- 1 day ago
Cade Mays injury hasn't hurt the Lions odds to win the NFC North.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:01Lions getting ready for their first preseason game of the season of the preseason first preseason game of the preseason
00:07there you go of training camp how's that that's tomorrow night against Cincinnati at Cincinnati we already know that they're
00:14not going to be playing many of the starters the Lions won't looks like Miller will start at right tackle
00:20and beyond that doesn't seem like a whole lot of starters are going to go although Miller is not guaranteed
00:25that he's going to start at right tackle he's in a battle with Larry Boreham to see
00:30who earns that right I think all eyes are going to be on the offensive line and specifically on the
00:35center and see how Seth McLaughlin does as he's pressed into duties and is maybe short-lived with his opportunity
00:43to run with the ones until Juice Scruggs is healthy enough to return to practice and then it's probably his
00:49job to lose until Cade Mays gets healthy but I want to see how those guys handle the position and
00:55all the reporting so far is that okay some ups and some downs but
00:59the ups are encouraging the downs are expected and it's how you recover from getting beat on one rep do
01:07you step back in the next one and show some grit and determination and is that what the Lions looking
01:11for and it sounds like that's what they're getting out of McLaughlin is it sure he he'll get beat you
01:16know by Tylee Williams or Lee McNeil but he comes back the next rep and he'll learn from that and
01:21he'll look better doing it and then some pass rushing I guess he's looked pretty good in pass protection
01:26but looking forward to that for tomorrow's game I reached out by the way to a trusted media colleague in
01:32Houston yesterday asked him about Juice Scruggs here's what he said seems to have the physical tools but may lack
01:38the mental ones struggles with identifying defenses and picking up stunts he'll also be playing with better linemen that he
01:44did in Houston which can also make a difference if the guys around you are weak they pull you down
01:48it's a fresh start for him hope he makes the most of it the physical tools are there
01:53but struggles with stunts assignments things that are not expected struggles with those sorts of things
01:59yeah and I go back to what John Jansen had told me before the show on Monday when it was
02:05asked or before the show on Tuesday when I was asking about
02:07uh Scruggs and he John thinks that Scruggs is a better option it said in the grand Glasgow was last
02:13year for the Lions and he started for the Lions last year so
02:16I think there's encouraging news there uh based on what your your colleagues said to you um you know that
02:23certainly gives you a little bit of pause and maybe it puts more pressure on Jared Goff to help make
02:28those
02:28calls for him and say okay look we got to do this this and this but again this is why
02:33you have training
02:34camp and why all the reps are so important and all the work in the classroom is so important uh
02:40came across
02:40this from the Athletic the Athletic took a look yesterday at the NFC North division did a little
02:45preview little synopsis on each team of the division uh going in alphabetical order mentioning the Bears
02:51they were 11 and 6 last year lost in the divisional round they project that they will go 9 and
02:568 this
02:57year the lingering question with the Bears is can the defense keep up they said coach Ben Johnson's
03:02offense averaged 26 points 370 yards per game but his defense didn't leave much margin for error giving
03:07up 24 and a half points and 362 yards per game with one of the league's worst pass rushes I'm
03:14not confident
03:14this year's unit is better goes on to talk about the Packers Packers last year were 9 7 and 1
03:20lost in
03:21the wild card and says the projection is 10 and 7 Green Bay was 9 3 and 1 and 5th
03:28in our power rankings
03:29before Parsons injury assuming they split the season series in their division the Packers would need
03:34to beat the Dolphins Saints Panthers Jets Falcons Buccaneers and Cowboys to finish with 10 wins
03:39they should this is still an uber talented team biggest question about the Packers how does the
03:46defense fare without Michael Parsons or Micah Parsons I should say well they added a new defensive
03:53quarter Jonathan Gannon is there they're shifting to a 3-4 defense we'll see what happens with them
03:58the Vikings 9 and 8 last year the projection is 9 and 8 and here's what it says about the
04:07projection
04:07this is a good team with elite play callers on both sides of the ball I'm just not confident that
04:11Murray elevates this offense all that much which is necessary in a division with three teams that
04:17can score on anyone but if Murray proves a strong match with O'Connell and Justin Jefferson this team
04:23will be difficult to beat and the big question about them is can they run the football so it was
04:29announced yesterday that Kyler Murray has won the starting gig over J.J. McCarthy the quarterback who
04:37played at Michigan and we've seen a lot of Kyler Murray here in Detroit because it feels like the
04:42Lions played the Cardinals every single season and we've seen him since he was a rookie
04:49I loved Kyler Murray as a college quarterback it was a water bug out there had a big arm can
04:54make
04:54some plays certainly may play with his feet would buy extra time and he knew when it was time to
05:00stop
05:00running and and he would take there'd be massive losses that would he would take but they could
05:06have been worse if he would keep scrambling around to try to get that extra yard like he knows about
05:11self-preservation when he sees that it's collapsed on him and he's not going to get out he'll just go
05:15down rather than take the big hit or take an even bigger bigger loss he's got more to work with
05:22with the
05:23Vikings than he ever had with Arizona now he had some good players to work with at Arizona at different
05:28times of his career but I mean you're stepping in now and you've got Justin Jefferson to throw to
05:32and a couple other receivers they had to throw to and what's considered one of the better offensive
05:38minds in football with with the coach Minnesota is an interesting team to look at and they're scary
05:44in my opinion yeah and I don't know if they're scary but it's it all everything hinges on the
05:50quarterback position and they beat the Lions twice last year it doesn't matter who they had Max
05:54Boseman Rosemar out there to beat the Lions on Christmas Day I still can't believe that actually
05:59happened and maybe the worst Lions game I've ever seen in my life ruined Christmas well based on the
06:05expectations of what the team is and what they were in that game I've seen horrible seasons with the
06:09Lions when they were bad teams they weren't a bad team they played horribly in that game in a game
06:15that should never have gone that way given who was the personnel and they lost early in this he was
06:19in
06:20J.J. McCarthy was the quarterback he was terrible against the Lions in that game but the Lions were even
06:25worse so Minnesota is one of these teams that I just I never know how to gauge them and now
06:31they're
06:31switching quarterbacks again well I'm not sure how this is going to work I'm going to tell you what
06:35they're good enough to give you a very painful late season loss December 20th at Minnesota they could
06:42ruin your Christmas two years in a row how about the indictment on McCarthy that you're getting this
06:47announcement now and Kyler Murray with O'Connell could be Minnesota's version of uh you know Brock
06:57Purdy makes 49ers fans forget about the Trey Lance debacle this could be the Brock Purdy slash Baker
07:06Mayfield redemption tour for Kyler Murray with a quarterback whisper the question you have with him is
07:12his attitude is he playing call of duty is he studying the playbook is he really invested does he
07:17understand that this could be last chance for you before you go down the Justin Fields backup QB tour
07:24right this could be it but I I do think that is a combination that could be scary that's capable
07:31of
07:31beating anyone in the division and the prediction by the athletic of nine and eight seems to support that
07:38uh as far as the line I guess the other comp you could say is uh with with Kyler Murray
07:45what they're
07:45hoping to happen is Sam Darnold there you go that's what I think what ultimately they're hoping hey it's
07:50a change of scenery there's talent in this player let's let's see if we can realize that talent like
07:54what happened with Sam Darnold and oh wait a minute the Vikings had Sam Darnold and they had Daniel
07:59Jones yeah and Aaron Rodgers wanted to be there and all of that resulted in Quesi Adolfo Menso losing his
08:05job
08:06so where are the Lions project according to the athletic last year's team nine and eight didn't
08:12make the playoffs the headline for the Lions is they've got a new offensive coordinator uh the
08:17question on the Lions is how does their secondary fare I think these are good questions the questions
08:22we brought up the projection for the Lions is 12 and five lofty it says a last place finish gives
08:30Detroit the league's easiest schedule that plus its talent on both sides of the ball makes it a likely
08:36bounce back season after falling from 15 and two to nine and eight last year the Lions have
08:42significant questions but they are my dark horse Super Bowl pick the injury luck has to change
08:49eventually right this is from the athletics Jacob Robinson uh and this is uh from uh he wrote this a
08:57couple of nights ago actually interesting 12 and five for the Lions this year is is his prediction
09:04I wish he wouldn't have said the dark horse Super Bowl pick this team fires so much better when no
09:09one
09:09is saying that but I totally agree with him that's exactly what they are is this team the best team
09:15in the north I think they are I think they are but my reasoning is first of all I don't
09:21trust
09:22Kyler Murray I again I love them as a college player I just don't know if he's a an NFL
09:29um top 10 caliber quarterback top 15 quarterback that you need to have to to advance in the playoffs
09:36I like the Packers I think Jordan Love is is good but the Packers have some question marks and what
09:42they've got going with them uh the Bears are the one that everybody thinks is the easy button that
09:49they've got all the talent in the world and they got a lot of talent on that team I'm not
09:52sold on Caleb
09:53Williams Caleb Williams did a great job of not turning the ball over last year and maybe Ben
09:59Johnson's going to unleash a little bit more and and I know everybody talks so glowingly about Ben
10:04Johnson and what he did with the Lions and yeah I give him some credit for that but he learned
10:08from
10:08Dan Campbell so I I don't want to give Ben Johnson all the credit in the world I give him
10:13some credit
10:13absolutely and now he's out on his own and now he's got to work with a whole new team a
10:17whole new
10:19set of resources and we think that the Bears are going to be offensively that they've got some
10:25really good good players I think they've got great tight ends I think the quarterback is so damn
10:31athletic they can he can extend plays and that that's always something but I question whether Caleb
10:36Williams has it between the years what is he the guy it's not that he's a dumb that's not what
10:43I'm
10:43saying what I'm saying is he does he have the right mentality to know when it's time to throw
10:48the ball away and and when it's time to take off and run and try to extend the play because
10:52I think
10:53that's that's a a tricky thing for quarterbacks to learn when they have the ability to run he's got
10:59a cannon for an arm he is not he's not the running quarterback I know I'm not saying that he
11:03is an
11:03incredibly talented quarterback but you have to learn when it's time to tuck and run or when it's time to
11:09throw the ball away and I'm not sure if that's if that's something that's going to click with him
11:13because I think he always wants to make the play what evidence do we have that he's better than
11:19Kyler Murray we know Kyler Murray can play hero ball we know Caleb Williams can play hero ball we're
11:25not seeing it with a completion percentage from Caleb Williams think about how the narratives of
11:29those two guys are so vastly different Kyler Murray's on his last chance Caleb Williams top 10
11:34quarterback people forget that when Kyler Murray led the Cardinals to the playoffs he was a lot he
11:39was in those top 10 QB lists as well what evidence do you have that Williams is better Williams has
11:47Ben Johnson as head coach now Kyler Murray is Kevin O'Connell quarterback whisperer is head coach by the
11:52way the Lions I'm not convinced Gator they are the best team in the division but I'm picking them to
11:59win
11:59the division because the Bears have the seventh hardest schedule in the NFL the Packers have the
12:05ninth hardest schedule in the NFL and the Lions have the easiest schedule in the NFL so kind of
12:09unpacking this article from the athletics uh specifically looking at the AMC North do you agree
12:15with that the Lions will be the team to beat in the division uh the Ryder for the Athletic has
12:20them at
12:2012 and 5 uh and the next best team was what 10 and 7 so it's it's a two game
12:27margin there do you
12:28believe in that or do you think things are a lot tighter mark bringing up the the the idea of
12:32Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams who's better than the other court which are the two quarterbacks is
12:37the better quarterback we'll talk about that with you next here on 97.1
Comments