Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
E24: "Pride Preview" - Week 3 - Detroit Lions vs Arizona Cardinals (with Bo Brack from PHNX Cardinals Podcast)
This podcast episode of 'Talking Grit' with Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton features an interview with Arizona Cardinals reporter Bo Brack. They discuss the Cardinals' team dynamics, draft picks, and injuries affecting both the Cardinals and the Detroit Lions. Highlights include key player performances such as Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr., as well as strategies for their upcoming game. Additionally, the hosts delve into NFL predictions,while making bold guarantees for players like Jared Goff. The discussion also touches on the Detroit Tigers' late-season playoff potential
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Welcome to Talking Grit, a Detroit Lions podcast. I'm Jason Harwood and with me is Jacob Litton. we are doing another edition of Pride Preview. As we have in the first two weeks of the season, we are going to feature an interview. This time it's Bo Brack, Arizona Cardinals reporter and host of the PHNX Cardinals podcast. So Jacob and I have had a really good response with the first two interviews Our goal was and still is to provide you with the information that only someone on the ground with the opposing team would have We also like to have their perspective of our team, you know how it looks from the other side Hopefully we keep having good fortune with finding reporters and podcasters to work with us And just like last week we're going to start the beginning part before we hit the interview with a little background information on the cardinals and then we'll move into the interview and then we'll do our keys to victory and And break down the great guarantee and grit picks for the week But first before we do get into all that a couple Little bits of interesting news. First, let's, let's start off with, um, a joke for the day. If you want to laugh, uh, Bill Belichick says on the latest podcast that Matt Patricia laid the groundwork for the lion success. What do you think about that? Jacob?
Jacob Litton:Hilarious. Hilarious. I screenshot that so I can try to send it to you. Unbelievable. Uh, obviously, you know, Belichick has a close relationship with Matt Patricia. He's just trying to shout him out there. You know, yes, did Matt Patricia draft a couple offensive linemen. He got Ragnow and Decker. Are they core members of the team? Yes. Uh, his groundwork ends there. He took us, you know, we were a playoff team and then he took us and basically tanked us trying to switch it around terrible years under Matt Patricia. He set us back really. The only positive that came with that is that it led to us getting Dan Campbell. So for Belichick to say that, you know, that was the groundwork was Matt Patricia's, you know, It really is hilarious. I don't see that at all. I mean, do you?
Jason Harwood:No, not at all. I mean, uh, just a couple of other things that he was responsible for. He's got Hank Fraley and Ben Johnson here, they were in lower level positions and moved their way up, but. So you could, you can argue, yeah, he set the foundation for, you know, a good offensive mind. And, you know, he certainly did strengthen our offensive line, but that's where it ends right there. Um, you know, he basically severed our relationship with Stafford because Stafford wasn't going to go through another regime change. I mean, I guess you could argue that he, you know, tanked that, you know, Tank the team so bad that, you
Jacob Litton:Yeah.
Jason Harwood:Stafford
Jacob Litton:Ha ha.
Jason Harwood:all those picks. So Yeah. if we want to go down that rabbit hole, maybe that Patricia didn't anything. I mean, I think Patricia showed exactly who he was when he took over an Eagles defense and made it worse last year. And then they just, cause that slide and, you know, how Sirianni kept his job after, setting Patricia up as a defense coordinator. I don't know,
Jacob Litton:Yeah. Matt Patrish is really good at, uh, blowing everything up. He's the demolition man. Let me come in and just wreck everything. And then you guys will, you know, be able to have some success afterward.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. So uh, wanted to give everybody something to laugh about. Cause I, I just like, uh, Jacob said, hilarious. That's a great adjective to, uh, um, describe the situation. Cause there's no way that Matt Patricia is any shape, way or form responsible for this
Jacob Litton:Any of the success we have.
Jason Harwood:No, I mean, this team was so devoid of talent when Brad Holmes took over that, you know? It's comical, you know, yeah, he tanked them so bad that we got good graphics, you know, stuff like
Jacob Litton:Yeah.
Jason Harwood:you know, uh, not,
Jacob Litton:We missed on a lot of those draft picks.
Jason Harwood:we did, it did before, uh, before we got Brad Holmes for sure. other cool news that came out today was, uh, we got three lions in the top 10 for Jersey sales. You want to tell the people who, uh, where we show up in that list?
Jacob Litton:Yeah, so I was actually, I was surprised that we had three in the top 10. Um, but I don't think it's too hard to guess what three are in the top 10. We have, uh, Hutchinson was number three on the list. I'm in Ross St. Brown, number four. And then Jameer Gibbs, number eight, you know, three of our highest profile players. Um, you know, no surprises that they're at the top of our Jersey sales, but I mean, that's really cool to be in the top 10 like that. I feel like, you know, From my perspective, that's probably a lot, we're getting a lot more respect, there's also a lot more Lions fans that are new Lions fans that have not been around forever. So, they probably don't have too many of those old jerseys hanging up, they need, yeah, they need the new.
Jason Harwood:I was going to say New Jersey's probably contribute a little bit to
Jacob Litton:Right, right,
Jason Harwood:some people are rebuying jerseys and stuff like that. But still, mean, to be three in the three of the top 10, that's, that's pretty awesome. All right, let's move on to those Arizona Cardinals, just like last week where we started off with the draft. We'll kick off with some of the draft picks that Arizona had. They had so many draft picks. We're not going to
Jacob Litton:right, right.
Jason Harwood:but we'll cover the most important one. So Jacob, you want to hit that off?
Jacob Litton:Yes. Um, you know, as you said, they, they had a lot of draft picks on here. A few of them practice squad, a few people injured and aren't on the team right now. Um, just to go with the top half of the list. These are more, some of them were the impact players that they have. Obviously, the biggest one was their, uh, first pick number four overall, Marvin Harrison Jr. Then they had later in the first round, they had an edge defender, Darius Robinson out of Missouri. He's actually on IR right now. Yeah. Second round pick cornerback Max Melton and then in the third round they got running back Trey Benson Offensive tackle Isaiah Adams and then tight end tip Raymond and most of these guys are guys We are going to see get some playing time Trey Benson is backing up James Connor, but he's been getting some carries And, uh, yeah, you know, they, they got a lot of new additions to the team through the draft. I'm sure a lot of, uh, good players that they want to develop, but some of these guys are getting good playing time right now.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, they had a lot of traffic. So, you know, it's nice to have that ammo to reload, but you know, obviously it starts with Marvin Harrison Jr. Unbelievable prospect coming out and just going to be a dangerous weapon as he proved in week two for sure.
Jacob Litton:right.
Jason Harwood:so as far as free agents and resignings, the Cardinals, uh, two that they moved on from was, Marquis Hollywood Brown and Rondell Moore. Free agent acquisitions they got was Jonah Williams, offensive lineman, although he's on the IR right now. Evan Brown, who's familiar to Lions fans, offensive lineman, former Lion, um, is there, Chris Moore, Carice Tonga. Baleel Nichols, Sean Murphy, Bunning, the cornerback and Mack Wilson linebacker. Also they're all free agents that they got. Um, the other, they have a wide receiver, Zay Jones. He's suspended right now. And so he's off for the beginning part of the season. Not any huge names. They're mostly, you know, going with draft, building it up that way. It seems like the Cardinals are taking that approach. As far as injuries, there's a few. Fair amount of people on the IR Jacob, you want to take over that cardinal injury report?
Jacob Litton:Yeah. I'll go through them real quick. We mentioned already the rookie, uh, Darius Robinson. They also have, rookie Christian Jones, is on IR. Cornerback Elijah Jones. Offensive lineman Carter O'Donnell. Most of these are guys that are like role players or rookies, but they do have, you know, as you mentioned, Jonah Williams was their starting offensive tackle, and he was supposed to be a huge contributor for them this year, and now he finds himself on IR after only one game. And then, their linebacker BJ Ojalary, who played in every game last year. Uh, he didn't start, but he did play in every game. He was a solid player for them. Is also going to be on IR. They do have, a lot of people on IR, but as far as their injury report for this week, not a lot going on there. They have, um, the list on the injury report is Xavier Weaver, their wide receiver, offensive lineman Willa Hernandez. They're both listed on the injury report, but they had a full practice today. And then defensive lineman Dante Stills was a limited practice. The last couple of opponents for us have had kind of a busier, uh, injury report or just more high profile names that they were going to be missing. It doesn't look like that's the case right now with the Cardinals.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. Um, our injury report looks, uh, quite
Jacob Litton:Terrible.
Jason Harwood:It's pretty, pretty lengthy. So, um, you know, we already know who's on the IR for lions. No changes there this week. However, Anzalone. He's out with a concussion. No practice. We don't know the status on him yet. Um, you know, he's got to clear I think by Friday to be able to get back on there. But you saw that hit last week that he took from Barnes, he could understand why he's out. So. I'm planning on him not playing, but you know, maybe he surprises and comes back, but just someone that's going to be hitting like that. You wonder if he comes back with a guardian cap or something like
Jacob Litton:Yeah. Right.
Jason Harwood:protect in the middle, um, turn Arnold is out today with an illness, did not practice. Graham Glasgow did not practice. He's out with a knee injury. If he is still out with, uh, an ankle, uh, Keely's injury did not practice and it's rake straw. Did not practice the hamstring that he tweaked. During warmups, Dan Campbell said, like four minutes before they have to turn in the, know, active inactive list, he, you know, tweaked his hamstrings. So, kind of unfortunate there, Kirby Joseph and Isaiah Williams for both limited practice today. Um, but good news is Amin Rah, St. Brown, um, listed with the injury with the quad. But full practice today, Marcus Davenport, um, with his groin injury that he received in week one was a full practice today. So that's good sign that, you know, those two practice in full. So not what I want to see on the rest of the list. Hopefully, you know, Tarion, the illness isn't going to keep him out. It didn't seem like it when Dan talked about it in the press conference. That's just a gist I got. But, you know, Graham being out could, could hurt too, for sure.
Jacob Litton:Yeah. It's going to be interesting to see later in the week, how many of these guys, you know, try to give it a go if they get limited practices in or if they upgraded to full, I'm on Ron, his podcast really said the quad it's kind of just, you know, he got hit. Um, with a helmet had a contusion pretty much right away, you know, later in the game when he had to come out, that was actually because of cramping and cramping in both legs and his calves said it was hard to even make it to the sideline and they're over there with massage gun trying to, you know, get those cramps worked out and there was just no way for him to come back into the game. So that, you know, while it looks scary, he had really nothing to do with what this injury is, and he seems confident that he's going to be fine, that he's going to play as he, you know, had a full practice today.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I think he probably got that initial injury when he like right before the
Jacob Litton:Yeah,
Jason Harwood:to get that and, you know, try to, he was trying to knife his way into the end zone, when you see someone go down with a leg injury, especially a wide receiver, you get really worried. So I'm,
Jacob Litton:yes, absolutely.
Jason Harwood:comes back. So, um, we can go over the week two results, uh, uh, Arizona won their game, pretty, pretty convincing fashion. They've, they scored like touchdowns on their first three possessions were up 21, nothing. I don't know. Ram scene that, you know, we played week one and just kind of made them look silly. Now the Rams team has been decimated by injuries and got even more decimated in that game, uh, losing Cooper cup and Jonah Jackson's out now too. They face a slightly different team than what we face, but you know, kudos to them. They just went out and put on a show, which is not what we wanted to see as Lions fans after coming off, you know, our loss last week and then just, you know, the The afternoon games, you see the team, you're facing next, just, you know, score at
Jacob Litton:Yeah. Right. No, that was concerning. Uh, you know, we had a tough overtime victory against this Rams team. And then the week later, the Cardinals are just giving it to them right away. 21, nothing deep passes, you know, just. Yeah, but like you said different, you know, because the injuries and everything it was a different team different circumstances So, you know any given Sunday every week's different they jumped out early and it was hard for the Rams to try to catch up Anyway,
Jason Harwood:yeah, I think that's one of those things when you jump out early like that and you can just make a team one dimensional that just basically, you know. Really limited the Rams running game. Um, you know, and I think Blake Corum end up leading that leading the team and rushing over Kyron Williams, that game, which
Jacob Litton:not yeah, not by much Korma 28 yards.
Jason Harwood:Yeah,
Jacob Litton:Williams at 25.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. Still they didn't, well, they weren't rushing. They had just had to keep
Jacob Litton:Well, right, right
Jason Harwood:Um, week one, Arizona played Buffalo. Lost the game 20 or 34, 28, however, they were up 17 to three at one point. They played solid the first two weeks. This is not going to be a gimme game. This is going to be a
Jacob Litton:not at all
Jason Harwood:have their hands. Week one, Marvin Harrison. Didn't really do anything, the talk was, should they play him in the preseason and all this stuff, and then he put all that to bed and first quarter goes, you know, four for one 30 and then, you know, two touchdowns. Let's end that talk right now.
Jacob Litton:Yeah, right, right,
Jason Harwood:all right. I'm going to kick off for the interview. It's Bo Brack with the PHNX Cardinals podcast had a lot of good information to tell us about the Cardinals. And, um, so we'll hit that up and we'll be back with you on the other side. It's time that we introduce Bo Brack from the PHNX Cardinals podcast. He's a reporter for them. We're lucky to have him. He's a busy guy. He just got off the line with Brian Baldinger. So he's making time for us small timers here, but, uh, first of all, for coming on the show. So how long have you been working with that podcast and, you know, did it start with the rooting for the Cardinals or is this just something that's, uh, just come about for you?
Bo Brack:Yeah, I've been doing this podcast, PHX Cardinals for this year, a third season now, and, uh, it's been great, you know, just kind of covering it from, you know, the reporting standpoint to merging it kind of with the fan experience and kind of getting a 360 view of this team, you know, with the opportunity to get inside the locker room, talk to players, talk to coaches, but then at the same time, Hang out with the people that, uh, care about this team the most. So we can do that now, our third season, uh, the, the light at the end of the tunnel, I think we can start to see it now after some tough, thin years. I've been covering this team on and off for about 10 years and, uh, it just kind of became, just a part of. And I just was trying to figure out, after doing some sports talk radio, how I could continue to do that. And it was, uh, via the podcast streets and it's, it's been great. And, um, you know, I think that there was a need for people wanting to know more about the Cardinals and it wasn't there here. So we were able to provide that for them.
Jason Harwood:That's good. I mean, we all need good reporters and good conversation about our favorite football teams, right? I mean, that's important.
Bo Brack:Right.
Jacob Litton:Absolutely. We have to start with Marvin Harrison Jr. how has he looked through the off season? Do fans have any problems with the off the field decisions? Are you able to buy his Jersey yet? Obviously he had a really good week to week one was kind of, uh, you know, if he, but he bounced back. You know, just overall, what are the thoughts on Marvin Harrison jr?
Bo Brack:Yeah, I mean, outside of the inability to buy the jersey, that's still an issue. I think they finally found somebody that was going to be the arbiter to that case between fanatics and Marvin Harrison Jr. And his, and his representation about a deal that was struck back when he was in college at Ohio state, and he felt like, uh, basically had outgrown that deal. Um, that's kind of been the holdup as far as his jersey becoming available to Cardinals fans. But you know, he signed his rookie deal. Uh, he's, he's got, you know, the, the name, image, likeness type of thing, you know, all in place. Now it's just kind of getting this fanatics kind of, um, Little saga, hopefully behind them shortly, but as far as the player, uh, the prospect that came in from the Buckeyes back to back thousand yard receiving seasons didn't have to work out because all the tape he put on film, uh, they're playing in starring in Ohio state. Um, he's matched the height. I mean, he's a guy that was, you know, known for his legendary work ethic. Uh, obviously his father's got a bus in Canton and he was the number one wide receiver for Peyton Manning for so long. Uh, just wasn't blessed like Marvin jr. Is with this near six foot four height. Um, but you know, his, he's matched that he's put in the work. And I think the only thing that was missing in week one was the rapport with the starting quarterback and the Cardinals. I think, um, Worried a little bit, uh, for not playing their starters in the preseason. It probably would have benefited from that for them to develop a little bit of rhythm and timing because this offense is so much on that. Uh, but then, you know, they were able to kind of knock off the rust a little bit and get going with a, with a win. Four catch, 130 yard, two touchdown performance in the first quarter, which oddly enough hadn't been done since, you know, Marvin Sr. did it back in 1996. So, um, you know, two, two performances, one dud, one absolute, just huge, uh, big performance by Marvin in the offense. And, uh, now we'll see what happens when they go up against a legitimate team that has, You know, deep playoff aspirations in the lions.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, that's the lines. We're not used to, sorry. I had to pause for a second. We're not used to hearing all that stuff about us. Alliance
Jacob Litton:right.
Jason Harwood:fans are probably feel that way too. I'm sure at some point. Yeah.
Bo Brack:Yup.
Jason Harwood:So when, when we think about the Cardinals, you know, Marvin Harrison comes up, but obviously the other player that you think about is Kyler Murray. Um, you know, it's interesting cause here in Michigan, we get the national perspective. We don't get, you know, what you, what Cardinals fans really feel about him. The national perspective, at least from our angle is that. He's a player that doesn't study, that doesn't work hard at his craft. Um, what is your perspective of that? Seeing him day in and day out? I mean, what is a Cardinals perspective on that?
Bo Brack:Yeah. It's unfortunate because like the latter there, like the work ethic, he doesn't work hard, he doesn't study that. That's all false. I mean, it's a, it was something that was made public or it was a, it was a narrative that was created in an ugly, you know, public negotiation for a quarterback contract from an organization that I don't think was ready to. Do that and never drafted and developed a quarterback and got to this point where they had to pay that type of money to that position. And I think that at that time, the general manager, uh, I don't know if it was a GM specifically, but there was just some really, you know, brutal things said there was the, the homework clause and the contract, which is a huge misstep for the organization. But I think Kyler Murray, the new regime, new GM, money, awesome port and head coach. Jonathan Gannon have done a good job. They, they work very well together. They're in lockstep and it was nice to see them empower Kyler Murray. And with that, he's done, uh, nothing but makes them look good. Like by, you know, being at the facility first in last out guy, uh, you know, there's teammates say that they don't think he ever leaves the facility. Like when he tore his ACL in 2022. He started just coming to the Cardinals facility and really hasn't left sense. And you're seeing that's a product, you know, that's showing up in his play to where not any of these 10 games into this new offense, um, with those reps becomes, you know, familiarity, comfortability, and. know, perfect quarterback rating last week with three touchdowns, 260 yards passing plus 60 yards on the ground. So, um, you know, I think Kyler Murray is in the best spot he's ever been in. He's entering the prime of his career in that big, you know, 230 and a half million dollar extensions kicking in. So he's locked in here for, you know, the, the future in the longterm. So, uh, he's a good spot and it's, it is unfortunate, like even the previous week, the weekend where they lost the Buffalo. was post game quotes that were kind of misconstrued and they weren't given without full context like saying, Hey, Marvin Harrison Jr. only got four, three targets in one catch. That's not my job. You know, what he was saying was, you know, he defers to his offensive coordinator, his offensive coordinator wants him to find the open receiver and get them the football. And people wanted to say like, you know, there's Kyler Murray just kicking his feet back and saying, Hey, not my fault, somebody else's problem. And that's the, that's the first thing from the truth. And it's unfortunate because people pick up those storylines and they run with it. And he becomes a polarizing subject where I don't think it's necessarily fair.
Jacob Litton:Yeah, definitely. I mean, they do. You know, I think the full quote was he was talking about going through his reads. So going through your reads and, you know, it's not my job to get the ball to him. And instead, they just take that not my job to get the ball, put that in bold letters, and there's your headline everywhere. He does seem to get a lot of hate from the national media. So, you know us as outsiders That's you know, the majority of what we're seeing obviously the play on the field, uh has not been terrible last week You know, like you said perfect rating. He did very well. He's definitely a threat
Bo Brack:And so efficient, yeah. I mean, the first half of the game against the Bills, 16 for 19, touchdown pass, and then, you know, this past week, 17 for 21, and three touchdowns, and, you know, he's running the scramble drill. On a bunch of those plays. And it's looking, you know, like vintage Kyler. So he's in a good spot. I mean, the biggest thing with him, I think is it's not, you know, what the national narrative is, or, you know, is he good enough? Cause I think he is, is to help. Like, this is a guy who hasn't played a full season since really 2020. And, uh, they want to keep him upright. They want to keep him, you know, fully healthy because I think with that consistency, uh, week in and week out, like we we've seen teams that, you know, even though is there, you're two of a rebuild, uh, they can make some noise. Like look at Tampa last year, look at, uh, you know, Los Angeles, the Rams. I know they're falling apart now, but when they got consistent play from Stafford and crew, you know, it's. They made their way to the postseason last year. I think that that's possible with a healthy Kyler Murray here in 2024.
Jason Harwood:It's gotta be a good feeling as a fan. Got to see a little light at the tunnel there. Um, so Dan Campbell was asked, our head coach was asked about Buda Baker said he's an issue. Um, let's talk about him a little bit. He had previously, requested a trade, you know, and all that kind of stuff. With the team kind of turning around and seeing some positive, do you expect, I mean, is that kind of dissipated and he's looking at his future here in Arizona, or what's your perspective on that?
Bo Brack:it's it's an interesting case because, you know, what do we see this past offseason? Kind of NFL teams, uh, not prioritize, time safeties, right? Like we saw Justin Simmons, you know, get released by the Broncos. A couple, saw a couple of guys exit organizations that they'd made names for themselves. And certainly, you know, Buda Baker, it's undeniable. The guy has been the heart and soul of this Cardinals defense since, you know, he emerged out of Washington in 2017 and continues to play at a high level. Had a, had a great game, just kind of, uh, torpedoing around the, defense for the Cardinals, making big stops, getting TFLs and being a force in the run game. Um, but you know, I, I think it's, it's, it's not a premium position he's in the final year of his deal. I don't think that anything plays into him requesting a trade or anything like that. I think it's just, he's going to be 29 and he might be able to go maximize his earning potential elsewhere because I don't think that this is going to be a team that's going to spend a lot of money on a couple of positions. Like, Inside linebacker or safety. They're going to focus on premium positions. And, you know, if they can find a middle ground on that, then, yeah, I think that all, you know, both parties would be, you know, uh, up to keeping Buddha in town and retiring a cardinal. But. Um, I think I'm fortunate, like the reality of the NFL business is that they're going to focus on premium positions and, and, uh, and moving forward there. So I don't know, I think that's not going to be resolved until this off season, but there's no, uh, animosity on either side of that between, uh, Buddha or the, or the football club.
Jason Harwood:Would you see, uh, see a situation where they would trade them before the trade deadline this year? Just If they weren't going to keep them.
Bo Brack:No, I don't think that you would get enough value in return. Like I think Buddha, they, they understand that Buddha, Buddha, like, especially just his play, like he transcends his play, uh, that it, like. We haven't even seen, like, would you get a third round pick for safety? but like, he doesn't take
Jacob Litton:right
Bo Brack:away. Like he didn't have any past defense last year. He didn't have any past breakups yet. You know, it took him till year four to get his first pick. That's not his strength. So like, is, is a team willing to spend, you know, a premium draft pick, uh, to get them in? Like, if you're not, if you're going to get a fourth or fifth round pick, I just don't think that that, you know, outweighs the production you would get on the field and off the field.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I agree with that.
Jacob Litton:for sure.
Jason Harwood:All right, Jacob.
Jacob Litton:All right, uh moving on so Starting cornerback starling thomas, uh, somebody that us as lions fans are very familiar with He was one of the final cuts at roster. You know, we, we talked about that extensively about whether we were going to keep him or not. Hopefully we're going to stash him on the practice squad. You know, that didn't happen. The Cardinals took him from us. He started seven games last year, and it looks like now he's going to, you know, he's starting this year. In your opinion, how do you think he's done?
Bo Brack:I mean, considering, yeah, he was, he was, you know, cut from the, you know, going from 90 to 53 in 2023. And then he gets onto a team that was in year one of a rebuild. The Cardinals had the luxury of, of picking up star and then playing him significantly just out of necessity. Like there was a ton of growth from the former UAB player. Like, and then he came in and was kind of under the radar because, you know, they drafted Garrett Williams in the third round in 2023, they drafted two corners in, uh, day two of the NFL draft in 2024. And you're like, okay, Starling Thomas is an afterthought. And he comes out and has a great training camp and outright wins that job. and Max Mountain, who they're still excited about. You're going to see mountain number 16 and the secondary a lot on Sunday. But uh, yeah, star is somebody that continues to kind of fit the culture of this team, uh, has the respect of Gannon and defensive coordinator, Nick Rollis. And, uh, I think he's somebody that they're excited about, uh, moving forward with, and, you know, he'll, he'll. He'll hold on to that starting corner job. I mean, but he's going to have a tough time fighting off mountain, but he's a good, you know, depth piece at the very least for the Arizona Cardinals.
Jacob Litton:He showed a lot of good flashes in the offseason for us last year, and he was a very, very tough like he may have been the final player that got cut. He was right there.
Jason Harwood:him between him and Steven Gilmore. And we kept Steven Gilmore on the, uh, all season. And then we caught him this off season. And so now it's really looking like, Oh, we could have. But it's hard to know. I mean, it's all Starling's probably grown because he had the opportunity. Right. I mean,
Bo Brack:Right. Does he develop as much? right.
Jason Harwood:Exactly.
Bo Brack:it's, could he have cracked that rotation last year? Probably not, but he definitely did here in Arizona where there was so many, so many opportunities.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I think that some of, you know, some of these players just get that opportunity and you got to take advantage of it. Right. I mean, you're. You get to start on a team that's, you know, facing a quarterback injury and he took advantage of it. So good for him. Um,
Bo Brack:for sure.
Jason Harwood:all right. So what is a player that's on the Cardinals that a Lions fan, you know, that we don't know about that we should be keeping an eye on on Sunday?
Bo Brack:Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. Um, I mean, it's tough to really know outside of AZ, like what other fan bases now, I mean, you know, the Kyler's, you know, the Marvs, you know, Trey McBride, because of his emergence and fantasy last year, he catches 800 yards. Is there a second in this offense? You got James Connor. Who, uh, who's got a touchdown in the last seven straight games, uh, another guy when he's healthy. He's just a beast. Um, you know, the offensive line is solid. Um, but yeah, when I think like you think of the other wide receivers, the other compliments through this, uh, passing attack, like Michael Wilson, who's been slowed to start. He was a guy in his rookie year, went over 500 yards receiving, looked like he was going to be one of Kyler's top options. It's had a slow start to the season so far. And then Greg Dortch, who comes out of the slot, kind of your gadget player as well. Those are two guys on offense that I think, you know, given opportunities that are kind of drying up because of the star power, um, you know, I, I think can, can hurt opposing teams. And then on the defensive side, like the, the defensive front is, is pretty Relative unknowns across the board. Like Dennis Kardec had three sacks last week. Gotta know about 45. And then Zabin Collins is, you know, a bad, you know, roughing the passer penalty call in week one of having, you know, back to back weeks with sacks. So both those guys off the edge, I think, are somebody that, uh, we're interested at least to see how they'll go against that stout offensive line from Detroit.
Jason Harwood:Nice. No, it hasn't been as stout as we'd like the first couple of games, but we're, we're working towards it. Yeah.
Jacob Litton:Yeah. The next question we're going with is what what most concerns you about the Detroit Lions? Coming from a Cardinals fan, Cardinals perspective, what concerns you most? Yeah. Yeah.
Bo Brack:of the football, um, you know, where their struggles really were in week one against the bills were slowing down josh Allen and that offense. And then they hold Stafford in a depleted offensive line to 10 points a week to, uh, who they truly are. You hope it's at least somewhere in the middle. Um, but, you know, the run game like that was a tough one. They were terrorized on the run and gashed all last season. Have they improved? Were they as good as they were this previous Sunday? You know, that's going to be, this is going to be a good measuring stick. Um, and you know, is Amun Ra going to play? Like, Amun Ra, if he's good to go and you got that full compliment of Amun Ra and Sam Laporta. We'll see, you know, can they generate enough pressure against Jared Goff, who's 8 1 career against the Cardinals? Can he stand back there and pick them apart like he's done, you know, since his Ram days? So, um, yeah, I, I think all the, the real kind of concerns come on the defensive side of the football going up against Detroit.
Jason Harwood:against Aiden Hutchinson and his four and a half sacks last week.
Bo Brack:sorry. Yeah, that's, that's, I think that's, that's always, uh, and like the Cardinals say, hey, that's, you know, top, if you're prioritizing it, you know, that's, that's where you want to kind of start. Um, for sure. Like the Cardinals are on Kelvin Beecham, who sure he made his 150th career start on Sunday, but you know, he's, he's there. He was their primary swing guy. He was not there starting right tackle. If they shift aid Hutchinson over there, man, they're going to need some help. They drafted a kid out of Illinois in the third round. Tip Ryman, who is a tight end with really no. Pass catching skills. He's in here to block. I wouldn't be surprised if he came in and tried to help a little bit with wherever Hutchinson is. Uh, so that, that absolutely is a huge, huge, uh, area of concern. No doubt about it.
Jason Harwood:So let's flip it. If you're the Cardinals, how would you attack this Lions team? Let's just start offensively and then you can move on to defense if you got some ideas.
Bo Brack:Yeah, I, I think that, um, they, they can, like the Cardinals really want to establish the run and it gets overlooked because you've got Kyler, you got Marv, you got Trey in the passing game. Um, but you know, like I said, with, with James Connor and his ability, like when healthy to, you know, he averaged over five yards per carry last season. It's on his way again this season. Uh, he's aging like a fine wine. Like if they can establish a run and create that true balance, like it just, it, it takes Kyler Murray to the next level. Like they were primarily finding success in like 12 and 13 personnel where you got two, three tight ends on the field and you're giving run looks. And then there's Kyler Murray dropping back to pass, making plays. Uh, and finding wide open receivers because you had, you know, maybe some defensive player, you know, a defensive package that had too many big, big players in it, like they didn't have enough guys that could cover. So, um, I think that that's where they can absolutely find success. That's where they've kind of buttered their bread. The, since I don't know, drew Petsing came into this as their offensive coordinator and Kyler Murray started to kind of find his way in this offense. No.
Jason Harwood:What about defensively? How do you, I mean, how are they going to utilize, I mean, Buddha Baker comes out and plays in that run game and just. Does that open them up for deep passing? Have you noticed? Cause I also know that they don't like to go over the top. Yeah.
Bo Brack:it doesn't, um, it hasn't, and that's, that, that was like kind of, uh, something that Gannon brought from Philadelphia. They, they really are trying to keep everything in front of them. And even when they were, you know, featured nobody in the defensive secondary last year, outside of Buddha and Jalen Thompson, like. They didn't have anybody that could cover and they still were not giving up the biggest plays. Um, most of it came in the run game last year. So, I think if, like, James Cook and, and, know, obviously Josh Allen, who's, who's built way different than most quarterbacks, but Jerr Goff, especially, know, being able to run, like, his ability to extend plays, crush the Cardinals, where I think that they might be, Better set up to, to go against the quarterback, you know, like staff or like golf now this week, but, um, they generate the project? It's going to come down to pressure, right? Can they, can they get it off the edge from, you know, the guys like Gardeck and Zayven Collins enough to, to make golf uncomfortable would be off his spot and you know, what do you have like 18 incompletions last week? So can you get a similar performance? I think that would bode very well for the card.
Jason Harwood:We're hoping that he doesn't pass 55 times a game. Uh, 55 like you did. That's not how the lions are built. So not at all. Um, we know you're pressed for time. So before you go, we just have any predictions on this game. Doesn't have to be about the score. It doesn't have to be anything. It could be a player stack, it could be anything. So any predictions that you, uh, want to say about the game?
Bo Brack:Man, that's, uh, on here early in the week. I, mean, I think it's going to be a physical game. Like these are two organizations, like you guys mentioned that we've been tortured for so long, like. They now have like a physical culture on both sides, you know, both sidelines. And I think that you're going to see a lot of hard hits. You're going to see a lot more running than you would expect. Um, and I, I think it's going to be a tight game. I do like, uh, the, the lions are favored by three, three and a half, but I think it's, it's going to be more, you know, just true, like a field goal wins this thing. And, um, you know, You know, I, I would lean towards Detroit, even though the Cardinals are coming off a big game, but I still think there's opportunity for them, uh, against this defense to maybe work out the kinks.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, it's different from our angle. Just, I mean, and you're, I think Arizona is going to get there is. you're counted on, like as the team that, you know, is a powerhouse or whatever, it's really weird to hear that from other, uh, you know, other teams. So it's, it's, yeah, it's, we're still, you know, kind of getting used to all of that, but being
Jacob Litton:Still sounds weird.
Jason Harwood:stick type thing is, you know, and, but you know, we left. Left four field last week and we had lost and then, you know, we're looking towards the next week and then, you know, Cardinals are up 21, nothing on the ramps and, you know, Dean that we had just played him with, oh man, we're, it's not, you know,
Bo Brack:There's no weeks off
Jason Harwood:no, they're
Bo Brack:there's, bad teams,
Jason Harwood:Yeah.
Bo Brack:and, and, you know, but it always feels like. You have a tough start and you don't have any get right games. And yeah, I don't, I think that like the Cardinals last year were so bad, like personnel wise that people viewed them as get right. And then they'd come to Arizona and they'd have to scratch and claw for a win. And now, you know,
Jacob Litton:Yeah. Yeah.
Bo Brack:to have last year that they showed with an improved roster. I mean, we've already seen the benefit of that. So, um, it should be, you know, I wouldn't expect, you know, Nobody expects what we witnessed last week where they just come out and blow the doors off the opposition. Uh, I would expect, you know, just Especially in the trenches the lions are going to be able to put up a better performance than the ramps.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I just think Kyler Murray is that wild card. You know, you just,
Bo Brack:Yeah
Jason Harwood:You've played against other teams that have running quarterbacks too. It's just demoralizing when you know, you got the play perfectly and then they scoot out and they get the first down. I mean, Josh Allen did it for you guys, but it's, it's a nice weapon. I mean, us from, you know, we got Jared Goff, who's not, he has run for two first downs in the first two games. So, you know, that, That's a record, I think. But, uh,
Bo Brack:Speed
Jason Harwood:yeah, exactly.
Jacob Litton:Yeah.
Jason Harwood:going to be called that. But, you know, he's got other talents. But, yeah, it's, it's hard. I mean, that's the wild card is you could have a play played perfectly and it just, you know, the play breaks down and you got your quarterback thinking, you know, run all over. So, yeah. We're, uh, paced on our mind. That's for sure. All right. Welcome back everybody. First let's talk about some stats to be aware of. We talk about Kyler Murray. And, you know, that how efficient he has been running, but he, hasn't thrown an interception this year yet. He is 73. 1 percent completion percentage. He's like in the top seven in the league in that. So Kyler Murray is getting it done with his arm too. So we have to, you know, keep him. Be very wary of that.
Jacob Litton:Absolutely. 428 yards, 4 touchdowns, no interceptions right now. Um, he does still, through 2 games, 116 rushing yards on only 10 attempts. And, you know, you can't deny his, uh, scrambling ability. He just, he creates more time. By using those, uh, you know legs of his but he also is not afraid to tuck it and run when he sees the lane As you can tell, you know, he's averaging 11 yards every time he takes it past the line of scrimmage
Jason Harwood:we just went through Baker, he's more dangerous than Baker, he's more shifty, faster, more twitchy than Baker. We, are going to have to be disciplined in their lanes and, covering their rushing lanes, and. Beyond that, you got, James Conner back there can rush, when he's healthy, he's dangerous.
Jacob Litton:Absolutely I mean that's one of the main keys that you have is that you've got to be able to slow down the running back and then make Kyler throw and You know with these scrambling quarterbacks, it's funny because you got to keep the pressure on him But you've got to keep the contain and it's just one of those things where it's so hard for teams in the NFL to get that You Medium down where yes, you're applying pressure to him, but you're not allowing him to get outside of you. And that's something that's obviously going to be one of the keys to victory this week is getting the pressure on him, but making him throw the ball from inside the pocket and under duress.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. Well, I think you just want to make the quarterback feel uncomfortable. You know, I want to feel that pressure and how you do that. I think for most quarterbacks is that pressure up the middle. Um, if you can get You know, you don't allow them to step up. And then I think that's why it's also going to be important to have Davenport back cause
Jacob Litton:Yes,
Jason Harwood:and a crook claps one side of the pocket. So, know, and then you push them to our most athletic. And which is going to be Hutchinson. Kyler Murray might be able to outrun them, but hopefully Hutch can get, you know, have proper angles on it and be able to corral him. And, you know, our Mr. Four and a half sacks, uh, a game guy that we got over there.
Jacob Litton:absolutely. Hopefully he has a couple more, but yeah, uh, you know, Derek Barnes, this has been a good time to utilize him to, uh, just, you know, being quicker being on the outside like that. Obviously if you have Davenport and a DJ reader, you know, creating that pressure over there, he's got to run. To Hutchinson side, but if you've got Derek Barnes kind of playing back, keeping contained quarterback, spy kind of thing, just preventing him from actually breaking loose. And that would be huge also.
Jason Harwood:I agree. This is, I'm really sad about the Anzalone because this is where I think Anzalone would come in really, really. Handy in this game, just as his tackles for loss and just being able to, you know, spy, cause I think that he's very good at great angles and also, providing, smart play,
Jacob Litton:Yes.
Jason Harwood:He doesn't, he doesn't, make mistakes, so that injury, I'm very worried about how that's going to work out. However, it's going to give an opportunity for Jack Campbell to come in and call plays and show, you know, another dimension and show his growth.
Jacob Litton:Right. We hope anyway,
Jason Harwood:I mean, he's going to prove it,
Jacob Litton:right, right. You got to show it. That's why he's here. Right.
Jason Harwood:Exactly. First round pick. You got it. He's got to show the growth. I've noticed differences in his run game protection, he seems not miss as many tackles this year or be he's in Jack Campbell is in position better to stop the run game this year than I feel last year, haven't seen too much in the coverage game yet, but it's kind of early. Hopefully Jack Campbell has just has one of those games, cause you'd really like to use his athleticism. Cause. With Kyler Murray back there. Campbell's an elite athlete, just, his instincts and everything
Jacob Litton:Yeah. That's where, as you were saying before with Anzalone, He knows when to pull the trigger. He knows where the lanes are. He knows exactly how to hit everything. You know, if he doesn't play, that's huge. It's also huge because who do we have behind him that's going to slot into that spot and play that position the same way that he does? Because really, we don't, we don't have anybody who's going to be able to make up for that.
Jason Harwood:but I will say this Jalen Ruiz may have been can play linebacker and he can, if you notice like in the Tampa Bay playoff game last year, they were, they used him. I'll utilize him a lot in that game, on third down and coverage. So I. It's going to, he's probably gonna get some more playing time if, you
Jacob Litton:Right.
Jason Harwood:doesn't, uh, go in there. Cause I, we see Malcolm a lot this year, seeing Malcolm more this year than we saw him last year, play for sure.
Jacob Litton:Yes. I don't know if we should Kyler Murray around.
Jason Harwood:No, no, Malcolm could not do that. I mean, Malcolm instincts are. Instincts are elite. His instincts are good, but his, deficient in this physical attributes, but, you could still be a dominant player by, you know, no, I won't say he's dominant, but you could still be a very effective player by utili, utilizing instincts and taking
Jacob Litton:Yeah.
Jason Harwood:and knowing where, you know, the play's going to go. Yep.
Jacob Litton:you know, whether they, you know, Decide to slot him as a starter. If they're going to use Jalen Reeves, maybe in either way. I mean, it's a huge opportunity for them to step up. If Anzalone doesn't play because they have to have a good game for us to win.
Jason Harwood:Yes, going to be a challenge that offense is no joke. So, and they're playing at a pretty high level right now. So Jacob, any more stats that you have down there that
Jacob Litton:I do have some more stats here just to go over the Cardinals. You know, the last, obviously we're only two weeks into the season. Week one was the week that they lost, but they were up early, but interesting to point out. So week one, Kyle Murray attempts three deep passes and he does not complete any of them. James Connor was held to 50 yards rushing. Kyler Murray actually was the leading rusher on the team with, I think he had like 57 or something like that, 160 yards passing, and you know, that was a game they were up 17 to 3, and then, you know, they just are not able to keep drives going, and they end up losing that game to Buffalo. Week 2, Kyler attempts 7 deep passes, and he hits 6 of them, uh, 3 of which were touchdown passes, uh, you know, you got the 2 to Marvin Harrison, he had another deep one. Later in the game, it's just very important, like I said before, to get the pressure on him, but we cannot get beaten deep and I think one of the things what happens or one of the things that happens is that he starts to scramble and starts to create more time anytime he gets on the outside with a couple extra seconds. That's really hard to contain coverage when you're playing. As a cornerback. So that's where it's like we can't get beat, especially we've got Terry on hopefully rake straw plays. But, you know, the rookie is trying to be able to contain that. We've got, uh, we've got to make sure we don't get beat deep. Uh, the 2nd game, James Connor, 122 yards. Kyler has 266 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. So really, I mean, just looking at the stats, kind of, tell the tale of the game. Based on the game 1, they didn't have very good stats, they lost. Week 2, they had better stats, uh, and they won. That wasn't the case for us, because we had pretty good stats week 2, and we, we just didn't close out the job.
Jason Harwood:I agree. Another interesting set that I, you know, discovered was first the blitz and no blitz pretty stark difference in performance. So no blitz. Kyler's 33 for 41. This is both games combined 33 for 41 for 373 yards. Um, and he had four touchdowns, uh, no interceptions when he's blitzed, he's five for 11, so he's less than 50 percent completion percentage, 55 yards, zero touchdowns, zero interceptions. So to me, you know, if you necessarily need to blitz, but it shows a difference between getting some pressure and not getting pressure. So,
Jacob Litton:Right. We're gonna
Jason Harwood:you know, I know We're young in the back and we don't want to short them but you could see branch coming in blitz. We could, you know, if, if he was healthy, we would have him doing that, but, you know, definitely pulling branch in or maybe a meek one. You know, um, does a corner blitz, something like that. I think we're going to have to apply pressure to them. So, um,
Jacob Litton:have to mix something up. You know, especially after hearing those stats, it sounds like pretty much all of his success has been had when they're not blitzing him. And teams probably don't try to blitz as much, just because, you know, Of his speed threat and the ability, you know, he's got a good tight end to Trey McBride He's leading the team with uh, 11 catches right now Very good safety valve and he's able to get open quickly
Jason Harwood:Yep. I mean, it's a tough team and that's what, um, you know, lines have to be prepared for that and then play some tight, man. They got corners that could play tight, man. Uh, and you know, if they're going to blitz and they know that they're going to have to get the ball out early and then, you know, Kirby's going to have to be ready over the top for Mervin Harrison, Jr. That's going to be a weapon to, you know, take them over the top. Yeah.
Jacob Litton:Right, right I mean maybe after last week Kyler has a little more confidence in trying to throw that ball to marvin harrison and maybe we're able to you know Snatch one away there.
Jason Harwood:We've seen Kyler make those mistakes with the Lions before
Jacob Litton:Right? Yes. He's prone to having that happen So I actually have the stats here. So, uh I don't know if you've been looking at the last couple of matchups between the Lions and Cardinals. Uh, did you look into that at all? Before I ask you these questions?
Jason Harwood:No, go ahead.
Jacob Litton:Just to throw a season out there. When do you think the last year was the Cardinals beat us?
Jason Harwood:Oh, that they beat us? Um, was that, no, that was a, was that tie? They, they tied us that one Stafford
Jacob Litton:tie once. Yeah.
Jason Harwood:And that was that one Stafford game. I remember that game because Stafford had like a wide open touchdown, but Patricia called the time out
Jacob Litton:Yes.
Jason Harwood:Stafford yelling. trust me or something like that. Oh,
Jacob Litton:Right. Right.
Jason Harwood:that was
Jacob Litton:Hey, that was iconic.
Jason Harwood:of the year. Um, I'm not sure when, when did we,
Jacob Litton:it was actually, it was back in 2015 was the last time that they beat us and they beat us pretty bad in 2015, but we actually played them, uh, five years in a row, 17, uh, 21. And we went four and oh, with that one tie. And that tie was, uh, it was Maverick's second year and it was week one of the season that we end up tying them there. Uh, but, you know, the last time we played them was in 2021, so it was our first year with Dan Campbell. We were 2 11 going into that game and they were 10 4, and we ended up coming out, we smoked them 30 12. And our leading rusher that game was Craig Reynolds with 112 yards.
Jason Harwood:A warrior got, uh, he got an interception on that, on that game too. And I remember that that was like an out and a warrior played, uh, he had a really nice season that first year and we thought he was going to be come
Jacob Litton:Yeah, yeah,
Jason Harwood:fine year. And that, that didn't work out, but,
Jacob Litton:did not.
Jason Harwood:Another. Thing that's going to have to happen is get your hands up. If we get pressure on him, Kyler short, we had, you know, knocked down some pass, hopefully get a tip pass for an interception, a quick change of possession that would, that would be key. if You can't get in on them, get your hands up.
Jacob Litton:Absolutely.
Jason Harwood:All right. So let's go to our keys of victory. All right. First thing is, can we contain Kyler Murray's running game? We have to keep them under 50 yards of rushing. That's, that's my goal. So, you know, you're not going to be able to stop him from running. Um, he's gonna squirt out and get a couple of first downs and that's gonna, but we need to, keep them under 50 yards rushing. And I feel if we do that, we're putting ourselves in a pretty, pretty good position. To win.
Jacob Litton:Yeah, that's best case scenario if you can hold him, a quarterback like that, less than 50 yards rushing.
Jason Harwood:Mm
Jacob Litton:Because like we said before, he's, you know, if he's going to take off, you know that he's got an open lane or open enough where he thinks he's probably going to be getting 8 to 10 yards each time he takes off.
Jason Harwood:Right. All right. What you got, Jacob?
Jacob Litton:Uh, so one of mine also pertains to rushing, but I think it's just, you know, stopping the running backs, holding James Conner, and making Kyler Murray beat us with his arm. Like I pointed out in week one, James Conner did not have a very good game, did not, you know, was not able to create Much of a threat on the ground and it really hurt the offense as a whole. And then you have week two when they, you know, they were ahead by a lot. So maybe they had something to do with it anyway, but he was definitely more effective at running the ball week two. And that's just kind of the name of the game. If you have success running the ball, it's easier for your offense to work. And we are a pretty good run defense. I know that, but I think that's, that's gotta be a key to victory is just slowing him down and, uh, you know, containing that rush.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, mine kind of what you're saying kind of goes tails into my next one is need to keep them at a reasonable third down percentage. They are number one in the league right now converting third downs. I think they're like 58 percent or something like that. You know, compared to last week, uh, we kept Tampa Bay at 20%. Um, you know, part of. getting out on third down is creating third and longs. And so if you stop, like you said, if you stop their rushing game, don't allow James Conner to get three or four yards on first down and another three or four yards, and then all of a sudden you're looking at. Third and three and Kyler Murray's extremely dangerous. Cause it's hard to keep him from rushing for three yards if he's going to really want to do that. So you want to really pigeonhole them into longer distances so that, you know, we can key is rushing and we can get those blitzes in. cause you know, if we're going to blitz, we're gonna have to blitz smart. We're going to have to have push out the front so he can't just escape out the front. And if he's going to escape out the back, we're going to make them run the long way so we can have time for our linebackers to catch up to them.
Jacob Litton:Absolutely.
Jason Harwood:All right. What you got next there, Jacob?
Jacob Litton:Well, you know, this kind of pertains into last week, but we've got to finish in the red zone. We can't have another, another game like that, where we're moving the ball consistently, we're getting down there. We spend all day on their half of the field, and we only come away with one touchdown. You're just not going to win football games like that. You know, even if you only make it to the red zone four times, if you hit two or three out of those four, uh, you know, then you have success to go on there seven times, only hit one that doesn't cut it. And I think that everyone on the lines knows that we're determined to perform better, especially in the red zone this week. Uh, I'm interested to see. The play calling in the execution in the red zone.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, it's got to start with, we got to, we got to run DMO more down there. That,
Jacob Litton:Absolutely. Yeah.
Jason Harwood:my opinion. That was the fault, the game plan last week. I know that they had Vita VEA at the beginning. So, but once that changed. you think, Hey, we're going to attack this, we're going to attack the middle of the field. And we're just going to put demo in there. I, to me, I, that's something I didn't understand from last week, looking back on it. We have plenty of opportunity to get down there and one of the reasons why I felt like we kept, you know, having trouble or drives getting killed is that we kept having third and long. Cause we
Jacob Litton:Yeah.
Jason Harwood:You know, we had had the place where we lose three yards cause we're trying to go to the outside. And then, you know, we get a five yard gain and then all of a sudden it's third and eight. We shouldn't let the other team dictate what we are. We should be able to dictate to them what they're going to, you know, what we want to do to them and that's the dominate. So, you know, like I think we talked about demo was only in like 30 percent of snaps or something like that, that. Can't happen, especially in the red zone. We need, we need to just, you know, utilize our dominant offensive line and just, you know, push the ball. And, you know, a lot of our red zone trips, you know, you could argue, Hey, we started on the 20, a couple of times we started on the 10. So you got a first and goal at the 10, you know, it's tougher, but I remember one of those plays, David Montgomery ran for like seven or eight yards down there. And. You know, I just feel like we could have, we could have just, uh, held our will a little bit longer in that game. Um, all we needed to score one of those touchdowns and, and the missed opportunities. So you're right. It's converting in the red zone. And I think it starts with running the ball and making a commitment to that. Um, I think Tim Patrick's going to end up being, by the end of the year, we're going to, he's going to have a few touchdowns down there and he's going to take over that Josh Reynolds role. Um, and just the big body that can, you know, it's got a huge cast radius. He can box out the cornerback. So I don't know if he's going to be ready this week, but in the future, that's what I'm looking at, you know, a big target down there for him.
Jacob Litton:Yeah. I think, you know, what also made Josh Reynolds was so good is that how long he's played with Jared Goff and how well they knew each other and they both knew the offense and just, you know, that just worked so well. So Tim Patrick, obviously it's going to take some time to build that timing and get everything down. And just him, you know, being able to trust him, you know, on choice routes or, you know, in the red zone, especially like he's going to find the holes and know which route and where to find it. It's just going to take time for them to work on. And obviously we didn't get a training camp with him.
Jason Harwood:Right.
Jacob Litton:we didn't get them until just a couple of weeks ago. So it's a learning experience. To speak on what you said about David Montgomery, though, you're 100 percent right. And I just feel like at the end of the game, you know, in the overtime game where they gave it to Demo and let him just take over, basically, you know, he was running all over him. He didn't get that chance here at the end, you know, at the end of the game like that, where he potentially could have taken over. So. Yeah, it's interesting that he didn't get more carries there. I don't know. I know we already talked about it before, but your quarterback just shouldn't be throwing the ball 55 times in a one possession game. We weren't down by, you know, last time we do that was against Baltimore. We were down by 30. Obviously you got to do something. You got to, you know, you're, you're stuck because of the game flow, you're stuck throwing the ball. That wasn't the case this time. And we just continued to throw it, even though yes, we were having some success. We were getting down there, but then. We mix in some runs in the red zone and it just wasn't working. And when we did try to run, we were running outside. We weren't running right at them, especially with Vita Vail.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I think the part of it is that, you know, we have played this team twice before and we've beat them both. The same way, mostly by dominating, you know, cheer golf is having, you know, really good games against them and they threw a lot. So they just tried to do the same thing. Whatever reason they were able to, you know, to really clamp down in crucial situations. But that's what I'm thinking when they got down there, you got to. You know, you got to impose your will and just take the heart of the other team. Cause if we had done that a couple of times early on, it would have been a totally different game. And then Hutch would have had a chance for having more sacks cause Baker would have been stuck, you know, having to chuck it down the field. I hope they use it as a learning lesson
Jacob Litton:I feel like we're going to, it just was, you know, it, was just a bad week.
Jason Harwood:no, it was we've been top five of red zone the last couple of years. Do I think all of a sudden we're going to be one of the worst in the league? No, not at all. It's just, you know, it's just the way it's worked out. First, you know, two weeks get it worked out. And I have most confidence in Ben Johnson, the offense to get that done. All right, let's get to grit picks. All right, before we go on with our picks this week, let's review what happened in week two. Jacob and I both went one and two. The Dolphins and the Eagles who we picked lost, uh, Eagles seemingly had that game in hand, but, uh, decided to Give it away, uh, Darius Slay, former Lyon says, it's on me guys, uh, can't let a guy get wide open like that and um, our one win was Houston over Chicago and, uh, Caleb Williams, um, story in Chicago is playing out like a lot of quarter, new quarterback stories in Chicago, um, not the greatest, so not shedding a tear over it either.
Jacob Litton:no, no, not the best start. And, uh, you know, happy to see it.
Jason Harwood:I saw a really funny meme today, uh, jig up when I was, I was on Reddit or something that said, it said like Caleb Williams says, I wonder, he goes, if he's going to throw more touchdowns than I have bathrooms in my house. So far it's zero to two. And so,
Jacob Litton:I remember that with Russell Wilson.
Jason Harwood:chuckle out of that. So I thought that was, that was. Really funny. But, um,
Jacob Litton:That is good.
Jason Harwood:yeah, so
Jacob Litton:I did not see, uh, you know, the, the bill smoke and the dolphins like that. I thought that was going to be a really good game.
Jason Harwood:I thought so too. Um, AJ played really, you know, really good. And, uh, yeah, and then, you know, the scary two a situation.
Jacob Litton:right.
Jason Harwood:wow. How's JJ doing with, you know, that's his favorite team.
Jacob Litton:Yeah, you know, he's a little concerned for the future and concerned about Tua. He was happy to hear that Tua's not considering retirement right now though, but
Jason Harwood:yeah,
Jacob Litton:yeah,
Jason Harwood:I mean, I don't know, like, first of all, he's got a no to not go head first. I mean, he has a concussion problem. I don't
Jacob Litton:Right.
Jason Harwood:Um, wonder if he's going to come back with a guardian cap. I mean, at some point he's going to have to do something to protect
Jacob Litton:You'd think he should.
Jason Harwood:You know, it, it just looks scary with his hand cramping up. Like it
Jacob Litton:Yeah,
Jason Harwood:ah, just, it, that's scary.
Jacob Litton:it's just not good.
Jason Harwood:I hope that whatever he decides is best for him and you know, it works out, but that's scary situation. right. So let's move into week three. There's actually gonna be four games to pick this week. Cause there's two Monday night games. Uh, first game is Patriots and jets. So Aaron Rogers on, you know, national TV surprise, surprise, um, who you got in this one, Jacob.
Jacob Litton:I went back and forth on this one, uh, but I am gonna take the Jets at home.
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I'm going to take the Jets on this one too, um, although, uh, Patriots win, I, I won't be sad
Jacob Litton:Yeah,
Jason Harwood:you
Jacob Litton:No.
Jason Harwood:all right, next on Sunday night football, we got Chiefs at Falcons. So Falcons on national TV again, they follow up Monday, Monday night football with Sunday night football. I'm going upset city. I'm going Falcons over chiefs. I think, uh, they're going to play some bully ball with Bijan. And, uh, I think that's, I think that's their keep the out of Patrick Mahomes hand. So I'm going to, I'm going to say the Falcons on this
Jacob Litton:I think you just don't wanna be wrong about your prediction, cause you know they don't look so hot right now. Uh, yeah, I'm going Chiefs. The Falcons were two yards, one Saquon drop away from being 0 2. And they should have deserved that. Uh, you know, that's still a new team. They're still trying to figure it out. Maybe they're going to be better later on. I still, you know, I don't think it's going to be this week. I think the Chiefs are going to take it to them.
Jason Harwood:yeah, chiefs are tough, but I'm, I'm going to go, I'm going to go with the
Jacob Litton:You know, the Chiefs, they just lost Isaiah Pacheco too. He's a really big part of having that running back in there. So, if they have to rely on Mahomes more to throw the ball, make your offense one dimensional. Even if you have Patrick Mahomes, it's going to be hard to pull anything off.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. I I just think if you're the Falcons, man, you really just utilize Bijan and hopefully you can, just play. play. uh, clock management and, you know, keep it out of Patrick Mahomes hand and hopefully force an error and you can keep it up. I mean, Kirk Cousins is gonna have to up his play, uh, for sure. And he's not, you know, someone you'd have confidence on, uh, you know, prime time television, but I'm going, I'm, I'm. Going with the Falcons, despite all that,
Jacob Litton:Hey, he's fine in a two minute drill when the defense is playing 15 yards off. Right?
Jason Harwood:yeah,
Jacob Litton:We saw that.
Jason Harwood:Yes, exactly. It does that, you know, I'll never understand that. We were talking about that today at work. Right. I mean, that was a good conversation. It's like, why do you give someone a 15 yard out? You know, and then you're basically just guaranteeing them to walk down the field. And I, I mean, I'd rather just have the one error play where they go over the top on you rather than, you know, just letting them walk down the field and giving them, you know, outside of a hail Mary chance there, you know, all of a sudden they're in the 20 year in the red zone and that makes it much easier.
Jacob Litton:Right. And you're just spotting him the first 40 50 yards. I'd yeah, yeah makes no sense.
Jason Harwood:So, all right. First Monday night football game, Jaguar at bills. Who you got on this one?
Jacob Litton:i'm gonna be taking the bills on this one Especially after how they looked last week and the jaguars have been kind of up and down already doesn't look like they're improving much You hope that trevor lawrence is gonna take the next step. I don't think that he has Uh, the bills are gonna be at home. I feel like the bills are gonna get it done here,
Jason Harwood:Yeah, I think the bills are gonna, uh, gonna win too. But I also feel like the Jaguars might just have that one game that they don't turn over the ball. Like ETN seems to always fumble the ball at critical situations. He did last week again, and you know, if you can just hold on to the ball, they might have a shot, but I'm going to take the bills at home. last game is commanders, how they're getting a Monday night game. I. Don't really know but commanders at bangles. I am going with the bangles on this one Joe Burrow's gonna get the win
Jacob Litton:yeah, I, you know, I like, uh, Daniels. I like the commander's quarterback, but I, I think that the Bengals are definitely going to win this game, especially coming off how last week went,
Jason Harwood:all right, that's our picks for the week. Uh, now let's get on to the grit guarantee. Alright, Jacob, you lead off the last one, I'll lead off this one, and this one. Jared Goff. If he has a rough game, he usually comes back and plays pretty solid. I'm going to go ahead and say he throws two touchdowns in this game. That's my guarantee of the week.
Jacob Litton:I think it's a safe guarantee. I think you're trying to play it safe again.
Jason Harwood:well, he only, he's thrown one in the first two games combined to three interceptions. So I'm going to have the least even set up and gets, you know, three touchdowns with three interceptions.
Jacob Litton:Alright. I'm going bold again. I'm not gonna pick Stonehands to get an interception this time, but I'm going bold again. Uh, I'm gonna say we, we have 100 percent red zone touchdown percentage.
Jason Harwood:Ooh,
Jacob Litton:I think every time we get in the red zone, we're punching it in.
Jason Harwood:All right. Well, hopefully it's more than one time,
Jacob Litton:right. I hope so too. Hey, maybe there's some deep passes and we don't even have to get in the red zone,
Jason Harwood:Yeah.
Jacob Litton:but we're in the in when we're in the red zone, we're scoring
Jason Harwood:All
Jacob Litton:touchdown percentage. A hundred percent
Jason Harwood:I
Jacob Litton:book it.
Jason Harwood:Cause that would be a, uh, very good key to the game because as we talked earlier, so, all right, I like it hundred percent touchdown, right? I like it. All right, Jacob, I'm going to be a miss. If we don't talk about our tigers, just a tad tad bit at the end here. Okay. It's a super exciting time, this playoff time. And, you know, we had this. Conversation earlier at work. And I think it rings true that this tiger team, uh, shows resemblance to the lions team of two years ago, where it started out poorly and then just went on an awesome streak, tried to make the playoffs, didn't get it. We're hoping the tigers actually make the playoffs. I just want to say we're huge tiger fans along with lions fans, and I'm really. Hoping that we pull this off in the last couple of weeks. It'd be great for Detroit to have, you know, leading into the Red Wings and the Red Wings, we're expecting good things from them too. So it'd be really nice to see another team, make the, another Detroit sport, make the playoffs.
Jacob Litton:Yes, we want the city to have success and it's just an awesome time when the teams are playing well. Red Wings were one, one opponent's loss away from making the playoff, and now we hear have the tigers that are, you know. It's gonna be a photo finish here, and we, we're hot right now, man, they're just fun to watch. And it's awesome that they're fun to watch this late into September, when, uh, the last couple years it's been, it's been the opposite, it's been hard to watch.
Jason Harwood:Yeah. You just instantly started tuning into lions. So yeah,
Jacob Litton:yeah,
Jason Harwood:go tigers. I'm super excited about it. Um, as we're recording right now, they're up four to two in the eighth. So,
Jacob Litton:and the twins lost.
Jason Harwood:the twins loss in the bottom of the 10th, when they were up by two, Two runs. And then the guardians came back and scored three runs. So
Jacob Litton:Oreos lost too.
Jason Harwood:yeah, this is all lining up really good for Detroit. So, all right, for Jacob, I'm Jason go lions.
