The Key Factors At Play
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00:00You go to this game.
00:01No, but Justin, I think there are a lot of people exactly where you're at, where they
00:05have been really excited about the Detroit Tigers, and they have used that as a distraction
00:11until we get a little bit further into the season, and we know more, and we have more
00:15confidence in what the Lions are doing.
00:18There is so much talk about this team being a Super Bowl contender, and they are, but
00:27it does make you nervous when those expectations are the top of the mountain, and then you
00:32lose one that you shouldn't have lost to Tampa Bay.
00:36Now you start to have the injury bug.
00:38You're going into the bye week.
00:40You obviously would much rather go in 3-1 versus 2-2.
00:44Yeah, nervous.
00:45I think nervous is a good word to use.
00:47I am nervous about this, less so after seeing Seattle's front seven injury report, right?
00:53But I am nervous because there's no Frank Ragnow, and that's the linchpin of this football
00:55team.
00:57He's on, running the ball, down and dirty, pass protecting, blitz pickup.
01:01The center position's critical, and Frank's not just an okay average center.
01:05He's an elite center.
01:06Missing him scares me.
01:07Now some of that nervous energy is alleviated when I see Boy Maffi out, 17 pressures to
01:12lead Seattle.
01:14Leonard Williams out, 11 pressures, number three for the Seattle Seahawks.
01:17Byron Murphy, young rookie in the middle.
01:20He's got seven pressures.
01:21He's out.
01:22They're missing 80% of the pressures they've generated this season.
01:25That makes me take a deep breath, just give Goff a little bit of time, win up front, bully
01:30ball and let him play pass off of it, and they'll get out of this with a win.
01:34But it is nervous because it's Seattle, because you don't have Ragnow, because a loss hurts
01:39you a lot early in the season given what's going on with the Vikings in your division,
01:43what's going on with Seattle who would be 4-0 as well.
01:45The fight for the one seed is already underway.
01:48And I think the recipe is clearly there.
01:51Primetime Goff that I just mentioned, he's able to be primetime Goff when they come out
01:55and control the line of scrimmage, establish the run, and then they just look to him to
02:00manage the game versus go out there and win it.
02:03Tom in Windsor, you're on 97.1.
02:04Yeah, hey, I just want to chime in on the Lions talk a little bit.
02:09I know obviously we're giving some credit here to Seattle's defense, and I'm not going
02:13to discredit them and say, you know, they had the second scoring defense in the league.
02:18It's pretty obvious.
02:19Some things that you've got to remember, too, when you look at them this year of what they've
02:23done.
02:24Denver Broncos week one, Bo Nix first start.
02:28Week two, Patriots against Jacoby Brissett.
02:32Week three, Dolphins with Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle, who we all know how good he's
02:37been when he was here.
02:38So I'm not going to deny that their defense is not good.
02:43Their defense is in top 10 in terms of personnel.
02:46What they got on the back end is good.
02:49But I think with what they've got going on with their front seven entries, I do not see
02:52why Detroit cannot just run this ball like they've had before and win and win this game.
02:58Now, another thing to point out, yes, rag now is out.
03:00That is huge.
03:02But there's three games that he missed last year.
03:04The one that you're pointing out was the Chicago game.
03:07And we know that Jared golf outside is just not good, especially against the Bears defense,
03:11but they did win twice without them, including a Monday night game against the Raiders.
03:16Tom, to your point, they did that Raider game.
03:18They didn't have them either.
03:19I think a couple of things are going to be key here.
03:20I think you're right.
03:21Just run the ball.
03:22And that's there for them.
03:25They're going to have to continue to lean on their defense, though, too, which I think
03:27is one of those illuminating things through the first three weeks.
03:30It's been good.
03:31It's going to have to be good tonight when the Lions play the Seahawks without branch,
03:35without possibly with possibly without branch.