The Quest Continues. Playoff Game Day Thread. Commanders at Lions. 1/18/25

[chemiclord]

I haven't given much thought to ranking them, but I'm not sure I'd even put this in my top five. It's tempered by the sad reality that even if the Lions had played their perfect game and pulled this one out, there was no way they were beating the Rams or Eagles with the defense they were going to have to field.

[maxreturn]

One more thing...I'm still shaking my head at the decision by Johnson to go with an empty backfield on 3rd and 1. The moment I saw that I felt a sense of dread. Why take such huge risk when you have two opportunities to simply pound the rock to pick up a first down? This was not the first time he got too cute this season. Hopefully he learned his lesson.

P.S. Just learned that per Adam Schefter that Johnson will accept the HC position with either the Bears, Jaguars or Raiders.

[Mainevent]

I sort of came into this game with a bad feeling, to be honest. Washington really seemed to have a vibe to them and I thought there was a shot the Lions would drop a shootout. The turnovers were the kick in the teeth I wasn’t expecting.

[Mainevent]

One more thing...I'm still shaking my head at the decision by Johnson to go with an empty backfield on 3rd and 1. The moment I saw that I felt a sense of dread. Why take such huge risk when you have two opportunities to simply pound the rock to pick up a first down? This was not the first time he got too cute this season. Hopefully he learned his lesson.

Agreed, I hate that formation on short yardage plays. Even if you are throwing, have the RB back there so the defense has to worry about a potential run.

[klondike]

Worse loss of my lifetime? No way
I am proud of this team and they will be back next year.
Dallas pick up the flag loss was worse, Phily 58-37 was worse, Rogers gift Hail Mary was worse. 66 yard fg when delay of game was not called was worse, 49er loss up 24-7 was worse ,
losing last game in 1981 and missing playoffs was worse.
Thanksgiving 1980 was worse.

As my son said this year, and he’s very wise for his age, these are the good old days right now dad
relish them!

Foxhopper if you don’t last till next year, remember in heaven, every day, the Lions win the Super Bowl enjoy it!

I remember 81' everyone thought they would beat Tampa the last game at home. I think they were favored and watching Jimmy the "Greek" say he picks the Bucs to win and was right. A close game but so lionsesk to lose.

Also the SF game Gary Danielson threw 5 interceptions and the Lions still had a chance to win with Eddie Murray missing a 42 yard FG. That stung as a kid. Here we are so much longer and still disappointed.

[Dan V]

Klondike I have the 1983 playoff loss on vhs tape.
Still remember Monte Clark praying before Murray was wide right.

[chemiclord]

Yeah, I despise the empty set in general with the talent the Lions have. Like I can promise you Gibbs or Montgomery are far better weapons in the backfield than whoever the WR4 is.

[Dan V]

I would bet good money that Ben Johnson is going to the Raiders. Brady loves him and gushes over him like a school girl on some of his play calls.

[froot loops]

The empty set was confounded by motioning Montgomery out wide, what is the upside of that?

I'd say to Mainevent's point regarding Campbell is that he is second year player. The impact plays may yet come from him. Remember Anzalone in his first couple years with the Lions, he was not impressive. Barnes took until last season to start making impact plays. Campbell should qualify for hazard pay, he had to carry a lot of water this year

Eventually they have to get to the point where they can get to the point where Tom Brady's favorite saying where "every drive that ends in success with a kick whether it is a field goal, PAT or punt." I love the aggressiveness of Dan Campbell but sometimes you need to be able to punt the ball and rely on your defense. Until that happens, they can't win the Superbowl. The beginning of the year looked like that was going to be the case but once Hutch went down shit started rolling downhill

[mason reese]

I think I saw it on Bluesky (my apologizes if it was from here). but I saw one take that said the most egregious part of the trick play that resulted in an int by Jamo, was that if you were to rank the Lions offensive players by “who do you trust to make a crucial decision at an important point of the game ”, Jamo would be at the absolute bottom of that list.

Right now, I’m thinking best case scenario with Jamo is pay him his extension, then let somebody else over-pay him when his contract runs out. The Kenny Golliday plan

[guitarjack87]

I don't know why you using Jamo making a bad choice as a reason to get rid of him. Everyone knows who Jamo is, and he is a weapon. To even put Jamo in that position where he has that choice is a terrible decision. That play should never have been ran, I don't care how many times you explain it to him that he has to throw it away if nothing is there, you can't give Jamo of all people the choice to make a bad impulsive decision. Again, that doesn't mean I am ready to ship Jamo out though.

[edindetroit]

Ed I am not a jinx . This is my 50th year as a fan I can sense when shit happens

Sorry Dan, emotional game.

[GALion68]

I remember 81' everyone thought they would beat Tampa the last game at home. I think they were favored and watching Jimmy the "Greek" say he picks the Bucs to win and was right. A close game but so lionsesk to lose.

Also the SF game Gary Danielson threw 5 interceptions and the Lions still had a chance to win with Eddie Murray missing a 42 yard FG. That stung as a kid. Here we are so much longer and still disappointed.

I remember those games too, I was at the ‘81 game against Tampa. Still maddening for me today.

[chemiclord]

I don't know why you using Jamo making a bad choice as a reason to get rid of him. Everyone knows who Jamo is, and he is a weapon. To even put Jamo in that position where he has that choice is a terrible decision. That play should never have been ran, I don't care how many times you explain it to him that he has to throw it away if nothing is there, you can't give Jamo of all people the choice to make a bad impulsive decision. Again, that doesn't mean I am ready to ship Jamo out though.

Wow. I'm here agreeing with GuitarJack. Take a photo folks. You don't see this often.

The problem really wasn't JaMo making a bad decision. The problem was that he was put in that position to begin with. It's not like the Lions were struggling to move the ball; this was Ben Johnson getting too cute with his playcalling, like he occasionally does. It works 95% of the time, but that was just a really odd time to be reaching into the bag to begin with.

Fact is, JaMo had a pretty damn good season, and quickly became the disruptive presence that Holmes envisioned him being. I really don't see any reason to dump him; it's not his fault Johnson misused his talents on one trick play.

[Mainevent]

The Jamo play they were surely thinking that teams have seen them run the reverse to Jamo (and had run Jamo earlier) to great effect so they can surprise them with it and get an easy one. But it’s just a terrible time to call that play when you are trying to make it a 3 pt game and put all the pressure on Washington.