I find it hard to believe that there has only been 48 times in the last 90 years that a team had 40 minutes of t.o.p. and +3 turnovers in a game. I mean, I’m not gonna take the time to look it up, but I call shennanigans on that stat.
I have no idea if the stat is correct or not.
A 40 minute TOP and also a +3 on turnovers sounds super rare to me. The fact that it has happened 48 times seems high to me.
A 40 TOP is insane. Like I doubt that happens more that 8 times a season. And even that sound high.
Then overlay that with a +3 TO margin and it sounds very believable.
Absolutely. I mean, the two aren’t wholly independent of each other. You’d guess that a team that’s +3 on TOs or better will win the TOP battle. Still, 40-20 is pretty danged lopsided, as in +3 on TOs, and the overlap is obv. rarer still.
And I was there to witness the entire game from the 50 yard line. Believe it or not, the buddies and I never thought we’d lose the game. Good stuff!
40+ minutes is extremely rare. It only happened 5 times in the entire 2022 season.
I was just about to say 40/20 strikes me as pretty rare but I didn’t know the specifics.
On a different note… do you think we need to be conscientious of scoring so fast. I get that the TOs were the thing on Sunday but in LA I felt our offense was so good that it complicated things for the defense. Is it crazy or spoiled of me to feel that way?
I mean this is also a very interesting discussion point. Many would say that the best way to beat a high powered Offense is to keep it off the field. So long drives and time of possession by your offense is one good way to help the defense.
But in the same token. Giving the defense a lead helps them play fast a loose and stress free. Able to take more chances and play more wide open.
I do think coaches and fans for sure start over thinking this at times.
If Monty had been ruled to have stepped out at the 16 in the LAC game we would have been better off.
Not at all. Playing keep-away is a good defensive strategy. And it keeps the D fresh.
I was actually wondering if, when we had first and goal on our last drive, whether we were going to take a knee (or two) before pounding it in. No doubt, that’s playing with fire. Only someone like Dan would do that, but its not a crazy thought.
It’s just such new territory for us as fans. The idea that one side of the ball could be too good is just all kinds of weird for Lions fans.
I think I’d prefer to call it a, “Historic Win”.
I’m a glass half full kind of guy who knows the glass is refillable.
Hell I bet teams with 40 minutes of TOP rarely lose, or with +3 TO margin. Historic win.
I know that I shit my pants in historic fashion when they came back and won.
That reads like “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”.
Down 5 and you wonder if he’d consider burning downs - and opportunities to score - to reduce the time available to the Chargers AFTER a presumed score?
No, that would have been a crazy, no-good idea. Just in that game the Lions stopped the Chargers from the 1, what, 5 times? Good lord, what a terrible idea.
Pretty sure he was saying in the end of the bears game
Right.
Stopping a different team from the 1 in short yardage is something else altogether.
At the time, we were down 5. After a TD, you’re either up 1 or up 3, because you’re going for 2. If you’re up 1, a couple out patterns for six yards apiece and a Fields 30 yard scramble gets you a makeable FG which wins them the game. Its not a crazy thought to not allow them the time to do that. I do think it was the correct call (to not run the clock) because the Bears coaching was terrible. Against a better team, I wouldn’t put it past Dan to do just that. Then again, I wouldn’t put much past Dan (in a good way).