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00:00So, Gator, you said the Lions aren't a great team and you gave reasons why, and I'm not
00:05going to debate that because it's an opinion, right?
00:08I think we're close.
00:11Sure, but my point more to that is then what you're saying is there isn't a great team
00:15in all of football, because if we apply that same thing to all the other teams, including
00:20Kansas City and Baltimore and whatnot, we can find a part of each team that is less
00:26than.
00:27This is true.
00:28I agree.
00:29There is no great team in the NFL.
00:32Yeah, I don't think it's happened yet.
00:34I think we're halfway through the season and maybe I just need a couple more weeks to really
00:38formulate that opinion.
00:39Do I think the Lions are the best team in the National Football League?
00:41I do, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have to be great.
00:44Right, fair enough, and that's what I just wanted to get out there, is that just because
00:48you don't think they're great, it doesn't mean you think anybody else is.
00:51Now, that said, you talked about the pass rush, which we all agree we would certainly
00:57love it to improve, because it really would make them an over-the-top great team.
01:02But in spite of that, if you look at their—they are at the top of the league in almost every
01:07passing statistic against.
01:09They have the lowest passer rating allowed to opposing quarterbacks.
01:14They're the only team that's allowed only one—they have not allowed more than one
01:18touchdown pass per game.
01:20And then there's a bevy of statistics in passing that they are, you know, top three
01:24to five in the league for pass defense, in spite of not having a pass rush.
01:32So while I agree they certainly could improve that, I don't think it's hurt or affected
01:38their ability to defend the pass in games, and you know, they've got a top five scoring
01:44defense.
01:45I mean, they hit all these other metrics in spite of not being able to put pressure on
01:50since Hutchinson went down.
01:51And Paul, it would be awfully tough for me to say—and thanks for the call—to say
01:54that any team halfway through the season is great, you know, because we've seen it too
01:59many times where there's a first-half team and a second-half team.
02:01Like, even the Lions a couple years ago were dreadful in the first half and were amazing
02:05in the second half.
02:06Correct.
02:07Right?
02:08So, I mean, certainly you could argue with an eight-and-one record at this point that
02:10they've been great.
02:11I'm just hesitant to do it just there because I do think that there is a big gap that they're
02:15missing from a pass rush.
02:17I don't think they strike fear in teams to this point where, you know, the quarterback
02:22has to account for who's coming at him just yet.
02:27And maybe one of the reasons why they have this great quarterback rating against—and
02:30it is great.
02:31They lead the league.
02:32Seventy-five is the quarterback rating against.
02:34It's amazing.
02:35Have they faced an outstanding quarterback yet, or—I shouldn't say outstanding—have
02:38they faced good quarterbacks yet on the season?
02:43Not really.
02:44Yeah.
02:45So, I'm just—I'm hesitant.
02:46That's all.
02:47Yeah.
02:48I love this team.
02:49I'm excited about this team.
02:51And one of the other reasons why the rating against is so good is because they've got
02:55opportunistic safeties that have been picking everything off.
02:57Yeah.
02:58They've got 13 interceptions on the season.
03:00That's second in the NFL to the Vikings' 15.
03:03So that's another reason why you'll see a quarterback rating plummet.
03:06And again, that's part of who they're playing against.
03:08They're not playing against great quarterbacks, and they're taking advantage of it.
03:11Good job.
03:12I mean, who's the best quarterback they've played against?
03:13C.J. Stroud, probably.
03:14Yeah.
03:15And he has been disappointing the last few weeks.
03:17And they picked him off a couple times.
03:18Yeah.
03:19I mean, he hasn't been the same guy.
03:20I mean, look, they are going to face Josh Allen in a month.
03:27Yes.
03:28They'll face Josh Allen.
03:29They'll face Brock Purdy.
03:32They'll face Jordan Love a second time, assuming he's healthy enough to play him again.
03:36But then again, they've got that back-to-back of Mack Jones and Anthony Richardson.
03:40Oh.
03:41Careful.
03:42No.
03:43I concede Anthony Richardson has not been good, Gator.
03:45All right.
03:46I just thought I got it.
03:47I'm sticking up for you.
03:48No, thank you.
03:49I'm sticking up for these guys.
03:50And Paul's right.
03:51It is an opinion.
03:52In my opinion, I think the Lions are a great football team.
03:54They don't have that name up front without Hutchinson anymore.
03:57But you just, you read off the numbers.
03:59Yeah.
04:00Part of being a great team is having great safeties, Gator.
04:02And the secondary's been really good.
04:04You know, Arnold's had some issues early in the year.
04:07But he went a while without a penalty.
04:09Got one recently.
04:11But overall, that offense is so good.
04:14The defense is so much better than what it was last year.
04:16They're 8-1.
04:17I think the team's...
04:18I'll say it.
04:19I'll say it.
04:20I think other teams kind of fear the Lions.
04:21Oh, yeah.
04:22They know what they're going and getting themselves into.
04:23And that stat about losing the following week after playing the Lions.
04:26The Honolulu flu.
04:27Yes.
04:28I feel that they feel physically beat up after they play the Lions.
04:32And mentally, they go into games going, we got to go for it on fourth down.
04:35We got to pull out trick plays.
04:37We got to keep up with what the Lions do.
04:38And when you talk about, you know, we're basically getting into a semantics argument.
04:42Are they the best?
04:43Yeah.
04:44We all think that they're the best team in the National Football League.
04:47When we look at great, we just look at these amazing dominant teams that they don't appear
04:52to be, which is fine.
04:55And as far as, you know, you talk about the offense, Ben Johnson said the offense has
04:59not really been as good as they would...
05:01And they haven't been.
05:02I know.
05:03I mean, look, five interceptions aside from last week, or just call it five turnovers
05:07because one of them was a fumble.
05:09But call it what it is.
05:11It's a lot of turnovers.
05:12Yeah.
05:13And it's not like golf is throwing for 300 yards a game.
05:17They've been a very efficient offense.
05:18The difference is when they get in the red zone, they convert to touchdown.
05:21And that's huge for them.
05:23And the offense, without question, strikes fear in every team that they play because
05:27they can get you in so many different ways.
05:29Pick your poison.
05:30Do you want to stop Amun-Ra St. Brown or are you going to try to stop the running game?
05:33And if you're going to try to stop Amun-Ra, what about J-Mo now that he's back on the
05:37team and you've got Sam Laporta throwing in?
05:39And even the pick your poison situationally, they have to sit there and guess, all right,
05:43wait a second.
05:44It's third and six.
05:45Are they really going to run the ball now?
05:46I mean, and because they've done that.
05:48Because they've done it.
05:49Yeah.
05:50Yeah.
05:51I mean, I think this is a very, very good football team.
05:53So.
05:54You're right.
05:55And I'm that close to saying great.
05:57I just hesitate at this point.
05:59248-539-9797 is a telephone number and it's because it's halfway through the season.
06:04I just don't make those conclusions just yet.
06:06If you threw a fork to my nose in a dark alley, I'd say yes.
06:09It's amazing that it's halfway.
06:10But we're not in a dark alley.
06:11There's no fork to my nose.
06:12It's amazing we're halfway through.
06:14It just seems like.
06:15You think it's flying by?
06:16No.
06:17I think it's going way too slow for my liking.
06:18Right, because college football is like winding up and the NFL is like, we're only halfway
06:22through this.
06:23And like, as Lions fans, because we have such high expectations, we want to get to the postseason
06:28already.
06:29Yes.
06:30We don't want to see this team go through any more adversity, another injury or two
06:34or more.
06:35Nobody wants to see that.
06:36And I think part of it is also when the Lions had the bye.
06:40I think if they had the bye a few weeks later, we might feel a different time chronologically.
06:46You know, maybe.
06:47But the bye also came at a pretty good time.
06:48Oh, yeah.
06:49I'm not blaming.
06:50I'm not complaining.
06:51I'm just talking about perception as far as how much, how many more games we have left.