Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast

E54: "Biting Re-Caps" - Playoff Ready: Lions Seal NFC North Victory; Lions vs Vikings

• Jason Harwood / Jacob Litton • Season 1 • Episode 54

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In this episode of Biting Recaps with hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton, the duo dive into the Lions' season finale win over the Vikings. They discuss the game play-by-play, highlighting the Lions' dominant performance, Goff's clutch throws, and Gibbs' record-breaking touchdowns. They debate Dan Campbell's qualifications for Coach of the Year and analyze the rules around delay of game penalties and fumble rulings in the NFL. Additionally, they recapture the electric environment in Ford Field, celebrate the return of Alex Anzalone to the defense, and reflect on the season's end, including the Lions securing a playoff bye. Special teams' and defense's key contributions are also noted, along with insightful fan reactions and memorable game moments.

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Jason Harwood:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Biting Recaps here at Talking Grit. I'm Jason Harwood and with me is Jacob Litton. We finished the regular season, finally 18 weeks of football what a finish it was. We started out the season on Sunday night football. We ended the season on Sunday night football. win 31 to nine. Let's get, I'm done with this intro, Jacob. Let's talk about this game. How are you doing?

Jacob:

Awesome, right? 15 and 2 record, even better than we could have imagined. Best regular season franchise history. 564 points scored fourth all time. Just an outstanding season. But, as far as last night's game went, the stakes obviously were at an all time high. There may never be another NFL game with the stakes as high as that one. And, for the first half was close, but we, the close on the scoreboard, it just didn't feel like it was close. It felt like we had the upper hand pretty much the whole time. Which was nice. It was refreshing. It was not as much a, pressure as we thought it wasn't going to be another one, like the last time where. We need Jake Bates to kick a field goal there at the end of the game, just a good way to put an exclamation point on the season and, leaving no doubt about who the NFC North champions are.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, it was. The end score just shows that we pretty much dominated, but up until the middle of the third quarter, it was still largely up in the air until the lines was like, said, Nope, we're tired of this and we're just going to take over the game. Love being an Alliance fan, love that the Vikings spent 2 million for their fans to leave disappointed. we could talk, we'll talk a little bit about some of the stuff that I saw in the stadium, which I thought was hilarious. But first, let's have this conversation. Let Dan Campbell coach of the year. Is he the coach of the year in your opinion?

Jacob:

Obviously his resume speaks for itself. We have the injury plague team franchise record one seed. It's like I was talking about when we had a reef on where it's just, The coach of the year award just doesn't seem to go to the best coach of the best team. It's not like the MVP award where you can kind of tell who it's down to like that. And the thing that hurts Dan Campbell's case for coach of the year is just the fact that we were a great team last year. We got better, we did improbable things, but if you told someone before the season started that we were going to be the one seed in the NFC, most people probably would have thought that was accurate and that was believable. And then, you flip that around and that's why I think that most voters are probably leaning towards O'Connell, Jim Harbaugh, people didn't think the Chargers were going to make the playoffs in his first year. No one expected the Vikings to be as good as they are. And yeah, just when you look at the history of coach of the year awards, I mean, Andy reads one, how many Superbowls, he has won one coach of the year award and it was with the Eagles back in 2002 coach of the year. It does not really mean the best coach of the best team. I feel in my opinion, it just seems to be like the most improbable record of the year. If I had a vote, I absolutely would put Campbell number one, completely unbiased.

Jason Harwood:

yeah, exactly. Here. yeah, we're completely unbiased here. We're definitely not wearing my lions had My lion shirt. My lion socks. Definitely not bias, but no, we're not biased. you look at the totality of the season, you're right, everything is built on expectations coming into the season, which, builds those expectations we do by talking about it or how the national media built it, that doesn't mean how good your team is, Kevin O'Connell, definitely. Was a great coach. He got more out of his team than any of us expected, but it's not like his team is not full of players either. I mean, they have really good linebackers, edge players. Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison's really good. You had TJ Hockinson in there. Aaron Jones is solid. Sam Darnold was the question mark and he had a really good season, but he was also set up with a lot of weapons too. So, everything was built off expectations, as for this coach of the year award. But when I look at Dan Campbell, you tell him, yes, we had a solid team. and two were number one seed all believable coming into this year. So did he exceed those expectations? Maybe not, but you also tell me that we're going to have 15 players or how many on the IR Aiden Hutchinson being one of them who most oddly would have been defensive player of the year. If he would have just continued his tear that he was on the first third of the season. Dan Campbell is the coach of the year. Not only when you look at. Okay. We're 15 to it's the decisions that he's made. And that, is obviously a talking point around the league because he is gutsy. He does all these things, they're very intentional things that he does. He doesn't just do them out of emotion. Teddy Brewski be darned. And, he doesn't do things. Campbell does not do things just out of emotion. He. Does what he does needs to win the game. And a lot of those decisions have helped win the game for the lions. That's beyond whatever, he's built with this team, the trust, and all that, and beyond all the injuries and getting the next man up. So yes, in my opinion, Dan Campbell deserves and last night's game might've been for the coach of the year. Cause it's probably between those two guys any other year, Jim Holbrook would definitely been had a good chance, but. You got a two 14 and two teams playing last night and, our guy fortunately came out on top and I think that he deserves coach of the year.

Jacob:

Absolutely deserves it. 100%. And if you told me that he won coach of the year, I would say, the right man won. Definitely. I just, in my opinion, and based on the way this goes with this associated press award like that, it just doesn't history does not show that's usually what happens. If you guys noticed that Jason's voice is gone, he went to a Taylor Swift concert and

Jason Harwood:

Yeah,

Jacob:

that's why he sounds funny. He was singing Shake It Off really hard.

Jason Harwood:

yeah, my hips hurt, man. I was going to just get right into that. I was going to say. We're going to talk about our overall thoughts from the game. I was at the game last night. I want to tell everybody what my experience at the game was. Jacob, you were at home. I always like to get your experience just listen to the announcers and how everything's built in the narrative. I think for me, it's fun. I mean, I go back and listen to the broadcast. I watched the condensed one this morning, before work. And so I had a chance to see some of it, but. There's something about living through that moment that you don't know what's going to happen next, that, you get, you have a nice experience and a lot of our listeners they watch it at home. They're not at the stadium. So tell me what your thoughts going through the game, just with the announcers and what was going on.

Jacob:

I find the announcers most of the time to be annoying honestly, just, I would say most of the fan perspective had the Lions winning this game. A lot of the media perspective picked the Vikings to win. And you can say it's the injuries and whatever, but it just seemed like the Vikings were, they weren't favored betting favorites, but it seemed like they were favored by most. You see all these analysts picking the Vikings to win and everything, but, um, I know what this team's about, I know what we're capable of, and we've talked about this before, and I told you, I mean, I would, afraid's not the right word, but I would be more concerned with facing the Packers again than facing the Vikings. I said that before this matchup even happened, and, the first half is close, it's going back and forth, we have a couple plays that don't go our way, it never felt like this one was out of hand. Whereas you got the Texans game, where it's okay, things keep, we keep getting kicked further and further down, when do we hit the panic button, which was also different than the bills game where we were performing well against the bills. We just weren't able to stop them. This really just I don't think relaxing is the way right word for a football game, but I mean, towards the end of the game, it was just nice to know that we were going to get it done. I didn't have any doubts towards the end, but

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

what was the environment like being there? Because I mean, this is one of the best games to ever attend. So walk us through that.

Jason Harwood:

So my, my boys decided not to go. So it was just my wife and I. Up there. So that was unique in itself for us. We're used to going as a family. I felt bad, not, the boys decided not to go. We were going to let them stay up and, either go to late to school, miss school. My boys are good students, school's important, so don't think that I don't want them to be there, but They're not behind. Let's just say that. So I was willing to do all that for them. They didn't want to do that. So they wanted to stay home and watch it with grandma and grandpa. We get up there early. We go to dinner. We line late when the stadium opens. The line is long. And we're talking, this is at five 30, the game, they open the gates at five 30. The game starts at eight 20. So we're talking three hours before kickoff and the line, even at the secondary gates, the line moves fairly quickly, but it took a good, like 20 minutes to get through the line just to get in the stadium we get in, I mean, it's already. Buzzing in the stadium. It was very comparable to the Rams game in the sense that people were there early. I'm talking about the Rams playoff game from last year. So I was like, I was excited. I was like, okay, the crowd's into it. I go actually meet up with Morton Cannon, we hang out for a little bit and then we get in our seats and it's 45 minutes before kickoff and they show Alexander Anzalone like on the screen, not it, not the introduction. He was just coming out for warmups and the crowd. This is 45 minutes for the game. The lights are fully up. We're not even like into the intro and the crowd just goes crazy and it gets loud already. And I was like, Oh yeah this is going to be awesome. It gives me goosebumps to just think about it right now. I was just so excited for Alex to get that response, to act, get them back as a fan. I knew what it meant for this defense. I was watching as much as we watched Jacob, we knew what we were We knew we needed Alex back and you could make the argument getting Alex back. Maybe more important than getting hutchback at this point, just for what we need in that. It's like what we need from the linebacker crew with all the injuries that happened there. You could, I could make, as a part of this team right now, I can make the argument that Alex is more important than getting hutchback at this moment. Not that getting hutchback wouldn't be awesome, but I just feel like. was where we were getting gashed in the linebacker room the last few weeks. He just calmed that all down. And the game played out that way too, let's just say that.

Jacob:

Absolutely, I just think that drop off the drop off in the linebacker for man's Lonnie to, our backups was just so it was, it was a lot to try to overcome.

Jason Harwood:

Yes, exactly. And so then they did, they announced the defense coming on the field. They're going through, they get to check Campbell. He's like in the middle, they haven't hit the line yet. And I was like, all right. Alex is going to be next. Then they go jail and Reese Maven. I was like, all right, we're saving Alex. And then they went to the line and they saved Alex all the way for last. And when they announced his name, was like loud. It was just awesome. So the crowd was just so into it. They were loud the whole game the Rams game had higher peaks, I would say for the playoffs last year. But as far as like loudness throughout the whole game, I feel like this matched it. We were talking at work earlier about this, Jacob, it was a matter of us getting a lot of third down stops been, do a lot of lions games and when you, when your defense gives up third downs. next third down, especially after it's happened time and time again, you just feel let down and the crowd just doesn't get into it. We kept stopping and I'm on third down and fourth down. And so the crowd was just making an effect on the game. They should have called more delay penalty. Games. I saw that later on.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

really noticing that much inside the stadium. But you know, I heard that was a narrative afterwards after I got on social media after the game. So it was just an unreal environment and about, I don't know, at some point. So my wife, has eyes on where Hutch is playing. Sweet boxes. So for the game, she's looking in there. She goes, there's

Jacob:

sounded dirty.

Jason Harwood:

one in sorry. No, she might be doing that too. I don't know, but she's looking for where his suite the suites are. And so she looked in there. She's he's not in there. And then finally she's Oh, his family's in there, but he's not in there. I was like, I bet you he's in the locker room. And then. He never went into the suites. And so then Sarah found him on the sideline, I don't know, probably midway, first quarter or something like that, you're telling everybody around us, I was like, Hutch is on the sideline, but they never played him on. screen until the fourth quarter, huge third down, they put the cameras on Hutch and he put a bump on the big screen and it got super loud in there and it was like the stadium crew had just said, we're going to save this for a really big moment strategically to show it and because from what I understand, Jacob, they showed him on TV a lot, throughout the game. Is that

Jacob:

Yes, no, yes, they absolutely, they showed him early on, they showed him, they showed Montgomery, they showed them on the sidelines and everything. So yeah, that was a part like at the beginning of the game, they also showed Calvin Johnson and Drew Brees and you know how they do.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

yeah, the TV crew was just, trying to much more on top of it like that. Yeah. But, of course, Ford Field, the Lions crew, they're waiting for the right moment, and I guess they nailed it, right?

Jason Harwood:

They did. One more quick thing that I thought was super cool at the game was about midway through the fourth quarter, the Lions pretty much had the game in hand. There was a purple line of people walking out of the stadium as the Vikings fans were giving up and the whole crowd in unison does the skull chant. Awesome. It's just great. Especially with the whole 2 million Vikings spend all this money. There wasn't as many Vikings fans in there as I thought there was going to be. I had argued that there was more Buffalo fans a few weeks ago than there were Minnesota fans in that stadium. But the way that game that played out, even when there was that turnover, when they. It wasn't that loud in there for Minnesota fans. Like when we, when golf through an interception, I would expect it to be louder because Buffalo Allen, like they were chaining and it was noticeable in the stadium. You could hear them. They were loud. So either there were more Buffalo fans or they just happened to be louder. They were also winning the game. They had a little more juice behind them. Whereas the Vikings, never took a lead in that game. So took away all their buzz. But. The skull chant was a highlight of the night for me.

Jacob:

Did you participate?

Jason Harwood:

Oh yes.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

standing up. I, we sold our tickets, like I mentioned earlier. And so we didn't know the people we sold it to. We are, they were like friends of a friend. I made sure they were lions fans before we sold them to them. That was important to me because number one, I wanted more lions fans in there. Number two, I was going to be sitting next to this person the whole night. So I did not want sitting next to a Vikings fan. I would have. my night. The guy was just as much as a fan as I was. so he's screaming and I felt, so there, he's you kind of feel like when you got someone next to you screaming, you get egged on and you're just doing it too. That's why I don't have a voice now. It's cause I

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

I was part of the 120 decibels in that stadium. It was awesome.

Jacob:

What a good night.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, it was great. DJ played another song, ludicrous song called move B I won't say the word, that was a fun, that was a fun night just hearing the whole crowd sing that it was, it just felt once we scored that like second touchdown, we went up by two scores. We, it was like, it was basically saying move over. We own this, we own the NFC now, and that's what it felt like. And the whole crowd was into it. It was great.

Jacob:

Awesome.

Jason Harwood:

Let's talk quickly about special teams here. Jake Bates, 1 for 1, 48 yards. He also had an awesome squib kick, which pinned them down to the 20 yard line. That was a great kickoff and the Vikings tried it later on. They did not execute.

Jacob:

No, they did not. That actually is why Jake Bates got the field goal, right? The Vikings tried to kick it towards the end of the first half. They kick it out of bounds. Lions start with the ball at our own 40. Couple quick passes, and we're in range for Jake Bates to hit it. Which actually was kind of a big, because that allowed us to go into halftime. We were up 6 10 instead of 6 7.

Jason Harwood:

And the Vikings were going to get the ball first. It kind of gave us momentum. We scored right before has, it was good. It was good for me as a fan to have some momentum going in. I'm sure it was great for the team. They felt that the only other special teams that play that I want to mention is it was great to have Khalif Raymond back his first return. It was inside the 10. He made the first guy misc all the way out to the 20. The Lions had a lot of stuff. Starting field positions, terrible. So it was good to get outside of the 10 on that one, especially for our first as would that have been our second possession that would have been, cause we

Jacob:

was the touchdown drive, though.

Jason Harwood:

yeah. And so it was nice to get out of the shadow of the end zone. So it was really nice having cleave back. We missed the dynamic returner while he was out with injury. So he's got to prove vital in the playoffs. Now that we have a defense that could force a team to punt.

Jacob:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jason Harwood:

Much else on special teams other than, for their kicker, miss a vital 51 yarder, which, you could argue whether they should have went forward or not, Dan Campbell. Would have went for it in that case Kevin O'Connell decided not to, but he also maybe has a reason since they were unsuccessful two times in the red zone going for it. So, It's a difference between golf and Darnold right there. once experienced pressure, one had not as of yet, that was probably the most pressure Darnold had faced and didn't fare as well. Let's talk about this defense because. This makes me feel really good about the playoffs, the way the defense played gave me a lot of confidence going into the playoffs, whether we had to go on the road or not, I felt, okay, Alex is back. He settled things down. We're going to be good. I mean, I'm really glad we won and we get the buy and everything, but The real win for me tonight was how well this defense played as far as like looking into the future and the playoffs.

Jacob:

Agreed. I mean, we talked about that before, like, how many stops do we need for our offense to be able to outscore the opponent? With Anzalone back, it looks like we are going to be able to stop them, much more than we did before. We held them to 3 out of 13 on 3rd down conversions, and they were 0 for 3 on 4th downs. And 2 of those 4th down tries were inside the 5 yard line.

Jason Harwood:

Exactly.

Jacob:

No touchdowns scored for the Vikings tonight. This was actually their worst offensive game of the season. And it was on the biggest stage.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, it was the lowest point total this year. I think the stat I saw was like, from like mid season last year was the last time they didn't score double digits. So defense just, I mean, up tall in the biggest of moments and a lot of that. Let's be real is Alex coming back and settling all that down and it's not a coincidence that our defense took a big slide when he left. When you look at the advanced statistics and you could just see it on the field. This game was one in the red zone with our defense. The Vikings ran 14 red zone plays total throughout the night. Eight of those red zone plays were inside the five yard line. They got a total of those eight and those eight five total yards and Sam Darnold was one for six. That's inside the five. There were additional three red zone plays inside the ten. Sam Darnold over three on those. They won that game right there. Sam Darnold was one for nine on red zone plays inside the ten. Inside the 10. When you have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson at your disposal, that just tells you how good we were on our back end. Yes. Sam Darnold did miss some throws, but a lot of that was cause we were getting pressure and moving them off his spot too.

Jacob:

We also matched up well, right? I mean, we had Alex Anzalone was covering Hawkinson a lot when he wasn't being covered by, 1 of the safeties. You've got Terry on and Jordan Addison and, I really just want to talk about a meet Robertson because he did not give up an inch of space to Justin Jefferson. The 1st drive, I don't know if you saw this because you were there, but the 1st drive, it was after the false start against the Vikings. That's when Justin Jefferson to meet Robertson already 1st drive. They're already in each other's face. And Justin Jefferson, points at the ground and slams on the ground. And then you know this is gonna be a battle. They both know, they know the matchup. They know they're gonna be one on one. We know how hard it is to cover Jets. And Amik just played his tail off. Held Justin Jefferson at three catchers for 54 yards. And one of those was a 31 yarder. And that was actually on one of the delay game penalties. So that was, it hits zero, an extra second goes by. And that was the first play where Anzalone kind of jumps up in the air, he's like jumping, like trying to get them like, Hey, it's as zero. So it took was that half step for Justin Jefferson to get out and get 31 yards. And then that was actually the drive where they went Oh, for three passing inside the five or inside the 10, but you know, a meek was right on them every single time. I love the quote Amik had after the game. I don't know if you saw that. He said, they can't bury what comes from the effin dirt.

Jason Harwood:

Yes, yeah,

Jacob:

Just so good for Amik.

Jason Harwood:

It was a lot of good quotes after the game. There was just so much good locker room talk after there. Taylor Decker had some good stuff. I mean, yes, it was awesome. Felt great for Amik. Carlton Davis goes down and Carlton Davis has played it awesome this year. Amik's come in and just said, This is my job, and he's done it, man. I mean, it's we're so lucky to have him be able to take that because it is not easy to shut Justin Jefferson down. Amik just did an amazing job. Justin Jefferson, I don't know if you saw it after we're saying, they were getting away with some holds Justin Jefferson was getting away with some pass interference, offensive pass interference, too. I think Amik on that play could shove to the ground. Justin Jefferson fully extends his arm. They don't really call that very often. Yeah, I don't know. There was a lot of talk about the refs being, pro Lion. That's just loser talk. Just

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

We used to have a lot of that talk when the Lions were losing. We had to point our finger at somewhere. It was easier to point our finger at the refs than it was at ourselves and our deficiencies that we had as a team, as a whole,

Jacob:

I don't have those numbers in front of me, but after the, delay of game penalties, and I know they had a couple first downs that were from like a legal contact or defensive holding or whatever. So I don't know how you can say they were biased towards us somehow.

Jason Harwood:

know we had more penalties called against us. They got more first downs from penalties, like four first downs compared to us. One first down, on due to penalties the one penalty that think that we got the first down on was getting them off sides when it was,

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

It was that When we get to the offense, I definitely want to talk to you about

Jacob:

For sure.

Jason Harwood:

So me, again, got a game ball, totally deserved it. Another defensive player that got a game ball was Alex Anzalone. Talked about him at the intro, but he was matched up with T. J. Hawkinson, one on one. Alex has not played in seven weeks. He played every snap except for one in this game. I know that. It's helped that he had an arm injury, so he was probably able to do the bike exercise and, stay in shape. But there's a difference between staying in shape and staying in football shape. the fact that whole TJ Hawkinson for two receptions on eight targets for nine yards. That is awesome.

Jacob:

Yeah, I mean, Darnold was feeling the pressure, and it just seemed like he was trying to get Hawkinson way too much when he wasn't open. Anzalone's right on him, and you're right, you can't understate the importance of having Anzalone back. Been saying it forever, I know you especially have just been saying if Anzalone could just come back, if Anzalone could just come back, once Anzalone is back. And, you were absolutely right, here we are, we're just a more complete defense with him out there.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, and that's my argument of why he's at this point in the season. He is more important than Hutch the fact that what we need right now, not arguing. He's a better defensive player. That's That goes to Hutch if we got Hutch back, he could affect the game and a lot, getting more pressure on the quarterback. And we may see a very similar result just by a different method. However, for what we need right now, with all the injuries we have, getting Anzalone back was right what we needed. You mentioned about Justin Jefferson, only on 54 yards, Jordan Addison, one catch. Six targets, zero yards, and that one catch, Amik Robertson made a heck of a play. They tried to do a little screen, Amik got by the first, the blocker and just took a Jordan Addison down for zero yards. Jordan Addison's having a good season. I have him on my fantasy team. I know he's been lighting defenses up because they're all focused and shaded on Judson Jefferson. Jordan Addison has been open, getting him on zero yards, win in my book, huge win,

Jacob:

Absolutely. Just shut down defense, man.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, especially on a day you hold Justin Jefferson to 54 yards. You could say then they were shading everybody over, towards Justin. We, someone had to guard someone and they shut Jordan down and, we can all put this back, maybe all those happen because Sam Darnold, but he's had a good year. It's he's passed for what do you end up with? Like 4, 200 yards this year, 43, pretty

Jacob:

Almost 43. I think

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. They're throwing champagne on him last week after he beat the Packers. He's going to win comeback player of the year, which is weird because what's he coming back from?

Jacob:

Actually, he's not the favorite for comeback player of the year after last night's game. I don't know if you saw that. So the new favorite for comeback player of the year is Joe Burrow again.

Jason Harwood:

I could understand that Joe Burrow went down with injury. I don't get about Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold was never here to come back from anything.

Jacob:

Is that most improved player? It's not come back.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

make sense.

Jason Harwood:

means you had an injury or you left for a while and then, you. Lit things up. Sam Darnold didn't come back from anything. I'm not taking anything away from a season. He had a good season, night, Sam Darnold had to come into an environment that was a toughest he's ever had to play in the lions. Fans came out, made it extremely tough. There was pressure. Lion's got, we're able to get some pressure on him, move him off his spot. And Sarah Arnold did not respond. Be interesting to see how he plays next week and similar. I wouldn't say the Rams environment is going to be anywhere like the Lions environment, but you know, you're talking playoff, playoff atmosphere. Monday night. So it'd be interesting to see how he does.

Jacob:

Yeah. Next week's going to be really telling. I mean, he went 18 for 4166 yards. We got the pressure on him early. A few of those times he started feeling phantom pressure. The announcers were quick to point that out to just, we were getting pressure on him enough to where he just was not able to make throws. And then when he didn't have pressure on him, he still was not making the proper reads. And I mean, really just kind of reverted back to what Sam Darnold has been in the past, which is, he just, unfortunately he's just looking average out there.

Jason Harwood:

He's seeing ghosts. I mean, that's,

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

he, that's essentially what it came down to, that whole thing that he, they cut the cameras, caught him saying that with the jets, I'm seeing ghosts out there. And I knew that was a distinct possibility if we could get some pressure on them, but it's been hard for us to generate any of that pressure. Defense for being able to do that, get them off his spot. And once they made him uncomfortable, it's They could never get him in rhythm. I know what the broadcast at one point, they're like, yeah, they need to get him in some rhythm throws. They could never get him in a rhythm. Even the short outlet passes late in that third quarter and fourth quarter, the lions were just stopping it for one or two yard gains. They were on top of it. They knew that stuff was coming and they could never hit the big shot. They just, it was never open. It's too bad I wanted Kirby to get another interception just to throw it in the Pro Bowl voters face, but didn't need to. We pretty much, I'll take this. 18 for 41. Man, is awesome.

Jacob:

we have the Vikings 262 total yards of offense, which is the lowest yards given up since week 11 since the Jaguars. And who was injured in week 11 and was out for the last 6 weeks?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, exactly.

Jacob:

Yeah, so Anzalone, once again, just huge. I also want to shout out Levi Anzarique. Okay. So he actually had eight hurries. He had three tackles, but I mean. He was constantly plugging holes in the run game. He was crashing the pocket so hard against the past. And it just seemed every single time he was just bringing it, the center and both guards just had a really long night. I'm sure they're feeling it today because Levi was just in their face the entire time, just crashing back. I think that, it affected Darnell for sure. He's trying to, he doesn't have a clean pocket. It's crashing every single time.

Jason Harwood:

They just got him getting him off his spot. That's where Jared Goff has been so good, even when they get him off his spot and he's able to slightly move here and there, he can make big time throws. When we get to the offense, I definitely want to hear your opinion of Jared Goff.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

he had two turnovers, but yeah. Before we get on that, I just want to say that with the crowd reaction to Alex, was, I don't think I was alone or you were alone in the fact that everyone knew what this meant for us. Part of it was, Hey, we're finally getting a defensive player back. We've been losing them all. But I think a lot of people just knew what type of person Alex was and what he was going to bring to this Lions defense. And we got to see it last night, Troy Aikman last week on Monday night football. The narrative was. don't know how far this team could go because of this defense, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We get annoyed when we hear announcers and it is tough. I mean, They have to come up with this stuff to talk live. They tend to harp on the same things because it's hard to change what you're talking about mid, midstream. Troy Aikman saw that game and I know he's probably watching. I bet you his mind changed because the defense has played like a totally different team last night.

Jacob:

Definitely showed, we're right back to what we were capable of doing before.

Jason Harwood:

Exactly. And that's scary. When we get, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but when we go to the off season, it is going to be crazy to talk about, we're going to be adding Hutch to this team. You're adding a defensive player of the year next year. It's like getting a trade. We were already playing so well, and then we're going to add this awesome player next year. And we, training camp could not come soon enough after the Superbowl because I want to see Hutch out there with the team again. I'm dying for it.

Jacob:

Hey, he's trying to come back for the Super Bowl man

Jason Harwood:

I know.

Jacob:

would be unbelievable.

Jason Harwood:

on the sideline, I gotta find that super hard to believe for him to come back.

Jacob:

Right?

Jason Harwood:

but he's still openly limping. And for him to get back into football shape,

Jacob:

Yeah. No, he's he's running underwater and everything like he's training.

Jason Harwood:

yeah.

Jacob:

That'd be a difficult decision for the lions if he wants to play and wants to get out there and be, play 10 snaps or something like that. Do you allow him to come out there and play or do you tell him that we need you for next year? We got to play it safe. Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. It's gonna be an interesting decision. It's too bad if he does come back, though, that it won't be in Detroit. Like

Jacob:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

I'm the avoid ovation that Alex got it hutch coming back. It'd be even louder I can't even imagine that hopefully we get

Jacob:

you'll get to see it

Jason Harwood:

game that happens They do something for Hutch and we can get those cheers out of the way All right. Is there anything else on the defense that you got notes on that you want to talk about?

Jacob:

real quick. Terran Arnold Titan coverage again. I thought he had another really good game. He had that huge fourth down stop. I think that was on Addison. Diving stop. He got hurt later in the game. X rays came back negative. Definitely the bi weeks coming at a good time. He seems to think that he's going to be good to go for the next game. And then Kindleville door had to come in late for Terry on, and he actually did not allow a catch. He knocked the ball loose from Justin Jefferson on that one play. It was ruled a fumble on the field when they overturned it to incomplete. Yeah, it was nice. Cause usually in the past, when Vildor comes in, we know, okay, they're going deep on him right here. They're going to start, trying to target him.

Jason Harwood:

You were calling it, you texted me and you're like, they're about to go deep here. And it was nowhere to be seen. Vildor played well. Outside of that first game, his first game he's had, he's played really solid this year outside of the very first game. That was the Colts game. If I believe he had a kind of a rougher game in that one, but then the next week he settled down and yeah, he's been when we needed him to be hopefully Tarion's back, but if not, I'm okay with, I'm okay with Vildor right now. Rather have Terry on back. Cause like you said, he's, he had some past breakups. He was playing in coverage, no penalties last night. I look for him to have a good next year, like to get, to get some growth this off season. And I look for him to be really solid in the future for us.

Jacob:

Yes.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, so that's pretty much all I got on a defense. I was, I'm

Jacob:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

over to the offense.

Jacob:

let's do it.

Jason Harwood:

All right. I'm letting you start out. What do you want to talk about first?

Jacob:

Alright, let's just break down, I mean, Offense, we go 5 for 12 on 3rd down conversions, 2 for 4 on the 4th down conversions. Let's just talk about this play, I know you mentioned I wanted to talk about it too, but We also had a nice hard count to draw them off sides to convert another 4th down without having to run a play. I mean, we just have these teams right where we want them with 4th down. Because it's just another down for the lions, the stakes are not any higher, the play calling doesn't seem much different, the moment doesn't ever feel too big for us, and I think that's probably why the Vikings kept failing, because the Vikings before this game only went 4th on 4th down 10 times all year, and then they tried to do it 3 times in this game, and it was just too much, they didn't have the right play calling, they weren't able to execute, and then, for the situation for us, it's 4th and 2, and we could be running literally anything. We're inside the 5, it's 4th and 2. We, I believe we had an eligible lineman on the field. Any one of those other 6 guys could be touching the football. And we've seen it time and time again, we could snap it with 10 seconds on the play clock. We can snap it with 2 seconds on the play clock. We can be doing literally anything, and that's impossible for them to defend. So then of course the Vikings jumped off sides because they thought we were running a play. And it's the opposite for most teams, where, you watch football games and they line up on fourth down. They don't even look like they're running a play. They don't even look like they're running a real formation. They just come up, they give a hard count, they're trying to get somebody to jump off sides, they either call a timeout or take the delay of the game. That's not what happens in Detroit. That's not how things work. We line up to run a play. Everyone on the field thought we were running a play, we go for the hard count, and it was almost too easy.

Jason Harwood:

Do you think they were going to run a play?

Jacob:

It didn't look like it. The play clock was running down, it didn't look like they were going to run a play. And I don't know, we still had timeouts, I think maybe we had that timeout in our pocket and then we were going to run a play? But definitely, I mean, that, by the design, they were trying to make them jump off sides.

Jason Harwood:

I, that was next to me talking, I was like, they can't be thinking about going for it. And I said, they, kicking a field goal, get some up three scores just too risky. I was like, they gotta be trying to draw them off sides. The thing that makes them draw them off sides is the fact that we do go for it. So often, and Dan Campbell is almost say unpredictable and they could sell it. right. Other teams try to sell it, but they don't have the guts to go for it. we did in the Packers game to seal that game and run it all the way down and get the kick. Dan Campbell. I mean, they get those calls early in the season, whether they work out or not, help set up this play and gave us the first down without even risking anything without even running the play. They gave us that first down and therefore we go and score and do what we need to do. I'm not saying that you just go for everything and then you're unpredictable, but all that stuff that Dan Campbell's made decisions he's made early in the year, help set up a play like that. And that's going to happen again in the playoffs and the stakes get bigger. Dan Campbell's gonna have the stones to go for it or to do something like that. And Jared Goff is so good. He's not the best heart count quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is probably the best hardcore, at least he was, he always, he just would get people to jump off sides. I hate to praise him, but I'm going to in this case, but Jerichoff,

Jacob:

How dare you mention him on this episode?

Jason Harwood:

I know everything that that they've done, that Dan Campbell's done and built here led to being able to draw them off sides. So you could sit here and argue, we go for too often, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What makes us unpredictable. us so hard to defend. And in that case gave us a free first down.

Jacob:

In your opinion, I mean, I know we do this too much anyway, but would you have been upset if we went for it there and didn't get it? I mean, we're on their six yard line and that's fourth and two were on their six yard line and we're up 24 to nine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

is it 24? Yeah. I don't know if I'd have been upset because I just know that we probably could have got that regardless. I would have said this is a time where we kick the field goal is up to me. But I would have done exactly what they did line up, what do you got to lose? Even if we take a delay again, penalty, we don't want to use a timeout or whatever, you're on the 11 yard line now worried about leg with Jake Bates, obviously from that distance. So he had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And, even if we do a false start or whatever, still no farm, no fall. We're going to kick the field goal, go up three scores, still win that game. but. I mean, if he'd have went for it, I would have not been shocked. But it played out the way it needed to play out, for me, but he's lining up, he's ready to go for it. And if anything would have been in spite to show Kevin O'Connell this is how you do it. This is

Jacob:

Yeah, they're not like us.

Jason Harwood:

no, no one's like us. And. Anyone that would try to copy style, it's why, for the years, Patriots way, it didn't work for other teams cause they didn't have ever, it wasn't built a certain way. You're going to have to get certain players, certain built and everything to build from the lion's way. And there's only one Dan Campbell. There really is. So trying to replicate that's going to be impossible.

Jacob:

I saw a video of some Vikings fans and they're, live streaming or watching the game and it might've been a play where Terry on knocked the ball like it was fourth down and they were just so mad. And the one guy was like, you're not Dan Campbell. What are we doing? We should have taken the points. I love it.

Jason Harwood:

Yes, is so great watching fan reaction videos. Much like defense stopping them in the red zone, our offense went to work in the red zone. Three for three, touchdowns, difference in the game, right? I mean, they, we stopped them on the red zone and we scored. It's a great recipe because the other recipe is to win the turnover battle and we didn't win that. We didn't win that yesterday. If you're not counting turnover on downs. And the

Jacob:

Which they don't.

Jason Harwood:

official statistic, but I mean, you're essentially are taking the possession away from them. Not only did we have a turnover, we had a turnover at the five yard line on that tip pass that golf through. That could have been huge for them. And then our defense came out and said, we're not going to let you score and that's that was a huge momentum swift back to Detroit as opposed to a quick score for them, we kept them. I think that one, did they get the field goal or did they not get an effort down on that one

Jacob:

They did get the field goal on that one.

Jason Harwood:

how did they? Okay.

Jacob:

Yep.

Jason Harwood:

All right.

Jacob:

incomplete passes inside the, from the seven yard line and then they kicked the field goal,

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

Jacob:

but yeah, it was funny because the Vikings they had their own ball don't lie moment

Jason Harwood:

of the

Jacob:

we had that play where golf was in the end zone and

Jason Harwood:

a two

Jacob:

he had Brock right and he had Gibbs right there, but he, was under pressure and was just trying to kill it.

Jason Harwood:

what

Jacob:

then they got together and talked about if that was intentional grounding. Obviously, you didn't hear it because you were there, but then, they've got whatever rules analyst or whatever that was on. He was like, yes, this is this should have been a penalty. The receiver they called in the area was Brock Wright, but Brock Wright's turned around blocking and Goff doesn't throw it anywhere near him. He's just trying to kill it. So they're like, yes, that should have been called a safety. They let that go. And then it was like two plays later, they get this tip ball interception.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, little Rashid Wallace ball. Don't lie. But, and then they, what's ironic is they got a, intentional grounding penalty later on when Darnell was clearly throwing it away, he should have had to was, I think the receiver threw the wrong, ran the wrong route, but I've

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

intentional grounding before. Maybe not so much this season, but last season when there was throwing that flag a lot. And, it's like one of those choice routes there. Donald thought the receiver is going to go deep. He cuts it off, but he throws it out and there's no one within 20 yards of throw. They could have easily caught that. Intense sort of grounding.

Jacob:

Yeah. By rule, that's supposed to be intentional grounding. They did not call it. Dan Campbell wasn't happy about it.

Jason Harwood:

That's what I saw. And that's what other people told me that, that Dave Campbell's live it on the sideline about them. How, all right, we're in the offense, right? We've been talking this long. We haven't mentioned Jameer Gibbs. go ahead and mention Jameer Gibbs.

Jacob:

Jameer Gibbs, man. He just continues to be a problem. I think that Cam Bynum must really hate Gibbs now, because he's on the wrong end of almost every big run that Jawa has against Minnesota. Almost every single one, you see Cam Bynum over pursue, or get juked out of his shoes. Gibbs got popped really good by Van Ginkle though, and I thought the worst for a few minutes, and I think that affected him the rest of the game. But you know, he still went off, four total touchdowns he breaks the Detroit Lions touchdown record. Set by Jamal Williams just a few seasons ago. And, the offense is just running through him.

Jason Harwood:

It's very similar to how last year came. I know that this year is different because Dave Montgomery's hurt, but it felt like Gibbs was coming on into the playoffs and we leaned on him in the playoffs. And I think it's setting up to be the same way. Now we may get Dave Montgomery back for. The divisional series we'll see, and that'd be awesome. But make no bones about it. Jamir Gibbs is the breakout player. He is the game changer. He could, and he did it, again, multiple runs like that first touchdown. Awesome. I mean, he just broke tackles, made people look stupid. Runs to that corner, that end zone. He's just faster than everybody else. That long run. He had the 47 yarder. Oh man. I just want to have that moment back and have him beat that guy. Just so the crowd reaction, I just gives me goosebumps to even think about it. So I, it was awesome. And then the wheel route or whatever, dig route or whatever you want to call it, where on the fourth down play, where he just ran, he got held on that play too. The linebacker totally just grabs his shoulder and they didn't call it. Cause Gibbs caught it, but it would have, have been a penalty because he knew he was beat Gibbs. It's just put his foot in the dirt and cut right up in the middle. There was no one there and they grab his shoulder, but Jameer just fought through it and caught it. And that play is just so unstoppable. You got to they thought Jameer was going to go on the flat and he just put his foot in the dirt and just cut right up in the middle to an open part of the field. It's really hard to stop that play. And. run that on fourth down before in the red zone. I think it was a Packers game. They ran that we were closer to the end zone. I think we were like on the two or three. This one was a little further back, but yeah, Gibbs just makes people look silly and

Jacob:

yeah, I think that was on Van Ginkle too. I mean, how do you expect the linebacker to be able to cut with Jamir Gibbs and get outfield? It's just, he has to grab on for a second, which is funny because then he kind of just let him go. And then Gibbs caught the ball when he catches it. I think he's still four or five yards away. And Linebacker didn't even try. He just did one of those things where you like, turn around, there's no safety or anybody to help you, and you know you just gave up a touchdown.

Jason Harwood:

Yep. Yeah. He had nothing. Um, Gibbs broke the lion's touchdown record, but he leads the NFL in touchdowns this year, 20 touchdowns, which is so crazy to think because from vast majority of the season, he's splitting refs with Dave Montgomery. If he was the main back, I can't imagine what he'd be able to do.

Jacob:

I mean, we know what he's capable of, but I mean, the level that he's been playing at, and, Saquon leads in yards, but Saquon also has a hundred more attempts than he does, I think we have a good thing going, right? I mean, you don't want him to have 350, 400 carriers a year. Cause then that's, it's taken seasons or games off of his career in the long run.

Jason Harwood:

I mean, you want them strong for this time of the year, right? And now we're going to have this extra week of break. They're going to get, two weeks off. It's just going to make him stronger because in this game, you could definitely tell the difference between first half and second half, as far as. The domination of Jamir Gibbs running the ball, they, the defenders started to get really tired. We were teeing off on our blocks and it just, we just dominated it. We were, we took their will away in the second half of the third quarter. And then all of the fourth quarter, that offensive line and the offense in general just took the defense's will away. And that's a good defense. And they played really well in the first half for the Vikings, but we were just too much for them. I can't. Not mention this guy, Craig Reynolds. Don't sleep on Craig. It carries for 39 yards. He averaged almost five yards of carry. played really well when we needed him. When we needed to give Gibbs a spell, Craig came in and was very good.

Jacob:

I always count on Craig to be ready to go whenever you call his number.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. I. It's a shame that when Demo comes back that Craig will get less touches, but he's kept the ship afloat while Demo's been out. Just giving Gibbs, just enough rest that Gibbs can, do what he needs to do on the field.

Jacob:

Yeah. I mean, he came in on a couple of short yardage situations and I mean, he was letting his blocks develop. He was hitting the holes when the time was right. He, he played a pretty good game.

Jason Harwood:

He's been very patient. With his runs I've seen, and I really liked that, he lets the blocks develop and, he takes what they're going to give him. He doesn't try to overcreate. He just doesn't get fancy. He's I'm going to get my four or five yards and, just keep us ahead of the sticks. And I'm sure that's what they told him. Craig, this is what we need you to do. Keep the six moving. And that's what We don't need you to get 70 air plays. We don't need you to get 30 air plays. We'd like them, but we don't need that.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

what they're going to give you. Jared Goff probably had a down night as far as statistically, but he made some throws. I mean, clutch throws that fourth down throw to Jameson Williams over the middle while he's got a free runner coming right at him, hitting him, just gave him solid hit. And he just delivered that ball to JMO. Got the first down. This is difference between him and Darnold. Jared Goff had composure and was able to deliver in big situations and Darnold was not.

Jacob:

Yes, Goff had another one too went to Amun Ra, where it was like he had a linebacker in front, there's a corner on Amun Ra, he knows there's a blitzer coming in, stands in, throws it where he's supposed to, and Amun Ra, Mr. Reliable is able to catch it. Amun Ra, JMO, Laporta, they all had a couple big plays. They all came up where they needed to. I had a question for you though, how did you feel about the interception that Goff, when he just chucked it deep into double coverage? How I mean, it didn't feel like it was necessary, I'm sure they wanted to try to take a shot, but JMO didn't have them beat, it's double coverage, did you think that Stafford was back there for a second?

Jason Harwood:

that's what I was gonna say. That is a Stafford throw, but it wasn't third down. The arm punt I'm confused about the whole situation. It's very uncharacteristic of Jared to just throw it up like that. So it's, it makes me question whether he thought JMO was going to do something else, but there was, A deep safety back there. So I don't know, he just kind of just like flung it up there. That was, I was more upset about that one than I was the other one that got tipped because that one was just play on the defense, whereas this one, he just kind of gave the ball up and yeah, I was confused. What did you think about that?

Jacob:

I didn't get it at all. I don't know if he just didn't see the safety. I mean. It hurt because it was like, that was at a moment where we really needed to have at least a long drive. We had stopped them on Fourth Down. We needed to get a decent drive together. We were starting, inside our five yard line. So for us to just chuck it deep and give it right back to them at the 50 was like, what are we doing?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, that was a frustrating part that we Just defense had just gotten off the field on a tough stop. I guess I should have looked this up before I started, but the average starting field position to be wildly in favor of the Vikings because we were constantly starting, stopping them and forth down twice inside the five yard line. And we had some punts that were. It took us inside the 20 but the Vikings started on the five yard line or seven yard line once. And then we gave them that ball at the 50. It seemed like they were starting a very good field position. They couldn't do anything with it. We were starting in bad field position, as.

Jacob:

drive that they didn't start at their own 30 or behind were field goals when they started on our seven that led to a field goal, they started on their own 42, that was a field goal. They started on their own 46. That was a field goal, which I think their own 42 was another one. That was that was when we went for it on fourth down and didn't get it.

Jason Harwood:

And that, that would have been a completion, but it got tipped on the line. I mean, they, the receiver was wide open on that one, but, unfortunately it. got tipped You mentioned a player that I wanted to talk a little bit about Sam Laporta had a he's been coming on lately. We talked about him in the most recent podcast. He's got to prove vital in the playoffs. I know this. I just have this feeling that he's going to make huge first out catch after huge first out catch and he's going to move the sticks. You may not be a touchdown machine, but he is going to provide A big catch in the playoffs. I know it's going to happen. just see it coming. We keep giving him the ball more and more. Just, this is, mark my words. Sam Laporte is going to have a really good playoffs.

Jacob:

Yes, I mean, he's just a reliable target and then, a couple of these plays are designed to him. A couple of them are check downs, but seven targets, seven catches and you're right. The last, I think three or four weeks, he's just been playing at a, a really high level.

Jason Harwood:

I think golf is getting back to trusting him, looking for him. And then when you get into the playoffs, you're going to have these teams looking to take away people. And they're not going to have enough people to take away everybody. And I think at some point they're going to say, we're going to leave Sam, one on one and Sam is the type of player that will win one on ones. And he hasn't had a lot of yak this year. He's been seen to get tackled. When he catches the ball last year, he was getting a lot of yards after catch. I'm hoping that happens in the playoffs, but regardless of it happens or not, Sam Laporta is a reliable person. He's going to catch third and fourth downs and get the first down and it's going to happen this playoff. What else do you want to talk about in the offense? Anything else?

Jacob:

I think I've touched on everything, man. I mean, solid play by the offensive line, another tough game, tough defense, and we were able to move the ball, scored 30 points against him again.

Jason Harwood:

I know it was awesome. It didn't look like it was going to happen. Early on with the score being so low at halftime, 10 to six, but you know, we ended up putting 30 points on Flores again. All is right with the world. Love it. Let's talk about our great guarantees. You pick the over. Obviously we didn't hit that a night. I'm going to offer 10 plus catches. The offense was kind of stalled in the first half and that didn't allow it, but I'm going to try his darndest to get the 10 catches just didn't happen. I want to ask you a question about the fumble that happened that didn't happen where Fildor knocked the ball out on Justin Jefferson they didn't rule it a fumble. Number one, do you think it's a fumble? number two, if you don't think it's a fumble, do you think it should have been a fumble? Do you think a play like that should be called a fumble?

Jacob:

It's interesting about whether I think that it should because by rule right now it definitely wasn't. Cause they've got the whole rule. You gotta have two steps and a football move. You got to tuck the ball. You got to turn out field. You have to have legitimate possession for it to be a fumble, but you know, if you take two steps like that in the end zone and then the ball gets loose, then it's a touchdown. So I don't understand the ruling or the reasoning behind all of that. But, watching it live, I definitely thought, okay, that's a fumble. But then as soon as I saw the replay, I knew there's no way that they're going to let that stand. It just happened too quick. As soon as he tucks the ball, he does just get that second step down and then they punch the ball out. I think going forward, it probably needs to stay the same way that it is that you need to actually establish that you have possession of the ball before it's considered a fumble. How do you feel about that?

Jason Harwood:

Just watching it. I mean, I understand why they called it the way they called it, but I just don't like that. He clearly has possession. He tucks the ball away. And I think as soon as you tuck the ball away, you're a runner and that should be a, that's a fumble. I, there are some plays that are really close. And I don't think it has, it should have anything to do about a football move or anything like that. To me, you have that ball firmly tucked in your arms, you have caught the ball at that point. And if you punch it out, that's a fumble in the play like that. Now, there might be plays where people are in the air or there's multiple bodies that's hard to see. To me, under, I think it was the right call on the field. Let me just be clear. However. I don't like that. I think that's a fumble. Amun Ra had a play similar in the Buffalo game. I think he took an extra step and that's why they called that one a fumble. Vildor made a great play and I don't think it should be rewarded with just an incomplete pass. I think he knocked that ball out. And, cause Vildor, I mean, that was a heck of a punch out. You see, as soon as he is winding up, as soon as he sees, Justin's got it. He is winding that arm up. He must've been talking to a meek cause

Jacob:

Yeah

Jason Harwood:

that's the Carlton Davis move. I didn't see Vildor doing that before. And he just like if that ball made a perfect punch on the ball. So I don't, we're not going to come to a resolution on that, but I was just curious your question. My other rules question is delay a game. What's your solution to the delay of game? I don't like the way it is right now. I think it's too ambiguous, too stupid. How would you do it?

Jacob:

It's not though, it shouldn't be. The reason is that the referees that are on the field are screwing that up. I mean, it hits zero when it hits zero, if the ball is not being snapped, it's supposed to be delay a game. It's supposed to be pretty easily if the ball is not in the motion of snapping when it hits zero, it's delay of game. And somehow it's become if they're about to snap it or if they almost got it or. You should never have an extra second or sometimes two full seconds to snap that when it's at zero. That's not, that's not what it's supposed to be for. If it hits zero and the ball is not in the process of being snapped, then it should be over with. And they really later in the game Anzalone, he had the one where he jumped up the second time he jumped right across the line of scrimmage. It hit zero, he jumped right across the line and then they had to sit and talk about it. It was like, okay, are they going to call offsides on that? Really?

Jason Harwood:

I know Ed's alone. He had enough of it. And that's why he's I'm taking this into my own hands. I'm going to force them to make this call. I think it's stupid because what the rules people explain is like, all right, they're watching the snap or they're watching the clock. And then if it hits zero, they can look back at the ball. And if it's not in the motion of snap, no, it should be like a shot clock in the NBA. As soon as it hits that, like everything lights up. And if the ball's not snapped penalty, I know he probably talked about a lot on the broadcast. I know that he openly hates the delay a game penalty. Think it's so stupid. They should be like some sort of buzzer or something that just it. And I think that how I would do it is you have timeouts left in a delay, a game penalty happens, this is a penalty where you could say the offense has chosen to take a timeout instead of a delay of game penalty.

Jacob:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

let them

Jacob:

Like a 10 second runoff thing. Allow them to take a timeout instead of accepting the penalty.

Jason Harwood:

I would let, because there's so many times that the coach is about to call it, or did he call it in time? I would just take all that out of it. And I would just say. I would go to the head coach and be like, you're getting a delay of game penalty. Do you want to use a timeout instead? And just let them decide at that point whether they want to use the timeout or not. But I would be hardline stance it hit zero and you have not snapped it. Penalty. It's too subjective if you're doing this thing, cause some referees will give it a full second afterwards. Some don't. I mean, it's dumb. It should be

Jacob:

That's not the actual rule though, right? It's supposed to be if the ball's not in the act of snapping when it hits zero that it's supposed to be delaying a game.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. So I'm hoping next spring or next fall when they were in preseason that the they've made this announcement that we're going to hardline the delay a game and it's going to be at zero. We're going to call it. You're going to see tons of flags for all the preseason games and then it's fixed by the regular season and there's just penalties sporadically or that's how I'd fix it.

Jacob:

I think they should have one referee on the field with an Apple Watch. And the Apple Watch is synced to the play clock. And as soon as it hits zero the watch starts vibrating and flashing and then they know.

Jason Harwood:

Nope.

Jacob:

just keep an eye on it and ready for it.

Jason Harwood:

here is how I fix it. is a watch on the center's hand and it's tied to the clock. And if it doesn't, it sends an electric shock through his hands and he can't spike it. It just freezes them right there. And then the place then that's, and then that way the center would have to snap it. There would be no delay game penalties.

Jacob:

For fear of being tased.

Jason Harwood:

yeah, it's like a dog that doesn't want to go through an electric fence. That's what it'd be like. The center would be like, I got to get rid of this ball. I don't want to get shocked.

Jacob:

Be a lot of premature snaps.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, sorry. You know about premature stuff, right? All right, Jacob, I think we've wrapped up this game, huge game. I think this week, we obviously have a buy the lines of earned a buy, but here at talking grit, we didn't earn a buy. We're going to talk about other stuff this week. I think we're going to record on Thursday, release one on Friday. Sounds like Morgan wants to join us. He's got tons of stuff to talk about that he wants to get off his mind. We're going to. Give them the platform for that. And we'll have stuff to talk about too. So look forward to that later on this week, we're going to let you get, a couple of days to digest wind before we come back and on the airwaves here. So Jacob, I'm hoping my voice is back tomorrow.

Jacob:

I kinda like you not having a voice.

Jason Harwood:

It,

Jacob:

You have to shut up a little more.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. We're not even working together tomorrow, so it doesn't matter to you. Maybe like by Wednesday when we work together, but anyways, 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