JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
Lions Roar Back: Detroit’s Depth and Determination Fuel NFL Dominance
Hey, that's a hell of a job, man. That's a hell of a job. I'm going to go back to what I said last night. Man, when you have talent, talented football players, and they are made of the right kind of stuff. They are made of the right kind of stuff, and those guys come together. You have a collective willpower that you can make the game any way you want it to go. You can do that. That's exactly what you guys did. You came out after a rough game last week. We found a way to win. And we weren't having it today, man. You guys wheeled that game the way you wanted it. And we have that ability. Remember that. Talented players made of the right stuff, all coming together at the right time, with the right coaching staff, with the right mentality. And look, injuries be damned. I don't know. I mean, Alex Anseloni out six to eight weeks. He goes out in the middle of that game. And look, you know the people that are banged up, that are hurt, that we're not seeing on the field. And yet they continue to play the kind of football they are. And it's remarkable what they're able to do offensively. And defensively, they just keep finding an answer. And it's remarkable. We just haven't seen anything like this in Detroit. And it's special. Whatever's happening is something special. Tim Twentelman is the senior writer and insider at DetroitLions.com and joins me this afternoon. Tim, it's good to have you. Boy, for whatever reason, the Bills beating a Kansas city yesterday, just put the football world into a Tizzy because for whatever reason, all of a sudden now, the Lions are odds, Super Bowl favorites. It's a very strange morning, but it's a fun one when you look at, you know, hanging 52 on a team. Yeah, they're playing really good football right now. And I think the one thing that you have to love if you're a Lions fan is just the complimentary way in which they're playing football and winning games, you know, I mean, last week, obviously the offense struggles kind of get it delayed, but the defense kept them in that game entirely. You know, Tennessee, you get all those special teams contributions and then the offensive performance this week. I think it's a football team that can win in a lot of different ways. And, you know, that's what you have to love about this football team because before it's all said and done, you're going to need really all three phases to win your football game at one point or another. And this Detroit football team can do it in all three ways. You know, the one thing that that does scare me is it feels like eventually you're going to be in a spot where boy, are you going to miss an Alex Anseloni or are you going to miss an Aiden Hutchinson and his his his mentality, his motor, but but more importantly, the what he actually brings in terms of pressures and sacks and those things. It's like Derek Barnes out. It just feels like eventually these these injuries are going to catch up to them. Where do they feel like they're at at this point? Nine in one, obviously very much in the driver's seat, but but are is it is it still the next man up mentality? I mean, you got a couple of guys that they're going to have to step up and into some pretty big roles. Yeah, next man up and look, that's where you have to credit Brad Holmes and the job that he and his staff have done to build the depth of this football team. You know, look, you lost Derek Barnes week three. Obviously that was a big loss with with, you know, how big that Sam linebacker positions in this defense, but we haven't really felt it a ton, you know, and then you'll lose Aiden Hutchinson, you know, week five and played now what five, six games without him. You felt it a little bit, but you know, it hasn't been game wrecking and look Alex does a lot of the seeds will line back to back to back under tackle guy. He's probably more, you know, their best cover linebacker, but again, you know, guys, you're going to have to set up Jack Campbell, Malcolm Rodriguez, Trevor Noiske, you know, all guys that have stepped in, made plays, started games. And so really that's the mentality. It's, look, it's not a matter of if, but it's when the injury is going to happen this week. You look around the league, every team is dealing with major injuries, but the good ones have depth. Find a way to get guys to step in, contribute, make plays and that's going to be the job of Dan Campbell and his staff moving forward without some of these guys. Look, I think the easy answer is probably the talents better and they've drafted well. They've developed a lot of the guys that have been now with them for a couple of years here. But you've been around this organization for a long time. What's different? Like what, what, aside from the talent because obviously that's there. Is there anything different in the way Ben Johnson operates or Aaron Glenn operates or Dan Campbell operates? What's the, what's been the overriding difference this year? Do you think that's a good question because there has been talented players and a few players in my time here. It's my 15th year covering the team and, you know, I think, I think just the confidence is probably the biggest thing. You just feel it throughout the building. And it's not just in a locker room with the players, but upstairs to, and that's something that that Dan is still in, in, you know, when you have a ton of confidence and you also have continuity. And I think that that's a little bit on the value too. I mean, this, you know, this offensive coordinator, defensive court or special teams coordinator, they, they've been together through the duration. I know Ben was appointed the offensive quarter a year later, but he was here in the staff. And so when you've got guys have been together for years now and you've got, you know, players that have been in schemes for 40 years now and there's a confidence level with what this coaching staff brings and, you know, especially the head coach, I think all that combined together, confidence and continuity are two really good things in football and we're seeing the results on the football field. I also love the mentality. And I think we got a little bit of a peek into it. Kirby Joseph talked about it post game. I think Carlton Davis also mentioned something about it. But, you know, there's this idea and I think a couple of players in Green Bay said it before the game against the Packers a couple of weeks ago. It's like, well, these guys just want to embarrass you. They come in. They want to embarrass you. They run trick plays and they just want to embarrass teams. And the realities are, I think Kirby Joseph said it perfectly. Like if you, if you don't want us to run the score, then, then play better football, like come to play football. And I think that's the mentality that's that we just have never seen here. It's like, no, we're just going to beat you to a pulp until you stop us. And I think that that killer mentality has been missing, but then you pair that with the talent. And I think you get you see what a nine in one franchise looks like. Yeah, a hundred percent. That's that confidence that we've talked about, you know, just a little bit ago, that's them. So we're going to do what we do. We know we're good. We know our offensive coordinator is probably the best in the business. We know we have talent all over on offense. We're going to play our game. We're going to flip down your throat. We're going to play action with our quarterback who's the best play action quarterback in the league. Then we're going to take some deep shots and we're going to continue to do that. We're going to have our right tackle involved in plays. We're going to have some fun doing it. We're going to dance in the end zone. You don't want to see us dancing the end zone. Guess what? Let us get there and it's the same mentality on defense too. And that's what winning teams have, right? We're going to play our state style. We're going to play our game. You're just in our way now. You prevent us from doing it for those two. We'll tip your hat and we'll see you down the line. But it's a confident bunch that's going to play their brand of football and it's a really good brand of football right now and I don't see them slowing down any time soon. Look, Jacksonville stinks. Okay. We call a spade a spade, but I don't care who you're playing. These are pro players. They get paid real money. These are professional NFL players to go seven for seven in your first seven possessions into the end zone is remarkable and we know what this offense can do locally. But I mean, you look nationally. Something changed yesterday. The narrative changed a little bit. It went from like, wow, this team is really good or this may be the best team in the NFL. All it took was a Buffalo win over over the Chiefs to now put the Lions as odds on betting favorites to win the Super Bowl. What do you think changed like? What did people see yesterday that that even took this narrative to another level? Yeah, you know, when you're undefeated, there's a sense of you know, invincibility around you, right? Look, Kansas City's won the last two Super Bowls. They're defending champions and then they're undefeated. I think they deserved that that that mark is. Hey, that's the team to be, you know, when you lose a game and now with with how Detroit has won, I mean, three games. They've won by 35 plus points that that's having three times. Yeah, this happened three times in NFL history. They scored 52 points and backed back games at home. I mean, the way that they're winning and, you know, when you talk about the offense to and how fun it is offense, there's one thing I took from talking to beard last night after the game is, you know, that that touched on to Brock, right? I think it was his third touchdown. That was like his third or fourth reading set and he's like the amazing thing about being in this offense is that when I get to my third or fourth read, it's a really good player that can make a play. You know, it sometimes it's it's Jimir Gibbs or David Montgomery as a, you know, as an outlet out the backfield. Well, and Jimir Gibbs took the one pass. He caught 54 yards almost for a touchdown. Yes, he was just like, it's not always like this, but why this offense is so good is when I get to my third and fourth read, it's a really good player is probably one. It's match up and can make a big play. And so that's the thing that Jared is loving. And I think it gives you an idea of just how talented this often. Yeah. And then of course believing that your guy is going to make a play, which they seem to always do. Tim, appreciate the conversation we'll talk again soon. All right, guys. Anytime. All right. That's Tim 20 minute Detroit lines.com more coming up.
November 18, 2024 ~ Chris Renwick and Tim Twentyman discuss the Detroit Lions’ impressive resilience, highlighting their depth, strong coaching, and Jared Goff’s leadership, making them serious NFL contenders despite key injuries.