2024 Season Notes wks 11-13

[Brian wolf]

The Steelers need to take care of a pass-happy Browns team because like the Lions, they have a very tough, closing schedule.
Ravens are not out yet ...

[Jay Z]

We'll get a better handle on GB tonite. Could be a barn-burner in Detroit. Lions DL and LB corps have been decimated by injuries. Detroit has one of the toughest remaining schedules, so I'm not expecting them to finish as top NFC seed. They may not even win the division. Last game is w/ the Vikes---showdown time?

If GB loses tonight considering all of DET’s injuries…… I don’t want to hear any excuses

Given St. Brown's Jordanesque pushoff on the final drive, the OPI on Watson was ludicrous.

[Brian wolf]

St Brown did get away with a push off. I thought Detroit would kick the FG, giving Love about 40 seconds but the stumbling Goff, simply had Montgomery following the best tackle in football for the first down. Montgomery and Gibbs are fun to watch. I really thought they would re-sign Reynolds as well ...

[RichardBak]

From the perspective of someone who's been watching decade upon decade of mostly lousy Lions football, it's been a joy watching them win the kind of games they used to routinely lose. I mean, really, you have no idea.

But jeezus, going for it on 4th down from your own 30 when you have the lead halfway thru the 4Q?? In the end, Campbell came out smelling like roses (and I agree with the 4th down calls inside the Pack's 5-YL), but I think he gets too caught up in his own riverboat gambler persona at times. Last year I worried about it biting him in the ass---and it did on Turkey Day and in the NFC title game @ SF---and I worry about it in the upcoming playoffs. I'm all for calculated risks, and I know that not all gambles are gonna pay off, but I still think he's gotta be a bit more selective about when to throw the dice.

All that said, he's coaching a 12-1 team and I'm just some old guy posting his worries on the internet.

Bills at Detroit on 12/15 should be another heart attack in the making. Gotta remember to take my heart pills with the Labatts and kielbasa.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

From the perspective of someone who's been watching decade upon decade of mostly lousy Lions football, it's been a joy watching them win the kind of games they used to routinely lose. I mean, really, you have no idea.

But jeezus, going for it on 4th down from your own 30 when you have the lead halfway thru the 4Q?? In the end, Campbell came out smelling like roses (and I agree with the 4th down calls inside the Pack's 5-YL), but I think he gets too caught up in his own riverboat gambler persona at times. Last year I worried about it biting him in the ass---and it did on Turkey Day and in the NFC title game @ SF---and I worry about it in the upcoming playoffs. I'm all for calculated risks, and I know that not all gambles are gonna pay off, but I still think he's gotta be a bit more selective about when to throw the dice.

All that said, he's coaching a 12-1 team and I'm just some old guy posting his worries on the internet.

Bills at Detroit on 12/15 should be another heart attack in the making. Gotta remember to take my heart pills with the Labatts and kielbasa.

It's Campbell and many other coaches doing similar stunts that makes me believe that this year's championship will be not lost more than it will be won. This is the era for that kind of thing. We've seen it so many times between going for 2 (KC in the AFC Championship comes to mind first) and teams going for it on 4th down.

[Brian wolf]

I have to admit, if the Vikings win 12 games or more, their HC should probably be COTY but like Fangio in Philly, Flores has done a great job. Nobody felt Darnold could pull it off but this team keeps pressing the Lions, who need another loss I feel, before postseason. Alot could ride on the Vikings-Packers matchup before the Lions ...

Atlanta could use Cousins dicing up his former defense but I feel Flores could throw everybody into the pass rush. Can the Falcons run more to help him out? They need Pitts to step up big-time.

Can the Seahawks maintain their divisional lead over the Cards?
A huge game with the Rams playing Buffalo. Can the 49ers hold off the Bears? Could this be the last season for Deebo Samuel in a SF uniform? I dont know how a departure would affect their cap but he has disappointed since signing his big contract.

[JameisBrownston]

That play where Campbell went for it on 4th and a few inches in field goal range was with 1:30 left on the clock. He wanted to bleed the entire clock so GB wouldn't get the ball back. I was thinking he should go for it, although I'd have run a tush push instead of a handoff.

[RichardBak]

From the perspective of someone who's been watching decade upon decade of mostly lousy Lions football, it's been a joy watching them win the kind of games they used to routinely lose. I mean, really, you have no idea.

But jeezus, going for it on 4th down from your own 30 when you have the lead halfway thru the 4Q?? In the end, Campbell came out smelling like roses (and I agree with the 4th down calls inside the Pack's 5-YL), but I think he gets too caught up in his own riverboat gambler persona at times. Last year I worried about it biting him in the ass---and it did on Turkey Day and in the NFC title game @ SF---and I worry about it in the upcoming playoffs. I'm all for calculated risks, and I know that not all gambles are gonna pay off, but I still think he's gotta be a bit more selective about when to throw the dice.

All that said, he's coaching a 12-1 team and I'm just some old guy posting his worries on the internet.

Bills at Detroit on 12/15 should be another heart attack in the making. Gotta remember to take my heart pills with the Labatts and kielbasa.

It's Campbell and many other coaches doing similar stunts that makes me believe that this year's championship will be not lost more than it will be won. This is the era for that kind of thing. We've seen it so many times between going for 2 (KC in the AFC Championship comes to mind first) and teams going for it on 4th down.

Yup, it's the age of analytics. Not so sure how I feel about all the in-house math whizzes NFL and MLB employ. In my mind, it's already ruined baseball. I like to quote Russell Baker from a long time ago: "The trouble with baseball is that it grew up and became engineering." Not there yet with the NFL. I wonder how many of Campbell's decisions are organic---coming from the gut instead of some computer.

[Brian wolf]

I think Campbell just wants to push to the players that he has their back and trusts the defense. With their running game and receivers, its easier to call but in the playoffs, they cant get too cute and pass up FGs.

[SeahawkFever]

From the perspective of someone who's been watching decade upon decade of mostly lousy Lions football, it's been a joy watching them win the kind of games they used to routinely lose. I mean, really, you have no idea.

But jeezus, going for it on 4th down from your own 30 when you have the lead halfway thru the 4Q?? In the end, Campbell came out smelling like roses (and I agree with the 4th down calls inside the Pack's 5-YL), but I think he gets too caught up in his own riverboat gambler persona at times. Last year I worried about it biting him in the ass---and it did on Turkey Day and in the NFC title game @ SF---and I worry about it in the upcoming playoffs. I'm all for calculated risks, and I know that not all gambles are gonna pay off, but I still think he's gotta be a bit more selective about when to throw the dice.

All that said, he's coaching a 12-1 team and I'm just some old guy posting his worries on the internet.

Bills at Detroit on 12/15 should be another heart attack in the making. Gotta remember to take my heart pills with the Labatts and kielbasa.

It's Campbell and many other coaches doing similar stunts that makes me believe that this year's championship will be not lost more than it will be won. This is the era for that kind of thing. We've seen it so many times between going for 2 (KC in the AFC Championship comes to mind first) and teams going for it on 4th down.

Yup, it's the age of analytics. Not so sure how I feel about all the in-house math whizzes NFL and MLB employ. In my mind, it's already ruined baseball. I like to quote Russell Baker from a long time ago: "The trouble with baseball is that it grew up and became engineering." Not there yet with the NFL. I wonder how many of Campbell's decisions are organic---coming from the gut instead of some computer.

The issue I see with analytics is that people look at them, and they don't necessarily look at the further context of them.

Ex: I see people mention how often a team makes it on fourth down, but I don't see people mention how good the offensive lines and running backs of the teams that converted those fourth downs were.

MLB example: Probably the most useless split in my opinion that is often recited on broadcasts is how well a batter bats vs a particular team in their career. A good number of those plate appearances could have been against pitchers that are not on the other team anymore.

Huge MLB and NFL fan, and as you may tell from the posts on the data I've shared, I enjoy looking into and calculating the analytics of both, but I will say that if you take them at face value without assessing the talent you have to work with and are facing in the moment, then you could make some very questionable decisions in-game because analytics said it worked overall for those who tried it.