Notes: What they’re saying about the Detroit Lions around the league

Usually on a Monday after another brutal loss, the national media doesn’t have anything nice to say about the Detroit Lions — if they mention them at all.

But after toppling the mighty Arizona Cardinals 30-12 on Sunday, I am happy to report the Lions are feeling the love on this Victory Monday.

• Peter King, Football Morning in America:

Putting Dan Campbell in the Coach of the Week category: “Campbell knew this was a long-haul job, and he never was woe-is-me when the agonizing losses hit. Good for him, and good for this needy franchise.”

• Peter Schrager, Good Morning Football (2:20 mark):

“They have 15 guys out, the Lions, they find a way to beat the number one seed in the NFC.”

• Mike Tanier, Football Outsiders:

“Whatever the Lions have been using to produce upsets and near-upsets late in this season is worth much more in the long run than the spots of draft order they are giving up to the flailing, stagnating Jaguars or anyone else. That’s not a statement endorsed by analytics, but sometimes you gotta have a little old-fashioned faith.”

• John Breech, CBS Sports:

“On a paper, this game seemed like a total mismatch, but Goff quickly took that paper and set it on fire during a nearly perfect first half where he threw two touchdown passes... The win over the Cardinals is a testament to what Dan Campbell is doing in Detroit. This team could have quit on him at any point this season — you know, like the Jaguars did to Urban Meyer — but every week, he has this team playing hard, and every week, it seems capable of possibly pulling off an upset.”

• Rodney Harrison, NBC:

via DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman

• Judy Battista, NFL.com:

“Only one thing compared to the impact of the pandemic on the playoffs this week: The Detroit Lions.”

• Around the NFL staff, NFL.com:

“Former first-round pick Charles Harris terrorized Murray all afternoon, picking up 1.5 sacks, two QB hits and three tackles for loss. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn called a masterful game, bringing pressure at times and forcing Murray into poor platforms. The secondary, which has been picked on for stretches this season, played its best ball.”

More importantly, here is what our local beat writers are saying:

• The Athletic’s Chris Burke offers the Lions’ biggest plays that brought down the Cardinals. ($)
• DetroitLions.com’s Mike O’Hara says the Lions’ performance was as good as it looked.
• The Detroit News’ Bob Wojnowski thinks this exciting beatdown could be a glimpse of what’s to come ($).
• The Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett explains Jared Goff unlocked the secret of the earning fans’ love — playing hurt, and playing well ($)

And onto the rest of your notes.

• The Columbus Dispatch has a great profile on Godwin Igwebuike’s journey from his basement back to the NFL.

• Yup.

• Local 4’s Ken Haddad is fed up with Lions fans rooting against a win just because of a draft spot.

• It’s bowl season! DetroitLions.com’s Tim Twentyman has 10 bowl game prospects to watch this week.

• GmacCash is back again with another banger following the Lions’ win. You might remember him from headlines after he made a song about the governor of Michigan. The song has a few PG-13 words, so make sure you know where your kids are, per Erik.

• Let’s go Tyrell Crosby!

• The Lions and the Pistons both won on the same day yesterday. The last time that happened? A rather long time ago. Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon explains.

EXTRA NOTE:

• This is just a little something silly for the Twitter crowd— the Cardinals’ social media team apparently stopped tweeting for ... a while after their loss.

It looks like their final tweet was after Christian Kirk’s touchdown, which was around 3:45 p.m, and they would not tweet again until almost 24 hours later. I point this out in honor of our Detroit Lions social team — it is customary for a team account to *at least* tweet the final score, and when it’s a loss, the replies are typically brutal. The Lions social team fearlessly does this week after week in the face of losing. But the Cardinals team shied away after the upset loss and folks on Twitter noticed. For example, in roughly the last 24 hours, the Cardinals have tweeted five times, the Lions broke 100.

Upon their return to tweeting today, the replies are something else. Enjoy.