Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast
E43: “Pride Preview” Who's Scared of the Big Bad Bears? (with Meko Scott from POD)
Hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton preview the Week 13 matchup between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, joined by special guest Meko Scott from Pride of Detroit. They discuss Lions news, including the surprising waiver of James Houston, player injuries, and the impact of both teams' offensive and defensive units. Key highlights include expectations for the game, strategies for stopping the Bears' key players, and predictions on key performances. They also enjoy some light-hearted interactions and share their personal Thanksgiving traditions. Overall, they emphasize the importance of maintaining momentum and strategy heading into this significant game.
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Welcome everyone to talking grit. I'm Jason Harwood and Jacob Litten is here to preview the week 13 matchup of the Chicago bears. Thanksgiving day, Detroit tradition. I can't wait to sit down and watch this game with my family. I'm sure they're going to have a lot of comments. Like you should talk about this on the podcast. You should talk about that on the podcast. That's what I'm expecting. Um, but one thing I am thankful for that is to have Meko Scott, Pride of Detroit content creator. He's here today with us. You can find him on the Pride of Detroit YouTube channel where he, he's on there solo, but a lot of times he's hosting a show with Morgan Cannon. Who's been on the show with us a couple of times before. So welcome to the show, Meko. Uh, thanks Jason. Thank you, Jacob. It's really nice to meet you guys. And yeah, I'm hoping for a really good, uh, fun conversation for sure. You will, I earlier today, you released a YouTube breakdown of the Colts. When, um, tomorrow, are you going to be doing your film breakdown? You do that usually weekly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Morgan and I just, just tonight actually wrapped up our film study of the Chicago bears. So taking a look at Caleb Williams, taking a look at certain aspects of their defense. Um, I think a lot of people are going to be interested in seeing what Caleb Williams looks like up close and, and against this lion's defense. Um, obviously he's had a very roller coaster year and that's kind of what our film breakdown kind of, Showcases as well as like, he has his high moments where you're like, okay, this is why he got drafted as the number one quarterback in this draft class. And then he has these low moments where you're like, okay, this is why the bears are four and seven. Yeah, that's good. We'll get into that when we get to our, uh, bears breakdown, look forward to watching that video tomorrow, Meko. Uh, first kind of some lion's news. James Houston was waived today in a curious move. Um, he had played 107 snaps with the lions this year. 10 quarterback pressures, one sack and one pair of poopy pants. Jacob, were you, uh, were you surprised by this wave move? I was surprised, uh, you know, early on in the season and training camp, we kind of had that question. Is he going to make the initial roster or not? And you know, once, once he's been in with the injuries and everything that we had really didn't see that cut coming, uh, this week, I suppose they, you know, have seen enough finally, I guess they're trying to move on with a different direction. I don't know if they're freeing up that spot. Yeah. You know, for a different position of need on a short week. The timing's interesting of it. I mean, I can't say I'm all that surprised. Yeah, I can't say I'm surprised by the move. I, I, I think the writing was kind of on the wall for James Houston. Once they decided like, Hey, we're not even going to try him at Sam linebacker anymore. Once they were like, Hey, we're moving him exclusively to edge. Like it was at least like, that was clearly the sign of like, this is the last. Like chance that he was going to get. And so he either had to wow in that aspect and in that role, like he did in his rookie season, or that was pretty much going to be like his last opportunity to make it on this roster. And I think, uh, Jacob, to your point, I think the timing is a little weird considering like some of the injuries that the Lions have on their defensive front, but when you have someone like Makai Wingo, that's been playing really well, that the Lions drafted this year, Uh, you just got Broderick Martin back off of IR. So like, I'm sure like that's someone that obviously doesn't play the same outside pass rusher role, but it's just another defensive lineman that the Lions probably prefer to have active on game day versus like a James Houston. Yeah. The timing is, is interesting just because of the short week turnaround. Um, but I'm, I'm wondering if we're going to expect some roster moves with some injuries coming up. That was a shocking tweet that came out today. I was like, Oh my God, I did not expect that this week. Um, Jacob. We always ask our guests a question. Um, why don't you go ahead with your question that you always like to ask? Yeah. I like asking this question just to kind of see how long you've been a fan. So Meko, who was the, I assume you've been a lions fan ever since you were younger. So who was the quarterback and the lions when you first started, when you first really cared about it, when you first could remember watching the games, when you were first fully into it? Who was the quarterback? Yeah. So I, again, I don't know if this is going to get me like banned from, from lion fandom, but I was, I was a late bloomer when it came down to being a fan of the Holland blue, blue, um, again, was much more of a basketball guy for most of my like youth. Um, and then like, not until like later in high school, honestly, like probably after I graduated high school, was I really starting to get into football? Um, But yeah, so the quarterback at the time was Matthew Stafford. Matthew has always kind of been my quarterback. So even with him being in LA, like I still have a certain level of fondness for him. Nice. Nice. That's all right. Well, I mean, late bloomer, but welcome to the, welcome to the Honolulu blue. It's, it's okay. We've all suffered through, uh, you know, uh, Jacobs was Joey Harrington and mine was, uh, like the Rodney Pete and Eric Kramer back in the nineties. So, yeah. I feel like I've earned my stripes, like having to go through the Patricia era and everything, like I've, I've earned every bit of my lions fandom. Oh, yes. Yeah. I mean, there was plenty of, I mean, ups and downs, I guess, in the Stafford era too. I mean, that was kind of like a whole, I mean, if you went through the whole Stafford era, then you saw a lot of what the lions go through. Um, who was your first Jersey? That you, that you bought. Are you a Jersey guy? I'm not really. So the first Jersey that I ever was gifted first lines Jersey I was ever gifted was a Tracy Walker Jersey. Uh, I'm a huge fan of safeties. Um, I was a big fan of Tracy. Like his earliest like climb where I just felt like, Hey, if he keeps getting these opportunities, like he'll, you know, he'll turn into something, obviously, uh, the injury that he had near the tail end of his time here really kind of take it, took a lot out of him. Uh, but the first Jersey that I at least purchased with my own money is a Jameer Gibbs Jersey. I bought the black, uh, black and Honolulu blue Jersey this year. Nice. Nice. Good choice. I'm where. I'm wearing a safeties jersey today. It's a branch. So it's on the new branches. So it's been very good luck this year. So I'm repping it a lot. Uh, the black jerseys are nice. So I, I don't know who I'm going to get with my, uh, black jerseys, but you know, eventually, uh, Jacob's got a Hutch black. Yeah. So that's, Yeah. Brian branch is my next purchase. Yeah. Oh man, I, you know, I bought one, I bought this before the season started and I feel like, you know, he's taking the next step because I'm repping it all over the place. It's, it's my, he had nothing to do with it, his hard work or determination, nothing to do with it was on me. Um, All right, Meko, have you ever been to a Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit? So, yeah, I was actually at last year's, which obviously didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. But yeah, it's my first and only Thanksgiving game that I've ever been to. Um, if my wife has any say so, it'll probably be the only one I ever go to. Yeah, right. Was it because like the experience there or she does, you know, Thanksgiving's for family type things? Yeah, like a Thanksgiving is for family type of thing. I went with like my sister and um, my stepdad and like my My great uncle actually works at Ford Field, so he usually gets tickets for like the family for certain family members. And so I was lucky enough to wear like, you know, me and my sister were able to go along with some of the other like members of our family. So it was a cool experience to be able to at least be in Ford Field to be able to like anytime you go to Ford Field, especially now when the team is winning and when like there's so much excitement around the team, it's always a great time to go. You know, down to Ford Field. But yeah, um, hopefully it's not my only time because I would love to take my girls and have that experience like with us as a family. But yeah, probably not anytime soon. Jacob, have you ever been to a Thanksgiving Day game? No, no, no, I have a big family all about Thanksgiving getting together and everything like that. So, you know, I'm kind of stuck. Where's the TV? Where's the TV? Let me find the TV. You guys know where to find me. Yep. Yeah, I've went to one and it was actually a long time ago. I was looked up the year before I got on here. It was 1996. Um, it was Chiefs and Lions. Lions lost 28 24. Scott Mitchell threw two picks in the game. Um, but Barry was in the game in any game that Barry Sanders was in. Was a good game. Um, exciting, but yeah, we, I've seasoned tickets, but we've sold, we sold last year and I, I sold this year just cause, uh, the family thing. And the only thing that almost changed this year was when Shibuzie got announced. Uh, my wife almost flipped and said, hi, I think we're going to go, but we, um, They were up for sale and they sold before. If they didn't sell, then we might've went. But, um, yeah, it's, uh, yeah, it's, it was a fun atmosphere. I think there was a silver dome when I went, so I've not experienced four field, uh, Thanksgiving day game, but I, I'm assuming it's. It's crazy. I looked at the attendance for the Silverdome. The game I went to a 75, 000, which is like 10, 000 more than you could fit into Ford field. So I imagine it was loud, loud there. Um, all right, let's move on to the bears and lions. First. We're going to hit, Oh, like we always do impact players. Jacob, you want to list the offensive players for the bears? All right, let's go. There's impact players on offense. Uh, you know, Jason made this list. He listed the entire offensive line as impact players. So we're, I guess, you don't need it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's on the list. But I just, because of where they're ranked, we don't, I, my assumption before I saw them that they were going to be ranked way lower, just based on what I've seen the game and like, The Caleb Williams being sacked a lot. I thought they were going to be ranked way lower. So that's why I listed them on there, but you can go ahead and I'll, I'll, uh, you know, I'll show you that I have a deeper thoughts, Jacob. It's not all about numbers, man. Come on. Okay. Next time, just list every player on the roster and what they're rated at. And then I'll just try to pick who I want. Sorry. Well, what's the point of making a list? Impact players. You're going to list the whole damn team. Uh, Hey man. Oh my God. You just swore. Can you believe that? I can't. I told Meko not to swear on the show and then you just like, that's the nicest swear word they could come up with. All right. Moving on. All right. We're going to try this again. Bears, offensive impact players, uh, all three wide receivers. DeJoy Moore is ranked 59th out of 129. Kenan Allen is ranked 90th out of 129. Real Madunzay is ranked 79th out of 129. Uh, obviously these are all pretty low pro football focus ratings, but. You know, they're still impact players. They definitely can still impact the game. Definitely worth mentioning. Uh, our old running back DeAndre Swift, uh, right. Number 51 out of 62. I'm sure he wants to, you know, come in here and cause some chaos. Caleb Williams, the rookie quarterback, he's ranked 30th out of 39 qualifying quarterbacks. Not too good on a pro football focus rankings, but obviously an impact player. And then, uh, the highest rated one they have is their tight end. Cole commit the 20th best tight end. And, you know, it's definitely somebody that can change the game and cause some chaos there. Yeah. I, Cole commit is like a safety blanket for Caleb Williams. It seems like he's, he's heading there on third down. Um, I had noticed that a lot in the Vikings game, which I just ran a rewatched. Um, Jacob had mentioned my offensive line being on there. I was just shocked that their center's rated 10th, their guards are rated 14th and 29th and the tackles are 18th and 21st. So they're in the top half of the, you know, PFF grades. So, um, In your film study, uh, Meko, what, I mean, I don't know if you're an offensive line guru or not, but did you notice anything in there that was noteworthy with the offensive line? So I think the offensive line is serviceable, right? Like I don't think they're obviously like Incredible. And in every aspect, I think again, I think they've made adjustments to that offense to try to help make life easier for Caleb Williams. So if there's like bad tendencies to this offensive line in terms of them, like one thing that we talked about in our film study is like Caleb Williams has been sacked 44 times, right? That makes it sound like Oh, well, the offensive line isn't blocking for him. You, but if you watch Caleb Williams, you will understand that like early in this season, he was extending plays unnecessarily. He's drifting in the pocket. Like these are things that are not on your offensive line. Your offensive line is expecting the ball to come out at a certain time. And so I think that's why we've seen the bears kind of make some adjustments. So. It still is shocking to me that they're this high up, especially like their center. Tevin Jenkins is a very serviceable guard. I'm a big fan of Darnell Wright. I was a huge fan of him coming out of the draft. I was actually kind of hoping like, hey, that would have been a perfect pick for the Lions and pair him up with P'nei Sewell for like your offensive line of the future. Um, but yeah, it's a little shocking to see that they're that they're rated this high considering, you know, again, how many, giving up. Deandre Swift isn't having like the most ridiculous game, like season in terms of rushing the football and things like that. He's only averaging like four yards to carry. Um, But again, I guess they're, they're doing enough things, right. And there's also like a good amount of salt that you always have to take with any PFF grade. Oh, yeah, exactly. They're not the end all be all. They're just, you know, something that we have a level playing field that we can call, you know, maybe they're good. Cause they're not picking up their quarterback off the ground. They're just not tiring themselves out. That too. Yeah, that is a crazy picture. When you see the. That was a Patriots game. The Patriots guys picking Caleb off the ground and the offensive linemen aren't anywhere close like That's wild to me. Um, all right, Jacob mind to hit the defense Did you list every player on the defense or are we just going with the impactful? I just, hey man, get off my case, alright? Alright, here we go. Impact players on the defense. Um, you actually started with an actual impact player, so good job Jason. Uh, Kevin Byard, safety. He's rated number 8 right now on Pro Football Focus. Um, cornerback Kyler Gordon is rated 26. Demarcus Walker, the edge defender, 31. Um, Um, the bigger threat from the edge, in my opinion, is Montez Sweat. He's actually rated 41. Cornerback Jalen Johnson is rated up of 110 cornerbacks. He's rated 40, and they're linebackers. Um, T. J. Edwards, uh, rated number 51. Tremaine Edmonds rated 68. The Bears actually have a decent defense. Uh, once again, these pro football focus numbers are not, you know, very high up. Um, but I mean, it's a, it's definitely a good defense. Yeah, it gave Jared Goff some troubles last year. So, um, Meko, what concerns you the most on their team as far as defensively? Yeah, it has to be the secondary. And it goes back to what you were just saying. Like this secondary gave Jared Goff fits last year out of the two games that they played, he threw five interceptions to the bears, um, three in the first game, two in the second. Um, the first game was at least like. game being a win. And so there's a lot of things that it was easy to forget in that game in terms of how he played. But the second game was not as easy to just kind of brush off, right? He didn't have a good time. He didn't throw for a ton of yards. And again, those, those two interceptions that he threw were very costly. Um, so it is, it's, it's kind of starts with the secondary. For me, you talk about Jalen Johnson, uh, Morgan loves this corner a lot. He honestly considers him like probably the best corner in football right now. He's definitely very talented. Um, I love how they just utilize all of their corners. Like there's not really a weakness in terms of, you know, we Watching the film of, of the bears against the Vikings last week. One thing that the Vikings like to, and a number of teams like to do this with their number one receiver is like, they like to move them in the slot, right? Because they typically think like my number one receiver will have an advantage against your nickel corner. And Kyler Gordon is a very, very good nickel corner. And he held up very well against Justin Jefferson. So there were, there were not a lot of weaknesses in terms of matchups. So it's going to be a. A big emphasis on, you know, the type of game plan that Ben Johnson is going to have on how is he going to get his, you know, these wide receivers open against such a talented, you know, Bears secondary. The Bears defense concerns me, um, not as much concerned about the offense, uh, but the Bears defense, uh, especially with the results that we had last year. I think that, that, that could. They could have an impact on the game for sure. Uh, Bears have lost their last five games. They are reeling right now. They just, this is going to be their third division game right in a row, Packers, Vikings, Lions. That's saying a lot in the NFC North, facing that, those tough teams, especially got a short week. They're going to want to have a win, but these lions have not won on Thanksgiving day in a long, long time. They're going to want to get this win. They've this team, during the Dan Campbell era, it's all about getting all these monkeys off our back, just like all these things that have been Building up forever and this is going to be a demon that he needs to exercise So i'm gonna they're losing streaks going to continue jacob the Injury report came out. The bears very light injury report, the lions not so great news today. Uh, Elijah Hicks and Ryan Bates are the only ones on the bears injury report. Elijah Hicks did not practice the last two practices. Ryan Bates is limited practice. However, the lions. Um, you know, on Monday they had, you know, what, six players that did not practice today. That list moved to three. At this point, I'm going to say it's very unlikely that these guys are going to play the ones that did not practice. That's Carlton Davis, Taylor Decker, and Kalief Raymond. I'm holding out hope that Taylor is going to be able to play. But since I haven't practiced the last two days on a short week, that it does not bode well, David Montgomery did suit up and practice today. DJ reader was a full practice. Um, and I got a limited practice in and Terry on Arnold for the second practice and Rosa full practice. So I'm going to count on him playing. Um, Losing Taylor Decker is going to be, especially with the edges, as good as the bears are. That's a major concern. And Carlton Davis has been a great corner. Um, and so that means we might have the Vildor show again with, but this time with Terrian on the other side. All right, Jacob, I'm going to go through the bears rankings. Yes, bears rankings. According to pro football focus. They have been rated in the number 17th overall team. Uh, it breaks down their offensive rankings. They are rated 26 on pro football focus. Uh, they're the 22nd ranked offense in terms of points scored 26 when it comes to yards per game. Uh, that breaks down to they're actually 29th in passing yards per game and 22nd in rushing yards per game. So offense is towards the bottom. You swing that around on defense. Uh, they are rated number six on pro football. Focus breaks down. They are eighth and point scored 17th and yards per game given up, which breaks down a 13th and passing yards, 20th and rushing yards. So yardage, they're kind of the middle of the pact. Um, but you know, middle of the pack, but the point score, their top 10 pro football focus, hasn't rated really high. And that's kind of what we already said. The defense, you know, we know the defense is going to be better than their offense or it has been thus far. Yep. I, um, that's my first question. And I'm going to throw it to you, Meko. We kind of alluded to that before. How will Jared golf hold up against this? Uh, bears defense, you had mentioned some of the stats. I'm going to go through the full, uh, full thing here. He was in the both games. He combined to be 43, 70. So it's like a 61 percent completion, uh, percentage 397 yards, three touchdowns, five interceptions, and he was sacked six times. Um, they gave him some troubles last year. What do you think the Lions are going to do differently this year? That is going to come back at that. Cause Ben Johnson on a plan. What, what do you think that's going to be? Yeah, and I think that's honestly the thing that I'm that I'm leaning towards probably more than anything. I think the easy thing to say for the Lions offense as a whole is like, oh, they'll just run the ball more, um, which I do think they'll do because the bears aren't very good against the run. More importantly, I think. Ben Johnson will take this as like an actual challenge, like his quarterback has not performed well the last two times that he has played this team. And so I expect a lot more wrinkles probably with this, with this offense to try and get, um, the bears on some things that they just aren't expecting. Um, the last, I think the reason that the bears were able to get out. Um, and get basically pick on Jared golf in those games. Um, was that there just were some tendencies that they kind of queued in on. Um, at that point in time last year, Jared golf was still like that quarterback that still favored throwing in the middle of the field, throwing short and these linebackers were jumping those routes and getting in those throwing windows and really making life difficult for them. You fast forward to this year. I think I saw a stat, um, That our very own out, uh, out cartons and over at, uh, prior Detroit posted, um, that kind of showcase like how, what type of coverage every defense is playing the most of, and the bears play a lot of cover three, like a ton of cover three. So they're essentially trying to take away the deep stuff on the outside with the corners, basically covering deep third, you'll have like a safety that's somewhat shallow. You'll have another safety over top that's covering more so middle field, but they're trying to also take away. Like again, stuff in the flat. So you have to be very creative in terms of trying to beat cover three. There's route concepts that can do that. It's just going to be interesting to see if Ben Johnson employs those types of route concepts and who he has running specific things to take advantage of the Bears defense. All right, Jacob, what do you think about that? What do you think they're going to do? Well, just speaking of what Meko said, I mean, the Lions offense, you know, with Ben Johnson, with Jared Goff's, you know, his intelligence and everything, his ability to read the defense, we should be able to attack the defense effectively, with the way that our offense works, you know, it's just, is Goff gonna make the right read? Is he gonna, you know, last week, he had a decent game, but the ball was coming out flat. He did not have, you know, very sharp throws. We need him to have sharper throws. He doesn't have as much time. There's not as much room for error this week. So, you know, we have to attack those holes. We have to give what the defense is giving us. Obviously the easy, like you said, the easiest is, you know, to have the effective run game, right? Hopefully DMO is healthy. Hopefully we're able to, uh, you know, get them to kind of cheat down more and have to be more concerned about the run that opens up some more of those play action, you know, get Jaymon a crossing route or something like that. There's going to be opportunities. It's just, are we going to be able to attack and make the most of them? Yeah, I think, uh, Jamison Williams is going to be a factor in this game and it's not necessarily he's going to have a big game catching it. It's just like you said, the three deep safeties, they're going to have to respect that. And you're hoping the safeties play have to play deep, um, either to pull them back and have, be able to open up the running or they pull them back and open up the middle. You get a play action pass, the linebackers pull up, Jamos taking the safeties deep. And then, you know, we can Sam LaPorta. I. Sam Laporta is going to have the game. He was open a lot last week, and, uh, golf missed him on some big shots. And, uh, Laporta had a, just a drop too. So they're going to get on the same page this week. I'm hoping. And I think that there's going to be some shots available for, for them. We've talked a little bit about the offense. Let's talk about the defense. Um, Carlton Davis, that's going to be, you know, doesn't look like he's going to play. So. For this part of the conversation, we're going to assume that he's not, who do you think is going to take that outside, uh, Mika? Are they going to go back to Vildor? Do you think E man has a shot? Do you think Amik gets pushed outside? What's your feelings on that? So, I mean, if we're going to talk about what I think they'll do, as much as it hurts me to say this, like, I think the Lions will try to kindle Vildor back out there because there's just that belief amongst the coaching staff. Like he's on the roster for a reason. They, they're not just. Letting him occupy roster spot because they don't think he can go out there and play outside corner But what I would prefer for them to do is actually push a meek out To the outside corner spot. I know he's a smaller frame corner, but he is very physical as an outside corner He can definitely get the job done and I would like to see them move Emanuel Mosley up into the slot position We haven't gotten to see Emanuel Mosley In a regular season game since last season. So, you know, he's now healthy. I think that would be a good test and that's a good way of keeping the, the defense as far as the secondary somewhat, somewhat more balanced. Um, again, not saying the Kendall builder is a, is a terrible corner, but he definitely gets exposed on some of these deeper routes. And when you're talking about an offense that has, um, Keenan Allen. And Roma Dunes, they like, while the bears are going to use a quick passing attack, they're going to take their shots as well. And if they take their shots, Kindle Builder is going to be the target every single time. Definitely. Yeah, I mean, that's the problem with having him out there is just, you know, he they see that he's out there and they know that's where we're going. Similar to when, you know, Tarion was out and they knew that they needed a deep play, even though they might not have, you know, teams didn't think they were going to necessarily catch the ball, but they're going for those penalties on Tarion. They're like, let's throw a deep, maybe they'll come down with it, maybe, you know, we'll get the PI, we'll get to move the ball for free. Um. Yeah, I agree a hundred percent. We talked about this a little bit on the last pod, but I think that's the best course, is to push a Meko side, have E man in the slot. You know, see what we have with that. Uh, the corner's working that way. I also talked about Dorsey. Dorsey's too valuable on special teams. I don't think that he's gonna be playing too much corner. It's probably going to be Vildor on the outside. And I don't think that they're going to make adjustments in game. So if that's the way it starts, you know, that's probably the way it's going to finish much better receivers this week, as Meko already said. So, I mean, it's, it's going to be a tall task. Yeah. I switch in a week to the outside. The only thing that that's going to be difficult for me is a short week. They're not going to have a long time to practice and a meek may just be more comfortable in the slot. And then if they think, I mean, And, you know, build or can, you know, hold it down. I he'll be out there, but, uh, I can't see them putting Emmanuel Mosley on a short week out there, just communication factor out there. It's going to be loud too. I mean, you figure. You know, on our defense, you know, the, the loudness helps, but at some point the communication with that, it's going to be super loud when they're out there, the defensive side. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised to, if you just kind of keep an eye on how Kendall Vildor is playing in this game, right? Like if he's getting beat a lot, one thing that I have to give Aaron Glenn a lot of credit for this season is that he has been very quick to make adjustments. Typically they're, they're schematic adjustments, but. If he starts feeling like Kendall Vildor is getting beat like a drum out there, they will have just as much faith in Emike Robertson or Emmanuel Mosley to have one of those guys go out there and take Kendall Vildor out. He did it a couple times last year when like Jerry Jacobs was struggling, despite Jerry being like one of the starting corners. Like, this team is not afraid to make those tough decisions if they, if it really comes down to it. Yeah. Good play 100 percent of the snaps last week though, and he didn't have a great game, but I think that was more so the fact that You know, mostly it was just out there for special teams. He wasn't ready to actually play yet. And there's a short week, you don't want anything to happen to anybody else. And then, you know, as luck would have it, Carlton Davis went down anyway, but yeah. That's the big thing. If he's getting burnt out there and it's just one drive after another, he keeps giving big plays. You got to be able to make some sort of move. Yeah, you got to be able to pull them. Yeah. Well, it's also helpful to have Kirby Joseph and Brian branch out there and you could shade things, you know, his direction, but yeah, there was, there was a couple, Uh, plays last week where Vildor was late to pass off and guys are running deep. And luckily we were getting in Anthony Richardson's face and causing some of those throws to be off some, uh, and Anthony Richardson probably isn't the most accurate quarterback to begin with. Uh, another guy, we're going to be faced on defense and we mentioned him earlier, Deandre Swift, you know, David Montgomery has his revenge game. This is DeAndre Swift. This is the first time he's played the lions. Uh, you know, so it'd be, be interesting. He's going to be fired up, you know, he's going to want to show all good and Ford field, especially on Thanksgiving. Any thoughts on DeAndre coming back, Meko? Um, On a personal note, like I'm gonna be happy to see DeAndre. DeAndre was like, again, one of my favorite players during his tenure here. Um, it's unfortunate that it didn't ever really work out in terms of like his health and just like his fit in the offense. Um, but. I mean, I think DeAndre is going to get the same treatment that every other running back has kind of got when they've played the Detroit Lions, where you're just in for a really tough day. You might get a one or two, you know, runs that you kind of break off, but the lines have been very stout against every single running back and some that I would consider to be much better talents than DeAndre Swift. They held Jonathan Taylor in check last week. Um, they've done this to a number, I think Josh Jacobs was like the only one that really kind of like Got the lines like in the first half and in the second half, they still shut that down completely. It's like, so it wouldn't surprise me at all. If DeAndre's, you know, return to Detroit is not one of the more like pleasant ones for him. He will be fired up, Jacob. What do you I mean, you're a fan of DeAndre's soap when he was here. What, you know, what do you think? I mean, I was a fan. I really wanted to work. I mean, he showed flashes. He showed capability, couldn't stay healthy. And, you know, just for one reason or another, it just didn't work out. Um, Yeah, I I don't I'm not worried about him coming in and going off for 150 yards and really wrecking the game I just don't see that happening at all. He may break one off early Maybe get like a 20 25 yard run and be amped up about it or something But overall, I don't think he's too much of a factor. Our run defense is just really good And I mean, he's just not consistent enough. Yeah, he's not gonna be on to run out the minute, you know He always shied When he was at Detroit, he just shied about running into contact. Um, he's not going to want to run up into a Lehman DJ Raider. So he's going to try and run to the outside. Then you're going to run into Mr. Brian branch on the outside and you know, he likes to hit, so he's going to be ready for some contact. I, you know, I like Deandre when he was here. I still remember the time when he was, uh, Fell down in that commander's game and caught it when he slid down. And I think Dan Miller's call was like from the seat of his pants. It was end zone or something like that. I love that call. Uh, you know, I, I wanted D'Andre to work out, but Jameer Gibbs, who's yeah, he's on our team now is just a better version of D'Andre Swift can do. Everything that DeAndre could do, but just at a much higher level, but also run it in between the tackles, you know, DeAndre just, just struggled with that. And he's still struggling with that. When I noticed with the bears, just running between the tackles, a lot of his games were on the outside and prior to getting Pascal back and Zadaria Smith, that was a way to attack the Lions was the outside. They bottled that up and they've done a pretty good job of, uh, Defending the outside run. So yeah, I'm, I'm thinking it's going to be a tough sledding for DeAndre Swift. Um, this defense just keeps the lions. I'm talking about just keeps performing at a high level, even with, you know, all these injuries. Now, Carlton Davis is going to be a big one, I think, cause he is playing at a very high level. Um, Meko, can they keep doing it? Can they keep? Can they keep finding the next man up? Can they can this be sustainable? Yeah, this is the exact same conversation that Morgan and I had the other day. And the answer is yes. Right. Especially in a week like this week against the Chicago Bears team that is. Honestly, in my opinion, they are worse than what their rankings say, right? Like their rankings paint them out to be a more balanced team than they actually are. And it's like, you go back and you look at some of the teams, like the four wins that they have, two of them in my mind are fluky, right? Like you, you beat a very bad Titans team that like, it was literally just a battle of who's going to be worse on this Sunday. You beat a Rams team that was absolutely depleted offensively. And then after that, you beat the Panthers and you beat the Jaguars who are yes, bottom feeder teams. Um, so, you know, in my mind, they're, they're not as talented as we think they are. And they're definitely not clicking as, as well as they should be offensively. Now that doesn't mean that you don't take them serious, but I think what the lions have been doing the last few weeks against teams that are very similar. To the, to the Chicago Bears, you look at what they did against the Colts. The Colts got out to like, you know, one good drive, got a field goal out of it. And then the Lions basically shut everything down from that point on. Right? Like this team adapts very, very well. And it, it sounds so fluky to say next man of mentality, but the Lions have found ways of doing it. And I think it's because For the first time in a long time, they don't just have like one good player on defense. They have at least like two good units. So like you look at the lines, defensive line, right? Yes. You lose Hutch, but you still have a lean. You still have DJ reader. Levi on Zurique has been playing incredibly, uh, Josh Pascal's back and he's playing at a high level again. And then you went and picked up Zedaria Smith. So your defensive line is very capable of doing what it's been doing all year, which is shutting down the run. Your linebacker has definitely had a lot of shuffling. Alex Anzalone is out. Derek Barnes is out. You have Malcolm Rodriguez and Jack Campbell holding things down. So like, but they're doing a serviceable job. Your corners are fluctuating right now, but then you have the two best safeties in the NFL. So. You have the best safety duo in the league in a top 10 defensive line right now as a unit, those two things are able to help balance out the rest of your defense because your defensive line is creating pressure, they're shutting down the run, and then your corners are able to at least go out there and play physical, so I think they can continue to sustain this at least for a couple more weeks, like they will need to get Carlton Davis back sooner than later. I agree. Yeah. We got the Buffalo Bills are looming into the future here. So that's, you know, that's the, yeah, that's the game that you want your defense looking a little healthier. Jacob, what's your read on, you know, next man up and, uh, can we keep doing this? You know, honestly, uh, when Hutch went down is when I was most concerned. It's like, how are we gonna, you know, we. We like just sending four and we were able to create pressure just because we had him and then, you know, Aaron Glenn had to make some changes called defense a little bit differently. We had to shuffle some players and you know, we really haven't, we haven't missed too much of a beat after Hutch went down and now you keep adding all these other linebacker injuries, all these other things coming up and we just keep bringing it every week. You know, I see no reason to think that we can't keep up playing with that level, you know, Nico can already said it, but we, we need these guys back. We need to be fully healthy before the season's over. So, you know, it's 1 thing for them to be sitting right now, but it's another thing for them to be sitting, you know, against the Vikings, potentially a big Vikings game at the end of the season. You know, how long can we hold out that? I don't know, but I know that we can hold out and we can still put out a defense that's capable of winning every game that we have left on the schedule. Yeah. How things have turned for Aaron Glenn, you know, last year people are, you know, saying, Oh, he should lose his job. And now, he's up for coordinator of the year talking. Whatever head coach position is going to be open, he's going to be a name that's going to be associated with that. I, you talked about the different levels of defense and I just want to hit on the linebacker, you know, Jack Campbell is playing really well. Um, he's, you know, you always knew he was going to come up and just make a hit, but his coverage has gotten a lot better. He's gotten his hands in the lanes lately and just disrupting. He just seems to be in the right spot a lot. And he's the 11th ranked linebacker in PFF. Do you know who's ranked 10th? Malcolm Rodriguez is ranked 10th and that is unbelievable to me. He plays well. I love Malcolm Rodriguez. He we've said it on the show before he has some physical limitations as far as athletic ability, but he makes up for that with just knowing football and he always seems to be in the right place and he's going to give maximum effort. So he's a guy that I love that he's on this team, Calvin Trevor, just coach that guy up and if anything that, sad about, Anzalone going down and Barnes going on, it's given Malcolm Rodriguez a shot to be on the field and show his talents. And I'm happy for that guy. Cause he deserves all that. He's, he's, he's one of my favorite lions and a lot of people's favorite lines, right? From hard knocks and, you know, just guy you want to root for. So, you know, I'm going to just hit on that. Everything else, what you guys said is great. You know, the defensive line's good, the back half's great and, uh, Kirby and branch in that. And our, our Meko, I, they're the two best safeties. We have a YouTube channel. I put up a safety and I got a nice comment on there today. It was like, uh, we're taught somewhat, there was a thread going on about them being, you know, in pro ball and they're like, too bad he won't be in the pro ball this year. Um, and I took it as, yeah, because he's going to be playing the following Sunday. I can't play in the pro ball if you're in the super bowl. So I. Both those guys are Pro Bowl, All Pro safeties playing this year and, you know, they can make up for a lot, you know, they can, uh, change the game real quick with their picks, um, and just hard hits, branches, uh, a tone setter for sure. Yeah, they've, both of those safeties have really helped elevate honestly, the groups that are in front of them, both the corner group and the the linebacker group. Brian Branch's ability to come up closer to the line of scrimmage and not be a liability and, and run and rushing downs and still being able to play the pass. Well like that helps out your linebacker court because you can now go play nickel and you know that you have a safety that can play closer to the line of scrimmage. Kirby Joseph has helped out your both corners. Immensely so that even if someone is getting beat deep, he has the athleticism, he has the range, he has the ball skills to go out there and still make plays and make life difficult for others. And the thing that I think that I give Kirby so much credit for this year, that like, I think he wasn't as good at last year was like actually like playing his role, right? I think Kirby and coming off of his like rookie season, he had made so many plays as a rookie. You know, I think he had like, what, four or five interceptions. I think he came into his sophomore year looking to create that same production, which led to him being out of position on a number of different situations. This year, he's much more locked in. He's doing what he's supposed to do. And Morgan and I had said this before, like, Kirby is smart enough and he's athletic enough that if he just did his job, he would make so many plays. Fast forward to this year and he's leading the league in interceptions like and that's strictly off of him Just doing what he's supposed to do in a letting his God given ability kind of lead the way for him I think also it helps that he's got viable corners on the outside so that He doesn't feel like he has to play Superman out there. I think that's not saying that's always what last year But when you have guys free runners all over the place, and some of that might've been Kirby, just being out of position. But I also think that there was just, you know, when you're not trusting the one guy to do their job, you start doing things that you shouldn't be doing. And Dan Campbell's talked about that a lot, a lot, you know, like just do your job and trust that the guy next to you is going to do their job. And I think of that secondary last year, They, that trust factor wasn't there and you're seeing it this year. Uh, you know, Carlton Davis has played really well. You could count on him locking down a corner, Terry on. Yes. He's going through growing pains, but he is getting better. And you saw last week. If you didn't appreciate Terry and Arnold for what he was doing, you saw what happens when we have Vildor out there, right? I mean, there was free runners. You don't see that with Terry and you're dealing with Hansey and all that stuff. Um, but that's going to be coached out of him at some point. He's going to get past all that. Well, yeah, it'll get coached out of him. And it's also part of playing corner, right? Like I, when people were, were, were, you know, Raising the alarm about, you know, all of the past interference calls that Terry on was getting. My first response to that is that past interference is one of the most like objective calls that could get called, right? Like what's past interference this week may not be past interference next week. What's past interference at 1 p. m. may not be past interference at 4 p. m. Like and that's the roller coaster that Terry on has to has to ride. What I would encourage fans to do is like when you watch Terry on play, if you ever watched Jerry Jacobs play corner, You should be able to see a difference. Jerry Jacobs would go out there and literally fight people like down the field, like literally getting into a fistfight down the field. Terry on knows how to be physical, but still knows how to be in position. And he's still just trying to get a feel for what is being called past interference in the NFL. You give him a few more games by next year, like he's going to be a very stingy corner that like. Quarterbacks aren't going to want to throw it. I'm with you on that. It's just at the top of the route. He's just either getting his hands on there or just not looking back for the ball. He could have had some picks this year. If he'd have just been able to be in position and look back at the ball, cause he's been in the right spot, you know, That's the stuff you deal with with a rookie cornerback. Um, you know, not everybody's sauce gardener comes out and has an all pro season the first year. It just, that doesn't happen. I got one more thing, which kind of already talked about it, but I want to get your opinion on that. Um, so the question is, are the bears, you know, are the bears better or worse than what the record indicates? Or do you think the record is accurate of where they are? Um, so just to break it down, they lost to the commanders on a Hail Mary. They had the game winning field goal blocked against Green Bay. Uh, they had a huge fourth quarter. They were down, had a huge fourth quarter, and ended up taking the Vikings overtime. They also lost 29 9 to the Cardinals, and then they got beaten 19 3 at home to the Patriots. And their wins include the Titans in Week 1, when Will Levis kind of basically gave the game away. And then they beat the Rams by a touchdown, and the Rams had no Cooper Cup. No Puka and Nakua and half of their offensive line was out. Um, you know, in your opinion, based on all that, do you think they're a better team than their record? Do you think they're, you know, about where their record is or are they worse? I think they're one of those teams that if everything comes right, they could be really good. That's what's happening, having a rookie quarterback has, right? He's got pieces around him, but it's all gonna fall on his shoulder. And if he looks Caleb Williams is going to make those, those fatal mistakes. And, you know, they changed their offensive coordinator for a reason. They could not get in any sort of rhythm. So if that were to start to come together, they would be better. I, and then they could start playing complimentary football. Their special teams is atrocious. And we could talk about that in the keys to victory. You know, they, they fumbled a punt the last game or muffed one. They, you know, had two field goals, blocked the last two games. Those are not what good football teams do. Can do so I mean there are just like in the NFL. They are with their record states They are they've had some they've had, could add some victories that ended up being losses and they've had some losses. I could, that should have been victory. So I think they are what their record are. And they're just very inconsistent. The lines are a much better football team. They're, they are not whatever I thought early on when, you know, like everybody was above 500 in the division, but Mika pointed out, you know, they're beating the, they're beating the, Bottom feeders and even the decent teams that they'd be, well, the one decency they beat was the ramps. They, they were depleted, you know, they didn't have anybody on their team, you know, healthy. The bears are the last place in this division and that's where they're going to end up. It's the last place in the division at the end of the year. If you look at their schedule coming up, it's brutal. It is, it is brutal. And I would, they might not win a game the rest of the rest of the season when I looked at their schedule. I mean, I just, I also, I feel like they are probably worse than what their record indicates. I mean, obviously they've got some of those plays. They had the hail Mary thing and stuff like that. Who knows what the cake would have been good, but they just not, they're not getting it done. And it just feels like they don't, they need more coaching changes, right? You think that their head coach has got to be gone after this. They used a Waldron as kind of the scapegoat, you know, they get rid of the offensive coordinator. As if that's supposed to help your rookie quarterback and the offense work better. I mean, I don't know. They just, they didn't handle everything really well. And you're right. They may not win another game all year. Maybe they'll pull one or two more out, but what does that really mean in the long run for them? And I ever flew is gone. I mean, if he gets blown out in this game, I would not be shocked. Uh, this is kind of like the Jaguars where everybody wanted Doug Peterson gone and the lines blew him out and they thought they were, he was going to be fired, but they didn't make a change. But I think the bear. You know, they've changed coordinators so many times under Ivo Fluss and. Same result, right? They're just not getting it done. And you're going to feel for Caleb Williams too, right? He's got to get a new coach and you're going to, who knows that the next guy's going to, you know, be happy with Caleb Williams. This is why the bears keep being the bears. They, I think Jeremy talked about it. They keep, you know, nothing falls in sync. I mean, the lions got lucky. I mean, I'm going to say lucky, but they did get kind of lucky that the Holmes Campbell golf trio all came in and they all, You know, mesh together so well, um, you know, the bears just never seem to get it on the same page and I'm okay with that. That's fine. They can be at the bottom of this. Right. Absolutely. All right. We start calling them the same old bears, the same old bear sob sob. I know another thing that, you know, SOB. All right. Yeah, that's good. I like it. That's a mean waiting to happen. Right. Uh, all right, Jacob keys to victory. What's your first one for how the lions are going to get this done? Uh, the first one is kind of an obvious one, but you know, you got a rookie quarterback against you. You can't let him get comfortable. I think we just need to pressure him early. Uh, you know, they've got good receivers. Carlton can't go. We've already talked about the cornerback situation. We don't want to let him have too much time back there in the pocket and start getting too comfortable. You know, last year, the Thanksgiving game against the Packers, you know, they came out, they took the ball. They went deep the very first play. It was just part of their game plan was to try to take the momentum and everything out and try to score early. Can't let that happen this week. We got to stop them early and we got to get the pressure on him. Set the tone. I agree. All right, Meko, you got anything for us? Um, yeah, I would say that in a game like this, you want to honestly just kind of control pacing. I think in this game, like the bears are going to the bears are going to find a way to lose this game, right? So it doesn't the lions don't have to feel like they have to go out and, you know, Go for it on fourth down on your side of the field and things like that, like allow this offense to do what it's been doing and find its rhythm. Um, if that means running the football, run the football. If you find your opportunities to throw the ball. Awesome. But this doesn't have to be like, I said it earlier. Like, I think this could be a game where Ben Johnson tries to like, kind of show off like, no, I figured out the bears defense. It doesn't have to be though, like you're, you're better than this team from top to bottom. You are better. So allow your talent to just kind of be the driving force for you, essentially getting your lead. So if that means again, if the score ends up like 24, 13, I don't think anyone's going to be mad. Like this doesn't have to be a blowout just because the bears are terrible. Yeah, I. I'm with you. The bears are a team that's, you know, have they fallen apart or they falling apart or in the middle of it? I don't know, but they're not good right now. I think the important is to get up early on them and just let them fold and don't give them any confidence. The bears have only like their first drive. They've only scored on one of their first drives this year. So, you know, if we could just stop, you know, stop them on first drive, like everybody other team has, we score. And then we, we could control the rest of the game and, you know, we don't need to score 50 points. It could be like a Colts game or the Packers game where we just get up by. Two, two and a half scores. And then we ride our defense and, you know, just run it out. That's, that's kind of how I envisioned this going. Um, and, uh, next thing I'll say is just Jared golf needs to be careful with the football. Don't throw the interceptions again. We don't need to give other teams, uh, You know, extra possessions, you know, we, we've won where he's thrown five interceptions. I don't want to ever see that again. So I don't want to have to test fate again, but Jerichoff just needs to hold the football. You know, like we'd mentioned, he threw five interceptions and the, you know, combination of the game. So we just, you know, just needs to hold onto the football. You got anything else, Jacob? Uh, yeah, just one more thing, which I don't think it's necessarily going to happen because it didn't happen with the Jaguars, but I just don't, the defense can't let up. Right? Uh, you know, the Vikings game for the Bears, they went down and then they kind of went to like a, you know, backyard football kind of thing. Caleb Williams dropped back, let him dance around. He runs when he needs to. He's trying to just create more time. And, you know, they end up coming back. We can't let that happen. We can't change up the defense. And I don't believe Aaron Glenn's going to, but I think that that is going to be a key is just, you know, playing until the, you know, fourth quarter is over with do not let up on them at all. Don't take the gas off. Yeah, I want to score early and keep this crowd into it. It's going to be a lively crowd. Keep the scoring up, make a tough day for Caleb Williams. So he can't hear anything. That's, that's what I want to hear and let him first time for him in Ford field. He's, this is going to be the loudest environment that probably he's ever experienced right in the NFL, probably in his life. And, uh, let's let him feel the pressure of a national audience. Um, just seeing him get blown up. That's, that's what, you know, that's what I want. You got to get up early. Like you said, last year. The Packers went up and kind of took some of that out, right? They scored early and often and just kind of, you know, kept the crowd at bay. Sorry, Meko, you were there. Uh, you know, just, I don't, I want the opposite. I want us to go up and just keep this crowd roaring and give everybody something to be thankful for. Yeah, one other thing, if I could add to what Jacob's also saying, like, I think this is a game where the defense can really rattle Caleb Williams, not even necessarily by hitting him all the time, but making him think like one of the biggest like weaknesses to his game is his ability to process and go through progressions. So if he can't get to his first or second read, he will freestyle, right? He will try and like extend plays and things like that. But if anyone has watched him this year. That has not gone the same way that it does for other quarterbacks, right? When Patrick Mahomes does that, crazy things happen. When Lamar Jackson does that, crazy things happen. Josh Allen list goes on and on. Caleb Williams starts to self destruct when those types of things happen. So if you can make him panic in the pocket and make him start going backwards because he's, he's still a rookie. He still hasn't really developed that aspect of his game of like knowing when to give up on a play. Like that's something that Jared golf knows very well with 16 years under his belt. Like he knows when a, when a play is dead in the woods and he's just like, all right, well, we'll just live to fight another down. Caleb Williams hasn't learned that yet. And that's something that the defense can really prey on where it's like, Hey, if you're talking to your corners, if you're talking to a Terry on, if you're talking to a Kendall build or an Amik Robertson, whatever the case may be like, Hey, let's make him have to go to read number three. Because that's when we're going to start to see him sweat. That's when we're going to see him start to crack. That's essentially what happened with Anthony Richardson. When Anthony Richardson wasn't able to just drop back last week and just like, let it fly to his first or second read, he started to see things break down. His mechanics would break down. He wasn't able to deliver the football as confidently. I think the same exact thing could happen to Caleb Williams on Thursday. Yeah. I'm. I think our safeties better be ready because there's going to be some ball, you know, some, some balls that are catchable for our safeties up there. Um, you know, we, Anthony Richardson would throw it deep and he had some success. Caleb Williams and deep shots. This year he's 10 for 47, 326 yards, a TD and four interception. His quarterback rating on deep shots is 27. 6. That's nice as a. You, you kind of don't have to worry about that. I mean, he may take a shot up there, but you know, that's more for our defense to, you know, take advantage of. That makes me feel really good that, because we're very good at guarding underneath routes and stuff like that. So I, I, I'm happy with seeing that set one thing that since they've changed our offensive coordinators, DJ Moore is not getting area, he's getting more short passes, they've had him lined up in the backfield a lot, they even ran a. Uh, wide receiver pass with him in the last game of the Vikings. So the Lions have to be aware of where DJ Moore is on the field because they will run it with him too. Yeah, absolutely. All right. And, uh, one thing that bodes well, we talked about the Lions being able to run the ball, the Bears defense. As contacted, and this is a next gen stat contacted opposing rushers, uh, just on 35. 1 percent of design runs, which is the third lowest rate in the NFL. And with our offensive line, that's going to be even lower. So it means, you know, Jameer Gibbs is going to be able to get to full speed. And you know, what happens when that happens in demo. You know how hard he's gonna be running in this game. Speaking of those, did, do you guys see the Sonic and Knuckles commercial? Did you guys, did you see that? Oh, it was great. I did see that. Awesome. I loved it, man. Gee, if anyone's listening to this, hasn't seen it. Go to Twitter, go to YouTube, whatever. Look up Sonic and Knuckles, uh, Detroit Alliance commercial. It, it's a great Thanksgiving day promo. I, it's awesome that they were able to. Get the characters and everything on there. It was awesome. Yeah, that was cool. All right. Meko, Jacob and I play a game each week. It's called Gibbs or Monty. And, um, whoever's going to have more rushing yards, whoever wins the previous week gets to go Jacob pick Gibbs. So he gets to pick, uh, at the end. I have to pick whoever opposite of whoever Jacob picks, but as our guests, you get to choose who you want. So Jacob, you're going to start first Gibbs or Monty this week. You know, obviously I picked Gibbs last week. That was without knowing that Dima was going to go down with the injury and everything like that. He's still a little hurt. Um, you know, I'm going to go Gibbs again. Good. I'm so glad you went that way because Monty's guts he's, I will never forget when he scored that Tut that first touchdown that, you know, basically won the game for the lions and how. He excited. He was, he's got to carry that enthusiasm, this whole game. And Monty's, you know, he could have played last week. They held them out. You know, Dan Campbell says, no, we got, we got, let's look at the big picture here. So I I'm glad you I'm glad I got Monty. Thank you for the gift. I'm thankful for that. All right, Meko, like I said last week, you can't lose. They're both on our team. It doesn't matter. That's what's so fun about this game. All right, Meko, who do you, who would you pick Gibbs or Monty? So I'm actually gonna go with Jameer. I think, I think he's just been on a tear this season and he's looked so much better than he did even in his rookie season. And I think the Lions have really kind of taken the training wheels off where they do. They let Monzi get the train running. But once those, once those wheels are turning, like they, they like to get Jameer in there and he's been breaking off a lot of big runs in a lot of different ways too. So, um, I think in a game like this where you're talking about like, hey, like this is a Bears defense that that's having a really difficult time making contact with running backs before they kind of get moving. If you don't stop Jameer Gibbs before he gets ahead of steam, like just just throw up six on the board. Right. This I want that crowd to go crazy with a 60 yard runner. Oh, man, that would be that'd be awesome. So. All right. Nico, we get into a section we call grit picks where we talk about, uh, we go through the, um, just, uh, primetime games and we, and we make each pick. Jacob, why don't you review what we did last week since, uh, you bested me again. Again, right again. Uh, how many did you get right last week again, Jason? Yeah, a big fat goose egg, man. Zero. Three games. Jason got them all wrong. I know. That's all right. But you only got one right. In your defense, I only got one right, but that's one more than you. Thursday night football, Steelers and Browns, we both went with the Steelers. We did not foresee the blizzard and you know, the conditions and everything. So You know, and that was still a good game. So no points there. Eagles and Rams. I went with the Eagles. I said that the Rams weren't going to be able to stop. Saquon used to pick the Rams anyway. I was right in the biggest way possible. Saquon went off and then Ravens versus Chargers. We both went with the Chargers and the Ravens beat them. That was a really good game, though, too. So that brings the total right now. Uh, I am 24 and 10 and you are 20 and 14. So I've got a four game lead on you right now. All right. We got, uh, an extra game. We got four games to pick this week. We don't pick the lions game just cause we're both going to pick the lions anyway. So, uh, first game, you know, every year before, you know, last couple of years, everyone's like, why are the lions play on Thanksgiving day? Well, The second game is the giants at the Cowboys. Is everyone looking forward to that game? No, one's looking forward to that game. Jacob, who you got in this one? Yeah. Giants at Cowboys. Cowboys are favored by three and a half. You know, the Cowboys pulled off a stunner against the commanders, uh, And a crazy, crazy finish. Um, most people did not pick them to win that game, but Mike McCarthy is probably coaching for his job. Uh, I don't know if you saw Jerry Jones said that they might explore an extension with him. How quickly that changes one win. And now, you know, he's talking about extensions, you know, they're not tanking for a draft pick or anything like that. The Cowboys still have a good defense when they're all healthy. The Giants have a terrible offense. They're on, you know, using Tommy DeVito right now. I think most of the Giants organization is just ready for this season to be over with already. So I'm going to pick the Cowboys. Probably a pretty low scoring game, but I've got the Cowboys. Yeah, I think it's a no brainer. Cowboys. But man, you know who loses in that game? America, because we got to watch that game. Meko, who do you got? I would love to pull a Chris perfect right now. I just feel like they tie. Oh, but I think, yeah, like the the logical pick is the Cowboys. I think they're just their defense will be better than the Giants offense, and that'll be enough for them to be able to win this game. It's going to be an ugly game. This is the game that you like, This is the game you take your Thanksgiving nap on. Everybody get the plate ready, watch the Lions game, get nice and full, and right when this game starts, go take a nap. For sure. I love being in the game that everybody wants to watch, as opposed to a game that, you know, this is the game you have your meal to, where we get warmed up for the Cowboys. Alright, the third game is actually, I'm pretty excited about this game, Dolphins at Packers. Uh, I'm gonna go with this one. I, I'm, it's got pains me. I'm gonna, I'm going with the Packers. Would not be surprised me if the Dolphins won but Dolphins going up to the pack I I'm only the Packers in this one Jacob. What do you got? Yeah, I'm going the opposite I'm just going to what I want to happen in this game. So, you know, I want the Dolphins I think the Dolphins are gonna outscore the Packers and win To us since coming back from the injury. He's got 1, 200 passing yards 11 touchdowns one pick 116 passer rating. He's been on fire. So that's, you know, it's a big test for the Dolphins. I hope he absolutely lights up the Packers. I hope you're right too. I'll take the loss on that one for sure. Meko, what do you got? Uh, yeah, I'm also going to go Dolphins. And it's purely out of my hatred for the Packers. Yeah. Right. Sorry. It hurts me. I might not sleep well tonight just because I had to pick the Packers. But, um, you know, I don't hate them as much because Aaron Rogers has left, but I, I, it's a slight bit less hate, but it, it, it's still a lot of hate, uh, Sunday night football, 49ers at bills before the season starts, that looks like that's going to be a great game. Hopefully the 49ers are healthy. I don't, I haven't kept track this week to see where Brock Purdy's at. Um, bills are on a tear, uh, Jacob, you can go first on this one. Yeah. The 49ers are just off, you know, it's funny because they've had a lot of injuries too, but they have not been able to overcome the injuries the way that the lions have. They've not been able to adjust. They just haven't looked good. Um, yeah, I think the bills are going to win big at home. Especially if Brock Purdy can't go. I'm with you. I'm taking the bills and I don't think it's, Brock Purdy goes that 49ers team is just too talented to, to not have, come out with a win. I'm not putting it past that the 49ers can't win. And they're like, why are they a game out in their division? Cause their division is, they keep beating each other up. I don't think they're necessarily, it's a bad division. It's just that they're so equally matched that they just keep, beating each other up, but I still think it's going to be the bills. Um, Meko, where you at? Yeah, I'm also going to go with the bills. I think, um, yeah, it's weird what's going on with the 49ers there. They still have a very talented defense, but what I saw last week, even with obviously them having a backup quarterback against the Packers, like the fact that the defense was still getting ran through was all I needed to know that like, this is not the same 49ers team that we're used to seeing. And so if the Packers were able to do that to them, the bills are going to run it up. It's, it's going to get ugly. Uh, yeah, I'm with you on that. All right. Monday night football, Browns at Broncos. I got to make up ground here. Uh, Broncos. I'm going Broncos in this one. No, uh, no snow this week, hopefully. And, uh, Broncos win. Right. Yeah. Broncos are favored by five points at home right now. Bo Nix has been a really nice surprise for them. You know, he's, he's going to make the rookie of the year contest really interesting if he keeps playing at the level he's been playing at the Browns and Broncos, they both have good defenses. So I think it's probably going to be a really good game, much better than, you know, last week, like you said, with the snow and everything, but. Broncos have home field advantage. I think the Broncos are going to win. Meiko, where are you at? Yeah, I'm also going to go with the Broncos in this situation that like you said, Jacob, uh, Bo Nix has been a big surprise, like very big surprise on this NFL season. I think this is going to be another one of those like slugfest because While both of both these teams have good defenses, their offenses like are up and down. And so I don't think this will be like an explosive Monday night football game. I think it'll be definitely more of a defensive battle. Um, and I think Bo Nix, which is just going to make fewer mistakes than Jameis Winston will. Yeah. You can always count on that, but everyone loves Jameis, right? You know, it's just too bad that he always seems to make a mistake, but him running in that end zone and that, you know, in that game last, last week, that was, that was a sight. That was awesome. Yeah. And. That game last week, the Jacob and I were saying, when they kicked that field goal, I had no clue where the ball was. It was unbelievable. All that snow came out of nowhere. It was, it's fun. You don't see a lot of football games like that. Cause there's so many more dome stadiums now. It is really nice to see that every once in a while though. Jeremy would argue with you, but yeah. Yes, that's all right. I know Jeremy has, I mean, yeah, he has his things, right? I mean, he's, he's hard line, no mozzarella sticks, no flea flickers, you know, he's, yeah, he's yeah. No snow games. He's yeah. He's not a very happy person when it comes to those types of things. I mean, it, it is kind of weird though, because it's like, It's almost like a Thursday night game where it's an equalizer I think it happened like week one in the NFL, you, no one knows what's going to happen. Snow totally flips it. It'll make, if you're a good running team or, or crazy things will happen. So I can get why he doesn't like that, but that un unknownness is, is, is fun. And how could you forget that Philadelphia Eagles lions game where Calvin Johnson gets, you know, plowed in the snow and he just comes up and it's, I mean, it's, it's cool. I know I, you can't have, you know, Football without, you know, at least one or two good snow games a year. All right, the next section we get into is called our grit guarantee where we Uh, Meko where we just pick, it doesn't have to be the score of the game. It could be anything about the game we think is going to happen. So jacob i'll start with you What's your guarantee for this week? All right. My guarantee this week is that we gain more than 400 yards of offense. I would be the fourth time that we've done it this year. You know, despite the blowouts and everything, we hit 400 against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Jacksonville. You know, this place is hungry for it. The giving wind Ben Johnson, you know, with, uh, the way the offense has ran against the bears lately. I definitely think they want to attack the bears and, you know, Like I said before, just keep the gas on, keep the pressure on them. You know, second guarantee. I think that there's going to be a 50 plus yard, uh, play to JMO. But the main one I'm going to say is more than 400 yards of offense. And I don't think the bears really. Maybe at least I think the bears have given up more than four yards. So, I mean, it would, it'd be new for them too. All right, Meko. Um, you got a great guarantee for us. Yeah, I think I'm going to go on a little bit of a bolder side, but I think I'll say that Jameson Williams will lead the Lions in receiving yards this week. Um, obviously, Jamo got some very good news this week in terms of like, you know, charges not being pressed against him. So I feel like he's going to, you know, take all of that excitement and definitely bring it to the football field, um, and have a really big day for the Lions. If he does, that's going to. You know, it's going to be a big touchdown, there'll be a big touchdown in there and the crowd will go crazy. So that, that would be awesome. I have two. My first one is a guarantee. I mean, I guarantee guarantee, uh, shabuzi is going to be a hit with my family. My whole family will be sitting there watching the halftime show, especially my wife, she's, she's a big fan. It's super happy about it, but on the lion side, I'm going, the over under on this game is 48 and a half. Never haven't really done over unders on this section, but I'm going to take the over in this one. I just feel like score is going to get run up and then the bears are going to, you know, they're going to hit, it's hit something deep, but I think the lions are going to have the higher score. That would be great if they got the over by just by themselves, I'd be happy with that, but I think there's, it's going to be a higher scoring game, so Meko, I want to thank you for, uh, coming on. Um, we even dealt with some technical difficulties there at the end, but you were, you know, you were great. You must like this enough for you to come back. So that, that was really, uh, you know, I think what happened was you've heard Morgan was on the show twice and Jeremy was on the show twice. And you're like, I'm going to be on the show twice in the same episode. So I'm going to log off and log back in. You, you, you read me like a book, man. I know, I know I just met you, but I know you so well, I've watched so many of your videos. So no, that's great. I, uh, appreciate, uh, you coming on, especially short notice. Like I've been wanting to get you on the show and this actually just worked out. Perfectly. So, uh, Mika, why don't you tell, you know, uh, where they, when you come out with your videos and, and, and where they can watch your stuff at. Yeah. Uh, so first and foremost, thank you guys for even inviting me. This was awesome. You guys have, you guys have a really well, well run show. I love everything that you guys are doing. This was a lot of fun for me personally. Uh, in terms of where you guys can find me, obviously, uh, I am posting weekly over on the pride of Detroit YouTube channel. All you have to do is search pride of Detroit. Uh, our YouTube channel will pop up Morgan and I typically post round two videos a week. So typically on Monday, Or technically, Tuesday morning and Thursday morning is when you can see new content from us. Um, again, usually it's a recap of the previous game. And then we typically like to do like a scout, the opponent type of video where we look at different aspects of the opposing team, um, and what makes them a challenge for the lines that upcoming week and what things that they have to overcome. So, um, Doing a lot of that stuff lately. You can also, if you are on TikTok, you can find, uh, Pride of Detroit all over on TikTok. I will be adding some more short form original content. So it's not even just like me taking snippets of the podcast or videos that Morgan and I are doing. I'm going to do some original content over there. So, yeah, you can you can find me on both of those places. Yeah, we've been lucky enough to have both of you guys on there. You guys know your line stuff. You guys are entertaining. You guys are friendly. You guys are just. Cool down to earth guys. And I personally appreciate it. So thank you for spending your time with us. I'm hoping that we can revisit this in the future. We'd love to have you back on. Um, you just really nice to the show. So, yeah, absolutely. Listen, all you guys got to do is shoot me a message. I will happily be here if I have no other, uh, This was so much money. No, no, no, no. That's not good enough. Meko, you need to blow off all of their prior engagements when we call on, it's like, it's us throwing out the bat signal. We're throwing out the Meko signal. Get, get on the show. We need your, we need your expertise. If you guys are willing to tussle with my wife over my, over my priorities. Nope. You win Meko. We're all married. We're, uh, we all, we all. We all, that's a losing proposition right there. Jacob, anything, uh, you want to say, uh, before we head out here? No, just appreciate you Meko. It's been great meeting you and having you on. Definitely look forward to doing it again. All right. Um, uh, before we get out of here, I just want to say happy Thanksgiving to everybody that's listening. You may be listening to this on Thanksgiving day, like while you're driving up to the game or whatever. I hope that I hope we get Alliance victory and I hope. Just above all that you guys are safe and have a good Thanksgiving. And there's plenty to be thankful for this NFL season and for what's coming at, you know, towards the back half of the season. So that's something we can all agree on. And I really, uh, really hope that you have a good holiday. So for Meko, for Jacob, I'm Jason. Let's go lions.
