Welcome to the Talking the Lion podcast presented to you by Talking the Lion Sports Media, giving you our best insights and analysis so you can rake in some cold hard cash on your next sports fan. Now sit on back, open up your mind and let's cash some tickets. We can't thank you enough for joining us, we hope you enjoy. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, ladies and gentlemen, degenerates, gamblers, Detroit Lions fans, maybe fans of the NFL Shield, all of you in between.
For and wide, welcome in to episode number 100 of the Talking the Lion podcast, baby. We have hit the century mark and as always, it is because of you and thank you so much for taking a few moments out of your day to come and kick it with the crew on this beautiful August 11th, 2021. Now we have quite the show cooked up in many different facets, angles, areas, if you will today. On top of the Detroit Lions season preview, before we get into all of that, as always, once again, please take a few moments too.
Smash that subscribe button on whatever platform you are currently ingesting the TTL pod on. If you are watching on YouTube, might as well hit that notification bell as well so you never miss the start of a live show or any additional TTL content drop it. But if you are listening to the audio recorded version on your favorite podcast directory, make sure you hit that button there as well if you haven't already because we do release the audio after every live show is complete. Next item up on the docket, you can find it in your heart to be so kind, you got a couple extra seconds, hit that like button, leave us a comment, leave us a rating, jump in the live chat.
If you are watching live, you actually might want to, in particular today, for one specific reason, but we can't tell you how much we appreciate it when you do, and it only helps us make TTL sports media bigger and better for reaching every one of you. Last, but certainly not least, head on over to this episode's description where you will locate the Talking to Line link tree. With an ad link tree, you will find the Talking to Line.com website, all of the TTL crew's social platforms and our additional content so you can consume it, however, and whenever you please. Ladies and gentlemen, beautiful gambling people, everyone in between, joining us on today's show, the Century Mark episode number 100, I am your humble host, Colton, Col.45, Soroka, and it is my pleasure to get things going here today.
I can't believe we've already bolded over 100 episodes. It seems like yesterday that we first dropped the Talking to Line newsletter. We didn't even have a podcast yet, and here we are, and I keep saying we. Let me bring in the man, the myth, the degenerate gambling legend himself that sits with me on every single show right to my left and who I would not be able to be here at the 100th episode without.
So without further ado, that man, that myth, and that degenerate gambling legend, Mr. Riley, R. Mags, Magneson. Potter, how you doing over there today, pal?
My man, I am truly great. I am very excited to dive into the 100th episode here at the Detroit Lions. This might be the one time though that I might say that I am worry-free on the show, and if you've been following along yesterday or on our Twitter, you may know why, but I'm feeling good, but there's something we got to tackle here today. Boy, oh boy, do we ever and partner, I'm getting a little bit nervous.
I cannot lie to you. Usually my poker face is pretty damn good, but here today it ain't going to be worth a damn. Now, before we get into what we're talking about there, if you're not aware, if you didn't see it on our social media, let's talk about just a few quick things we need to remind you about before we get into all of the nonsense. As always, not dishing out any picks on the Daily Sports gambling podcast, and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but we're in the NFL special edition.
So if you want all of our best bets, we're still dishing them out. We don't stop. We're still betting analysts at the end of the day, so you can get them on the Action Network app. I am at Cash underscore with underscore Colt.
Riley is in at R Mags, all caps. I was saying in all caps at R Mags, and then you can follow the Talking Align Best Bets at Talking the Line. You can also get all of our best bets and actually bet them directly from our landing pages on the TalkingAlign.com website. So be sure to check that out.
We also have loads of other content and stuff for you to people about, mostly about on the website there. So make sure you stop by if you haven't yet. But outside of that, told you about the Linktree, told you about all the stuff. Let me quit dodging.
Let me quit ducking. We got to get into this stuff here today. You know, one thing I didn't think about as we became live is we might need some napkins. I was just thinking that way from towels.
I was just thinking. So if you could be so kind as to kick things off here as to what this exact challenge we are going to be doing here today. Just tee it off. I'll scoot right on in.
I'll give a nice shout out to our providers for the challenge. Everything on in between. I'll grab us some napkins and the background of the production studios. And let's you take over for a minute.
So I will see you and you here in just a brief moment, ladies and gentlemen. Alright, so before we dive into the Detroit Lions here, we've got to tackle something here. At least set the stage for what's going on. We've got our first food challenge here to tackle.
And we decided that for the 100th episode. Not going to be any cake or any celebration like that. We're a morning show. So we got to go with some donuts.
We've each got ourselves a dozen donuts here from the good old spunky dunkers. The spunkiest of the dunkiest. And my partner's got the paper towel. So I am juiced for this.
We've both got a little bit of a different variation of donut between the two of us. Maybe we've had a few choices back if we could have seen what we were ordering in present as opposed to on the phone. So I'm excited. I am excited.
But I'm a little nervous that the rest of the day might be pretty freaking miserable for us. But we'll see here, partner. It might be. But the aforementioned by my partner, spunky dunkers.
Big shout out to the spunky dunkers. They are located at 20 South Northwest Highway in Palatine, Illinois. If you want to use some donuts, my friend, I'm telling you, you need to go to spunky dunkers. Well, we see.
I'm curious to see if we'll be saying the same thing in about an hour and a half or so. I hope so. I really hope we are. Hopefully this is what we're going spunky for.
Hopefully it doesn't either for me. But without further ado, before we kick that off and then get into the full show and talk about some nonsense here and everything in between. First things first, we also have a little something else to talk to you guys about here. We can't have a sensory celebration without celebrating the people that got us here.
So that all being said, we got a little giveaway for you guys. And if you've been following along on social media or if you were live for yesterday's show, you heard about it. It's called Agenda Stack Giveaway. Now it is live on set for the first time here today.
It's a stack. It's a stack. It is a stack. And with all that being said, ladies and gentlemen, first time live.
Once again, the rules are as follows. I will show you the stack. I'll show you it here. I'll show you at the end of the show.
And I'll show it all the way through Friday's show. These Agenda Stack Giveaway Challenge will end at the end of Friday's show. Now, where do you put your guesses for how many sheets of paper are in my Agenda Stack? The only place you can put them is in the comments section of episode number 100.
We'll go back through the live comments as well. Don't delete them. We'll go back through everything. So don't worry.
We will make sure we check it. But then also, if you tune into Thursday's show Friday's show, go back to episode 100 in the comments section if you're not live or whatever the case might be. And then drop it down in there. So the first time live, ladies and gentlemen, my Agenda Stack.
Now, it is a thick old stack. There you go. Standard 8 by 10. We'll get there.
See? Standard 8 by 10s. We'll let you take it, Gander. See?
There you go. From every single side. It's got a little bit of weight. And as you said yesterday, this is episode number 100, but it is not one sheet per episode.
No, it is not. For example, today, I believe we've got four or five. We've got five. But it's not typically five.
No, it's not two or three. It's typically what it is. Well, don't tell them what it typically is, but it actually might typically be seven or eight or maybe 15. Who knows what the heck it might be.
Pretty inconsistent, actually. I don't know if you're ready. No media in there. So there you go.
One more time. My stack. Now, that all being said, three guests maximum. You dog gone degenerates.
I know you love to gamble. You love to guests. But three guests. It's only us two that got a comb through all this dog gone stuff.
On top of every other hat we're wearing right now. So please, three guests is maximum. We'll make your guesses for Colt's Agenda Stack in the comments section of episode number 100. A company by let me not forget your Twitter handle so we can reach out to you via DM once we select a winner after Friday show episode number one or two.
One more time. Colt's Agenda Stack giveaway. Have at it. So that will also make an appearance at the end of the show.
Hopefully I'll be able to remember that. I'm not in some sort of sugar coma. But with all that being said, you know partner, it seems to me that it's time. Oh, no, I got your back.
I got your back. So it's it appears to be that time we'll be keeping track all by ourselves. And hey, thanks, Juan. We appreciate you too.
My friend. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for hopping in the comments. Make sure you enter in the contest, my friend.
But oh, no more ducking and dodging. Give all spunky nice little look here. Beautiful set. I'm done.
These are spunky, Duncan. I mean, these are just oh, oh, for crying out loud. You know me personally, I don't think I'm gonna have too much of an issue here, but we'll see how things go. This is a thick one.
I mentioned I wish I had a few back. I got six of these vanilla rings and I thought we're gonna be real thin. They are very thick. Cheers, my friend.
Me you. I have some hundred episode 100 talking to line sports media. Everything in between first bite goes down already and drip down over here. Oh boy.
There's nothing in the rest of it. Going off to need some water. Oh boy. Oh boy.
Yeah, that's gonna be interesting. So. So we'll go into rotating ships here because there is no way for both. I'm gonna be able to fucking talk and eat a donut.
It's just not gonna happen. Thick dude. We might have to go at six. I don't want to bow down, but no, I can't back up yet.
All right. Let's get into the real reason why you came here outside of all this elevation, all the nonsense, all the, uh, one thousand two forty. All right. All the reason all that stuff.
So now, holy shit. Today's team of the day, the Detroit Lions. We are here. We are live in prime time.
Holy smokes. Yeah, this ought to be fun. So first things first, as we always do, we kick things off with the entire team breakdown and as we kick off the entire team breakdown, I kick things off on the offensive side of the ball with some of the key losses. My partner's wrapping up.
Oh, donut number one there. Before I tag team him off, I will go ahead and add right in to the offensive losses. Now, one key one that you guys definitely know about is going to be the quarterback. Matt Stafford.
He also was exited with Chase Daniel, another quarterback there. They also lost pretty much all of their receivers. They lost Kenny Gallaudet, Marvin Jones, and then also Danny Amindola. They lost Kiri on Johnson running back to the Eagles, and then they also lost a few linemen.
They did lose Ode Obushi, left guard, and then also they lost Titan Jesse James, Joe Dahl. Left guard, and then also Russell Bodine, center. Now, that pretty much does it for all of the main losses. Their key numbers or key names rather that you guys really know would pull out there.
It would be obviously Matt Stafford would be Marvin Jones, who would be Kenny Gallaudet. Those are going to be obviously some of the offensive producers and the main offensive producers, and they're out of town, my friend. So it's going to be kind of a question mark here as to what happens for the Detroit offense. We got plenty to talk about there.
But partner, I'm going to tag you in real quick. I'm going to get after one here. And while I do so, I want to tell everybody and me about all of the Detroit Lions offensive additions. All right, so as my partner mentioned, plenty of names.
That's our some key losses for this Lions team. They did add a few guys that are some nice pickups, but not really filling those holes all too well. As far as free agency and trades go, they picked up Tyrell Williams. Didn't play last year, but had a little bit of success with the Chargers and Raiders over his first few years in the league at one year over a thousand yards since then.
Wasn't quite as productive. We'll see. He might have to shoulder the load as the number one receiver. So maybe someone has to find the ball here, and it might be him.
Number two running back coming in on the depth chart is going to be Jamal Williams from my Packers. It was very productive with the Packers as the number two running back. I like that pickup for them in the backfield there. And then Darren Fells, this should be the number two, Titan, not a bad Titan backup as well.
Biggest addition as far as the offensive concern was in the draft. They picked up Penny Sewell in the first round at number seven. Pick overall for the offensive line. That is a huge pickup.
He could have been in a different year with less quarterbacks. He could have been a top five pick, if not top three. So that is a huge pickup for them. It's going to be there for a long time.
Two other guys are the draft fourth round. I'm on Ross St. Brown, a USC receiver could be the fourth or fifth receiver for this team. Maybe even third receiver.
And then Jermard Jefferson out of Oregon State running back could be their number three running back. So nothing crazy here on the offensive side of the ball. But you know, I like these additions. If it were a good team picking up these additions, but didn't really feel any of their holes all too well partner.
I don't know if you're about wrapped up with that number one yet. You're washing it down now. But you know, I like these additions, but I don't love them by any means here. No, not by any means now.
And that's going to be really interesting because those are sweet as all get out too. Which one you go with? One with a little blueberry to kick things off here. And man, oh man, I already got the sweats about the towel long.
So when I when I kick back over to you here in just a minute, we'll we'll be sure to do a little pat down. I need that for sure right now. I already got sweats. Holy shit.
Moving right along. Thank you for telling us about the additions. They're part before we look into the entire 2020 outlook of or into the 2021 outlook rather for the Detroit lines. Let's take a look back into the past real quick.
Some of their key 2020 offensive stats. They average 5.7 yards per play offensively and they rush the ball on 37.03% of their plays past the ball on 62.97% of their place completion percentage across the board was at 64.26%. They converted on third down 41.15% of the time and in the red zone, they converted at 66.04% of the time. So honestly, not too much.
So honestly, not too bad on the red zone. Not terrible. You'd like to see it up around the 50 mark there on the third downside of things. But the only problem with all of those numbers is it is a completely new offense as far as personnel goes right season.
And I got some really big concerns as far as that goes. Now, before we give kind of our opinions here on the offensive side of the ball, just so you guys are aware. Partner, you talked about a few of these guys. Some of these guys we haven't mentioned.
What it looks like is going to be the starting lineup. You got Pinnay Swell, right tackle, right guard is going to be Hala Vitei. Obviously, I know his name is longer than Hala, but I just want to keep it at Hala. Center Frank Ragg now, left guard that is Jonah Jackson and then left tackle is Taylor Decker.
Then you got the wide receiving core. Honestly, not impressed with them at all. And I think they might finish as one of the bottom receiving cores in this league. They have Rashad Perryman, Amman, Ross, St.
Brown, rookie in the slot in the Tyrell Williams on the opposite side of Perryman. None of those guys I would write home about. And, you know, I'm actually thinking that the tight end might get more receptions and potentially more yards than all three of them. That is TJ Hockenson coming into his third year in the league.
And I think he's potentially Brian for a breakout year, but we'll talk about him here in just a minute. And then you have the running back room, Newcomer, Jamal Williams from your Packers. You talked about him and then De Andres Swift now coming into his second season or third season. I think it's at least three.
It might be his third season. Either way, looking as well to be a potential breakout season for Swift and then in the quarterback room. Yikes. Jared Goff backed up by Tim Boyle.
Also my Packers. That is correct. You know, I'm not really sure why the Lions decided to target Jared Goff over over everybody. Doesn't really seem a whole lot of smart move to me with all the other free-aging quarterbacks that were out there.
You know, especially with Anthony Land is the new offensive coordinator. I don't have a whole lot of faith in this offense. Obviously talk about it from a betting perspective from a fantasy perspective, but just overarching. I think that this offense struggles mightily this year.
I think it's going to be one of the downfalls of this team that receiving core is no good whatsoever. And then you have a mediocre quarterback. Personally, I believe in Jared Goff that the only reason why he was mediocre is because Sean McVay was in his headset for the entire game. And he's not going to have that dominant of a coach and Anthony Lynn in his ear for all 60 minutes.
So that being said, you don't have a good receiving court. You don't have a good quarterback. You can't depend on running the ball all game long. I just think we see nothing but bad games here for the Lions.
Sorry Lions fans. I apologize, but partner, what are you thinking overall for these boys? Yeah, pretty close to what you're saying here with the one unit that I do like on this entire team is their offensive line. I don't love them, but they are above middle of the pack, I would say.
And as well as TJ Hockinson, he's a really good tight end. But as you mentioned, receiving core is not very good. Jared Goff, the one thing you could say is maybe he'll have a cleaner pocket, but as contrary to his previous team, Sean McVay knew how to get receivers open. This offense is not set up to have receivers open and it's a bad receiving core.
And as you mentioned, they're not going to be able to rely on the run game unit if these guys are really good running backs and break out into their new team here and not swift on the new team, but break out as to what we've kind of expected him to be. I just don't see it there. Like I said, I do like to pick up for Tyrell Williams if he wasn't the number one rider receiver, but he's going to have to shoulder such a low that he just isn't built for. So like you mentioned, I think TJ Hockinson could rack up some serious yards and maybe teams will let him rack in some five yard catches here as opposed to some of these deep threats that they have.
So, you know, as well obviously talk about it, but Hockinson really is the one guy that might have on paper an actual good season here. Yeah, that is true. And you might see Tim Boyle though, who knows man. Tim Boyle knows final two bites of over two years.
Okay. But yeah, as I mentioned before, I would like to these pickups that they made if it was for a good team. Like if I, you know, my Packers, if they picked up some of these guys for their depth, I would like it, but they lose a lot of guys that were key players on a team that was already a five-win team. And now you're filling them with even less skilled positions.
So, on a season that's going to have CA tougher schedule as we'll talk about in a minute. So, you know, if you're a Lions fan and you knew who we are, I don't know if you would have expected a Packers and Bears fan to come in and talk nicely about your team, but you know, that's probably not what you're going to see here today. No, and I truly do apologize for that fact. But hey, you know, that's one of the things that you're going to see here now.
Wrapping up the offensive side of the ball with some key rankings here. Now, you know, we are big fans of Sharp Football Analysis, refer to them as SFA on the pod. Love Warren Sharp's work and we use a good amount of his some of the stats and stuff that he does on the show. The quarterback room per SFA with Jared Goff and Tim Boyle ranked 27th right now in the league.
They have the 11th ranked offensive line, but obviously that potential to break out and have a very solid season across the board. I'm sorry, that is the offensive line ranked number 11. I do believe that they will be very solid in addition. The running back room is ranked 22nd, but with the potential to break out and get a little bit more into the middle of the pack.
I like Jamal Williams a lot. And I'm also a big fan of the Andre Swift. I think this is his breakout year and I think that he'll be more than more than fine in this offense. The receivers 31st ranked unit in the league.
Obviously the guys at SFA are as low on them as we are, have little faith whatsoever. And we'll talk about them all from a fantasy perspective and all of the different guys in the offense in a little bit later on in the show and final segment. Yeah, I was looking to see who was last ranked and they're actually tied with the Texans. So they are tied for Dead Last in their rankings or receiver course.
And it was actually surprising to me because I'm not high in the Texans receiving corps, but they at least have brain and cooks in there. All right. Well, I'm not high in the Texans either. And we'll talk about them.
I mean, that's going to be really interesting what does happen in Hint Houston. But we're not talking about Hint Houston today. We're talking about Detroit and we just wrapped up the offense. Now it's time to get into the defense.
So quickly, before we get fully into the defense and some of the outlook going into 2021 here, partner, would you be so kind as to let us know what some of the key losses defensively were for the Lions going into 2021 here? All right. Much as the case was with the offense, a lot of names off the list on defense for a defense that already wasn't very good. Christian Jones, they lose him.
16 games played at linebacker. Danny Shelton also played 12 games for him. Darrell Roberts corner played 11 games. It has been true font.
We talked about him the other day. He played six games at corner. Do Ron Harmon, safety played six games from all Agdu, 14 and defensive back and Jared Davis, linebacker 14 games. Justin Coleman, corner 11 games.
Miles Kilibrew, linebacker 15 games. Raggy Raglan, Raggy Raglan, excuse me, linebacker 16 games. They picked up Everson Griffin at one point during the season last year. He played seven games.
They didn't resign him and Tony McCray and other eight games at corner. So it lost a few guys that were starters. They lost a lot of guys that were depth guys and much like the case on the other side of the ball. They did not fill those holes out to a well partner.
No, not at all. And as far as the defensive additions go, they didn't add all too many players that you would really care to write home about as far as I am concerned. When it comes to defensive side of the ball, either via free agency or the trade market, they picked up Michael Brocker's interior defensive lineman, also picked up, apologize. Alex Anseloni, linebacker, Charles Harris, Edge rusher, and then also Dean Marlow, safety.
Now as far as the draft, they went kind of half as far as defensive and offensive goes. As far as defensive, they got Levi Unwoo, Zareke, I hope I'm saying that right, defensive tackle out of Washington, Alemic Neal, defensive tackle out of NC State, and cornerback Iya Fifu Milofunwoo, corner back out of Syracuse. Talk about some names they had out here. And Derek Barnes, linebacker out of Purdue.
Then that wraps it up as far as the defensive additions go. And as far as I can tell, not going to be the best unit in the league here overall across the board. I'm not all too particularly impressed with what I'm seeing, but before we talk about all that, let me give you some key defensive stats here from the Detroit Lions. I think I might have to say something here in regards to the data.
Go ahead. Go ahead. After I give some stats here. Okay.
So key defensive stats, they allowed 6.3 opponent yards per play. They allowed opponents to complete at a 68.76 completion percentage. In the on third down, they allowed their opponents to convert at 47.15% of the time. And in the red zone, they allowed opponents to score 72.31% of the time.
So I think we see quite similar to those exact same numbers. I think this is going to be a rough year for the Lions on the defensive side of the ball. And, you know, I just, I don't have many high hopes. But let me tell you a little bit about the lineups before I tell you about my overall look and kick it over to my partner as well.
They have trade flowers, defensive end, Michael Brockers, defensive tackle. And then the aforementioned Levi Onu Zareke, defensive tackle as well. And then Romeo Aquara, actually know him from a past life. Hell of a guy, hell of a football player just signed a three year deal with Detroit coming back with them.
Behind those guys, Alex and Ziloni coming in from New Orleans. I'm not sure we're going to see the same production that we saw from him with the Saints. They also have at the linebacker position opposite of Anseloni there, that is Collins. And to make sure that I tell you the right Collins, that is Jamie Collins, senior.
Yes, I wanted to make sure there. And then as far as the secondary goes, they have Quentin Dunbar, Jeff Acuda on the opposite side. As far as the slot goes, they have Corn Elder, Phil in that role. And then as far as the backfield, the deep safeties go, they have Harris.
And that is off the top of my head, that is Will Harris, I do apologize. And then they also have opposite of him, Tracy Walker. So not the best defensive line up here in the league across the board, I don't think. I think they'll be able to generate a little bit of pressure off the defensive line.
Some different things that will happen there. But overall, I just don't think that they're going to generate a whole bunch of pressure. I think that this secondary is going to struggle mightily. I was very high on Jeff Acuda coming into the league, but I just don't think that they can depend on him as a number one corner with some of these opponent wide receiver rooms that they have to face.
I mean, they have to face really difficult opponents as far as wide receiver core goes. And man, I just think it's too much to put on some of these rookie corners, some of these as well as the second year corner. And I think we see a sophomore slump. I can't really say much more.
I don't want to beat him too far into the ground, but I overall across the board, I'm just not high on the line defensive. No, I'm right there with you. I think there's a couple of playmakers here. Jamie Collins is a good piece for any defense, but when you're swamped amongst all these mediocre to bad players, it's not going to look good for him.
And Trey Flowers is going to do something on the defensive line, so they might, as you mentioned, they can get some pressure here and there, but it's going to be here and there. And it's not going to look good. And as you mentioned, it's going to make these corners and safeties look terrible. As you mentioned, the receiver rooms that they're going to play is no joke.
And these guys are going to rack up yards upon yards. It's going to be bad. And you're going to be excited as an opposing team to come in and play in these lines, no matter who you are. Yeah, I would more than have to concur with you there.
And then last but certainly not least for the defensive side of all, as far as rankings go, per SFA, front seven, not get much love at all, 29th ranked unit in the league right now. Secondary on the exact same page, 28th ranked unit. And then right now, obviously not looking too well. I was going to segue into the head coach ranking, but let me tell you about those guys here real quick.
Obviously we got Dan Campbell coming in, brand new year one. And then Anthony Lynn has been the head coach of the Chargers for as long as many of us can remember. And now he's the offensive coordinator of Detroit. And then you also have Aaron Glenn as the defensive coordinator.
That is an entirely new coaching staff. There is not one guy who has either worked with each other. Glenn is coming from New Orleans. Campbell is coming from, he was also a good guy.
He was also a good guy. He worked together. Yeah, for some reason that didn't click my head. But I mean, two different sides of the ball.
We'll see what happens here with this new coaching staff. I don't know exactly what to expect. I'm not too high on that, but I don't know, man. And I mean, you know what's interesting for people that aren't as familiar with Dan Campbell, he sounds like a guy that would be a defensive coach.
But I mean, he was a tight ends coach in New Orleans. So I'm sure, I mean, he does have a defensive mindset. He certainly does. But he's not this defensive guru that's going to take this team no matter who they have on their defensive side of the ball.
He's not some guru that's going to make a bad defensive look mediocre. It's not like that. Yeah, I definitely agree with you there. So then for the ranking now, Dan Campbell coming in as the 31st ranked head coach in the league right now.
So not looking good from a ranking standpoint for old Dan Campbell. Now, before we move along into the entire schedule breakdown, that was the full team breakdown. I was so caught off guard here on the team breakdown. That's the breakdown of the Detroit Lions.
We will soon move into the schedule breakdown, but I got a confession to make here, my friend. So I'm eating these donuts over here, right? I'm through two and a half. And they are so sweet.
They are so sugar was not the right choice. I got sugar everywhere. Yeah. I don't want to back down, but.
All right. So here's the deal because I think we're both on the same page. And I don't think you guys realize how serious this is with also trying to fucking give you guys analysis and actually be a little bit not serious. It's not good.
Every time I talk, I get this sugar feeling in the back of my mouth like I'm going to fucking puke. And I don't just want to randomly be talking about a random wide receiver and fucking blow chunks. Now, as great as that would be for TV and all of your pleasure, that would be absolutely electric, but it would ruin my computer. It would ruin all of our production equipment.
And I just don't feel like doing that. Now, maybe potentially at some point in the future, we revisit this idea. We do it off of a live show. We try and knock it down because me trying to hammer down a donut every so often as you're talking, just ain't working for me.
Paul, it's just ain't working. And I'm an honest man. And I don't like to be out here lying around here saying I'll do something I won't do, but you know, things are as things are sometimes. So here's what I'm saying.
I'm probably going to have another donut just enjoyably on the show. No matter where I'm not enjoying it already. Yeah, that's kind of how I would say it's kind of how I would say it. So, I'm going to put a cap on.
I don't know. I don't want to quit either. I don't want to quit because I'm not a quid man. But what we'll do, if you're cool with it, I kind of have this in the back of my mind, which we'll just add to the giveaway.
So whoever wins the giveaway will kick up the Amazon gift card. We'll either kick it up to 50 or 100 bucks. As a we fucked up, we couldn't do it. We've been off more than we could chew.
We got to try and give you guys some type of a show here today. Because I will tap out and I will do that. I will add an extra $25.50 to the Amazon gift card myself personally. I do not care.
How about you do that now and see what I can do over here? All right. That's fine by me because I feel disgusting, but I want to give it a shot. That's cool.
And trying to host the show. I know both of us doing this is not working. It's not working so damn hard. So I will at some point in time because I'm not a quid man.
And I want more choices though. I will say if I had some better choices, this would be a lot easier. I made some bad choices. I will conquer this.
I will conquer this. I just got a I got a I can't be hosting a live podcast as I do that, but I'm powering through. I will kick in. I'll think of what I'm kicking in and I'll kick in some additional onto the Amazon gift card.
Fair enough. I like that trade off. Oh fuck. While Riley continues.
So let me do my job here for a minute. I apologize guys. I was literally feeling like I was going to puke and I was getting hot already and I mean it just it wasn't it wasn't there. So Riley continue on my friend.
Got speed buddy. We're going to keep the show moving right along into the entire schedule breakdown. Now partner I'll let you just fucking go to work and if you get at a point in time where you don't want to go to work anymore. That is just fine.
And then I will let you give you your piece. But let me just rock and roll here for a little while and we'll keep going. All right my friends. Once again, thanks for tuning into the 100th episode.
Sorry I couldn't make it all the way through. I did I am just not in the puking mood and ruining thousands of dollars of equipment move here this morning. So tap out from Colton. All right.
Full schedule breakdown. Eighteen weeks once again, 17 official games. So you guys are aware you know the drill. You know the deal the Lions have their by week in week nine this year and they kick off the season not looking so hot.
They do start at home, but that's against the 49ers. Then they go into Lambo against the Packers and then week three back at home against the Ravens. Then week four, five and six. They are on the road to my bears on the road to the Vikings and then come home before the Bengals.
In my mind, very possible for this team to start. Oh and five this year with that schedule. Then you have in week seven and eight. They go back on the road to the Rams going to be kind of that.
Hey, fuck you. Look what I'm about Sean McVay and I think the real Jared Goff is going to get exposed in that game. That is week seven in LA. Then week eight.
They come back home to play the Eagles out of the by week in week 10. They play the Steelers on the road and then back on the road again to another AFC North team that Cleveland Browns. Then week 12, 13 and 14 back to back games at home and 12 and 13 against the Bears again and the Vikings again. Then they play the Broncos in mile high in week 14.
Then week 15, they play the Cardinals at home and then close out their season week 16, 17 and 18, 16 is on the road in Atlanta and then on the road again in Seattle and then close out the season finally at home against the Green Bay Packers. Across the board. It ain't looking good. It ain't looking easy for the whole home team here.
Actually, you want to know I got to clear something up too because this just came into my mind. My stomach is good as fuck. I am too and I am good as fuck. I think I can put down 12 donuts.
It's just I don't want to have the feeling when I'm talking. I just I can't talk and do it at the same time. But you got it. You're rocking.
This is as tough as a three game start to any season. There can't be a tougher start to this season than the 49ers Packers and Ravens. It just can't. No, I honestly don't believe there can't be either.
Well, outside of that, it definitely looks like it's going to be tough sledding here for the Detroit Lions all the way through 2021. But let's give us a few of our predictions as far as how they'll do within the division. Their main eight side games outside of that division NFC North and then also their three additional games on the schedule. Now, as far as the division goes, I have little faith whatsoever that the Detroit Lions have any success this season.
Some of those wins in the division. One of them being against my Bears came in last second comebacks and wild fashion. It just didn't it didn't make sense. I only want some of those games, but they still finished last in the division.
I think that happens yet once again. You know, I honestly almost see them going 0 and 6 in the division. They could potentially squeak one out in a wild game against the Bears. They could potentially squeak one out in a wild game against the Vikings and potentially squeak out of two and four.
There's no way they're going to touch the Packers at all in my mind. I know that's music to your ears partner, but at the best I see two and four at the worst I see 0 and six here for the Lions in the NFC North. Yeah, at the best I see one game maybe against the Vikings, but I don't think so. You know, we've both been low on the Vikings, but I've been low on the Vikings in this terms of, you know, against the top half of the league, not the worst teams in the league.
I think that's a pair roster is still so much better. And I'll flip back on you. I think the Bears defense. At least this year with Jared Goff is such a brutal matchup for this offense.
So I think the Bears smoke them. The one advantage that they do have, you know, Jared Goff has been bad in cold weather games. They do have the advantage of getting the Packers and the Bears on the road at the beginning of the season, but I don't think it's going to matter at all. I don't think it is either.
And I think that's going to loom very large. I'm glad you mentioned that because yeah, they're not going to have the cold weather, but still I don't think the Jared Goff is going to have much success at all as he hasn't historically. Now, how about the main eight games outside of that division? They play the AFC North and they also play the NFC West.
Definitely not easy going at all for or on the part rather of the schedule makers. Right. In my mind, the AFC North, they have the potential to get the win against the Bengals, but that game could be one of those games where Joey Burrow needs some lifting up. He needs some success and that's a week six.
They could be on a little bit of a skid as we talked about it before. They might not come out of the gates hot and hey, you know, and that might be a game where Joe Burrow needs a dub, even though that looks like one of the easier games on their schedule. So I could potentially see them going 0 and 4 in the AFC North as much as that sucks to say it's just a fan of football in general. But as a fan of the AFC North, you know, I'm not opposed as to when one team is pretty much completely out of the running before the season even starts.
Now, it would be pleasantly surprised if Dan Campbell can do anything, but I highly doubt it. And then for the NFC West, I think they go over and for there too. I don't see there's any way that they're going to beat the Rams. They're not beating the Seahawks or the 49ers.
Cardinals might be a bit of a shootout in the first quarter, but that's about it besides that. So, it games outside the vision. I got them going 0 and 8. I think I'm right there with you, my man.
I want to talk myself into the giving them the one against the Bengals, but I think that Bengals offense is going to be good enough. And I really just have no faith in this Lions offense at all. So I don't see them being in shootouts where they can keep up with some of these teams. You mentioned the Cardinals.
I don't hate what you said, but I think the Cardinals blow them out of the water if they're trying to get into a shootout with them. So, I mean, they almost have to figure out a way to be some type of grindy, stingy type of defense, and that's just not going to happen. Absolutely. So I definitely agree with that.
Outside of that, they have the... Hello, they have the three remaining games on the schedule of the Broncos, the Eagles, and the Falcons. So as far as those games go, I see potentially by the time they're playing the Broncos, that game's all the way in week 14. That could be Teddy Tugelov season by that time, and he gets this victory, no problem whatsoever.
Then they play the Eagles at home, sure, I know, but that's before the bye week. I'm not all too certain that they can get a win there either. They might. That would be the one that I would say they get the win if at all.
I don't think the Falcons are going to be a team that blows it in the second half this year. That's early prediction. I hope I'm not wrong. I hope I didn't just jinx them, but at the worst, I see 0 and 3 best.
I see 1 and 3. I'll lean 1 and 3. They get the win over the Eagles in a goofy, flub kind of game. That is the one that I want to talk myself into, or maybe the Falcons, but even then no.
You mentioned that Broncos being possible Teddy Tugelov situation, it'll either be that or Drew Lach. If Drew Lach is there, that means he's played well enough to have them paint a good team. The Broncos are out of smoke. So I want to talk myself into the Eagles, but I was looking at the Eagles roster.
They at least still have some pieces on defense that are respectable pieces, and I'm not sure what we'll see from the Eagles offense. Maybe these teams will be a little similar, but I still think the Eagles are better. So that'll be my one that I'll talk myself into the one win for this line here. Well, once again, we're on the same page for yet another team.
And even if you are on the optimistic set of things with us, that's only three wins. I don't know where you can pull six wins to get over their five. We'll obviously talk about that from a better perspective here very shortly, but I honestly just don't know where the Lions go from here. I don't think they're in a very good position at all.
In my opinion, they have kind of built the team for the future, but I don't know that they can get those guys to stick around long enough to have success long-term enough. I just don't think that they're going to have success fast enough to where these guys are going to be able to still be around on their rookie deals with the Detroit Lions. And that really depresses me for Lions fans across the board because I really like Dan Campbell. I love his cannibalistic mentality by kneecaps all over the dog on field.
I love that, but I just I don't know if it hasn't been fixed in Detroit yet. What makes you think that and it's Motor City Dan Campbell. I hate to see this, but what makes you think that a New Orleans tight ends coach is going to come in and finish Detroit. Yeah, that's just that's where the dog on.
That's just where the rubber meets the road at the end of the day. And not to mention their 2021 schedule compared to 2020 is no good. They face the fourth toughest schedule overall based on win totals and then an SFA forecast right now that they will face the second toughest schedule of offensive opponents on the defensive side of the ball. So that one shining spot that I told you might be this defense.
They're facing the second toughest set of opponents offensively as a projection right now. It's not going to be good. Even if the defense can keep them in a game or two here or there at the end of the day, this offense just isn't going to be able to put up points like they need them to. No, and I, you know, we mentioned Dan Campbell.
He's not going to be willingly losing games and purposefully losing games, but it's clear that this front office is trying to, they're trying to position themselves. If it's not the number one pick, they're trying to be a top three pick and compete with a couple of these bad teams and away it's shaking out. I really do think they are going to be that number one overall pick. But, you know, even with Dan Campbell, if he's firing these guys up weekend and week out, like at what point do the guys say, hey, man, maybe chill out?
We're all in eight over here. I'm not trying to, you know, bite some kneecaps off today. It hasn't worked to this day yet. Why isn't it working today?
Yeah, you know, I don't know. I echo everything you say there and I hate to be that low on Dan Campbell with his high energy and his electric as he has been so far. But we'll see what happens. Wrapping up the schedule.
Last but certainly not least, one shining spot here scheduled wise for the Lions is actually their rest and prep going into 2021. They actually have some key advantages in a few areas. They face one opponent that has over a week to prep for them and they face three opponents that have less than a week to prep for them. So they have two, a plus two rest advantage.
They also have a rest disadvantage in only one game and then they have a rest advantage in three games this season. That's also a plus two. They play no games on a short week road game and then they also play no games off a road Sunday night or Monday or one game off a Sunday night or Monday night football. So honestly, looks really, really good from that perspective.
I don't think it helps this team whatsoever at all this season and I really hate to say that. I was really hoping maybe MCDC could get this Lions team turned around, but I don't think that's what's going to happen this year, my friend. No, and the two biggest rest advantage they have coming out of their bike. They play the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
That is such a terrible matchup for this offense. The Steelers defense is absolutely going to feast on Jared Goff. And the other one is a three day advantage against the Vikings at home. So that might be the one divisional game that I would feel the best about in Detroit.
You know, a big advantage there for the Lions, but aside from that man, it ain't looking good. It ain't looking good whatsoever. So about as bad as I'm looking right now. So four and it's bad, dude.
It's bad. It's bad. It's bad. All right.
Keep chugging. I believe in you. I believe in the other ones, dude. They're so big big.
Do you think that a dunk dunk in donuts? Because these are maybe a little too special. They might be with dunking donuts. I think I mean, because these ones, I wish I would have got a bunch more of these little thin chocolate ones.
They go down easy. Yeah, but sometimes dunkins are pretty bad. They're just about that side too. I'm so disgusting.
Keep rocking and rolling my friend. I love the way you're working over there. As you do that, let's get into the entire season betting preview. That was everything for the Lions 2021 schedule.
How about the stuff that we always come here for? The locks, the facts, the money lines, the spreads, the over-unders, the totals, everything in between you know what we're about. So we got to quickly take a trip back in the past 2020, take a look at some of the Lions, ATS, over-under and teaser trends. However, take this with a grain of salt, two reasons.
The COVID year we had last year in the NFL, and this is a brand new offense and coaching staff in Detroit. That all being said, 2020 ATS stats for the Detroit Lions, their average line was at 3.7. They were 3.7, point underdog. Coming into 2021, the books have given them even less respect.
They are now a six-point underdog. They are favored in zero games this season and underdogs in 17, depending on maybe where you might look. That might be underdogs in 16 and a virtual pick them in the other one. Their ATS record in 2020, however, was six and nine, and they had a five and 11 straight up record.
They were one and one as a favorite and five and eight ATS as an underdog. Didn't really matter if they won home or away either way. They didn't do very good against the number, but what would surprise you that even though it was a COVID year, they should be rather decent on the road. They weren't good at all at home.
They were two and five ATS at home, 0 and 1 ATS as a favorite and two and four as an underdog. So no spot was really well for worked really well for him. And then on the road, they were four and four ATS, one and O as a road favorite and three and four as a road underdog. So not a great ATS team, my friends.
I'm afraid that's going to be exactly the case here again in 2021 and should be a team that you should look to avoid on the weekly Lions weekly games, maybe running the opposite direction or maybe fade city the Lions until further notice. That'll be instead one spot that you might be able to target these Lions is in regards to the total. How about some over under trends in 2020? Now their average line in 2020 was 51.31, 0.3 and is now dropped down in 2021 to 46.4.
In 2020, they had an 11 and five over under record. They were seven and one to the over at home, four and four over under on the road. So obviously at home, they had some pretty nice shootouts. They got some of those mid 40s high 40s over those totals.
They were three and one to the over as a favorite and eight and four to the over as an underdog. So, you know, across the board, I'm a pretty big fan of the oversight of things here in Detroit. Now it's going to have to be a pretty dog on specific spot if you do want to play it. However, it's not a bad look because they might be able to put up a score here or score there, help a total over because the team put up 30 points on them or an absolutely ridiculous total outside of that.
So it's kind of some of the key things there over under wisely. Do you have another final thought there over under partner? Yeah, I'm just not really sure where to target this team at all because I'm not sure what to expect as far as this offense is concerned, like points for game wise. I think they're going to be really bad.
I don't know if they're going to be able to drive these over to Nox. I think they're going to get blown out in so many games. So maybe it'll be a fade team, but then again, you're just going to start seeing plus 14s and plus 17s if that's the case. So, you know, it might just be a team to stay away from.
I don't know. We'll have to see. We'll have to see, but I'm definitely leaning more of a stay away. Now one thing that you know we love to do on Sunday is build a nice teaser.
And I highly suggest that you keep the Detroit Lions out of any teaser that you build this season. Six, seven and 10 point teasers respectively, eight and seven and six point nine and seven points and nine and five and 10 point teasers. Cross the board, not good at all for the Detroit Lions. Excuse me, but I honestly think that you need to keep them far away.
Any spot that you are thinking about putting them in a teaser, look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you're absolutely insane and you should not run the risk of putting the Lions in a teaser. That's my two cents and so box on the end of that thing. Any final closing thoughts there from 2020 partner? No, I have to imagine that they're going to be a fade team and my teasers going to be in the opposite end of these teasers.
Maybe tease some of these teams down to less than a touchdown spread there for some of these teams and Niners Packers Ravens. Those might be some teasers for those teams. I'm sorry, my words over here. Do this stuff.
I'm not making it. I'm not making it. I'm not making it. Plain and simple.
I'm not making it. Oh shit. All right. Moving along my friends.