The ‘Stons

11 STRAIGHT. Enough said. This team is so much better than we all thought. With Cade, Ausar, Duren, Tobias, and Isiah Stewart all getting hurt (minor stuff), the bench showed up and helped bring the Pistons to the second best record in the league. I said it last week, we had an easy schedule and could go on a bit of a run, and I was right. The star in particular that deserves a shoutout is Dannis Jenkins. If you don’t know who that is, that’s understandable. The guy played seven games last year and averaged one point. But man has he been on fire. The sophomore stepped up, and is averaging 21 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals over the last five games, and earned himself a spot in the starting lineup. He has been absolutely electric, and just goes to show how deep this roster is, and the genius that general manager Trajan Langdon is turning into. 

Not to mention despite all the heroics going on, Jaden Ivey is still injured. It sucks that he’s injured, but we’re doing amazing without him. Which is great. Again, this team is deep. And a lot of the playoffs nowadays (in every sport) come down to who is the healthiest. This team can get a playoff win, and in this Eastern Conference, maybe multiple. 

The last two times we went 11-2 were in 2005 and 1990. Both teams made it to the Eastern Conference Finals and are some of the most iconic Detroit teams of all time. The fact that two years ago, we set the record for most consecutive losses in a season, and this year we’re chasing the most consecutive wins in franchise history brings a tear to my eye. This team has come so far, and we’re just getting started. 

Los Lions

“Hooomecooking!” Man. If I could convey the sound of blowing a raspberry into text I would. I’m not one to typically blame the referees for a loss, and it wasn’t all their fault, but that call at the end was simply inexcusable. Maybe Goff would have just gone three and out if we got the ball back, or maybe there would have been a turnover, but there’s no way to tell. In case you missed it, the Eagles had a 3rd and long at the end of the game. If we got the stop, we got the ball back. Hurts threw an incompletion to A.J. Brown, and the refs called pass interference on Rock Ya-Sin. Even Chris Collinsworth said “that’s terrible” on the broadcast. But enough about the refs costing us the game, because it was largely our fault.

The ‘legion of whom’ had another legacy game, holding the extremely talented Eagles offense to 16 points, held Hurts to 135 yards on 50% completion percentage, and overall did an amazing job given the injury circumstances. The sad part is, the offense did not deliver whatsoever. And one key problem stands out.

Goff simply was not good. He threw for 255 yards, but had a 37% completion percentage. Yikes. The narrative that he couldn’t play outdoors has a little bit of truth to it, but in his defense, it was frigid and windy in Philly that night, not to mention the decimated offensive line. This is not the time to overreact if you’re a lions fan. Goff played nine weeks of MVP caliber football, and had a bad game in the tundra of Philadelphia with barely any help on the O-line. A lot of fans were calling for his head after the disaster that was the NFC Divisional game. There’s been questions about Goff’s future as a lion, but here’s the deal. We got to where we are because of this man. He is the one that’s carried us this far. Franchises would kill to have Goff play on their team. He played incredible football for the majority of his time in Detroit, but after one bad game we turn on him? That’s embarrassing to see as a fan. When you want to celebrate with us when we go for it on 4th down and get it, then you can’t scream at Dan for going for a fake punt in the first quarter. Being a fan means sticking it out with your team through thick and thin. I’m not saying you can’t criticize the actions of people, but recognize that this leadership and certain people are the reason we’ve turned this team around.

We can’t focus too much on the past. Both in life and in football. Focus on the now. And now is next Sunday’s matchup against the Giants of New York. Even though the Giants lost a narrow game against the fraudulent Packers of Green Bay, I’m not too worried. The Giants have the second worst record in the NFL, and even though the defense is solid, the offense is shaky. Jameis Winston, the newly appointed starting quarterback, brought some light to the struggling Giants, but ended up losing them the game, throwing an interception on the goal line at the end. With Nabers, Skattebo, and Dart all out for Sunday’s game, it should be a nice, bounce-back win to give us some momentum for Thanksgiving’s clash against Green Bay.

Lions by 20.

Motor City Kitties

Torres. Is. Back. The Venezuelan 2nd baseman accepted the Tiger’s qualifying offer of 22 million for one year this past Tuesday. All offseason, myself and others have been questioning whether or not Hinch and the front office are labeling this season as contention or rebuilding. One one hand, we have one of if not the best farm system in the MLB, with so much young talent from Troy Melton, Maxx Clark, Kevin McGonigle, and Jackson Jobe. As well as some key pieces on the roster right now. On the other hand, we have the best pitcher in baseball, who looks like he’ll be gone next year. Not to mention a roster than had the best record in baseball for a good stretch, as well as a playoff win and a game five loss in the ALDS. Contenders or rebuilders? Well, it looks like we have an answer. 

A lot of people are talking about trading Tarik Skubal, for the sole reason that Ilitch won’t extend/resign him for what he’s asking, and getting some good players and prospects for him is better than getting nothing for him. But I’ll tell you what I want from Skubal. A world series. If we keep him (at least until the trade deadline when we see how things are going), sign Torres, and bring up/maybe sign another bat, we can contend. We sure did last year for a stretch. 

So what does this mean in terms of other free agents? Well signing Torres was an absolute win by the front office. We’ve been linked to going after Alex Bregman, the 3rd baseman for the Red Sox of Boston, but with Torres signing, it doesn’t look like we’ll make a move for him. If we do, I wouldn’t hate it, Bregman is still a great player on both sides, batting .273 at age 31 where he made the all star game, but I do love Zach McKinstry at 3rd already, and we still have the Colt Keith question to deal with. Signing Bregman would be great, but it would definitely cause the defensive side of things to shift.

Tigers are contenders, now all that looms is the Skubal question.

Wings, Red

Don’t look now, but the Wings are atop of the Atlantic Division. Even with a still-rusty-from-injury Patrick Kane, the Wings offense looks electric, with the three headed beast of Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin, and Lucas Raymond all having above 20 points to start the year. Cam Talbot, who has been a bit of a hit or miss goalie in Detroit, has been great over the past 5 games, and is sitting on a three game win streak currently, averaging a .921 save percentage over those games. If he can keep it up, and we can continue to get flashes of greatness from Gibson, the Red Wings’ goalie situation could be a lot less worse than expected.

Now, do I think they can remain here for the whole season? It’s still too early to tell. In 2nd place in the Atlantic Division is the Bruins of Boston, for whom this year was supposed to be a rebuilding one. The reigning champs, the Panthers of Florida, are near the bottom. There has just been a lot of inconsistent games and teams this season, and I still can’t get a grip on who’s good and who’s not. And again, the playoffs are decided by which team is the healthiest at the end of the day, and we still have a long road ahead of us.