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Michigan, Ohio State week

Embed from Getty Images 62-39, you do not have to tell anyone associated with the Michigan Wolverines football program. 62-39, players, coaches, media, fans all know it. 62-39, it was put up in the Wolverines locker room by head coach Jim Harbaugh as a means of inspiring his team to get to the next level. For those who do not know, or may have forgotten, last season in Columbus Ohio, the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Michigan Wolverines 62-39.

In what could have very well been a “trap game”, the Michigan Wolverines went into Indiana and beat the Hoosiers soundly, 39-14. That was refreshing to see. Jim Harbaugh had his team locked to the task at hand.

Next Saturday, unbeaten Ohio State pays a visit to Ann Arbor with a lot on the line. Sure the Buckeyes have secured a spot in the Big Ten title game. The team had a close game at home to Penn State. Penn State kept in close by running the ball up the middle and quick outs to the receivers.

The Michigan Wolverines quarterback Shea Patterson has thrown for 750 the past two weeks. He returned to Michigan for his senior year because of 62-39. “There is no way in hell I’m leaving this place on that note.” Patterson last December.

Jim Harbaugh is winless against in four tries against one of the schools rivals. They have not beaten Ohio State since 2011 when Luke Fickell was named head coach for the fired Jim Tressel.

This seasons game promises to be another hard fought game. If Michigan can run the ball like Penn State right at the heart of the Buckeyes defense and get the ball to the outside to the playmakers, it should be a close game.

One thing to watch for is Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, who has had a very good season to date. There is one small glitch in his game though. Fields takes too many sacks. That is not just me saying it. Ohio State coaches have been saying it. Ohio State fans have said it is frustrating at times and he should throw the ball away.

The Michigan Wolverines, use different defensive formations to hide the blitz. It is something to watch for.

62-39, can Michigan wash the bad taste out of their mouth? We will soon find out.

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Some names to remember for the Detroit Lions 2020 draft

Embed from Getty Images As many of you know, I do not like mock drafts. They are rarely accurate. Oh sure people nail the first pick in the draft, shoot they may even nail the first three picks. Then it falls apart. I like to look at team needs, general manager tendencies as well as organizational needs. That lead me to accurately zero in on the Detroit Red Wings first round draft pick Moritz Seider, right here at “The District a sports blog.”

The 2019 Detroit Lions short comings are well known and most stem from the defensive side of the ball. Be it player personnel or scheme. So in next spring’s NFL draft who could the Lions be looking at for the teams first round draft pick? Let us take a look.

With Darius Slay both getting older and having a dip in play, the team could look to corner back. Shaun Wade, CB, Ohio State, may fit the bill. At 6′ 1″ 194 pounds, Wade has both the size and length to be a solid NFL defensive back. While he plays the slot, Wade is projected to move to the outside in the pros. He is a shutdown corner and very aggressive on run support.

Ezra Cleveland, OT, Boise State, If the Detroit Lions choose to move on from offensive tackle Rick Wagner, Cleveland checks all the boxes. 6’6″ 311 pounds, with long arms and has plus athleticism, Ezra Cleveland is sound in both pass and run blocking, something the Detroit Lions need more of.

Justin Madubuike, DT, Texas A & M, this is a player I really like. I can not stress that enough. He is a perfect fit for what the Lions are trying to do on defense. First and foremost he is an edge rusher. For his size 300 pounds, Madubuike has incredible flexibility and a plus rating in power and balance, that allows him to consistently fill the gaps and generate pocket pressure for himself and his teammates. With both A’Shawn Robinson and Mike Daniels set to be free agents, Justin Madubuike is a name to watch.

I believe, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn (if he is not relived of his duties) will go defensive heavy in next springs draft. If there is an offensive tackle worthy of a top-ten draft slot Quinn could go that route. But, given last seasons desperate need for a tight end, watching how Quinn attacked that, I fully expect his to use that same aggression for the defense.

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A new report has Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni taking over Star Wars

Embed from Getty Images Is current LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy exiting Disney? It sure looks and sounds that way. Yesterday afternoon, reports circulated that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will likely take over the creative direction of Disney Star Wars. Which is fantastic news for the future of Star Wars as well as the fan base.

Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, creator’s of the new Disney Plus streaming service smash hit “The Mandalorian” are set to be named over all things Star Wars. The Mandalorian  is getting rave reviews from fans.

To this point no one is entirely sure where Star Wars films will go once The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters next month. Jon Favreau is newer to Star Wars. Meanwhile his probable new partner, Dave Filoni helped revive Star Wars with the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Filoni also directed the debut episode of The Mandalorian, and produces the series with Favreau.

It has been reported the next Star Wars film will be released December 2022, with Favreau and Filoni calling the shots. This is a time for Star Wars fans to exhale. Star Wars is in very good hands moving forward.

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Detroit Lions nickel cornerback Justin Coleman thinks the defense is close to breaking through

Embed from Getty Images Justin Coleman said Monday he feels the Detroit Lions defense is close to being what head coach Matt Patricia intended for it to be, “One of the most terrifying defenses you can go against.” How can that be you ask yourself? Let us take a look.

The Lions rank 30th in the NFL in total defense, the team gave up a season high 509 yards of offense to the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday. The Lion rank near the bottom of the league in every major defensive statistical category and are dead last in interception rate in the NFL, but Coleman said he is confident the Lions are close to terrifying opponents.

“Nobody wants to sit there and go against man coverage all day,” Justin Coleman told reporters. “And I feel like we cover pretty well and we’re just going to have to finish, that’s all. We just got to finish.”

The Detroit Lions showed signs of being a very solid defensive unit last season, when they posted one of the NFL’s best run defenses in the second half of the season. This season started rough. But against two of the NFL’s best running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley, the Lions run defense shown some teeth. Holding the two elite rushers to a combined 109 yards rushing on 35 carries at 3.1 yards per attempt.

Getting off the field has been difficult for the Detroit defense this season. The Lions are averaging more defensive plays per game 67.9 than any team in the NFL. Last season the Lions were able to make the issues that hampered the defensive unit.  Lions played fewer defensive plays 942, or 59.9 per game than any team in the NFL in 2018.

Coleman said Patricia delivered a pointblank message to his defense Monday  during team meetings. His message was simple“He said, ‘Find a solution. ” The team’s improved run defense will help some. The team must find a solution to the elephant in the room, a horrible pass rush.

It is safe to say much like Bob Quinn went out of his way to improve the tight end position after last season, Quinn will look to revamp the Detroit Lions defensive line this coming off season.

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The Detroit Lions are a mess and difficult decisions are going to need to be addressed

Embed from Getty Images Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn decided 9-7 was simply not good enough and fired Jim Caldwell. He brought in his own head coach, Matt Patricia to get the team over-the-hump. Two seasons later Bob Quinn’s decision has netted the Detroit Lions a 9-16-1 record.

Putting an NFL team together  is a difficult task, nobody would argue with that. Draft picks can be hit or miss, the same can be said for free agents. Roughly two years ago bob Quinn said, “I think we have more than a competitive team to be competing for championships.”  Quinn missed the mark.

“At the end of the day, it’s wanting to take this team to the next level,” he said, explaining his decision to move on from Caldwell. “To me, that’s winning championships, that’s winning playoff games and that’s winning the Super Bowl.” Quinn placed the blame directly on the shoulders of Jim Caldwell.

Now that the Detroit Lions, Bob Quinn’s version and vision of the Detroit Lions is a failed product, Who will Quinn point the finger at? As of today the Detroit Lions are a whole lot further from the Super Bowl than just two years ago.

Odd’s are good Quinn will not point the finger at Matt Patricia, he would have three pointing back at himself.  The problem was Bob Quinn thinking Matt Patricia was  as good as Bill Belichick maximizing the talent on the team.

Emulating successful coaches as well as franchises is fine in theory. The Lions have one of the worst four defenses in football, by almost any metric. This is the absolute worst Lions defense perhaps in team history. Even during losing seasons the team was at least able to compete. Not this season.

The Detroit Lions defense can not get any pressure on quarterbacks. Three man rushes are a joke. NFL quarterbacks have all the time they need to find the open receiver. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott told reporters after the game Sunday that sometimes he had enough time to read through his progressions TWICE.

That Quinn thought his roster was better than nine wins. The number Caldwell won his last season, which is also the same number Patricia has won in 26 games.  Shows how much Quinn’s estimations were off.

Detroit Lions owner Martha Ford, has some soul searching to do. She must decide if the Lions stay on the current path or not.

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Michigan vs Michigan State, what we learned

Embed from Getty Images For one quarter it looked like many past Michigan Wolverines vs Michigan State Spartans football games. Rough, physical and draining. After the first quarter, the wheels fell off for the Spartans. Meanwhile Michigan was just getting warmed up.

It was the tail of two tapes. Michigan who suffered a questionable loss to Penn State has not looked like the same team since halftime of that game. Leaving many to wonder what was said in the looker room in Happy Valley? The Spartans fall from Big Ten power has been a sharp decline for at least two years now.

Yesterday at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, The Wolverines played like a bully waiting for it’s victim. Michigan was brutally physical, dynamic on offense, defense and special teams. What is more important, Michigan played fearlessly.

Michigan State played the role of the victim taken by surprise. The Spartans looked scattered, extremely reckless, and were  clearly shaken. This beautiful rivalry has come full circle. Rivalries always do. Make no mistake about it, Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh wanted to humiliate his in-state rival.

The 44-10 thumping the Spartans took came with deep intention and for Michigan implications, this is a win that grabs attention. Not just of the fan base, not just of the Spartans and the fan base in East Lansing, but the rest of the Big Ten.

At 8-2, Jim Harbaugh’s team is building something for the future. The rough transition from Josh Gattis’s new offense is now humming along. The switch in defensive philosophy from big defensive players to smaller quicker players has also paid high dividends.

For the Spartans and the man who has headed that program up for 14 years, after the game Mark Dantonio looked and sounded weary. Perhaps losing by 34 points, which happens to be the worst loss a Dantonio lead Spartan team has ever suffered, will do that to a person.

Jim Harbaugh, said he wanted the Wolverines to reclaim the in state rivalry and set that as priority one when he took over the Wolverines football program. He talked about how it would help in recruiting. Mission accomplished. Much like his days at Stanford, Harbaugh set the first target on the school that hampered recruiting. Then set a new target.

Now that Michigan has bullied the rivalry back from Michigan State, there is little question Harbaugh will now make another school top priority. That school is the one they play in two weeks. As I mentioned before, Harbaugh has a good history of making good on his vision for his program wherever he has been. It is safe to say he will do it again. Be it this season, next season or the one after that.

 

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The Detroit Tigers announced a slew of new hires

Embed from Getty Images The ongoing Detroit Tigers rebuild took another turn this week. The new people the Tigers organization brought in were not a slap-in-the-face at the people they are replacing, it is widely viewed as something that  needs to be done to move the organization forward.

Former Detroit Tigers, All-Star catcher Lance Parrish, who spent the past six seasons as a manager in the Tigers minor league system, moves into a special assistant role and will work with Tigers general manager Al Avila.

In a rather solid move, and one that I feel may be the most important move the Tigers announced, Josh Paul has been named the new quality control coach. He replaces Joe Vavra, who will take over as Detroit Tigers hitting coach. Paul, comes over from the Los Angeles Angels where he was a bench coach and spent time with the New York Yankees.

Detroit Tigers GM, Al Avila said ‘these personnel moves are a big step towards our goal of bringing Tigers fans and the city of Detroit the championship caliber ballclub they deserve.”

There were other moves Detroit made, that again I feel both will help the team and should not be overlooked:

Chis McDonald, is the new assistant athletic trainer

Matt Rosenhamer, is now assistant major league strength and conditioning coordinator

Kan Ikeda, major league advance scouting assistant

Kyle Lancki, major league video coordinator

Austin Tipp, major league video coordinator

Kenny Graham, director of player development

Dr. Georgia Giblin, director of performance science

Dan Hubbs, director of pitching development and strategies

Dave Owen, minor league field coordinator

Jordan Wergiles, coordinator of player development analytics

John Murrian, hitting coach West Michigan Whitecaps hitting coach Single-A

Bill Springman, Lakeland Flying Tigers hitting coach High Single-A

Of the new hires, the two that really stick out and can really help the rebuilding process are Dan Hubbs and Dr. Georgia Giblin. Hubbs will rove around the Tigers minor league system, setting up pitching routines for the Tigers slew of young talented pitchers. Something the Detroit Tigers have never done.

The Tigers have had many injuries the past few seasons. Which makes Giblin a VIP. He is in charge of maximizing player performance and health.

The Tigers are not expected to sign big name free agents this offseason, nor should they. They have made these key moves so next season when they do sign some big names, everyone will be on the same page.

I think these moves can do nothing but improve the organization. Every person brought in has a solid history of improving players at the position they are assigned. So it has already been a good offseason for the Detroit Tigers.

 

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Michigan Wolverines vs Michigan State Spartans a nasty, bitter rivalry

Embed from Getty Images Michigan vs Michigan State is a bitter rivalry. It is a week in the state of Michigan where friends and neighbors stop talking to each other if they are on opposite sides of who they root for. Tomorrow, the two schools will square off again. One school headed in the right direction, one school is not.

The Michigan State downfall is and has been well documented. That is out the window. In a game like the one that kicks off tomorrow at 12:00 pm, Mark Dantonio will try to rally his team.

For Michigan, Jim Harbaugh is 2-2 against Dantonio but 0-2 in Ann Arbor, he is taking this years game very, very seriously. There have been a flurry of indications Dantonio might hang up his Spartan pullover and move on after this season. Harbaugh would like to be the one to sends him on his way.

All the pressure is on the Michigan Wolverines,  they have generally handled big game pressure with the poise of a student driver driving on the freeway for the first time.

Last season you may recall the Spartans were met by the solitary resistance  of Devin Bush, that game is now remembered as “StompGate.” As Bush dug his cleats into the midfield logo in Spartan Stadium and tore up the sod, forcing Michigan State to quickly call out the ground crew.

For better or worse the Devin Bush feet scrape defines the Wolverines, Spartans rivalry. Bitter, nasty and a genuine dislike for the opposition. Until last year’s 21-7 victory, Michigan had not covered the spread against Michigan State in 10 straight meetings.

This season, the Wolverines are playing some of the teams best football heading into the big game. Michigan State has dropped three in a row. Expect the Spartans to try to give it one last heroic shot.

One problem, Michigan is more talented and has much more riding on the season. I like Michigan to win comfortably.

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Top Detroit Red Wings prospect Filip Zadina is heating up

Embed from Getty Images Last week a t.v. announcer reported Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is considering trading Filip Zadina. I do not feel there is any traction to that story. Meanwhile, Filip Zadina’s game is heating up for the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Filip Zadina has scored in 3 games in a row for the Griffins. He has 5 goals in his last 7 games. Giving him 6 goals, and 9 points in just 15 games played this season.

Zadina was given a clear shot to make the Detroit Red Wings roster out of training camp. But Zadina did not. He did not score, he wasn’t noticeable  on the ice, also Zadina seemed to be lacking confidence.

There is little question Zadina possesses an NHL quality shot, and he has been working hard at both ends of the ice. The thought with the Red Wings fron office was it would be nice to see Zadina take a big step forward in his development in Grand Rapids this season.

Last season Filip Zadina had 16 goals and 35 points in 59 games for the Griffins and one goal and two assists in a nine game call-up with the Red Wings late in the season.

At just 20 years old,  the Red Wings are going to be patient and do what is best for Zadina’s development. During the Prospect Tournament as well as Red Wings training camp Filip Zadina did not score. For a young player looking to make a good impression it simply did not happen.

Now with his scoring slump behind him Zadina is showing exactly why he is Detroit’s top prospect. The goals are coming in bunches, after all that was on his scouting report. Zadina is one of those rare young talents, who when he get’s it all going can carry a team. That is what is happening in Grand Rapids.

What has been equally impressive is his work away from the puck. Last season that was a clear weakness. Zadina has worked hard to clean that up. He is more attentive in the defensive end as well.

In a rebuilding season, Filip Zadina is giving Detroit Red Wings front office and fans a look at the future. One that is not too far away.

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George Lucas was asked to fix “Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker”

OEmbed from Getty Images *This comes from very good sources,* Early screen tests for “Star Wars the Rise of Skywalker” were disastrous. So disastrous in fact that Lucasfilm brought back the one person who could right the ship. Star Wars creator, George Lucas.

With Disney CEO Bob Iger, in attendance director J.J. Abrams tested the final story in the Skywalker saga. The audience was made up of hard-core Star Wars fans, casual Star Wars fans as well as general movie fans who were simply only aware of Star Wars.

The audience was asked to rank/grade the film. The J.J. Abrams/ Kathleen Kennedy ‘Rise of Skywalker” cut had the lowest score 29. The audience sighted a “very lackluster” third act that hurt the film. In other words a flop.

It is said the biggest issue with that version was Rey destroyed Emperor Palpatine in “OP fashion,” causing the film viewers to bust out into laughter. That is said to have enraged Iger, who demanded reshoots.

Iger went to Abrams and specifically told him him to bring Anakin and Luke Skywalker ‘in the flesh.” Following the modifications Iger asked for the film was re-tested. The results were better not great. The audience ranked/graded Iger’s “Rise of Skywalker” 65. In other words good not great, which would have irritated and already on edge fan base.

It was right after the screening Iger made the call to bring in the one person who’s vision is being presented, George Lucas himself! This is where it get’s interesting. Lucas watched both versions. He then went to the editing room. He used both Abrams and Iger’s films and crafted them together.

George Lucas also asked for “certain reshoots.” Abrams agreed. “The Rise of Skywalker” was then tested for a third time to the same audience demographic. This time the J.J. Abrams/ Kathleen Kennedy/ Bob Iger/ George Lucas Star Wars film scored and 88.

In movies anything over 82 is considered a hit movie. There is a bit of irony in all of this. George Lucas who created one of the most successful movie franchises of all-time. Who directed  some of the films, was brought in to fix the last one. Well in terms of the Skywalker portion of Star Wars anyways.