Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
E13: Training camp update, Taylor Decker & Jordan Love Signing (with Matthew Soltysiak from Not the Same Old Lions Podcast)
In this episode of 'Talking Grit,' hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton interview Matthew Soltysiak, the host of 'Not the Same Old Lions' podcast. Matthew discusses his background in journalism, his passion for the Detroit Lions, and the inception of his podcast. The conversation covers various topics, including the Lions' training camp experiences, the team's atmosphere, and expectations for the season. They delve into the emergence of key players like Jameson Williams and the wide receiver group, the competition in the kicking game, and the importance of Taylor Decker's contract extension. The episode also touches on Jordan Love's new contract with the Packers and its implications. The guys also read some of their fan mail!
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Welcome everybody to another episode of Talking Grit. I'm Jason Harwood and with us is Jacob Litton. Today, we've got a special guest. He's the host, producer, and creator of not the Same Old Lions podcast, Matthew Soltysiak. Matthew has a background in journalism, went to Syracuse and anchored sports for an NBC affiliate right here in Michigan. You could find his podcast wherever you download your podcasts Hey Matt. So I have a podcast. You have a podcast. I'm always curious. Why did you start your podcast or what was the impetus that pushed you to, Hey, let's do this.
Matt Soltysiak:As you mentioned in your intro I've got a master's degree in broadcast journalism from Syracuse and I spent time working as a reporter, then a sports reporter, and then ultimately a weekend sports anchor for the NBC affiliate in Northern Michigan. And I got to cover the lions through that, and I've always been a lion's fan and I've always wanted to be a lion's beat writer, or I wanted to, play the lion. Focus or work for the lions even. So I've always had a passion for working with sports, with broadcast and life takes different turns and and Oh eight, Oh nine, the economy in Michigan didn't do well. And, the big part of the newsroom got laid off and I took a different turn, went into a different career, became a high school teacher. Broadcasting was one of the classes I taught. And for a number of years, I've done that. And then I was having a conversation with a friend about a year and a half or so ago, maybe two years ago, and he's a big Minnesota Vikings fan. And we're just, we're talking football and bantering back and forth. And he goes. You could have a podcast and I'm like, yeah, we could do that. And he's no, not us, but you. And so I was like, all right if you don't want to do it, me, I'll have to find somebody else. But I would say. I, the passion's always been there and it was able to rekindle it and do it again. And because I think technology changed a little bit and some of the things that you needed as a pro level, we're now available at the consumer level and you could get them and record them with a laptop and a microphone and a set of headphones. You didn't need all the stuff that you needed and you didn't need like a radio network. The podcasting thing, they made it that much more available. So all those things coming together really helped me bring it back. And it's been a lot of fun. Yeah.
Jason Harwood:Good. Just to hit on the name, why did you pick the name that you have? I'm wondering, was that just the timing of when the show started? Cause I believe you started just after the Lions beat the Packers at the end of 2022. Is, Is, am I correct with that?
Matt Soltysiak:That's when the lie, yeah, I started just after that, but you could not have picked a better day to ask me this question because it was Taylor Decker's remarks that inspired the name of my podcast. I was trying to figure out what do I call this? Do I go something geographical and just bouncing some different names off? And then I just, I thought about what Taylor Decker had said after that Thanksgiving day game. And he said, Oh, you know what? We're not the same old lions, or it's not the same old lions. And I was like, not the same old lions podcast. And, you know, it's got a couple different potential meanings to it. And I credit Taylor Decker for inspiring my name and it just had a great ring to it.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, great. I love,
Jacob Litton:awesome.
Jason Harwood:yeah, I love the name. All right, Jacob, you got a question for him, don't you?
Jacob Litton:Yeah, so this is something that we like to try to ask all the guests. It's something we both answer at the beginning too. Just see how long you've been a fan for. So we just want to know who was the quarterback for the lions when you first became a fan. So your earliest memory, when you were really into it, you really cared about the wins and losses. Who was the quarterback back then?
Matt Soltysiak:I remember the name Chuck long and I think it was Bob gag. Leano. I think it was the most, those were the names I remember, like the youngest, but the person I remember the most watching. Was Rodney Pete. He was the first guy I really remember watching. I believe it was 1989. And then we drafted Andre where the year after, and so you had both of those guys were like the big hopes for the team. Andre where went to Houston and they ran the run and shoot, which was the offense we were running with mouse Davis back in the day. And then a couple of years later, Eric Kramer comes into the picture. And it was like a three person rotation to see who could elevate. But I think that kind of shows How long I've been watching the Lions football there, Jacob.
Jacob Litton:Yeah. You've been going through it for a long time. Feels good to finally be winning. Right?
Matt Soltysiak:man, this is a feeling like, like very seldom ever in my lifetime, if ever.
Jason Harwood:So this is a pretty unique time and lion's history and, we'll get to it later on, but the signing today just signifies. I think it's emblematic of everything that the Lions have built here so far. So we'll talk on the Taylor Decker signing a little bit later on. But to start this off, Matt, on Saturday you went to training camp. First just tell me what the experience was like. And if you have any recommendations for people that are heading down there, I know a lot of people listening to this might be heading down for future training camps,
Matt Soltysiak:Yeah, you know, a training camp most of them started eight 30 in the morning with gates opening an hour earlier, about seven 30. And I went a couple of times last year and this year it was there were a few changes to it and there were upgraded changes, nice enhancements. I would say. Getting there. I got there probably about eight o'clock, eight Oh five. And last year we probably got there a little bit later. I would recommend get there a good 30 minutes ahead of time. If not sooner last year we parked in one spot that you probably want to take a shuttle bus from it's about a half a mile away, or you could walk it or if you happen to get one of the closer parking lots, you can walk it as well. But I would get in a half hour early at least because. When the practice starts at 8 30, the little signal, a horn. And at that point. You're not supposed to, and you shouldn't take pictures or video at that point. Now beforehand, you can do all you want and after, and it's fun to, get those photos and whatnot. So I would get there early so you can get some of those pictures ahead of time. They also have multiple events going on. They've got, meet the lions legends. When I was there on Saturday, a former fullback, Corey Schlesinger and running back Joyke Bell were both there. I was told I didn't get an opportunity to go see them, but I brought my daughters with me and it really is a family friendly environment. It's a great. Great atmosphere, a really pumped up crowd. I'll tell you that when we got in from one side, the cheer team was there along with the lions legends. We had some face painting. We had some some balloons that you could have made into animals or swords. They of course have food trucks and stuff like that. But I think the biggest upgrade I liked was the stands. The VIP tent, which I've never been in, but I've seen has gone from one level to two. So you get that, that elevated look. But the sideline stands, which is where I spent a good amount of time sweating profusely last year has coverings now. And that's really nice. That's a game changer, especially if you were outside at all this past weekend. You appreciate that. I will say I would, if you want to be in the shade though, you want to sit in the back half of those stands, because that's the part that's going to get the most amount of shade. And one thing that I didn't see a lot of people highlight was. Those bleachers are now chairs and it makes it a much more comfortable situation to sit in. I will guarantee that, but it also means it can be a little bit more difficult to get a seat because it, people can sit in two seats or, yeah, in two seats, like in the bleachers, like at a U of M game, right? But when you have individual chairs, you can't squeeze extra people in. So I would get there early to get seats and maybe eight o'clock is maybe even on the late side for that. Gates open at 7 30, get there 50, just to go get those seats. So you have a comfortable spot to, to watch.
Jason Harwood:I am so happy about the shaded the shade first. And then, yeah I think I was online with you at some point and I saw you comment about, are those seats? And at that point, I didn't know if it was a real picture or like an artist's rendering. And I was like the artist rendering might just have seats put in there, but no, there was a real picture. And I'm very happy about just having a seat with a back. I'm so old, right? Jacob got to have a back on my seat. Is that. Save the joke. I'll save you from having to say it.
Jacob Litton:A comment about the sunscreen for your head
Jason Harwood:yeah
Jacob Litton:thing.
Jason Harwood:that's right. No, man, remember we're going to do face painting. I think that's UV protected. I'm going to just, I'm going to be with you on Thursday. Yeah, just, I'm going to be annoying right next.
Jacob Litton:on your head. You can get the lion on the face.
Jason Harwood:I'm on, no, I'm on the blue face mask painted on my face. So we've got to, represent the new face mask. All right. You take good notes for me. Okay.
Matt Soltysiak:One other thing to add about the atmosphere, Or to know is a lot of people go there wondering about autographs. If there's an opportunity to get those. And daughters were really wanting to get autographs. And, as a parent, you're like, you just, you want them to find some level of success. And I'm sitting here thinking, I hope they get one, just get one autograph. Because. There's a good chance you're not going to get any, and I didn't really know how it would work. And I didn't stick around last year to try and get autographs after the sessions, we just filed out, but my daughter's got multiple autographs. And so I really want to give a huge shout out to all the Detroit lions players. So many of them came over, whether it was, whether it was Enos, rake straw Isaiah Williams, Kalief Raymond and not over by us, but by the other spot, I saw and Aiden Hutchinson go over and they were taking pictures. They were signing autographs and they stayed a good amount of time. And so I was just where they wouldn't get one and walk away disappointed, even though, you shouldn't be too disappointed because the odds of getting autographs are, I don't know, I don't know what they are, but I didn't think they were that high, but they got multiple. And my daughters had such a great time at the camp and they left being, huge hugely happy. I'll put it that way. So thank you, Detroit lions players.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I echo that sentiment. I was in the same worry boat last year when we went with my boys, just telling them that, we might get some autographs, but also setting them up for we might not. And yeah, we had three that signed for us last year. Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, and Will Harris. Yes it's very possible. It also helps if know the player's names, if you have like their Jersey numbers down and you can scream out their name it gets, sometimes you can get, especially when it's the little kids, they could scream out their names. They're like little player magnets. They, players have trouble turning down little kids. So it, yeah, it's a good experience. And like you said earlier, it's a family experience. You talked about the atmosphere. I'm curious, I know you went last year. I went last year. I haven't been back this year. Is the atmosphere heightened from last year? Similar? What, I'm hearing that it's pretty, pretty heightened this year. So what was your experience?
Matt Soltysiak:Soltysiak Yeah, I'm going to say it was heightened. I will throw in one caveat, which is. I was there last year during padded practices that were joint practices with other teams. And this year I was there, it was just the Lions, and there were no pads on. But, the crowd was getting into things. Jamison Williams was out doing some catching early on, just before practice started. And as he walked over, got even in the vicinity of the crowd erupted and just cheered him on. And then He returned the love back to the crowd. there was a time when Terry and Arnold and Amon Ross St. Brown were locked up on one of one each other. And, the Terry on broke up the pass and again, the crowd erupted. So there were some loud cheers at times and when some nice deep passes were caught. So I would say, yeah, it was a packed house and there was a lot of energy and excitement feeling.
Jason Harwood:I just think that's so amazing for a practice. I think that says a lot about Lions fans and how hungry we have been for a very long time. And just the promise that this team is going to show for this year. So that's exciting to hear. I can't wait to go and experience that myself. So you talked a little bit about JMO. I know that you spent most of your time watching the offense. Let's talk about JMO and the wide receivers, because I think that is was on display from what I understand. So tell me what you saw, what you thought, or anything you want to talk about. Go ahead, Matt.
Matt Soltysiak:yeah, let's let's continue with Jamo then a little bit. He he had a nice catch over the middle. And the great thing was once he caught that pass, you saw him burst right through that second level defense. And I'll give Fatou Malafon with some credit. He was waiting there for Jamo at the end of that. And Jamo didn't really try to avoid contact, which shouldn't surprise any of us that have seen the way he has played since college days or coming to the Lions. And so you heard a nice little collision. And again, No paths, they didn't go to the ground or anything like that, but it was fun to see that. And after one play Goff and Jayma, I think they connected on the play, but they came off the field and they were talking back and forth. You can saw them, you can see them working through some things. And that reminded me last year when I saw Sam Laporta and Goff come off the field and they talked for a good amount of time about a play that had been going on. I just really liked seeing. The communication, the growth, and I don't know if any of your listeners are fancy football people, but if you want Jamison Williams on your fancy football team at a good value, I hope your draft is in the next five to seven days. Cause I have a feeling once that first preseason game happens, the cat's going to be out of the bag. The lion's going to be out and everyone's going to know Jamison Williams, I think is going to be for real this year.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I saw the national media on Twitter earlier today saying reports are no one can guard JMO in practice So I think they're a little they're on to it already when the national media is pointing out to it
Jacob Litton:the coaches, the players
Jason Harwood:Yeah.
Jacob Litton:just seems like everybody, has positive things to say about him. Looks like he's a different player this year. His confidence is at an all time high. And I know they had Jared Goff quoting, basically saying that Jamo understands the magnitude of the situation. He knows what time it is for him. He knows what time it is for this team. The time is now you got to step up right now and, obviously it's still early, but it seems like he's really stepping up and really taking it seriously.
Jason Harwood:Yeah I think Dan Campbell said in his press conference earlier today that this is the most confident that he's seen him and I Feel just from just seeing him run routes and everything. It's he knows where he's supposed to be and he's just out there playing football and, he's just a football player. So I, it's so exciting to hear all this. Cause you know, especially with losing Josh Reynolds, we gonna, those targets and those opportunities are going to go somewhere and who better to go than the fastest guy on this team.
Matt Soltysiak:Well, when I spoke with Jameson earlier this summer, he talked about wanting to score touchdowns and win football games. And, you can see his passion and his love for football. And, he's a pure football player. So I think the other thing is. You see this whole crowd rooting for him in a way that you didn't see a year ago. You had some fans and you had two extremes, some that were putting them in the hall of fame and somewhere going on the other end. And the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. And the thing is though, I think it's in the middle with an upward trajectory right now. And so I think that, the sky really is the limit for Jamison Williams and we saw so much growth the second half of last season that, it's realistic optimism by the lions fans. And it's great to see so many of them supporting him.
Jason Harwood:I agree. All this, the suspension last year was just hanging over his head and just felt like Everybody's head going into, cause I go, he's going to be four or it was originally six games before he's going to start playing. So it felt like, all right, we're not going to see him. And then I think you were at the practice where he actually got injured last year. Right, Matt? Yeah. You had just multitude of things just, just enough to pull back excitement. And then when you get, like you said, the, just the general feeling about him last year was. Not as positive, I'll just say that. And so this year it's on a very positive trajectory. So I'm excited about that.
Matt Soltysiak:You also asked about other wide
Jason Harwood:Yeah.
Matt Soltysiak:know it's going to be on Monroe St. Brown and Jamison Williams and Kalief Raymond in the top three. I'm going to say these other guys were looking pretty good. Maurice Alexander and Isaiah Williams, they both showed pretty good on Saturday. Now, keep in mind, we weren't in pads yet, but still putting stuff together was great. You probably saw the social media. Of Maurice Alexander making that, that catch right down the sideline there. Here's another one. We had to battle Kindle Vildor and came away with the catch. And so it wasn't an easy one. And I know it's an uphill battle for Alexander as, as well for Isaiah Williams, but Williams had a great one over the middle. And then after practice, you can see him tracking a deep ball. And we remember how good he was at Illinois in the big 10 that, it's not going to be easy for him to make the roster, but I'm rooting for the guy, He's got some talent and there's a reason we signed him with that much of a contract for an undrafted free agent. And then the other guys, there's multiple, but. Antoine Green and Donovan Peoples Jones, I would say, I didn't see a whole lot out of those guys. They both connected with Goff over the middle. Green did catch a deep route that he wasn't covered on, but it was a nice tracking, nice timing thing. That pass was from Hendon Hooker. But those guys just have some size. And that's what sets those two guys away from basically every other receiver on the roster. And it'll be interesting to see. The preseason. I'm just, I'm so excited because we're going to see hand and hooker. And we're going to see these receivers. And I think the receivers are going to have a decent quarterback play in throwing them the ball a lot. And I want to see what they all can do with that. And who can step up.
Jason Harwood:I think we've mentioned before on this podcast, but the preseason, looking at Hendon Hooker for the first time in game action is going to be really exciting and I expect to see. A lot. Cause I don't expect Jared Goff to play very much if at all. So it's going to be mostly, Sudfeld, which we've seen in the past. We know what Nate is. No, I'm not talking bad about him, but we just already know what we're getting with Nate with Hendon, you have a guy that. Was a Heisman hopeful till the injury and then he, similar to Jameson, he had to basically red shirt, the first year didn't get really see anything. And now, hopefully we get to see him on the field. During the season, I hope it's all Jared Goff, but during the preseason, I can't wait to, I can't wait to see Hen and Hooker out there. Jacob, did you see the report about Hen and Hooker dis had a, like a dislocated finger in the, And the spring,
Jacob Litton:Yeah. That was earlier on in practices, a lot of people were concerned about the way the ball was coming out. Just looked something was off and then just found out a few days ago, I guess that, he had a finger injury and that kind of contributed to the problems he was having before. I believe he said he pretty much has healed up. He's looking better already. So far. I'm excited to see him in the preseason to let it rip.
Jason Harwood:yeah. Matt, did you, you got to see him in practice. What was your thoughts? I'm hearing things in the media, but I want to know what your eyes told you.
Matt Soltysiak:I was impressed with what I saw out of Hendon, I saw him use a little bit of his mobility to avoid a sack and get the ball off and throw it. He has some nice connections, especially like that deep one that I talked about earlier. And then, you saw him hold onto the ball a little bit too long. And Jalen Rees Maben got in there, some pressure and batted the pass away as he went to throw it. But I'm optimistic. And as you guys alluded to that injury might've been the reason we saw so many mixed concerned reports coming out earlier in the spring, but I'm really looking forward to that first preseason game to see what he puts on the field. I think all lions fans are, and I'm optimistic it's going to be what we're hoping it will be.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. The intrigue of his legs are, for Alliance fan, cause we come from Jared Goff who. He has pocket presence and can move around, but he's not going to be rushing for first downs. Whereas Hendon offers something different. It's, he's no way he's going to match Jared golf's ability to run this offense. But if he does get in there, it is intriguing that he's got, the defense is going to have to worry about something a little different with Hendon than they were with Jared for sure. Who else stood out to you at practice or anybody else you want to highlight? Matt?
Matt Soltysiak:Um, you know, I was able to finally see in person the strong kicking leg of Jake Bates. Did you guys want to talk about the kicking game?
Jason Harwood:Yes, that's a hot button topic. I think we definitely need to talk about that. Go ahead. What did what'd you notice?
Matt Soltysiak:What you know, I know he had a little bit better practice the day before than when I saw him, but he did hit from deep early. I saw him hit a 55 I think a 52 That was from my angle in the stands. I was trying to look at the hash marks, but he hit them. And he had a lot of room left over as far as depth goes. I had a hard time judging the left to right on some of those. You had to, they had actually had a guy down there telling you whether they were good or what direction they went. And those three all went great. Later on when they went the other direction, he had four kicks and he missed two or three of those attempts. He hit his last one or his last two. And I think the accuracy needs to get dialed in a little bit, but that also could be explained based on his lack of experience. And so that'll be interesting to watch.
Jason Harwood:They still to this till now Recording this Monday evening. They have not signed another kicker to compete with him That's interesting to me that they just says at least brought someone in to to kick alongside him Go ahead.
Matt Soltysiak:Have you seen Twitter in the last hour?
Jason Harwood:I have not oh you're gonna give us some breaking news, but
Matt Soltysiak:the lions haven't signed anybody, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have cut somebody.
Jason Harwood:yes, I saw that. Go ahead, I did see that. Okay.
Matt Soltysiak:is just I put a thing on it's stranger than fiction really. But Riley Patterson's been cut apparently by Jacksonville. So can I just give you like a brief history of the lion's kicking situation for the last three years?
Jason Harwood:Yeah, let's go ahead. Yeah, let's do this.
Matt Soltysiak:right. In 2021, Austin Seibert was our kicker and he got hurt and Riley Patterson filled in for him. And I thought he did pretty well. And then in 2022, we make Austin Seibert our kicker. He gets hurt again. A host of people fill in until Michael Badgley is finally settled on. And then Patterson goes to Jacksonville. And then in 2023, we get Patterson back to compete with Badgley. Plus now we have John Parker Romo. Patterson wins the job, but Badgley replaces him with four weeks to go. Now, Patterson goes back to Jacksonville. We have Badgley back. We also get undrafted free agent James Turner, but then we let him go to the Packers. We get Jake Bates, Badgley gets hurt. Patterson gets cut. And this is where we stand. It is a weird carousel. And here's a little bit of research I did on lions kickers. And I know you could probably make the argument that stats are the biggest lie, right? You can use stats to try to guide things. But if I don't look at the top three guys in lion's history for fuel goal percentage, cause they've got five attempts or less, and I get rid of Dutch Clark, who kicked from 1931 to 1938, number five, At 90 percent accuracy rate for the Detroit Lions is Riley Patterson and number six is Michael Badgley at 85%. Now, those guys have only kicked about 30 field goals each, but they're not doing that bad. The range on Patterson is the question mark. Cause I think as long as he's only made like one over 50 yards for the Lions. I think he did more for Jacksonville. But it's, I really don't know. You said the Lions hadn't signed anybody. They probably will. Do you guys think it's going to be Patterson?
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I,
Jacob Litton:It makes too much sense.
Jason Harwood:yeah I just, especially there's not many kickers out there because every team has two or three kickers on there. Yeah. It just makes sense for him to come home. The Lions seem to do that and a lot of teams do that. We know what we have in Riley Patterson. He's going to be enough to at least push baits or. Riley might start out the year while Bates, we either put him on the practice squad if he makes it there or, if we don't think he's ready, we'll just cut Bates outright. Yeah, I They're going to look for consistency or whoever they could count on the most, the lions I'm talking about and They've already counted on Riley Patterson before so you It just makes too much sense for them to do that
Jacob Litton:you have to have somebody in there to have some sort of competition. Bates had his best practices when Badgley was still there, and then Badgley went down and then Bates, started showing struggles pretty much right away. Definitely someone like Riley Patterson knows the building. He knows how, they're the same age. So it's not necessarily like Riley Patterson is older or, anything like that. It's not like Jake Bates is younger that from that perspective, but he has way more experience kicking in the league. And historically rookie kickers just don't perform in the big moments when you need them to as recently as Jake Moody last year with the 49ers. a rookie kicker and we don't have enough sample size right now. You have to have some sort of veteran competition right now. Somebody pushing him,
Jason Harwood:I agree So, you know when Brad Holmes took over one of the first things he did is get rid of Matt Prater they probably did that for cap reasons, right? But at the time, the Lions weren't playing for much. Now, We're playing for the whole shebang here. So we need a reliable kicker back there that we could count on, especially late in the game, who can kick a longer distance field goal. Jake Bates obviously has the leg, but it's whether we can count on him. And the Riley Patterson thing just makes way too much sense. Are you in agreement, Matt? I mean, You sound like, you know, you got the stats there. So you're, you sound like a Riley Patterson fan.
Matt Soltysiak:I'll get to that in just a sec. Let me just point out Matt Prater's number eight, all time for Detroit Lions with accuracy and Jason Hanson's number nine. Now, Jason Hanson had to kick 600 field goals and earn that. So let's make sure he gets a little more credit based on how many he kicked. I am a Riley Patterson fan. And I am, I wanted him to win over Austin cyber. And when I spoke with Jeremy Reisman about it, I'm like, what happened that year? And he said, All the practices in private, Cybert was out kicking Patterson. And so that's why they kept Cybert. I don't know, I'm champion Riley Patterson. I like him a lot. But when he missed the extra points, I'm just like cringing. You can't miss that extra points. I think it was a Raiders game last year. And I'm like no. But I like, Jacob said it, I like his experience. I hope we bring him in. I hope he wants to come in because how many times has he been released by the lions twice, maybe, I don't know,
Jason Harwood:I know.
Matt Soltysiak:But I hope he does come back because I agree. That'd be a perfect competition. He's probably the best guy out there. As you guys pointed out, these 90 man rosters means there's not a lot of guys out there. I would bring him back and let the two of them compete and see what you got. And you can always do something else after roster shrink to 53. I think any lions fan would feel comfortable with Riley Patterson going in because like you talked about, Chad Ryland, big fan of his from Eastern Michigan and Maryland. He really struggled last year as a rookie. And and Jake Moody had his ups and downs as well. And if you are hoping to go far, how much do you want on somebody who doesn't have as much experience now? Again, the hope is Bates will get that experience in the preseason, but I'm hoping Riley comes in and I hope he I hope he does what he can do.
Jason Harwood:Yep.
Jacob Litton:think if you're Riley Patterson though, you get cut from Jacksonville, you're looking at the teams, the other opportunities you might have, the lions are a hot team. You already have the history here. You actually have a legitimate chance at winning the starting kicker job. You'd think Riley Patterson's team might reach out to the lions. Let me back in.
Matt Soltysiak:Jacob, you're right. If you're looking for an opportunity to land and get a starting job, the Lions are the perfect spot for him to go to.
Jason Harwood:The only thing else I want to talk about is we've been reading about some scrums at that practice, some heated scrums. What was your perspective on that?
Matt Soltysiak:So I did see one, and it was a couple of guys towards the middle of the field I read about their names by other people's reports, but I only want to report what I saw and I couldn't get the numbers and I knew once they piled up, it was going to be impossible for me to figure out who it was. But it felt like it was over before it started. It happened. It was quick. And. I'm not worried about this because I believe the type of people that Brad and Dan are bringing in our character people and you're going to have things that go and but you're practicing against somebody. And again, I think at the end of the day, all these people, they know they're on the same team and they want the same thing. And so I personally don't think it's a big deal.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I don't, I get that same read too, and I like the fire. I like that they're going at it, and they're going hard, and they're not taking practice for granted, right? They're, they're teammates, and they're brothers, but yeah they're still fighting out there, and I like that. The pads weren't even on, and they're already, chirping with each other, yeah,
Jacob Litton:up, the pads are on, and you got these people fighting for roster spots and it's real, real heated.
Jason Harwood:I'm glad that it just, it doesn't prolong and it doesn't like from what you said, it was over before it started. The emotions get over, calmer heads prevail and they just move on and move on to the next thing. Let's move on to the big news of today. Today's big news is Taylor Decker's extension. It was three years, 60 million, 31. 8 guaranteed. Matt, I'm going to throw it to you first. What's your thoughts? Are you happy? Are you ecstatic? What other words can we use?
Matt Soltysiak:Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm thrilled. I guess I'll go with that word, which is just a synonym for the ones you already used, but he's entering his ninth season with Alliance, right? He's been there for ups and downs, right? The before these last two years, he was on a last place team four years in a row. And there's nothing more satisfying than going through the lows. And being part of the highs after, and, he even said it in his press conference. He said, I'm glad that the lions see value that I can continue to add to this team moving forward because we know so many of the players that were on that roster three years ago are not here today. And he's one of the ones that still is. And he's considered a leader. And a hardworking player and just a good, great guy and consistent. I interviewed Lomas Brown last summer, going into training camp and asked him about Taylor Decker. And he said, consistent, that is what describes Decker the best. And I'm thrilled for him. As well as our team, because I think as you guys know, offensive lines seem to be one of the hardest things to form in the NFL. There just aren't enough great offensive linemen. And so by, by giving him another three year, a three year extension here I think that just, it helps keep another vital piece in there for a while.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. What's your thoughts, Jacob?
Jacob Litton:Oh, we talked about this on an earlier pod. This is one of the guys, we really wanted a contract to get done. He just embodies grit, the hard work for the team. Like you said, Matt, how long he's already been here. He said, go through the lows and he's here for the highs now. And he's also been a big part of, us getting to that point and performing at a high level. And, really he deserves the contract. I think that he's like at the six, seven range, you're talking about the top paid left tackles. He did do a team friendly deal while also getting paid. So that was cool to see too. And I don't think that we questioned that at all, that he wasn't gonna be holding out for more money. He doesn't seem like somebody that was going to be trying to go elsewhere. He's not trying to leave Detroit. He wants to be a lion for life. Can't say enough positive things about him. I'm really happy that we kept him here.
Jason Harwood:You mentioned earlier about your same old Lions comment from Taylor Decker. I think the reason why we all connect with him is that he represents us as fans. Someone that's, was here when we were, no one respected us. No one respected, the Lions football team. And Now he's seeing the other side of it. Just like us as fans, we have a team to root for. We have something to be proud of. He has something to be proud of and now he just gets to stay here longer. So I, he more than deserves this. He's been the emotional leader for this team. You could see when he speaks, like he, he's just. He's not afraid to show his emotion and I love that and it makes me connect with him even more. I know he's an Ohio State grad and we have, but we just have to ignore that. When I see him and he's got his Ohio State tattoo, I just don't look at that arm. It's, but
Jacob Litton:it.
Jason Harwood:I just ignore it all. But no, you know, Chris Spielman was another one, just Ohio state, just you forget about that because those guys are emotional centers for the team. And yeah, I'm just, I'm super excited that Taylor's going to be here and I'm super excited just for, beyond just him as a person, what he does, what he means for the team, that means we're going to have two top. Tackles on this team for a, for the next four years, it's they're locked down. It's great.
Matt Soltysiak:In all those contracts that the lions have given out, it's we didn't have to pay those to outside free agents, guys who you don't have a track record on your rewarding homegrown talent. So not only is Taylor Decker being rewarded and is it making the strong T the team stronger, it sends a message to everybody else in the NFL that Detroit's a place you want to be.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. It's so different from those players being drafted a few years ago. And, Amin Ra disappointed that he's going to Detroit and you see the draft this year, people were generally excited about being drafted in Detroit. It's a total change. And it just shows what proper leadership is. Does I've been in workplaces where, proper leadership, just, they, it can perform miracles essentially. And that's what I feel like has happened here just from, the feelings of when Dan Campbell got hired in the press conference and how people perceived all that to, How it's totally different today. And I'm just grateful for that as Alliance fan. And Taylor Decker just represents all that for me. And it just brings all that emotion out that I'm just proud to be Alliance fan. I love it. Inside the division, there was another big contract signed late last week, and that's Jordan Love. What's the thoughts on that, Matt, in relation to the Jared Goff contract. Do you have any thoughts on it?
Matt Soltysiak:yeah my, my question that I posed over on my show was what Alliance fans think of the Jared Goff contract now, because, Jared Goff going, north of 50 million was like, Oh, that's a big chunk of money, but that's the going rate for a starting quarterback. If you've, signed in the last year or two. And I would say, We don't really know what we have in Jordan love yet. I'm happy that the Packers paid him that much money because it means their salary cap will be that much smaller. But we'll have to wait and see,
Jason Harwood:Yeah, it could end up being a great deal, but it also could be a disaster. You're, in my opinion, you're paying him off nine good games. He was excellent in those nine games. But you know, to pay him more than Jared Goff I just way quarterback contracts go I understand how all that works, but I'm much happier having Jared golf signed for cheaper. And I feel, for this team, especially Jared golf as a center to, center leadership role, I'm happy with all that. So what's your thoughts, Matt or Jacob on the Jordan love contract.
Jacob Litton:We talked about when the golf contract happened, and, on paper, when you see the dollar amount, you're like, that's a little more than maybe what we were expecting or hoping for. But we knew there were more contracts looming, and we actually made a point to say, give it a year or two, and we'll see where he's at. And, it hasn't even taken that long. We knew the two, a contract was coming. We knew Trevor Lawrence was going to get paid. We knew that Dak was going to get paid, which that still hasn't happened yet. So who, we'll still see what happens with that. knew the Jordan love was going to be getting a contract. I did not expect him to surpass Jared Goff and I definitely did not expect it to be the biggest contract, for history. The beginning of the season was very rough for them last year. He wasn't playing very well, they were already calling like maybe he's not the answer. We don't know yet He had a great second half of the year basically earned himself a contract and I guess a bigger one than Anticipated I don't see this working out for the Packers But you know as Matt pointed out, you know they have less cap room to work with They, put all their eggs in one basket on a very small sample size,
Matt Soltysiak:What I think could be the perfect situation to this Jacob and I don't mean any disrespect to this player when I say his name, but if this could be a Joe Flacco type situation where Flacco got hot in the playoffs, had three or four of his best games of his career, got a huge contract and he was still a good quarterback, but not a great quarterback for a big part of his career. We just need the Packers to not have that great thing for so many, it If Jordan loves just good and they're paying him this much, that's going to make it very competitive for us. And what I'm hoping for.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I think that's a great point. I. The Packers off season has been just uncharacteristic for them from the signing of, Josh Jacobs, and then they get and then they did this big contract with Jordan Love. I it's unlike them to spend that much money on these players. So I think it's very curious, but anything else you guys, any other thoughts on that contract? I think we covered it pretty well.
Jacob Litton:Nope.
Jason Harwood:All right. All right, Matt, are you ready for the hot seat? We're gonna get to the Honolulu Blitz.
Matt Soltysiak:Sounds good guys.
Jacob Litton:All right. Let's see Jason made these questions. I just want to point that out too, but there are some good ones here Alright last season, who had the second most receiving targets?
Matt Soltysiak:The second most receiving target. I'm going to say Sam Laporta.
Jacob Litton:I don't have LaPorta's number on here, but Gibbs actually had 71 targets last year, and Josh Reynolds had 64.
Jason Harwood:Laporta might be on.
Jacob Litton:LaPorta was
Jason Harwood:No, I'm gonna look it up because I, he wasn't shown on my spreadsheet. So
Jacob Litton:up, I'll move on to the next
Jason Harwood:yeah, go ahead.
Jacob Litton:This is a fun one here who had more receiving yards last year? Antoine Green or Malcolm Rodriguez?
Matt Soltysiak:I'm going to say Malcolm Rodriguez. Cause I think he caught a pass in a game out of as out of fullback or something.
Jacob Litton:Rodrigo actually had six yards last year and Antoine green had two.
Matt Soltysiak:All right.
Jacob Litton:he did have some yards, but yeah. outside of the 49ers game, cause that's one that we all have circled on the calendar outside of that game, what game or matchup are you most looking forward to?
Matt Soltysiak:Oh yeah. The 49ers one is definitely, like you said, that's that number one game. And I think we talked, we've talked before. We all would like that a little earlier in the season. I guess I'm going to have to go with Dallas because I'm going to put this out here too. We are playing Dallas for the third year in a row in Dallas. Okay. And so I want the Cowboys in Motown. I want them in the motor city. And I think that happens next year, but I'm the Dallas game is what I'm looking forward to other than the 49er game.
Jacob Litton:Solid. We need to get a revenge for how it ended last year. All who's going to have more touchdowns this season, Gibbs or Montgomery?
Matt Soltysiak:Are we talking rushing or total?
Jacob Litton:I think we're going to go total.
Matt Soltysiak:I'm going to go with Gibbs for total then, because I think, we've been hearing Gibbs has been working with St. Brown on some route running stuff. And I think we might see Gibbs more in the passing game than we were expecting than we did last year.
Jacob Litton:Good point. We're hoping so. Alright, last question here. Not counting Barry Sanders, cause he's usually the answer for this question for everybody. Who is your favorite all time lion? Outside of Barry.
Matt Soltysiak:So I've only ever purchased one Detroit lions Jersey. Now I have two because when my wife and I were dating, she bought me a Barry Sanders one. But back in high school, had, and actually still have today. A Chris Spielman Jersey and that's Spielman Jersey still fits me today. So it makes me wonder how baggy that Jersey must've been back in the nineties when I was wearing it.
Jacob Litton:Nice.
Matt Soltysiak:I just love the intensity. Chris Spielman played with, I still think more of my favorite plays. I think it was against the bears. Like the receiver basically caught the ball and Spielman just ripped it out of the guy's arms and ran down and scored a touchdown. It was cool.
Jason Harwood:Love Chris Spielman update on the stats. Jason was wrong. Matt is right. Is Laporta with 120 targets. Amun Ra had 164 targets. So Laporta was 120. I just missed that. But Gibbs was third and Gibbs actually had more than Josh Reynolds. So when I looked up that set, I was. Surprised that Gibbs had more than Josh Reynolds but Gibbs seemed to have a lot more shorter passes and Reynolds, a lot of his were for first down. So we're going to hopefully Gibbs makes that up and run some deeper routes.
Matt Soltysiak:Yeah, that surprises me that Gibbs had that many targets.
Jason Harwood:Yeah I don't,
Jacob Litton:like
Jason Harwood:it did not feel like it. And that, when I saw that, I was like, Wow, because he had 52 receptions, which I thought was higher than what I really remember during the season. And he really didn't come on until, the second half of the season. So it's really going to be promising what Gibbs is going to bring. Provide being in his second year, especially if he makes the jump, because, it seems like he was pretty silent for the first half of last year, and then, especially during the playoffs, he made his presence, Antoine Winfield knows, made his presence felt, as he got stiffed armed to the Ford Field turf. Alright.
Jacob Litton:I let Jason be in charge of the trivia questions one time and he makes a mistake.
Jason Harwood:Hey it, it created a kind, it created a good conversation. Matt shows how good he is making my guests look good. So, Yes, I, it was a win win for win win for you to lose for me.
Jacob Litton:yeah.
Jason Harwood:It's okay. It's okay. I am confident enough in my abilities that I'll take the loss. It's okay. All right. Matt, I want to offer thanks for you doing this. I'll Tell everyone right now that the first recording we made did not happen. It, technical difficulties. And I honestly just hearing this show, I think it turned out for the better and I'm really grateful that you were that you just offered to come on the show again. It just shows what type of person you are. And I appreciate that. I hope people go to your show and listen to it. It is a very good show. Matt, I want to give you the opportunity to, where can we find you on social media?
Matt Soltysiak:Yeah. First off, just, Hey, thanks for having me as a guest guys. It's always fun talking Detroit lions with other fans and other podcasters. So I appreciate that. As far as finding content, you can find me on Twitter at Matt. You can find the podcast anywhere you listen, whether it's Spotify, Apple music or Apple podcasts. And you can go to not the same old lions. com. We've got written content and all the audio episodes there as well.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. And Matt basically runs that whole show, but he has a consistent guests on there. Is there any way you want to plug those guys while you're on it? So people know what to expect when they click on your show.
Matt Soltysiak:Yeah, a couple of the regular guests. One is James Cook. He's a, the senior sports writer for the Traverse City record Eagle. He's been covering sports in Michigan, I believe for almost 30 years now. And so he's got a great sports background and he is such a Lions fan as well, that he knows so much about the Lions. He dives deep into stats and often finds things I don't even know about. And then the other guy is a coach, Jerry Angers. He's a former Michigan high school football coach. He was Michigan high school football coach of the week by the Detroit lions. He's also done a little college coaching as well as helped guys trained for their NFL draft days and stuff like that. So he also brings another perspective and both of those guys contribute greatly.
Jason Harwood:That sounds good. So you could find those, like I said, wherever you get podcasts Matt releases a, once a week right now, I think during the season, you're going to go to, a more frequent format as, as the season allows. Again, Thanks for the information about, what to expect at training camp and your eyes I trust what you see out there. Jacob and I are looking forward to going on Thursday and you got us more excited about that.
Jacob Litton:for sure.
Matt Soltysiak:That's awesome.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. You're welcome to come back anytime.
Matt Soltysiak:Sounds good, guys. Thanks.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Matt was a great guest, wasn't he? Jacob.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Yes, that was perfect.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yeah.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:of, uh, insight from somebody that's been doing it for a while. Always good to hear from other Lions fans.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:yeah, he's a good guy. A couple weeks ago we asked for fan mail, um, engagement, and which, um, you guys are gracious enough to send us some emails and some, text messages, fan mail through Spotify or whatever. So we're going to go through those. There were some questions involved, so we'll go ahead and answer that. And so sorry, we didn't do it last week, but I was on vacation. So we have prerecorded last week's episode. So we're finally going to get to it. Why don't you start us out, Jacob?
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Yeah, we, we love getting these. We read all these. We're going to try to make an effort to give everybody a shout out on air. Uh, so the first one we've got here, this is from Eric out of St. Louis. Uh, he says his roots are in Royal Oak. his comment, he says, great show guys. He has a question. We all know the early buy sucks, but I haven't heard anyone mention, uh, starting with November 24th, the Lions have three games in 12 days. We'll I just think that might come into play injury wise. What do you think? We did touch on this briefly earlier, but, um, you know, they have three games close together. Travel is not an issue. Uh, we have the Indianapolis game followed by. Chicago and then Green Bay, correct?
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yep. That's how it breaks down. Uh,
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:the, yeah.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:they're on Thursday nights. Yeah.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:right. They are close together. I think the travel part is a big thing. You don't really have a long, you know, road trip. And I do think that we gonna be able to maybe put some players on a snap count and try to be smarter about that because we have Three games back to back versus, you know, when you just have that Sunday to Thursday game, especially when it's later in the season, maybe you've got to get everybody going and, you know, everyone has to play 100 percent the whole time. I think we kind of have a little more of a luxury being able to put some guys on a snap count. At the same time, you do have potentially huge divisional games. Uh, what do you feel about that, Jason?
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yeah, I, the division thing is what scares me a little bit. At least those games are a week apart, the Chicago to the Green Bay, you got a full week to prepare for Green Bay, who, you know, I think is going to challenge us for our, our division or be in the challenge for us. At the top there. But you have a short distance from Indy to Detroit after Sunday. Hopefully we can handle Indy and it's not as, um, won't be as much trouble. Maybe we can, you know, I don't want to say rest people because that's really hard to do in any NFL game, but hopefully we can.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:snap count, and you're kind of, you know, rotating guys a little bit more maybe than you normally would for that game plan.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Cause we can't, we can't rest anybody on Thanksgiving. Um, we need to win this Thanksgiving Day game. It's got to happen. We haven't won in a while. Um, Dan Campbell has never won on Thanksgiving and it, this has got to be a divisional game, this is the year we're going to win, um, on Thanksgiving.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Eric does say in his comment, too, he's got us going 12 and 5. And I think that's, I think that's accurate. I actually, when I'm looking at it, I think 12 should be the floor.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:I think so too. We'll get into our predictions later on, but yeah, I, Eric's right on it. He's, he's good, but he might be underselling them a little bit. I'll just preview what I may think. So, all right. Well, thank you, Eric, for listening and, uh, hopefully send us more questions. Um, the next one, um, Jacob and I actually got, I think when we were at, Work when we got this one. Um, yeah, so it was really nice. Uh, this one says, Hey guys, this is Mark. Just wanted to say you guys are great. And your interview with Jeremy was awesome. I'm a disabled vet that has been home from work. So your show has helped keep me going. Thank you for sending this Mark. Uh, as far as being a vet, thank you for your service. Um, thank your family for your service and all the vets that are out there. Not only do. The vets, you know, sacrifice a lot. Their families do too. So we really appreciate it. And it's really nice, um, to hear that we helped you out in some, some small way. Jacob, you got anything to say to Mark?
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Yeah. You know, that was funny because we were both at work together the same day, which we aren't a whole lot, but we're both there when we had the fan mail drop in. We both, we didn't read it together, but we read it at the same time across from the pharmacy and you know, that one both kind of hit us like, you know. That one really meant a lot.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yeah.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:So shouts out to Mark, you know, respect you, know, for your veteran, your service and everything like that. And you know, that you felt strongly enough about the show, the sent us out some fan mail and acknowledge it. We really appreciate that.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yep. I agree. All right, Jacob, who do we have next?
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Next one. We have Jason from Louisville. Uh, he says, Enjoying your pods, I have a question for you two. I'm assuming you've both binged Receiver on Netflix by now. I've really enjoyed reliving the Lions season through the Amon Ra bits, but now I'm on the final episode, which of course highlights the NFC Championship game. I can't bring myself to reopen those wounds as a fan. I just want you to tell me if it's worth watching that final episode, or if I'm not really missing all that much and stay away. Not trying to be dramatic, but I honestly feel as if it would be really uncomfortable viewing. Well, Jason's already made me relive this several times. I keep having to go over the game. He made me go in depth over it. doesn't get any easier, really. Um, it's one of those things we're in the off season and to see, you know, behind the scenes and depth and everything like that, it's still kind of fresh. It still hurts. I think you do need to watch it. We need to, I guess, soak that in, use that as more, uh, motivation for the game coming up next season. Uh, you know, but training camp and everything's going on right now. We're already in the swing of next year. What happened in the past happened in the past.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:Yeah. We can't change it. It's hard to, it's, it was very hard when we relived it for the previous pod. But I felt like after, even after listening back and I was editing it, it just softened it a little bit and, you know, we have the next season to look on, look forward to. This is going to be a promising season. The next, uh, person we're gonna read is, um, from a Reddit user. He direct messaged me. We were talking back and forth. Uh, he is RoarRestored. Um, he says, as far as questions, I only have one. Do you think the format of the show will change at all once the season starts? And yes, it's going to change. We're going to try to do two episodes a week. The first one will be a game recap, which we want to do. It's going to be, it's going to change just because the line schedule is so all over the map as far as one o'clock, four o'clock primetime games. So we, we want to get up by the next day. Our just thoughts on the game. it'd be. You know, just fun, especially as many games as we're going to win, right, Jacob? We're going to win all these, so it'll be fun to relive that.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:It'd be really fun to talk about.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:yeah, and then we're going to do a game preview. So later in the week, we haven't really laid down a date, but probably by Friday, we'll have our game preview for the following week. And we'll go through, you know, the matchup for the next week. Um, we'll pick. We're going to pick all the primetime games, all the nationally televised games, um, and then Kind of keep track of that. That's at least how we see going on right now. We're a young podcast. Things may change, but that's kind of how I see it going.
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:That's the plan.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:That's right. All right. The last one
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:Last one we have, um, so this is Cody. And Cody's comment says, Derek Barnes, Derek Barnes, Derek Barnes. And I think Jason remembers, uh, this discussion, what he's talking about here. On our earlier pod, we discussed who had the more iconic interception. Was it Iffy's interception to clinch the NFC North against the Vikings? Or was it Derek Barnes interception, which clinched our spot in the NFC Championship game? I felt very strongly that it was Derek Barnes. Jason felt very strongly that it was Ify. Uh, Cody's comment is siding with me, that he thinks Derek Barnes, uh, was more iconic. Twitter agrees. Every poll that I've made, um, every comment thread that I've started me right time and time again. Uh, I think everyone, pretty much everyone agrees that Derrick Barnes interception is more iconic. Jason just won't let it go. He still feels like the iffy one was better. I just think he doesn't want to be wrong. despite everyone's votes, despite everyone's comments, he still Am I right? You're still sticking with the iffy interception?
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:I am sticking with the FBA interception and it's my own personal belief, but it's not like there's a right or wrong answer. I'm not. Trying to tell you two plus two is five. It's just, uh, it's my opinion. If he's was just more meaningful now, however, it just happens that more people side with you than side with me and that's okay. I'm confident enough in my answer and I feel good about it, but you know, if you need that, you know, reassurance,
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:more meaningful to Jason. The question was what was more iconic.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:I got to it, but I answered it how I saw it. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, Yeah, yeah,
jacob-_2_07-29-2024_223524:you know.
jason-harwood_2_07-29-2024_223525:exactly. All right, we've rehashed this enough. Uh, I want to thank everyone for listening. I want to thank Matt for coming on. With us. It was great talking to him. Check out his podcast, not the same old Lions. It's a, it's a good one. So I wanna reiterate, you know, reach out and we'll try to give you a shout out if you got questions, we're gonna put you on, uh, on the show at some point. We, we want to, you know, keep having this fan interaction. It's, it's fun for us. So again, for Jacob, I'm Jason, and let's go Lions.
