American football

Another two great games last night, moral of the story was you should never bet against Homie and his pals when it matters.

I hate the Chiefs so much but I feel like Jason Kelce is a good guy and he was having a great time last night. And anything is better than constant reaction shots of Taylor Swift.

Lions getting it done, made my night! And getting it done in such a workmanlike fashion, yeah they had big plays (looking at you Brock Wright), but Gibbs doing damage on the ground and Amon-ra being that go to receiver on some of those 3rd and longs made it (despite giving the ball back to the Bucs with time on the clock at the end of the 4th quarter) feel like a routine "Lions" win.
Not sure how their secondary is going to hold up against the 49ers receivers, and/or how the defense is going to deal with mccaffrey and everything he brings, or how Goff is going to deal with the pressure that the 49ers defense can bring. But that's for next weekend. The two back to back home playoff wins have made a lot of naysayers eat their words, made the lions relevant again and made a fanbase believe, which is all they ever wanted anyway..

Having come DFL in my local mates' race last night, I am now eminently qualified to endorse this message.
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I'm listening to the latest Around The NFL podcast previewing the conference games this weekend, and my heart sank with mention of Brock Purdy's being "mr irrelevant" again. Now i'm rooting for the lions to beat the 49ers but hasn't Purdy done enough to show he's a good quarterback despite where he was taking in the draft. Brady (only comparing where they were drafted rather than the talent) was taken 199 and the media bring it up as look what everyone missed on, greatest of all time, first ballot hall of famer yadda yadda yadda, whereas two seasons into his career Purdy's draft position is used to question his football competence, ceiling, and ability to win the big ring.
So many first/second round picks flame out, and the ones who are talked about, who make a difference are the 3rd/4th/5th round picks that dropped in draft boards, or were never given a seconds thought. Yeah Purdy is a QB and there's more attention on them, but drafting QB's is pretty much roulette and his being picked where he was and being able to play at such a high level should be celebrated rather than derided, and maybe the focus should be on how all the other QB's taken before him who haven't performed as well as he has (albeit in Shanahan's QB friendly system) have disappointed...

There are some great conspiracy theories doing the rounds about the ref in the AFC game always penalising the home team with flags. The league want the Chiefs in the Super Bowl because Swift, obviously.

In a perfect world a Chiefs Lions Super Bowl would mean a change to the half time show with an Eminem Swift shootout and Usher singing background vocals.

Chiefs ravens living up to the publicity so far. Mahomes and Jackson proving that they are great QBs

Yeah enjoying it. Really want Ravens to win.

After that super hot first half, it’s ground to an offensive halt by both defenses being really really good!

Starting to dare to believe..

SF are like a machine, they’re not a team to get excited about but they get it done.

Ah man! I went to sleep at halftime in the Detroit/Niners game. Detroit were up 24-7 at that point. Very disappointing morning, I thought they had it!

Worst possible combination of teams for the SB for me. I'll still be behind the Niners though because fuck the Chiefs, obviously. I just don't want it to be the Swift Bowl.

Sounds like you need one of these;

Gutting to see the lions cough that one up. Taking the field goal when they had a chance to go for it on fourth down felt crucial to me, they would have been up 28-7 or 28-10 and would have put so much pressure on the 49ers.
Campbells going to get second guessed for his game management in this one, but the lions being up and missing out, I’m sure will be fuel for next season..

49ers for their part got some great play from Aiyuk and that “game manager” brock Purdy, team made some big plays and that fumble recovery was big, and that’s all they needed.
Super Bowl will be interesting. Right now I think the chiefs got this. But 49ers can make any team suffer, and I don’t think the chiefs run game is as good as the lions.
Pressures all on Shanahan and the 49ers for this one. Mahomes already got his rings

I enjoyed watching both games, but disappointed at both results like the feeling in here. The Lamar self throw and the Aiyuk catch off the face were my highlights.

As a Seahawks fan, I don't want the 49ers to win, but also don't really want a chiefs SB win either haha. In good news for me going to be back in Seattle in Oct, so really hoping a home game lines up with my trip.

It’s easy to be wise after the event but going for it on 4th down got the Lions through the regular season, and the odds favoured the coach’s calls on the 4th downs last night.

I love watching Mahomes so Swifties or not I’m looking forward to the superbowl.

Have realised how invested I am in the lions as the thought of talking heads second guessing and dissecting Campbell’s coaching decisions is too much for me to even think about..
Only way to shut them up, and even then they’ll find something else to bitch about, is to win the thing in the next couple of seasons coaching the same way and taking the same risks..

Chiefs - Ravens had a great highlights video for quite a low scoring game.
I still need to catch up on Niners - Lions.

Ben Johnson supposedly staying with the lions rather than possibly being offered the HC jobs with Seattle and Washington. Liking him more and more, 2nd season he’s prioritised staying where he is rather than taking the bag!
For those in the comments saying this might be his only chance, he’s only 37! If the lions keep doing what they’re doing, he’ll be offered another opportunity - see mcdaniels, josh..

Watched a couple of hot take responses to the lions loss and they still sting, even with a day to reflect. There’s something about the media churn where no player or coach is allowed to grow and fail and get better and rectify issues that may have stopped them from being their best version.
Campbell being suplexed from the top rope for making some decisions in the biggest game of his career so far that they disagree with/ may not have been the best choices. But fuck me he was the head coach of a 3-13-1 team two seasons ago. How much experience does he have in the playoffs, let alone the conference championship game? How does he gain that experience, how does he learn what works or doesn’t in those big games? By getting his team back to them and not making the same mistake (if they were mistakes in his head ) again.

I haven’t been this invested in a team since the manning colts, when they kept getting bounced from the playoffs, despite having an amazing regular season record.. still hurts that edgerrin James never got to play in a Super Bowl..

There has been more level headed analysis about this and Badgley is historically poor at longer distances. Below 50%. I think that changes things a little.

Good to see Ben Johnson returning - some of the deeper Xs & Os analyses about their scheme has shown what a good OC he is. The Eagles this year are a case study in working to keep OC / DC consistency.

Detroit is like Houston and STARVING for football success. I think Detroit are ahead of us on that curve and I really hope that they make the SB next year.

agreed, here’s hoping Detroit Lions are in the mix next year, build on an exceptional season.

I hear you, but trying to find it when sub editors are using words like “destroyed” “fiasco” in the titles is a bit difficult.
I just find it a bit rich that a head coach whose moved his team from 3-13-1 to the conference championships in 3 seasons m, and only had two playoff appearances, and those two coming this season, is being vilified for not making the perfect call. I kind of feel that wanting every up and coming coach to be perfect out the box and making that their criteria for “greatness” means you apply far too much relevance and importance to their failings than is necessary..
I have faith that Campbell will figure it out, and if they don’t go further next season then it’s not the end of the world. I think for the majority of long suffering lions fans, being a good team akin to the ravens/steelers/packers, who are good enough to challenge for the division and make a run at the playoffs, without getting into boom/bust cycles, would be great..

One for @Soul

This is a DEEP X & O investigation into the Cowboys / Packers game. You will learn a lot by watching this. I absolutely love Brett Kollmann's analysis and his Bootleg Football podcast is great. He is one to follow if you really want to understand the modern NFL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN_hPJxI_s8

Seahawks getting the Ravens DC Mike MacDonald is good hire. A defense-first Seahawks will always be a good thing. NFC West is going to be tasty next year - a resurgent Rams, NFC Champs Niners, a refreshed Seahawks and a draft rich Cardinals team.