The Golden Tate trade (to Eagles for a 3rd round pick?!?) show that the Ford Family’s front office has given up on the season, dumping whatever was left of team morale (and Stafford playing with a glove). Ten sacks on the day on the road in Minnesota makes it hard to put up points, those are coverage sacks. Great trade. Season’s done.
Oh, and hiring Matt Patricia? Colossal boneheaded move. He’s not a head coach. The other day I watched a game highlight vid on YT from 2012 — that was TWO coaches ago. Six years hence, 2024, today’s lowlights vid will likely be two coaches ago.
N.Y. Jets L 48-17; San Francisco L 30-27; New England W 26-10; Dallas L 26-24; Green Bay W 31-23; Miami W 32-21; Seattle L 28-14; Minnesota L 24-9.
To get to .500, they’ll need two wins. They’ve got 4 road games and 4 home games to go, which means they’ll need to finish up 6:2, but I can’t see how they’ll get to .500 just in those eight games. I see perhaps a split with Chicago at this point, and a second win over Green Bay — although if that turns out to be the game that could put them in the playoffs (which is farfetched), they’ll lose it.
10 Nov 11, 2018 @ Chicago
11 Nov 18, 2018 vs Carolina
12 Nov 22, 2018 vs Chicago
13 Dec 2, 2018 vs L.A. Rams (undefeated right now, playing 6:1 Saints in NOLA)
14 Dec 9, 2018 @ Arizona
15 Dec 16, 2018 @ Buffalo
16 Dec 23, 2018 vs Minnesota
17 Dec 30, 2018 @ Green Bay
Remaining five games are three on the road, two home: vs LAR Sunday, Dec 2; @ ARI Sunday, Dec 9; @ BUF Sunday, Dec 16; vs MIN Sunday, Dec 23; @ GB Sunday, Dec 30. Currently 4-7, they literally need to run the table, still, just to get to 9:7. If they can even reach 8:8 it'll be remarkable. I didn't think their previous coach was a good hire and he gave me a pleasant surprise. Of course he was fired after last season, but I can tell you straight up that the Weeble they've got now looked and sounded like a bad idea, and the only thing that has happened to refute that in the least was the season opening victory over the Deflatriots. Back to rebuilding, but first, let's do some more demolition for a while. My guess is, Matt Patricia will be out after the 2019 season, if the inbreds who own the team don't fire him on the Monday after next Thanksgiving. SELL THE TEAM.
And, that's their season.
The two guys calling the game for Fox today? One was competent, the other was an overtalkative, useless POS who doesn't belong on the air. It made more of an impact, because I actually don't watch the games, I just listen to them, or I check the results in the evening, and if they happened to have won, watch the highlights on YT. It's a big timesaver.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/preview/NFL_20181216_DET@BUF/
[snip] The Detroit Lions [5-8-0] are technically alive in the NFC playoff hunt, although they would have to vault seven other teams over the final three weeks of the season. [/snip]
according to https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/standings/playoffrace the seven teams are:
Minnesota (6-6-1), Carolina (6-7-0) which plays New Orleans twice with Atlanta in the middle, Philadelphia (6-7-0) (Rams, Texans, Redskins), Washington (6-7-0) (Jaguars, Titans, Eagles), Green Bay (5-7-1), Tampa Bay (5-8-0) (Ravens, Cowboys, Falcons), and N.Y. Giants (5-8-0) (Titans, Colts, Cowboys).
Detroit plays @ Buffalo; then vs Minnesota (they play Miami, then Chicago); season closer @ Green Bay (Bears, Jets, Detroit).
Since there are two 6-7-0 teams playing each other in that group of seven, it would appear that the best outcome for Detroit to get the help it needs would have them win three straight (otherwise, the rest is moot), the Vikings lose three in a row, the Packers get to 9 losses (including against Detroit), Carolina lose 2 out of 3, Eagles beat the Redskins and lose their other two games (actually not unlikely), and Tampa and Giants lose one more game each (that looks likely), and that would leave me with a dry mouth from having my jaw on the floor.
Da Bears (Packers, Niners, Vikings) need to beat GB and Minnesota or Detroit is out, Chicago wins the division regardless, and will probably run the table, even if their motivation falls off a bit, finishing regular season play with 11-5-0 or 10-6-0.
The Cowboys (Colts, Tampa Bay, Giants) beating the Buccaneers and then the Giants would leave them at 10-6-0 even with a loss to the Colts, but at this point I doubt that will happen. No impact on the Lions, apart from possibly hosting the Lions in the first round of the playoffs, y’know, assuming Hell freezes over and stuff. From this vantage point, if the Lions leap these seven teams, their first postseason matchup will be against the Bears, the Cowboys, or the Seahawks.
The Seahawks (Niners, Chiefs, Cards) are likely to end up no worse than 9-7-0, and have been playing better down the stretch. If they wind up running the table, they’ll push past the Cowboys with 11-5-0. That would be astonishing.