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PT
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Might as well kick this off a few days early.

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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2018/11/22/detroit-lions-la-rams-ch/2089183002/

Detroit Lions' Ricky Jean Francois: We should be excited to play Rams
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press

Most people probably wouldn’t want to play the team that just scored 54 points. But Ricky Jean Francois isn’t most people.

Minutes after the Detroit Lions lost to the Chicago Bears, 23-16, and pretty much snuffed out their playoff hopes, the veteran defensive tackle was ready for the next challenge.

That’s the Los Angeles Rams, an offensive juggernaut that beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 54-51, on Monday night. The Rams have many offensive weapons and rank third in NFL scoring with a 35.4-point average. They also have one of the NFL’s best defensive players in Aaron Donald.

The Lions' defense played well Thursday, holding Chase Daniel and the Bears to 264 offensive yards and 16 points on offense. But the Bears aren't the Rams, who are 10-1 and are on a bye this week.

“I understand we didn’t get the W,” Jean Francois said. “But you’ve got to remember, you’ve got to be excited to be happy to see this Thanksgiving, plus you’ve got to be excited next week to play the L.A. Rams, which is probably the most high-powered offense in the NFL.

“And they’re coming to our house. So if you’re walking around that building with your head down, I don’t know why. You’re playing one of the most exciting offenses that’s going to come in here.”

Jean Francois spoke with an almost giddy excitement about the Rams, maybe something like what a shark hunter might sound like before he takes on a great white.

“You should always want a challenge,” he said. “That challenge should make you excited. That challenge should send chills down your spine when you’re playing a guy like Todd Gurley, playing this quarterback, name how many multiple weapons they have on the defense.

“I know our offense has to be excited to play against Aaron Donald, play against Ndamukong Suh, a guy that used to be here, (Michael) Brockers.”
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Pot is legal in Michigan and everyone is mellow caught up in their dreams.
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The Lions will keep the Rams to under a point a minute.
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Possibly a shut out against the rams?
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Yeah. I can see the Lions not scoring a single point after Suh and Donald murder Stafford!
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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...detroit-lions-beat-bears-and-rams/2072130002/

Why I'm picking Detroit Lions to beat Chicago Bears — and L.A. Rams
Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press

They’ll surely beat the mighty Los Angeles Rams. Yes, the offensive juggernaut that just scored 54 points. The Lions will beat them. Book it.

Why? Because this team makes no sense. It is beyond reason.

Yep, the Rams know how to score. But their defense isn’t close to elite. After a defensive line that features Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, the Rams aren’t great on defense. They rank 24th in scoring, allowing 25.6 points per game and overall they rank 21st — two spots worse than the Lions’ defense. A fumble here, a pick there and the Lions have a chance to win this game at home.
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Make this reporter take a drug test.
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I think the koolaid you guys are drinking is laced with something.
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So The Lions will score 147 points against The Rams?
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wow - didn't take Carlos to long get a hold of recreational Marijuana. didn't think it was in effect for a few more days, but appears he ate an entire gummy haha
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Carlos started drinking a few days before the holiday.
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If Donald lines up over Wagner on passing downs ,Stafford will not finish the game.
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https://247sports.com/nfl/detroit-l...up-this-offense-against-the-Ramsor-125166413/

Will the Lions open up this offense against the Rams?...or

The Rams are going to beat the s*** out of Detroit just like other teams
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This would normally be a game where you mortgage your house, call your bookie or head to Vegas and put everything on the over.

The Rams will do their part and shred our defense. But even on a porous secondary like the Rams', the Lions won't score. They can't score on anybody. They couldn't score when they had Taint-Jones-Golladay-Kerryon.

Look for more of Stafford going fetal a second before the D-line gets to him.
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Rams will quickly go up 14-0 and it will be turtle mode.
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We will try to run the dink and dunk offense to eat time off, keeping the Rams off the field as much as possible. But the Rams will score on every drive, so by the second half, it will have made no sense
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I predict the O-line will open up, Donald and Suh will have a field day.
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The Lions defense will probably open up for the Rams, probably not the offense though.
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I wouldn't be surprised to see Suh take a liberty with Stafford. Stafford has not played against Suh.
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Right here is the guy that stands between Suh and Stafford:



Stafford will be lucky to see week 14.
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I don't think it'd be wise for detroit to move away from the short passing game next week. Ndamukong Suh can't wait for this game. Suh might kill stafford if cooter tries to open things up down field. Takes too long for those plays to develop.

Stafford needs help. Jones and johnson being out is a major handicap. Hopefully, at least one of them will be back sooner than later.
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With the Rams defense looking like it is, I'd run out 03 personnel most downs with all tight ends blocking and toss it deep to Golladay covered by Peters.
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https://247sports.com/nfl/detroit-l...e-didnt-pick-that-Aaron-Donald-guy-125010385/

So glad we didn’t pick that Aaron Donald guy!

Not sure we’re he would have fit in our D!
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All the other teams that passed on him probably wish that too. But drafts are drafts...you win some you lose some.
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The Rams were terrible with Donald from 14-16.

Unless we were going to hire Wade Phillips, I don’t think the D was going to be much more than it is today.
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Obviously guys like Aaron Donald, Mack, JJ Watt were only good because they had a great secondary, top notch coordinators and hall of fame linebackers to compliment them.

How did I do, Stafford apologists??

Oh, you mean some players actually can make plays themselves and not need a supporting cast of all pros to become more than average?
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There were continuous rumors that Suh wanted out of Detroit and into a larger media market. Remember those consultations he had with Warren Buffett?

Some of us were pounding the table for Donald because we saw the foregoing. If the Lions had drafted Donald, then maybe Suh doesn’t have them over a barrel in negotiations. At a minimum, it would have created a different dynamic.
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I saw exactly 0 topics mentioning Donald the week before the playoffs in 2014 when the DL was dominating the run game....and Aaron Donald was sitting at home on his couch, eating cheetoes.
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Where does Donald go in a redraft? Like.....before Greg freaking Robinson for sure.
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Folks may have liked Donald. But there wasn’t the “yep! Everybody knew!” thing. In fact, as I have said....to believe we’d of dominated in 15-16-17 because we had Donald ignores how much the team sucked even with Suh in 10-13.

The only other argument is: we should have taken a DT because I value it. In truth, the team stopped valuing pressure DTs the day Schwartz left town.

There’s a reason why Austin was canned in Cincy despite a pro bowler like Atkins. It’s never been his ideal scheme. Whether or not folks want to believe it....there are so many reasons we passed on Donald it’s really not much more than sour grapes thinking this defense was a AD away from dominating.

Like it or not....even had we selected him, he’s not the same guy here. Not in the scheme Austin ran. Not in Patricia’s either. I’ll say again: unless we hired Wade Phillips, the gnashing of teeth over Donald is sorta useless. The day we moved on from Schwartz was the day extensive pressure from the DTs took a backseat. It’s not a coincidence the staff that passed on Donald was the staff AFTER Schwartz.

There was a lot that went into the pass that IS absolutely hindsight.
 

jjab360

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Lions fans know what's up:

"We will try to run the dink and dunk offense to eat time off, keeping the Rams off the field as much as possible. But the Rams will score on every drive, so by the second half, it will have made no sense"

That beat writer needs to be drug tested, though.
 

Loyal

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I love the “no sense” reason why the Lions bear the Rams...lol
 

Merlin

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IF we get Talib back, giving up 7 points vs Detroit is a bargain.
 

TSFH Fan

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Flashback:

Ndamukong Suh: Rams' Jared Goff best QB I've ever had (um, Stafford?)
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...g-suh-jared-goff-matthew-stafford/1500558002/

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A brief history of Matthew Stafford/Statford (thanks Reddit):

9lQ3RTi.png


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Solution to being a Lions' Fan:

Here's a fix for frustrated Detroit Lions fans: Pick another team

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...ons-fans-its-ok-root-another-team/2088947002/
 

CGI_Ram

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LesBaker

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Make this reporter take a drug test.

I think the koolaid you guys are drinking is laced with something.

wow - didn't take Carlos to long get a hold of recreational Marijuana. didn't think it was in effect for a few more days, but appears he ate an entire gummy haha

Carlos started drinking a few days before the holiday.



LOL the Lions fans are funny..........long suffering, I can identify.

Stafford is good. Very good, actually.

I agree, he is very good. He reminds me of Favre a bit though not physically just the sling it mentality. He's usually not gotten much help from the roster and FO though.

I bet not many people know this but he is in the 5000 club. And he got in when there were only three other guys in it. Nopw there are 5.

Brees has done it 5 of the 9 times it's happened, and did it three straight years. Almost four, he just missed with 4952 the one year.

Goff is of another order.
 

Loyal

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Stafford is good. Very good, actually.

But, Jared has back to back 100 rating seasons, Stafford has never had one.

Again, I like Stafford, but hard to argue with Suh considering the backlash he got in the article.
I have never looked at Stafford and thought " Wish we could have gotten him." Stafford has never reminded me as a winner. I certainly wouldn't trade Goff for him, even if Stafford was the same age as Jared. *shrugs
 

Loyal

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The Rams are going to beat the s*** out of Detroit just like other teams

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Don’t think for a second that this team can’t put up 35/ week if they wanted to. THEY CAN!! It’s a choice on how they run this offense. I’m hoping now that our season is officially over that they choose to take the governor off of thIs offense and give the NFL what it wants. Maybe then we’ll get a few more calls our way.

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Not without KJ and Marvin Jones lol.

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How and the hell do u open up a offense with players we have. Our wrs dont get seperation and were miss our only good RB and the oline can only hold a block for 2 sec. This team isnt opening anything.

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I’m assuming (probably wrongfully) that they will both be back. Although I still think they can come out in several different formations without M.J and K.J and get this offense humming.

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This would normally be a game where you mortgage your house, call your bookie or head to Vegas and put everything on the over.

The Rams will do their part and shred our defense. But even on a porous secondary like the Rams', the Lions won't score. They can't score on anybody. They couldn't score when they had Taint-Jones-Golladay-Kerryon. (Excluding Stat Padford time, of course.)

Look for more of Stafford going fetal a second before the D-line gets to him.


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Did we change OCs?

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Are you listening to your implication?

The Lions are 1-4 going back to Halloween.

Do you honestly believe they’re hiding parts of the playbook?

Are we that out of touch on just how bad this group is offensively?

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Rams will quickly go up 14-0 and it will be turtle mode.

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We will try to run the dink and dunk offense to eat time off, keeping the Rams off the field as much as possible. But the Rams will score on every drive, so by the second half, it will have made no sense

I predict the O-line will open up, Donald and Suh will have a field day

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The Lions defense will probably open up for the Rams, probably not the offense though.

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I wouldn't be surprised to see Suh take a liberty with Stafford. Stafford has not played against Suh.

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I realize that TE, RB, WR and OL don't matter in Detroit and that the only difference between teams, really, is the QB, but....

Right here is the guy that stands between Suh and Stafford:

Yztj8Qu.png


Stafford will be lucky to see week 14.

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I don't think it'd be wise for detroit to move away from the short passing game next week. Ndamukong Suh can't wait for this game. Suh might kill stafford if cooter tries to open things up down field. Takes too long for those plays to develop.

Stafford needs help. Jones and johnson being out is a major handicap. Hopefully, at least one of them will be back sooner than later.

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With the Rams defense looking like it is, I'd run out 03 personnel most downs with all tight ends blocking and toss it deep to Golladay covered by Peters.

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I like Rams

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Lions are so hit and miss. Depends what Lions team shows up. Luckily we got McVay now and dont sleep on teams we're "supposed" to beat.
 

TSFH Fan

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Gosh, yeah, they are long suffering over there (best wishes to them except when we play them). Reading some of their posts gives me flashbacks. Now it's like Civil War is breaking out over Matt Stafford -- almost like how it is/was with Rams fans and Bradford.


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlions/comments/9zrsge/defending_stafford_on_rdetroitlions/

It’s been ten damn years!! I think the book on Stafford has been written. He’s decent and I still like him but he just doesn’t have it in him to put a mediocre team on his shoulders and carry them to a Championship. Mediocrity is what we have now and pretty much what we have always had but If Quinn can build a great team around Stafford. I think he’s good enough to win a super bowl if things break our way. Fact is with his contract we’re stuck with him for a good long while and our only hope is for Quinn to build an elite defense. Only that combined with a competent run game is our only hope with Stafford
Charlie Batch, Joey Harrington, Jeff Garcia, Daunte Culpepper, Jon Kitna.

Never put me on the quarterback carousel again. The Lions were unwatchable for years until we got Stafford.
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They still arent very watchable with him.

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Believe me, right now you're being spoiled as a Lions fan

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlions/comments/9zpuib/up_vote_if_you_think_stafford_is_worth_his_140m/

Best QB aim franchise history. Counter question: what better option would you suggest? No team will trade away any good QB, and no QB worth a damn ever hits free agency. The only option is to draft high and cross your fingers, which means that you’re likely giving away a ton of picks to go up and get one. There are too many other needs on this team for me to even consider a new QB1.

Matthew Stafford is bad right now, but trading him is dumb
Why, for the millionth time, the Lions shouldn’t trade Stafford.
By Mike Payton Nov 24, 2018, 10:05am EST
https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2018...ford-is-bad-right-now-but-trading-him-is-dumb

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No game thread yet, so I'll stick this here:
2018-09-13-MattyPatty.png
 

1maGoh

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Gosh, yeah, they are long suffering over there (best wishes to them except when we play them). Reading some of their posts gives me flashbacks. Now it's like Civil War is breaking out over Matt Stafford -- almost like how it is/was with Rams fans and Bradford.


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlions/comments/9zrsge/defending_stafford_on_rdetroitlions/




View: https://www.reddit.com/r/detroitlions/comments/9zpuib/up_vote_if_you_think_stafford_is_worth_his_140m/



Matthew Stafford is bad right now, but trading him is dumb
Why, for the millionth time, the Lions shouldn’t trade Stafford.
By Mike Payton Nov 24, 2018, 10:05am EST
https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2018...ford-is-bad-right-now-but-trading-him-is-dumb

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No game thread yet, so I'll stick this here:
2018-09-13-MattyPatty.png

That comic strip is freaking hilarious.
 

CGI_Ram

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Matthew Stafford is bad right now, but trading him is dumb
Why, for the millionth time, the Lions shouldn’t trade Stafford.

Good read and it really describes the QB conundrum in the NFL.

If you get a good one, you’re lucky... because the list of pretenders is much longer.

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2018...ford-is-bad-right-now-but-trading-him-is-dumb

Matthew Stafford is bad right now, but trading him is dumb

Why, for the millionth time, the Lions shouldn’t trade Stafford.


Who’s ready for the overreacting period of the Lions season? It came a little earlier than usual this year ,with the Lions hitting 4-7 after a bad loss to the Bears on Thanksgiving. But even though the overreactions came in early, the topic is still the exact same one it’s been for years. It’s all rooted in this weird fetish that Detroit sports fans have about sending their best athletes out of town.

Finally, there’s some meat on the bone here, though. Lions fans actually have something to point to when they say the Lions should trade Matthew Stafford. Usually it’s the classic “but he hasn’t won anything” comment that makes me roll my eyes so hard that they damn near fall out, because, as I mention nearly every day, quarterback wins are not a real stat. Teams shouldn't be basing their quarterback personnel decisions off of them.

But that meat on the bone I was talking about is that Stafford and the offense are in a real funk right now. There’s a lot to point to when you’re trying to explain it, such as the lack of solid receiving threats. The ones Stafford does have can’t create separation. His offensive coordinator is about to get fired for being so bad, and the Lions offensive line went from top five to bottom five seemingly overnight. But, to be fair, Matthew Stafford has been making some very poor decisions this season.

I don’t know if Matthew isn’t making good decisions because he’s trying to force something or if he’s just regressing. I’ve been thinking about that for weeks. It’s really odd because after the Miami game, Stafford looked like the elite quarterback we all knew he was at the time. Statistically speaking, only Drew Brees and Matt Ryan had put up better overall numbers then.

Everything changed against Seattle. The once completely reliable in the clutch Matthew Stafford started making mistakes in the clutch—a fumble in the fourth quarter on a drive to bring the game to within a touchdown followed by an ugly interception on the 1-yard line the next drive.

Then against Minnesota, in a game the Lions weren't out of, Matthew decided to pitch to Kerryon Johnson while running and we all know what happened next. In Chicago, Stafford threw two picks, but it was his odd choice to try and pass to Marvin Jones on a second down when he needed to run 5-yards in an open field for a first down to keep the drive going. He got sacked on the next play.

When I asked him about it after the game, he said that he was “trying to make a big one.” I’ll touch on that in a moment.

Then on Thanksgiving it came to a head again. It’s the fourth quarter and the Lions are down by a touchdown. It used to be okay, because you knew Stafford was going to lead the team down the field, but then he threw a pick six.

I’ve talked to death about that pick six all weekend. When your offensive coordinator draws up the most conservative offense of all time with passes to the flat on nearly every play, someone is going to jump that route eventually. There was nothing Stafford could have done there.

But on the second interception, I have to place some of it on Stafford. Yes, there was a push off. Yes, Roberts was nowhere close to where he was supposed to be as well. But why throw it? In that moment, I can’t begin to comprehend what Stafford is going through in a barrage of movement happening around you. It’s hard to think. But from my couch I can say, “Why go to Roberts there?” It was clear Michael was having a really bad day. He had only caught one ball for 9 yards on three targets. Even if he’s where he needs to be, what are the chances he beats the corner? Especially when said corner is Kyle Fuller, one of the best in the league.

It’s things like Stafford’s play the past few weeks that make you wonder if regression is really what’s happening here? Did we see Matthew’s peak already? Is he really this bad? Should the Lions actually trade him this time?

That was a question that Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon asked on Friday in his column. Should the Lions give up on Stafford? ‘

Despite Brad’s use of quarterback wins, he makes some good points in this piece. The Lions would save $28.5 million a season if they decided to ship Stafford off somewhere. As Gagnon mentions, the Lions certainly could spend that on their defense.

But that figure is pretty misleading. $28 million is really nice, but what’s not nice is paying Stafford $49 million to play somewhere else. That’s the dead money the Lions would owe Stafford if they decide to cut him. Trading him isn’t all that better, as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press explains here:

In Stafford’s case, if the Lions wanted to trade their quarterback and undergo a total rebuild in the spring, they would face an immediate $30 million hit to their cap.

Stafford right now counts $29.5 million against the Lions’ 2019 cap, so by keeping him, the team would devote less cap space to him than if he was playing for another team.

So trading or cutting Stafford in the upcoming offseason would actually costthem more than keeping him.

It doesn’t get much better from there. If the Lions decide to move on in 2020, they would still have to pay Stafford $20 million in dead cap. They would end up saving $11.5 million in cap space overall, but that’s nowhere near the $28 million/year Gagnon implies in his misleading column.

The next part is that I wouldn’t say Matt Patricia is bringing a conservative approach. That’s all on offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. It’s also all on the Lions having guys like Andy Jones and Bruce Ellington out there. Cooter is trying to mask the Lions’ inefficiencies with Joe Lombardi-like dinking and dunking. If it worked the way he’s drawing up, we’d say he was a genius, but it’s not working and he’s not.

I hate to say that Stafford needs a third offensive coordinator in his life, but he does. If only there were a combination of Scott Linehan and Jim Bob Cooter out there somewhere. Paging Scott Bob. Scott Bob, please come to the film room.

Lastly, I’ll finish with this: Where are all these great quarterbacks that washing up to shore to replace Stafford? I ask this to Lions fans as much as I can. Name a quarterback that’s better than Matthew Stafford that the Lions can have right now.

Because I’m not seeing the guy. I’m not seeing any guys that have come out recently outside of Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Patrick Mahomes that can replace Stafford and play better than him. I mean look at the names.
  1. Blake Bortles is, well, he’s Blake Bortles
  2. Teddy Bridgewater is a backup quarterback now
  3. Derek Carr is a shell of himself
  4. I told y’all Jimmy Garoppolo wasn’t good
  5. Jameis Winston is sitting behind Ryan Fitzpatrick
  6. Marcus Mariota is meh
  7. Christian Hackenberg is a god, but the Lions can’t afford him
  8. Mitchell Trubisky is meh. Don’t tell Bears fans that, though.
  9. Deshaun Watson is good, but he’s not what we thought he was last year.
  10. Does anyone know where DeShone Kizer is right now?
  11. Baker Mayfield is entertaining, but he’s not better than Stafford
  12. Sam Darnold is clearly not what Week 1 suggested he wa.s
  13. Josh Allen is Josh Allen
  14. Josh Rosen might be okay
  15. I like Lamar Jackson
Where are all these quarterbacks coming from? Maybe they can get one in free agency. Let’s see who’ll be on the market. Oh, here we go. The Lions can sign Josh McCown. Problem solved.

In the end, trading Stafford is not the answer. No matter how badly some Lions fans want it to be. Your best bet right now is to hope the Lions can find a good offensive coordinator and Stafford can snap out of this funk. Because at the end of the day, that’s really all this is. And remember, we’re all just overreacting to it.
 

CGI_Ram

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I noticed a pattern of the Lions only winning in “odd numbered” weeks.

Next week is week 13.

I am NOT a superstitious person, but that’s worth noting. :thinking:
 

Mackeyser

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13 is my lucky number.

Yeah, I’m an odd duck like that.
 

RamBall

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I noticed a pattern of the Lions only winning in “odd numbered” weeks.

Next week is week 13.

I am NOT a superstitious person, but that’s worth noting. :thinking:

They have also lost on odd numbered weeks, and will do so again in week 13.
 

Prime Time

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  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #20
http://www.detroitlionsforum.com/fo...the-lube-lions-to-get-ass-rammed-lar-gameweek

Break Out the Lube: Lions to get Ass Rammed. LAR Gameweek

The 10-1 LA Rams are coming to the Big Top to run all over the hapless Lions. All logic says this will get ugly quick, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the Lions make it close. It's just the way these games work.
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Ass-Rammed, the bend over and take it like a man edition.
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Yeah, I can’t see that this will be close at all.
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The thanks for the memories but Suh me if you don't like it edition.

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2018...ent-wrong-2018-matt-patricia-matthew-stafford

What went wrong for the 2018 Detroit Lions?
The Lions playoff hopes are all but dead before December, how did we get here?
By Mansur Shaheen

usa_today_11693760.0.jpg

Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Lions earned their seventh loss of the season on Thanksgiving Day when they fell 23-16 to division rival Chicago Bears. Their loss total now matches their end-of-season loss totals from 2016 and 2017, two seasons where they finished with a winning 9-7 record. The Lions notably fired former head coach Jim Caldwell at the end of last season despite his efforts in earning the team their first back-to-back winning seasons since the early 90s.

General manager Bob Quinn made it clear that he believed that 9-7 was not good enough for the roster that Detroit had. He brought in Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as head coach, a man he was familiar with from him own time with the Patriots.

Detroit had Super Bowl aspirations entering this season and wanted 2018 to be the year they took the next step. It is clear that this will not be the year that the Lions emerge as Super Bowl contenders and instead will be a season that sets them back.

What went wrong for the Detroit Lions?

Inconsistent offseason strategies
When an NFL team is planning out their offseason strategy, they are usually either building for now or the future. Teams that believe they have a chance to compete for a Super Bowl within the next two seasons will make short-term moves to fill up their roster with talent now at the expense of their teams future.

The Chicago Bears sent two first-round picks for Khalil Mack this offseason, the Los Angeles Rams made huge moves for the likes of Ndamukong Suh and Brandin Cooks, the 2017 Jacksonville Jaguars loaded up defensive talent in free agency to make a run that year.

A team who does not believe that they have a chance to compete will do what they can to conserve future assets for when they are Super Bowl contenders. They will save cap space so they can roll it over to next year. They will not trade away draft picks and, instead, deal away expendable players for future assets. The team will field a roster full of older veterans on cheap deals and young players to let them develop over time.

Detroit is somehow in the middle. They dealt a fourth round pick to trade up in the second round of the draft to grab running back Kerryon Johnson. Drafting a running back is always a short-term investment and the investment gets costly when you begin to deal away assets. They re-signed or extended Nevin Lawson, Tavon Wilson and Quandre Diggs to multi-year deals.

None of these players will develop much over time and now the Lions are either stuck with them or have to eat dead cap to cut them. Sylvester Williams was signed to a fully guaranteed $3.5 million deal. These are moves that are made by a team that plans to compete today.

These moves also align with the rest of the rosters cap situation. Ezekiel Ansah is on a franchise tag and he should be off the books this offseason. Aging guard T.J. Lang has a potential out in his contract this offseason. Cornerback Darius Slay has a potential out in his contract as well this season, and while he is safe from being a cap casualty, his cap hit almost triples next season.

Matthew Stafford is entering Year 2 of a huge deal and was coming off of the two best years of his career. Golden Taint was in the last of his five-year contract and the Lions entered the season knowing it would probably be the last year they had one of their most important pieces. If Detroit was going to load up the roster with talent then this offseason would have been the time.

What did Detroit do this offseason, though?

Their biggest free agent land was an inconsistent edge rusher from the New York Giants. Tight end Eric Ebron was released before the last year of his rookie contract and never was truly replaced. They did not make any big free agent signings despite having the cap space to do so. They had huge issues at all three levels of the defense entering 2018 and it cost them dearly.

Detroit obviously wanted to win this season but they failed to bring in the talent they needed.

The stars have failed to shine
Detroit was not a team rich with talent in either 2016 or 2017, but they still had enough individual talent scattered across the roster to win nine games. The stars that have done enough to keep the team afloat in the past have all faltered this season.

It all starts with the face of the franchise. Stafford has followed up two of his best seasons with an inconsistent mess of a 2018 campaign. His 10 interceptions through 11 games match his full season totals from 2016 and 2017. He is on pace to fall short of 4,200 yards for the first time since 2010—when he only played three games.

Poor performances against the Jets, 49ers, Vikings and two bad games against the Bears have earned the team’s avoidable losses. There is no single player worthy of more blame for Detroit’s terrible season than Stafford.

Slay has been under performing, as well. The cornerback led the NFL in interceptions in a 2017 campaign where he was named first-team All Pro and has followed it up with an inconsistent season. His health has been in question for much of the year and even when has been on the field, he has had trouble.

Davante Adams dominated him in the early season matchup against the Green Bay Packers. He was poor on Thanksgiving against the Bears, as well. While he has had a few good games—notably against the Dolphins and Cowboys—he is a shell of the play making corner he was last season.

Glover Quin was a rock at the back end of the Lions defense for the past few seasons but he has clearly regressed before our eyes. He has lost a step and has been culpable in the team’s struggles against both the pass and the run.

Three of the players Detroit was set to depend on the most this season have failed them. No matter what the team’s plan going forward was or however much talent they had on the roster, if the talent is not performing then the team will always be destined to fail.