The Anatomy Of A Detroit Lions Meme: Why the whole ‘we’re good’ thing makes no sense
It’s time Lions fans really understand where the whole “we’re good” thing really came from
I know that in theory, it doesn’t make much sense to do this after a win for the Detroit Lions, but last night was the perfect example of how misunderstood a quote can be. The Lions’ first offensive drive of the game ended when former Lions edge rusher James Houston got a sack on Jared Goff.
After that moment, my comment section on social media turned into a ton of “we’re good” comments, and everyone suddenly forgot why Houston doesn’t play here anymore and why the Cowboys only play him a handful of snaps a game. Suddenly releasing him after three seasons of desperately trying to get him to grow as a player, and it not happening, was a big mistake.
It’s one thing to tell some people they don’t know ball and all that, but in this case. There’s something that a large part of this fan base doesn’t know, and that is simply the whole point of the ‘we’re good” meme. Let’s talk about it and talk some truths and lies about it.
Brad Holmes never said “we’re good”
So right off the bat, you know it’s a bad thing when people keep lobbing this quote out there, and they attribute it to the wrong guy. This was said by Lions head coach Dan Campbell in an interview on 97.1 The Ticket, and it really doesn’t have a lot to do with what people think it has to do with. We’ll get into that in a second. But people have to know that Holmes didn’t say this. I fact, we haven’t heard from Holmes since August. I know everyone is mad that he didn’t get a superstar edge rusher, but let’s not put words in his mouth.
Campbell said, “We’re good” in response to a question specifically about Za’Darius Smith
That’s the part that’s so funny about this. Campbell and the Lions were so incredibly right in this moment. The question was about why the Lions didn’t bring back Smith. Here’s the full quote of what Campbell actually said:
“Well, we’re good right now,” Dan Campbell said on 97.1 The Ticket. “I mean, we’re pretty good here. We got (Marcus) Davenport, we got good depth, I like what we got on the interior, too, we got a lot of flexibility, and we’re sitting pretty good right now. So we’re ready to go, man.”
Smith signed with the Eagles and played five not-so-good games, and then retired. So the Lions were right to believe that they were good without him. If the question had been “why didn’t you get more edge rusher help?” and he said “we’re good,” then I can understand the whole thing a little bit more.
The Lions actually were/are good
A loss can make you think crazy things like the team is bad and it’s always been bad. For a good chunk of the season, the Lions were top five in the league in pressures and sacks, and their defense has been one of the top 10 units in the league. As we stand here right now, the Lions are fourth in the league in pressures, fifth in sacks, and have the sixth-ranked defense in DVOA. Like, how is that bad?
There’s this idea that the only way to win a Super Bowl is to have a defense that allows zero points and dominates every week. That just doesn’t happen in the real world. Not even to the Eagles, who everyone obsessively thinks are the best, yet rank pretty far below the Lions in all three stats I just brought up.
Let it go, people. Maybe the Lions make the playoffs this year, and maybe they don’t. It won’t be because of the pass rush. It’ll likely be more of an offensive line, secondary, and injury thing.
Detroit Lions News
5 winners and 4 losers from the Lions win over the Cowboys, one of Detroit’s biggest superstars had a really bad night
Sorry, Cade Cunningham. Hopefully that’s the only loss you take in the next few days
