Lions Are On The Cusp Of "Great"

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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.

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