Lions at Cardinals gameday thread 9-22-24

[BullheadCardFan]

Hold them accountable? What do you mean? Fans don't have the power to hold anyone accountable.

Head coach

 

[akg102]

The worst part about today is the forum realizing that Kyler is still Kyler and we drafted an elite #2 WR.

 

[slanidrac16]

Who said that?

Tough loss though for sure but the Lions are a better team.

There were some claiming this was a must win. I didn’t get it either.

 

[slanidrac16]

And as impressive as the d was in the second half, they couldn’t get the crucial final stop to give us a chance to tie.

Nah. The gave the offense plenty of chances to win this game. If you told me we held the Lions to 20 pts. I would have assumed we won.

 

[slanidrac16]

The thing I liked least about this game was both 4th down calls.

The first? Ok, not that bad to go for it but either sneak it with Tune or run Conner. You run wide it's into their strength which is speed.

Second time? Don't go for it. Too far, too early, punt it and pin them back.

That's what I think.

I agree. There was 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter but we left emotion get to us. Yes we had a pick and settling for a fg would hurt but the it would have made it 20-13. But going for it with nine minutes to go in the 4th quarter totally flipped the field.
We had 4 or 5 drives start inside our own 10 yard line.

 

[Proteus]

Is there a free website that gives stats like percentage of balls caught, drops?

 

[BullheadCardFan]

We had 4 or 5 drives start inside our own 10 yard line.

That was really hard to overcome

 

[FB94]

You probably though Mayfield was the problem in Cleveland as well.

Don’t care about mayfield

 

[Red Bird]

Lions outplayed us in all 3 phases. They were my preseason SB pick, so I guess we’ll see how that holds up. I look at them as the blue print for how we want to slow cook this thing. Check out where they were at early 2022 and it wasn’t very impressive. We’re still on schedule overall imo.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Those back shoulder misses are the right throws. Marv just not recognizing.

Yeah and that’s an odd issue. I can’t recall ever seeing a qb and a starting receiver so not in the same page.

 

[kerouac9]

Yeah and that’s an odd issue. I can’t recall ever seeing a qb and a starting receiver so not in the same page.

Need more trips to UCLA maybe

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The D also gave up 20 and couldn’t get a stop when they needed.

If you told me this d would hold that o to 20 I would have thought we won. They did give up two big first downs to effectively lose any chance at winning though. But they outplayed their talent in the second half.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Nah. The gave the offense plenty of chances to win this game. If you told me we held the Lions to 20 pts. I would have assumed we won.

Agreed. I just said as much. But when we asked them to do it one last time they faltered and then failed. That still counts.

 

[Gambler]

Yeah and that’s an odd issue. I can’t recall ever seeing a qb and a starting receiver so not in the same page.

No preseason and the 3rd game together? It takes time.

 

[GatorAZ]

Right my point is the question was is their window closed, my answer is I don't think you can tell without CMC, Deebo, and others.

I get the Rams are missing key guys too.

The Niners do this every year. In 2021 they lost 4 in a row and made the CG. In 2022 they started 4-4 and made the CG. Last year they lost 3 straight and made the SB. They want to win but don’t really care about the regular season.

 

[Dayman]

The offense lacks speed again. I would love to see Michael Carter come in and replace Benson's snaps. Carter adds a different element to the offense. Benson is just an extremely poor man's Conner right now.

 

[BritCard]

This was a game of moments. In some ways like the Bills game.

I think there are positives to take from the game in that the Lions are a good roster and a team that most had down for SB contenders.

Obviously the 2 minute warning calling back a TD was BS, but that aside the game turned on two moments either side of the half.

The big one was MHJ dropping a ball that was perfectly placed into his chest on the the 7 yard line just before the half. He had Terrion Arnold was with him but it was placed perfectly and the ball hit Marv right in the hands and bounced off. We should have gone into half time 20-14.

Then on the Gardeck interception we take the FG instead of feeling desperate for points and it's a 20-17 game. From there it changes the game plan.

I thought the D largely played well, any time you shut a team out for a half and limit them to 20 is a good performance. It was the offense that struggled this week.

I big issue for this offense is that is we can't run the ball as we want Petzing doesn't seem to have much of a plan B. If we can't run Conner downhill I'd like to see us use him on short passes more to get him outside the tackles.

Disappointing as a game we could have won if a few moments went our way, but I think the team is trending in the right direction.

 

[BritCard]

I still think we are following the Lions strategy. This is year 4 for them, we are only in year 2.

Lots of similarities between them in the way they play, the culture, and how they are going about rebuilding.

 

[BritCard]

We’re only in week 3 and we left a bunch of cap space coming into the season… SO frustrating

To spend on who?

There has to be players that do what you want to do and fit your culture and this wasn't a great defensive free agent class in my opinion.

Wilkins got paid too much at $27.5m and has 0.5 sacks and a 70 grade so far.
Hunter is 30 and $25m per was too much for this stage of the rebuild in my opinion.
Greenard was way overpaid.
Huff was way overpaid.

I get it, we'd all like to have less cap and more talent, I'm just not sure who moves the needle for us in FA.

It doesn't get much better in 2025. I think it's a pretty poor defensive offering as it is in the areas we need, and a bunch will get resigned yet.

 

[D-Dogg]

Nah. The gave the offense plenty of chances to win this game. If you told me we held the Lions to 20 pts. I would have assumed we won.

I expected a 49-42 style shootout.

 

[BritCard]

Nah. The gave the offense plenty of chances to win this game. If you told me we held the Lions to 20 pts. I would have assumed we won.

I often think fans have unrealistic expectations of defenses. There isn't a defense in the league that stops every run, every 3rd down conversion, every long pass.

As you say, any defense that holds a team to 20 has done its job. It was the offense that let the side down today.

 

[Crimson Warrior]

I still think we are following the Lions strategy. This is year 4 for them, we are only in year 2.

Lots of similarities between them in the way they play, the culture, and how they are going about rebuilding.

That's an interesting idea that was echoed by one of the TV commentators yesterday.

People can phoo phoo us taking solace in the fact that we didn't get routed yesterday while our offense sputtered, but I see it as a positive sign. 100%.

Yesterday didn't do much to dissuade me that MO and JG are on the right path to building a great team.

 

[Stout]

I often think fans have unrealistic expectations of defenses. There isn't a defense in the league that stops every run, every 3rd down conversion, every long pass.

As you say, any defense that holds a team to 20 has done its job. It was the offense that let the side down today.

The defense isn't good, so yes, holding a team to 20--and especially scoring (though we were cheated of the score) is real gravy. That said, the D set the O up for failure time after time after time. Score isn't indicative of everything. But, I was expecting the D to be like this, as Monti did very little to fix it, so it is what it is.

 

[Russ Smith]

The offense lacks speed again. I would love to see Michael Carter come in and replace Benson's snaps. Carter adds a different element to the offense. Benson is just an extremely poor man's Conner right now.

Benson is way faster than Conner but he's not decisive enough yet. his first run was really good, 2nd run he went back to dancing.

I do like Carter.

If Benson steps up his game it would be huge, if he's not ready to do that yeah bring up Carter.

 

[QuebecCard]

I still believe that if we can split our first eight games, we have a real chance at a wildcard birth.

Nothing is 'settled' across the League at this point, and only fools prognosticate.

The Cards thump the Rams, and they then beat the 49ers.
Carolina, the supposed joke many said wouldn't win a game, beat up on the Raiders.
Sam Darnold, who some on this board were pissing on, is now 3-0.
The Saints, who were pumping out 40+, scored 12 in a loss.

Yada, yada.