Monday Overreaction: ‘The Lions pay players, then they regress, and podcasts are making the Lions bad’
Please stop saying these things
What a day Sunday was for the Detroit Lions and their fans. I don’t think I’m talking out of turn when I say that there is a certain subsection of Lions fans who maybe crave the depression a little bit.
They’re the group who proclaims the season is over after every turnover or every time a team scores a touchdown on Detroit’s defense. I mean, they want this team to be bad so badly so that they can say they were right about it all along.
The season’s been over since Week 1 for them. No way this Lions team can win a Super Bowl, even though no team has really pulled ahead in the playoff race just yet. That’s pretty normal stuff, though. The new thing is blaming outside stuff. Let’s talk about why that’s dumb.
Lions players get their big contracts and then start playing poorly
Let’s dive into this, shall we? Start with Jared Goff. He got the bag ahead of the 2024 season. He then followed that up with a season in which he was an MVP finalist. These fans might try to convince you he’s having a bad season right now, but he’s not. He’s at the top of the league in most passing categories.
Amon-Ra St. Brown got his bag around the same time Goff did, and then he had an All-Pro season in 2024. Don’t let the couple of drops fool you, he’s well on pace to put up even better numbers in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns this year than he had last year in his All-Pro season.
Penei Sewell got his money, had an All-Pro season, and is having another one right now. He’s the betting favorite to win Protector of the Year this season, and he’s Pro Football Focus’ highest graded offensive lineman with a 94.9 grade.
Aidan Hutchinson got his big deal, and he’s the NFL’s pressure leader with 69, and he’s top 10 in the league in sacks. Seems like he just got his check and decided to take the rest of the season off. He clocked back in for the game-winning sack on Sunday, though.
Some might point to Jameson Williams as their reason to prove this is right, but they’d be missing all the nuance in the world on this one. Williams isn’t playing poorly. John Morton struggled to get him into the playbook for much of the season, and he’s been the opposing defense’s primary objective in their hopes to take the big play off the board for Detroit.
He’s been seeing double and triple teams out there, but that does open things up for everyone else. Williams had played fairly well in the last few weeks. Even if you wanted to count this one, does that really display a full pattern?
At the end of the day, it’s not your money, and you have to stop acting like it is. It’s money very clearly well spent.
Podcasts are a distraction
When did everyone become 65 years old? A few players on this team do a podcast from their homes once a week for an hour after practice, and you want me to believe that this affects their play in any way? You think St. Brown’s mini drop problem is because he has a podcast? He’s had it for three years now. What are we doing here?
Someone actually asked last week why it was OK for Terrion Arnold to do a podcast with a concussion, but he couldn’t play. I’ve done a lot of podcasts in my career, and not once did I ever make physical contact with someone during those shows.
It’s these weird old people comments where these athletes aren’t supposed to have lives outside of their job, but it’s OK for you to do it, it’s just, well, it’s weird. I have no other word for it.
Now, if you catch a Lions player banging rails off an eight ball while running guns to Nicaragua and hacking into the government mainframe to steal all of America’s cheese. Then you can say, “Hey Mike, I think this guy is distracted.” I’ll totally agree with you then. But don’t bother me if he’s playing NBA 2K on a Friday night. I am, too.
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