Detroit Lions Playoff Mailbag: Will James Houston play Sunday?
The Detroit Lions mailbag continues! Welcome to the playoffs. Isn't it so nice to be here for the first time since January of 2017? Only this time the Lions are doing something they haven't done in a long time. Host a playoff game. This will be the first time the Lions have hosted a game […]
The Detroit Lions mailbag continues! Welcome to the playoffs. Isn't it so nice to be here for the first time since January of 2017? Only this time the Lions are doing something they haven't done in a long time. Host a playoff game. This will be the first time the Lions have hosted a game since 1993 when they last won a divsion title. This is huge. Let's get to the questions:
Look, I've loved this team my entire life. I love this team so much that much that I made a career out of them. I don't remember the last playoff win. I had just turned six-years-old and the only thing I cared about was making sure I got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Sewer Sports collection. I care a lot now, about the Lions that is. Although I might hit eBay later and get those Turtles.
A win for this team would be such a confirmation of the moment that everyone is in with this team. It would be the moment in which you can say "yes, we really are on the right path." Don't get me wrong, I still think you should feel that way even if they lose. This team is a pretty good offseason away from much bigger things than just hoping they get a playoff win. From a career standpoint, it would be nice to no longer have to write "first playoff win since 1991" anymore.
I would fully expect that this is the route the Lions go from here. I don't just mean in the playoffs. I mean next year too. They have a two headed monster and they can balance both of them pretty nicely. Now, I don't think that means that they would try to force that rotation if one of them is having a hot game. You always ride the hot hand. I would expect Montgomery to get 10-15 carries on Sunday night.
I would think that the Lions elevate Anthony Firkser from the practice squad and they do something similar to what they did in 2022 when they did a tight end by committee type thing. The Lions actually had some success with that. Apart from that, I don't see a lot changing. The Lions will probably look to enforce their run game and then set up the play action pass. We'll see if LaPorta plays though. There's a shot it might happen.
I'm beginning to wonder if we'll see Houston this year or not. At this point we're 11 days into his clock and he has not been activated yet and the comments being made by Lions head coach Dan Campbell seemed to point to the idea that he might not be back until next season. Here's what Campbell said Monday when asked about Houston playing this week.
“Yeah, well look, Houston will be out there practicing, and we’ll see. He’ll be better than he was last week. Now how much is that? How good is that going to be? I don’t know. So, I don’t feel like – I’m not as optimistic about him."
We'll see what happens if the Lions move onto the next round, but right now it's not looking good.
I would expect that rotation to continue. The safeties are the Lions safety net right now, no pun intended. Ok, the pun was a little intended. But, seriously, the Lions safeties are the best part of this secondary and they are likely to be in full protection mode this Sunday. They'll be protecting the corners from getting burnt is what I mean.
It's going to be an all hands on deck type thing, so I would definitely expect to plenty of three safety looks over the top.
That's an interesting question. Minter, for those who don't know, is the defensive coordinator for the Michigan Wolverines. I don't think that the Lions would make this move to be honest. My guess is that the Lions have an in house succession plan for if, or when, they lose both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn. That succession plan is probably Tanner Engstrand and Kelvin Sheppard.
As for Minter, Jim Harbaugh is going to be more in demand in the NFL than ever. If he decides to leave Michigan and take a job in the NFL, I wonder if Minter would be poised to take over as the Wolverines head coach.
It's hard to top winning the NFC North championship. That brought a lot of joy to Lions fans and anything that does that, also brings me joy. I'd have to say that's the best moment during the Campbell and Holmes tenure as well. They set out to accomplish stuff like this and now they are.
I don't see why not. Dan Campbell said that Williams will be back at practice this week and even in the moment against Dallas, he didn't seem to dealing with an injury that would have long lasting effects.
They'll need him in this game. The Rams struggle against the deep pass. Per FTN, they've allowed the second most deep pass touchdowns in the NFL and the fourth most deep pass yards.
The Lions are definitely the best run stopping team the Rams have faced in a while. They have the number one rated run defense per DVOA and they've allowed the second fewest rushing yards in the NFL. This is a an aspect of the game that the Lions need to make sure they can take away.
Matthew Stafford isn't going to be easy to stop, but if you can take away a major part of their offense and make them one dimensional, You're going to more than likely make your night a little easier.
Absolutely. The Lions will and should look to get him locked up for the foreseeable future when the Lions season is over with. I'm guessing five years years and and $50 million a year. Something in that ball park. He will get paid. Don't stress out though, it's going to look like a discount when he gets almost immediately passed by quarterbacks that are going to make more.
Sunday night represents a chance for Goff to get his revenge on Rams
No matter what temperature you like it at, revenge is dish that's best served, well, served at all. Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff has the opportunity to serve it harder than most ever get the opportunity to serve it on Sunday. While Goff is carving out a really good career in Detroit, he was once […]
