Lions defeat the Packers in Week 7

Am I the host? Hello. Would you like to start speaking? Can I be the host? Yeah, go ahead. I've always wanted to be the host. I'm just touching up my lipstick. Who is this guy? I'm just touching up my lipstick. Jen's right there. That's Canner. And this is Justin Rogers from the Detroit Sports Network. And I'm Jennifer Hammond. And you can Zoom us in with that little QR code. I really want people and text us. Text the show at 248-200-5042. I'm going to step right up here. I feel like even though I'm blocking you gentlemen, I'm going to get in the middle so I'm not blocking you gentlemen. I would like anyone who was at that Lions game yesterday at Ford Field to please text us and tell us about your experience. It was a crazy game. What did we call it? We've heard people call it bizarro. How do you refer to that game yesterday, Justin? I think I've covered live maybe 250 games. It was one of the more unusual, just the whole rhythm of it. But we'll say this. It was as loud of a regular season game as I remember in a while. I was thinking about it. Probably the loudest I remember since the playoff games. Yes. It was rocking in there. It was rocking early. There were so many big plays, like big moments where the crowd could get that loud. The points didn't correlate with the big plays. I think that's what was it doing, right? You could drive the length of the field, then fail on fourth down at the four-yard line. It felt like things like that kept happening over a fumble in the red zone, missed field goals. It's just a weird, weird game. Lemony Snicket's, what is that? A series of unfortunate events or whatever it goes. So this Monday edition of the Sports Office is brought to you by Figer Law. All we do is win, and we thank our friends at Figer Law for their continued support. Of all things Fox Sports, and the Motor City Casino Live line is up there, too. Text the show and talk to us. Bet on it. Anyway, stay bet on it. I do want to just quickly go back to Sunday's pregame show. We were at the Detroit City Distillery. Oh, where am I in there? This was, well, you know what? I will invite you the next time we show up there. And actually, Dante, who is the general manager there, invited us back for he said, anytime you want to come in with a tour and have some drinks and we'll show you around because we were working. We were in a business capacity. We couldn't enjoy the libations to the extent that I probably would have enjoyed that on a day off. But it's a cool, cool place. If you have not been to the Detroit distillery, have you did you get to go in there, can or did you want to go with the guys? No, I got to be here to make you make sure you guys look so good. Can you get a shot? Yeah. And you're on time. So this Greg Cantor, you know, at the end of the night when I thank my thanks to producer Greg Cantor for his efforts and to you for watching. I always try. I tag off. She always thanks me for effort. But you really, you put together a hell of a show every single week on the pregame. Thanks, Hammers. And when I text you when I'm driving downtown at, what, 8.55 in the morning and I'm like, yeah, Dom Riola might show up. Can we squeeze him in? He's like, we already got a show mapped out. And guess where Dom Riola was? At the distillery? No, he didn't show up. no show he didn't make it yeah he got sometimes you rearrange the show for jen and her guests and they don't show up and then rearrange back you do all right let's let's let's let's pull this thing apart by the teeth i mean it's almost like trying to get the the final meat off the wishbone i mean there are so many things with that game yesterday and you alluded to it i mean it could have been i think a lot of people were expecting a shootout going in what surprised you the most about what you maybe predicted pregame, Justin, and what you actually saw on the field? I think the way they deployed the defense, particularly the secondary, you know, I don't know if anybody really saw the cornerback rotation coming in the way that it did. You know, people recognize maybe that we don't watch practice in the regular season. Those things are kept off the books to keep us from reporting these things. But we haven't really seen Khalil Dorsey in a defensive role since 2024 right uh Rocky Sin was was back in the mix in this one and um I think Keith Abney the rookie played a lot more than I anticipated with Brian Branch being back in the fold they really did work a safety rotation ton of nickel defense which maybe was the anticipated thing with with Branch in the mix uh but it was a really interesting deployment I think Calvin Shepard for the criticism that he faced and I think rightfully deserved in the first month of the season has got the ship heading in a better direction the last two games do you feel like this was the best game you've seen the secondary play this season canner it was right up there i mean the last game was pretty good too but with the receivers that the packers had that was going to be a challenge and i thought that they for the most part held their own and i think the fact that the packers couldn't run before jacobs came back still couldn't still couldn't run and that helped immensely because they were able to get a little bit of pressure they weren't running and it allowed the secondary to make plays because there was a lot of plays they got away with a few you know getting in a little early but but a lot of times they're they're knocking the ball out of their hands they're you know and the Packers receivers haven't been the most sure-handed but they had their hands on a few that the Lions guys were able to knock out I think the fact that Golden and Watson were held under 100 yards and that there were no DPI calls and that that might be the biggest surprise that's an incredible look there was there was contact several times in the game and we know how it is in the NFL it's not a lion's thing it's a it's a defense thing defense is penalized for breathing on receivers wrong it's an offensive league right as we saw yesterday and i and I really appreciate when I can watch an NFL game and they let them play a little bit um you know there's obviously well it wasn't like they swallowed the whistle because there were some bizarre calls. No, there were certainly some controversial calls on both sides, more for, I think, the Packers, but in particular, in the secondary. I thought there was one DPI the entire game. It was against Green Bay and negated a golf interception. I thought it was a very blatant one in particular, but there was a couple where easily could have been flags on the Lions. Like I said, I appreciate that. I think it creates a better intensity to the game. I think it creates a better flow to the game. Flags have been a problem in the league this year, and it was nice to see them not be as big of a problem in this one you think it was the crew the the crew because it seemed to be they were the second most i don't know how to say it so they threw the second most flags on average coming out to that really 18.6 per game and how many total were there yesterday there were eight for Green Bay eight and four i think it was 12 yeah yeah 12 or 13 uh it was so intriguing to watch this Lions team because there were times when they and i've seen it we've all seen it several times this season where they can move the move the ball almost at will yeah on any defense it's so impressive to watch them go when they set their sights to it in a two-minute offense particularly that four-minute offense you know going into the the first the end of the first half and then the fumble and then you're like okay well they get the ball coming back out and then again the botched snap and for them to overcome those two turnovers I think is pretty darn impressive. Yeah, and it's super important, right? the beauty of their offense is they have so many high-powered weapons. Gibbs can break a run at any given moment, but even without breaking a run, five, six, seven-yard runs. Saw a couple where he plowed over guys yesterday. People don't really recognize that aspect of the game, but he's a very physical runner on top of the speed. You've got St. Brown, Jamison Williams, Sam LaPorta. All these guys can provide a big play even Isaac Slaw can provide a big play at any given moment it's just the way they all complement each other and kind of the mastery of the way Jared Goff orchestrates the thing that that makes it go yeah what was that yeah and i did call him the maestro in my story last night did you recognize that canner you probably were you probably were slamming it together i did love too Jamo celebrations there are a few things that are more delightful to watch then just don't hurt yourself yeah just don't hurt yourself but whatever that swimming thing he did the kid is Gumby he i don't think he is kind of Gumby he's really flexible i don't know if he can be hurt he is an act he's a freak of an athlete right yeah knock on wood knock on that that is yeah this is wood um yeah you all know who to blame uh let's see fire Campbell wait fire Campbell, am I reading that right? Yeah so I can read this for you, oh god, read it for me, fire Campbell he is not good for the Lions organization calling fourth down plays and not going for three points is dumb, all right, so this brings us to obviously the fourth down call, I didn't love it, but I don't think it's a hill that I would die on because I understood for one of the few times usually i am kick the field goal take the points all day long in san francisco i was saying that in january it was that 23 or 24 20 whenever that was sure god i can't remember when it was now it feels so long 23 season, 24 playoffs. Thank you. Yeah. I would have screamed from a mountaintop a couple of years ago about that fourth down play. So you're talking about the fourth down, as I see, from the sixth yard line. In their red zone? Well, the one from the sixth yard line, that incomplete to JMO in the back of the end zone where they could have kicked the field goal. Or the famous one they're talking about, which was in their own territory. In their own territory. Yeah, gotcha. It's really fascinating, right? Because my initial reaction, too, was that is wildly overaggressive. And then you sit back and you take in the context of the moment and it kind of takes us to the overtime rules, right? The reason that they've changed the way they are is because one team doesn't get a chance and, you know, that's not fair. Well, Campbell was thinking in kind of a bigger picture way that, hey, I think we're going to get this. I think we have a good play call. They didn't. It didn't work out. But he said, if we punt it and they drive, you don't have to drive very far in the NFL now. These kickers can all kick 60 yards, right? If they drive 40 yards, well, he could still probably kick 60 yards on the right day, right? And it just takes one, right? If they drive 40 yards, they take up three and a half minutes, and they kick a game-winning field goal, we can't do anything about it, right? It's only a handful of first downs. They did move the ball well throughout the course of the game. Whereas if we give it up to the 20, they're not going to be able to use all the clock. We're going to be able to respond at least because of the chance. And so there is kind of that bigger picture. It's very aggressive. it's very aggressive but it's also one yard like you should be able to count on your team to get especially with the talent and the running game that they have well that was my because i didn't have a lot of problem when i was watching it with that i was you know like okay and i understood the time and everything as you just explained to me though it was the play call considering the rest of the game they weren't running they were getting pushed back up the middle and not being able to run very well most of the game so if they were going to go for it i would have liked a better play call then we're just going to hand it to to gibbs and hope i even if you're gonna hand it to gibbs it seems like they're having more success on the perimeter yes in that contest toss or something throw a pitch through some yeah i love the pulling lead blockers there weren't a ton of pitch plays yesterday but the ones they did run largely worked yeah yeah i did want something different and it's crazy because last night i was watching Scott Van Pelt post game you know after he does all the stuff where he went to college uh he went to Maryland he is a Terp by the way like our friend Greg Caneris is we like the Terps um they're not good at football but yeah no they're not good ring the bell for that one okay well yeah yeah not good um but i do appreciate uh he has um who does who's the quarterback uh the brothers you know the one who played in Seattle oh who's the quarterback Hasselbeck Hasselbeck was on there and Hasselbeck really kind of torched Dan Campbell And he said, that's reckless. He called it reckless. And I thought, those are strong words. I appreciate it coming from someone who played the game. But also it's interesting because when you talk to every one of the Lions players, unless they're just paying lip service, they all say, we love it. I found it interesting that Mike Tomlin and Jason Garrett were on a panel talking about the play. And Mike Tomlin says, I get it. And Jason Garrett goes, I would never do that. And I'm like, who would you rather have coaching your team right now? Like if they're going to pick a coach to coach your franchise, who would you rather have Mike Tomlin? So to me, that says a little something. I don't know. I'm, I'm very anti-take culture. I feel like everybody needs to have the strongest possible opinion and ESPN's built around that. Like it's not my cup of tea, but that's what they, that's what they do. Well, the one thing I like that Dan Campbell does is you see a lot of coaches when they're second guests or whatever, they're going to come up with some excuse or, you know, some may be rude. He wears it. He wears it and he explains what he was thinking. He was so clear today at the press conference of explaining, this is what my thought is. Other people disagree. He doesn't really care, but he's explaining to you what his thought process were, why he did it. And that's what I would want from a coach. Yes, I mean, there are some times in the past if it doesn't work where you're kind of like, I wish he didn't do it, but he always has a reason and He'll always tell you. Yeah, and it's a good sound logic and reasoning. I mean, he's not a guy who just does stuff on a wing and a prayer on a whim. There was somebody else, too, that had kind of a comp after the game, and they were saying, okay, here you've got Packers coach explaining away how the refs screwed them. They got jobbed, all of these bad calls. And then after the game, you know, when Campbell ever has an issue with said officiating or a specific call, and someone asks him about it, he'll say, what? There was a bad call in that game? You know, kind of gives a little wink and a head cock. I mean, and it's just the way that he he kind of lets things, you know, a little bit of the duck kind of just rolls off his back. You know, when Dan Campbell is irritated and we could probably count what on one hand. A lot of the times that he's been really ticked off in his six years here in Detroit. But it is interesting because I do think that like a child to a parent or a child does from a parent, a team from a coach takes their their resilience and their reaction and if a coach doesn't get all wound up and slam his head you know his headphones on the ground and make a big deal about something the team's going to have confidence and feel comfortable and know that the coach is putting a calm reasoned faith in them and i think that counts for a lot i think people have forgotten where this team was yeah for decades right and decades this is good part of his nature right it's aggression it's aggression on defense with the blitz aggression with going for it on fourth down and the mathematics of it show that talk about estimated points added or whatever win percentage added like over time the accumulation is it works out for you more over time yeah so you can find the games where it didn't work out and say oh it didn't work out there it didn't work out there but like ultimately this is where this organization's at as a winning competent contending organization because of who he is and the faith he's instilled across that roster and in that building. And Dan, we trust. All right, we're going to take a quick break. Come back on the other side. Please text us. Zoom us. Zoom us in. If you were at the game yesterday, I really want to hear from people. Brian from Taylor texted, and we're going to get the answer to his question when we get back. All right, we will. Thanks, Brian. Bye. All right, time now for the Fyger Law Winner of the Week. And how about Jamison Williams after a slow start to the season Jamo has caught fire scoring two TDs in each of his last two games he had five grabs for 91 yards in the victory over the Packers on Sunday as the Lions improved to four and two this weekend, Jamo, your FYGER Law winner of the week, that's the thing I'm trying to figure out, what was he doing? He's skidding on his stomach but I love the pink shoes, he was surfing, oh that's surfing, I do like the backflip though, do you think they're going to tell him that he can't do that anymore? He had good form. Kirby was doing backflips at one point in time. Do you remember that, Kirby, early in his career? There was a great clip of Kirby, I think, was it when BB got the interception and Kirby was running down the sideline? I heard he was the first one to greet him. I saw him running down the sideline excitedly when Gibbs ran over the defender in the third quarter. His energy is so good. As a dude, as a teammate, I just root for that guy, and I really hope that he can come back and play and stick and stay. I don't know the likelihood of that happening, but, boy, is he exciting to watch. And, I mean, I don't want to say I'm surprised that Brian Branch had the impact that he did, but I thought he might start a little bit slower than he did. He was like out of a cannon in that one yesterday. They pulled the reins back in the first half. I think he was out there for 45%, 50% of snaps, and Dan Campbell said he was bugging me. Right. He was just bugging me on the sideline. And he said, we got to halftime, we kind of assessed it, and said, let's let him go. And so I think there was probably some rust, and I haven't gone quite through the film on that side of the ball yet, but a big-time play in a big-time moment. And I think more than anything, He brings a player teammates can trust to do the right thing all the time, and it kind of just builds a confidence across the unit that they were lacking kind of in the center of that defense much this season. Yeah, he's the center point of that wheel and makes it turn. What do you got over there, Tanner? Let's hear it. All right, so Brian from Taylor says, I enjoy watching First and North, which is a show we do once a week that Jen or Dan will host with our friends from Chicago and Milwaukee and Minnesota. Which is actually a really fun concept. It's all the different NFC North teams talking about what's going on. Yeah, it used to air in this slot on Tuesdays. Now it airs 2 a.m. on Tuesdays. You can always set your DVR for that. Why did we get bumped to 2 a.m.? Come on now. Look, for this show. For this show. Although I'd be good on First and North after the bar at 2 a.m. But it is supposed to be on demand on Fox Local app, but I just did a search, and there's some of them there. It seems to be inconsistently posted. So I'm going to go talk with someone as soon as we're done with this show and see if they can make it easier for you to access. If you need something done, talk to Cantor. His email address is, they can find it if they want it. I will say that it's always fun to talk to the people at the other stations, especially after a win like this and to hear kind of what's going on in Green Bay after that loss. and I will tell you I just am so impressed by the way this defense continues to play and I wonder how much of a thumbprint Dan Campbell has had on it working with Shep do you think that that's I mean something to look and look to yeah he he was kind of the addition in the offseason right like we were wondering what kind of coaching changes might happen on that staff and there were none but he talked about at the combine and Shepard also talked about that Dan Campbell was sitting in on all their meetings and there were some pretty big adjustments schematically this offseason and how they played the front with a little bit more aggression which we actually have seen really positive results with they've also made a bigger shift to zone defense from man and i think there's a misconception out there like every defense the NFL outside of Cleveland is a zone first defense it is the predominant defense in the NFL but the Lions tilted more that way They went from like 35%, 40% to more like 20%. Zone is chemistry. It takes time. And you see a lot of these zone teams, especially the ones incorporating new pieces or young pieces, they struggle through some lumps. This team has taken some lumps. And they've drifted a little bit back to man to kind of cover some of that. But they're ultimately going to have to clean up some of that stuff that still showed up, I think, in the Green Bay game yesterday, particularly in that first half. Yeah. So when the tight end typically gets loose and gets in that soft spot in the middle of the defense, that's when we see those zone breakdowns. And is that strictly just communication? It could be a lot of different things, right? But what you notice is often those happen on third and fourth down. There's blitzes incorporated in it. There's a marriage there, right? You have to get kind of everybody on the same page to make sure all the different things are covered. And in that particular case, that was definitely a bust. yeah all right we're going to take a break here so Tom can get a drink of bourbon wash down his cough there uh we'll be back on the other side final thoughts on the sports office on this Monday night stick with us all right final minute here on the sports office uh do we have anything else up there that we what does that say just more about the uh you know going for fourth downs and failing live by the sword die by the sword that's what i like to say and i think i like and think of how many coaches now in the nfl go for it on fourth down since Dan Campbell really was the first guy to lay his stones on the table, so to speak. I prefer the phrase, fortune favors the bold. Fortune favors the bold. There you have it. Caner, so tonight you're rooting against the Philadelphia Eagles, I take it? Well, no, because I hate both teams. I'm sorry, I strongly dislike both teams. I care not for? That play in the worst division in football. He's a Washington Commanders guy. I got fantasy implications. All right, tell me what your fantasy implications are. What are we rooting for? I need Dak. I need Dak to do some stuff. I can get behind that. I barely pay attention to my fantasy team, but if I'm going to watch, that's going to be the reason. Yeah, so if you want to be up-to-date, in the know, and get some of the most comprehensive coverage of Lions football, I strongly suggest that you subscribe to the Detroit Sports Network. How can they do that? Tell them how. You're going to get it one of these days. Detroit Football Network. Detroit Football Network. Oh, my God. I was waiting for it. I know, sorry. And I remember at DFN because I used to work at WDFN. So DFN, Detroit Football Network. DetroitFootball.net. DetroitFootball.net. I am a subscriber, and I absolutely love it because you break it down, you watch the film, you tell me things to watch for, and you also give me college guys to keep an eye on that could help the Lions down the road. Yeah, a little new twist this summer. All right, it's Justin Rogers, it's Greg Kanter, it's Jennifer Hammond. It's good night. See you later.