00:00Hour number two, nice to have you with us.
00:03We're going to turn our attention to the Lions.
00:04We wanted to give it a 24-hour breather,
00:07let everybody collect themselves after Sunday night,
00:10and we handled our business Monday.
00:12But I wanted to circle back to,
00:15I thought the morning show interview with Dan Campbell
00:18was really interesting.
00:19Dan was in a mood.
00:23And look, there are times where Costa can be
00:28provocative or smarmy.
00:29He wasn't.
00:31I love busting Jim's chops.
00:33I can't hear.
00:34He asked what I thought was a pretty innocuous question,
00:37and Dan just steamrolled.
00:39And you go, oh, boy, we've seen that movie before.
00:43Like, that's the sign cracks are forming.
00:47And you've seen him at the podium and talking about,
00:50we're going to do the best we can with what we've got.
00:52He also went on a big speech in the interview of,
00:56we're going to raise the floor on these guys.
00:59I'm like, these guys can't get up off the floor.
01:02What floor?
01:03What?
01:03Okay, so you're going to raise the floor on them and play who?
01:07But I wanted to, and David, if you want to play some audio,
01:11I'm happy to do.
01:12Oh, David fell out of his chair.
01:13What happened?
01:14I looked up, and there was no one back there.
01:17And then David is underneath the console.
01:20Are you okay?
01:22The point I'm making is I want to talk to Lion Fan and ask you a question.
01:25This isn't about whether you like Dan Campbell or not.
01:28Everybody likes Dan Campbell.
01:30Do you believe Dan is the guy he was?
01:35Do you believe he's the guy you fell in love with?
01:38Or are you sensing cracks are starting to form?
01:42That amidst the pressure and amidst the bottom falling out of the defense,
01:46is he getting lionized a little bit?
01:48See, that's the word, Mike.
01:50Lionized.
01:50Because we've heard other shows using a term I won't use on this show.
01:54Oh.
01:54S-O-L.
01:55He seemed very cranky.
01:57He was very testy in that interview.
02:00And, yeah, he did seem a little bit lionized because he's frustrated.
02:06And he came out earlier this week and telling fans, well,
02:11kind of, you better get used to this because this is how we're going to play
02:13this year, and I got no.
02:15And as a matter of fact, here's what he had to say earlier this week.
02:25Yeah, so don't expect this big bounce back.
02:28Don't expect this lockdown defense to come when Brian Branch gets back.
02:32He is frustrated.
02:34He knows he doesn't have the players.
02:35And you felt it and you heard it in that interview where he just, you know,
02:41just got to the, you think I'm going to tell you how we're going to beat
02:44the Arizona Cardinals?
02:45I don't do that here.
02:46And it's like, whoa.
02:47That was a lionized moment where you're like, he's feeling it.
02:51Yeah.
02:51I don't know.
02:52I just wanted to get a sense from Lion fan.
02:54What is your faith in Dan Campbell?
02:56Look, I'm not going to do the easy thing.
02:58I saw CBS Sports put out a coaching hot seat thing, and he was at number six.
03:04I think that's a complete absurdity.
03:06There's no world Dan Campbell's on a hot seat.
03:09None.
03:10None.
03:11I think putting that list out there shows you don't know anything about the
03:15Detroit Lions, the ownership structure, the story of the franchise.
03:18That's true.
03:19There's just no world.
03:20I think that list is there based off of the talent that the Lions have and how
03:26they're underachieving.
03:27So you're looking at it that way.
03:28They're not 0-4.
03:29This isn't D'Amico Ryan.
03:30No, they're not 0-4, but kind of one of those, you feel like they're 1-3.
03:36You're a two-point conversion away from being 1-3, and you don't feel solid.
03:41I mean, the Bills just destroyed you.
03:44And really?
03:45Until the Panthers took their foot off the gas, they were doing the same thing.
03:50I understand, but you're right.
03:51It's not in Lions history.
03:53That's not what they do.
03:55But he's feeling the pressure.
03:57And it's not the pressure of getting fired.
03:59He's feeling the pressure of knowing we're not as good as I want to be.
04:04And I don't know how we get better.
04:06I think the pressure is knowing he can't fix it.
04:08He can talk about fixing it, but I don't know how you fix it.
04:11Putting that on Brian Branch for whenever Branch comes back, that's not fair.
04:17And David, do we have when he talked about how he wanted somebody in the room to –
04:23when they're asking about Trey McBride because let's face it.
04:25I stand up and say I want to take McBride.
04:27Let's face it.
04:27The tight end position is just having a field day against this Lions defense.
04:31So when asked about, well, what about Trey McBride coming up against the Cardinals,
04:35who's one of the – or maybe the best tight end in football right now,
04:39here's what he said.
04:52Cool.
04:58I mean, at this point, he's grasping.
05:01It sounds like he's grasping for straws.
05:05It wasn't, hey, we got a great game plan for him.
05:07This is him throwing his hand.
05:09I just need somebody to step up and say I want to guard the man and do something.
05:12I want to know from people.
05:14He's your damn coach.
05:15Do you believe he's still the guy that's bringing you to the Super Bowl,
05:18or do you think he's showing cracks in the foundation that he's gripping?
05:23That he knows this isn't a Super Bowl team?
05:25That he knows he wasn't handed the pieces?
05:28And if you say no, that's also totally fine.
05:32But I feel it.
05:35I see it.
05:36I think he looks like a guy on the sidelines who knows.
05:39I can't fix this.
05:41And to say to the fans, I'm with Rico on this.
05:45Yeah, you better get used to this.
05:46This is what it's going to be.
05:48That's a pretty damning admission.
05:50Now, easy to come out later and say we're going to work.
05:53There's things we can do.
05:54We can go to practice squads.
05:56We're going to raise the floor.
05:58Say whatever you want.
06:00Think about it.
06:00Mike, after every game that they've lost, just pretty much every game,
06:03we've got to go back and we've got to fix this.
06:05We've got to fix that.
06:05I think he's realizing there's nothing there to fix.
06:08This is it.
06:09This is all I got.
06:11Well, and it's also the best it'll get,
06:13because outside of getting Branch Brack,
06:15you have every other defensive player.
06:17What happens when injuries take hold?
06:19Right now, the Lions are living a decently charmed life
06:21when you look around the league.
06:22I'm not telling you it's not a big deal to be missing Branch or Cade Mays.
06:26It is.
06:26But, okay, that's two people.
06:29Do you want to go?
06:30Hey, how about this?
06:32Why don't you lose your left tackle like the Cardinals did this week
06:34for the season?
06:35Go ahead.
06:36Go ahead.
06:37Throw Panay Sewell down a hill.
06:38Have him out for the rest of the year.
06:40Those are the things that are happening to other teams.
06:43Go ahead.
06:43Be in Carolina's injury spot.
06:45Right.
06:46If I've got to hear people cry about Brian Branch a little more,
06:49my head's going to explode.
06:50People crying like bitches.
06:52Mike, look at the Eagles.
06:53You lost your Saquon, and you lost his backup.
06:57So you're on your third string running back.
07:01It's all of it, Rico.
07:02It's all of it.
07:04Look around the league.
07:05So if it's this bad now,
07:07what happens when injuries really take hold?
07:11Yeah.
07:11And that's where the frustration, to me, it appears,
07:14because Campbell wants to win a Super Bowl,
07:17and he looks at his team,
07:19how they are currently constructed,
07:20and knows we're going to need a lot of luck
07:23if that's going to happen.
07:25Where are you at with Dan Campbell?
07:26We spent so much time talking about Brad Holmes.
07:28I'm asking you about your coach.
07:31Where are you at?
07:32Do you believe Dan Campbell is slipping?
07:34Or do you still think he's the guy?
07:37That he's the guy he was in 23?
07:40There's no material change.
07:42He's not gripping.
07:43He's not cracks in the foundation.
07:45He's not stressed.
07:47That he's not getting lionized.
07:492-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
07:52David, go ahead.
07:53Where are you at with this,
07:54now that you're back in your seat and not on the floor?
07:57Yeah, the Holy Ghost.
07:58So let me play this first clip for you,
08:00and I have a question from it.
08:02Okay.
08:09Is there any way at all
08:11that is a message to his general manager, Brad Holmes,
08:16where he's saying,
08:17this is what we have,
08:18everybody get used to it,
08:20because there's not going to be a move,
08:22because we didn't make one in the offseason
08:25because he didn't want to make a move,
08:26and he's not going to make one now.
08:28Is there any thought to that being directed towards Brad Holmes?
08:35I mean,
08:36That's the first thing I think about.
08:38I can see subtly,
08:39this is all the pieces that I have.
08:41You know,
08:42it was like your boy Parcells,
08:44like I need to shop for the groceries type of thing,
08:46where this is all I have.
08:48So,
08:50don't expect much.
08:51That's it.
08:52Lions fans,
08:53get used to this.
08:53David,
08:54you have a valid point.
08:55I can see that.
08:56It's just a thought that I had listening to this,
08:58earlier in the week,
08:59because it just,
09:00I don't know,
09:01it's just frustration for everything that you knew was going to happen
09:04in the offseason.
09:05You knew what's going to happen,
09:06and you get here,
09:07and it looks like this,
09:08and he just.
09:09Well,
09:09here's your uncomfortable truth.
09:12If you believe that Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes walk together on all
09:16personnel moves the way that the media wants to sell it,
09:19well,
09:20then his ass has to be in the jackpot too.
09:23Or,
09:24if you want to believe he's pissed at Holmes,
09:26then you're getting into something different about losing individual battles.
09:33Look,
09:33what did I say at the start of the offseason?
09:36Talked to two different people,
09:37and it was for the first time there were some differences of opinion about
09:41roster construction.
09:42People got all pissed at me.
09:44Okay.
09:46So it would play into it,
09:48David,
09:48if you believe that's the case.
09:50But there's only so much a coach can say,
09:54and certainly only so much a coach can do.
09:57Brian Branch will help,
09:58but that help is going to be offset by baked in injuries.
10:03Look,
10:03the only way out for the Lions is if they just keep living in a fantasy land,
10:07keep playing teams that are dilapidated by injury,
10:10and you lose no one.
10:12That's the only way out.
10:14Right.
10:15Unless something materially changes with your operation.
10:20But I think the frustrating part is,
10:22Mike,
10:23let's just,
10:23let's just set the Buffalo game to the side.
10:26The other three games that you play,
10:28those teams were all missing a bunch of players and all of them had you
10:33sweating it out to the end.
10:36And that's not even a full compliment.
10:38That's what I'm saying.
10:39So yeah,
10:40this isn't good.
10:41What happens when you play a team like Buffalo?
10:43We got everybody here in front of us.
10:45Good luck trying to stop all the receivers.
10:48248-539-9797.
10:49We're going straight to the phones next.
10:5197.1.
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