Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Eric Woodyard on tonight's Thursday Night Football game from a Detroit Lions perspective, Penei Sewell's impact + more

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Eric Woodyard on tonight's Thursday Night Football game from a Detroit Lions perspective, Penei Sewell's impact + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM. Welcome back
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to the Sean O'Connell Show. Time for a little Thursday
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: night football preview. Lions-Bills tonight. Kickoff at 6 Mountain Time.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We're lucky enough to welcome Detroit Lions reporter and insider...
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Eric Woodyard, a familiar face and name who used to
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: be with us here in Utah, but moved on to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: what I hope are bigger and better things. Eric Woodyard,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: welcome back to the show.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: How are you? What's up? What's up, man? How you doing?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Doing all right. How's life treating you on the new gig,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: new-ish gig?
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  Speaker 2: It's been cool, man. I'm out of Buffalo right now,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: so I've been eating so many wings, I feel like
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I'm about to explode.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I did see that. Is that a rental that was
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the Bronco? And you were like, I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: I should be driving it. Any issues driving a Bronco
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: in Bill's country?
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  Speaker 2: No, I'm cool, man. I'm cool. I'm cool.
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  Speaker 1: That's good. That's good. All right, let's talk a little
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  Speaker 1: Lions here. Obviously, there is some local interest. Panay Sewell
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  Speaker 1: is a guy that did his prep ball here in
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  Speaker 1: the state of Utah. And then Sione Vaki, who's now
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  Speaker 1: the second string running back for the Lions, played at
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  Speaker 1: the University of Utah. I want to start with Panay
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  Speaker 1: Sewell first. making the move to left tackle this year.
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  Speaker 1: We've got a one-game example of what that looks like.
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  Speaker 1: What are you hearing? What are they saying in Detroit
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  Speaker 1: about that transition for Panay?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, so far, so good. You know, Jared Goff,
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  Speaker 2: we spoke to him, and, you know, I asked him
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  Speaker 2: kind of before, you know, he was saying he almost,
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  Speaker 2: he's done it pretty seamless. I mean, at this point,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Sewell is one of the, you know, one
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  Speaker 2: of the, one of the foundational pieces of the team
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  Speaker 2: ever since he was drafted seventh overall and, you know, 2021,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's become one of those guys. So, you know, he's,
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  Speaker 2: he's made the, he's made the transition pretty seamlessly. He
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  Speaker 2: hadn't played it since he was, you know, back in
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  Speaker 2: college at Oregon, but, you know, right now, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he's doing good, but the line is going to be
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  Speaker 2: out without two starters this week, man. So you don't
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  Speaker 2: have to take on a lot of that low, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to be without, you know, left guard, Christian
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  Speaker 2: Mahogany and without right tackle Blake Miller. So, you know,
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  Speaker 2: You know, that's a big loss for this team coming
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  Speaker 2: into the game.
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  Speaker 1: How do they feel about the offensive line depth? It's
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  Speaker 1: always like an oxymoron, offensive line and depth, because, like,
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  Speaker 1: nobody has everything they need when it comes to backup
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  Speaker 1: offensive linemen. But are they in a good spot with
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  Speaker 1: the twos?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, of course they're going to tell us that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, you got Ben Bartz and Larry Borum filling in. But,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's only a small sample size. We're only
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  Speaker 2: going into week two, so we got to really see.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure personally, but, I mean... you know, Dan
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  Speaker 2: Campbell and those guys, they're feeling confident in the guys,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, it's going to be, you're going against
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  Speaker 2: one of the best players in the league and Josh Allen. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if any, you know, and that defense as well. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, any, any, they want to have every advantage
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  Speaker 2: that they can, obviously. Josh isn't going against the O-line,
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  Speaker 2: of course, but still, they want to be at their
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  Speaker 2: best to try to get themselves in a position. I'm
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  Speaker 2: not sure how that O-line looks. I'm just being honest.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure how it looks without those guys.
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  Speaker 1: You wrote a good piece, I guess about a month
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  Speaker 1: ago now, on whether or not the Lions Super Bowl
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  Speaker 1: window is open. Transparently, I'm a Niners guy, and I
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  Speaker 1: asked that same question about San Francisco. Whose windows are
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  Speaker 1: opening and closing in the 2026 season? I think San Francisco,
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  Speaker 1: because of age and a lack of depth, is one
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  Speaker 1: of those teams that if everything goes well, yes, they
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  Speaker 1: should be OK. The Lions, maybe for other reasons, if
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  Speaker 1: everything goes OK, I could see them being a Super
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  Speaker 1: Bowl contender, a significant injury here or there. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: not so convinced. Why are the Lions feeling like their
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  Speaker 1: Super Bowl window is still open?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you got to look at number one there,
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  Speaker 2: and they committed over a billion dollars to their course.
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  Speaker 2: You know, even this offseason, they paid Jameer Gibbs, making
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  Speaker 2: him the highest-paid NFL running back in history. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they paid Jack Campbell, the all-pro linebacker. But you also
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  Speaker 2: got Amirat St. Brown. You got Panay Sewell. You got
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  Speaker 2: Aidan Hutchinson. You got, you know, even Jared Goff. And
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  Speaker 2: most of these guys on his team are 25 years
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  Speaker 2: old or younger. You know what I mean? So I
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  Speaker 2: think that gives them the confidence that, hey, we got
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  Speaker 2: all these, you know, pro-bowl-level and all-pro guys here. And
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  Speaker 2: we put them in this window of the next two
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  Speaker 2: to three years, and I think if everything goes well,
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  Speaker 2: they see themselves in that spot. But like you say,
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  Speaker 2: everything has to go well. I mean, this team has
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  Speaker 2: been plagued by injuries the last couple of seasons. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, even right now, you got Kirby Joseph and
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  Speaker 2: Brian Branch out, both of their safeties, who was a
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  Speaker 2: part of that core, what they built, that foundation. But
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  Speaker 2: I think if everything goes as well, the window could
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  Speaker 2: be open at least another two years just because, They're
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  Speaker 2: running things much differently in Detroit now than they did
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  Speaker 2: back in the day as far as signing and developing
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  Speaker 2: these guys and bringing them back in and showing that
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  Speaker 2: they want these guys there. And the guys that produced
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  Speaker 2: the ones that they've drafted. So I think the window
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  Speaker 2: is open for a couple more years at least.
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  Speaker 1: They just restructured some big contracts to open cap space.
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  Speaker 1: And the last comment I saw about that was, we
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  Speaker 1: don't know what we're going to do with this $ 30
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  Speaker 1: or so million, whether it's committing it to guys that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: are already here or it's making a move and getting
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  Speaker 1: another piece. I mean, we're in season now. So what
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  Speaker 1: do you think the plan is with that restructuring of
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  Speaker 1: Amon Ross, St. Brown, and Panay Sewell and the flexibility
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  Speaker 1: under the cap now?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was simply that, just giving themselves
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  Speaker 2: some flexibility. They still have to figure out what they're
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  Speaker 2: going to do with, you know, Sam LaPorter, who's coming
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  Speaker 2: up on extension, and Brian Branch, who's coming up Both
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  Speaker 2: of those guys are available for extensions as well. And
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  Speaker 2: as I said before, they committed over a billion dollars
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  Speaker 2: in extensions and, you know, contracts as well. So I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in some aspect, it could be, you know,
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  Speaker 2: freeing up some space to sign one of those guys.
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  Speaker 2: And then it could be, you know, if this team
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  Speaker 2: gets off to a rough start, you know, bringing in
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  Speaker 2: another guy to help in the secondary or somebody on
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  Speaker 2: the defense or even offensive lineman. So I think it's
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  Speaker 2: just giving them options at this point. I don't think
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  Speaker 2: it's like, hey, we're going to make a trade tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was really just, you know, giving them options.
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  Speaker 1: NFL football, like every level of football, is very quarterback-driven.
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  Speaker 1: Is Jared Goff in the right space mentally, health-wise, age-wise,
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  Speaker 1: that he can still lead this team to their highest potential?
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  Speaker 2: I think so, man. I did a story on him today.
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  Speaker 2: He's become a father in the last year. He's also married.
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  Speaker 2: From me just observing him, I've been around him since
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  Speaker 2: 2021 now when he first got to Detroit. It just
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  Speaker 2: felt like he was a lot lighter entering his training
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  Speaker 2: camp and I think, you know, the pressure is not
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  Speaker 2: really from, you know, the outside. It's more so of
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  Speaker 2: him feeling like, okay, I'm at my best right now.
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  Speaker 2: I got all the weapons I need to be successful,
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  Speaker 2: and I want to capitalize as much as I can
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  Speaker 2: right now, so I think he's playing with a sense
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  Speaker 2: of urgency to try to get this team back to
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs and try to maximize on what they can
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  Speaker 2: do because he do understand that Super Bowl window doesn't
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  Speaker 2: stay open long, and if it's going to happen, it's
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  Speaker 2: going to happen within these next couple of years, and
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  Speaker 2: I think he's he's in the right mental space right
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  Speaker 2: now where he's strictly focused on football and trying to win.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: A little Thursday night football preview here on the Sean
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: O'Connell show with Eric Woodyard, ESPN, Detroit lions insider. What
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  Speaker 1: is Aiden Hutchinson going to be for Detroit this year?
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  Speaker 1: A healthy him is one of the best players in
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  Speaker 1: the league. I think, can they keep him healthy? And
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  Speaker 1: if they do, what does his stat line look like?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we looking at a player who could potentially
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  Speaker 2: be the defensive player of the year. I mean, that's,
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  Speaker 2: That's his, you know, his ceiling right there. And they
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  Speaker 2: kept him healthy last year. I mean, you know, he's
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  Speaker 2: almost two years removed from that, so I don't even
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  Speaker 2: think that's in his mind frame or his head space anymore.
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  Speaker 2: I think you're looking at a guy who's one of
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  Speaker 2: the best in the league and one of the best
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  Speaker 2: at what he does. You know, you even look at
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  Speaker 2: the week one game, I think he had two sacks.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, he's definitely a man on a
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  Speaker 2: mission this year, and I think, you know, they're going
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  Speaker 2: to need him to be at his best. I'm not
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  Speaker 2: really concerned about the D-line. It's more with the secondary
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  Speaker 2: when I'm looking at this Lions defense and Hutch is
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  Speaker 2: one of the leaders.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously a pass rush helps out with that secondary.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned maybe they're a little bit banged up, but
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  Speaker 1: when you express that concern, is the secondary good enough
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  Speaker 1: to hold water and let the rest of this team,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, make them good enough? Or is it a
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  Speaker 1: real liability that other teams are going to exploit to
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  Speaker 1: the detriment of these Lions?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I can only go off what I watched
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  Speaker 2: them do versus New Orleans. I mean, we didn't think
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  Speaker 2: that game would be as close. And then they could
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  Speaker 2: potentially also be playing without another one of their guys
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  Speaker 2: back there as well today. DJ Reed is questionable as
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  Speaker 2: well tonight. So, I mean, they're going to need literally
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: everything they can to already try to beat this Bills team. But, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's definitely something to worry about. But like
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  Speaker 2: I say, it's only week two, so we'll see if
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  Speaker 2: these guys get better. They got Rockets in and Keith
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Abney and Chuck Clark, Devontae Maddox, some of those guys
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  Speaker 2: back there. But they're going to need to step up
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  Speaker 2: for sure. But at some point, the Lions will also
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: be getting back, you know, Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch,
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  Speaker 2: which will help them as well. But, yeah, it's definitely
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  Speaker 2: a concern, I feel like.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: How much are we going to see Sione Bakke this year? Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: Ute fans have a certain amount of affection for him
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  Speaker 1: and what he did at the University of Utah on
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  Speaker 1: both offense and on defense. He's playing running back in
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  Speaker 1: the league, and he's a good special teamer as well.
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  Speaker 1: But he's backing up one of the best guys in
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  Speaker 1: the NFL. How much do we see him?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, man, I'm not sure, man. I mean, for now,
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  Speaker 2: it's the Jameer Gibbs. So, you see what he was
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  Speaker 2: able to do. You know, this guy getting a career-high
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  Speaker 2: 34 touches, you know, 29 carries, 156 yards rushing, and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, 30 receiving yards. I mean, he's doing it all.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he's the bell-cow guy. So, I mean, knock
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  Speaker 2: on wood, and if something happens to Gibbs, which, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I expect not to happen, but, I mean, I
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  Speaker 2: don't know how much, you know, he's going to get, but,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's the Jameer Gibbs show. So, Seoni Bakke
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  Speaker 2: definitely is appreciated on special teams, and Dan Campbell and
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  Speaker 2: those guys really love him and you know they've really
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: worked hard to develop him but it's just the Jameer
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  Speaker 2: Gibbs show this year and that's why I got rid
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: of David Montgomery because even as good as Montgomery is,
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: you see he had three touchdowns in his debut with
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the Texans. You know, they got rid of him to,
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you know, free it up for Jameer Gibbs. So I'm
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: not sure, man. I mean, it's all Gibbs right now.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to get inside the new
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: stadium in Buffalo yet?
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  Speaker 2: No, not yet. No, I'll be getting there very early.
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  Speaker 2: I've been on a wing tour since I've been here.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I've been to like four or five different places. The
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: whole Detroit media, we've been going around and just sampling stuff.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm going to plan to get there early today
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  Speaker 2: and check everything out, and I think it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be really cool.
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  Speaker 1: It's E underscore Woodyard, if you're not already following Eric
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: on Twitter. Before I let you go, I got to ask.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: We don't know a lot of Western Michigan alum, all right?
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: No.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You might not want to be talking about it, but
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a great, a grave injustice was done in week one
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: of the college football season. Now the FPS competition committee
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: has acknowledged that replay protocol was not followed. The results
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: should be different, but Oh, sorry. Nothing we can do
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: about it. Tell me how you're feeling. Tell me how
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: you're feeling after all that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm still a Bronco to the court, man. That's
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: my squad. That's my school. And we got robbed and
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: that could have been a generational win for us, but
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  Speaker 2: it's only going to push us to try to come
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: and win the MAAC and have one of the best
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: seasons we've had in a long time, probably since the
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: World of Boat days with Corey Davis and, you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: those guys were undefeated that year. So I think definitely
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: we got robbed. We should have beat them. And, yeah,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, it sucks. I mean, what can happen? So, yeah,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: y'all acknowledge it, but it don't mean nothing. So we
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: just got to put that into the rest of the season.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Does the acknowledgement make it any worse? Because I hate
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: this when, like, the NBA comes out and is like, oh,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: that should have been a foul, should have got two
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: shots there. They do these things after the game, and
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: they say, this was an error, but nothing can be
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: done about it. I almost don't want to hear it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: As a Western Michigan alum, is it better if they
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: just let it die instead of saying, oh, yeah.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Just let it die.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Let it die.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll let it die there.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: We got the recognition, though. I'm glad it gave us
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the recognition.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it was a great game for Western Michigan. Like,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: on paper, Michigan won that game in everybody's hearts. It's
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: your alma mater that won that game. So I don't
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: know if that's worth anything, but that's how everyone feels
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: about it.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it, man. Thank you.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Eric, thanks for giving us some time today. Enjoy the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: game tonight. We'll have you on again later in the year,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: all right?
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: No problem. I appreciate you.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: That's Eric Woodyard. now reporting on the Detroit Lions for ESPN,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: at E underscore Woodyard on Twitter.