By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
This quote from an NFL Hall of Fame Coach said it all.
“I’ve been in the league for 47 years. I’ve never seen a regular-season game with this much on the line.” – Tony Dungy on tonight’s Vikings-Lions game
The Detroit Lions have given fans failure, and not much more for many, for an entire lifetime, and certainly as long as they have followed the team. The only thing is this Dan Campbell/GM Brad Holmes-engineered squad feels different. The closest the Lions have come in my lifetime to making the Super Bowl are the Barry Sanders teams from 1990-1997 when they made the playoffs about half of the time, but had Erik Kramer, Rodney Peete, and even Andre Ware at quarterback. If you have two quarterbacks in the NFL, you have none. Goff is the guy and he is playing at an All-Pro level.
Barry Sanders sums up the state of the franchise now
“As a Lions fan, this is the atmosphere we’ve been dreaming about and praying for. It was definitely on our Christmas list.” – Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders to Chris Simms on tonight’s Vikings-Lions game.
Five Takeaways from the Lions 31-9 victory over Minnesota
1. Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn
The first star of the game might have been an assistant coach. Much has been made of all of the Lion’s defensive players on the IR. Glenn NEVER made an excuse. He crossed up Minnesota repeatedly by playing zone defense when Sam Darnold expected man-to-man coverage and man-to-man coverage when the Vikings expected zone. All the while, Detroit repeatedly threw the house using blitzes that gave an NFC Pro Bowl quarterback a subpar performance, and his two top wideouts Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison four catches and 54 yards receiving. The Lions’ goal line stands in the first half and third quarter were legendary.
2. Alex Anzalone
Anzalone was a lift to Detroit in plenty of ways. He led the team with total tackles, a pass defense and a QB hit. He was a ball hawk all night long and TJ Hockenson was visibly frustrated with Anzalone shutting him down for most of the night.
“[GM] Brad [Holmes] and his staff, first of all, have done a good job trying to piece together personnel to put a quality defense on the field,” Anzalone told me as he was leaving Ford Field. “It’s a hard job to do this late in the season, as the injuries have accumulated. At the end of the day, defensively, we’ve been catching a lot of flak, but at the same time we just haven’t been playing clean football with energy and passion.”
3. Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs got off to a decent start on Sunday night and like a freight train, he turned into an unstoppable locomotive. Andrew Van Ginkel almost derailed Gibbs early in the game when Jared Goff threw a screen pass into the flat and he was creamed. Gibbs trotted off the field and basically shook off the hit with no medical treatment. Not sure if most fans have ever seen a player creamed that hard and get up and be effective. Gibbs had 23 rushes for 139 yards and 3 TD’s on the ground. He added a fourth TD on five catches for 31 yards. Can you imagine if David Montgomery returns and these two trade off again?
4. Amik Robertson
This season, Robertson has played at the slot cornerback position and has largely been seen and not heard this season. After injuries to Carlton Davis and Terrion Arnold, Robertson was given the challenge of covering NFL All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson. Robertson was often left on an island with Jefferson and held him to three catches and 54 yards. Jefferson had a few drops and often had blanketed coverage on JJ. It is true the Lions pass rush also helped the secondary, but that’s football. “Amik Robertson traveled with 18 a lot of the game and we had doubles on him, but at the same time Amik challenged him—and a lot of players around the league aren’t willing to do that,” Anzalone says. “We stopped the run out of a light box, and guys got pressure on [Sam] Darnold, and we were sticky in coverage.”
5. The Detroit Lions Fans
Being a season ticket holder for the Barry Sanders years, the old Pontiac Silverdome was loud. Ford Field is louder. The Vikings bought tickets for their fans when they could not get the Lions to sell tickets to fans in Minnesota zip codes. They found out Detroit has some of the best fans in the NFL and have finally been released from a lifetime of misery and are passionately following the team. Tony Dungy on the atmosphere in Ford Field: “I’ve been on the road [on FNIA] for two years now and I’ve never been in a building where the noise has been so loud this early before a game.”
Dan Campbell Said It
“That’s a hell of a win, man. Back-to-back,” Campbell later said. “See what we’ve done is not easy. … But I’m tellin’ you what, man, we’ve said it all along, we’ve got a special group, man.
“And this has been comin’ a long time. That’s a lot of hard work and we are the No. 1 (expletive) seed. With a bye, gentleman. Good job.”
2025 NFL Draft Order
Now that the 2024 NFL regular season is over, the first 18 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft order are set. That leaves 14 spots for the playoff teams still to be decided. Here’s where each team sits after Week 18:
- Tennessee Titans (3-14)
- Cleveland Browns (3-14)
- New York Giants (3-14)
- New England Patriots (4-13)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (4-13)
- Las Vegas Raiders (4-13)
- New York Jets (5-12)
- Carolina Panthers (5-12)
- New Orleans Saints (5-12)
- Chicago Bears (5-12)
- San Francisco 49ers (6-11)
- Dallas Cowboys (7-10)
- Miami Dolphins (8-9)
- Indianapolis Colts (8-9)
- Atlanta Falcons (8-9)
- Arizona Cardinals (8-9)
- Cincinnati Bengals (9-8)
- Seattle Seahawks (10-7)
- Houston Texans (10-7)
- Denver Broncos (10-7)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (10-7)
- Los Angeles Rams (10-7)
- Green Bay Packers (11-6)
- Los Angeles Chargers (11-6)
- Washington Commanders (12-5)
- Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
- Minnesota Vikings (14-3)
- Buffalo Bills (13-4)
- Philadelphia Eagles (14-3)
- Kansas City Chiefs (15-2)
- Detroit Lions (15-2)
