The All Gritt Podcast
Episode 4. Detroit Lions vs Seattle Seahawks Midweek Pregame Report
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to the All Great Podcast. Today I am your host, Adrian. I'm flying solo today, guys. You tell me how I do. We got some big announcements. We could not wait 'til next week. We want to reach out to you guys and let you know. We have a website now for those of you listening that are with us on Instagram already and our personal accounts, thank you. We also want to let you know we have a podcast Instagram now. So follow us there. Our IG username is all_grid_podcast. So follow us on Instagram. And you know what? Some of you guys are on Spotify, on Amazon Music. Man, we are truly grateful to have all you with us to have a good time with the guys, those true diehard Lions fans. And some of those that, you know, like the Lions, we welcome you as well. And last announcement for today, I promise, guys, we're gonna be on YouTube, YouTube. I know, crazy, right? Look out, Pat McAfee, 'cause we're coming for you. So look for us on YouTube, same username, all_grid_podcast. And there, you could probably see us pretty soon on camera. All right, let's get to the important stuff. All right, so Arizona left the Lions pretty bruised up. If you follow closely, we got some major injuries. Frank Rach now, our anchor, one of our heart and soul of the team of our offensive line. He is hurt with a partial pectoral muscle right in the chest. No, it's important, he's pushing big guys down the middle. And breaking news earlier, straight from Dan Campbell, he will not be playing on Monday night against the Seahawks. So it is a huge blow to our big guys up front. And it is sad, but it's for his own good. We need Frank later in the season. We need Frank for the playoffs. It's better to let him rest this week. The Lions have the bye week next week. And then after that is when we go back to playing again against Dallas. So if you think about it, that gives Frank three weeks to try to recover, to try to get that pectoral muscle healthy. Maybe he's not ready for Dallas. And that's okay, I'm fine with that. If he needs more time, give him all the time that he needs so that he can be ready towards the end of the season. We're only coming in on week four guys. We have a long way to go. So it's okay if Frank, we're gonna miss him on Monday, but that'll give Graham Glasgow, he's gonna slide over to center. That'll give him some practice. He stepped in last year, several games, and he did a great job. And I think the back of the left guard will be Coyote Awasica. He's pretty good. He was in the NFC Championship game last year. If you guys keep up with the Lions, he played very well. I believe he's next in line, but there could be some surprises. This year's a new roster, and there could have been maybe some movement on the offensive line. But all in all, don't worry. I think those guys up front will be able to communicate and it'll be a challenge, but we'll be okay. Next up on the injuries, this one did stink a lot. Marcus Davenport, he's gone for the year, guys. He has been moved to IR. He will not, his season's over, unfortunately. So what this means is Brad Holmes or GM, he's gonna have to go to the trade market to see if someone is out there, which I personally don't feel like he will do, just kind of looking at Brad Holmes past. He, I think they're gonna first give Josh Paskel a big opportunity to try to step up. There's been a lot of talk, people are like, "Oh, James Houston, you know, it's his time to shine." My personal opinion is James Houston is not your guy. He is flashy, he can get sacks, but he's not the big defensive end that Aaron Glenn likes on his defense. If you look on the, even the last few years, like people like Charles Harris, who didn't pan out, they got Marcus Davenport, this big guy on the opposite side of Aiden, and they drafted Josh Paskel, a big defensive end to not only rush the passer, but stop the run. And I think that's what Aaron Glenn wants. So that's why I don't think that James Houston is ever gonna fill that role. James Houston is just a specialist off the edge when they know it's third and long to just go get the quarterback. That's what James does. And hopefully he can get back into shape like he was at the end of 2022, but Josh is gonna have to step up, man. He's gonna have to play big for us. And hopefully, he's gonna be given a big opportunity. This could be a career move for him if he can fill in that role before the trade deadline. I'm sure they're gonna be looking around the league to see if there's any wise or prudent moves that the Lions could make, but I don't see them making a big splash move for like Max Crosby or someone big. All these big names have been thrown around. I really doubt that Brad would give away those valuable draft picks that he knows how to use on someone coming from the outside. So I think we'll be okay on that end. And I guess we'll watch on Monday, see how Josh does. Next up on the injury list, Alim McNeil. Injury report today said that he was back at practice. So that is a really good sign. He's day to day. So he'll probably be a game time decision. Hopefully he'll play it Monday night. It's trending in the right way. And linebackers, Derek Barnes on IR. They say that he'll be back by hopefully the towards the end of the season. But I think we're gonna be okay in that room. If there was any position group or we'd have a player, you know, gone for an extended period of time, I would pick the linebackers because there's so much good depth there. Alex Insolone's back at practice this week. He just was out last week from a concussion. So I'm sure he's gonna clear protocol this week. He'll be back in action for Monday night. And I mean, Jack Campbell, Malcolm Rodriguez, Jalen Reeve-Maven will be completely fine in the linebacker room until Derek comes back. And finally, our safety room, we all saw that nasty hit from Brian Branch. I think he was on Trey McBride, the tie down from Arizona. But he had a nasty hit. It was a concussion, but he's doing drills. Today on the practice report, he was a non-contact, of course. He's still going through concussion protocol, but he should hopefully clear by Monday night. It gives him an extra day to get back. So he will hopefully suit up for us and hopefully catch an interception. So that is our injury report. To be honest, if we compare with other teams, the lines aren't doing so bad. This is gonna happen to every team. We just have to be prepared for it and just kind of swallow it and accept it that some of our favorite players, some players that we look to, they're gonna get hurt. It's a violent game. Just, you know, we go to the next man up. So, all right, switching gears here. Let's look ahead to the Seahawks game. This one's interesting. Why? Because the Seahawks have a new coach this year, Mike McDonald. If you are a true Michigander, you know exactly who that is. I think of him as the Ben Johnson of defensive coordinators. He's young, highly creative and intelligent. Now, last year, he was the defensive coordinator for Baltimore. And before then, he was the defensive coordinator at none other than the University of Michigan, Go Blue, Wolverines. So we're all very familiar with Mike McDonald and he's ascended. He deserves it. He's a head coach now for the Seahawks. And they are hot right now at three and oh. So, you know, last year, Mike McDonald, he was the defensive coordinator for Baltimore. And if you guys remember, Baltimore blew us out pretty bad. McDonald's defensive scheme. Man, it really stopped our entire offense. And they were hot leading into that game. It was probably, I would say, the ugliest game last year that the Lions played or they were just completely dominated by the other team. But now everything's on film. You know, Ben Johnson can take a look at that and see what Mike McDonald's schemed for him. Obviously, it's a whole different other team now. He's the head coach and he's got different players, but it's still the same philosophy, the same scheme, the same mentality that Mike McDonald will use in his defense. So at least now Ben Johnson can kind of prepare for it and won't be as surprised as he was last year. So the Seahawks, surprisingly, they are hot right now. They are undefeated at three wins, zero losses. Yeah, if you really look at the schedule, they have not really played some top to your teams. It's been against the Broncos, you know, with a rookie quarterback that's been against the Patriots with Jacobi Brissette. And that was in overtime. And then they played, last week they played Miami without to a ton of Bailoa. So, and at that Skyler Thompson, their backup, he got hurt. So then they put in Tim Boyle, the third stringer in that game, and of course Miami lost. So all those teams in common is that no real quarterback as has really played against that Seahawks defense. But even so, Lions are favored to win. I really want this win, guys. I really want it. The Lions have lost, I believe, the last six match up against the Seahawks is ridiculous. Year after year, we have not been able to beat that team. I mean, it had been under Pete Carroll in the past. Maybe he had our number, not with a new coach. You know, hopefully it's different. But I just really want to get over the hump of beating the darn Seahawks. They always somehow squeeze out a win, whether it's in Seattle or in Detroit. And I will have to admit, it is going to be the toughest game so far this year. The Seahawks, they're no easy team. And I think they're the most complete team that we've faced so far compared to the other teams we've played. And their defense is just as stout as ours. They're secondary, man, Devin Witherspoon, Tariq Wullin, their safeties are good. It's going to be a challenge for Jerga off for that secondary. So I'm expecting a low scoring game, honestly. It might be a low scoring game. It might be not as exciting to watch on a Monday night. We might have to make sure we're awake. But I think both defenses are really going to keep those offenses in check. Now, I will say that the Seahawks, that they're offensive line, notice they've given up eight sacks so far this year. And Geno Smith has thrown three interceptions in three games. So that tells me there's an opportunity for our defense to get some turnovers. Turnovers can win games. Now Kirby Joseph, the rest of our defense, they'll have opportunities to intercept or cause some havoc with Geno in the offense with their offensive line being kind of shaky. So all that being said, I'm hoping the Lions win. I think, like I said, it'll be low scoring. I'm going to predict probably a Lions win of 20 to 14. So we'll watch on Monday. It is exciting. We got our black uniforms being premiered. I think it's been a long wait. We've all, since they teased it like a year and a half ago, things leaked that, hey, Lions might get a black uniform. And then finally, they revealed it. And now our first game with them on, I'm looking forward to it, guys. The pictures, they look nice. And then it's another thing to see it on Monday night football with the lights on. Hopefully maybe there's a blackout in the stadium at Ford Field. It'll be awesome. It's not always that Detroit Lions fans have gotten to see their team on a Monday night on prime time with everybody talking about them. So it'll be exciting. So that is all for today. A quick word from our episode sponsor. Thank you to annual painting. Do you need some indoor or outdoor touch-ups to your house? Look no further. Annual painting has got you covered. Contact Kalevaniel for covering the Greater Grand Rapids area. So that's it folks for today. Thank you for joining. This has been the All Grid Podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)