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00:00Let's talk Lions football.
00:01We got calls to get to, but just your reaction initially to that game.
00:05Same as you guys.
00:05I mean, it stunk, you know, offense was just out of sorts again.
00:09And way too.
00:11I mean, you know, I asked coach after the game, just 55 pass attempts.
00:14I mean, that doesn't seem like the Lions recipe to win.
00:18And I don't know if he said it was more game plan, you know,
00:21that I think they wanted to go into the game and, you know, take their completions
00:24and open up the run game through the pass game,
00:28which a lot of people, you know, might have philosophical differences on that.
00:33I always believe the run game is going to open up more explosions in the pass game.
00:38But yeah, it just didn't seem
00:40didn't seem like the Lions style that that we've been used to or that we saw,
00:45you know, in the overtime game against the Rams, just dominating
00:49and establishing the line of scrimmage and being physical.
00:54I'm tell you, 55 pass blocks in a game is not fun for the offensive line.
00:58It's just not.
00:58And and during the game, it looked like there was some interior pressure at times.
01:04John, I don't know.
01:05You watch the game and golf just never really looked comfortable.
01:08And I got to be honest with you.
01:11I'm and I'm not saying this is, you know, some headline news,
01:14but I think Jared Goff misses Josh Reynolds a little bit.
01:17I think that just the experience that he had with Josh Reynolds
01:20and the years of experience that he had and the reps that he had built up
01:25with a receiver like that and being able to just hit his back foot,
01:28the ball out of his hands and knowing where the guy is going to be.
01:31I'm not saying that he doesn't trust his receivers now, but it just takes time.
01:36Right. It's going to take a lot more reps for these guys to
01:39to start getting on the same page and to fully trust each other.
01:41So the passing game just looked out of sorts.
01:44I thought Tampa played really good. They played hard.
01:47They were missing some of their best players.
01:48And by the end of it, you know, Vito Vea wasn't even out there, but
01:52they played tough and they confused the passing attack a little bit.
01:55And it's a shame because I really did feel the defense played really good
01:59football outside of the one busted coverage
02:03that led to that long touchdown to Chris Godwin.
02:05I thought the defense
02:07took a step in and showed that they can be dominant.
02:11So it's really a shame that I think the offense just couldn't figure it out.
02:14It feels like a feels like a bit of a wasted performance,
02:17especially from guys like Hutchinson and Brian Branch getting interception.
02:22Yeah, defense. Well, yeah.
02:23You can't even really feel happy about that performance unless you get the win.
02:26So it's just kind of a just kind of a bummer overall.
02:29And this is something I've been talking about that you just hit on.
02:34The strength of this offensive line is being able to run black.
02:36Kevin Zeitler is a really good player in both facets.
02:40But I think his where he excels is in run blocking.
02:44Same with Glasgow. Same with all these guys.
02:46Now you start talking about Penny, so I think he does it all well.
02:49But when you're talking about pressure coming up the middle,
02:52the way that you solve that is the same way that you won the game
02:56against the Rams.
02:57It's smash mouth football.
02:59And then it makes pass protection so much easier.
03:02The further into the game that you get.
03:04First of all, you're wearing on that defensive front and you're
03:08you're able to sell the run, even on a pass play.
03:10If it's a five step drop,
03:12there are still many times where I'm selling the run. Yeah.
03:15And run blocking and then converting to pass block
03:18because it makes it so much easier because that threat is always there
03:22that you're going to run and they're trying to figure out how to solve that.
03:24And then I thought Ben Johnson really missed the boat when
03:29I don't know if he didn't recognize that Vito Vea was out
03:32or because they were already playing without Kalyza Kansi. Right.
03:34Then Vito Vea goes out there.
03:35Their top two defenders up front are not in the game.
03:39I just didn't understand why they didn't just flip the switch and say,
03:42You know what?
03:43Enough is enough. We're just going to mash you. Yeah.
03:46And it looked like the game plan was try to get the ball
03:49outside in the run game. Right.
03:51A lot of outside stretches and zones and polls.
03:53I'm not going to run right at Vito Vea. Right.
03:55But then when he goes out of the game, we're even we were wondering,
03:57you know, up in the booth,
03:59maybe you start running in between the tackles a little bit.
04:02You know what?
04:02And I think that maybe just the proper adjustments weren't made.
04:06And in the passing game as well, you know, it looked like
04:08Tampa was just kind of dropping back and clog in the middle of field.
04:10And their linebackers were dropping 10 yards, 12 yards deep
04:13and taking away those intermediate routes that are a staple of this offense.
04:17And you just couldn't find a way to get
04:18maybe some of the shorter crossing routes in there. Right.
04:20Get get Jamison Williams, the ball on the move, you know, maybe a two yards.
04:25And then he maybe breaks an explosion.
04:28It just seemed to have to kind of check, check the ball down a bunch.
04:31And when you're checking it down that late, you really don't have a chance.
04:35You know what I mean?
04:36Those linebackers and safety, they recognize it.
04:38They're coming up.
04:39They're making contact as soon as the ball is caught.
04:41If you get the ball out of your hands a little bit quicker.
04:44Now you're going to give your guys a chance to make a make a break,
04:46a tackle and make a move and get some yards.
04:49But and John, back to your point, you can't just start running the ball.
04:52I think in the red zone either. Right.
04:54It seemed like yesterday, it's let's pass, pass, pass, pass, pass.
04:57And then we get to the red zone.
04:58And OK, now we got to run the ball.
04:59It doesn't work like work like that. Right.
05:01The defense, they're not they're not dummies. Right.
05:03You got to you got to start loosening them up
05:06way before that early in the drive.
05:08You got to throw some runs in, especially if you're this offense,
05:10which is your identity.
05:13So it was just about, you know, and just other mistakes.
05:17Right. The end of half.
05:17I mean, I know coach was killing himself about that, you know,
05:21and that's just that's just a mental error that is just kind of shocking.
05:25Right. Because that shouldn't even that play shouldn't even be an option.
05:29And there needs to be.
05:30I hope there was somebody else in his headset saying, coach,
05:33like I think our code word used to be thunder right at the end of half
05:36where field goal team, we don't got timeouts, we get tackled in bounds.
05:39We got to go. Yeah.
05:40There's got to be somebody in his headset telling him, coach,
05:42this is second down. We do not have time.
05:44This is not even an option. Right.
05:45Right. We still use the word hurricane.
05:47I think that's what they call it.
05:48So, yeah, hurricane, hurricane is off.
05:52No chance for hurricane. Right.
05:53Now, if it's third down.
05:55OK, coach, we got there. It's second down.
05:57We still got to we're going to have to get to the line.
05:58We're going to spike it.
05:59That whole operation just was was just a complete
06:03meltdown, I think, in that moment.
06:05And that was something uncharacteristic of what we've seen,
06:08at least over the past 20, 25 games with this team.
06:12Some issues we saw yesterday that looked more like what we saw,
06:16you know, a couple of years ago. Now, I'm not freaking out.
06:18I think they're going to get it fixed out.
06:19And look, we all trust Ben Johnson.
06:21I think we still trust Jared Goff.
06:23But the bottom bottom line is, man, they got a lot of work to do.
06:27Campbell said it's all on him.
06:28I don't believe that.
06:30I mean, look, he was bummed.
06:31And did you take points off the board? You absolutely did.
06:33The argument is like if you had three, you only needed three at the end.
06:36I get why he says it's all on him.
06:38Yeah, like I think that's more covering for you.
06:41So you still had I mean, they were one for seven.
06:44I mean, if even if you take that out, you're still one for six. Right.
06:47I mean, in the red zone, right?
06:49For fourth quarter possessions with an offense that's supposed to be great.
06:53Like that's that's a golf issue.
06:54That's a Ben Johnson issue.
06:57That's that's not first half Dan Campbell.
06:58He said that they had to overcome it when he came out of halftime.
07:01He said we got to overcome it. They didn't overcome it.
07:03That's to me the story more than his blunder at the half.
07:05Yeah, they started to.
07:06I think they started with a field goal, their first drive.
07:09And then it's more the same.
07:10The next drive and then the next drive.
07:12I think they got the touchdown.
07:13So you get ten points on your first two possessions.
07:15But you're right after that.
07:16It just the offense just couldn't find a way to punch it in.
07:20And, you know, even at the end of the game,
07:24you get down to the red zone and I'm looking and, you know,
07:26and I know he just got called up from practice squad.
07:28But Tim Patrick's a big dude, like six, five.
07:31I mean, you would think, OK, red zone threat.
07:33He wasn't even in the game, the last drive.
07:35And I think he started with the ball at the 40 yard line.
07:37You started with great field position when you got the ball back with
07:40thirty five seconds, whatever it was on that last drive.
07:44I didn't even see Tim Patrick out there.
07:45So I'm like, OK, and I get it. I'm not going to kill him for that.
07:47I mean, he just got called up.
07:49I know there's probably not a ton of reps that he's taken with Jared Goff,
07:52but at least a red zone target, right?
07:54A 50 50 ball, get the ball up in the air.
07:56You know, you need a touchdown.
07:57Why not take a couple of shots?
07:58And he's really your only receiver with size right now on the roster.
08:02Did they throw to the end zone at all in the fourth quarter?
08:04I don't I don't think so.
08:05Doesn't that feel unfathomable?
08:07Yeah, it does. And.
08:10It was just a game of adjustments,
08:11and I didn't think they made the necessary ones.
08:13I thought Tampa Bay's defense was especially their secondary
08:16were jumping routes.
08:17I thought Jared Goff was just kind of staring guys down at times.
08:21And there was a couple.
08:22I mean, I know he had the two interceptions, but first one,
08:25look, Jameson got knocked down.
08:27Second one never really saw a good replay.
08:29Maybe his arm got hit, but either way, that looked like a really bad decision.
08:32Yeah. And there were probably a couple other ones that guys were jumping routes
08:35that I'm and Ron knocked away another one like he did last week against the Rams.
08:39But I didn't see, you know, you're sitting there saying, OK,
08:41if they're jumping routes, what's the, you know, obvious adjustment?
08:45Maybe a double move once in a while. Right.
08:47And we just didn't I didn't see the necessary adjustments yesterday.
08:51We got a bunch of calls.
08:51We'll mix in TJ's thoughts.
08:53Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, ninety seven, ninety seven lions lose.
08:56It's ninety seven.