Lions News

[whatever_gong82]

Deb, there was an additional file that downloaded from the Athletic article above, but I couldn't put it on here due to it being 4.93 MB, and this Forum has a limit of how much you can upload.

Can you PM me and I'll send it to you privately via my Gmail account, if you like?

Thanks.

[-Deborah-]

Great read! Thanks for posting it.

What is the additional file?

[whatever_gong82]

Great read! Thanks for posting it.

What is the additional file?

You're welcome.



It's called 11 personnel Counter GY With F-motion.

It was near the top of the article, right after the author wrote that "Entering 2023, Johnson’s plan was to do everything all over again — only better and more often."

I've just used a screen saver program. Then I found out why I can't upload it, probably for security reasons.

Forum message_10-14-2023.jpg

[foxhopper]

Waiting for whatagongshow to get arrested for sharing all this pay rolled content. Just don't post fruitloons power rankings.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions address depth concerns with Saturday transactions; two defenders draw fines



Justin Rogers
The Detroit News


The Lions made a series of roster moves Saturday, most of which were expected ahead of Sunday's matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The team opened up two roster spots by moving cornerback Emmanuel Moseley and running back Zonovan Knight to injured reserve. Both suffered season-ending injuries last week, with Moseley tearing his ACL and Knight suffering a separated shoulder.

To backfill those spots, the Lions activated cornerback and special teams standout Khalil Dorsey off injured reserve. He's been out of the past four weeks with an illness. The team also signed offensive lineman Dan Skipper off the practice squad, adding depth to a unit still dealing with a number of injuries.

Addressing another area of limited depth, the team temporarily elevated running back Devine Ozigbo off the practice squad. He'll provide support for starter David Montgomery and backup Craig Reynolds with rookie Jahmyr Gibbs sidelined by a hamstring strain.



Fines levied

Two Lions defenders drew fines from last week's win over the Carolina Panthers. Linebacker Alex Anzalone was assessed a $13,922 fine for contacting quarterback Bryce Young's helmet on a throw. Anzalone was also penalized for the action.

Aidan Hutchinson was also fined, for an unpenalized play at the end of the second quarter, when he swung his leg out in a tripping-like motion as Young attempted to escape the pocket. Hutchinson's fine was for $11,473.


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

A tweet about the article that I just post awhile ago:

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

Dan Campbell’s ‘tough son of a bitch’ coaching has Lions roaring


This is from the tweet above. I copied and pasted the article for easy reading, I hope.

By Steve Serby
Published Oct. 14, 2023, 3:54 p.m. ET


Long before he “Restored the Roar” at long last to the Detroit Lions, Motor City Dan Campbell was just a fun-loving backup tight end for the New York Giants.


“I can remember going to biker bars in New York City with him and [his wife] Holly and my wife Brill and a whole group of people, and just having a helluva time,” NBC’s Jason Garrett told Serby Says. “He always told great stories, did great imitations, and just a great guy to hang out with. On a Monday night we’d go watch ‘Monday Night Football,’ there’d be 12 of us. He knew these biker bars in the city. I didn’t know they existed in the city.”

Garrett was the Giants’ backup quarterback to Kerry Collins from 2000-03, including the Super Bowl XXXV run.


“I always remember there was like kind of this whole Hulk Hogan — I don’t know if it was specifically Hulk Hogan,” Garrett said, “but it was kind of this championship wrestling voice that he would go into sometimes.”

Campbell can still make everyone laugh, but he has made sure that no one is laughing at the Lions anymore. Garrett recalls sitting down with Campbell before the start of the season and coming away impressed with who the Lions were and what they were becoming.


“‘When you’re building this team, it seems to me that you’re building it in your likeness,’” Garrett told Campbell. “And he said, ‘Yeah, we want smart, tough guys who love ball who want to be part of a team.’ And then at the end of it he said, ‘And maybe guys who are more talented than I was.’ Just typical Dan, self-deprecating.


“He’s been around football enough as a player, as a coach, he knows the best players he was around, the best teams he was around, and they’ve tried to recreate that. He and [general manager] Brad Holmes are hip to hip in their vision for that team, and the ownership, Sheila Ford [Hamp], she’s been amazing in supporting their vision.”

Former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi, in need of a blocking tight end, drafted Campbell in the third round out of Texas A&M in 1999.


“He coaches the way he played,” Accorsi told Serby Says. “I’ve always been a believer that ‘sound’ wins. And they’re sound. But he’s a strong leader. He’s a guy if you had to hit a beach, you want him with you.”


And the Dan Campbell Lions are now a team that if you had to storm a beach, you want them with you.

“There’s a thing in football called the last shove,” Garrett said, “and let the guy know that, ‘Hey, I’m in charge of this thing.’ I think Campbell was probably known for some last shoves in his day.”


Campbell caught just eight passes as a rookie, three for touchdowns.

“He used to catch these goal-line touchdown passes, that’s my memory,” Garrett said. “He was the ultimate lunch-pail player, and I say that as a compliment.”


Accorsi drafted tight end Jeremy Shockey in the first round in 2002.


“[Shockey] was an elite athlete getting down the field and running vertical routes and all of that, he was a more dynamic player, but Dan was this pro, the steady, consistent, versatile guy who was smart, tough and made your team better,” Garrett said. “And everybody loved him.”

Accorsi signed left guard Rich Seubert as an undrafted free agent in 2001. Seubert is now the head coach at Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren, N.J., and is a Giants and Lions fan because of Campbell.


“I think he coaches the way he plays,” Seubert told Serby Says, “a tough son of a bitch.

“He was a tackle playing tight end, he wasn’t a tight end catching balls, right? He was a blocking tight end — hand in the dirt, come off the ball, hit you in the face and smile about it. Old-school throwback slash tight end. He wasn’t afraid to get his nose dirty, and he just worked his ass off. He’s what you wanted to have as a teammate.”


He’s what the Lions and the city of Detroit wanted to have as a head coach.


The Lions are one of 12 teams that have never won a Super Bowl. They haven’t won a playoff game since 1991. For too long, Lions fans have endured S.O.L. ignominy: Same Old Lions.

Campbell has learned invaluable lessons from the likes of Sean Payton and Bill Parcells, and former Giants tight end coaches Mike Pope and Tony Sparano, and they have molded him into a servant leader who is big on violence on the field and empathy and comparability off it, and has galvanized a belated-down franchise and beaten-down town.


He never flinched during a 3-13-1 rookie 2021 season and now has won 12 of his past 15 games. He vowed at his introductory press conference that his team would adopt the identity of the city.

“This city’s been down, and it found a way to get up,” Campbell said. Then came Campbell’s mmm, mmm good quote: “We’re gonna kick you in the teeth, and when you punch us back, we’re gonna smile at you, and when you knock us down, we’re gonna get up. And on the way up, we’re gonna bite a kneecap off, and we’re gonna stand up, and then it’s gonna take two more shots to knock us down. Then on the way up, we’re gonna take your other kneecap, and we’re gonna get up and then it’s gonna take three shots to get us down, and when we do, we’re gonna take another hunk out of you. Before long, we’re gonna be the last one standing.”

If there was a Detroit Lion who wasn’t ready to run through a wall right then and there, no one could find him.


“I think we all love guys like that,” Seubert said. “He pretty much says what every coach is thinking, but he’s not afraid to say it. You want guys that are nasty, right? Even through the whistles you want guys to play football to the max. Yeah, bite their kneecaps and they get up, bite the other kneecap right? That’s the way we grew up playing back in the backyard when we were 7 years old playing tackle football.”

Campbell hired a superior staff and emboldened quarterback Jared Goff after the blockbuster trade of Matthew Stafford to the Rams. He and Holmes presided over what appears to be an impactful 2023 draft on the heels of selecting star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson with the second-overall pick in 2022.


“He can’t be stopped,” nose tackle Alim McNeill told Serby Says. “And there’s not anyone in the country that can stop him, I promise you. His presence, his aura on the field is just different. When he’s out there he’s a madman, he’s a force.”

In other words, Hutchinson is just another Lion who plays lionhearted for the Lion King.


“It doesn’t matter when, where, what, it’s just like we’re here to handle business, we’re not gonna let you or the man in front of me beat me,” McNeill said.

After the Lions chose running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th-overall pick in 2023, rookie linebacker Jack Campbell (no relation) was the Lions’ second first-round pick.

“He’s just got rookie beside his name, but he’s not a rookie,” McNeill said.


Gibbs, who will miss the game Sunday against the Buccaneers, is dynamic, but is the change-of-pace back for free-agent addition David Montgomery.

“David was one of them backs that you know you have to wrap up, you know you have to put a shoulder into,” McNeill said. “That’s a dude right there toting the ball.”

McNeill, emerging as a force in his third season, loves how chill Campbell is away from the field.

“You wouldn’t even know Coach Campbell’s a football coach if you talked to him off the field,” McNeill said. “He’s always the same guy every day, that’s why we respect him, that’s what we like about him.”

Dan Campbell, the pride of Glen Rose, Texas.

“I played in Dallas before coming to the Giants, so knew Texas, knew his area,” Garrett said. “And in fact, when I was playing — we always laughed about it — he was in high school, and there’s this thing called the Glen Rose Optimus Club. I guess I went down there and made a talk to the kids. He was one of the kids before he went to A&M.”

McNeill was asked what the city of Detroit would be like if the Lions were to win a Super Bowl.



“This city,” he said, “will turn upside down if we won a Super Bowl.”

It is Dan Campbell turning it upside down.

[wcfwtf]

Can we dream. I read that and my mind went to Stevie Y, Isiah, and Gibby. Scotty, Chuck, and Sparky.

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions' Jameson Williams makes impressive catch for first touchdown of season


Jared Ramsey
Detroit Free Press


Welcome back, Jameson Williams.

In his second game since his early return from his gambling suspension, the 2022 first-round Detroit Lions wide receiver hauled in a 45-yard touchdown for his first score of the season. Jared Goff slightly underthrew the deep shot, but Williams stopped to adjust and made the catch at the goal line while being hit.

Moments before the touchdown, Williams dropped a pass that was tipped at the line but hit his hands. It would've been a tough grab, but he probably should've caught it. A couple of plays later, he more than redeemed himself.

Had it not been for a rule change, Williams wouldn't have been on the field. He returned two weeks early from his gambling suspension that was originally six games long after a change in NFL policies. He had a quiet game last week against the Carolina Panthers while ramping back up to game speed.


Coaches said during the week that Williams has been great in practice since he returned and will continue to be worked into the game plan and that came true in the biggest way possible. It was the second touchdown of his career in eight games and both have been over 40 yards.

[Mainevent]

The Williams TD was among Goff’s worst throws today. Great adjustment by JaMo to haul it in.

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions keep losing players, but keep getting help, even from Jameson Williams, in win



Shawn Windsor
Detroit Free Press

TAMPA, Fla. — For a while they had nowhere to go and had fewer places to turn, especially after their leading running back … wait, their best running back and a critical piece to their balanced offense — hurt his ribs in the second quarter and didn’t return.

How long David Montgomery will be out remains to be seen. Rib injuries are tricky for any football player. But for running backs? Not a fun thought.

Though that’s about the only thing that wasn’t fun if you love these Detroit Lions and judging by the Lions’ fans takeover of yet another stadium in Sunday's 20-6 win over the Buccaneers, it seems everyone loves this team these days. (Even certain flight attendants, who urged her plane of passengers Saturday afternoon after landing in Tampa to cheer for the Lions. They broke out into applause.)


Really, then, what choice did the Lions have but to find a few new places to go? To find a way to make up for Montgomery’s loss? For Tampa’s blitzing linebackers? For its formidable defensive line?

After all, these players aren’t just playing for themselves and their coaches, but for the millions of Michiganders back home, for the thousands who live in Florida who ringed Raymond James Stadium to tailgate and celebrate, for the thousands who flew — or drove — to support this increasingly lovable team.


So many of whom chanted “Let’s Go Lions!” in the fourth quarter when the Lions had taken control.

What did the Lions do to take control?

Give the ball to their quarterback, Jared Goff, who in turn gave the ball to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Josh Reynolds and Craig Reynolds and Kalif Raymond and Sam LaPorta and, eventually Jameson Williams.


Wait, Jameson Williams?

The first-round pick who has been struggling with drops and route precision? Who was used as a decoy in the first half and a blocker on first downs and who wasn’t even targeted once?

Yeah, that Williams, who not only scored a touchdown but did so in the most unlikely of circumstances and made a head-turning catch that essentially ended the game. Surprising?


Try Shocking. Stunning, even.

Not because the second-year receiver doesn’t have talent and speed, but because he hasn’t shown a feel for what the Lions do offensively.

Mostly because he hasn’t had the time. Also: drops. In training camp. In practice. In pregame warmups, Williams couldn’t hold onto at least three passes before kickoff.


So, when he dropped a comebacker down the field on the previous play, it was hard to imagine Goff would return to him so quickly. But he did, launching it some 50 yards to the end zone.

He underthrew him, in fact, though the extra time gave Williams the chance to turn around and then turn back around to adjust to the ball as it moved through the windy stadium. When he caught it and fell to the turf in the end zone, his teammates raced to him.

From there, he took a stroll across the back of the end zone to the Lions sideline, where more teammates mobbed him, including Alex Anzalone, who was in the midst of his best game as a Lion.


The linebacker was around the ball all afternoon. A stellar, ball hawking effort in a season of inspired play. That his parents were in the stands watching him, after making their way back from Israel surely added to his verve.

Yet that emotional boost — and release — shouldn't undercut how good he’s been. Tampa simply couldn’t run the ball.


A pattern, by the way, because no one has run the ball on this defense, and for Tampa, that wasn’t so nice. That meant Baker Mayfield had to win the game with his arm, and he couldn’t.

Whether he overthrew his receivers or got a few passes batted down. Isaiah Buggs tipped one early. pass. Will Harris picked off the deflection. A good thing, because Kerby Joseph bit on a fake by Mayfield, allowing Mike Evans to get 10 yards behind the defense. If not for the tip, Tampa Bay had an easy touchdown.

On two other occasions, the Lions’ secondary messed up coverage and Tampa couldn’t take advantage. Once when Evans dropped a pass, another when Mayfield overshot Trey Palmer, who was open down the field.

The Lions mixed coverages well and contained Mayfield’s scrambling for the most part, even if they didn’t get him to the grass until late in the game when Tampa had no choice but to throw.


Goff, meanwhile, felt the pressure from Tampa, applied from the opening drive, and mistimed several of his throws. Tampa sent its linebackers in blitz after blitz, almost always on third downs, but on first and second down, too, at times.

And because the Lions couldn’t run the ball to give the defense much else to think about — they had 22 yards on the ground in the first half — they struggled to loosen things up.


Until they did, and Goff found his rhythm, and used screens and short sit-downs to get the ball to his receivers. This was his game offensively. And he came through.

As he had all season. As the defense now has, too.

No wonder so many fans traveled and chanted. This team is different. And is showing why every week in different ways.


Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him@shawnwindsor.

[dpatnod]

Extend Goff.

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