it’s not the playbook
but it’s the way that you play
that’s most important

“It’s not the playbook that’s the most important thing for these guys to come in and learn,” Glenn said this week. “It’s the style of play that we have — and that’s easy to learn because once you see it and once we show it to them, they understand, listen, this is how we play. We can shrink the playbook down as much as we want, but it’s the way that you play that’s the most important.”

Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn as quoted in the article, Why Lions’ shootout win over Packers ranks among Dan Campbell’s most special by Colton Pouncy Dec 6, 2024, in The Athletic (Click here for PDF for those who don’t have access).

Mr. Pouncy continues:

Each one has its own special place in the hearts of those who helped make it happen. Few are as memorable as this one will be for the group that accomplished.

“This is sweet,” said Campbell, pushing all the right buttons for the 12-1 Lions. “I told the team, ‘This will be one of those you never forget.’”

Sure I see the defense falling away piece by piece.

But the new pieces fit into the puzzle in a way that leaves me puzzled.

Back in the day, Detroit would never have pulled this off.

Something has changed.

Mr. Pouncy write, “Program win is a term typically used in college football to describe a defining moment, typically for a team on the rise. But this isn’t college and the Lions are a Super Bowl contender. And yet, this had the feeling of one. Perhaps organizational win is a better term. It took the front office, coaching staff and players on the field to get it done.”

While I remember a Lions coach once asking publicly, what does a guy have to do to get fired around here.

That was Daryl Rodgers and he went 18-40 over 4 years before being fired.

In those four years, his teams won four more games than the Lions have won this year alone … so far.

Just along for the ride … but really enjoying it as long as it lasts.

when really matter …
really matter now but when
they really matter

So as long as we’re being conscious about learning and getting these things in long term development then all these games will help us pay dividends and help us win those games later when they really matter. They really matter now, but when they really really matter.

Michigan Head Basketball Coach Dusty May on where his team is after 2 games as quoted in Michigan basketball, Dusty May ‘not going to panic’ over early turnover troubles by Tony Garcia in the Detroit Free Press.

Win those games later when things really matter.

They really matter now, but when they really really matter.

I do, goofy to say, know what he means.

But like they say in baseball, a win in April counts as much as a win in September.

They really matter in April, but they really really matter in September.

when it’s not your day
and you can still win, that’s a …
sign of a good team

“For me I’m not going to tell him anything because I don’t feel like this is, oh, man, what are you doing? These weren’t ill-advised throws. It wasn’t our day. When it’s not your day and you can still win, that’s a sign of a good team.”

Detroit Lions Head Coach on the 5 interception performance of Lions Quarterback Jerod Goff in a game that saw Detroit score 19 second half points Houston Texans, 26-23.

“Man, that is the definition of resiliency,” Campbell said. “You guys just kept bangin’ away, right? We did whatever we had to do. And we just bought our time.”

“We get our points. Bates, that was freakin’ ginormous, alright?“

My college team is awful.

My pro team, for the first time in my life, is good.

Good good.

Lucky good.

Rather be lucky than good good.

Finding ways to win games they have no business winning.

Winning games they should win.

Going to sit on the beach of this Detroit Lions team and enjoy the warm sunshine and soft breeze as long as I can.

irrelevant? how
bad does it have to be to
be irrelevant?

I like to start my Sunday newspapers reading two sports columns in the online USA Today.

One is a column that tracks the winners and losers, those college football teams that came out as winners the previous Saturday and those college football teams that came out as losers.

My team lost and lost big to the Number One team in the nation.

Oddly though neither team made this column.

My team lost, was expected to lose and I guess as such, was not listed among the losers.

The other team, just be a loser of a team, and I guess as such, was not listed among the winners.

The other column is the College Football Misery Index.

This column tracks which college football team’s fans feel the worse.

Your team can win and you still feel lousey like last week, Ohio State beat Nebraska, but no one felt that good about it.

This week the five top teams whose fans are in Misery, all lost.

The next group of fans are listed as being Miserable but not miserable enough.

Georgia won their game but with their QB throwing 3 INT’s, their fans still feel not so great.

But here is the point.

My team didn’t make either list.

They are so awful, that there no longer even figure in the conversation of teams whose fan’s feel awful.

My team had a very good year last year.

I should be able to manage a bad year this year.

But who planned on being … irrelevant.

My team has been here before.

We hired this feller known as the Morgantown Miracle Worker as head coach and he was reverse Amish.

He did less with more than almost any coach known in the history of the game.

My team didn’t lose often, at least until Rich Rod came along.

He even lost to the University of Toledo.

Lost to Toledo and then an odd thing happened.

Toledo had a bad season, beat my team but had a bad season.

Almost any other time in history, any team from the state of Ohio that beat my team was a reason to give the coach a better contract.

This year though was different.

Beating my team didn’t matter and that Toledo coach got fired.

My team was irrelevant to the conversation that season..

Much like my team was this past weekend.

Winner?

Loser?

In Misery?

In the wrap up conversation about the weekend of football, my team had again become, irrelevant.

Are we back in those bad old days so soon?

Oh well, there was always last year.