Episode 12: Epic NFC North Battle Awaits After Lions' Big Win

Unlock the secrets behind the Detroit Lions' staggering 47-9 victory over the Dallas Cowboys and see how it sets the stage for an epic NFC North clash! This week on Headed North, I recount the unbelievable showdown that left Cowboys fans shaking their heads, while Lions fans roared with pride. With 184 rushing yards and Jared Goff's masterful play, the Lions were unstoppable, leaving the Cowboys in the dust with a mere 53 rushing yards. After witnessing this spectacle firsthand, I'm breaking down the stats that led to this commanding triumph.

As we gear up for what promises to be a nail-biter against the undefeated Vikings, I'm exploring the critical factors that could sway the game. The Lions are charged up at 4-1, but injuries to defensive dynamo Aiden Hutchinson might just tip the scales. This episode will keep you on the edge of your seat as we anticipate game-changing strategies and pivotal matchups in a heated NFC North contest. Join me to dissect what could be the defining game of the season, and get ready for a football face-off you won't want to miss!

Table of contents
0:00-1:23 Intro
1:24-1:41 www.OffRacksShop.com (Ad)
1:42-5:21 My Goodness Detroit
5:22-6:17 AlphaProgression.com/HeadedNorth (Ad)
6:18-9:23 Saw this Win Coming
9:24-11:20 Handing Out L’s In London 
11:21-13:47 Spreading The Field
13:48-14:22 Closing Thoughts

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:24 www.OffRacksShop.com (Ad)
• 1:42 My Goodness Detroit
• 5:22 AlphaProgression.com/HeadedNorth (Ad)
• 6:18 Saw This Win Coming
• 9:24 Handing Out L’s In London
• 11:21 Spreading The Field
• 13:48 Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Yo, before the show, I'd like to just say if you could like and share the podcast. I am a one man show and I really do appreciate both the feedback and the support that you give. As a matter of fact, down in the comments you can actually reach me directly if you ever want to share a message or get featured on the show. All right, let's get into the episode. Are you still talking about football? Yeah, football talent, NFC North. Then let's talk football, nfc North, the list of football. Welcome back everybody.

Speaker 1: 0:26

This is Headed North, an NFC North podcast, and I'm your host, detron, and it feels like it has been a long week because I have been waiting to get on this show and talk about the Detroit Lions. My goodness, it's been an even longer week for the Dallas Cowboy fans, who got smacked on Sunday by the Detroit Lions. We also had no action from the Minnesota Vikings because they were on a bye. The Packers got a chance to take on the Arizona Cardinals and we knew how that game was going to turn out before it even happened. And the Bears took on the Jaguars in London and handed out some L's with those biscuits and crackers or whatever they have over there in London. Whatever it was, the Bears gave it out along with L's to the Jaguars. So we're going to talk about all that and a little bit more on today's episode of Headed North Podcast, but before we do that, I want to kick it over to our sponsor. Our sponsor for the week is OffRackShopcom. Offrackshopcom is an online thrift store. They sell men and women's clothing, shoes, accessories and more. So if you haven't already check out the link in the description to get a discount on your next purchase at OffRackShopcom, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Without further delay, let me recap you on the games that were starting, with the Detroit Lions taking on the Dallas Cowboys. Going into that game, who knew that it was going to turn out the way that it did? No one, probably. But I told you the Lions would win. It felt like a perfect spot for them to get a W, with the whole revenge angle going on. But geez, oh Pete. I actually went to the game, had a chance to see it live and it was ugly. The Cowboys were stalling out, couldn't get anything going, the defense couldn't get pressure on the Lions and the Lions just looked like a superior team 47-9 kind of superior. Not letting the Cow team. 47-9 kind of superior. Not letting the Cowboys score a single touchdown kind of superior. It was a tough game to watch for Cowboys fans. Just yikes.

Speaker 1: 2:37

Let's talk about them by the numbers though 184 yards rushing for the Detroit Lions versus the Cowboys, 53 rushing yards. That's three times that amount 492 for total yards for the Lions, 251 total yards for Dallas, 27 first downs for the Lions, 16 for Dallas. Again, just a really poor showing by the Cowboys. Goff was 18 for 25, 315, three passing touchdowns. He was sacked twice but threw no picks. It had a QBR of 153. Gibbs and Montgomery both rushed the ball 12 times. Montgomery finished with 80 yards and two touchdowns and Gibbs got 63 yards the top three targets all scored for the Lions. So you had Laporta get a score, williams get a score and Amon Ra also got a score. Again, a tough day for Cowboys fans, but an awesome showing for the Detroit Lions. And now we just got to hope that the Lions don't have a bit of a big game hangover as they go to take on the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota. So you got a 4-1 Lions team taking on a 5-0 undefeated Vikings team coming off of a bye.

Speaker 1: 3:53

I think a big part of this game is going to be something that I didn't mention about the Cowboys game in Dallas. It's the major injury to Aiden Hutchison. That thing was gruesome and the replays make it look even worse, and without Aiden the defensive line definitely takes a significant hit. Not that there aren't other folks who balled on that defensive line, but you know he was the engine, and so having Aiden Hutchinson down and potentially being without Carlton Davis, those could be impacts for the Detroit Lions and, on the other side of the ball, minnesota Vikings. Even though they're coming off of a bye week, they're still going to be without Aaron Jones and apparently they're going to be without Blake Cashman as well, so this could also play a role in their ability to get their offense in sync. Aaron Jones has been a huge part of what Minnesota has done so far this year, so it's going to be a tough role for them as well. The Lions are not the favorite in this game, as you would imagine, coming against a team that hasn't lost a game yet. I don't think that's going to matter when these two meet. I got the Lions winning this game, but I'll cover that in spreading the field here in a little bit. But just know Minnesota Vikings and Lions are going to take on each other, and this is certainly the game of the week. Even if it's not in a prime time spot, this is the game that everybody will be watching, because there's been powerhouse action coming out of NFC North and these two are right at the top of that action.

Speaker 1: 5:22

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Speaker 1: 6:18

All right, we're going to next kick it over to the Packers versus the Cardinals. Green Bay lit the Cardinals up. We knew that coming into this game, that Green Bay was going to light the Cardinals up. They don't have Marvin Harrison Jr Wasn't going to have much of an opportunity to beat Green Bay. It just wasn't going to happen.

Speaker 1: 6:39

And so Green Bay put up 34 to the Cardinals' 14 points. They won the time of possession battle. They won the first down battle. Third down conversions were better. They're better at rushing and passing. Basically, in all levels of the game they were better. They're better at rushing and passing, but basically, in all levels of the game they were better than them. Green Bay just just flat out beat them.

Speaker 1: 6:57

The stats can tell a different story, though. If you look at them, murray and Love both completed 22 of 32 passing attempts for more than 200 yards each, but Jordan Love put four touchdowns with that, and Kyler Murray only was able to get one touchdown through the air with those same numbers. So it doesn't really matter the the the stat line, necessarily, unless you're getting the ball in the end zone. And speaking of getting the ball in the end zone, reed got in there. Watson finally there. Well, it's been a while, or felt like it's been a while, for Watson to get a score, and then Dobbs got two scores. In this game Green Bay was just too much, and we knew it, they knew it. So the game worked out the way the game was supposed to work out.

Speaker 1: 7:45

But this upcoming week, green Bay is taking on the Texans. The Houston Texans, the 5-1 Houston Texans. This is probably one of the best defenses that Green Bay has faced all year. The Texans rank pretty highly in yards, total yards given up. They're fourth in total yards given up, and then they're also ranked fourth in the league in passing yards given up. The Texans defense is stingy. Now, what they are missing on the offensive side of the ball is why I've got Green Bay being able to win this game, and that's Nico Collins. I think Stephon Diggs is a major pickup for them, for the Texans that is, but I don't know that he is the same Stefan Diggs of yesteryear who could completely take over this game, and I think they need the firepower that they get from Nico Collins. I do really like CJ Stroud and I'm having a hard time picking against the Texans here because they do look like a well-oiled team, but I think missing that firepower and Green Bay really rolling right now, I think, gives them the advantage. So I'll tell you about how I pick for this game. But just know that Green Bay is going to have one thing working in their favor they're in Lambeau and playing outside in Lambeau is just different, and Green Bay seems to turn it on when they're at home. That's what I'm expecting to happen this week when they take on the Houston Texans and, last but certainly not least, the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 1: 9:29

So the Chicago Bears went into the game in London against the Jaguars missing Tyreek Stevenson and Jaquan Brisker, and thought that could be big. The defense was ranked eighth in total yards and you know third and third down conversions, a lot of stuff. None of that stuff mattered when the game got going, because Chicago came to London to hand out L's. That's all they were there to do. It didn't matter all about the stats and how the defense is lined up and the Jaguars being one and four and finally getting their first win the week prior. None of it mattered. Cole Komet got two touchdowns. Keenan Allen got two touchdowns. Deandre Swift picked up a touchdown. In the end, caleb completed 23 of 29 for 226. Four touchdowns and only one pick. He hit seven different receivers during this game. The defense got three sacks, a pick fumble recovery. It just they were all on top of this Jaguar team in London handing out L's, and so it is really nice to see the Chicago Bears going into a bye week right this week. They got a bye.

Speaker 1: 10:40

They are four and two right in the mix in the NFC North, which is lining up to be one of the tougher divisions in the league. Well, not lining up to be is one of the toughest divisions in the league, if not lining up to be is one of the toughest divisions in the league. If you're looking at complete records, this division is rolling and the Chicago Bears are going to come back from their bye week, rested, to take on the commanders. So that should be a really cool matchup between the one and the two quarterbacks taken in this past draft, with Caleb and Jaden Daniels squaring off. So that's going to be a really cool game. But we got to wait another week because Chicago Bears are on a bye week this week.

Speaker 1: 11:20

All right, I hope you all listened to the show last week because it was finally time to go three for three on our picks, with spreading the field, and make you a little bit of money in the process if you follow my lead. So, to recap you, we went 50% in week two, 25% in week three, 33% in week four, 33% in week five, then 100% in week six. So I told you to take the Chicago Bears minus one in London against the Jaguars, and they did that and some. I told you to take Green Bay minus four and a half because I thought, even though Arizona was coming off of a scrappy win against the 49ers, green Bay was going to not overlook this Arizona team, and that's exactly what happened. They came out and laid a whooping on them. And then I told you to take the Lions minus three, because this was a revenge game and they were going to say he reported we should have won that game. We're definitely going to win this game. So I thought the Lions could come into Dallas and get a win by seven. They got a win by like 40. And they did let Dallas score a touchdown, by the way. That's a side note, though. All right. So's a side note though. All right.

Speaker 1: 12:32

So going into week seven, here's my pick. So we're only going to have two picks, because we have a team on bye week, which is the Chicago Bears. I've got the Green Bay Packers have a game and then the Lions and the Vikings are going to take on each other. So two picks this week. I'm telling you, take the Lions plus one and a half and I would take the Lions all the way back to minus three, because I think they win this game, even though the Vikings are undefeated and their record shows that they're the better team. I don't believe that to be the case and the Lions are going to go into Minnesota and show them that. So take the Lions plus one and a half. But I think you could get better odds or better payout if you back it up to minus three or even minus two and a half, if you feel like the Lions can win it by a field goal. But take them for the win and take Green Bay minus two and a half, because I don't trust the Texans on the road without their number one target in Nico to be able to go in and win confidently here against the Green Bay Packers. So I think Jordan, love and crew get the win and they get it by more than three, leaving you with the Lions plus one and a half in Green Bay minus two and a half.

Speaker 1: 13:46

If you can get those lines there, all right, that is the show for the day. Lines there All right, that is the show for the day. I want to say thank you for listening. If you're still here, want to give a shout out to our newest sponsor from this week's show, alpha Progression? Definitely check out the link that we have at alphaprogressioncom. Backslash, headed north. And if you come back next week, which I hope you do, make sure you've got your bags packed because we are headed north. I'm Detron Peace. Are you still talking about football? Yeah, the Battalion NFC North. The List of Football.