Game Recap: Preseason Game #2 vs Kansas City Chiefs

In this episode of 'Talking Grit,' hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litten discuss the Detroit Lions' second preseason game victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, concluding 24-23 with a decisive 43-yard field goal by Jake Bates. They reflect on listener feedback and shout-outs from previous episodes. Highlights of the game include standout performances by the Lions’ second-team defense against Chiefs' starters, especially holding Patrick Mahomes to field goals and his notable behind-the-back pass. The hosts evaluate individual performances, such as Nate Sudfeld’s mixed showing, Hendon Hooker’s comfort in the pocket, and Sione Vahki’s contributions in the running and passing game. They also touch on injuries and notably surprise playing decisions. Discussions extend to the wide receiver competition, standout and underperforming players, and the running back depth. They wrap up with their plans for future episodes, including upcoming preseason game previews, final roster predictions, and regular season game analyses.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:25 Listener Shoutouts and Feedback
• 3:47 Player Performances and Analysis
• 8:47 Surprising Players
• 10:11 Wide Receiver and Running Back Discussions
• 22:56 Defensive Play and Player Evaluations
• 30:18 Upcoming Plans and Season Preview

Transcript

Jason Harwood: 0:41

Welcome everybody to Talking Grit. I'm Jason Harwood and with me is Jacob Litten. We're going to talk about today's Lions preseason game. Number two with the Kansas City Chiefs, the Lions, uh, ultimately come out as a winner 24, 23 on a Jake Bates, 23 or four, excuse me, 43 yard field goal. Before we get started, I just want to, again, thank everybody for listening. Um, we do like the shout outs and, uh, that we get from people, it's great. I would frankly like more of it. Just some feedback on things you want to see, things you like, things that maybe you think we can improve on. I mean, we're not perfect and obviously we're, we're just learning as we go. Any sort of constructive criticism is, is. useful. So first I want to give a shout out to Cody. He gave us some feedback on our last little bonus episode, the Madden, ratings thing that we did with our kids. I read it to my boys. He gave him a good shout out and said they did a good job. And they loved it. So I appreciate it, Cody. Thank you for doing that. Jacob, how did JJ like it?

Jacob Litton: 1:46

Oh, he really liked doing it.

Jason Harwood: 1:47

Yeah.

Jacob Litton: 1:48

It

Jason Harwood: 1:48

we go. Yeah, we gotta teach him to get a little closer to the mic so he can, uh, cause his comments were kind of shaded out sometimes, so, uh, give him some line light, too.

Jacob Litton: 1:56

of talking trash, so it was probably best that we couldn't hear it.

Jason Harwood: 2:00

Well, that's alright. That's what 13 year olds do best, I think.

Jacob Litton: 2:03

right.

Jason Harwood: 2:04

Good game today, actually. I thought it was pretty good. I mean, way more entertaining than the, you know, Soak Fest, that was the New York Giants game. Got to actually see some plays. We saw the Kansas City Chiefs starters for two series, so it was good to see our second team defense against, their first team offense. Lions actually showed out pretty well, I thought, with that, holding, you know, Patrick Mahomes at two field goals. I'm super happy with that.

Jacob Litton: 2:33

And a behind the back pass.

Jason Harwood: 2:34

Oh yeah, that is gonna be the talk of, uh, this week, uh, leading up until the next preseason games, cause that was, that was unreal when he did that. My boys flipped out when they saw him do that. It was crazy.

Jacob Litton: 2:48

It was unnecessary. Yeah, it was cool. it was cool. to see for them. I mean, yeah, the flashy play, but I mean, the play was there, he was open. Why does it matter if he flips it or, you know?

Jason Harwood: 2:59

Yeah.

Jacob Litton: 2:59

can throw it accurately like that, why not?

Jason Harwood: 3:02

Well, I could tell you that, In previous years, I've been pretty, uh, peeved off at that just cause I would have taken as a sign of disrespect. Like lines are so lowly that we could throw behind the back pass and not worry about it. But I don't really think that that was any sign of disrespect. I think it's just Patrick Mahomes being Patrick Mahomes. And, uh, it was a good pass. And if you'd have, I don't know, the way the defenders lined up, I don't, he would, he wouldn't have been able to go over top, I don't think, because it would have got swatted down. That was probably his only play, if he's going to throw it to Kelsey,

Jacob Litton: 3:38

I feel like it was designed that way. He probably was, you know, a little pitch or something like that, and then he just decides, it's preseason, we're having fun, let me, let me give the people what they want.

Jason Harwood: 3:46

yeah, I don't blame him, so, gotta make pre season fun, I guess.

Jacob Litton: 3:51

Well, blew up, everybody's talking about it. Alright, enough of that.

Jason Harwood: 3:57

Alright, so, what were your thoughts on the game, just overall?

Jacob Litton: 4:02

I mean, overall, I liked what I saw. Definitely was better than last week, which we kind of knew with the rain and everything. Now, normal weather, get to see our offense out there. It was good that Hendon was able to play because we weren't really sure if that was going to happen or not.

Jason Harwood: 4:16

Mhm.

Jacob Litton: 4:18

yeah, I liked what I saw out of the offense. I mean, The defense for us to be having to line up against the chief starters like you said and hold them to a couple field goals That's encouraging. Um, I will say there are definitely a few plays that you know down where you didn't see what you wanted Especially that Xavier Worthy touchdown He kind of burnt a meek on that and that didn't look like it was necessarily just him out running him It just looked like a bad read on his part,

Jason Harwood: 4:44

Dan Campbell kind of alluded that that was a miscommunication. And so I don't know if Amik was going to pass him off to someone or thought the safety was going to pick him up. But I mean, with Xavier Worthy, with his speed, you better be on top of your game or he's going to do what he just did. Just like JMo on our side, you know, if you're not communicating real well with JMo, you know, you can't think for a second. You have to know what you're supposed to do because JMo will just burn you. Even if you're paying attention and you're doing it right, it's hard to keep up with him. And Xavier Worthy is obviously, you know, about as fast as James and Williams. My thoughts on the game, it was a very entertaining game for a preseason game. Actually really impressed with our offensive line play throughout the whole game. We're playing second and third teamers and there wasn't a whole lot of pressure that they let up, um, which could speak to Kansas City Chiefs defensive line. Not really sure, but even when they had their starters and they weren't like just busting through the line, they're definitely getting more pressure with their first team. First team in there than their, um, you know, their backups. But I was impressed with the offensive line. I think they played, they played pretty decent last week, but I thought they played even better this week. So I was happy with that and Nate Suffeld had, you know, uh, pretty decent game. I mean, he threw a terrible interception, but then touchdown pass. To Caden Davis was real nice. He had 14 for 27 for one 96 TD and interception. That's only half a game. So that's not bad. And

Jacob Litton: 6:12

had a decent run for a first down.

Jason Harwood: 6:14

yeah, that was, no one expected him to run. It was just like one of those bootlegs. And he's just like,

Jacob Litton: 6:19

of the field.

Jason Harwood: 6:19

Yeah, he's gone. I'm going to get 10 yards. So run that with golf, you know?

Jacob Litton: 6:24

Yeah.

Jason Harwood: 6:26

Then we got Hendon in there and I thought Hendon actually, um, played pretty well. Um, there was two hiccups, you know, obviously the handoff, there was something that happened there. You know, I just looked like, I don't know if Hendon bobbled it a little bit, couldn't get it right into the running back. And, you know, that was a fumble.

Jacob Litton: 6:48

He just botched it, though. the snap, the snap was a little bit higher. He kind of botched the snap, and then, he's half holding on to it, also trying to hand it off before he got it secured.

Jason Harwood: 6:57

Yeah. I mean, at that point, especially when you're on a goal line, you know, and say that was a real game, you'd rather just take the sack or just, you know, dive on it rather than risk the fumble. And, you know, luckily Lions were able to get the ball back with Chiefs doing some curious things, passing with, on second and 10. That was strange. I thought Hennon looked good. He looked more comfortable, I thought, in the pocket. Um, he went through his reads. It didn't look like he was looking to run right out the gate. I mean, he did run, he did have a slide, which was good. Um, and then when he ran in for the touchdown too, I thought he was going to get hit on that touchdown because there was a lot of defenders on there, but he ended up going in pretty much untouched. So

Jacob Litton: 7:41

he kind of scanned the field he was in the pocket It wasn't like he just took off right away.

Jason Harwood: 7:45

yeah,

Jacob Litton: 7:46

he was looking for his reads He gave it a shot. It wasn't there and then he makes the right call to go for it It ends up making an end zone.

Jason Harwood: 7:52

that's right. And that's the way I want it. I want him to be able to do his reads and then. It's just nice that he's got that, you know, his legs in his back pocket, he can just run. There was another play that, uh, he struggled with. It was a third down play, and they got up to the line real late, and it looks like they didn't rush to the line, and then they rushed the snap, and the play just totally broke down. Something happened there. Probably could have called timeout, but we ended up needing those timeouts the game. So probably a good decision not to call timeout there, but he'd have liked to see him get to the line a little bit better. Um, that'll come with, you know, more seasoning and he'll have, Better internal clock on that thing. So,

Jacob Litton: 8:30

Right.

Jason Harwood: 8:32

but overall, like I said, entertaining game. I mean, 61 yard touchdown pass to Caden Davis. Um, yeah, it was, it was, it was fun. And then especially the ending, the ending was great. And we can talk on that a little bit later. Um, another thing that I liked in the game, there was not a lot of injuries. We don't have a post game report yet. So there might be some injuries that we're not aware of. Um, The only one that I saw, you know, Ukua left, on a chop block and he went into the tent, but then he ended up playing the rest of the game. So, that, that's a good sign that obviously he was back out of, out there. There were some surprising players at the end of the game, like Josh Paschal was in there way into the fourth quarter, and same with Project Martin, so I, you know, as a case with Project Martin, they're probably just trying to get him snaps, but Josh Paschal playing that late, um, was interesting. Um, maybe it's just a lack of practice. People that play on the line, but I was surprised to see Pascal still out there in the fourth quarter. Yeah,

Jacob Litton: 9:35

when he was out there too, but you're right. I mean, usually for him to be playing that late in the game typically means you're fighting for a roster spot and that you're not exactly gonna be, you know, part of the, part of the plan.

Jason Harwood: 9:47

I don't think that's the case with him. I think he's pretty much a loss or a rock, but it was just interesting that I noted that he was out there so late. Um, Amik Roberts had also played into the second quarter. Which, he has obviously no worries about making this team. I think he's gonna be the starting nickel. But maybe they're just trying to get him extra steps at nickel, so he feels more comfortable there, cause he's more of an outside corner. What players, Jacob, were you impressed with or, um, or were you disappointed with? I mean, we can go either way. So however you want to start it out, I'm gonna let you go.

Jacob Litton: 10:21

You know, I don't feel like there were a whole lot of disappointments this game. I feel like we played a pretty good game. I mean, there were some ups and downs, but there wasn't anybody overall that I would say I was disappointed with, necessarily. Um, You know, it goes back to what we talked about with the Wide Receiver 3 competition, where it's like, we are expecting Fountain and Donovan Peoples Jones to have games or have, those spots where they're gonna, you know, break out and they're going to show which one of them is going to win that job. And then instead you've got Doris had three targets, two catches, 15 yards, and then you've got Donovan has four targets, one catch, five yards. And of those four targets, I think he was only open the one time, the rest it was kind of, you know, them trying to force him the ball. don't really care for that, but then on the other end you look at, uh, Caden Davis had that really long catch and run. And then, you know, I really was impressed with Isaiah Williams. So Isaiah Williams, six catches, 71 yards. He also had a rush. You know, he was involved in the running game, and you've got him included in punt returns, which, I mean, he had a really crucial punt return there at the end of the game, which ended up putting us in the position to win. So positives, I would say Isaiah Williams. Negatives, if you have to put it that way, would be Dorries and Donovan Peoples Jones, just because they didn't really put the stats on paper I was looking for,

Jason Harwood: 11:46

I agree with you. The wide receiver three position is, I mean, it's going to be Kalief Raymond. It's going to be their third wide receiver, but the Lions want to have someone to replace Josh Reynolds. Ben Johnson has said in press conferences that he wants a bigger receiver. Ideally that's Donovan Peoples Jones or Drees Fountain. That's, you know, and, but neither one of them have been producing. I mean, DPJ had a better practice this week, at least that's what Dan Campbell said. However, you know, you're playing against 2nd and 3rd teamers, and you can only get one catch. It's, it's disappointing. And Isaiah Williams did, did look good. He was open a lot. They use them in the rush game. He was returning. He did try to return that one punt, did fumble, but lines recovered it. But then, like you said, he kind of made up for it at the end with that, 20 yards on the punt return. Pretty much put him in field goal range right from the get go before they even had to get any more yards on the last drive. So I, I. did like that. Um, Siona Vahki is,

Jacob Litton: 12:52

Yeah,

Jason Harwood: 12:53

I mean, he's, he's the real deal. I mean, I'm, I'm convinced. I mean, I know it's been two preseason games, but the way Vahki is just making people miss, um, he, looks really comfortable in the passing game, which. Is really going to be useful because they're going to be able to put him in so many places. And, and I think that he's going to get some real play. Greg Reynolds is going to be your third running back, but Vaki is going to be out there for, you know, you can put them out there on third down. If we could trust them to block, um, it's going to be interesting. Um, he's really hard to guard on those wheel routes and that last drive right before the half where the Lions got a field goal. You know, he had four first down catches and, and. They were pretty much all caught before the first down yard line. And he had to make people miss to get those. And that's impressive. Um, his running game, you know, he had six rushes for 22 yards. So, I mean, it was, it was all right. It wasn't bad. Um, but with better offensive line, he might have a little more room. I think. The first rush that he had where he just went in the line and looked a little bit cautious, but after that, I noticed that he was running pretty good. I'd like to get him more and more space on the edge. Um, he seems to be able to make people miss, so I'd like to see him doing a sweet play, but I, I am encouraged by what I'm seeing. He also had four, uh, four catches for 60 yards. Justin Rogers interviewed him this week and in the interview, he asked, you know, You didn't have much experience with running the ball. So what do you feel most comfortable with? And Vaki said he feels most comfortable in the passing game. And that showed today. I mean, he just looks very comfortable catching the pass and knowing what to do afterwards gets a lot of yards after catch. So I'm very impressed with that. Um, Jake Bates was, I mean, he went four for four in his field goals, hit that long at 55, um, missed an extra point. So we have, you know, it's the, it's like everything looks good. And then we missed an extra point. Um, you know, I remember Matt Prater missing some extra points, so maybe we could forgive him, but hitting, uh, that 55 yarder right out the gate was good. And then the pressure, I know it's a pre season game, you know, win or lose, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. But for Jake Bates, that kick really mattered, right? If he misses that kick You know, what if the lion, lions, like, I don't know if we can count them on the end of the game. Maybe we gotta get another guy in here. So, I mean, for Jake Bates, that was a real kick, and he made it.

Jacob Litton: 15:25

his life on the line, really,

Jason Harwood: 15:26

Right, right. So, I mean, regardless of the lions are feeling the pressure or whatever, the players want to win, obviously, but, Uh, you know, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if you win or lose this game. But for Jake Bates, that kick mattered, just like it was a real kick. So I, it was encouraging to see him make that. I was very happy. Was good for him looking forward, so. He's looking more and more like he might be our kicker. I'm not totally convinced, but I'm more convinced now at the end of the game than I was at the beginning of the game.

Jacob Litton: 15:59

Based on how that? game went, I think that he's definitely got it locked down. I mean, the fact that we haven't signed a kicker to this point means they're really giving him every opportunity in the world. And as long as he keeps making these kicks, obviously the extra point is, you know, a red flag. But, you know, that's the only one that he's missed so far in actual game time. So, I guess we'll see how the next preseason game goes as well. But I think as of right now not going to bring on another kicker for training camp purposes. If they decide to go another way, it's probably going to have to be the initial roster cuts and trying to see what we're dealing with. think that Bates is the guy to start the season off. I do want to speak on Sione Vahki though,

Jason Harwood: 16:41

Oh, yeah, go ahead.

Jacob Litton: 16:42

yeah, uh, great game from him. You know, he kind of said before, he struggles or where he needs the most work is running between the tackles. We'll see what happens. And like you said, definitely, uh, you could tell, you know, running between the tackles does not come as easy or as natural to him as his passing game work. You know, he, he was great. Honestly, I mean, he just, you know, just those little hitch routes, those little things where he was open, catch the pass, I think it was like third and seven, third and eight. He catches it four yards away from the first down, he's gotta make some guys miss and get in that open space. Um, I definitely think he proved his value there, I just also think with that being said, when you have a healthy Jameer Gibbs and a healthy David Montgomery, I don't know that those snaps are really gonna be there for him. I do think that we need to utilize him in the kicking game. I know we talked about that before, but I think that, uh, I think we need to keep him out there on kick return.

Jason Harwood: 17:39

Yeah, I think he's, uh, I think, based on the practice I saw, I think they're, him and Khalif are going to be out there. I think that Vahki's going to find snaps, uh, if he keeps playing like that. I really do. I mean, maybe not running back, you know, running back snaps, but, Our running backs are so versatile. You could have Gibbs in there, even on third down as a wide receiver. And you got Bakke coming out of the backfield. Bakke is showing that he's hard to cover. Um, you know, and he's probably not someone that you're looking as a primary read. And if you can make one guy miss, that's all we need sometimes to get that first down. So I, If he keeps playing, you know, on this trajectory, it may not start out the season like that, but I bet you he finds a way to make it on the field at some point. You know, and if the injury happens, then that might be, you know, sooner rather than later.

Jacob Litton: 18:27

That's the thing, if an, if an injury comes up, or if they're playing it safe, a jaw with a hamstring and everything like that, I think he's shown that. You know, he has flashes, he has capability of filling in those roles.

Jason Harwood: 18:37

Yeah, he's just going to have to show that he can, you know, be trusted to block for the quarterback because you're not going to get in on third down if you can't, you know, be counted on if you have to audible and no play or you got to, you know, he's got to take on, you know, a block. So, but as a defender, he's not going to be shying away from contact. I could tell you that he's going to want to initiate contact. Um, I think he. Siona said that in the interview, um, that same interview with Justin Rogers. I, I read that, you know, Scotty Montgomery, when they're, they don't want to be passive blockers and let the defender come to them. They want to come up and initiate the contact. Vaki said that, you know, as a defender, that comes natural to him. Everything will be a development. He's learning a lot on the job. So, it might not be at the start of the season, but eventually. If he could show those, then he's going to be able to showcase his other talents, you know, that, and it's good to have, a fourth running back that you could be out there and be, you know, good in the passing game.

Jacob Litton: 19:34

So I'm going to present this to you though,

Jason Harwood: 19:35

Yeah.

Jacob Litton: 19:36

of how Vaki's played and what we've seen out of him, we already kind of know what Craig Reynolds is. We like, you know, we like Craig, but with, uh, you know, Jamar Jefferson, you got Knight running and everything like that. Do you think we keep four running backs? you think those four are going to be Gibbs, Montgomery, Vaki, and Craig?

Jason Harwood: 19:57

Yeah. I think there's going to be four. I don't think we're going to, I don't know. I'm going to have to do my job chart, but I think I, Personally, I think that Knight and Jefferson are on the outside looking in. Jefferson, I don't think played at all today from what I, or I don't know if that was an injury or anything. I didn't read about it ahead of time. Zonovan Knight actually looked pretty good running the ball. He certainly looked better this week than he did last week. And it's probably just cause you know, the field wasn't soaking, you know, he's able to get his feet in the ground, but, um, I think those two guys are on the outside looking and back is. 100 percent making this team. Uh, same with Craig. Craig's gonna be, you know, he's, Craig is really good on special teams. And, he can do what they need to do in the backfield. He's, he can block, he can, you know, we've put him in on a goal line before. So the Lions trust him down there.

Jacob Litton: 20:52

Hang on though that goal line situation was an accident.

Jason Harwood: 20:55

Yeah, you know, he still scored the touchdown.

Jacob Litton: 20:57

that, yeah, right.

Jason Harwood: 20:58

He still scored,

Jacob Litton: 20:58

that was an accident.

Jason Harwood: 20:59

still scored the touchdown.

Jacob Litton: 21:01

maybe what we're kind of seeing is that Vaki might just be a better version of Craig Reynolds.

Jason Harwood: 21:05

I think he's just a different player entirely. I, but yes, I mean, eventually, yeah. Could Vaki unseat Craig Reynolds like next year? Yeah, that could have, that could happen. Just depends on, um, you know, how Vaki develops as a running back. But I trust Reynolds way more than at the running back position than I do Vaki right now. However, Vaki looks dangerous, you know, in open field. So I, He has more, I don't want to say home run ability, but I guess you would say that's the closest he can get a lot of yards after catch. Craig is just going to run, be reliable and just, you know, not going to give you a home run ball. That's for sure.

Jacob Litton: 21:46

Right. That's just what, you know, love Craig.

Jason Harwood: 21:49

Yeah.

Jacob Litton: 21:50

on special teams, and obviously he can block everything that he brings to the table. He's willing to do whatever it takes. I do like Craig, I just think that Vaki, Is almost just a better version of him now,

Jason Harwood: 22:01

Yeah. I just thought he's not, not as good a runner yet and he's still got a lot to go there, but you know, Lions drafted him for a reason. They traded him. And to get him for a reason and it's becoming apparent now he's gonna be part of their future plans Which you know Brad Holmes does what Brad Holmes does, right? As far as

Jacob Litton: 22:22

that's why that uh, Craig has not been running the ball very much in the preseason is just because of his Usage like they know what they have or

Jason Harwood: 22:31

yeah, I don't I think that that that he's locked into running back three I mean he's pretty much He's in training camp. He's out there playing and he's out there with the twos all the time. So when I saw him out there, I mean, we saw him out there with the twos also. So I don't, I think this is just a matter of, we're not going to get anybody injured. Um, you know, Craig doesn't need any more, practice on the field. I guess they feel comfortable enough with him at running back three. So, um, was there anybody that you saw that where you were like, Kind of disappointed in. One thing that I, I, I'll start right out was James Huston. Didn't see him out there at all, and I was hoping to see him, you know, they pretty much said they're gonna abandon this, him at the SAM and just put him at end, which is where we want him anyways, right, because he can rush the passer, but, um, the Lions did not generate any A lot of pass rush early, um, but I wouldn't, you know, they were playing the number one. So, you know, I wasn't expecting it, but even throughout the rest of the first half, they were not getting, uh, pressure. Most of that pressure came in the second half.

Jacob Litton: 23:35

yeah, I mean we talked about that before too is You know, are they going to put more on his plate? They're trying to see if they can trust him in that sam position to try and you know Sometimes he's going to be pressuring sometimes he's blitzing. Sometimes he's got to drop back in coverage I mean, here we found out preseason week two that that was already too much for him to take and that they were going to have to try to lessen the load and have him just focus on, you know, rushing the passer. Before training camp started, I considered James Houston to be one of the people that was kind of a lock for this roster. And now I feel like he's just free falling.

Jason Harwood: 24:10

It's disappointing. Player I did like was, Khalil Dorcia. He played, he had pretty good coverage. He was making a lot. I think he led the team in tackles. he's tied for the lead with Brandon Joseph and, uh, full plan. He had five tackles, which is. I was happy with, he blew up like a screenplay got a tackle for loss. Very, I was impressed with Khalil Dorsey. He's um, gonna make the team. Vildor actually played pretty decent too, I thought. I would rather see some, I wanted to see Tarion out there and, uh, and, uh, Enes Reykstra, but obviously they were injured this week, so there was probably no chance they were going to play this week. But Amik was out there and Amik was, you know, we saw him where they gave up that long touchdown and I know he was in coverage at some point. Sounds like he was supposed to be passed out, but I thought Amik played like I expect him to. He's very sticky and I'm, I'm so glad that he's on our team. I think he's going to really have a good year.

Jacob Litton: 25:08

Yeah. Outside of that one play, uh, you know, Amik played well and

Jason Harwood: 25:12

Yeah.

Jacob Litton: 25:12

the corners that we had out there, we had Vildor, Dorsey, uh, Amik, obviously, you know, Steven Gilmore is kind of the one I would say is on the outside looking in, he. I think he needed a better showing more than any of the other coroners, and then he, you know, tries to undercut that route. Tries to take the ball away and misses it. And then, you know, he's actually the one that chases down. I forget who it was that scored. He chased him down. I think he maybe tried to pop the ball loose and ends up giving up the touchdown. That wasn't good.

Jason Harwood: 25:42

the popping the ball out at the five when you could have just pushed him out of bounds and you just let him score, that was the worst part of the play to me. I understand trying to get the ball out, but he tried it for too long, basically pushed him into the end zone. So I don't know. I didn't like that. Um, I get it. You're trying to be aggressive, trying to undercut the route. Um, but you end up giving up a huge play. So yeah, Steven Gilmore might be on the outside looking in, but he could also just end up back on the practice squad. I don't know if he's shown enough to other teams that would, would take him unless, you know, he doesn't want to go on our practice spot and go somewhere else. But he's been with us for so long that I would think that he'd want to, you know, a shot at the practice squad.

Jacob Litton: 26:27

Maybe. Maybe he's just wanting a shot at competing, I guess. Cause you think, I mean, In our cornerback room, Tarion, Rakestraw, Amik, Carlton, Davis. guys are obviously all locks.

Jason Harwood: 26:40

Mm hmm.

Jacob Litton: 26:40

then really outside of that, you've got KD, Vildor, Gilmore. you're not gonna keep seven cornerbacks.

Jason Harwood: 26:48

no, I mean, Gilmore's I think on the outside looking and it's just a matter of, I mean, outside of an injury happening from here to, you know, to week one, but I would hope that he could make it onto our practice squad. We spent a year developing him last year. I mean, he was on the active roster all of last year. Played very sparingly, and it just seems like that would be a waste, but he started out camp real good, but he's kind of Fall until the wayside and, um, Vildor and Dorsey have been playing pretty well. So you know, it is what it is, but we'll see how that goes. We got, you know, a few more weeks before the season starts. Um, I thought Zonovan Knight actually rushed pretty well. I think I might've mentioned that earlier. So as far as any other players, um, Ben Neiman played pretty good. I thought, I think he might be, might be making the roster. Um, he's played pretty well in the preseason, I was hoping to see more from Wingo, didn't really hear his name at all. I, when I go back and review, we'll see how he did. Um, Project Martin had one really nice play late that he broke through and stopped the run play. But for the most part, I didn't really notice him, um, getting much pressure or.

Jacob Litton: 28:05

It's hard as a defensive tackle because technically you could not make it on the screen, and you could have had a hell of an impact on the game.

Jason Harwood: 28:12

Right.

Jacob Litton: 28:12

So,

Jason Harwood: 28:13

I agree with that, but as far, you know, usually you're going to notice, like, some more tackles for loss or just something, but, you know, it was mostly, they were kind of neutralizing early because they were passing a lot early. Not a lot of run game.

Jacob Litton: 28:27

defense was actually, I mean, it was good. How many rushing yards did we end up giving up? They had,

Jason Harwood: 28:32

Well, they had that one long 41 yarder,

Jacob Litton: 28:37

outside of that one run by Prince, right. Yeah, outside of that one run we only gave up like 20 rushing yards. Maybe

Jason Harwood: 28:43

yeah,

Jacob Litton: 28:43

ish. I mean

Jason Harwood: 28:45

yeah, that one by, and that was, Chris Smith got, Uh, so Ukwa was on the outside. He overran. They basically, the left tackle let him run past the play, essentially. Uh, Chris Smith, who was playing defensive tackle next to Ukwa, just gets blocked out of the play by number, I don't know, Kansas City Chiefs number 66, and they just left a huge lane. Um, that, Chris Smith did not look good on that play. He just got totally, totally blocked. Sealed off that plane. They made a nice hole and that was like a first in 20'cause they had just gotten a holding play and then they get tear off a 41 yarder. But you're right. Other than that, their run game was, you know, if you take that 41 out of there, they're 18 for 18 rushes for 33 yards. So you know, less than two yards of carry. So good. Other than that one run and.

Jacob Litton: 29:39

I think on that run too I want to say it was iffy that made that tackle and I feel like that was kind of a veteran look he didn't run Up there and get himself plugged up in that hole either He took a lane and ran with him and just like, you know made sure that wasn't going the distance.

Jason Harwood: 29:53

Right. Yeah. No, I mean, it could have been easily been a touchdown if he wouldn't have been back there. So you're right. Good. Good read on that. Um, but yeah, overall, good game, uh, for a preseason game. I think it was ended like how I would have drawn it out. But Jake Bates kick, you know, put the pressure on the kid, let him see if he made the kick. He made the kick. So I feel good about, um, that, you know, going into the next game. So we have one more preseason game and then, you know, It's real time stuff, so, um, real quick here, let's, uh, let's tell everybody kind of what we got. You know, uh, going on, um, all the way up until the season. So, you know, we're going to do, we got this recap. We're going to talk about practice and recap and a game three preview this week. Um, we'll try to do another game recap next Saturday or Sunday. Um, it's going to be tough with both of our schedules on Saturday. Uh, then we'll do a final roster prediction and then we're going to get into like full season prediction. So, um, along with the Lions, we're going to talk about the rest of the NFL. We'll just have like a, you know, a season preview show, and then we'll get into our regular, um, kind of season stuff, how we're going to do, uh, Game preview, you know, we'll do that with the Rams game week one, and then we're going to go, we'll kind of do one of these game recaps for each regular season game, try to get them out as you know, next day. I think that's, you know, the most fun. And then we'll do a game preview, but we'll also might do a little bit of a recap or anything that we saw through videotapes. So that's our plan going in. Um, anything you want to add, Jacob?

Jacob Litton: 31:36

No almost here, guys. The season, finally. It's been a long wait.

Jason Harwood: 31:41

Yes,

Jacob Litton: 31:42

NFC Championship game loss,

Jason Harwood: 31:45

you know.

Jacob Litton: 31:46

tour begins soon.

Jason Harwood: 31:47

Yes, it does. And we're gonna, you know, start right out with Matt Stafford. So, uh, For Jacob, I'm Jason. Go Lions!