 --> 00:11:29.360 you're right about that, yeah. And Jack Campbell 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:32.480 is the one that I love because that shows he 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:35.879 is growing. And is about to take over a leadership 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:37.960 role in that linebacker corps. I'm from Alexander 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:40.019 Zaloni, who I don't think we'll see next season 00:11:40.019 --> 00:11:42.700 on the Detroit Lions. No, no, no, no, no. They're 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:44.200 going to have a lot of cap issues. They're going 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:45.779 to have a lot of guys that got a release. They 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:47.159 got a lot of stuff going on. You're going to 00:11:47.159 --> 00:11:49.240 see a lot of contract restructuring and stuff 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:51.000 like that in the off season to make room for 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:54.879 new pieces, hopefully. That's a tease to another 00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.039 podcast. All right. I'm going to give you my 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.100 prediction right now. Do it. Go. I think that 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:02.879 this is going to be one of those that is going 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.379 to drive anybody that that's this game nuts. 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:10.340 So I'm going to go Vikings 23 Lions 21. So it 00:12:10.340 --> 00:12:14.720 goes over the Vikings cover and it'll be like 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:19.960 a weird cover too. Like they'll be down 21 to 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.659 what 13 or something like that. And I don't know 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:25.379 something crazy. I'm gonna go with, you know, 00:12:25.580 --> 00:12:28.320 every week, I pick the Lions, when I pick the 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:30.460 Lions to win, I pick, you know, I warned everybody 00:12:30.460 --> 00:12:33.019 last week we could lose the Steelers. I'm gonna 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:37.940 take the Lions 24 to 21. Love it. So it's going 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:40.639 over. Lions are gonna win this one. They're gonna 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:43.960 figure this out. And if they can't, oh well, 00:12:44.340 --> 00:12:46.779 season's over. All righty. Merry Christmas. Thank 00:12:46.779 --> 00:12:49.259 you for listening to the Honolulu Blue and Silver, 00:12:49.460 --> 00:12:53.059 the Detroit Lions litter box podcast. Happy holidays 00:12:53.059 --> 00:12:56.440 to you and yours, and thank you, Chet. Thanks, 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:59.320 Bill. Happy holidays, everybody. Go Lions.