Is the Super Bowl window closing in Detroit?

The Technical Fowl guys break down the losses of both coordinators in Detroit before discussing the possibility that the Super Bowl window is coming to a close in Detroit.

#nfl #offseason #sports #technicalfowl #detroit #lions #detroitlions

detroit comes off a amazing season and then just an absolute embarrassing playoff loss to Jack’s commanders Daniels
i was stunned that happened not going to lie
i think the first thing I’m going to go ahead and bring up and say and go ahead and put it on the board the 2024 injuries was the story of the season for them this is mainly defensive players aiden Hudson misses 13 games with a broken leg gale McNeel their second best defender missed four games at the end of the season missed the playoff games derek Barnes was going to be a key piece for them um he’s not really a household name because he did not play at you know really at any point last season except at the beginning he gets hurt in week three but he was going to be a cornerstone for their defense alex Analone I’ll never forgive you um don’t let me get into it i’ll get into it at another day but he misses six games last season and Marcus Davenport a former Saint as well missed 15 games they had some issues off on the offensive line taylor Decker missed games john Kaminsky missed games david Montgomery had that big knee scare and then comes back for the final week and scores another touchdown carlton Davis also missed games so the the story of the season for Detroit was the injuries i mean they were they were just absolutely torn apart there and I they were the second best offense in the NFL last season and that’s the only reason that they finished 15-2 they were just prolific offensively and I think a huge part of that is Ben Johnson so let’s put the Ben Johnson graphic up there again this is the stuff that Ben Johnson was able to do with this Detroit offense and a big part of that was being aggressive with draft picks picking Jameson Williams and Jir Gibbs and then being aggressive with David Montgomery you have Sam La Porter from the draft as well but they lose that they lose Ben Johnson they lose that brilliant play caller they lose the trick plays and I a big question for them is going to be how do they replace that and on the other side I have another big question is is Aaron Glenn and Aaron Glenn was terrific for them last season while the numbers weren’t there defensively I think a huge part of that was like I said injuries sure but they were forcing turnovers through throughout that entire season regardless of who was on the field they forced 24 turnovers that was top 10 in the league and then another thing they were really really good at was they were shutting teams down in the red zone they were top 12 in the league 54% of the time they would allow a touchdown in the red zone and Aaron Glenn was terrific for that he goes to the New York Jets and now you’re gonna have questions again defensively who is going to be calling the plays who is going to lead that unit because Dan Campbell is going to be the guy who’s the head coach he’s never really going to be the guy who’s calling plays for this Lions team and so you got two big questions there and I I’ll just start with you y’all’s thoughts on Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn going before I get into more of the the Detroit Lions yeah I mean undeniably huge losses um I think a lot of people viewed him as the best coordinator pair in the NFL last year um I have fa I obviously I know Dan Campbell’s not calling the plays they have to replace the coordinators i have faith in Dan Campbell kind of being able to rally the troops and kind of keep everyone um I guess on the boat you know headed in the right direction getting the coordinators on board um but it is definitely I mean it’s a big worry right um offensively though they do have a lot of those same pieces um that were part of the great offense um Ben Johnson was the mastermind but it’s not like they’re not talented there um so you would expect or I would expect them to still have a pretty good offense if maybe not quite that level of explosiveness that they had um but yeah it’s a huge question mark um but I’m not like panicking in in any fashion
yeah I’m with Jack i trust um the head coach uh he’s also an Aggie so I got to be biased is an Aggie
he is aggary Aggie
yeah um is he on the side of the stadium he may be i don’t I don’t know for sure
okay
we got to get somebody on that he should already be on it
yeah uh I trust Dan Campbell because he identified both these coordinators um and kind of gave them this big opportunity so I kind of trust him to identify that coordinating talent he just seems to be very good um at the the the football talent and the coordinator talent and the just managing a staff and a roster very well what I’m more concerned about is he’s had months he had he like they kind of saw the coordinator situation coming uh there were rumors that um Johnson was going to leave last year for the Texans job he decided to stay and run it back for one more year and so this has been 12 to 18 months in the making of preparation of like knowing that you’re going to have to replace these guy i think the bigger issue is going to be at center because this they’re having to replace their center uh Frank Ragnau out of the blue uh everyone was kind of assuming they were going to have him for another year to be the center of a offensive line that was returning all the starters and then he just kind of retired two three weeks ago very unexpected and now that means rookie Tate Ratlage is going to have to start at center um and this is a guy that you drafted I believe in the second or third second round
um and you drafted him to sit for a year come played guard at Georgia um and then also he may have played I believe he played guard because I think that he was on that same career trajectory as Ragnau where they wanted him to sit for a year make that transition to center um he started three years at Georgia um but he’s a little bit older he played five years there started the last three um and was always a better pass blocker than a run blocker which history dictates that that’s not what you want um typically the better run blockers are going to have more successful careers and that’s not you know that’s a that’s a general ter general rule but I that’s got me a lot more nervous because this is not this is not this was not the plan um losing the coordinators was kind of always the plan because when you’re that successful that’s going to happen so I’ll be really interested to see um thankfully they return a bunch of weapons they still got Jared Goff at quarterback and even hand at the steering wheel so it’s it’s going to be interesting to see how that goes and how that affects the offensive line but you still have the best one-two punch at running back in the country you still have one of the best wide receiving cores in the country um so it’ll be really interested to see how that offense looks with a different center
i think the the team or something quickly Dan Campbell I don’t know if he’s on side of the stadium we did give him a lifetime achievement award okay um this past year so
gigum um I would say for the the questions about Rag Rag now and now with Tate Rattlage I think we could potentially I think for the Lions fans this is what you would hope for look at the Eagles team losing Jason Kelsey replacing it with Cam Jurgens and then look what was around Cam Jurgens the the the offensive line stayed the same around them with future Hall of Famers and then the offense still had tons of weapons and you add Saquon Barkley and Cam Jurgens stepped into that role and was he was great for them and I wonder if that is something that Tate Rage can do as well that’ll be an interesting question the hope would be for Lions fans that you could go down that same path obviously with winning the Super Bowl as well i think this is really a make or break year for the Lions uh the Lions are currently third in the league in cap space for this season but they’re 28th in cap space for next season um you know this is going to be a result of their extensions so next year Jared Goff St brown Pen Su and Ali McNeel have extensions that kick in and shoot up their money for next season and those four players hit the cap for 66.7 million this year next year they’re going to hit for a hundred million more at 160 million
so this is a make orb breakak year for Detroit they lose all of their flexibility next year and they’re really locked into the players that they have and this brings up my next question about them is and I’ll ask you guys as well did they already miss their championship window did it pass by just like that because next year there’s no flexibility and Jared Goff is not getting any younger and there’s already questions about this season with the loss of the two coordinators nfc seems like it’s going to get even better i mean we think about the Commanders and their sururgence last season chicago is poised to be good you would assume the Packers are going to continue to be good is JJ McCarthy the next superstar who knows and then with the Eagles still being there so I I my question to y’all is did they miss their championship window already with their mistakes with the 21-point lead in the NFC Championship against the 49ers two years ago and then just getting absolutely boat raced by Jaden Daniels last year is it over already for this Detroit yeah um a couple things i don’t I don’t think so i think this is kind of their last ride though i I can get behind kind of that sentiment um because even if this season doesn’t go to plan I feel like championship window is a lot dictated I guess by like pre-season expectations and and plans of where the team can go um I definitely think it’s closing um okay I talking about um Jared Goff jake Jacob Glenn was in my head shout out Jacob Glenn um but Jared Goff um am I crazy to say like he’s someone I don’t trust at all to win the big game
no
okay i was like you can club me over the head if you want as an NFL casual but just like looking back at his game against um the Commanders and in the NFC um champion not championship semi-finals last year and just stuff like that he’s someone that I don’t know if I would ever trust or expect him to lead me to win a Super Bowl and so in that sense it’s like I don’t know if I ever really have loved their window because of of that aspect there but they are undeniably a great team
sanders you’re a big Jergo guy what do you think i think my answer to Well I’ll answer the first part my answer to is the championship window closed after this season will depend on how this season goes if it’s a struggle and it looks like Dan Campbell is barely holding things together after losing those two coordinators then 100% I’m putting my stamp on it and saying the championship window is closed if they kind of cruise through it and cruise to 12 11 13 wins and look good and look confident and then lose a couple pieces and but it looks like Danny Campbell has done a good job at keeping the continuity going then I will say that the window is still open so it’ll really depend on how they handle this um kind of this big test of this upcoming season is how do you replace two very good coordinators so that’s that’s the answer to part one i disagree i think I would trust Jared Goff and maybe that is just recency bias because over the past two years he’s been such a successful offense and so he has looked good as a result um maybe if you put him in a bad offense if you put him in that Bears offense last year and he looked bad my answer would be different um but I do think that Jared Goff has matured um and there he looked good i mean they went to he went to a Super Bowl at the Rams uh had one or two bad seasons there got shipped out to Detroit uh in a trade uh a very rare trade where both teams won and they won big um so I I do have a good bit of trust in Jared Goff just because he has been very consistent um and he’s and so I trust even if he may not be the superstar that is going to win games in a way that Patrick Mahomes would I trust his consistency to win those big games because
I don’t expect him
like I expect him if you need him to go down and make a drive I think that he is consistent enough that he can just methodically do that now he’s not going to make a sidearm horizontal pass like Patrick Mahomes will he’s not going to do a no- look pass like Matthew Stafford will he’s not going to hit a 75 yard Hail Mary like Aaron Rogers but I do trust him because of his consistency to to to be consistent under the biggest pressure you know that any football player is going to see in the NFL and like in big games so I do disagree with y’all i’ve got him as my best quarterback in the NFC North so I do I do have a good bit of trust or a good good deal of trust to Jared Golf
yeah i mean I would still have him as the best quarterback going into the season um but just because it’s like I don’t know if I trust any of these guys to win the big game i mean you have someone that hasn’t played and then Caleb Williams and then um I do like Jordan Love a good bit but he’s been had his inconsistencies i just like uh Goff has thrown always has the knack for the very inconvenient pick um so definitely something to look forward to in terms of their team this season
um this is one of the teams I was not bullish on uh Detroit Lions i was actually very low on them i have them going almost the complete opposite of Sanders and Jack’s way i have them going six and 11 i think the opening stretch of the season is absolutely brutal this is your first seven games before the by-week at Green Bay hosting Chicago in a Ben Johnson revenge game going to Baltimore hosting Cleveland that would hopefully be a win and that’s where I have their one win in the first seven weeks going to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati going back to Kansas City which would be a revenge game for the Chiefs and then hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers which you’ve already lost in the regular season two years ago so very very brutal opening stretch i have them going one and six in that opening stretch before the byee and that is a large part in the reason that I have them going six and 11 now I want to flip it and Sanders has them actually going six and one in those opening seven weeks why do you feel that they are going to get off to a hot start unlike me
i think because even if you bring in a new coordinator I think if you this team has so much chemistry um the way they have meshed over the past two years under Jared Goff as quarterback I don’t think that you can take that away scheme might be a little bit different once again I trust Dan Campbell to to not do a Zack Arnett thing and say “Oh here’s what we’re doing.” and then do and lie and do something else different um I trust uh Dan Campbell to be like “All right guys here’s what we’re doing.” And then just do that and I trust him to bring in a coordinator that’s going to work well with the team um and I also I yeah I just I have a lot of trust in this Lions team uh we shall see but yeah I I’m not the highest out of all of us i’ve got him going 12 and five jack’s got him going 13-4 and then our my brother our Lions fan has him going 14 and three um finishing the season on a sevengame win streak I believe winning and losing only one after week five so there’s I I think you were very much in the minority now that’s that’s an extreme 14 and three would be a wild sk uh record with that that’s a pretty tough schedule um but I do think you’re very much in the minority there with your low very low expectations for the Lions i think it’s so much schedule based for me uh my loness on them because like I said earlier I think this division all four teams could win it all four teams could win games in the teens and then on top of that I think it’s hard to say besides maybe the Vikings that one of these teams is just going to be outright bad but I I’m going to go ahead and say it right now i guarantee one of these teams is going to be outright bad i guarantee you and it may be it could be injury based but I guarantee you one of these teams is only going to win six games and for me it’s the Lions and I think it’s hugely or largely I should say schedule based with those opening seven weeks and then post by they host Minnesota go to Washington and go to Philly like it does not get easy until week 12 week 12 besides week four with Cleveland is really the only game that I look at and it’s like okay that’s a layup they should win that game and that’s the Giants so in the first 12 weeks you have two layups like that i just I just think they’re going to struggle i I I really like the culture there i do but I think the loss of the coordinators is going to be too much and I have tons of questions about that about their ability to win these close games because they’re going to be playing good teams and these games are going to be close and unless the offense is as prolific as it was last year which I don’t expect because of my Ben Johnson graphic as we’ve seen I’m just low on the Detroit Lions this season and I got them finishing six and 11 kind of crazy i I don’t think you have them winning a road game that is correct yes
yeah they they’re they pick up six wins at home and go um put a big fat zero on the road i I have them going 13-4 like it was mentioned um probably a little high but I just still really like this group of players that they have uh I think they’ve just got dudes up and down the roster both offensively and defensively and once again I’m a big Dan Campbell guy so I’m going to kind of I think I’m going to ride with them until they fall apart um if that makes sense and so that’s why I have them going 13 and four well that’s uh I think that’s good for the
I do I would be interested at one at some point i don’t want to do it now because I feel like it kind of spoils the rest of the show i do kind of like the idea of I do kind of agree that one team is just going to be bad and it’s I know who I think and it’s not the Lions but I don’t want to say it right now because I don’t want to like you know spoil the rest of the show at the end i’d like to come back and address it do you have Would you agree Jack do you because I kind of like that take and I could
I think you’re guaranteed a team wins 12 or more and you’re guaranteed a team doesn’t win more than six
cuz I mean and that’s supported by last season because last season the NFC North set the record for the highest division win percentage ever at 662 yeah 662 and they still had the Bears go five and 12 so even if you are the best division we’ve ever seen in football you’re still gonna have a team
do poorly um so that that’s someone’s got to be the punching bag if everyone else is going to win the game yes they they definitely do
i can see it being mixed out mixed around a little more um than it was last year um in terms of wins and losses um but I think I get behind it’s likely someone doesn’t get more than six wins and I’m saying that not on a injury thing like I don’t think it’s an injurybased thing for me i would just say out of these teams I am the lowest on them because of the schedule i don’t think that with with their losses offensive coordinator defensive coordinator that they are better than most of these teams that they’re going to play
yeah and I just have a ton of concern there and they very well could prove me wrong and Dan Campbell would love to hear more of that from the media uh which we are a part of of course
yeah established members
yes so it’ll be I think it’s going to be really interesting there and I I want to touch on the health because I I touched on this and I forgot to say it i don’t think health is going to be as much of a factor because of their additions defensively through free agency they added DJ Reed who’s going to be I think going to be really good coming from New York the New York Jets avonte Maddox who was kind of poor for the Eagles but he’s a good depth piece and I I think some one that people are sleeping on is an older guy but Zack Cunningham from the Broncos I think is going to be key for them at the backer all three of those additions defensively in free agency are going to help them because that was that’s what happened the depth was not there because the depth became the starters when all the starters got hurt last season and yeah like I said injuries is not the factor here in me being low in them i think it’s just schedule based and I just don’t think they’re better than all the teams that they’re going to play
um they’re lucky they don’t have to play the New Orleans Saints this season as well