Lions prep for packers following bye week

All right, no game for the Lions this week. We said we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Lions and Packers at home this weekend, plus Michigan, Michigan State football. We'll take a look at them. We are breaking it all down with Birchfield. Will Birchfield, Lions game day live. 97.1 the ticket. How you doing, buddy? Good, man. Had a nice, restful, stress-free weekend. I enjoyed it. How did you spend your Sunday? A little Cider Mill action? Cider Mill on Saturday, and then just some hate watching on Sunday. Watching the rest of the teams in the NFC North. You mentioned the NFC North. I mean, the Bears, the Packers both win. Is this the best division in football? I just checked, and the combined record of the four teams is 16-6, and that's by far the best of any division in the NFL, and all four teams are above 500. I don't think the Vikings are quite 5-0 good, but 5-0 is 5-0, and look, the Lions are going to play all three of these teams six times over the next three months, two and a half months, so we're going to get a pretty good idea of where they stand but I do think top to bottom no division is better in the NFL do you think the bye week came at a good time bad time how would you assess the placement of the bye week for this Lions team yeah I think a pretty good time it allows Brian Branch and Cade Mays a week of sort of rest and rehab after practicing last week for the first time then they get this week to kind of re-up themselves before the Packers game so it's not a especially banged up team, but I do think adding in Branch and Cade Mays right now is a pretty good duo of midseason additions. Lions and Packers this week. I mean, you circle these games on the calendar, the divisional games, the home divisional games. If you are going to make the playoffs, if you're going to win the division, you have to win these games against divisional opponents specifically at home. When they won the NFC North back-to-back years, 23 and 24, they went I believe 14 and 2 in the NFC North that's how you lay claim to a division and for two and a half years even going back to 2022 when they went 5-1 in the NFC North they were the kings of this division and last year they slipped they got swept by the Packers and Vikings and that's the reason that they lost the division so yeah gotta gotta own these games and you mentioned circling the Packers when I asked Brian Branch a couple weeks ago about the idea that he could return for the Packers game whether or not he had that game circled during his arduous rehab he just kind of smiled and said it was extra motivation for sure so we know how he feels about those guys and I can tell you he is more than ready to get back against that team on Sunday afternoon what do you think that'll do for this defense getting Brian Branch and all pro safety back Cade Mays potentially as well I mean this these are like two all pro level guys are getting fresh in the middle of the season yeah and it feels like even if branches 75 of what he's been in the past off the jump that's still an upgrade over what they've had on the field so far and i was talking with some colleagues recently about x factors over the next 10 games 11 games of the season and i want to i want to toss this to you i want to give you i want to give you four candidates so there was four of us and we each raised one I said Christian McCaughan but it feels like they're maybe one McCaughan breakout away from becoming an elite offensive line again someone said Ennis Rakine Drick Strong given that he's on the verge it feels like of becoming a viable outside corner someone said Branch given that if he can play even close to his all-pro form that secondary all of a sudden looks much better and then this will be your answer I am sure the fourth person said it's Brad Holmes, Brad Holmes has to go out at the trade deadline and find a proven NFL cornerback to add to this defense so of those four amani are off the board where do you stand I'm gonna steal a line from Woj. Brad Holmes! Never doubt. But it's not the wrong answer. It feels like the time has come for him to make an aggressive in-season move, even if it costs him real draft capital. Seriously, at what point if you're Brad Holmes, are you waiting for when it comes to acquiring a player that could potentially, and I say could potentially because there are no guarantees, but could potentially set you apart from the rest of the pack. Yeah, and I think he owes it to the locker room. I think he owes it to Dan Campbell. I think he owes it to the franchise. It has come pretty close over the past couple years, but has always been, it feels like, a piece or two away to push not all, but a lot of his chips into the table and give these guys a shot. Like Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, Aidan Hutchinson, Jack Campbell. These guys who are giving you their all every single week I think deserve reinforcements, deserve a boost from the front office. And I think the clearest way he could do that is by trading for someone like Zyon McCollum, who is a number one cornerback on a one-and-five Buccaneers team. Even if it costs a second-round pick, I think it's worth getting the deal done for this team this year. Would you give up Ennis Raikstra for him? Yes, of course. There's your second-round pick. Exactly right. There's your second-round pick. Exactly right. All right, let's change it up a little bit. Let's flip the script to college football. Yeah. Michigan over the weekend looked like a completely different team with Tommy Carr at quarterback. Nick Saban said on college game day over the weekend, Michigan's defense is the best in the Big Ten. They are so elite. If they can get anything on offense, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with. And they did with Tommy Carr. First and foremost, how would you assess the move going from Bryce Underwood to Tommy Carr? Well, first and foremost, probably came a couple games too late. To Nick Saban's point, if this team had been receiving even competent, average quarterback play, they're probably undefeated right now. And at that point, even with Ohio State and Oregon and Indiana looming, you would still have a semi-viable path to the playoff. And so I do wonder if internally they regret not making that move sooner because what I saw from Tommy Carr on Saturday was just a sharper, smoother, more process oriented quarterback like he can get through his reads he can read the defense he can get the offense into the right plays and I know Bryce's ceiling might be higher but for a team with a great defense sometimes you just need a stable floor at quarterback and I think that's what Tommy Carr might give them what do you make of the conversation surrounding Bryce Underwood look so highly touted yeah number one player in the country coming out no secret about the Michigan's offer to him yeah uh the NIL to get him to Ann Arbor I think you chipped in some cash it just hasn't worked out I mean after a year and a half you just haven't seen it whether the university has failed him with coaching whether he's failed a little bit I hate putting that on 18 19 year old kid but when you make over 10 million dollars you open yourself up for criticism and he certainly deserves some of it and he also said what I'm going to be the best quarterback in Michigan history something along those lines so when you start making comments like that you also welcome more scrutiny and criticism and he hasn't played even close to that standard and you know in this day and age of college football if you lose one job there tend to be several others waiting for you at other schools so it's going to be fascinating now to see what happens to Bryce Underwood and his future at Michigan beyond this season I want to get a quick thought in on Michigan State lose a tough one to Northwestern uh this past weekend Pat Fitzgerald I don't have any doubt that he's going to turn it around at Michigan State, do you... no, I think he's the right man for that job. Yeah, as much as Jonathan Smith was the wrong fit at Michigan State, feels like Fitzgerald, who's built more in the mold of Mark Dantonio, even Tom Izzo is the right one and look there's a clear talent deficiency right now and they can begin to solve that through the portal and through NIL, no shortage of funds for a school like Michigan State and I think Fitzgerald is the right guy to sort of rally that fan base that alumni base to start fundraising more and adding some more top tier talent but I do think that he has them playing with the toughness and snarl that some of the best Michigan State teams have been known for. Check them out on Lions Game Day Live at 97.1 the Ticket.com, Will Burchfield, we'll see you next Monday. Yeah, if not sooner. We'll see you in the sports office. We'll see you over the weekend. We'll see you all the time.