Lions-Bills sets the tone, while Michigan, the Tigers and Red Wings all bring fresh drama

There is a lot going on on this Thursday, but it is indeed a Lions primetime Thursday

So let's start there. I'm Dustin Fiocco with Detroit Sports Nation. It is time for your daily rundown

And yes, those Lions take the field tonight in Buffalo. It's Bills

It's Lions. It's a massive matchup. It's one of those games that many fans have had circled on their calendar since the schedule was released

It's also one of those games that many fans, pundits, experts, you name it

everybody has seemed to pick against the Lions. You look as soon as those games were announced

many fans had this team starting off the year 4-1 on the season

with that one loss coming here tonight against the Bills. Understandably so, it's a very good team

They have a very good quarterback in Josh Allen. They're a top offensive team in the league

Now I am looking at the injury report for today. No Christian Mahogany. No Blake Miller

DJ Reed is questionable. You know what names I'm not seeing though? No Jared Goff

No Amon Ross St. Brown. No Sam Laporta. Thank God, no Jameer Gibbs

Otherwise, we wouldn't have a running back. Aside from Isaiah Pacheco, our offense looks pretty full force

And we are going to have to be full force here tonight because it was never going to be a game where defensive stands were strong

It's going to be a game that you have to go in expecting the Lions to give up at least 30 points to this Bills offense

But can the Lions offense match up? We've had shootouts against the Bills in the past

We've held our own. Now it's time to do more than hold our own. Let's come away with an upset victory

If we hang in there, if it's close, I'll still feel good moving forward

But this is one of those games that the Lions can steal a win on the road

Definitely not favored to win it. If they can get the win. This is one of those statement wins early on in the season that puts the rest of the league on notice and maybe the rest of the league can go back to looking at the Lions as a legitimate threat to win the Super Bowl Sticking with the sport of football but let shift gears to college The

Michigan Wolverines are 2-0 on the season but let's go back to talking about that first win

on the year. If you need a refresher of what happened it was against Western. Michigan was

trailing. Came down to the last play of the game. Hail Mary heave to the end zone and it was no

good. Clock read zero. Western Michigan celebrated. They cheered. You had tears. You were bawling

your eyes out. Michigan's boohooing. And then all of a sudden, the refs take a look. They find an

extra second. They plop that right back on the clock. And Hail Mary take two. Ding, ding, ding

ding. That one works. And you come away with the win. Why is that relevant to talk about now a

week and a half, almost two weeks later, well, here's a statement from the NCAA

They announced yesterday that had proper replay protocol been followed, the end result of

that game would have been different. Allow me to translate. Had the officials done things differently and followed the right protocol, another second

would not be added to the clock and Michigan would be one and one on the season

That's just the fact of the matter. I'm a Wolverines fan. I'm not trying to poo-poo on anybody's parade

But the fact of the matter is, the NCAA basically came out and said

Michigan got gifted a win. Am I surprised that there's no change in the standings, change in the record books

Of course not. There was never any of those repercussions when the Michigan scandal with cheating happened a couple years ago

You didn't see it get overturned with Galarraga's perfect game. It just doesn't happen in the world of sports

victories and losses even when they aren't legit because of officiating they never get reversed

but it is worth reporting that the NCAA basically came out and said Michigan should not have won that game Now let get right back to baseball because the Tigers they finally lost a game

It was their first loss in their last seven. They've won six games prior

They do have a streak still ongoing in the fact that they've won their last three series

But the Tigers now know what they have to do if they want to make the playoffs

If you want to live in la-la land and pretend that this team can be playoff bound

Let me tell you the path. You need to win, and it needs to be the Central

Too many teams to jump in the wild card hunt. That's just not feasible anymore

If you want to face the playoffs head on, you need to take the Central

You put yourself so far back. You are five and a half back of the White Sox

Cleveland's also in front of you, but you got a four game stretch against the White Sox

Last time you played them, you played like possum whiz. You got swept in three

Speaking of Cleveland, they beat you three of four, all three with the walk-offs

That's why you're in this predicament where you need the Guardians to lose when they have a relatively easy schedule

They've got the athletics coming up, and you need to practically sweep the White Sox to stay in it

And when I say stay in it, I don't mean stay in it for us to root for, in it with our hearts, in it with our minds

I'm talking mathematically. I believe the Tigers, I've got to crunch some numbers

but can mathematically be eliminated from the postseason chase should they flop in this series against the White Sox

Do I think this team has what it takes to go on a run? No

But if I want to see them make it interesting, they better go out there and sweep the White Sox

and they better hope the Guardians collapse. They need a lot of help to get me interested

And finally, how about a team that is just the definition of interesting lately

it's the Detroit Red Wings so much news coming out about them

the last couple of days all of this coming after Scott Horkoff finally took the role as interim general manager

many of us seeing the writing on the wall with that now it not on the wall it set in stone he had a press conference yesterday so much revealed during that We got all the articles So make sure you checking that out so you can keep up to date with what he said But he addressed everything from the Simon Edmondson

contract and what needs to be established there. Dylan Larkin's newfound injury to the upper body

that's going to prevent him from training camp. Is it real? Is it legit? Is it a ploy as he still

wants to get traded? I'm not going to tell you my thoughts on that as a matter of fact. We'll

just let that one lie, but Scott Horkoff's got the job. What we've got is we've got a preseason

game on Monday and the regular season starts two weeks from tomorrow. This is a mess of an

organization. I can't even call it a professional sports organization at this point. At this point

they're cosplaying as a professional sports organization. The sloppiness of this offseason

the sloppiness of this rebuild, which if you want Horkoff's comments on what is and is not a

rebuild this season, check those out too. That's a little bit interesting

But this is a whole mess of a franchise right now. Season starts two weeks from tomorrow officially

Let's see if the Red Wings can start hot under new management

You remember when we got Coach McClellan and he came right in right after Christmas a couple years ago

Team went on a hot streak and started winning for the new guy. Maybe we can do that with the new GM

Maybe without Iserman at the helm, this team will play with a little more fire

I don't know. Season's approaching. It's been a mess of an offseason, but maybe the regular season can be a little more fun

for us Red Wing fans. Those are my thoughts. Want to hear from you

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Guys, once more, I am Dustin Fiocco. It has been your daily rundown here on Detroit Sports Nation