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I think people who are bitching probably wanted to see if GB could mount a comeback.
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Or are Packers fans.Originally posted by Tom View Post
Sorry, not sorry that Green Bay lost Thursday night.
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Holmes needs to extend Bates in the off-season. I know he signed for 2 years but I wouldn't let him hit free agency. Pay the man!"Your division isn't going through Green Bay it's going through Detroit for the next five years" - Rex RyanComment
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Context for the above trip -- the NFL ended up fining Stevenson 20k and did not fine JamoComment
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I forgot to add that fact.Originally posted by El Axe View Post
Tyrique Stevenson wasn't even on the field when he did that awful move on Jamo, and he was the idiot that was waving to the fans in Washington when he gave up the game winning Hail Mary:
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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I just ran across a clip of an interview with Mark Schlereth, and he said that Dan Campbell told him that the intent was to go for on 4th down so often, that the players are no longer intimidated by it. That’s fuckin’ brilliant!Originally posted by ghandi View Post"This is an empty signature. Because apparently carrying a quote from anyone in this space means you are obsessed with that person. "Comment
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That the one where he talks about buttholes puckering up on 4th downs? Lol I've always loved that guy. He should be higher on the Sunday game play-by-play ladder.Originally posted by mason reese View Post"Yeah, we just... we don't want them to go. So that's our motivation."
Dan Campbell at Green Bay, January 8, 2023.Comment
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Yes, you could see it from Season 1 under Campbell to Season 2. During the first season I thought he was just being a clown going for it so often on 4th down. But then during the second season, you could see they weren’t bothered by it at all and they were getting it done. And the best example was in the season finale at Green Bay. The Lions went for it on 4th down and converted. And when Green Bay tried to go for it, they seemed uncertain and the Lions were able to snuff it out.Originally posted by mason reese View PostComment
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I loved it because it showed that it was a deliberate long term strategy. And because it’s working you see other teams start go for it more on 4th, but without the groundwork that Campbell laid downOriginally posted by Tom View Post"This is an empty signature. Because apparently carrying a quote from anyone in this space means you are obsessed with that person. "Comment
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Detroit Lions WR Tim Patrick is an amazing feel-good story on a team full of them
Paywall article.
Jeff Seidel
Detroit Free Press
Late Thursday night, a throng of reporters and TV cameras circled around wide receiver Tim Patrick, one of the best feel-good stories in a Detroit Lions locker room filled with feel-good stories.
It is a tale of redemption and resolve, reclamation and resiliency.
“He’s been an unbelievable addition, what a stud,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said after the Lions' 34-31 victory over the Green Bay Packers.
Yep, that’s the other way to say it — what a stud.
Here is a guy who represents everything good about this team.
He's a guy who has overcome serious injuries — Patrick tore an ACL in 2022 and his Achilles in 2023. Having those two injuries back-to-back could end a career unless you have something special inside.
And he has faced soul-searching rejection — back in August, Patrick was cut by the Denver Broncos when they went for a youth movement and couldn’t find a trade partner.
A few months later, there he was, getting swarmed by the media after catching two touchdown passes on prime-time TV against the Packers.
“The journey was long, but it was worth it and made me the man I am today, and it brought me here to Detroit,” he said, after the Lions won their 12th game of the season, tying a single-season franchise record and clinching a playoff berth for the second straight year. “I've won the most games I've won in my career. I just had a two-touchdown performance on 'Thursday Night Football.' I got like 30 reporters in front me right now. I'm just I'm very blessed and thankful for this team.”
As Patrick talked to the media, Amon-Ra St. Brown poked his head into the scrum: “He’s ballin’!” St. Brown yelled.
No bigger compliment can be given in this locker room, and it’s one of the defining things about this organization.
Yes, they have had all kinds of injuries — it's crazy how so many defensive players have been hurt.
Yes, they have had to bring in guys from all over — some off practice squads, some off the street.
But every team brings in players. The key thing is the type of players.
And the Lions have brought in a bunch of dawgs who are ballin’, to quote that great philosopher, St. Brown.
And if you can play, the veterans celebrate you. They root for you.
“I just know that I could overcome anything,” Patrick said. “I've been through everything damn there is, so when things happen, I just know, 'All right, how fast am I gonna get out of this?' ”
Isn’t that the essence of this team?
No matter who they play, no matter the conditions, no matter the situation, they think: How fast are we gonna get out of this?
It’s not just the core of this organization.
It’s the core of these individual players.
They feel like they can overcome anything.
Doing the dirty work
Instead of focusing on Patrick’s touchdown catches — his first in more than 1,000 days — something important needs to be pointed out.
Let’s go back to the Lions’ fourth-down gamble in the last minute. It was fourth-and-1 from the Green Bay 21, and, as everybody knows by now, Campbell went for it.
It was the biggest play of the game.
Maybe, the biggest play of the season for any team.
Do you know who was on the field?
The Lions made sure to have Patrick lined up on the right side of the formation — the side they ran to.
Yes, of course, they were running behind Penei Sewell. But that they had Patrick in the game — a guy who didn’t even go through training camp with the Lions — and that he was trusted to make a block at the biggest moment of the season speaks volumes about his role.
He is important not just for his pass catching, but his blocking is equally significant.
“What a great addition he’s been,” Campbell said. “He just continues to make plays for us in the run game and the pass game, stepped up big here."
Against the Packers, Patrick caught a season-high six passes for 43 yards.
“He’s been so consistent since he got here as far as unselfish, blocks, does everything right and he hasn’t gotten a touchdown,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “What week are we in — 14, 15, whatever it is — hasn’t gotten a touchdown until today and had two of them. He deserves it man, he’s a stud and I’m so happy he’s on our team.”
A perfect No. 3 receiver
The Lions are loaded with offensive weapons.
“We got two No. 1 receivers,” Patrick said. “We got two No. 1 backs. We got two No. 1 tight ends. We got a top-five quarterback. We have the best O-line in football. It's like, let me just fit in somewhere, and then do my part.”
All those stars have made it easy on Patrick.
Defenses have to spend so much time worrying about the other wide receivers and tight ends and running backs, there just aren’t enough defenders to go around.
“They get so much attention, I got one-on-one (coverage), and all I got to do is win," Patrick said.
He has become a reliable third receiver.
And that word reliable is the key to everything.
It is clear Goff trusts him.
“The thing with this team, you just got to build trust," Patrick said. "I'm a new guy, so, like, the trust with everybody else is so much higher, and I just got to continue to earn that trust."
Again, it’s important to stress that he hasn’t been with this team long.
Didn’t go through spring drills. Didn’t go through training camp.
And he’s only going to get better.
“I'm learning something new every week," Patrick said. "I got a lot of things I need to work on, but it's good to be able to work on things while winning. So I feel like the coaching staff knows that, and I'm just gonna keep being stronger and keep getting better throughout the season.”
After a two-touchdown game, he's talking about getting even better?
About not being satisfied?
No doubt about it, he fits in perfectly.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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Earning rave reviews from teammates, Lions planning to give Muti another shot to win a job in 2025
Justin Rogers
Dec 8
Allen Park — Can you be a forgotten man on an NFL roster if the fan base never got to know you in the first place?
Netane Muti arrived in Detroit with next to no fanfare. Signed to a futures contract in the void between the end of the Lions' 2023 season and the start of the new league year in mid-March, there weren’t many outside expectations attached to the guard entering his fifth season with just four career starts and none since 2021.
And despite a strong showing during the early stages of the team’s offseason program, he was poised to fade into obscurity after suffering a season-ending injury a week into training camp, becoming part of a vast sea of relative unknowns who spend time on the offseason roster but never make enough of an impact to be remembered.
When a player suffers a season-ending injury during the offseason while working on a one-year contract, a quiet departure is common. Most often, an injury settlement is reached. It’s a negotiated figure based on how long the injury is expected to sideline the player, and it clears valuable space in the locker room and training room.
If a settlement isn’t reached, a player is given the choice of rehabbing with the team or back home. More than four months after tearing his pec, Muti’s daily presence in Detroit’s locker room is notable.
In some ways, the decision to stick around was sanity-preserving.
“If I went home, I'd just be talking to myself,” Muti said with a laugh. “It just made sense to stay here and be around the guys. ...The team told me I could rehab here or rehab at home. I just wanted to stick with the team, show as much support as I could."
Muti has friends in Detroit, some old, some new. There are former teammates from his previous NFL home, Denver, plus a strong Polynesian presence in the building that has helped the Tongan native feel more at home.
But the other component to staying in Detroit is the Lions liked what they saw during the brief stretch they had Muti on the field and are eager to see more. They’ve informed him they plan to re-sign him this offseason — another non-guaranteed futures contract — giving him a second chance to compete for a job after he’d put himself on an early track to win one this offseason.
"I felt like I fit in right away," Muti said. "With what little time I had playing, it was good. ...I put a lot of faith in myself and did feel like I was getting better each day. I don't know where it was going to end up, but that's how I was feeling.”
Unfortunately, Muti’s potential has long been short-circuited by his durability. He moved to Hawaii when he was 13 and developed into a dominant two-way lineman at Leilehua High School. Lightly recruited, he landed at Fresno State, moving full-time to the offensive line where he earned honorable mention All-Mountain West as a redshirt freshman.
His college tape showcased his power and a mean streak, the former being driven home when he posted a jaw-dropping 44 reps on the bench press during the pre-draft process.
The problem was the lack of tape. Two Achilles injuries and a Lisfranc break in his foot limited him to 19 games across four seasons. That’s cause for a player to be removed from most draft boards, but there was enough lingering intrigue that the Broncos used a Day 3 pick on the lineman.
It didn’t take long for Muti to make a strong impression. Lions guard Graham Glasgow, who signed with the Broncos as a free agent a month before the franchise drafted Muti in 2020 shared his initial impressions.
“I didn't know how well he'd be able to pick up things considering it's a big jump from college to the NFL, especially with the terminology,” Glasgow said. “There's just a lot more stuff to know. He picked things up really quickly and that impressed me.”
Muti didn’t see the field much as a rookie but earned snaps in 15 games his second season, including six where he saw extended playing time on offense.
He went into his third year in the mix for a starting job.
“If they were asking him to go base block somebody, it felt like he would drive the guy off the ball 2 yards every time,” Glasgow said. “That's impressive. He plays with tight hands and a good base.”
But the injury bug bit again, this time a knee issue, costing him the chance to compete. He ended up being cut after camp that year and spent most of the season on the team’s practice squad, before a permanent parting in December. That led him to the Raiders, where he spent much of another season on a practice squad.
That's not exactly a glowing resume, but the intriguing potential has remained, leading the Lions to take a no-risk shot in February. With the opportunity, the 6-foot-3, 325-pounder had a strong showing during the early stages of the offseason program, and by the time training camp rolled around, he was seeing most of his work with the second-team offense, putting him in a position to earn a backup job.
The momentum came to a screeching halt a week into camp, during the team’s second padded practice, when Muti suffered a season-ending pectoral tear.
“I just overextended my arm while I was blocking and the pec just popped,” he said.
Since the injury, Muti has remained in the meetings, and as of last month, he’s back to lifting weights. He’s well on his way toward being prepared for next year’s offseason program. Barring a setback, he should be at full strength by February.
Detroit’s plans at guard beyond 2024 remain murky. Starter Kevin Zeitler is only signed through this season and will turn 35 in March. He’s unquestionably been outstanding this year, and he's expressed interest in re-signing with the Lions, but cap considerations will be at play.
It could also hinge on how the team feels about Christian Mahogany, a sixth-round draft pick who recently ascended to the top backup spot after missing training camp with mono.
And, of course, the team could always add to the room in free agency or the draft, using resources to maintain the roster’s strength.
But Muti’s chances shouldn’t be dismissed, whether that’s as a backup, or even competing for a starting job pending what happens with Zeitler.
“He fits perfectly with what we do and I think there's a reason Hank and the coaches want him (sticking) around,” right tackle Penei Sewell said. “He was doing a good job in camp and I hope he stays here for a while. He's a guy that fits our room and fits the style we play.”
Glasgow shared Sewell's sentiments.
"Muti is one of the best teammates I've ever had, genuinely," Glasgow said. "He's really fun to be around, he's a good guy, and not only that, I think he's a really good player.
"I love Muti," Glasgow said. "I'm excited to see what he can do for us next season."
Email: jrogers@detroitfootball.net
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"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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How the NFC North now perceives the Detroit Lions:
"I hope to see the Lions in the Super Bowl before I die"
My friend Ken LComment
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