Talking Grit: A Detroit Lions Podcast

E55: Bye Week Banter: What Team Do We Want to Face? (with Morgan Cannon)

• Jason Harwood / Jacob Litton / Morgan Cannon • Season 1 • Episode 55

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In this episode of 'Talking Grit,' hosts Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton discuss the Detroit Lions' playoff outlook, having clinched a first-round bye. They welcome guest Morgan Cannon to review the team's recent victory and delve into topics such as the coaching carousel, NFC quarterback rankings, and potential playoff opponents. They analyze specific player performances, including defensive back Amik Robertson and linebacker Alex Anzalone. The show also covers broader NFL news, including the Lions' player awards and future head coaching possibilities for Lions’ coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. The hosts and guest break down the upcoming playoff games, offering predictions and insights into matchups like the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Throughout, they express confidence in the Lions’ chances and emphasize fan enjoyment of this unique playoff run.

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Jason Harwood:

welcome to another episode of Talking Grit. I'm Jason Harwood and Jacob Litton is here as well.

Morgan Cannon:

and

Jason Harwood:

It's kind of an interesting week for Lions fans. We are in the playoffs, but we don't have a game this weekend because we earned that first round bye.

Morgan Cannon:

Is designed to

Jason Harwood:

We thought we'd invite Morgan Cannon on, we're going to talk about the coaching carousel. We're going to rank the NFC QBs, and we're also going to talk about who we'd want to face in the playoffs. Morgan, have you recovered from Sunday night yet?

Morgan Cannon:

My voice is I would say 80 percent back, so I'm not mad at that. So yeah, I'm okay. How about you?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I'm getting there. Jacob's yelling at his TV. I'm in the stadium yelling. We're all, going into work Monday. We got a whole nother week to recover. So we got some good football games to watch this weekend. I'm really looking forward to having a stress free football weekend, a playoff football

Morgan Cannon:

Me too. Like wildcard weekend is already one of my favorite weekends in sports and so making it like the Lions got the one seed, it's just that much sweeter,

Jason Harwood:

and like

Jacob:

Right.

Jason Harwood:

Playoffs are like expanding it. Cause they started tonight. So you got college football playoff game tonight, tomorrow, and then you got playoff games for the next three days. You got five straight games, five straight days of playoff football. Can't complain about that.

Morgan Cannon:

No.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Morgan. So Jacob and I already talked about the Minnesota game on our podcast the other night. I kind of wanted to just get your quick thoughts on the game. I know you did a writeup on a Meek Robertson. So why don't you touch on him a little bit, and then maybe I got a couple more followup questions for you.

Morgan Cannon:

Oh, amicus just quickly. You could see when you turn on the tape, like they had a plan. And he was jamming Jefferson and Addison at the line of scrimmage. I had an old defensive backs coach like on our staff and used to tell our DBs he'd go ahead and choke the, you know what out of them, get up there and choke that man. You know what I'm saying? Grab up there, on the, high on the chest plate and inside the shoulder pads and let them know you're there. a couple of times early, you saw him jam Jefferson and Jefferson's head snapping back and receivers don't like that man. And then he was also executing this like fake jump jam. I'm sure they have a better terminology for it, but he essentially. gets up, like walks up to the line of scrimmage at the last second, acts like he's going to shoot his hands like he's been doing where he's messing you up. And then he doesn't do it. It's almost like a ghost rush for an edge rusher, and it was really, it was throwing Jefferson's timing off. And you kind of saw that yes, a lot of it was on Darnold, but there was a lot of just, there wasn't a lot of cohesion in their passing game the entire night. so yeah, it was just, it was a lot of fun to watch. That stadium was loud. We were talking about it before we jumped on. It was up there in terms of like atmospheres. I wouldn't quite put it on par with the Rams or Bucks game from last year, but it was close and that's saying something for a regular season game,

Jason Harwood:

yeah, it affected the game. That's for sure. They should have had a little more delay of game act and I didn't, I wasn't a paying attention to that in the stadium as much as hard. I'm not really looking at the play clock too much because I'm really just watching how everybody's lining up. But basically on replay, I was like, Oh, yeah, they were delay of game and all over the place. So,

Morgan Cannon:

good friends that sits with me, he's always looking at it. And I, a couple of different times, I swear he was jumping up like, ah,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. Yeah. Jacob and I talked about that the last game that I really want them to fix that. I don't like that. The subjective Nate, it should be objective zero. You're done. It should not be subjective. Yeah. It that's the way it should be. So the other big thing in the game was Alex Anzalone's return. If you look at the DVOA numbers, why Alex was with our defense, we had the number one rated defense. He left. We went. All the way down to 32. And then we had a resurgence in this game. Do you think that was a coincidence or do you think Alex really makes that big of an impact?

Morgan Cannon:

I really do think Anzalone's, he's a big time player, man. And he knows this defense. You think about it, he's got ties to Aaron Glenn. Going, way back to New Orleans. And he's a force multiplier in my opinion. And what I mean by that is, he's taken things off Jack Campbell's plate they can use Jack different ways and they trusted him a lot just manned up against Hawkinson Anzalone. I will say he's a really well rounded, linebacker and every phase, but my opinion, his bread and butter, the thing that's going to make him like stick in the NFL for like as long as he wants is his ability to, cover tight ends like in the open field. Hawkinson's a good receiver, say what you will. People I know have certain kind of feelings about what he said when he left Detroit and this and that, but he's a good player. And I, some of that factors into his Darnall, just being uncomfortable all night. Shout out Levi on Zarique. He has credited with nine pressures on PFF. I charted him with eight, so I don't know, but still eight is crazy. So he had a monster game. But yeah, I would say Anzalone does. I wouldn't say, I don't think the Lions are going to hold people to nine points every single game, but I think he's a, he's what makes this defense stir at this point without number 97. You know what I mean?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. We had talked about this before, like how many stops do you need? And Alex at least provides us with a few stops and that's with this offense that might be all we need in the playoffs is just two or three extra stops that we would get with, without him gone. Let's move on to some news this week. Jahmyr Gibbs got offensive player of the month for December and January. But he's also nominated for FedEx air and ground NFL player of the year. So he's up there with some good company, Jacob who's he up there with.

Jacob:

Yeah, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, running back Saquon Barkley, and then wide receiver Jamar Chase. Obviously, these are the best of the best, the elite guys. It's an honor that he's even listed up there with them, but he deserved it, man. He, he had a great year, especially, I mean, if you're considering you look at his stats, I mean, he had a hundred less carries than Saquon Barkley. So of course he's not going to have as many yards yards per attempt. Derrick Henry had 5. 9, Saquon 5. 8, and then Ja has 5. 6. I mean, that's elite level play,

Jason Harwood:

And if you look at, he out received safe on Barkley, which I was surprised. He like Considerably got like almost double the amount of receiving yards on sequence. I was kind of surprised by that. And obviously Jameer led the NFL and touchdowns too. So with 20, which, for a part time player, I don't want to say a part time player. He's been full time last few weeks, but with date demo, they're essentially split in time. So pretty amazing for the second year player.

Morgan Cannon:

20 touchdowns is crazy and he finished it was like 1959 yards from scrimmage if I'm not mistaken. So like sniffing 2000 yards from scrimmage, like you said, Jason sharing time with another really good running back in this league. And I'm so excited. He's going to be back for the divisional round, from Dan Campbell. He expects him back. So yeah, to see so much recognition. I also, I don't know if y'all saw this, And people can, if they're listening to this, maybe they already know, but Kirby Joseph posted a couple like cryptic, happy things at two or three today. Both on Instagram and Twitter. So I wonder if he got all pro news cause doesn't

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

Morgan Cannon:

It drops

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

Morgan Cannon:

I wonder if he, his agent gave him a call.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I might give him a heads up. Huh?

Jacob:

hope so.

Morgan Cannon:

Me too, man.

Jason Harwood:

Guy deserves it, man. Absolutely. The game on Sunday was the most watched Sunday night football finale since 2012. There was a lot on the line and, but it kept America's attention. I expect the lions to get a lot of primetime games next year.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

whole nation's pretty, behind us and they

Jacob:

Yeah. Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

to get into too much, but we have murderers row and. The IRA way schedule is going to be tough next year. And we play all seven of the NFC playoff teams next year too. And then today's school was put in the all pro first team. So NFL PA all pro first team, the NFL PA does that. But he was the only one to make that list, but well deserved didn't make PFFs. All pro first team. Another chink in the PFF armor, if yes.

Morgan Cannon:

It's gotten bad, man. I'm not trying to be a hater and it used to be than it is now, but for a while, like if you talk to like football people, like coaches, like in high school or college or, definitely NFL players like stick their nose up at it, you guys have no idea. And then, yeah, I just, it's crap, man. They had some, a lot of people, I know the offensive line community, like Brandon Thorne and Duke many weather who runs that facility out. And I think it's Arizona like trains, everybody, offensive lineman wise, they were all like, what is this?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Anybody that watches football knows that Penne is the guy and

Morgan Cannon:

of one

Jason Harwood:

exactly. And someone else wants Penne and someone else instead of Penne, go ahead and have them. We'll keep our guy.

Morgan Cannon:

who keeps hool always. Thank you.

Jacob:

Yes. Okay. All right. Here's the question that I want to ask. So there's currently 6 head coaching jobs available. Those are the Raiders, the Jets. Those two do not have a GM. Then you have the Jaguars, Bears, Patriots, and the New Orleans Saints. So there's six jobs out there. So Morgan, we'll start with you, but if you are a coach and you got to pick out of those six, what team is at the top of your list? And what team do you think would be like an absolute? No.

Morgan Cannon:

So I tried to look at this like analytically. So I'm considering everything like what division they're in the shape of the roster. The owner, that's a big one, in my opinion, that a lot of people I think that's why Aaron Glenn, if you guys didn't, I know you guys know, but denied no thanks to the Patriots. Cause what did y'all do for Gerard Mayo, man? You gave him a terrible roster and. I don't know. That's probably for a

Jacob:

Yeah. That's a terrible look.

Morgan Cannon:

yeah, man, it's just not good. Not good. Optics if I were going to pick, I would lean new Orleans because I think you're going to get a fresh start at it. I like the GM in place there. They've been, a winning organization before I know they're, this year was tough and that kind of things, post Drew Brees era. But I think you get a long leash because they are in cap purgatory. So you're gonna, you're gonna have a little bit of runway. You know what I mean? I think it'll be like a five or six year contract, because they're, the owner's got to know Hey, this is going to take a little bit of time. Cause you guys kick the can down the road, financially speaking for. long time. And now that bill's kind of come due for all the salary cap is fake people out there. No, it is not. I promise you that thing always comes due. That's probably what I would do. And I'm also considering the division, them being in the NFC South. The other one that came close for me, was the Raiders. Cause it looks like they're going to get a clean reset, GM everything. and I just the Raiders jerseys too. It's pretty cool. What about you guys though?

Jason Harwood:

You can go ahead, Jacob. I'll go after you.

Jacob:

I actually, I like the Saints for pretty much all the reasons that you had already said, just, the idea that you probably, you have a couple of years, you don't have to worry about doing like what the Patriots did and kind of abandoning the ship right away. And you also don't have the issue with the Jets where it's you, you have to win right now, or you have that perception of, it just, it's gonna be tougher to win that division and everything. So the Saints, I like, I also like the Jaguars though. The Jaguars, they have the cap space. They have a top pick. They have some decent pieces to the team right now. I think they have decent ownership and kind of the same thing as the Saints, where the Jaguars historically, you're going to get a few years. They're not going to come in there and fire you after one year if you don't perform. So those are my two spots. I definitely like. The Patriots, they have the cap space, they have the pick, historically good franchise and everything. Just, I don't know, I'm not liking the male thing really rubbed me the wrong way. And I just, obviously coaches want to be a head coach. So somebody wants that job, but I think it's very telling the AGE just flat out was like, no things. I don't even want an interview.

Morgan Cannon:

Hilarious. Honestly,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah,

Jacob:

do you think of Jason?

Jason Harwood:

think the writing on the wall with the Patriots are that variables the guy because if you look at the two interviews that they had, I mean, they had to minority candidate interviews, which, by Brian will laugh, which is not going to get ahead coaching job that just clears the Rooney like it felt to me like they're clearing the Rooney rule, and I don't like that they rubbed me totally the wrong way. It's not. It's not in the spirit of the rule. I mean, you're going to interview Aaron Glenn. Okay, you're interviewing a real candidate. Okay. And they did offer that. To him, but he read the writing on the wall for able to go in there. Patriots are out just because of the whole Mayo thing. with you, Jacob. I liked the Jaguars just cause I think, especially if Ben Johnson went there, I think he could really work well with Trevor Lawrence and they got some stuff. They could. They are not that far away from having a productive year. Two years ago, they were like neck and neck with the lions. When the lions were coming up, it looked like the Jaguars are heading up and then the wheels kind of fell off. I feel like you get the right leadership in there. The for me, where the Jaguars is their fan base. If you're going to go down there from the lions fan base, say it's Ben Johnson or Aaron Glenn down to Jaguars, you've got a fan base. That's really not that interested. You have an owner that wants more games overseas than in house. And that would be a tough pill for me to swallow, especially after being in that stadium on Sunday, and then you would go there now, if he builds a winner, Aaron Glenn, Ben Johnson, whoever gets a build a winner, maybe that changes things a little bit, but two of your games are going to be overseas every year. And that's telling. I do like the Raiders gig, especially since they got rid of the GM and they're just going to start over. They did fire after first year. But I feel that was a whole Tom Brady thing. Tom Brady's coming in and we were said, we're going to, we're going to clean house. Hopefully if they, you'd have to talk to him. Are we going to keep Max Crosby? Cause if we're going to give up on Max Crosby, you're going to get a King's ransom, then what did they have at the Raiders? I mean, you better get five or six years and I don't know how patient Tom Brady's going to be. So that would worry me. New Orleans is okay. And I think that they have a good ownership group, their QB situation. They're going to be moving on from Derek Carr. So you better have a long leash in there. Yeah. The ownership keeps me out on the bears just cause you got, you're stuck with a GM that's already there. So I don't like that. And what the jets and same thing with the jets, the owners just, if you got Chris Spielman having Chris Spielman go as a GM, that's interesting. I just, he's interviewing there. It shocked me that he was interviewing for a GM job. It doubly shocked me that it was with the jets. Cause I just don't see him being a good fit there. if Chris Spielman turns around both the lions and the jets franchise, then he deserves to be in like a different hall of fame, like something that's above the regular hall of fame, The jets and the bears just are out for me for ownership.

Morgan Cannon:

Now I get that they've shown it. And then there's still, they were asked, the owner was asked about McCaskey was asked about alignment and he was like, I don't feel like that's pertinent. And I'm like, unless I'm just like, I don't understand that man. What are you talking about?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I, that makes zero sense. Like when you say they don't need to be aligned, the lines are a perfect example of what happens when you are aligned and you don't work together. I just, I don't know. So that being said, Morgan, where do you think Ben Johnson goes? Where do you think Aaron Glenn goes? So Ben Johnson has four interviews this week, bears, Patriots, Jaguars, Raiders, Glenn has five. Bears, Jets, Saints, Jaguars, and Raiders. And he, like we said Patriot said Hey, come interview with us. And Aaron Glenn said, no, thank you. So we'll start with Ben Johnson first, Morgan. Where do you think he's going to end up?

Morgan Cannon:

I saw those reports. I don't know if you guys did about how Ben Johnson could stay. I'm like, Oh my gosh, here we go again, man. So if I had to pick one, I think I would go Jaguars just for the reasons, I think Sean Conn when the, primary owner there would open up, he's got money. Doesn't he own like a pro one of the soccer teams, the premier teams. I think he could give Ben what he's like, okay, I'll leave Detroit for 60 million guaranteed dollars. If I get fired in two years or whatever, like that's generational money. So that's probably my pick there. AG, easy saints. I think he'll get a nice, six year deal with the, similar to Dan Campbell. Hey We know this is going to be a little bit like could be like really in it competing again by 2028, that would be great, type deal 2029. I don't know. cause they, like I said, they kicked that can financially and it's that bill has come due all right now with interest. So that's probably my pick. What about you guys?

Jacob:

I actually, I have the same, if Ben Johnson leaves, I'm pretty sure I hope it's for the Jaguars first, get them out of the NFC. Yeah, get them out of the NFC. And, I think that team, top 10 offense could be even higher than that. Like right away, Trevor Lawrence, ETN had a down year, but Evan Ingram, that rookie wide receiver, Brian Thomas you know.

Morgan Cannon:

Dog.

Jacob:

got some pieces there. They get the right coaching staff and everything. And I think Ben Johnson does that for them and, get some competing pretty quickly. And then for AG, I think, he's got the history with the jets and the saints, but we just talked about the jets I just feel like that's setting yourself up for failure. And then you flip over the saints, the grass looks greener over there. And I think he's got a better history over there with the saints too. I just, I think it makes too much sense for him not to go there.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, that's what I think the history is going to lean towards. If I lean towards both Glenn and the saints just match up perfectly, Ben Johnson, I don't want to see them go into the bears because I don't want to make them.

Morgan Cannon:

I

Jason Harwood:

We don't need another division opponent. We don't need to face them two times a year. And also, I think that's probably why he's, if he's going to make a decision, like you're going to go with the bears, probably the worst ownership group out of the Four teams and the other ones are looking strong. So that would be a rough go. I personally think unless if we win the super bowl, it may be a deciding factor if we don't win the super bowl. I think Ben comes back, but if we win super bowl, yeah, I would say Jaguars probably my leading candidate and saints for, Glenn, the dark horse for both those teams is the Raiders. I, for whatever reason, I could just see Aaron Glenn being a Raider. I know he's never played over there, but anything like that, but he just seems like he could be a leader and he would look good in the silver and black. It matches

Jacob:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

on the sideline. Oh my God. Yeah, that aesthetic would be crazy.

Jason Harwood:

All right. So let's rank let's rank the QBs in the NFC playoffs. So we got Jared golf. Jalen Hurts, Jordan Love, Jaden Daniels, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Matthew Stafford. we'll start with you.

Jacob:

I also rank these based on where they're standing right now, how they're playing right now versus everything. Not necessarily, overall skill, but number seven, I have Jaden Daniels showing flashes. One season isn't really enough to go off of to determine how he's going to react in the playoff environment. Then I have Sam Donald, he's already, that's the best season he's going to have in his career. And I think last week was telling, and this playoff game is really going to be huge for him. Then I've got Baker Mayfield Jordan love next Jordan love when he's on. He's not worth the contract yet and he hasn't been playing very well. Top three. I've got Stafford number three and I've got Jalen hurts. Number two, I've got a golf number one. And once again, not necessarily a golf as the best quarterback of all these people, skill wise and everything like that, but with this team, this offense and what he's doing, it's firing on all cylinders right now. And I just think he's number one.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Morgan,

Morgan Cannon:

all right. So I'm not even being a hater. Sam Darnold. I'm going just with, how they've been, how they're looking right now going into the playoffs, right? Who would I want to have? Darnold, then I'm gonna go Daniels. I'm playing really well, but this is, these are some good quarterbacks Mayfield and then Love hurts. Stafford and then golf for me. I like I know Stafford's awesome man. Some people are gonna be like what you're a homer No, listen, I'm great player like playing really well But so is golf man like surgical and some of its you know, he's been in this offense for a long time He's very comfortable in it. He trusts he that throw he made to Jameson on the fourth down like on the crosser

Jacob:

Yes.

Morgan Cannon:

angle, he got blasted and on the money, Jamo caught it in stride, his shoulder, ran over Stephon Gilmore. I was like, that's a, like just a grown, you know what man throw. And he's doing it so often he's dropping, the ball into a bucket 50 yards down the field place ball placements crazy. Yeah, that's my reasoning for that.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

All right. So I'm going to start out with number seven, Jordan Love. He has not looked good to me and he, and playoff football, you better take care of the ball. And he's the one that probably takes the care of the ball the least, in my opinion, Sam Darnold. I agree with you, Jacob. Yep. We saw what looked like in a pressure environment last week and into this game, this is a big money game, for Sam Darnold. If he wins this, then he's going to get a bigger contract next year. If he goes out and loses, everyone's going to remember the last two losses, on the line with the lions and then everything, in the playoffs. And you go and lose those, especially now that they're moving this to a neutral field because of the fires in California, that's a big bonus for Sam Darnold. He's getting out of enemy territory. Not that so far is like this. It's never the environment that Ford field is, but you know, it would have a lot more Rams fans than what's going to happen in Arizona for sure. Number five, I'm going to go with the young kid, Jayden Daniels, just because. This is his first time in the playoffs. His legs is the difference between the other two guys. He will make some plays happen. He's thrown some balls on on rope. He I'm impressed with him. We'll see how he goes. I don't really want, I would not want to face Jane Daniels as a lion. I just being able to run around. I'd rather face Darnold or love, to be honest with you. Four, Jalen hurts. I know he's got, he hasn't played exceptionally well this year. He's got the concussion thing going. But he does have a lot of playoff experience. So that does give him a leg up on the other guys. I like Baker Mayfield. I think that guy is. A tough player when he, they were talking about him coming here. Like when, whenever I thought, golf, wasn't the guy I was out on Baker, but what he's done at Tampa Bay, I've been really impressed with him. And then I'm going to, I match you Morgan. I go Stafford number two. One Superbowl Sean McVay offense, he's got good receivers. And then I'll take Derek off. And I know that, it's Alliance podcast. I'll obviously we're gonna put your golf up there, but you look at the season that golf had, he is the Pro Bowl starter in the NFC. For a reason that that he took that you mentioned, Morgan just tells you how tough that guy is. I mean, he's a tall, lean guy, but man, that was a. Full man, like that he took and he got right back up and, he will do he will do what he needs to in the pocket to complete the past. That meant holding it for an extra beat and knowing he was going to just take a lick. That was a free runner. Wasn't it? I mean, it was right in his face. He knew that was coming.

Morgan Cannon:

just

Jason Harwood:

So

Morgan Cannon:

shy, man. He's just, he like like that. And then, know he had the one where he tried to float it over to Craig, which he had gone for 20 yards. If he'd caught that thing, he was by

Jason Harwood:

no,

Morgan Cannon:

and it was just a really good play. The only one I really was kicking him for, was the deep shot to JMO and people were like, Oh, JMO lost it in the lights. I'm like, either way, brother, the best thing we were hoping for there was JMO knocking that thing down. He was bracketed. You know what I mean? Even if he

Jason Harwood:

yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

never, I was just like, okay, so we just, that was an arm punt. That's fine. I guess.

Jacob:

On first down.

Morgan Cannon:

I know dude, that's exactly

Jacob:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

It was on first up when I was watching that the other day, I was hoping it was on second or something. I was like, Nope it down, slide it

Jason Harwood:

no,

Jacob:

Yep.

Jason Harwood:

we, we stopped them on fourth down and then we immediately gave it back. And

Morgan Cannon:

that's you're

Jason Harwood:

just tells you how impressive the defense was because how deflating is that you stop them for four downs in, in zone in the, within the five yard line. And then the offense immediately gives them back. And again, that was our rate at midfield. Then we had to go and stop them again, that was so uncharacteristic of Jared to just throw it up like that. I. I don't know what he was seeing unless he missed the deep safety and just misread it totally. And, I don't, he's not a guy that's going to get pressured in that end zone like that and just throw it up like that. He would find someone else to check it down to and throw it out. So I was totally confused by that throw.

Morgan Cannon:

That's a good point. Maybe he never saw the deep safety, but I would love, yeah. To your point, Jason, I would love to ask him like, brother, what were you doing there?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

trust JMO like that though. He said,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

JMO's down there somewhere.

Jacob:

right.

Jason Harwood:

When you say arm punt, everybody always thinks of Stafford and Calvin just throw it up and, anyone blaming JMO on that? I mean, the ball should just shouldn't have been thrown. And

Morgan Cannon:

What he threw that, like it's

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. that's what I thought. He's there's no way that Jared's throwing that up like that. Yeah. That was a strange turn of events in that game. Just throwing it up with, was just a strange occurrence for Jared. And then, but second half he decided, no, that's not how we play football here and turned it around.

Morgan Cannon:

Just bounces back. Exactly. That's that was my point. That big long thing. But yeah, he just bounces back so quick man comes back and makes a throw or evade somebody in the pocket and drops a dime. He just he doesn't blink. And that's I think that's huge for a quarterback, especially as you're about to, buckle up because it's winter. Go home now the rest of the way. So

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, exactly.

Morgan Cannon:

Big boy

Jason Harwood:

on. Speaking of that, we got all the games this week. are four teams that the Lions could face in the next round. So I'm going to rank those teams who we'd want to face in the divisional round. So we'll start with you, Morgan. On this one, you can start from your bottom, your least light team. You don't want to face all the way up to the number one team you want to face.

Morgan Cannon:

Okay. I want to preface this with, I think the lions are better than all four of these teams and there's a chance that any of them could beat them, but lines are better than all four of these teams. Vikings again, I don't want to play them the third time. I still think The Lions have the edge obviously, but Jefferson could go crazy. You just never know. It's a, it's another, playing the team for the third time. Rams, I think it'll be tough, especially if Stafford's deal. And again the offense had hit a little bit of a low even before they sat people in week 18. But he's a vet and he's been doing it forever and ever. I think they can. They can easily get catch fire again. And Kyra Williams is tough. and then I would go Packers just because they're not playing good ball either. Like I firmly believe people are like, Oh, they didn't, they probably didn't want to win that game. No dog. I don't think they wanted to go to Philly. Okay. That doesn't seem like something that's smart, right? So they wanted to win that game. They just didn't didn't work out. And then I would go Washington and like Jane Daniels, but, Rookie quarterback. I know he played at LSU but brother, this is the NFL. It's going to be loud in that cozy little dome and the hounds of, you know, what be coming after you. So I think commies would be if they beat the bucks, I would like that to happen too, because then we can just watch the Monday night game chilling, you know what I mean? Cause

Jacob:

Yeah,

Morgan Cannon:

We're already set.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, that would be nice. I didn't think of that avenue, but. rank my teams. I'll go next. So I'm going to start at the bottom little Rams. I just don't want to face Stafford again in the first playoff game. I don't want to be there and you have that whole tired storyline whatever. I don't want to hear that. I'm a little more scared Jayden Daniels than you are. I don't like his legs. I don't like the wild card that his legs bring. Give me the division. I know we, we beat them twice already this year, beating a team three times is really tough. The team Vikings are my number two team. I think, just facing him two weeks ago, that it's a short turnaround and I don't like that. And, but give me the Green Bay Packers. I want to beat them at home. Think we can get, especially with Alex back, we're going to get pressure on Jordan Love and he'll make a mistake. I don't, and I don't, Matt LaFleur is not very good in the division for whatever reason is is not good in this division. So I'll take the Packers at home. Where are you at Jacob?

Jacob:

All I don't want to play the Rams. I have them, my, team, I want to play the least, we beat them in the playoffs last year. We beat them week one. They're healthy now. They haven't looked that great outside of the Buffalo game, but, you Stafford's a veteran, they've got Pucca, Cooper, they could be a dangerous team. So I'd prefer not to have to play them first. Then I have the Packers, the reason behind putting them behind the Vikings, cause I really feel, obviously I think we can beat either of them, but you know, it's been longer since we've played them and if we are playing them, that means that they just beat the Eagles who are a bigger threat. So you know, it's cool if they took out the Eagles, but then, they probably have some momentum going. They probably had, kind of like they did last year. Where they, we're dangerous in the playoffs, then I've got the Vikings. Number 2, that would mean that we don't have to play the Rams. We're playing the Vikings, but we know that team really well. We got the best of them last week. I feel if we played them again, it's probably just going to be almost like an extension of that game, except we're. Going to be a little bit healthier and they're going to have a play. They're going to have a game. They're going to have a battle. But the number one team I'd rather play is the commanders. I just think the rookie, Jaden Daniels coming in forward field. Obviously, they've got some momentum right now and they would have already pulled an upset. So you've got that whole angle too, but it's going to be tough for him to play. I definitely think that we can outscore them. I think we're going to be able to make enough stops and I think that would also be the best game because we have not played them yet. That's what I'm hoping for, is that the commanders win,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Jacob:

to play them next.

Morgan Cannon:

I love you and all those points and I agree on the ram storyline part because I don't want to hear that again I also don't want to hear about his wife. Please God

Jacob:

Yes,

Morgan Cannon:

what's the line for the Bucs? Are they even because the Bucs look like trash last week man Like I didn't really think

Jacob:

The Bucks are favored by three right now.

Morgan Cannon:

know okay, and they're home. So really it's just like kind of a flip

Jason Harwood:

Em, yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

interesting

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I if I was like thinking, I was like man you could face the Rams and then the Bucs. So they could replete, repeat last year's playoffs the two teams that we'd have to play. That could be a scenario. And,

Jacob:

I'd be okay with that.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, that's fine. Honestly, I'm not that scared of the eagles, man.

Jacob:

I feel like we're better than them. I know they've got the hype and everything, and their defense is playing really well,

Morgan Cannon:

it's such a coaching mismatch. Like I, Sirianni is going to get walked, man. I just don't. And the Eagles like with the injuries right now, you could argue the Eagles have a more talented roster. I said this with a video I did with Miko. I, cause they're they're, you think about their defense, Slay, Quinion Mitchell, CJ Gardner, Johnson. They got like just dudes, Jalen Carter. and like a lot of our, dudes are hurt, but I just don't like if we, if you bottle up, if Saquon stat line looks like 26 carries for 86 yards, you're probably not winning that game. If you're playing the lions, I got news. You know what I'm saying? Like Their defense, I've heard their defense is good. That's cool. And all. Buckle up dog. That's all I got to say. I think

Jason Harwood:

Right.

Morgan Cannon:

last week, like the Lions deep offensive didn't even play that well. Turn the ball over two times and scored 31 points.

Jacob:

I guess

Jason Harwood:

I get to Brian Flores defense, right? I mean, we just always put up 30 points on them. The Eagles haven't faced the Lions offense, and I don't think there's many. many teams that are going to be able to stop them consistently. Like you said, the first half, the Lions shot themselves in the foot last week. It's good. Then the defense was on their key or P's and Q's, or we would have been playing from behind in that second half. Still could have came back. Cause Sam Darnold was not, he was not good last week. He was bad.

Morgan Cannon:

New.

Jacob:

think the Eagles have the potential to have the biggest threat, but they also like. They've just had some bad games. I mean, they're winning, but like the game against the Panthers was terrible.

Morgan Cannon:

Forget. Drop that ball. They lost.

Jacob:

They played the Jaguars earlier. That was terrible. Yeah, it was just, a lot of close calls for them where the team didn't look that great.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, and Jalen Hurst really hasn't looked, good the last two years, really. I mean, he, his throws have been off. If you watch it in the Eagles games, he is not crisp of the throws. A. J. Brown was very frustrated earlier this year. J. Brown is, was hurt this week too. I don't know if you saw that in practice, so I, it sounds like he might be good to go, but again, if they're, They're going to have an extra game on, in the playoffs, so more wear and tear and the lines are going to hopefully come in fresh, which gives us a big advantage. Plus those teams have to come into forward field. And that is a huge advantage. We're talking like two or three penalties, at least that, the offense is going to have to, delay game or false starts, something like that. All right, Jacob and Morgan, we're going to get into a special edition of Grit Picks. We're going to pick. All the playoff games this week. And we're going to start with you, Jacob chargers at Houston. Who are we going to put you picking?

Jacob:

Alright, Chargers are favored by three points as the away team at Houston. I just have not been impressed with Houston this season. They haven't looked great lately. CJ Stroud had a really bad year after, obviously, his really good rookie season. The Chargers have some momentum coming into this one. It's Harbaugh's playoff debut for the Chargers, and I think the Chargers are going to win that game.

Jason Harwood:

Who do you got Morgan?

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, I'm going to take the chargers with the points to honestly, like Houston kind of limped into the playoffs man. Offensive line is just not playing well to put it politely. Chargers play a physical brand of football. Harbaugh brought that set that culture sunk in quick. So I'm picking chargers all day. This is, that's definitely what I'm going to put some some money on. Yeah.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

I'm going with the chargers as well. It's surprising how CJ Stroud is just not looked good all year. It's, everyone takes it. He had a great rookie year and he was just going to come on and just improve and it's a lot of, it's the offensive line, and then he's, they've suffered some injuries, definitely. And then, Stefan digs getting her, Nico Collins was out for a while. And then Tank Dell, yeah, it goes down. Not that those are excuses, but he, he just hasn't looked good. And lions gave me through those two picks that those are monster picks. I allowed the lines to come back into the game. All right. Margaret, we'll start with you on the next game, Pittsburgh at Baltimore. It's going to be on Amazon prime. So I'll, if you don't have Amazon, you're not gonna be able to watch this game, which is, for them people.

Morgan Cannon:

That's so annoying, man. I'm sick of the, I'm sick of the Hulu and Amazon prime thing. I'm just sound like an old curmudgeon, but it's true. Another one I'm going to take, this is a, I don't know if this one will be, I don't expect this one to be super competitive, man. Pittsburgh's they've lost four in a row. Russell Wilson has turned into Denver. Russell Wilson. He's back into a pumpkin form. Yeah. And then just don't like, I know Pittsburgh's defense is good. They're very familiar with each other. Obviously. it's eight and a half, isn't it? Jacob

Jacob:

Nine and a half right now. Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

Oh

Jacob:

Nine and a half towards the Ravens.

Morgan Cannon:

Okay.

Jason Harwood:

That's crazy for a playoff game.

Morgan Cannon:

dude. In a division. Do you know what I'm saying?

Jacob:

Yeah,

Morgan Cannon:

baltimore at the points. I just think Lamar is going to chew them up when it's all said and done. We'll bite you.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. I'm going with Baltimore too. This one seems almost too easy to pick, which sometimes spells that it's going to go the other way, but you're limping into the playoffs. Russell Wilson is Russell Wilson. As long as they don't let up any moon balls, they'll be all right. But I'm going with Baltimore.

Jacob:

Yeah, me too. I mean, the Ravens have won for their last five games. Steelers have lost for their last five. They did split the series this season. One game, one to one. But I think the Ravens are just going to be too much for the Steelers. It counts more, right? I mean, they're playing at a higher level as the playoffs as winner go home. They're giving it everything they have. And if the Ravens are giving everything they have, their best beats the Steelers at their best. And they haven't even been playing close to their best. So I definitely think Baltimore is going to win that.

Jason Harwood:

Yep. And then the Mike Tomlin talk will happen in Pittsburgh, get us to the playoffs and we don't do anything again. I like Mike Tomlin, but he,

Morgan Cannon:

Wilson, man. That's what I'm saying. What are y'all talking? I saw that today on the TV. I was like, what are we talking about here, man? He had Russell Wilson.

Jason Harwood:

yeah, exactly.

Morgan Cannon:

out there trying to fight people in the middle of the game. He's so frustrated.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

Just

Jason Harwood:

What is it with Pittsburgh getting crazy wide receivers?

Morgan Cannon:

he's hilarious, man. He's one of the funniest, like they threw, he threw that pick like a few weeks ago and Pickens didn't even try tackling the guy who caught the ball. He just started fighting the DB. Like

Jacob:

Yeah. That was Saner still, on the commanders.

Morgan Cannon:

your right. Jacob,

Jacob:

It was like right away. As soon as the pick happened, he was like, it was like hockey. He was like, we're doing this right now.

Morgan Cannon:

was like, let me cry. And the first time I saw it, I had tears rolling down my face. I was like, this man just doesn't care anymore. He's you know what? I wasn't going to get that ball anyway,

Jacob:

So good.

Jason Harwood:

Oh, that's hilarious. Alright, Next game this time we're on Sunday, 1pm at CBS Denver at Buffalo. Actually, I think this is going to be a pretty decent matchup. I'm going to take Buffalo in this one. Oh, we're going to set up a monster matchup of Baltimore and Buffalo the following week. So I'm going to go with Buffalo. What about you, Morgan?

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, I'm going to go Buffalo too. I think it'll be interesting to see Denver's defenses. tier. Like I like watching them play ball. I just, I don't know, man. I don't think Bo Nix is going to be able to keep pace. We'll see what Sean Payton has cooked up. He's been there, done that. So that has to count for something in these situations. But yeah, I don't, if Josh Allen goes into, super saying mode, what are you really going to do? We'll see

Jason Harwood:

Where are you at Jacob?

Jacob:

Yeah Bo Nix, can he win a playoff game in his rookie season on the road? It's gonna be tough with the coaching and everything, and the Broncos defense. This is actually, I picked the upset here, and I actually picked the Broncos to beat the Bills.

Morgan Cannon:

Oh,

Jacob:

Bills are favored by nine points. Nine points against the Broncos. I mean, which is funny because if you told me that the Bills won this game by 24 points, I would believe you, but I also just think if the Broncos hang around long enough, they might pull an upset here.

Morgan Cannon:

Be cool. Nine's a What do

Jason Harwood:

Nine is a lot in this game.

Jacob:

Some of those spreads were for a couple of these were really high.

Morgan Cannon:

Crazy.

Jason Harwood:

I would take the points if I was going to go that way, I think Buffalo is going to move on this week, but. I think that's going to be a sneaky, good matchup, especially with the spread up to nine, Denver's defense, all it takes is, a turnover here or there, but at the end of the day, I'm going to trust Josh Allen over Bonix.

Jacob:

I haven't seen the weather for that either. I don't know exactly how bad it is in Buffalo right now, but,

Jason Harwood:

I was

Jacob:

cause that's always a factor too.

Morgan Cannon:

Hopefully it snows its butt off, man. That'd be great.

Jacob:

Yeah,

Morgan Cannon:

good That's what I want.

Jason Harwood:

If it says it's put off there, it might snow here too. Green Bay at Philly. That's the Sunday 4 30 game being up there. I don't know what the weather's going to be in Philly. with you, Jacob, who are you taking in Green Bay at Philly?

Jacob:

This, this might be a good game. I think it depends on what Jordan Love that we see and how healthy Jalen Hurts is. Jordan Love is also hurt, so I mean, we don't, I could definitely see a scenario where, you know, just like last year, there are 7 seed, they come in, they upset the 2 seed and they look pretty good doing it. I think the Eagles defense is gonna make it really hard for Jordan Love to get comfortable. It's really hard to play in Philadelphia. And I just don't want the Packers to win. I'm going to pick the Eagles in this one.

Jason Harwood:

All right. I'll go next. I'm picking green Bay. Actually. I think green Bay is going to go in there and run the ball and put some pressure on Jalen hurts and he's just not going to be able to get the, get it done. I'm actually picking the upside

Jacob:

Interesting. Yep.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. I'm maybe it's reverse magic. Maybe I'm doing what you did earlier. Just picking the

Jacob:

It didn't work earlier. So yeah, I'm done with that.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah,

Jason Harwood:

me now for you. All right, Morgan, who Philly green Bay, who you got?

Morgan Cannon:

If that happened, Jason, at least we would know who we're playing nice and early,

Jason Harwood:

Exactly.

Jacob:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

I'm gonna go Philly. I just don't. If Green Bay were playing better, like if we were, I don't

Jason Harwood:

Yeah.

Morgan Cannon:

maybe I'd be more inclined. But like y'all said, man, I just Jordan loves not playing all that well. They're banged up like J. R. J. R. Alexander's out. Christian Watson's done. I don't know. If Philly is able to slow down Josh Jacobs and they can't run the ball at all. I feel like that offense is going to look a lot like it looked against the hands a couple of times. You know what I mean?

Jacob:

Yeah.

Jason Harwood:

Mhm.

Morgan Cannon:

So that's why I'm gonna go Philly, but it'd be fun if Green Bay won again. That'd be, I think, like y'all said, a good matchup. Come on here one more time for a third one.

Jason Harwood:

It'll be interesting because the, I think if green bay wins that they'll put us on the lions on the Saturday night game, as opposed to a Sunday game. Cause I don't, I assume they're going to do one AFC game on Saturday, one NFC game and they probably don't want to put the Rams or Minnesota. They're not going to put them on Saturday. That'd be a short turnaround Monday to Saturday. So if I think if green, if the situation in green Bay wins, we'll play on Saturday night, which for me personally would be better. I'd rather play on Saturday. That way I got a day on Sunday to kind of recuperate.

Morgan Cannon:

That's a great

Jason Harwood:

exactly.

Morgan Cannon:

idea.

Jason Harwood:

So maybe that's in the back of my mind, but maybe that's where I'm coming from. Washington and Tampa Bay. This is probably the game I'm most looking forward to. Cause I think it has a chance to be the most competitive out of all of them. Sunday night, 8 PM is Sunday night football NBC. I'll start here. I'm going to go. This one's a toss up for me. I'm going Washington. Depends on what Baker may feel we get in this game, the bucks have looked good. And then they've looked really bad too at a different time. So I don't know, but I'm going to go with Washington. Washington looked really good. The last time I saw them play on that Sunday night football with that that was a really fun game to watch. see, but I'm going Washington. We'll go to you next, Morgan.

Morgan Cannon:

I'm going to go com commanders to almost like commies. I always call them commies that I'm talking about them commanders. Yeah, Tampa Bay's just, they're banged up like we talked about. And I think this is a sneaky, I wouldn't even call it an upset really, because I don't think The commander's defense has been pretty good all year. They got some nice young pieces. I think they're getting Jonathan Allen back if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, so I'm gonna go commanders. I don't like Baker Mayfield. I like the way he's been playing. He's a pain to play against. He's like one of those annoying competitors. You probably just hate, playing against as a defender. But yeah. What about you, Jacob?

Jacob:

Yeah, I definitely, this one I think is probably going to be the best game in the first round. Probably the closest could be a shootout here, but the commanders have more momentum than the Buccaneers do and I think the commanders are going to win the game. I go back and forth on this one a lot because I do think it's probably going to be close And this has one of those, Baker 300 yard, three touchdown game, maybe, but I'm still going Washington.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Minnesota at Rams. We'll start with you on this one, Morgan. Monday night, this will be, the cap off the wildcard weekend. Who's going to take this one?

Morgan Cannon:

I'm going to go Rams. just, I don't like, it's another, this one's going to be really competitive in my opinion. And I closer to a coin flip than a lot of people want to admit, but yeah, I'm going to go Rams. Just, I think Minnesota, if they if the Rams can run the football, like if Kyron Williams can get going and then Stafford can get into the play action and, stretch them out vertically and horizontally, I think they're going to be good on offense against Minnesota. And then defensively, like if they heat up Sam Darnold and you get a version of Sam Darnold that was in Detroit last week, they're going to be in trouble. I think.

Jason Harwood:

I agree. Yep. I'm going to, I'm I'll go next. I think the Rams are going to win this one. Brian Flores is set up to stop certain offices, offenses, and it's. I don't think it's Sean McVay's offense. He got Matt Safford in there, another veteran quarterback. It's going to be able to read the blitz, kind of know what's coming. I, I trust him in this situation more than I trust Sam Darnold. And when we get into the playoffs, a lot of it can come down to a good quarterback play. So I'm going to, I'm going to take the Rams there going to Arizona gives it gives Minnesota a little more advantage, but I don't think enough to dissuade the results of the game. So I'm going with the Rams. Where are you at Jacob?

Jacob:

Yeah. Updated a betting line. The Vikings are favored by two and a half points, which I didn't see if that moved how much that moved after they, move the game. But, I think the loss of the Lions just took a lot of wind out of Sam Darnold and the Vikings. It was a tough game. They've got another tough game ahead of them. I mean, you already made the point, Jason Stafford, being able to read where the Blitz is coming from, being able to navigate through, they definitely have the tools, especially in short yardage situations, being able to get open quickly It's going to be a long day. I think it is going to be a close game, but I've got the Rams winning. Um, the Vikings celebrated after winning the game against the Packers. And I think that's going to haunt them. I think that's the last time they're going to celebrate.

Jason Harwood:

that's such a weird celebration. I, we talked to a reef and Hassan that covers Minnesota and he's still, he didn't really even have the answer of what they were celebrating. So whatever it is, what it is, we're going to get the late game either way. Is that what you think, Morgan? We're going to add the late game on site because there's a six 30 on Sunday or an eight o'clock on Saturday. I bet you the Ram or the Lions get. The late game either one.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, it'll be like if Washington beats Tampa, then I think we'll, I don't know, we'd maybe hopefully have a chance to be the earlier game. Maybe they won't think that's

Jason Harwood:

Okay.

Morgan Cannon:

one. Maybe that. What do you think? I don't know. Sunday afternoon type deal.

Jason Harwood:

I don't know. I think the lions are that team. I don't know. Hey, but

Morgan Cannon:

True.

Jason Harwood:

It might put the NFC at both the lake. I don't well, I don't know a

Jacob:

Usually the one seed plays in the later game,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah

Jacob:

right?

Morgan Cannon:

good point.

Jason Harwood:

might be

Jacob:

I don't know that for sure, but I think that's usually how they do it.

Morgan Cannon:

And the lines do. yeah,

Jason Harwood:

Yeah,

Morgan Cannon:

numbers every time they're on. That's a good point to Jason, like the team and all that, yeah.

Jason Harwood:

If they if we get green Bay, it's definitely going to be, I think it'll be the Saturday night, eight, eight 30 game. I think that'll bring huge numbers. And cause you know, your green Bay fans will watch, obviously it'll, that'll be a huge game, but So I wanted to ask you, Morgan. So going into the season, how many wins did you have the lions with going in? Do you remember what you predicted them to win?

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, when we did our season predictions for the pride for pride of Detroit, like the whole the big article, I was 13 and four.

Jason Harwood:

Okay. Yeah. Big faith. Jacob, what were you at?

Jacob:

We both actually had 12 and five,

Jason Harwood:

and five. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely exceeded expectations, especially with all the injuries. I mean,

Jacob:

right?

Jason Harwood:

crazy what Dan Campbell's brought here. And I think when we talked about all the coaching stuff, everyone's going to try to replicate what we have here. And I think Aaron Glenn is probably the closest you're going to get to Dan Campbell as far as And just what he means even more than Ben Johnson. I think Aaron Glenn just strikes me more as a leader of men. Not that Ben Johnson doesn't, I think Ben Johnson's a super smart guy, but Aaron Glenn just has, he just commands the room better than more than Ben Johnson, I feel there's Dan Campbell is truly one of one and you. gets so much buy in from his players. And that's why you looked at for me, that's why with this injury stuff, that's why we turned out so good. And Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers, their team faltered, I, they, Dan Campbell kept everybody on the right track, and that's going to be just hard to replicate. Just like you couldn't replicate Patriot wave because no one else is bill Belichick and he couldn't command the respect. And so that, why that, that kept failing. So it'll be interesting people. The lion way or whatever you want, Dan Campbell way. We'll see. I think Aaron Glenn's going to be the closest that you can get though.

Morgan Cannon:

Yeah, I'm excited for a G is a head coach because I think that's going to be he's going to be a culture guy. However, you want to phrase it, he's going to instill, put his fingerprints all over the organization and get the right people in place to make it work. Yeah, they're in the NFC, but at least they're not in the division. But I always think of what Dan Campbell said. It was several weeks ago he said we have something six more games remaining or seven more games. And I was like, wait, we only have, so and so regular season games left, but then I did the, Oh, One, two, three. And that's when I was like, Oh, that's what he means. So it's just cool, man. You can tell it's been on there. It's been on their minds this whole time. And they've just been methodical, right? Like they celebrated last week, but it wasn't like they weren't popping champagne. It was like, all right, let's put on our hat and t shirts and take some pictures and play some music, but just

Jason Harwood:

Yep.

Morgan Cannon:

man. I love

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, I, it's very when you listen to all the press conferences, like I do, and you listen to all the player interviews, it is one message, all the players say, and it's not like you have to say this, they just have one mindset going into this, into, to the next game. And it is very clear that Dan Campbell tells them the message and they all buy into it because they're, they all say the same thing. And that's the benefit of getting the players that they get, you get. think that's more important than of the skills that these players have. Are they going to buy in? Are they going to be a part of this team? And you'll see players that I think Isaiah Buggs was one of those players that probably did not act that way because he was not long for this team. They kept, they got rid of him. Even though I like Buggs as a player, I just think that, I think he rubbed someone on the coaching staff the wrong way because he wasn't, even though he was good, he was gone.

Jacob:

He was also vocal about not playing, and he had that whole kind of distraction thing. So it was like, you're right. If you're not buying in, you're not going to be here.

Jason Harwood:

Mm hmm. Which I'm totally fine with because you win a lot better with everyone pulling the same direction as opposed to the one or two guys pulling the other way because then they start pulling other guys with them. at a workplace where that happens and, I know it's not the same as a football team, but it's like that. You get a couple, couple bad apples and then everything starts to rot.

Morgan Cannon:

Yep, that's true.

Jason Harwood:

All right, Morgan. What's you working on now for pride of Detroit? You got anything you're cooking up right now or anything you don't Miko?

Morgan Cannon:

So we created a video this, this evening, it'll drop tomorrow morning, just a quick little rundown of he talked about the coordinators the other day. We just touched on some of the playoff storylines going into into the wildcard weekend. Prior to Detroit, we have everything like the, we have an updated coaching tracker. If you guys want to go over there and just keep that open on a tab on your browser. Jeremy and Eric are updating that constantly. Who's interviewing where. All that good stuff. It's very comprehensive. I'll probably chill this week. I don't know that I'll write that much. I just I'm really excited to just kick my feet back, man. Like it's something I put I'd said on the V the video with Miko lines, fans need to soak this in, like one seed it's just a really cool opportunity and of like only two fan bases in the NFL of the 32 or have this feeling this weekend, just the line Detroit and Kansas city. You take some time and soak it in. That's kind of been my message lately. You know what I mean?

Jason Harwood:

Yeah, that's a good

Jacob:

Yeah, fine.

Jason Harwood:

definitely uncharted waters for us as lions fans to be able to stay here.

Morgan Cannon:

Crazy.

Jason Harwood:

Was it 92 the last time? The previous time that we had wanted to play off game when we beat Dallas, I think we had a buy that time, but I was 12 years old when that happened, so I don't remember it too well. Too well,

Morgan Cannon:

I was two. So I feel you.

Jason Harwood:

Yeah. All right. All right. We were not friends at that point. Glad we could actually get this talk in here and a little stress free lion talk, which is nice. So for Morgan and Jacob, I'm Jason. Let's go lions.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jacob Litton

Co-host
Head Shot

Jason Harwood

Co-host