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Red Wings playoff hopes have taken another hit.
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00:00Welcome back to the Carson Anderson program here on 97.1 Gator and Mark Ryan with you today. Mark's in
00:06for Doug King and Kenny behind the glass. Spent most of the first hour talking about the Red Wings and
00:12the playoffs and their possibility of making a playoffs or missing a playoffs where people stand. I think it's safe
00:17to say, Mark, that the vast majority of the listeners are thinking that they're they have no chance.
00:24Yeah, and it's really disappointing. And I I'm convinced, ladies and gentlemen, that this is an emotional hedge that you
00:30are doing this way. You win either way, just like a betting hedge. It feels like to me that many
00:37of you want your team to fail. And I really think that's an ass backwards way about going about being
00:43a fan. You know, like your team is in it. Your team is projected to make the playoffs.
00:49The history says teams with your point total do make the playoffs. Do you guys want to bury them? Right?
00:57Like, isn't part of being a fan having the back of your team? Yes or no? This city does objective
01:05really well. Gator, sometimes I wonder if they do objective too well.
01:11Well, I don't think they're being objective. I think that they they like to also, as a fan, part of
01:16being a fan is is going through a roller coaster. And right now, it's on the downside of the roller
01:21coaster. This sucks. This sucks. This sucks. We're never going to win again. I mean, when you're in a winning
01:25streak, do we say it all the time? It feels like you're never going to lose. And when you're on
01:27a losing streak, it feels like you're never going to win. And of course, everything balances itself out. There just
01:32happened to be a couple more things working against the Red Wings right now with the injuries to Larkin and
01:37Kopp.
01:38This is the worst time they could come. I mean, right after the trade deadline. So you don't have a
01:42chance to address it with a trade. It comes at a time where they've got some injuries to players in
01:47the minor leagues that they want to bring up from Grand Rapids and can't do it because he's hurt. And
01:53that sucks. And then there's the the schedule. The series are right in the face of who they're playing right
02:00now, who they've been playing, who's upcoming and before it lightens up a little bit. And it feels like there's
02:06an opportunity for them to fall even further.
02:07And further back. And what's worse is it allows teams like Columbus, who's on the outside looking in, gives them
02:13the opportunity to jump up. But if Columbus, Boston, Detroit and Montreal are basically all the same same team, then
02:21let's go. Let's let's have this mad scramble the last 16 games and make something happen. Mention that nine of
02:27those games are at home. Only seven of those games are against teams that are in the playoffs right now.
02:32So they have some advantages going their way. You pointed out very astutely that
02:37you look at the last three years of teams that are right around that 79 point range, whether one plus
02:42or minus one point, the 12 of the 13 teams on this day made the playoffs. And I think that's
02:49that's something. I don't think it's nothing. I think that's something to look at. And we'll see. And but I
02:54think by and large, Red Wing fans are very upset right now because because what we've been through as fans,
03:00it's been three straight years of having this just total collapse
03:06playoffs in March. And now we thought this was a really good team or at least a good team, good
03:10enough team to make the playoffs. And March rears its ugly head again. And now it's injuries added to it.
03:17So it's tough. Yeah, it it really is tough as well. And then you consider to the fact that what
03:23is it about the post break performance of this team? You know how with the Lions, we look at, OK,
03:30well, is there something with the injuries, all of the injuries two years in a row? Is it the turf?
03:35What is it?
03:36What are the what are the factors at play here? The 49ers are going through something similar with the electrical
03:40grid that's right by their right by their stadium? What is it about this team after the break? You know,
03:47like I think there's something to the fact that when you come back from vacation, first show out of the
03:52box might not be as good. I think there's something to that. But you round into form by day two,
03:57by day three, etc. This team, are they practicing too hard before the break? Why is it that they consistently
04:04run out of steam right now?
04:06I'm not sure what it what it is with the Red Wings. I can't explain it other than the simple
04:12explanation might be they're just not good enough. I think that might have been the case in years past. There
04:17was the one year that it literally came down to the last game of the season. And it was they
04:21lost on a technicality lost out in the playoffs on a technicality by not having enough. It was regulation wins
04:28as opposed to the overtime wins.
04:30They caught them because they were tied with one other team for that point total. This year. I mean, it
04:37feels like it's easy button to hit injuries and people would say that's an excuse. Well, it's also a legitimate
04:42reason here, but I'm not giving up on it because they should get these guys back and they need to
04:46get these guys back as soon as possible to really make a run at it.
04:50In the last 10 games could be a mad scramble. Where are they going to be with 10 games to
04:54go? Are they going to be still in a playoff spot or are they going to be on the outside
04:58looking in?
04:58Again, we'll watch the schedule and see what happens there. Shifting to the Lions. And I thought it was interesting
05:05with news that the guys in the morning show were talking about the odds on favorites to win the division.
05:12The Lions are actually the odds on favorite to win the North, which kind of surprises me given that here
05:18we are in free agency, the first part of the offseason.
05:22And what have they done? Well, they're blocking Taylor Decker from coming back. He asked for his release because they
05:29were trying to negotiate something that wasn't going to be in his favor. At least that's what it seems on
05:34the outside looking in. So no Taylor Decker. You got to find a new tackle. Now free agency is started
05:41and they've added a center, albeit it's not one of the top centers, but it should be a center that's
05:47better than what they had last year because Glasgow playing out of position.
05:51But what else have they added? A backup running back and Isaiah Pacheco, whose best years were his first couple
05:56of years in the league. The last couple of years have been injury riddled and he has not performed well
06:00with Kansas City the last couple of years, to be honest.
06:03And what else have they added? They added a corner or I should say a safety, which is good because
06:09they need to. But what they haven't added yet, Mark, they haven't added to the defensive line yet.
06:15And we keep waiting to see if they're going to get in on any of these edge rushers. And there
06:19are a ton of edge rushers available. We know the Max Crosby thing didn't work out. They weren't in on
06:25him for trade. There was a report that the Lions had contacted him. I don't know. Looking back, I don't
06:29believe that report that came out that the Lions were interested in him after the trade fell through with Baltimore
06:34because they haven't done anything.
06:37They've got the cap space now to add guys and they have yet to really go after it. I know
06:41they will because you have to fill spots.
06:44But when I saw El Khadi Muhammad sign with Tampa Bay for one year with a deal that pays him
06:53up to $6 million, that is on the cheap.
06:57And that's, I mean, that's a Brad Holmes special right there. Go and sign a guy for one year for
07:02a minimal amount of money and you hope you get the production that you got. They got 11 sacks from
07:08El Khadi Muhammad last year, but they didn't want to match it or didn't go after it. So that tells
07:13me they got to be going after something else.
07:15Well, yeah, but the time is running out to go after that something else, right? And the devil's advocate position
07:21of that is, well, you didn't like the defense. So what's the problem with letting guys go? The problem is
07:26you're replacing those guys with either nothing or a half eaten bag of potato chips and busted hubcaps. That's what
07:35you're doing.
07:36It is beyond senseless to me. And I am left trying to figure out exactly what the hell the plan
07:43is right now. It seems to me, if I'm guessing what the plan is, that they are so over-focused
07:51on retaining their own guys that they feel like they can only shop on the clearance aisle at the bargain
07:58bin to do that.
08:00But, I mean, this team right now is poised to enter the season with more question marks at their starting
08:07positions than they've ever had. If it were left up to me today, this team isn't the favorite to win
08:13the North. This team is the favorite to finish last again.
08:18So that's interesting because it's a total contrast to the Red Wings.
08:22Complete.
08:23Like here we are towards the end of the season. You're very optimistic Red Wings still make the playoffs. And
08:27here we are at the first week of free agency.
08:31And you're declaring that the, that you think the lions are, are the worst team in the division as of
08:36today, which means that they're out of the other playoffs, which is where we want to start kind of asking
08:40the people at two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
08:43You know, what, where's your confidence level to this lions team is actually a playoff team.
08:49Mark doesn't even think they're a playoff team.
08:51Are they a playoff team? I mean, I would say right now, I don't think they're a Superbowl caliber team,
08:55but are they a playoff team?
08:57I mean, I would, I would push back and say, I think there's still a playoff team because I'm not
09:00sold on the rest of the teams in this division.
09:02You know, the bears are looking at redoing their entire secondary.
09:06I'm still not sold that, that Caleb Williams is, is going to be amazing.
09:10I think he's off to, you know, he took a nice jump, but I'm not this, this huge, you know,
09:17fan of the, of Ben Johnson either.
09:19I think Ben Johnson's good, but I think Ben Johnson gets way too much credit too.
09:23We'll see what the bears do. The Packers are changing up their look on their team.
09:27They've got a lot of different faces. And now Kyler Murray is, is in the division because he just signed
09:31with the Vikings last night,
09:33which makes things a little spicier here.
09:36But he's not been guaranteed his starting spot there.
09:39He's got to win the job over JJ McCarthy, which I suspect he will.
09:42Um, but nonetheless, this is a, a little bit of a dynamo there in Kyler Murray.
09:47When he's focused, he can be awfully good.
09:50There's a lot to unpack with this division and see, you know, who is in fact going to be on
09:54the top of the division.
09:55But how do you feel about the lion's chances? Here we are right now.
09:58It's still just a couple of days into free agency, but they've got still major holes.
10:01There are some major names still out there.
10:04In fact, at Ed Rusher, we'll go through those and see if those make sense and, and kind of check
10:09your pulse right now on March 13th on three, one, three day, uh, how you feel about the Detroit lions
10:15chances as a playoff team right now.
10:18Would you say they're in or out?
10:21If you had to pick, uh, either way on the Detroit lions, two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
10:27This is 97 one.
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