During the regular season Tim Twentyman will answer 10 good questions from his Twitter account @ttwentyman in a feature we call “10 Questions with Twentyman.”
Who has been the biggest surprise in the team this season, good or bad?
20man: How about I give you one of each?
I think everyone in Allen Park and the fan base were pleasantly surprised by rookie linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez. The sixth-round draft pick earned a starting role out of training camp and was a key contributor from Day one. He leads the team with six tackles for loss and was nominated for Rookie of the Week after recording seven tackles, the first sack of his career. and recovered a fumble in Detroit’s loss to Miami in Week 8. He is third on the team with 64 tackles and has a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He’s been really steady all year. It looks like he could be a fundamental piece in the defense.
I was in Indianapolis for the joint practices when running back D’Andre Swift told a handful of reporters his goal for this season was 1,000 runs and receiving yards. Unfortunately, ankle and shoulder injuries have severely limited him over the last two months and he currently has 292 yards and 186 receiving. Look, injuries happen, but they’ve been too much of the story with Swift these first three seasons. He seems to be getting stronger, and hopefully he’ll be his old self again for the stretch run, but Jamaal Williams is clearly the No. 1 back here now, and Swift doesn’t look like he’s going to nowhere near his preseason. targets for 2022.
How is it possible to have so many injuries every single week. Even with the bye, or after Thanksgiving. We have free time and still don’t get stronger. Is this part of the staff or players? How can we fix this. Or how do we compare to other teams?
20man: I ran across this recent tweet from the NFL on Fox about the current strength of every team in the NFL. It quantifies how injuries affect the overall position of the team and the performance of the players on a scale of 0-100. It was after Week 11, so he has a few weeks, but you’ll see that Detroit falls right in the middle of the league in terms of the number of injuries affecting performance. This week’s opponent, Jacksonville, was the least affected by injury.
I know the injury reports have been long for some weeks for the Lions, but imagine being a Rams, Broncos or Chargers fan. They have been decimated by key injuries up and down their lineup.
Where would you rate Dan Campbell? I’m a firm believer in it but some watch management was iffy. I’m curious what you think.
20man: There were some clock things here and there I wasn’t always on board with them. I think the end of the first half last week vs. Buffalo is a good example. Instead of milking the clock and making it harder for Buffalo to drive and score before the end of the half, Campbell chose to be aggressive. He said he wanted to score quickly, stop Buffalo and get the ball back to try to score again. I just thought it was a really aggressive approach against that team and that quarterback, but that’s Campbell.
I’m in the building every day, and I can tell you that the players love Campbell and play his ass. The change in culture that everyone refers to in Allen Park is real. Campbell can lead a team, no doubt about it, and when the talent on this roster better matches his more aggressive style, it will be fun to watch.
My expectation for this team coming into the season was to at least double their win total from a year ago and be in the playoff conversation in December and January. Both of those goals are still achievable for this team, so I think Campbell is right on schedule for where this team should be in his second season.
What is the deadline for Jameson to be activated to play this week? Saturday?
20man: Saturday is correct. He is currently still on NFI (non-football injury) and the team will have to activate him before his 21-day practice window ends, which is the week of the Jets game. They will also have to make room for him on the roster.
I’m not closing the door on Williams playing this week just yet, although Campbell said it would be a long shot. I would be surprised, however, if he didn’t play the following week against Minnesota at Ford Field. I could see something like what they did with DJ Chark and Josh Reynolds when they came back from injury. Have a certain number of snaps and packages for him and facilitate him.
How do you see the RB performing the split working / what do you think about using Swift for Sunday?
20man: Swift is feeling better after dealing with ankle and shoulder injuries for most of the season, but I think Jamaal Williams has surpassed him as the No. 1 back. Williams not only fits this style of running with ‘hard nose, but when running backs coach Duce Staley used words like dependable, dependable and trust when talking about Williams, I thought that said a lot.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Staley will always go with the hot hand, and Swift can certainly get hot quickly, as we’ve seen at times with his big-play potential, but I think that’s something he now has to earn. I think the Lions go into a game thinking Williams will lead them in carries with Swift being a change of pace. A few big plays early from Swift could change things, but I don’t think there’s a situation where the Lions go into a game planning on Swift getting more carries than Williams.
How is the atmosphere behind the scenes? Do the players still believe in the playoffs?
20man: One thing you need to know about professional athletes that I’ve learned over the years is that they are some of the most confident people I’ve ever met. Until a team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, they always believe they have a shot.
Just the way the Lions have played over the last month, going 3-1 with their lone loss coming in the last second against Super Bowl contender Buffalo, confidence is high with this club at the moment. They are playing some pretty good ball, and they believe they can make a run these last six games.
What is the over/under on the number of times we hear about pick 1 vs pick 2 in this most recent draft class?
20man: I’ll set it to 5. This is how this works when two players are taken at the same position No. 1 and No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft. They will always be linked to each other.
Jacksonville took Travon Walker No. 1 overall in this year’s draft, which allowed Aidan Hutchinson to fall to the Lions at No. 2. The Lions were reprimanded by the league for changing their card with Hutchinson’s name on it so quickly. It’s safe to say the Lions got their man.
Hutchinson had more impact than Walker in terms of pass rush and big plays (5.5 sacks and two interceptions). I talked to some people in Jacksonville this week and asked them about Walker. He’s still a work in progress in terms of his pass rush skills, but his athleticism is through the roof. He plays linebacker and rush end for them, and they like his potential. Each team got their man. We’ll see who ends up the most productive player.
How are the injured interior linemen doing? Who will start on Sunday? Thanks for your work Tim!
20man: Pro Bowl guard Jonah Jackson is headed for a return Sunday after missing the Buffalo game with a concussion. He is working through the return to play protocol and has had no setbacks.
Not so good news for the other guard, Evan Brown. He missed both the first two days of practice this week as he is still hampered by an ankle injury.
If Brown can’t go, it will likely be either Kayode Awosika or Dan Skipper again. It was a rough outing for both players against the Bills. Both allowed a sack and two pressures. They also received the two worst grades on the team from a run blocking perspective. Jackson’s return is great, but the Lions will miss Brown if he can’t go.
What is more valuable to this team going into 2023, a near winning or winning season OR a better draft position? The Lions sit at about a 20% lower chance of making the postseason. Is carrying energy into next season greater than landing someone to put in a critical position of need?
20man: Are you forgetting that the Lions have the best of both worlds right now?
Detroit has played better football over the last month. Continuing to do so and being in the hunt in December and January will go a long way for the future of this young football team.
And thanks to the Matthew Stafford trade, the Lions own the Los Angeles Rams’ first-round pick next season, which is currently the No. 3 overall pick.
I would like to see this team play good ball down the stretch and win some games. They could do that, and still potentially have a top five pick given the Rams and all the injuries and losses they’ve had to endure this season. I think that would be the biggest win-win for this organization.
Penei Sewell has an ankle injury, is it a minor or something to watch
20man: It’s something they monitor for sure, but knowing Sewell, I think it’s unlikely to keep him out of the lineup on Sunday.
What is the Detroit Lions motto?
Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions explains why he adopted ‘grit’ as a motto. Read also : Bair: ‘Every game counts’: Missed opportunity against Chargers hurts Falcons’ NFC South quest.
What is the nickname of the Detroit Lions? Hearty Cats: a nickname originally given to the Carolina Panthers of 2003 and later to the Detroit Lions of the 2010s.
What are the Detroit Lions known for? Detroit Lions, an American professional gridiron football team based in Detroit. The Lions play in the National Football Conference (NFC) of the National Football League (NFL) and have won four NFL championships (1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957).
What is the slogan of the NFL? “It Takes All of Us,” the NFL’s brand campaign for the 2020 season, leverages the scale and power of the league to unite the country during a critical time in our nation.
What does one pride mean?
One Pride. It was not a campaign for a sports team. It was a call to arms for an entire city, placing a recognizable image as the symbol of that city’s indomitable spirit. See the article : Sidharth Malhotra: Be Yourself Entertainer. He put Detroit at the center of the communication and reinforced the Lions’ trademark Honolulu blue color to drive the point home.
Who plays for the Detroit Lions?
Who is Dannie Rogers? About. Dannie is the team reporter for the Detroit Lions. Previously, she was the team reporter and social media coordinator for Arizona Football. Before coming to Arizona, Dannie was a reporter, anchor and producer for BCSN in Toledo, Ohio.
Is the lion population recovering?
Over the past 21 years, lion populations have increased by 12% in four southern African countries (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe) but have declined with 60% in West, Central and East Africa. This may interest you : Cheerleader with regional ties rises from UK to NFL – The Advocate-Messenger.
Is the lion population increasing or decreasing? Lions are not currently endangered in Africa. However, three quarters of their populations are declining. The main threats to African lions are human-wildlife conflict and natural prey decline, as well as habitat loss, climate change and the wildlife trade. -wild animals.
How many lions were there 1,000 years ago? About a hundred years ago there were probably up to 200,000 lions living wild in Africa. Recent surveys put the number of wild lions at around 30,000 or even as low as 20,000.
How many lions have left since 2022? According to available data, there are approximately 30,000 to 100,000 lions left worldwide. To ensure the existence of lions, public awareness of the threats they face, protection of natural habitats and the construction of more such habitats are the need of the hour.
