00:00I do think it was nice of Jerry and the Steelers to kind of consummate this deal right around midnight
00:08so it didn't interrupt your birthday festivities yesterday.
00:12Happy birthday to Doug yesterday.
00:15Have a good day.
00:16Appreciate it.
00:17And people say, and I'm just going to say this, and then we're not going to belabor it, but people
00:22say turning 40 sucks.
00:24It doesn't.
00:24No?
00:25No.
00:25It doesn't.
00:26Turning 40 does not suck.
00:27Now let's move on.
00:28We go to Tony in Ferndale.
00:30You're on 97.
00:31Hello, Tony.
00:32Hey, morning.
00:33Happy belated.
00:34Turning 40 doesn't suck, but being a Lions fan sucks today.
00:37I'll tell you that.
00:39Look, this is the final straw with me personally with Holmes.
00:44This is absolute inept.
00:46I mean, again, Doug, I agree with you and everything that you said.
00:50The season isn't over.
00:52We still have hope, but this was the time now to make this trade.
00:56And I think everyone's going to come and say, well, you know, we had to sign him to big money
01:01one day.
01:02Look, you have to look at the amount of money we're spending on each side of the ball.
01:05And I love Sam Laporta as much as the next guy, and I want him to be here forever.
01:10But if I was willing to make a deal with the devil and say, if getting Joey Porter Jr. means
01:15we get our last squeeze out of Laporta and then let him walk, I was willing to do that.
01:20I don't know if other fans were, but we have so much of offensive firepower already mouths that we have
01:25to feed on that side of the ball.
01:27We need a cornerback.
01:28And Brad just said, I'm not going to do it.
01:31Sure, he picked up the phone and he made a call, but that's just as good as getting the girl's
01:35number and not taking her on a date.
01:37This is just absolutely inept negligence of saying we are going to build a winning team.
01:42And we won't win with Brad in charge.
01:45I just hate to say it, but that is the truth right now.
01:47We will not win with him in charge because we like the guys we have in the room.
01:51But does our defense look like a Super Bowl winning defense?
01:54No, they do not.
01:55Plain and simple.
01:55We just do not right now.
01:57Now, it's just absolutely infuriating as a fan watching from the outside in saying, what are we doing?
02:01Well, hold on, hold on.
02:02You said you're not giving up, and then you also said you don't think they're going to win with Brad
02:06in charge.
02:06Yeah, I agree.
02:08Do you think we're going to win a Super Bowl this year?
02:09Tony, you said you're not giving up on the season, and then later you said they're not going to win
02:15with Brad in charge.
02:17So are you giving up or not?
02:18What I mean by I'm not giving up is my ass will be on that Sunday football couch watching Sunday
02:22night and watching all of our primetime.
02:24I'm going to be watching all those games, right, because I'm a Lions fan.
02:28But do I have hope that this team is going to be a Super Bowl caliber team?
02:31No, I just do not.
02:32Maybe we'll see them in the playoffs.
02:34I'll say this, Tony.
02:35There's more than one path to the Super Bowl.
02:37I'm mad today, and I'm questioning Brad.
02:41I'm not happy, okay?
02:42I think this is a blown opportunity for all the reasons I've already stated.
02:47I also will acknowledge that there's more than one path to get to the Super Bowl.
02:51The only path to the Super Bowl for the Lions didn't go through Joey Porter Jr.
02:54This just feels like a chance to take a big swing and really improve a secondary.
02:58That's going to get Brian Branch back at some point, and you put in two players of that caliber into
03:04a secondary.
03:05It can make a huge difference.
03:06But, yeah, I'm not giving up on Brad necessarily.
03:11I'm just going to start questioning him a lot more based upon letting this opportunity come and go.
03:18I'm really, really disappointed in him.
03:20Yeah, look, I was not a Brad bot, but I really have liked what he's done to this point in
03:27one major aspect,
03:28and that is he has rebuilt this organization from the ground up.
03:32But, yeah, the trade for Goff and getting the draft picks was the foundation,
03:37the very foundation for making this team what it is.
03:40And it helps to get the quarterback out of the way,
03:43and we're able to acquire a veteran quarterback that the team gave up on.
03:47Obviously, it worked out for them, but it's worked out for the Lions, too,
03:50and now they've been able to use all this draft capital to build the foundation for this team.
03:55That being said, you've got to be more than just somebody who does well at the draft,
04:00and this is another instance that this is what bothers me about Brad Holmes
04:04and has really bothered me the last couple of years when I realized this,
04:07is that he values his draft picks on draft days, not in the days outside of the draft.
04:17He will shift those draft picks and play musical chairs with those draft picks all day long
04:23on that Thursday, Friday, Saturday of the draft.
04:26He'll trade them all over the place to move up and move back, whatever.
04:31But when it comes time to do things in the offseason or in-season,
04:37he's very reluctant to move those picks unless it's some sort of minor deal that he'd do.
04:43This is not a minor deal.
04:44This would be a major move to improve the defense,
04:48and they decided to punt on it, or it got to be too costly in their eyes.
04:54248-539-9797, Jason in Grand Rapids.
04:58Hi, Jason.
04:59Hey, guys.
05:00How are you doing?
05:01Okay.
05:02Good.
05:03Hey, you know, my take on this is, you know,
05:07I haven't exactly been the biggest Brad Holmes supporter.
05:13I mean, he's made some good trades and stuff, or I mean, draft picks.
05:20But when it comes to trading for talent, like big-time talent,
05:28are we necessarily taking the ownership out of the picture when it comes to that?
05:38I mean, in my 55 years of existence here,
05:42I've only seen one owner that makes consistent green lights for major trades,
05:51and that was Mike Illich for both the Red Wings and the Tigers.
05:56Nobody else does.
05:58I mean, the point of trying to, and we went through this yesterday,
06:02pre-cap and post-cap worlds are way different.
06:07Absolutely.
06:08But I would also, I don't think ownership shut down any big trades.
06:12I find it, because ownership has nothing to do with this.
06:14Yeah, they're right up against it.
06:15The only thing, if that's, why would ownership say no?
06:18They're spending money up to the cap, usually.
06:20I don't think they run this up the flagpole,
06:22and then Brad goes and calls Sheila and says,
06:23hey, we've got a chance to acquire Joey Porter Jr.,
06:25but we'd have to give up a fifth-round pick.
06:27Should we do it?
06:28And she says no.
06:29I don't think that happens.
06:30I don't think that ever gets to that point.
06:32It's Brad Holmes.
06:33He has full authority to do what he's going to do.
06:37Well, I think that he might have full authority up to a certain level,
06:42and then it has to come from ownership.
06:45I mean, totally.
06:45I don't buy that at all.
06:47I don't buy that at all.
06:48I mean, look, I seriously can't imagine that they would not spend to win a Super Bowl,
06:57and they've, I don't know, in this day and age, cap world,
07:02where usually they're up against the cap, they're not trying to save money.
07:05Donald in West Virginia.
07:06Hi, Donald.
07:07Now, hold on.
07:08They are war-chesting for future contracts.
07:10There's no question about that, but I think they'll spend.
07:14And they've just committed like a billion dollars in contracts.
07:16Sorry, Donald.
07:17Go ahead.
07:18No, you're good.
07:19So, I'm on Team Brad right now.
07:23I think he's doing a great job.
07:24He's the best GM we've had in 30 years.
07:26The talent's there.
07:28We've got to start putting blame on Campbell and Shepard.
07:31I understand we should have traded for Porter,
07:33but it would have made those insincereable favorites.
07:36I just think we need to start focusing blame on Campbell and Shepard, guys.
07:40This defense has been horrible for five years.
07:43Nothing's changed.
07:44This team looks the same in the past five years on defense.
07:47Aaron Glenn, Calvin Shepard, it's the same defense.
07:52Well, look, I mean, I guess I look at the defense
07:57and I see some serious deficiencies in the secondary.
08:00And I think Shepard is on a little bit of the hot seat.
08:03I don't think he's on a severe hot seat,
08:05but in reality, you might think he should be.
08:08But, and I don't think Campbell, you know,
08:12I guess it could be that it's the coaching.
08:16It looks to me more like it's the Jimmys and Joes
08:18and the X's and O's.
08:19I mean, you think about it, where they're at right now,
08:23just the safety position alone with not having Branch or Joseph
08:27to start the season.
08:29Then you lose Avante Maddox.
08:32Now you've also lost Thomas Harper.
08:34I mean, that's four safeties that you've lost.
08:38That's the safety position, let alone, you know,
08:40what's going on with the defensive back,
08:42the corners on his team.
08:44That's a lot to lose.
08:45It's an awful lot to lose, which is really,
08:48it adds to how troublesome this news is.
08:51That they didn't step up and go a little bit harder
08:54to try to get Joey Porter Jr.
08:55Because Joey Porter Jr.
08:57would flat out be an upgrade over the cornerbacks
09:00that we have here.
09:01And I don't say that to be mean or throw arrows
09:04at the guys that are there.
09:05The guys that are there are also there for,
09:08you know, because they're the ones that have survived.
09:10They were chosen to be here.
09:12They weren't like high-priced free agents.
09:15They weren't acquired with high-draft picks.
09:17Although, rake straw kind of with a second-round pick.
09:20But these are guys that are kind of brought in
09:23to help things out with a secondary
09:26that's a mess right now because of injuries
09:27and off-field stuff.
09:29We'll get to more of your phone calls and feedback
09:30coming up, but the NFL Blitz thingy is next
09:33here on Carson Anderson on 97.1.
