That's right. It is Exis and Bros. I'm Dennis fifteen in for our
Matt Shepherd. It's great to be with you here. I'm a Michigan sports
networking. We're going to talk about the Detroit Lions coming up here right out
of the gate, and I'm asking you the question, how much did a
Green Bay Packers scare you? That's the question for you to jump right in
and I'm going to give you my thoughts. Also, heading into this Father's
Day weekend, I'm looking for that saying that your dad had that has stayed
with you. It could be something very poignant, it could be something very
funny. It could be about sports or otherwise. Whenever I played golf with
my dad and I would hit a bad shot, you know, I wouldn't
throw my club. But even if I was like darn, you know whatever,
he would say, Dennis, you're not good enough to get mad.
You don't play enough golf to get mad. What did I say about getting
mad? You're not good enough to get mad at golf? That was his
saying. It stayed with me. If you got another one. If you
got one, go ahead and give us a call. It's perfect to use
the text call us at eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three.
That is the Meyer hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty
three. I always like hearing from people over on the west side of the
state on WMAX ninety six point one. Let's go, I know the game
is booming out there on the west side of the state. Let's hear from
you. Perfect to use the dad sayings texting in to twenty one thousand sports
Radio all one word Sports Radio twenty one thousand, give us that dad saying
on this Father's Day weekend. My dad also and this I think falls right
into the same category. You know, golf is a funny game, and
you watch the pros and you watch them te off and they swing as hard
as they can. And I think about Scheffler, who's you know, it's
got his legs look like they're twisted up and it looks like he's gonna fall
over, and you know the torque that he hits with. And then you
know, you go out yourself and you try something like that and you hook
at one hundred yards of the right. And my dad, he was so
into letting the club do the work so much so you know that, you
know, I can hear him still in my head to this day. When
I take a swing, it's like, you know, you're swinging it like
a baseball bat. You got to just hit down on the ball and you
gotta let the club do the work. And it's always like nice and I'm
always thinking nice and easy, don't over just let the club do it.
Just let the club do the work. And you know the thing about it
is, he's right many times as I've stood over a ball and I've actually
hit a good shot and it's just exploded off the club face and it's zipped
right down the fairway, it's headed right to the green and lands up there.
You know what happens. It's always it's never mean, like you know,
muscling it. It's always just nice and nice and easy and it just
boom. He was right about that, let the club do the work,
all right. So when it comes to the Lions last year, at this
time, people were very bullish on the Lions. I think everyone was predicting
the Lions to win the NFC North. They were the heavy favorite. The
Bears, they didn't have anything going for them. Well, I guess they
had fields the Packers had a first time starter in Love. We didn't know,
not even I was gonna say completely. We just didn't have that good
of an idea on what he was going to do. It looked like the
biggest threat was going to be the Vikings, and then Cousins are halfway through
the season, got hurt, and the Lions they ran away with the NFC
North and won twelve games. And now we sit here in this offseason.
The Lions are favored again, but the Packers are right there in their rear
view mirror and Jordan Love and I think it was the game that the I
think it was on Thanksgiving, now the week before of the Packers won,
but he threw three touchdowns against the Lions, and then it was at his
coming out party. I'll leave that for Packer fans. Maybe one will say,
no, no, it was this game. It felt to me like
it was the Lions game on Thanksgiving. And then after that with the Packers,
you know, they close strong. Love started playing well, and and
now you listen to the I don't know, the NFL experts and when they
look at Love, and I gotta admit, when I look at it myself,
he looks a lot like he plays a lot looks a lot like Aaron
Rodgers, the way he throws the ball, the way he moves around,
the way he operates the offense, A young, healthy and engaged Aaron Rodgers.
Engage like not showing up to the training camps and OTA's and not doing
whatever Aarons is doing right now, which I'm not really even sure. He's
in South America or something out in the rainforest. Whatever, that's that's his
business. But I'm talking about the Packers. Do they scare you? How
much would they scare you if you're a Lions fan. I want to hear
from a Lions fan or a Packers fan. You know, previous to this
year, I always I didn't find it amazing, but it was interesting.
Lion fans really didn't know how to act in terms of having a good football
team. It. You know, we know about the history, but what
happened in the off seasons for the Lions previous to this year was that Lion
fans were really cocky in the offseason without having any reason to be cocky.
And in fact, you know, like you know, they were the worst,
the worst franchise, and yet the fans the off season and for many
of the fans were like, yeah, I mean, it all goes out
the window when you actually have to play and then you lose, and then
it's you know, damn it. And then you just wait to the next
off season. You you wait to the draft. That's your super Bowl.
And it was rinse and repeat for my entire life. And I would watch
and listen to the Lion fans and they all were kind of the same.
That was it. They didn't have anything to brag about during the season.
The off season was that was their time. As soon as they and it
certainly wasn't the super Bowl. As soon as the Super Bowl ended, that's
when Lion season for fans started. They could, you know, start talking
about, oh, we can move the money to land a top free agent.
They just got you going, oh Trey Flowers, and it just pump
you up. And then obviously the draft, anytime you're armed with one of
the top picks, that is your super Bowl. So now, you know,
it's interesting. I don't even know how Lion fans, you know,
they were cocky before now I think just confident, confident in the team and
just looking forward to the upcoming season. But the Packers are there, and
we know that the Vikings and Bears have their rookie quarterbacks and it's going to
be the Packers that the Lions are going to have to beat as their biggest
contender if they're going to win the NFC North again. I think everybody believes
that. How much are you scared though, of the Packers? I don't
know if that's a good word for you. I am I'm a little bit
scared of the Packers because of what they have been able to do over the
years with the quarterback position, with Farvan Rogers and now Love. It's not
hard to look at the Packers and say, this is an organization that just
you know, this is one of the premier organizations. And then they're sitting
here. The Lions had their year. They're in the rear view mirror for
me, so that is that is scary. That is a little bit scary.
But what about for you. I want to hear from you on that
With the Lions. We've talked about the possibility of sweeps in the NHL and
the NBA coming up at seven thirty five, a chance for you to be
a czar in the world of sports. I'll let you make a change or
two across any sport, big or small. That's coming up at seven thirty
five. Dennis Fifthian in format Sheppard here on Exis and Bros. On the
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org. Coming up later today at three on the Huge Show in the Michigan
Sports Network, I'll deliver huge opinions on everything you're talking about. Yes,
Sir, seven thirty five on axes and Bros. Dennis Fifthy in with you
here. It's great to be able to talk at you this morning on the
Michigan Sports Network. We're talking about the alliance right now and asking you how
much the Green Bay Packers scare you. You get the phone number on the
Meyer hotline eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. We've got
texts coming in sports radio to twenty one thousand. You can tweet at us.
I'm at Dennis Fifthy in at XB mornings. How much do the Green
Bay Packers scare you? Also looking for the dad sayings on this Father's Day
weekend. Yeah, we got a couple of little text Oh, let's hear
them, Ben, Let's hear a couple. Yeah. One is from from
Peteford, Rockford. It says patients virtue virtue here. Yeah, there you
go. That's a that's a good dad saying. And then this one's from
Freddy. It says it says, my father would always say, if you're
healthy and your bills are paid, you're the richest person in the world.
World. Now, I love it. I love hearing ones like that.
That's better than go get me the belt, or go get me the something
about mowing the loan or you know those kind of ones. Now. Mark
on Twitter said that Jordan Love is overrated, and he says that he took
teams by surprise last year. There was really no game film of him to
be studied by opposing defenses. He will not sneak up on anyone this year.
Now that's a that's a decent opinion. At first, Mark just said
he's overrated, and I felt like, you know, that's what a Lions
fan would say, and you know that he's overrated. And there is a
point you have the game film. Normally, when I'm thinking about you have
the game film, I think about a scheme overall on one side of the
ball, and then you know you're you're gonna make those adjustments. And you
know the other teams, teams that have success, other teams are studying.
You're studying every team, but then you're you're studying the team, certainly in
your division, on anything that you can do. And yet part of that
what Love does well, you know, the counter is is that he was
in there for the entire season, and then he improved as he went and
he played well in the postseason. But there's no doubt that being able to
get the entire offseason and then trying to find something You're not gonna just do
the same things with him, you know, you're always making those adjustments.
And the part about him not sneaking up on anyone, Now, could you
say the same thing about the Lions. You know you could say that about
anyone. But that's why if you're a Lions fan, you feel good about
where you're at right now heading into this season. You know that it wasn't
an aberration. You don't fall into twelve wins, you don't get lucky to
win two playoff games. You know there could be a call and we can
go back and look at things and and everything else. You know, you
you end up being where you're at. But if you lost a substantial amount
of your team and you looked at it and or there was let's say like
the you know, the Lions, you know the offense was was ranked really
high last year. If it wasn't and then it just you know, perked
up for two games, you could say, wow, you know they only
did it for two games, But you have the entire season to look at
with the offense being the a top three offense, with you know, the
passing game ranked number two, and then you have those pieces coming back you
know. The thing to me, if you are, if I am just
and I do just like you do, you know, I look and say,
well, well it was a fluke and what wasn't and all of that.
The thing that is surprising to me about the Lions with their success last
year is that I've been asked, you know, what was the key?
People like to say what was the superpower for the Lions? Well, their
offense was the engine. And they've got an enormous amount of talent when you
look at at what they have on offense and what they're bringing to the table.
But the thing that I would say that is the key to all of
it was their offensive line play led by Piney Sewell of course. But the
thing that is strange is that the offensive line they weren't all together healthy last
year. It wasn't a unit. If that was a unit that was together
for almost the entire season, and you'd say they did not miss any game
injuries and they did not have any big injuries, and you know that was
the key. Well, that would be the key, and the offensive line
was the key, But they weren't together for the majority of the season.
In fact, they had nine different combinations, you know, They went Decker,
Jonah Jackson, rag Now, Glasgow, and Sewell from left to right.
But they had nine different combos with guys being out at different times,
rag Now with the toe, you know, Decker being out a few times.
And they do replace Jackson, who was good in a former third round
pick, with Kevin Ziegler. But Ziegler, you know, when you look
at him, is thirty four old for an offensive lineman. You could say
that. You could also say, well, the Ravens, you know,
moved on and they're one of the better organizations. But he was just a
name to his first Pro Bowl. That's not nothing last year, and he
did have the second best passing blocking grade for guards and all the NFL the
second best this you know, you could make a case he's an upgrade in
there. So that, to me, that's the strange part for the Lions.
Not a fluky part, but that the number one thing that you would
say about him is that they have this excellent offensive line and you're going to
need that for Jared Goff. And yet they had nine different combinations over there,
so they were able to overcome that and still perform. I just like
you know, you go through you want to say, there's questions and they'll
have to prove it, certainly in the passing game and being able to get
to the quarterback, no doubt. And they drafted that way at free agency,
they went that way. I mean, you could see what they have
tried to do there. But man on offense, it's a lot of fun.
Goff has a tremendous tandem of running backs that he's got a thunder and
lightning, you know, Gibbs, the sky's the limit, Jamiir Gibbs.
After watching him as a rookie last year, Montgomery is everything that you thought.
Remember, you know, you wanted the Lions. Jamal Williams scored for
the eighteen touchdowns and you thought, well keep him going. He loved Detroit
so much. But they upgraded. You know, Montgomery catch the ball.
He runs as hard, physical runner in between the tackles a manra Uh.
Yeah, they lose, they lose something in depth and wide receiver. But
I mean, how much Reynolds are they gonna Is that something? I don't
think so that they're gonna mess because I think Jamison Williams, he's You're expecting
quite a bit more from him this year, and you know, Laporta was
a surprise man. Laporta even if he's got even be surprised at the Lion's
front office. They liked him, they picked him, they drafted him high,
they thought maybe he could play early. Did they really think, hey,
you need to be the best tight in the NFL. I mean,
that's the idea, that's the hope. But that's got to even surprise them
as you're sitting there right now. But the Packers, I think a lot
of it has to do with the uh, the history, the current organization
that the head coach and then yeah, the quarterback. I mean all of
that. If you are able to as a Lion fan, just be like,
no, there's there's nothing scary at all about the Packers. It's more
of a confidence in the Lions and what they have. I get that.
I think that's I think that's the way to go. And it's not up
to a fan to say, well this, you know, the Packers have
been one of the model organizations and just look at how they have been able
to, you know, find a quarterback and now look at how they were
able to put it together last year. I think if you tried to it's
a little bit surprising, just like I was talking about with the Lions and
the different offensive line combinations that they had. When I look at the Packers
and their wide receivers, it's not like they look you looked out there.
Aaron Jones was out for a lot of last year. He was great against
the Cowboys in the playoffs, and we know that they have moved on and
they have replaced him with Josh Jacobs, the former Raider. But Christian Watson,
how many games did he play? A couple he came back finally,
and then he had a really good game and then he got hurt again.
I think for the majority of the season, I don't have the numbers in
front of me. Ninety percent of the season he wasn't even if he was
available, wasn't affected effective, and was bothered by I believe a calf am.
I looking at Romeo Dobbs or Jaden Reid from Michigan State and thinking,
oh man, these guys you got a really account for them. I mean
they seem like real, legit number two wide receivers, just like Luke Musgrave.
He was a rookie tight end. Well, he showed some promise,
but then he was banged up a lot. So for the it's a little
bit of a surprise that when you look at that that really didn't have a
number one wide receiver with Watson being hur the tight end that they were counting
on pass catching tight end, he was banged up the majority of the time,
so it was Jones, and yet they were still able to, you
know, get within striking distance and almost play the Lions in the NFC Championship
game the way they got hot and the way they were playing, So you
know, they're really counting on Christian Watson to come back. You know,
I pound his name so much. He was on my fantasy team, so
I know, weekend and week out I had him. And then what did
did he get hurt? Like he wasn't. It didn't seem like he was
hurt for the entire preseason, but then it was like the practice week.
Next thing, you know, they're like, oh, he's out with a
calf, And then he was out for the first six weeks and then he
came back and they were ramping him up for a game or two and then
he just exploded in a game. But then he got hurt the next game
and I don't know did he even come back. Like I said, ninety
percent of the season he seemed like he was out or you couldn't trust him,
or he wasn't in there. So the scary part for the Packers where
are you at with that? So the rest of the North in terms of
being scared, I look at I'm not going to be scared of the Vikings
or the Bears. Yet. I do think that the Bears have you know,
they had a seven win season last year. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams,
I'm not expecting him to just be like Stroud. I do think over McCarthy
probably. I mean, there's both of those teams. There's lots to like
with their rookie qbs and what they've been able to put around them. But
I still think rookie qbs, you know you're feeling pretty good. If you're
sitting up at the top, you know one of those will be okay.
I would I would guess the Bears more with Williams being the number one overall
pick and then the talent that they do have that they're sitting there with,
but still feeling pretty good about the Lions and what they will be able to
do, and it's bearing out when you look at anybody that talks about them,
they start talking about the NFC North, I'm sorry that you start about
the NFC overall, And yeah, the first name that's coming out of your
mouth is the forty nine ers. They're the favorite they've got. You know
what, if we're going to talk about turmoil with Brandon Aiyuk, maybe I
had I don't know, that's turmoil. Got a contract situation right there,
but that's about it. But after that, it's the Lions and we've never
been able to say that, and now we can. So this is a
unique off season and how Lion fans are handling it, I don't know.
I would imagine that they've just kicked it up from one of of off seasons
of being able to brag and be cocky when there was nothing to brag about
or be cocky about, to now that you can that they've been able to
take it to that level, it's different. You really have to ask yourself
because all of the years you say, when people say, well, how
do you handle yourself? Lion fans don't know. I mean they've never had
they've never been in a situation like this, so you know, they handle
it like sitting Max saying, I don't know. It feels pretty good.
You can actually say things and point to things that you know that just happened.
It's not about this is what you expect or you know, false hope
and the different things that you might say. So that part it's feeling pretty
good. Now. Coming up in the eight o'clock hour, whatever sport is
your favorite, I am going to have you be a sports czar. You're
the sports are. You make a change in your favorite sport. It could
be a big change, it could be a small change. It could be
something that you really think can and will happen. It could be a long
shot, but that's the idea how to tweak sports. You're the commissioner in
this case, you're the sports are and you make that change. And for
years you just do something like this, and you would say things, and
you'd take of calls on sports shows and you would hear some really wild suggestions.
The way things have changed in the last five years, it doesn't feel
like that. There's many like there's crazy things to say, especially when it
came to college football and say let's have of sixteen team playoff, let's get
rid of and you'd say, you know, let's kind of try to be
realistic. Let's play game on you know, play an NFL game on a
Tuesday and on a Friday. And you know, if there was one thing,
and maybe that was the only thing about the pandemic, that it took
sports and they had to break the molds and so many different things. Play
a game here, play it out there, play it on a different day,
try this rule, adjust that. And you've looked at it and it's
changed. It's changed the landscape where you say, why not be able to
do something like this. It's funny, not funny, but interesting how it
took something like the pandemic. But then the other times that you had some
changes in sports were like the strikes or the lockouts, and you're like,
hey, those well really well, I really like how they did that.
Instead they're just sitting back with status quo and saying, no, that's unrealistic.
We're not doing anything like that. So sports are. We'll get to
that. We'll continue to read some of your texts. We're asking you your
favorite dad sayings on this Father's Day weekend. Did you jen have a funny
one, A good one, a one that is saying it has stayed with
you for your life that our audience would enjoy. Let's hear from you on
that. It's Dennis Fifthy and Ben zost is here, he's on the ones
and twos. It's Axes and Bros. On the Michigan Sports Network. There's
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