Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast

E33: “Pride Preview” - Jamo Suspension, Week 8: Detroit Lions vs Tennessee Titans

• Jason Harwood / Jacob Litton • Season 1 • Episode 33

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Jason and Jacob are joined by the boys for the Titan's Colosseum podcast.  They learn about the Titans and conversations explore the impact of trades, coaching changes, and the struggle for a clear direction. Discussion about the Detroit Lions includes detailed game analyses, strategic discussions, and fan sentiments, along with predictions and concerns over player suspensions. 

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Jason Harwood:

Welcome everybody to Talking Grit. I'm Jason Harwood and we have Jacob Linton here with me. going to change up the format a little bit this week. we, you know, we usually have just one interview. Well, you know, the Titans, they came at us with two. So we're got the boys from Titans Coliseum podcast to discuss, the week eight matchup with the Titans. I want to welcome Morocco and RJ us. How you doing fellas?

Marako:

Yo, what's going on guys? How you feeling?

RJ Ellison:

going on, man? Happy to be on the show, man. Uh,

Jason Harwood:

three to two, but one of them couldn't make it. So we could play man to man defense on this one. Who do you want RJ or Morocco?

Jacob:

uh, my screen's lined up with Morocco, so I guess I got him.

Jason Harwood:

All right. Well, I got RJ. I don't know if you could shoot outside threes or not. I don't know. Just let me know. You drive to the hole. All right, fellas. So what's going on Titans nation? Uh, you know, based on our discussion before we're, we're a little frustrated, but where are you, where are you guys at?

RJ Ellison:

right now we are, we are, we're on the battlefield right now, man. We got our tank right now, man. You know, we, we riding down the battlefield with our tanks, man. Cause my goodness, we're getting rid of everybody. Everybody up for sale on, uh, on the Tennessee tires right now. So that's kind of where we are. We try to figure out who gone, who, who's, you know what I'm saying? Who's staying. So

Jason Harwood:

Were you surprised about the DeAndre Hopkins news or were you just wondering when that was going to happen?

RJ Ellison:

yeah, it was more so a win. Cause he set out, he set out, uh, probably like to set the, probably the third or fourth quarter of the, uh, the, uh, the Buffalo bills game, man. And he, he gave coast to side. I, we, me and Morocco and Firestone, we kind of knew we was like, yeah, you finna get traded at shopping, you know, um, Yeah, when we got blown up by the Bills, I was pretty much the Titans fan that any little bit of hope that Titans fans had that we're going to turn the season around. It was gone after that, you know, so you guys are about to go ahead and put an end to it as well, in my opinion.

Jason Harwood:

We'll see, we haven't been home and this will be the first home game in three weeks for us. So it's going to be a loud environment that the Titans are going to have to deal with. So sounds like Mason Rudolph is going to be the quarterback. Is that what you guys think? Or

Marako:

Oh yeah, man. It's going to be the quarterback. Uh,

RJ Ellison:

won't live is to go out there because I mean, they, they, they want to feel a full, um, season worth of film to see if he's not the guy or not. I mean, so far he's been garbage, but they don't say they want a full season. See if he's going to get any better and become something in the league. But if he can't, then they're going to throw Mason Rudolph out there. But I mean, either way, you got to beat us in my opinion. So it.

Jacob:

Well, based on how the season's going,

RJ Ellison:

are,

Jacob:

right,

RJ Ellison:

we are undefeated against the, uh, against the Detroit lions. So maybe, you know what I'm saying? Maybe we get lucky.

Jacob:

right, right now, based on how the season's going though, I mean, and you know, you already said, it seems like almost everyone's up for grabs. They've got Jeffrey Simmons, Harold Landry, quandary digs, uh, Ernest Jones and DeAndre Hopkins were already traded. So you guys have value and it seems like they're all up for sale. Do you think that's ideally what they're doing is just tanking and they're going to get a quarterback? Um,

Marako:

there is no guarantee that Tennessee is going to get in, uh, that top three where we need to be to, you know, have a shot at, uh, getting a Shadour Sanders or Ward. So if we don't go that route, we may have to go best player. So, uh, that's why I've been saying that it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Titans to pick up a bridge guy at free agency. Just go blown Atlanta Falcons from last year,

Jacob:

Okay.

Marako:

sign somebody. And if you're in a position to draft a guy, take him. I mean, I don't have a problem with them doing that. All I

Jacob:

The uh, the, um, the transcript. very much.

RJ Ellison:

quarterback if we don't, if we're not in position to get, we could just go running back with Will Levis again. You know what I'm saying? I, I, I feel like if he does get better potential, he could be better than what he's shown so far, but our expectation has been so bad that like it making him do bad things.

Jacob:

Transcribed

RJ Ellison:

I've been the biggest person I've been, I've been on hard on Will Levis, you know what I'm saying this whole time, but. In my, in my, in my, uh, in my, in my opinion, man, we, if we're not gonna get a quarterback this year, we're going to have to wait till next year, man. And we just throw Levis back out there again and just go ahead and suffer because you can't do this without no quarterback, man. just my opinion, man. You got, you're gonna have to draft one and get one in a draft or maybe be like you guys and us. And get lucky and get one in a trade.

Jacob:

by https: otter. ai

RJ Ellison:

what I'm saying? You guys got Jared golf and you see what you guys are doing. We had Ryan Tannehill from dolphins and you see that we, we made some noise with three years with Ryan Tannehill, man. So I, you know what I'm saying? It's either one of the two, man. We either go out to trade for a guy, run with Levis, or we've got the draft one, make one in the draft, man. So you want a draft? So

Marako:

Who done talked you back on the boat, RJ?

RJ Ellison:

What'd he say?

Marako:

I said, who done talked you back on the boat? Yeah,

RJ Ellison:

ain't nobody telling me back on the ball. You know, I'm big Cam Ward.

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

RJ Ellison:

Cam Ward is the best player in the draft right now, man. Uh, I don't know why people are trying to act like he ain't out there balling, man. And now you're out here throwing these dimes, man. Cam Ward is the best quarterback. He's a Jaden Daniels of this draft.

Jacob:

He makes it look effortless, too. I mean, he just, you know, can make any throw. He's able to move like he, yeah, I think he's gonna be really good.

RJ Ellison:

ain't seeing what they seeing, man. I've watched it. I've watched him every single week because like, man, he's just excited. No, not as a football fan. He's an exciting person to watch. You know what I'm saying? And I, I like it. Sedora Sanders to store centers is, is also going to be a good quarterback in his league, but I'm telling you now, watch both of them thoroughly. Cam Ward is the best quarterback in his draft question. Stronger

Jacob:

the problem is putting them behind this offensive line, though, too.

Jason Harwood:

um,

Jacob:

you know, they've been very bad in pass protection this year. I think pro football focus has them rated almost dead last in pass protection.

Jason Harwood:

demo. Um, here's

Marako:

it's been bad but uh, got a bright spot. I mean, got a couple of bright spots. Uh,

Jason Harwood:

a,

Marako:

Latham left tackle. I mean, he he's holding it down. He's having one of the best of the show. Seasons as a rookie and left tackle that I've, uh, I've seen and, uh, Peter Skowronski, although his play has

Jacob:

Yeah. That's pretty cool. Okay. so much. Thanks. Yeah. Okay. Oh, and uh, I, I'll uh, I'll stop the recording and I'll, I'll start the audio. So, um, I'll, I'll stop the recording and I'll, I'll, I'll start the audio. Silence. Silence.

Marako:

no one is really

Jacob:

Silence. Okay. That's it. Uh, very much to everyone for coming, uh, and for sharing your stories and everything you're doing and sharing your insights. And, um, we're going to go ahead and start. I'll get my mic set up. And we're going to get started.

Marako:

right tackle. So we ended up, uh, with Nicolas Petit Ferrer, the fantasy expert.

Jacob:

Okay.

Marako:

Uh, he goes out there and my God, I mean. Looks bad. Just, just all out horrible. Try to, try to, no, God, I went blank that fast. Um, Jalen Duncan,

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Marako:

round draft.

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Marako:

at left tackle last year.

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Marako:

he gave up a lot of sacks in Maryland as well. But, uh,

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Marako:

they gave Leroy Watson a shot and although Watson, wasn't the best, had some penalties, I mean, don't mind the penalties, I mean,

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Marako:

but he didn't give up a sack, looked like, you know, had some problems with him, they didn't start him, uh, against

Jacob:

Silence. Right,

Marako:

back out there. So I mean that's how much of mess we've been at Wright tackle.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah and uh and uh I'm so glad you guys are at this day. He would have he would have five sacks against his old line. I'm a legend. We there was no way we're going to be able to block that dude. I'm just keep that 100. Yeah. So, I'm glad he's not playing because my goodness, man. We we may you said if you want to see embarrassment. Watch us play the Cleveland Browns last year. That was, we made him look like Lawrence Taylor. We, it got to the point where the Miles Garrett was right. He would, he, he was toying with us. We had two tight ends following him to block him and he got up and went to the other side and the two tight ends got up and followed him over here and he just kept going back and forth to mess with it. Cause he knew, he knew he was coming to block. Like that's how that's how bad our line has been for the past three years, man. And his office line has been a problem for a while, you know, and you guys know, you said it takes a while to fix the office line. It just does.

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

RJ Ellison:

It takes a while. Um, but luckily.

Jason Harwood:

Oh,

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Jason Harwood:

is, you know, you want, it's, is it hard to get a good read on will love us then if he's not getting any pressure? I mean, you're also, he's losing his wide receivers too. So is it, I mean, even if you

RJ Ellison:

No, he sucks. He sucks. That's a cargo bears game. That just game. Yeah, he sucks. It just, I mean, it's simple as that, man. He's not a good, he's not a good quarterback, man. I do. He showed us some problems last year. He made a couple big plays, man. He showed us some flashes, but see this year. He's not going to get, he's not going to tap into that. You know what I'm saying? And I, and we, and me and Morocco and Firestone, we made fun of this kid all the way up until we drafted him. We, we, we was rousting him every other week. Every time we would do quarterback evaluations and we didn't think we were going to

Jacob:

Yeah, nice.

RJ Ellison:

So, you know, I just look at it like this though, man, he hasn't been a good quarterback at any level of football. What makes you think he's going to do it in the NFL? You know, so.

Jacob:

It was just the arm, just the arm strength arm ability. I mean, because I follow Kentucky football too. I mean, he's, he had the arm. It just wasn't, you know, he didn't make the best decisions and he wasn't really able to make all the thrills. I think teams just saw that cannon. I mean, he, you know, he fell in the drafts a little bit, obviously, but yeah, it's not like they're tied to him forever. So if that's the plan is to take and get a different quarterback, it doesn't sound like you guys would be missing him. I mean, you need better quarterback play despite the line.

Marako:

Right. And will Levi, I mean, has all the physical abilities, abilities that you would ask for in a quarterback. The thing is. He doesn't really have it between the ears. I mean,

Jacob:

Yeah,

Marako:

your quarterback to be cool, calm, and collective throughout any situation. That isn't Will Leavis. I mean, it seems like Will Leavis loves to live in chaos. I mean, he will create his own chaos. I mean, y'all, y'all saw that in the Chicago game. Y'all saw that

Jason Harwood:

Silence. Silence.

Marako:

I mean, just, Things like that on top of what he's doing, uh, he's doing when he's in the pocket. I mean, what he's not doing when he's in the pocket, because when he has protection, I mean, he's late with his passes. I don't know what it is, but he won't even throw downfield, um, this season. He's saying that he's not seeing the wide receivers. But last year, it seems like you couldn't stop him from throwing the ball downfield.

Jacob:

right.

Marako:

I don't, I don't know exactly, you know, what's going on with Will Leavis. I mean, where, where is, you know, this sudden change coming from? So, but Man, he's a second round draft pick, so we don't need to sit up here and give him four seasons to try to figure it out.

Jacob:

Yes,

RJ Ellison:

yeah, yeah,

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

RJ Ellison:

one that's drafted in the top three, you know what I'm saying? Drafted in the top two, like it don't, doesn't mean usually the quarterbacks that are good in this league, like even you guys as quarterback, he was drafted number one overall, you know what I'm

Jacob:

right, right,

RJ Ellison:

The first crown quarterbacks nine times to 10. I'm gonna make it in this league now. I do that. I get it There's something I said, there's a brought there's some rock parties. There's some tom brady's I get that You know i'm saying but most of the time 90 of the time you're gonna get them in the top 10,

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

That's because quarterbacks get overdrafted. So, I mean, by the time you get to the second round, third round, they've been well picked over by that time and

RJ Ellison:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

so much

RJ Ellison:

it's because you want to put that contract on them, you know

Jason Harwood:

so let's switch things up. Let's talk about the defense. First thing I got to say is what's going on with Legereus Sneed in PFF. He's rated the last he's rated as the last corner. What, what's going on with him? Is

RJ Ellison:

Well, i'll

Jacob:

My name is Thomas. I'd like to introduce you to myself. My name is Thomas. I'm a school district representative. Our city, the city of Baltimore, has a population of 34, 000, which is the largest in the state. The city of Baltimore's population is estimated at about 1. 2 million people. It's an urban community of about 1. 3 million people. So, it's a pretty big city.

RJ Ellison:

the best year. I mean, he's also first year under, uh, Dinara Wilson as well. So, you know, it took him a while at KC for him to get going as well. So, you know, we'll see, we'll see what he, what he is in moving forward with us.

Jason Harwood:

that your read on it, Morocco?

Jacob:

Um,

Marako:

But, but, uh, yeah, I mean, luxurious need, uh, throughout these, uh, what, six games that we've played, he hasn't really been, uh, good at all. The stats against opposing wire receivers. They say one thing, but when you look at them on the field, I mean, if there's

Jacob:

Okay.

Marako:

quarterback, they make those completions and those numbers look a whole lot worse. So, LeGarrius need, I'm not mad that we went and got him, but we definitely need more from him.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Jacob, you're up. So, um, I don't know if

Jacob:

Alright, um,

Jason Harwood:

it, but I

Jacob:

guess basically we want to know what your opinion is on Mike variable. You know, why didn't Mike variable get fired? He's obviously defensive minded coach and then you guys flip over here and you hire the Bengals offensive coordinator

Jason Harwood:

cool name.

Jacob:

Through six games, you guys are 31st and offensive yards right now.

Jason Harwood:

And, uh,

Jacob:

So was the reason, you know, cause very well, you know, you guys were in the playoffs, you guys were, you know, getting there, they just felt like they needed to make the next step. Or do you think they just thought, you know, we're going to blow this thing up. It's just time for a change.

Marako:

well, uh, the Mike Virgo thing, I mean, It's a lot when it comes to, uh, the whole Mike variable situation, but I'll start off here the 2020, uh, the 2022 season. I mean, we, uh, we started off. Well, I mean, I think we started off what 72 RJ, something like that. That

RJ Ellison:

and three. We started off with, uh, that was the, that was the 2021 season, not 2022 season.

Marako:

was 22.

RJ Ellison:

Uh,

Marako:

22. We started off, uh, seven and seven and two, seven and three is somewhere around there. We started off good, but then the wheels just fell off. I mean, we went on a losing streak,

Jacob:

Silence. Silence. Silence.

Marako:

I mean, it was just a mess. And then we came into 2023. John Robinson had got fired during the 2022 season after. The Eagles just straight up beat us with A. J. Brown. A. J. Brown was out there with the whole belt thing or whatever. But, uh, John Ronson lost his job 2022. In comes, uh, Rand Carthon, It was said that what's going on right now, Rand wanted to do that coming in. Mike Vrabel wasn't a fan of it. He wanted to run it back with Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry. They ultimately. Decided, okay, we're going to let you run it back with Henry, Ryan Tannehill. Well, 2023, you know, season season don't start off too hot, but what was crazy is we were losing every game on the road, but we were winning every game at home. And the types was in such a rough spot to where you didn't know what we were going to be. And then Mike Vrabel goes to New England during our bye week. That's what really set things off. The news started to come out that hearing that Mike Vrabel isn't happy in Tennessee. Everybody's wondering, you know, what's going on. And, uh, end of, end of the season, man, when, uh, it started looking like the Titans wasn't going to make the playoffs, I the chatter started to get louder. I mean, were hearing that, uh, the Titans may move on from Mike Vrabel. Amy, uh, Adam Strunk the organization put out a statement saying that Mike Vrabel is the head coach, which we saw that before out of her. That didn't stop anything. After the Jacksonville game, uh, week 18, they ended up letting Mike Vrabel go, and a lot came out. Him and Miss Amy, you know, were butting heads. had been said that Vrabel, uh, wasn't a fan of Carthone and that, He wanted, uh, somebody to oversee rare car. Thought he didn't want him hired as general manager. He wanted him to be like an assisted general manager. He wanted control. I mean, it, it was just,

RJ Ellison:

yeah, it was crazy.

Marako:

ultimately. We felt that we needed to go in another direction with this office because my variable was very loyal to his guys and his guys were not getting it done. I mean, you heard about all kinds of communication issues defensively with the shame boy and then, uh, Keith Carter. former offensive line coach, uh, he ended up getting let go. Vrabel hires his assistant. The assistant is much worse than Tied down and the whole DUI thing. They retained him even after the DUI. Waited to the end of the season to let him go. Tim Kelly comes in. Things Look like they were going to be a little bit, a little bit different with Tim Kelly, but me, it still ended up, know, the tights running the football into a brick wall with Derrick Henry. He wasn't getting the blocks that he was, uh, getting when he was running for 2000 yards. And y'all are seeing that in Baltimore right now. I mean, Does it look like Derrick Henry lost a step to y'all?

Jacob:

No.

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

Marako:

You know what I'm saying?

RJ Ellison:

I told people that when we try it, when we're not trying to once he left, I said, yeah, I mean, Derek Harris from the I told Morocco Morocco. They won't believe me. I said, it's going to be the best Russian do all of all time. I said, we ain't never seen nothing like this.

Marako:

Yeah, it's a lot with the Mike Bradford situation. But, um,

Jason Harwood:

So

Marako:

with this direction. If you want the modern day offense or whatnot, you need to keep on swinging. At the offensive minded head coach, even if Cali doesn't work, go find somebody else stick to it. Don't just give up if it doesn't work with Cali and go right back to the defensive minded head coach where

Jacob:

Right.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, I think I'm gonna agree with Marco. Pretty much everything he said was correct, man. It's just, he was just way too loyal to people that he shouldn't have been loyal to, man. We have some really bad coaches. And they're bad at other places, too. Like, we was laughing, me and Marco was laughing because the Jets hired Todd Downing as their O. C. And we was like, watch, they all finna go to shit. We already knew, we already knew me because they, they, they were hyping it up in the air that I'm like, man, they really hyping though tied down. He's garbage. Like the jets right now, they're, they looking like a curse franchise. So

Jacob:

Yeah, right.

RJ Ellison:

even the offensive line doesn't even look that good anymore. They keep Carter over there. So.

Jason Harwood:

with. With your coaches, we got your defensive line, coach, coach Williams, coach T Williams over here.

RJ Ellison:

I love that dude, man.

Marako:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

say everybody that we've talked to all the players that I've talked about and all the coaches seem to say glowing things about him. So, I mean, you've already stated you love them. What did you like about them? Um,

RJ Ellison:

Well, one, uh, he, uh, with us during the preseason with one point in time, man, he, that he, that Mike Rable said that he coached the, uh, the defense. So, well, the defense line. So, well, did they let him coach the game for preseason? You know what I'm saying? So, he could kind of show that he could coach, you know, he, he actually was the head coach of a preseason game, you know, for us. So, that should just show you how much respect Mike Rable had for him. And Morocco, I give you one time in on the as well.

Marako:

Yeah, I was just going to, uh, I was just going to say, I mean, his position group, I mean, they was always ready to go. I the whole team would have ran through a brick wall for Mike variable. I mean, they would have done the same for him as well, man. So, I mean, Just a well respected, uh, coach. Yeah.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah. D lines are always good. Uh, under him as well. I mean, the tie has always been known for our D line. Hey, um, we can see, we can kind of somewhat see the difference in the D line from where, since he's gone. Cause I mean, we kind of having questions about Jeffrey Simmons right now because they people, a lot of our fans are saying that he overrated that he's not worth the contract that we gave him. And I'm like, you know, I don't know what to say just because it's like, hey, Jeffrey Simmons has always been a good player for us, but this season he's not having the best season.

Jacob:

Yeah, and it seems like Hutch really took it to the next level before that injury and then our defensive tackle Lee McNeil has been really playing well too. So it seems to be working out for us so far.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, we've always had somebody stepped up on him as well to like, he's always been, he's always been a good defensive line coach.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. I mean, that's where you really see the difference. Your top end players are going to be your top end players, but when you start seeing the growth of your backend or your, you know, middle, you know, middle of the, uh, roster type players, you know, they take the next step, it can be a huge difference between not making the playoffs or making the playoffs. Or if someone gets injured, you've got another next man up.

Marako:

I mean, he's got some guys, he's got some guys play, uh, pay to, uh, Mario Edwards, uh, DeMarcus Walker. I mean, guys right there. I mean, they, they were practice squad guys. I mean, they

Jacob:

So, I'm going to show you a little bit of the, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, all for joining us and we'll see you next time.

Jason Harwood:

As Lions fans, we've been in your shoes. We've been in the one and six. We've been in there. We've been, what you guys mentioned, looking at the draft board already, looking at mock drafts in the middle of the season, where it sounds

Jacob:

Transcripts provided by Transcription Outsourcing, LLC.

Jason Harwood:

where do you want to go with it?

RJ Ellison:

Uh, no, it doesn't sound like a broken record with my goodness. I'm just, I just need a quarterback. I need a young quarterback. I can believe in that the fans can believe it so we can calm down a little bit. Even if we was having These type of if we was having like a, a two, three win season and we got our quarterback situation already settled, I think I feel a lot better about this team, but like now that we ain't got no quarterback and we lose and it's hard for us to really just watch them. You know what I'm saying? Cause I even, even, uh, I had cut the game off against the bills and once they went up two scores, I was like, yeah, we're not coming back. We just don't have the firepower to come back against the bills. And there's this DM man. It's just, it's just hard. It's just me and the most, we're mostly uninvested in this team right now until the off season.

Jason Harwood:

That's a tough place to be. I've been there.

Marako:

Okay.

RJ Ellison:

we

Jacob:

We've been there many times.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah,

Marako:

Yeah, it is, man.

RJ Ellison:

the world, the NFL outside of everybody outside of your division is definitely cheering for the lions. I mean, just so y'all know, we know what you

Jacob:

Yeah. Right.

Marako:

Uh,

Jacob:

All right.

Marako:

be, you gotta be either a real hater or a Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, or Chicago Bears fan to hate what's going on in Detroit right now because y'all have been down for so long. And finally, you know, you getting your time to shine. So, I mean, you Hats off to y'all, man. And, uh, man, I hope y'all take it as far as y'all possibly can this year. And by

RJ Ellison:

championship, man, kick the field goal, bro.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Oh,

RJ Ellison:

I'm going for it on fourth down so much. Like I'm like, dude, like he just kicked the field

Marako:

the way,

RJ Ellison:

Huh?

Marako:

and Campbell being, by the way, when it comes to, uh, him taking risk, he, is he taking less risk or is he still, you know, rolling

Jacob:

Every, any fourth down, he might go for it. It doesn't matter where we're at, how far away you are, what the game situation is. We never know. I mean, it's realistic that every single fourth down, we might go for it.

Jason Harwood:

well, we went where we fake the punt on the first drive, Jacob, and this

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

a five and O team. He, I mean, I, the thing is that what I like about Dan Campbell is he puts his faith in the players and you know, not blind faith. He, he has confidence and those fake punts or whatever, when they talk about in the press conference, he's like, we have a specific look. We're looking at, if we get that look. is the play we're going to run. If we don't get that, look, we check out of it and we punt. So it's not just like, Hey, we're going for it. I don't, you know, whatever it's well thought of. So yeah, you know, RJ, you said, you know, kick the field goal. I get it, but that's what got them there last year. That's what got them to that point was

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, that's what everybody been telling me. It was like, they've been, he been doing it the whole season, but

Jacob:

Yeah, right,

RJ Ellison:

in the 49ers. Like, I'm like, bro, I, like, they were just a better, they were a better football team than y'all. Y'all was beating them. And I'm like, man, you can't give the 49ers hope, bro. You know what I'm saying? I was like, just

Jacob:

right. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay.

Jason Harwood:

you're seven up by 17 in the second half, and you think. We might be actually doing this. We might be going to Superbowl. And so then the disappointment comes in, but you know, at the late, at the beginning of last year, if you told me we made it all the way to the NFC championship game, that's a huge success for the lions. And so it's been this progression for us, you know, Dan Campbell's first year is three and 13 won three games the next year we started out one six, but then almost made the playoffs last year, won the division. And then this year we're kind of on the same path. So it's, you know, We just hope that it keeps growing. And, uh, we'd like to hear that you're supporting us. Cause you know, that's the kind of gist that we get, but, um, you know, it's, it's nice to hear it.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, I mean, we're on the opposite side of the conference, so we ain't got to worry about

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, yeah,

RJ Ellison:

it unless we go to the Zumba. You know what I'm saying? So, uh, look. I said, we've been in your exact shoes, man. We was just in the AOC championship playing against Mahomes, man. And we went up 14 to nothing and we was like, we might go to the Super Bowl, you know, and we both had the same, you know what I'm saying, the same reaction, you know, and we went up 17 to seven and then Mahomes broke the run. Man, he broke our backs then and there. So we've been in your shoes before.

Jason Harwood:

it's tough. So let's just, you know, the lines, when you think about this game, you know, we mentioned Aiden's out, so that was your big worry when you think about this game that's coming up, what are you, what are you most worried about? Either they're offensively or defensively.

Marako:

I'm worried about Detroit putting up 50 points on us and us not

Jacob:

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. We're in the middle of an interview right now. We're in the middle of a press conference, right?

Marako:

not gonna lie. I don't, uh, I don't really know where y'all stand defensively. I was going to ask you about that either Jacob or Jason, uh, look defensively this year. I mean, did y'all make, make any, you know, significant improvements? Are y'all seeing it?

Jason Harwood:

Go ahead, Jacob. I'll let you handle this.

Jacob:

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, the biggest question mark that we had with our defense really has been our secondary last year. You know, we had cam Sutton, who was our number one cornerback, and he was just, you know, he was getting torched pretty much every week. And that was a big weakness is even though we had, you know, Hutchinson, we had some pressure on the quarterback. They were still able to find guys open because, you know, the holes they had in the secondary. So, you know, we drafted Terry on Arnold and it's rake straw. We traded for Carlton Davis, uh, you know, Brian branch has really stepped up and been like playing at an all pro level. I mean right now our defense is at a top 10 level Obviously, you know without Hutchinson because he was doing so well So it's going to be interesting to see how we uh, you know Mix up the blitzing and you know pass rush without Hutchinson there but I mean to this point the defense has definitely been playing even you know better than what we Anticipated with the new cornerbacks in my opinion,

Jason Harwood:

you'll be getting some first downs cause our corners play and they're grabby back there. And they, we've given up quite a few first downs, but, uh, Jacob and I has kind of just decided that's just the way we're, you know, we'd rather be sticky and coverage and give up a few. Holding penalties rather than just seeing guys run wide open deep in the secondary. So that's just

RJ Ellison:

Uh,

Jason Harwood:

Lions fans are going to have to deal with this year. But, you know, with our offense, Jacob and I feel like we get two or three stops a game. And, you know, Our offense will take care of the rest. So that's kind of where we're at. You know, lions play

Jacob:

right? Hmm.

RJ Ellison:

ass in my opinion. So like, don't get shot if you, if you, if we're in a close game and have about around halftime is, you know what I'm saying? Cause the tights will run, eat the clock up and play good defense and we'll be in a game with you. But most of it, but if we're going to make that one play that you guys are going to take advantage of and you guys gonna start running up the score, I can see that type of game happening against you guys. Cause you know,

Jason Harwood:

Well,

RJ Ellison:

that's just how we play.

Jason Harwood:

game, right? I mean, you guys

RJ Ellison:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

RJ Ellison:

It was up 10 0 on Buffalo, so

Marako:

Yeah, one play call. I mean, it changed the course of the game. Of course, uh, Brian Calhoun and deciding to go for it. Um, On a four down that didn't work out. I mean, shoot Buffalo. They had damn good field position and they ended up capitalizing on it. Uh, that's when a Mari Cooper scored his first touchdown with the Buffalo bills. Um, pretty much, uh, got in front of, Corandre Diggs and, uh, copped the football, man. So, I mean, it went downhill from there. I don't know what situation Callie is going to be in, uh, this Sunday, but if it's, you know, a sticky situation, expect not to make the right decision.

Jacob:

Yeah. Yeah.

RJ Ellison:

Yeah, he's,

Jason Harwood:

Um,

RJ Ellison:

one, he doesn't have a quarterback too. Like, I mean, this team isn't even his team yet. Like we got a draft. We're going to have to build this team, build this team up drafting. We can't build a team up off of just buying, we're trying to, we tried to people, our friends, our friends thought that we could just, we could Buy a competitive team. And I don't think that's how you go about it. We really just bought these people so we can see if Will Leavis is the guy moving forward. I think that was the big thing. Like right now we're very trying to figure out who's going to be our quarterback moving forward. That's why we got a lot of these guys, you know, and if, I think with ran, he was basically trying to look at it like, well, if he is a guy we can compete, you get what I'm saying? Like we can compete a little bit, you know, but he wasn't. So he's like, all right, let's go ahead and sail. We right now, I don't know who's going to be playing with people. We're going to be trained because we might be training people tomorrow. You know what I'm saying? We might the day of the

Jacob:

Right.

RJ Ellison:

training somebody. So I don't know who's playing on game day.

Jason Harwood:

that's, that's so disheartening for a football fan when you get, you know, you're not, we're not even halfway through the season and you're feeling like that about your team. Like Jacob said, we've been there. We totally understand and can empathize with where your guys are at. So it, yeah. That's awesome. Totally get it. Um, before we take off here, one thing that we ask our guests to do is just make a prediction about the game. Doesn't have to be the score. Doesn't have to be, it could be just one prediction about the game. I'm gonna start with you, Morocco. You pick a, what do you think is going to happen in this game? Okay.

Marako:

that's tanking right now. Just got rid of DeAndre Hopkins. telling, like RJ said, no telling who else we're going to get rid of before this game Sunday. So I will say Detroit isn't going to play with us. I mean, they're, they're probably going to be, uh, 24 to 28 points in the, in the first half.

Jacob:

Mm

RJ Ellison:

it's a little bit different to me. I do believe it will be somewhat competitive. I can see y'all being up like a 17 to 10 and then you guys are going to make that one play that's going to make it 24 it up, you know, from then on there. But. I will say I got my final score prediction will probably be 41 to 10 41. Uh, because I

Jacob:

hmm.

RJ Ellison:

we're gonna score again. Once y'all make that play, I'm gonna go, I'll say 41 13 lions.

Jason Harwood:

Wow, gonna hit another

RJ Ellison:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

See if Jerry

Jacob:

Well, we would be okay with that.

RJ Ellison:

to the cowboys. I say, Oh Lord, y'all

Marako:

I saw that. I said, yeah, Detroit ain't playing this year.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Morocco or RJ, tell the people where they can listen to you guys. And you know, when you guys post your stuff and, um, yeah, just tell them what's up.

Marako:

So, um, Titans Coliseum podcast, I'm Morocco Taylor, RJ Ellison with us tonight. Leonard Firestone

Jacob:

All

Marako:

I mean, we're all over the place, man. And, uh, can, uh, go check out some of our articles as well. We, we write from time to time. Um, Tennessee, uh, I keep on wanting to say Tennessee tights. com tights, coliseum. com where you can find our latest articles, uh, show episodes, pretty much anything you want to know. About the Titans Coliseum is, uh, on our website. You can go there, get merch as well. Well,

Jason Harwood:

All right, fellas have

Jacob:

right,

Jason Harwood:

I, we welcome your time. Thanks for coming on. Uh, it's been,

Marako:

yeah. Thanks for having us.

Jason Harwood:

All right, well, that was a cool interview. A little change up a little format. Uh, we got the, you know, we had to talk to two at the same time, so let's first, Jacob, let's talk about the injury report. You want to go over, um, the one that was released today? Um,

Jacob:

Tackle. Jeffrey Simmons didn't practice, but that is due to rest and then getting in limited practices for the Titans where quarterback will levels. Um, who is kind of up in the air about whether he's going to play or not running back ties, a Spears, and then their linebacker, Kenneth Murray, he was a limited participant. He's their green dot player. So that would be a huge loss if he was not able to go. Sounds like he's going to be okay, but we don't have more information on that just now, just yet. Anyway, you want to go over the line side,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, so the, bigs, we're going to get a rest. So Taylor Decker didn't practice, uh, Glasgow didn't practice, Frank Ragnow didn't practice and Levi Anzarica didn't practice all due to rest. I don't think there's any worry about them not playing this game. Joss Paschal did not practice. That's due to an illness. So we don't know, you know, that's kind of up in there, whether he's going to play. Yeah. Okay. That could be a big loss if we don't have Josh Paschal just because

Jacob:

right?

Jason Harwood:

edge help, uh, Christian Mahogany, full practice. So that 21 day window is coming up really quick. So they're either going to have to put them on the roster or try to put them, you know, either put them on injured reserve for the rest of the year or, uh, practice squad him if he can make it out there. Good news is Kevin Zeitler. Um, listed with a groin injury, but had a full practice today. So, you know, hopefully that's a good sign for him to come back on the field, for this, upcoming Sunday.

Jacob:

Real quick, before we jump to the stats, Titans are one in five, obviously not an impressive season. Um, you know, in our NFL preview, I actually had picked them to go seven and 10. You know, Zach, our guest that week, he picked them with 10 wins and seven losses. And then you, uh, Jason, you actually had them going five and 12. So that actually looks to be the most accurate to this point. It looks like you may have got something right. Honestly, five wins looks like it may be a little generous for them at this point with the trades and everything that they've been doing But you definitely seem to be more on than we were I just have another interesting note about the Titans matchup though so the Titans have won the last six matchups against the Lions and in fact The last time the Lions beat this organization was in December of 1995 and that was when they were the Houston Oilers So I don't know if you saw this, uh, that was the last win that we got. It was 24 to 17 against the Oilers and Scott Mitchell through 283 yards, two touchdowns and two picks. And, uh, the opposing quarterback that game was rookie Steve McNair. That was his first NFL pass was against the lions in that matchup in 95. So a little interesting history, right? Uh, yeah, that's how long it's been since we beat them. So, you know, we, we owe them one. This has been the season of getting people back. So, I mean,

Jason Harwood:

It has, it has, you're right. And it's just, I mean, the Vikings, we get, you know, we're on a streak with them, but yeah, talking about the Cowboys, taking them down, taking the Seahawks down. Yep. Let's, let's get our first win against these Titans.

Jacob:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

based on, Morocco and RJ's, the game's already over to them. They've looked down to the next week. But I know, I hope the Lions haven't

Jacob:

exactly.

Jason Harwood:

When you look at the stats, it's really hilarious Dan Campbell said this defense is one of the top Jared golf said today that this might be the, one of the toughest defenses they play. Um, and when you look at the defensive rankings, they're actually number one in yards per game. They're number three and passing yards per game and number seven and rushing yards per game. So you wonder how a team with that solid of a defense Could, you know, a record of one in six. Well, it's because their offense is so poor,

Jacob:

At the opposite end.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, the very, you know, there are 31st and yards per game, 32 and passing yards per game, 21 and rushing yards per game. They're, you know, very, very poorly rated. And you know, from our talk with Morocco, even before he got on, he said, and RJ said this during the thing is like, they might, defense might hang with us for a little bit, but they will eventually. Give away because their offense is not going to be able to move the ball. So, that's, you know, that's the major set that when I looked at that, I was like, how can I even change the columns when I looked to see that they were first and Pat and, and defense. Cause I thought I had the, I thought I had it flipped. I thought I was like, Oh, I must have the wrong way on this. And I

Jacob:

The wrong team.

Jason Harwood:

like, I was like, well, they are number one. Okay. Um, you know, I think turnovers

Jacob:

Yeah. Defense on a short field. They're out there too much.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. They're, giving up turnovers offenses and the defense is not getting turnovers, um, which is not a way you can play, you know, sustained winning. So Jacob, you got a stat or anything else that you want to talk about?

Jacob:

We kind of talked about in the interview too. They, they got rid of Mike Vrabel, who's defensive minding coach. They got the offensive coordinator from the Bengals, Brian Callahan, you know, through six games, they're 26th and point scored and 31st in offensive yards. So this is not, what they wanted the offense to look like thus far. Even though the defense is out playing the offense, it really seems like the team is trending downward. I think they're definitely gonna start mixing up some different things, seeing some different players and, you know, especially with the trades and everything, they're probably looking towards next year already.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. But that also makes them dangerous in the sense that,

Jacob:

Absolutely.

Jason Harwood:

have no repercussions. They can go forward on fourth down. They can run trick plays. They can

Jacob:

They're giving it everything they have just right.

Jason Harwood:

because then they could try whatever they want to try because you know, they're already looking forward to the draft or whatever I hope after having a tough week last week playing the Vikings I mean were that was a tough game. I mean that was a grueling game just as a fan to watch it I know it was for the players. They can't The Lions can't overlook the Titans. I mean, they're saying the right things in the interview, but in that room, they have, you know, they have to play hard and, I'll just, hopefully they don't, look past them. Cause they got a tough game the following week. They got the Texans Sunday night football. So, or no, the pack, I'm sorry.

Jacob:

The Packers, right?

Jason Harwood:

and then that

Jacob:

Even bigger.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. So, you know, there's a lot, there's a big games on the horizon here. So hopefully. Um, you know, they're just rubbed up by the lions crowd for field, having them back there since Monday night football, and yeah, good showing. Their run. run game is pretty, is decent. We said it was 21st. Uh, Tony Pollard is like the third best in the league of getting yards after contact. So the Lions are going to have to, make sure to get him to the ground. Lions are a pretty good tackling team. So I don't think that's going to be an issue, but, uh, he's dangerous also receiving the ball. So even the corners are going to have to, you know, be on their game and they, they have, uh, Landry is the guy on their team that we have to be watch out for. Pressure, he leads the team with 18 pressure. So we got to watch out for that.

Jacob:

Maybe we're going to be scouting him

Jason Harwood:

yeah, that could be, well,

Jacob:

what, man? Just, you know, stay here. Stay in Detroit. Yeah. Right.

Jason Harwood:

that Landry leads the team with 18 pressures and Aiden would get like 15. You know, a game. So it's like,

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

you know, when you see stats, like what Aiden was putting up, just, it makes it so tough. Cause we miss him so much, but, uh, you know, we just have

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

I guess

Jacob:

Huge loss. You got to make up for it. Everyone has to step up and do their part.

Jason Harwood:

that's correct.

Jacob:

Basically, I mean, we kind of touched on that already too. I put that in both of my offense and defensive key to victory is just don't look past the team, you know, any given Sunday. I know Dan Campbell said the beginning of the season, he's been a part of teams that made it really far one year. The next year, they started to get complacent. You know, maybe they weren't working as hard. They weren't bringing it every week. And I don't think we have anything to worry about that. But that's definitely a key to victory. And that's definitely something that I think you can tell by the interviews and the process, like, you know. It's been hammered down. Like we're not going to overlook this team. We are focused on the task at hand. We're focused fully on the Titans right now, offensively, you know, basically my key to victory is just keep doing what we're doing. You know, we are who we are. We are going to run the ball effectively. We're trusting our quarterback that he's going to be making the adjustments and making the throws we need, you know, keep the ball in the offensive hands and put points on the board. They do have a good defense, but, you know, wearing them down is going to be huge. And that's just what we do. I mean, we're wearing these teams down as long as we're able to run it effectively, you know. Haven't heard anything about David Montgomery's injury, so it's not like he's any, you know, he's not affected on the injury report at all.

Jason Harwood:

Silence.

Jacob:

just, uh, you know, that it's not even bothering him and he's good to go. Obviously, Jameer Gibbs showed that he was able to pick up, uh, the slack for what happened last week. But, you know, we just have to come in focused and prepared, not offense, just keep doing our thing. And, you know, give the home crowd a show, right? Yes. Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

We talked about it with the Titans guys. We've been in their spot where it's been, we've been one and six. We have not been in this spot very often where we're five and one. And we're in a position to look past the game. I, as a lions fan, I've almost never been in a position to look past the game. I was always just super fearful that even if we had a game where the records were so lopsided like this, that, you know, I was just fearful that. is a trap game. The lions would just always fall in like the game that you would count on'em to win.'cause they got the Packers next week and they gotta beat the Packers. And then, you know, we could have, you know, some sort of lead in the division or whatever. In years past, I would always be scared. It's in, I'm in a EU unique position that I, I. Don't want to look past the team, but I'm not on the team. So I can, I can look past the team if I want, uh, the lions won't, but I, I just, I've never been in this spot where I've been so confident coming into a game that, Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna take care of business. Um, what we got to do in my opinion is no turnovers. This offense is not scary. We just do not need to give them extra chances. Um, You know, I want to get up early is ideally we get up by two

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

early and then we could play whatever game we want to play. We could punt the ball and just. Force them, to keep punting back to us and play the field position game. I like playing that with Jack Fox cause we generally come out on the winning end of that. And so, and I agree with you, Jacob, run the ball, be the lions. Let's not, don't make this a Tampa Bay game where we're throwing 55 times a game. Let's not get cute. Let's run the ball. I know they got a good run defense. Let's just, you know, see who takes over Gibbs or Montgomery. And then, you know, if we, if it's us sliding early on. We're going to follow what the, you know, Titans, Coliseums boys said. We're going to just hire them out. And then by the end of the game, they're going to be too tired. And then we can just take over the game. So just don't give them any extra chances. No turnovers. I know it's simple cliche, but that's just the bottom line. Um, they're going to turn the ball over. Someone's going to make a mistake on their team. It's, they're going to be pressing. They're going to take their chances. Brian branch is probably going to get a pick or Kirby's going to get a pick just because they're going to take some chances, especially if we'll love us as in, I think we're going to definitely get some

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

If Mason Rudolph is in, he's probably a little more careful with the football, but also, you know, you don't have to worry about him lightening up, you know, as much as little, we'll love us as he could just light you up just if he decides to throw deep. But if the Titans Coliseum guy said he's not even throwing deep, what's, what's the point? You know, I don't, I don't even know,

Jacob:

I mean, that's, that's what he was known for, right? I mean, it's showing off his arm and that's what he did last year when they, you know, when he connected with Hopkins so many times and now Hopkins is gone. If really doesn't play their passing offense has already been terrible. It's really, really been suffering. And if Calvin really doesn't play. And you've got Mason Rudolph out there, you know, trying to get the ball out to, uh, that would leave, Westbrook, Nick Westbrook, uh, Tyler Boyd, I mean, it just doesn't look good for them.

Jason Harwood:

no,

Jacob:

But that means they're gonna be going for broke. I mean, they're gonna, you know, maybe they're mixing up different formations or doing whatever they're doing. They switch to a little more backyard style of football and try to see what happens.

Jason Harwood:

I'm pretty confident going in this game. I mean, point spreads always seem to, you know, I, I wouldn't, I don't know if I'd want to take the lions plus 10 and a half or whatever. Cause I could see the lions just. know, keeping it, getting up to scores and then just running the ball and controlling the game. But it could be a Dallas

Jacob:

It's gonna look vanilla.

Jason Harwood:

yeah, Dallas Cowboys, you know, especially with the Packers coming up, we're not going to

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

too much, but, you know, we look at the Dallas game and, uh, Dan Campbell never took his foot off the gas. So, you know, I, it could go the other way too, where we're putting up 40 and

Jacob:

I'm all for not taking your foot off the gas, uh, but as far as mixing up our packages and showing the trick plays and doing different things like that, I just don't think, I mean, hopefully it's not necessary against this Titans team. You get up early, you keep grinding on them, you know, you're moving the ball down there, we're putting points on the board every drive, you don't have to do triple flea flick reverse touchdown to Sam Laporta, you know. That's the kind of thing we say for Green Bay. We run Green Bay into the ground.

Jason Harwood:

Yep. I, you know, I'm not looking past that, but man, LaPaz's game, um, but man, that's, that's going to be another great division matchup. This division is so strong this year. You know, one thing I meant to mention in our last podcast about our division is that, you know, we only have six losses total in our division through seven weeks. We've And two of them are just from interdivision play. Our divisions only lost four games outside of the division, which is crazy. I mean, Super strong.

Jacob:

Yeah, definitely. I mean, then, national news seems to know what we're about too. NFC North, a lot of these predictions and stuff, uh, you know, through this point, they're predicting that, you know, maybe every team in the division makes the playoffs for the first time ever. And that looks like it's a realistic possibility.

Jason Harwood:

It's yeah. It depends on what the bears do. Um, you know, and we've seen the Vikings slip before, the calcium guys, RJ Morocco, they asked us if we think the Vikings are real. I do think that they are a real playoff team. I feel confident that the Lions can top them, I also think that they could give, they're going to give Chicago fits that defense is going to confuse the heck out of Caleb Williams. That offensive line down there is not very good. So I could see the Vikings taking care of Chicago. Green Bay, on the other hand, That they've already beat green Bay once in green Bay. So Jordan Love didn't have a terrible, you know, he didn't have a great game in that game and now Packers are going to have to go back to go back and win in Minnesota. So that's going to be tough for them. Minnesota may end up being number two in this division.

Jacob:

I, mean, if we're only picking each other off, if that's the only losses for the rest of the year, though, are, you know, between NFC North teams, then that's, you know. It's reasonable that every single team is going to be in the playoff at the end. And then you have a scenario where if we're the one seed, if we're able to get the one scene, we have a buy. Then we're playing an NFC North team for the third time in that second week.

Jason Harwood:

yep. And you know, say it's Minnesota and we had just, we would have just played them two weeks before.

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

we end the season with them, we talked about this in the schedule preview in episode two, you know, most of our divisions backloaded, we're playing a lot of division games. I mean, we just had our first one last week, you know, and we're just, they're kind of sprinkled in from here and there, but it's going to be a lot of division games from here to the end of the season. And then if we have to play them in the playoffs, you know, if say we do sweep a team, it's really hard to beat a team three times in one season. I think the Lions can do it because we're so multiple and we could do so many different things that were not super predictable. We could.

Jacob:

Right,

Jason Harwood:

change things up, but you saw what Tampa Bay beat them twice last year. They came to our house and we lost to them. You know, that's, it's almost like three times in one season, just because of how close all those games, you know, we

Jacob:

right,

Jason Harwood:

the playoffs. So, you know, it, it's hard to beat a team three times in one year. From that standpoint, I don't know if I necessarily want to see our division all in there, but I will tell you this, if we can win our that's all playoff football. I mean, if, if the whole

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

if the whole division makes the playoffs, that means you have played six at the minimum, you played six playoff teams during the season and, a home and away against each one of them, and then, obviously you probably played other playoff teams, but, you know, you already went through the gauntlet through the season. And if you can come out top there, that I like our chances in the playoffs.

Jacob:

Definitely.

Jason Harwood:

one thing before we get to grip picks. All right. I'm going to start a new segment, Jacob. I haven't told you about this, but this is a new segment. It's called Monty or Gibbs. You got to pick right now. Who's going to have more yards we got two running backs. Who's going to have more yards in this game? Monty or Gibbs.

Jacob:

Um, we're gonna say rushing yards or all purpose yards, just everything.

Jason Harwood:

Uh, let's just

Jacob:

I'm, I got the same pick regardless, but I just wanna know going forward how you wanna,

Jason Harwood:

just saying rushing yards. We're just going to

Jacob:

oh, okay. No, I'm saying Monty, Deemo. I'm going Knuckles over Sonic.

Jason Harwood:

I'm going to go Gibbs. So

Jacob:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

this, but I just think it's a fun, since we have such a good running back room, I just think it's a fun little exercise that we could play. So

Jacob:

Right. No, for sure. That's cool.

Jason Harwood:

and then what we'll do is whoever, uh, gets it right. Um, gets the, Pick first the next week. So then the other person stuck with the other, with the other one. It's just worked out well this week. Cause we were going to pick opposite cause I was going to go Gibbs and you're going to go

Jacob:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

So next week, we'll just go, the winner gets to pick first and the other person has to pick the opposite. So

Jacob:

I love it.

Jason Harwood:

I don't have a fun drop or anything for this yet. So you won't hear any high

Jacob:

fine.

Jason Harwood:

things, but it's called Monty or Gibbs.

Jacob:

So I just want to point that out leading into this next thing that because Jason is so bad at grit picks He wanted to invent a new 50 50 way for him to try to be right at something

Jason Harwood:

Hey man, I made up some ground this week, so

Jacob:

You did, you actually did.

Jason Harwood:

All right.

Jacob:

Based on the Thursday night game, I was like, oh, I've got this in the bag again. Jason's toast.

Jason Harwood:

I know

Jacob:

Alright, it out.

Jason Harwood:

All right. Let's get into grip picks. All right. Just to review last week, week seven, we had Thursday night football Broncos at saints. I picked the saints and they look terrible. Like I forgot Derek Carr was not playing, but I have no excuse. I, they just looked

Jacob:

Do you have a sound effect that you can just say, stupid, or idiot?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. Just a drop. Like,

Jacob:

Right?

Jason Harwood:

or just like a, something like that. Uh,

Jacob:

will work.

Jason Harwood:

yeah. Sunday night football jets at sealers. You thought jets were on their comeback trail. Good. Devonte not to be. It started out decent for the Jets Did not end up decent for the Jets. Steelers took that one.

Jacob:

Hey, I did say, I said, I hope the Jets fall flat. I said, I hope the Jets fall flat, I hope that they fail and tank. Um, but I was thinking they were gonna get it done.

Jason Harwood:

yeah.

Jacob:

Rogers just doesn't have it anymore. Devante Adams, you know, just joined the team. He can't know everything in and out of where he's supposed to be. And

Jason Harwood:

Well, you saw Brady go. Did you see Brady talk about Rogers? Oh man, he's given

Jacob:

I actually did not see that.

Jason Harwood:

just, he kind of just offhanded marks about, you know, a way to be a good teammate and is all about the

Jacob:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

And

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

know, he goes,

Jacob:

Well, I mentioned that last time that had to rub a lot of people the wrong way.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, so, you know, Tom would say, one thing in the media, but then he would try to make a connection with a player so that when he was, know, hard on them, they would know it came from a good place. I don't think Rogers does that,

Jacob:

Because it's not coming from a good place. That's the difference too.

Jason Harwood:

no, that's true. You know, it's, uh, it's, uh, he's definitely

Jacob:

Alright.

Jason Harwood:

more and more selfish. Um,

Jacob:

Yep, we hate him. Moving on. Nothing, that didn't change.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. First Monday night football game was Ravens at box. took that. We both, we both picked that, um, the Bucks not only lost the game, but man, wow. Evans and Godwin both going

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

That sucks, man.

Jacob:

Really, really bad luck.

Jason Harwood:

The other Monday Night Football game was Chargers at Cardinals. I picked Cardinals. Jacob picked Chargers. I got that one. It was on a last second field goal, um, but you know, I, I won. So at the end of the season,

Jacob:

That actually was interesting at the end of the game.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah,

Jacob:

I mean, it wasn't, I didn't watch most of it, I was watching the other game, but I, you know, did catch the end. And the end actually was mildly entertaining.

Jason Harwood:

well, that's why it's, uh, stupid that they have two Monday Night Football games, but I

Jacob:

Yes.

Jason Harwood:

Uh, Jacob is 9 up to this point. So, week 8, first game, um, is Vikings at Rams. Who you picking? Is it me or you? You got the best record, you get to pick first. Okay.

Jacob:

but there have been some rumors that the Vikings are looking into trading for Stafford, which just seems crazy to me that a 5 1 team off their first loss would try to make a quarterback change like that in the middle of the season. So I don't think anything comes of that, but that is an interesting storyline. Cooper Cup is coming back, making his return for the Rams offense. Like we already said, the Lion's Curse, you know, it seems like, uh, you know, they really get beaten down. And then, uh, you know, the Vikings have the unfortunate short week here, having to play on Thursday night. So, you know, I think Stafford picks up on some of these Vikings blitzes and does enough to get the job done. It's probably going to be a close game, but I, I do think that the Rams are going to upset the Vikings.

Jason Harwood:

Yep, I'm going rams to, uh,

Jacob:

okay.

Jason Harwood:

part of that is wishful thinking. Part of that is how, you know, it's looked after each time the lions play a team, they, they They get beat pretty soundly. And then not only that, the Vikings got to play in a short week. Right. You know, they just got done playing the lions and, know, losing. So yeah, I'm going to go with the Rams. All right. I Cowboys at 49ers. Uh, I'm going. Cowboys in this one, just because 49ers, man, I mean, we've had our injuries, but wow. You know, IU goes down, you know, they've been without McCaffrey. Um, Devo has had pneumonia, so I don't think he's probably going to play, you know, Brock Purdy is going to have to show that he's, he's lost all his weapons. Right. And now we've got to see what kind of quarterback Brock Purdy is

Jacob:

Now we'll see if Brock Purdy is really the real deal, right?

Jason Harwood:

So, but I'm going, I'm going cowboys. What about you?

Jacob:

Yeah, so Cowboys are 3 3, they're at the 49ers 3 4. The 49ers are still 4. 5 point favorites at home here. Uh, you know, it's a tough game to pick because there are injuries on both sides, but the Cowboys are coming off of a bye week after getting blown away by us. So, I think that they're coming in healthier, they're coming in prepared. Maybe, you know, we don't know about Micah Parsons or their, you know, some of their impact players, whether they're going to play, but they really need an impact for win, and they have to do it right now. So I do think the Cowboys are going to beat the 49ers. As you already said, McCaffrey is out. Jordan Mason is questionable. Iuke's gone for the season. Deebo's, um, Deebo is sick, so they don't know if he's going to play. If he does play, he's not going to be 100%. Jawan Jennings is questionable. Chris Conley is questionable. Kittle is questionable right now. The only two healthy receivers that are good to go for the 49ers are Michigan's Ronnie Bell and the rookie Ricky Pearsall who was shot in the chest two months ago.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, wow.

Jacob:

just insane. And you know, if the Cowboys do lose against, you know, this just completely depleted, that's just on offense. They've got plenty of defensive injuries too. But you know, if the Cowboys lose against this 49ers team. McCarthy's seat's gonna be on fire.

Jason Harwood:

Oh, yeah, I don't know if Jerry Jones fires during the middle of the season. Um,

Jacob:

typically, but I mean, you know, he's under a lot of heat right now himself.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, he is. Well, I mean, he's made his mistakes, right? You know,

Jacob:

Mm hmm.

Jason Harwood:

afford Derrick Henry and then Derrick Henry's just blowing things up. That team would look a lot different if they had Derrick Henry in the backfield. Um, all right. Next game. You're up. Giants at Steelers.

Jacob:

Yes, the Giants are 2 5 right now. They are at the Pittsburgh Steelers that are 5 2. Steelers are 6. 5 point favorites in this one. Russell Wilson looked pretty good last week. It was his debut. He actually looked pretty solid. The Steelers overall have been playing pretty good football, and I think that they're going to beat the Giants. Uh, you know, Daniel Jones was benched in that huge loss, uh, to the Eagles. Brian Dable says they're sticking with Daniel Jones. I think part of that is because Drew Locke doesn't really give them a better chance to win. And. You know, Debo and the GM, uh, you know, their, their jobs are on the line. They have to make something happen here. And I just don't think they have the offense to compete. I just don't think it's going to happen. The Steelers offense put up 30 points back to back weeks. I don't know that they put up 30 this week, but I. I think they win and I actually think they probably are going to do it by double digits.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, the problems with the giants, I don't think are worth day ball. I think day ball is a good coach, to be

Jacob:

I like

Jason Harwood:

with you.

Jacob:

Dable, but the GMs kind of handicapped him and they don't, you know, you can tell if you watch the Hard Knocks, it doesn't seem like they see eye to eye on everything. The draft plan was kind of weird. Uh, I think the owners had to have it with the GM. I mean, I just don't see him staying after this year.

Jason Harwood:

So, yeah, I'm going with sealers too. I don't even think this is particularly close. Sealers defenses. going to let the Giants do anything offensively. The Steelers defense is really good. They don't need Russell Williams Wilson to play great. They just need him to turn the ball over and they'll, they'll be able to move the ball. Question is, are Steelers going to get another wide receiver? You know, Mike Williams is, you know. like they're talking about Mike Williams, but it'd be interesting. All right. Great guarantee time. All right. Um, you went first on the previous thing. I'll go first. Actually, I don't really have too much. My guarantee is not even with this game. My guarantee is after the game, the lions make a trade next week. That is where I think is going to happen. I think they're going to make

Jacob:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

next week. Um, so, uh, I don't think it'll be before this game too late in the week, uh, unless some just materializes. But I think after this game. Before the Packers game, they make a trade.

Jacob:

So you fully changed your mind, you think the trade's happening now?

Jason Harwood:

I think a trade has happened. I'm not saying for who. I mean, it could be Zedaria Smith. It could be for someone, but I just reading the tea leaves. Um, you know, Dan Campbell said something about Brad has brought him some stuff to look at. So, I mean,

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

I mean, I knew that they were investigating it regardless without that quote, but if Dan brings that up, that means that that's semi serious. And whether they want to move forward. So it kind of just depends on compensation probably at this point.

Jacob:

Right. Okay. Alright. My grit guarantee this week is that Tim Patrick finds the end zone.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

uh, you know, we are, we were potentially without Jameson Williams this week. Um, they still have not officially announced the suspension as of right now, I guess.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

I know that Schefter said it sounds like he's going to play because the NFL hasn't actually dropped that yet. So we'll see whether they drop that or not, but I mean, it sounds like it's definitely going to happen. So, if there's an appeal or something happening, I mean, who knows. But at some point, we're gonna be without JML for two weeks. So, I mean, whether he plays or not, Tim Patrick has been involved in the offense pretty much more and more every week, you know, he's shown that he's valuable, and if we do have to go without Jmo for a few weeks, I think maybe they do get a few more play calls for Tim in this game this week, you know, just to try to figure some stuff out, see what we have, even if Jmo's out there too.

Jason Harwood:

Yep. Um, yeah, I think that's good. I hope Tim Patrick gets a touchdown. Um, Just because I like, I like him as a player. You kind of bring up the point. We haven't really talked about the JMO situation on here. What's your feelings? What's your initial feelings on that? Um, do you have any, um, positive, negative? You'll see

Jacob:

I've seen some, some mixed things about what exactly, I don't know if you even saw, if it's like been confirmed what he took or what, I mean, it seems like it's along the lines of a supplement or something that had some sort of a legal thing in it.

Jason Harwood:

for

Jacob:

Without it being, you know, hey, you know, Jameson Williams didn't inject himself with some sort of steroid or some sort of performance enhancing, like it's not that kind of situation. There's some sort of supplement he was taking or some sort of, you know, I don't know if it's prescription medication or whatever it was, something that was on the ban list, something that I guess is, you know, he had said before, like, I kind of just have to take this one. As it is, you know, because it is, you know, it is what it is. Maybe he didn't know it was illegal. He didn't know it was in there, whatever. I mean, it sucks. Obviously it sucks anytime that happens, but it sucks that it happened to him just because of everything that we've already had to go through with him. He's already been fighting this whole, you know, hit the bet that he placed was not on an NFL game. It wasn't like he was doing, you know. He wasn't doing anything wrong when he got suspended for the bet. And then you've got other players like Rasheed Rice, um, just people with way worse things that have happened and they don't face any sort of suspension. And now here we go with JMo again, you know. I guess the national perception is rougher on him than what the Lions perception is. I mean, do you feel any certain way about it? I don't feel any differently about him at all. I just think it's a bad, some bad luck.

Jason Harwood:

I think it sucks. I don't really look bad upon him for, I mean, it just sucks. And it's, you know, I feel bad for him. I know

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

bed's a pretty harsh takes in the Detroit media about him, you know, and I know some fans are, whatever they could have all their opinions. I tend to look at like, people tend to have good intentions. I just from his interviews, his. The way he acts, the way his teammates talk about him, the way Dan Campbell talks about him, I brave Brad Holmes talks about him. I feel confident that he's a good individual. I don't think he made a mistake on purpose. Um, I don't think he was trying to do anything super shady. My. My feeling is it was probably just taking the wrong supplement or there was something in there that shouldn't have been in there. Um,

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

don't know, you know, we don't know the, where we're at though, is it's a two game suspension. So, I mean, it's not like he shot himself up with, you know, steroid had an illegal substance in his body.

Jacob:

Yes.

Jason Harwood:

it's on the banned list. So let me ask you this. So the thing that I've read today, Justin Rogers posted that, you know, there's a five day window, which he could, do an appeal. And so that's the kind of thing, like, I don't, the NFL hasn't announced it yet, but I don't know if it's because they, he hasn't decided if he's going to appeal or not. So

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

That's a little murky, Would you rather him just take it now, and then he'll lose the Titans and the Packers, because if he appeals and then makes this game, he's going to lose Packers and the Texans. So, I mean, for you, you know, what, what would you rather him do?

Jacob:

I mean, I guess it depends on what you took and how that appeals process is going to go. I mean, right away, he kind of said, I mean, I don't know if that was from him or his agent or whatever. The quote that I saw was that, you know, kind of, it seemed like he knew whatever they had found, he no knew where it came from or how it had happened. So if that's the case, I don't know what an appeals process is really going to do because, you know, If you're taking some sort of protein supplement or some sort of vitamin that's got, you know, banned. There's all kinds of stuff on the ban list that are in really common supplements that you find. So that's why I think most of the players, you know, you have to rely on the team trainers and stuff like that to get your supplements and stuff from so that you're not taking anything that's on the ban list. So if it's something like that, then it is what it is. I think you, you start serving the suspension right now and you miss the Titans and Packers game. But, you know, if there's even I guess if you If him and the Lions or him and his team feel like there's even a 10 or 20 percent chance that maybe you get this Reduced to one game or you get this completely wiped off then it's worth an appeal Especially if there was no malicious intent behind it the nfl is very inconsistent with these suspensions So you just really never know

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, it's just, you know, you get four games for betting just because you were in the facility. You know, and like you said, the rice situation, you know, you have Jalen Carter situation, you know, being in a. know, deadly car crash and, and, you know, car racing or whatever. And nothing, nothing happens, but yet, you know, the wrong supplement, you get two games. It it's, it's crazy. Um,

Jacob:

right

Jason Harwood:

know, he has to be responsible for what he puts in his body. I'm sure the team has a list of approved supplements that everyone could take that they know are good. So the only thing that could save you is you saying I was taking one of the approved supplements and, you know, something got in there somehow.

Jacob:

right

Jason Harwood:

You know, you could have, you know, maybe that's what the appeals about, but, you know, Dan Campbell's been, you know, really set in the press conference that he can't talk about it because the NFL hasn't announced it yet. So it's kind of in a weird situation right now. You would expect it since they announced that, you know, they announced that while we were recording the podcast on Monday, that was the first text I got from you was JMO suspended. I'm like,

Jacob:

as soon as we were done as soon as we were done I looked down at my phone and that was what I saw

Jason Harwood:

I was, you know, busy in the editing process of the thing. And I was like, Oh my God, that sucks. But know, I, I don't have any ill will towards Jamo. I think it's unfortunate. I think it sucks for the team as a whole just to lose that. But, um, you know, it is what it is. I'm a tend to be a person that I just deal, if I have a situation, I just say accept it and move on. And that's kind of where I'm at with this. Okay. We're going to lose Jamo for two games, which two games would I run them to lose and then We'll we'll move on and I think the lines will look at it the same way You know, Tim Patrick's going to have a bigger game, probably a good, good week to pick them to have a touchdown because of JMO is not there. That's more, uh, more chances. He's going to get the ball and they've talked about Allen Robinson. He's going to get a shot to brought up. So, you know, got a veteran guy that could come in and take some snaps.

Jacob:

Right. And I mean, JMO really, uh, was not heavily involved last week.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah,

Jacob:

in the passing game.

Jason Harwood:

he wasn't healthy involved, but I think he dictates coverages. So I think sometimes you don't see what

Jacob:

Absolutely.

Jason Harwood:

So they're, You know, causing more shell coverages and, and different type of things, um, that, you know, teams don't have to, uh, necessarily guard the deep throw. However, Khalif Raymond has good speed and he almost had a deep touchdown, you know, if Jared Goff did, you know, one of the rare Jared Goff misses was on Sunday when he missed Khalif down that sideline, he hits him in stride. No one's catching Khaleef. He's in the endzone, you know, and that would have been a quick

Jacob:

I mean, he still scored on that drag route, but yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. Oh no, he would have had two touchdowns in that game.

Jacob:

Yeah, right. Did you see the clip of when he made Gilmore fall over

Jason Harwood:

dude, that was unreal. Like it just, it was like, You talk about

Jacob:

live? It kind of looks like he just fell. But then when you actually see the actual play breakdown, I know Khalif put a move on him and that dude

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

his ankles, hit the ground.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. When, during live, they're like, Oh, his defender just fell down. No, Khalif put him in the spin

Jacob:

Yeah, right.

Jason Harwood:

he just like, like, I mean, he, I'm sure the, um, Gilmore's teammates gave him a, some crap when they saw that on tape, because, know, it just looked like, uh, Stephen Marbury, uh, you know, he just like, the ankles just went rope and he fell right to the turf, man. Uh,

Jacob:

I'm out. Stefan Marbury. Is that the last time you watched basketball?

Jason Harwood:

Might've been. Might've been. All right.

Jacob:

All right, guys.

Jason Harwood:

Uh,

Jacob:

Hilarious. And you don't even know why.

Jason Harwood:

why?

Jacob:

Marbury played in China for 10 years and has been retired for probably like six.

Jason Harwood:

but he had the crossover move. That's what I

Jacob:

No, you're big on the Chinese basketball circuit.

Jason Harwood:

No, no, man. That was when he

Jacob:

There's like 60 other people. I mean, if you're going to go old, you could have said Allen Iverson.

Jason Harwood:

Oh, James Harden or something like that.

Jacob:

Yeah, there you go. Kyrie Irving. There's some people with handles now.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I got it. That, that's who I, I, that's when I stopped watching NBA basketball was around that time because it's a crap game now, but that, I digress.

Jacob:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

All right.

Jacob:

Speaking of the NBA basketball, though, the Pistons did play their opening game tonight against the Pacers. That was at home. I did not see what the final score was that, that, uh, and we lost 115 to 109.

Jason Harwood:

Hmm. All right.

Jacob:

ahead early on, uh, Pacers outscored us 33 to 19 in the fourth quarter to win.

Jason Harwood:

Huh. That sucks.

Jacob:

Luckily there's 82 games in the NBA season. There's time to disappoint us some more.

Jason Harwood:

time to get the 12 wins for sure.

Jacob:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

See if they match the lion season total this year or

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

So all right, let's head on out of here. All right, Jacob. Thanks for showing up. I know you're in some pain. You showed up, you were on the injury report, questionable, came in, gave

Jacob:

Still showed up.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, still showed up. So I appreciate it. All right. For Jacob, I'm Jason. Let's go lions.

People on this episode

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Jacob Litton

Co-host
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Jason Harwood

Co-host