Lions bye-week boost, Goff MVP pushback, and Michigan’s quarterback dilemma

The Lions enter their bye week, Michigan exits their bye week, and well, the Spartans are

a football team. I'm Dustin Fiocco with Detroit Sports Nation, and it is time for your daily rundown on Friday

We're going to start off with a heavy dosage of football. Let's start off talking about our Lions who will not be taking the field this weekend

That is A-OK with me. A good time for them to enter the bye

Yes, it may be early in the season, but a very opportune time for this football team

because following this bye, we get into the meat and potatoes of our schedule

We get into division matchups. We've got the Packers after the bye

We've got the Vikings right after that. Maybe the Lions can surprisingly hand the Vikings their first loss on the season

Still doesn't make sense how Minnesota has yet to take an L, but that's where we're at this point in the year

But the Lions enter the bye week. Hopefully they exit the bye week with more momentum

building off of that performance against Arizona. I get it. Cardinals are a bad team

I'm not going to sugarcoat it. They're bad. But the Cardinals actually had really good showings against teams like New York

teams like LA, teams like San Francisco. That matchup against the Niners was actually really close

They put up more points against those teams than they did against the Lions

So yes, Arizona, bad team. But you want to tell me San Francisco's a bad team

They're not. I do put stock in how the Lions played against Arizona last weekend

The offense for the first time this year looked elite. They've looked good all year

Last weekend, though, that was elite level stuff. And the defense held their own and was capable

You put all that in the mix with the fact that Brian Branch could be back following the bye

I think the Lions enter the bye and exit the bye with a lot of momentum

So got to go into that matchup against Green Bay with that momentum

Come away with that win. Come away with the win against Minnesota. If you win your next two, I'm riding high with this Lions team

We wanted them to be in the bye week, 4-1. They're 3-2

A couple of division wins, though, that changes my tune. And I feel much more better much more confident heading into the bulk of the season However I do want to stick with the Lions on one more thing I want to talk about a man named Jared Goff our quarterback for the Detroit

Lions. It seems like every now and then, every few seasons, you'll hear Jared Goff's name have a

little pitter-patter, a little chitter-chatter going around around MVP candidacy. And this seems

to be one of those years. You're hearing Jared Goff's name as a potential MVP for the season

And I don't mean to be pessimistic. I personally do not think he's MVP level stuff. For me, an MVP is kind of your X factor, somebody that can steal your games, win your games when everything's stacked against you. I look at that game against Carolina. That's where the Lions needed Jared Goff to be that X factor

With that being said, though I don't think he's an MVP, Jared Goff is absolutely somebody

you can win a Super Bowl with. Jared Goff is having a tremendous season

He's my quarterback. He's your quarterback. He's all of our quarterback. There is a reason why from games at Little Caesars Arena to weddings across the state

you will hear Jared Goff's name chanting. People chant his name out of respect because he's done a tremendous job as our quarterback

he is all reliable he's an anchor his numbers on the season are fantastic the fact he hasn't

turned the ball over this year that's amazing he's putting together an incredible season I'm

not going to deny it I just am not hopping on the MVP bandwagon though I think he's good I think he

can be very good I can think he even has the potential to be great but I'm not going to go

as far as to say he is an MVP. With that being said, Jared Goff, we love what you're doing this

year. We are certainly capable of winning a Super Bowl if you play like you've played all season long

Now, let's talk some college football. Michigan, thankfully, they did not play last weekend

didn't have to suffer through watching them lose yet again, but they do take the field this weekend

as do the Spartans. Spartans have Northwestern, who is a ranked team at 25, actually playing

really well this season, talking about Northwestern, of course, not Michigan State. Popular

narrative around our Spartans are they not going to win another game this season But let talk about Michigan now because to me I calling this Saturday the battle of ineptitude You got Michigan and Penn State a couple of teams who are some

prime staples in the Big Ten, but a couple of teams that are absolutely dreadful to watch this season

Both teams have been a struggle. Both teams have been poor and they play each other this weekend

Do you care? I don't. The one thing I may care about though when it comes to the Wolverines on

Saturday, I think we finally see it. I think we finally see that leash tighten very, very tight

around the collar of Bryce Underwood. And I think he has a bad first quarter. You get him out

I do believe we will see a heavy dosage of Tommy Carr against Penn State. I think this is where

we get the trigger pulled. Whittingham has kind of given me every impression that he doesn't want

to ride with Bryce. He's given him every opportunity. Bryce has not earned it. Do I think

Tommy Carr as our answer? Probably not, but why not at this point? Give the kid a chance. Let's

see what he can do. We're not playing for anything this season. Maybe next season when we've got 57

teams in the playoffs, but this year we don't. This year there's no playoffs. There's no chance

of challenging for the Big Ten, so let it all ride out. Now with Underwood, I want to see Tommy Carr

bring the kid in. I think we see it happen on Saturday. Let's also talk a little bit of Red

Wings news breaking this week about Alex Dobrynkit. He will be here for the next several years. We've

got a new contract for Alex Dobrynkit. The Cavs got it in the bag and we've got all the details

Make sure you're checking out the article so you can stay up to date with what that contract entails

But Alex Dobrynkit, a positive figure on this Red Wings team when there's not a lot of positivity

I don't think he's going to be on the team alongside Dylan Larkin for the remainder of the

year. I think Larkin's going to be gone sooner rather than later. Who knows what's going on with

the rest of the team, the general manager. They did win yesterday, whoopity doo, but they've looked

like garbage for the most of the regular season that already started just a couple weeks ago

And it's been a dreadful watch for the Red Wings. They've been playing poorly. Yes, I'm glad we've

got to bring it locked in He going to be here through 2033 but is he going to be playing for anything in that time because it all on the wall The writing is clear as day This Red Wings team needs to completely annihilate themselves from within

It needs another rebuild. Larkin's not going to be here for the long-term future. It looks like

Dabrinkit is, and I hope that Dabrinkit can be on this team when they are actually competing for

something. But for us to get to that point, the Red Wings need a total rebuild, and Larkin

I think his days with Detroit are getting more and more numbered as time continues

Final team I do want to talk about. LCA playing host to the Pistons tonight

Last preseason game. Pistons have looked mighty good this preseason. But again, don't take a lot of stock in the preseason

Tuesday though, we tip off against Boston. Regular season returns. I've been vocal in thinking the Pistons needed to be more aggressive this offseason

I'm not expecting a great season. I'm expecting them to make the playoffs

I'm not expecting them to do much damage because the Eastern Conference has gotten significantly tougher with additions and better moves from other teams

Pistons were not aggressive. Teams like Philadelphia were. Indiana's going to get their Tyrese Halliburton back

So Pacers are going to be a threat again. You got teams like Milwaukee and Miami at least making notable moves

Pistons didn't do much. We locked in Jalen Duren, finally. Whoop-a-dee-doo. Will that be a long-term fix

Don't know. But the Pistons have not drastically improved themselves from last season

so I can't see them being any better than they were last season. I think they were a little bit of a fraudulent one seed

taking advantage of a weak conference. This is no longer a weak conference

But starting Tuesday next week, we get some answers. How can this Pistons team hold up against a really good Celtics team

What do we have to look forward to this regular season? We find that out next week

But tonight at LCA, we finish off our preseason. Let's finish it off with a win

Those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear from you. As always, we encourage you to like, comment, and share

We also always encourage you to subscribe to the newsletter. For Detroit Sports Nation, I'm Dustin Fiocco

It's been your Daily Rundown