The Josh Innes Show - Are The Lions The Best Team In The NFL?

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

The Lions just throttled the Ravens. Three weeks ago it would have been absurd to ask this question. But, are the Lions the best in the NFL? The first month of the season is so volatile. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So to the point we were making earlier, before I went down the TRL wormhole, because I'm all over the place today, we are at the end of week three, getting ready for week four. And in week three, three weeks of football, you don't know who teams are. You think you do. You watch them play. They have one week where you think they're amazing. The next week you think they suck. You don't really have these answers. We don't know.

I mean, look at the lions the last two weeks compared to the lions the first week. Look at Green Bay week one and two versus Green Bay week three. You don't know what these teams are, and most of them are kind of just riding through it still trying to find their legs because most of them didn't really have a training camp because dudes aren't really hitting, dudes aren't playing games. So you're trying to just get ready for the season in this first month. Like, do we think the Chiefs are as bad as they've looked through the first three weeks? They might be, but maybe it's just September. And maybe that's the new Norman football where September is training camp. So let's play a couple commercials.

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Air Canada. Nice travel. I mean, let's look at what the lions did last night. The lions, if you saw them in week one and saw what they did against Green Bay, you would have thought the lions are cooked. You would have thought they're lost without Ben Johnson. They're lost without Aaron Glenn. They're just done.

They made bad moves in the offseason. They just didn't do anything to get better that this is a bad football team. And if you thought that after week one, there's no argument that could be made because you saw it with your own eyes. They were not a very good football team in week one. then they bounce back in week two and they dominate I mean throttle not a negative thing to say about their game against the bears if you want to say anything like oh they gave up 21 points whatever they won by 30 fucking points they scored 52 points against the bears they thoroughly dominated them but you say how it's the bears the bears probably suck week three rolls around you've got the bears

they go out and they hang 31 on the cowboys and throw for 300 yards Caleb 300 yards and four touchdowns looking like a stud, Green Bay, who everyone, if you asked anybody around the league two weeks into the year, it was Green Bay, Green Bay, Green Bay, Green Bay just may be legit. Green Bay may be the best team ever. Boy, how about the fact they got Michael Parsons? Look out for Green Bay, Green Bay. But then you remember that Green Bay ain't done it with Jordan Love, and they blow a 10-0 lead in the fourth quarter at Cleveland to a team that was averaging.

Dig this. Joe Flacco, I think, his average attempt was 2.9 yards. and they won. So you're like, huh, as it turns out, maybe we overvalued Green Bay a little bit. And then you see what the Lions did last night on the road as a five and a half point underdog in Baltimore. And what they did last night, and I know the final score was 3830, so the final score doesn't really show it.

And I know that it doesn't really show it because the game was tied at halftime and like it was kind of a back and forth type of game. but I feel like they dominated that game. Final score, you know, coulda, shoulda, would have been 38 to 24. Like, they could have, should have won it by 14. They give up a late garbage touchdown to Baltimore to cut the deficit to 3830. If that score doesn't happen, they dominate the fourth quarter, 17 to 3. They dominate the second half 24 to 10 at that point.

So, I mean, they throttled them. The way they ran the ball, they ran for 224 yards. You know what that is? They had 5.9 yards of carry and four rushing touchdowns. They didn't need Jared Gough to throw for 300 yards because he threw for a cool 202, and that's all they needed to do. They sacked Lamar Jackson seven times. They sacked him six times.

They held Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson to 85 yards on 19 carries. They forced a fumble of Derek Henry. They stopped them. at the goal line at one point on a fourth down. They had six, sorry, six tackles for loss, seven sacks. They dominated the game. Every piece of that game was dominated on the road by the Detroit Lions. Two weeks ago, the lions were done.

The lions were cooked. The world had written them off. They sucked. They needed Ben Johnson. Then Ben Johnson comes to town and gets his dick knocked off. Then it's, oh, they're a five and a half point dog at the Ravens. Let's see what they can do. Oh, they go to Baltimore and beat the, look, I get that it was an eight-point game.

And I get that it was close back and forth. And I get that Baltimore was able to make some plays, some big plays to kind of keep the game interesting. You can say there are issues with the Lions defense. You wouldn't be wrong. I mean, they gave up 30 points in this game. But that's against a good offense, too. Like, people love to get hung up on, oh, my God, they gave up 30 points. Well, one of them was a garbage touchdown when you're just playing pre-vent.

And that's a good football team, too. Lamar Jackson's won multiple MVP. Derek Henry's been an MVP. They can score. They've got players. So I don't care that they gave up 30 fucking points. There is not a negative. I'm not going to look at them and judge them for the 30 points.

You give up 38, like Atlanta gives up 30 points to Carolina. That's an issue. Losing 30 to nothing to Carolina is an issue. Giving up 30 points to Baltimore is not an issue. The Lions, who three weeks ago were dead, I would argue if you believe, and who gives a shit about power rankings, you know, people get all caught up in like teams like, hey, here's my top 10 teams in the league right now. Three weeks ago, two weeks ago, a week ago, we would have said that Green Bay is the best team in the NFL.

Most people would have said that and most people wouldn't have argued. Maybe Buffalo. But you would have said, boy, Green Bay, the way they throttled their first two opponents. And I mean, they just throttled them. They're the best team in the league. Now after three weeks, you'd go, I think the lions are the. best team in the league. You could throw Buffalo in there, sure.

Outside of that, who are you going with? Who would you look at around the league right now and say, after the two weeks that you've seen out of the Lions, the Lions are still the Lions. Rumors of their demise were greatly exaggerated. Find me the team around the league right now that if you lined them up, you'd say, I don't know, I don't think they're better. You can argue the bills.

The bills do not have the playmakers the Lions have. And obviously they're in the AFC, so it really doesn't matter. But if you just looked at teams around the league and you just looked at skill players, position players, like Josh Allen's got some nice guys. Like Shakir is fine. That team doesn't have an Amin-Ross, St. Brown. That team doesn't have a Jemir Gibbs. You might say it's a wash with Sam Leporta and the titan they have, Dalton Kincaid, fine. They don't get those weapons.

They might have the better quarterback. Josh Allen's probably better. I mean, it is better. But it ain't like Jared Goff's a piece of shit. Like, if you ask me right now, one of them's 3 and 0, one of them's 2 and 1, one of them's had a giant stinker. We get that. But just look around the league.

The Colts right now are 3 and 0. You could say they're a false 3 and 0, but they had a giant chance for a letdown against the Titans, and they didn't let down. They just kicked the shit out of them, and Daniel Jones continues to play good football, right? But based on pedigree, based on having, done it before, I would take the

I would take the lions over them. So look around the league. Bills, Patriots, Jets, look, the bills are probably, at least, it's hard to say they're not better, but if you lined them up, I'd like to know what the point spread would be if the Buffalo Bills lined up against the Lions. Because by the way, the Buffalo Bills, rather the

lions, were a five and a half point underdog against Baltimore and we're up 14 with a minute to go in the game. On the road. So what happens if you line them up and they have to go to Buffalo. Whether I'm sure we'll play a huge factor in that whatever. But if it's a nice day in Buffalo, what is the number in that game? Is Buffalo greater than a three point favorite, a three and a half, four? I don't know. I mean, is it just a

home team there at home? They get three points type of thing. Patriots aren't better than the Lions. Jets aren't better than the Lions. Duffins aren't better than the Lions. Bangles certainly aren't better than the Lions. Steelers aren't. Ravens aren't. Cleveland isn't. The Colts aren't. Jacksonville, Houston, Tennessee, aren't. The Chargers maybe. I think the Chargers, if you want to look at teams that have weapons across the board, I'd say the Chargers are a team that's got those kind of players. Keenan Allen can ball. Quentin Johnson can ball. Ladd McConkey can ball. They did have Nage, but I don't know what the latest on Nage's injury is, but they've got, look, but Nage, he ain't Jemir Gibbs. And he, look, you know, who balled out yesterday?

David Montgomery, 155 yards. So maybe the Chargers? I'm not just saying that because they're 3-0, but I think they, I mean, legitimately, they have one of the best throwers of the football in the history of the game in Justin Herbert, dude's baller. And they got playmakers all over the field. So, like, I could look at them and go, okay, Chargers I would look at as viable, but not the Raiders, not the Broncos, not the old-ass, decrepit, tired, unwatchable chiefs.

Are the Eagles a better overall football team? I don't think so. Now, might they win a playoff game if they got it against them? That's one of those things. I'm not a big believer in the Eagles because I'm not a believer in Jalen Hertz, which again, that's a recipe for disaster because Jalen Hertz just keeps winning. Like you can't dismiss that. Like there is just an it thing.

Like he finds a way to win. And talent-wise, you look at their receivers and they're running backs. You'd say, okay, there's a team that's comparable that you can look at and go, okay, talent-wise on the offensive side of the football, they are a solid team. And you can look at them and say lions-wise, they're comparable. You got one of, if not the best running back in the game and Saquan Barclay, but the combo of J.mere Gibbs and David Montgomery's fucking sick.

Well, we got A.J. Brown. The difference between Ammon Ra and A.J. Brown is going to have six, seven catches every game and he's going to have 60, 70, 80 yards every game. A.J. Brown has to stand with his hands on his hips and read a book because his quarterback won't throw in the ball. Well, we have Devante Smith and we have James and Williams. Yeah, those are both guys that on a given day could bust one or two huge ones for 60 yards. and another time you can have James and Williams

who had like one catch last night for 20-something yards early in the game and never does anything again. Well, we have Dallas Goddard. Well, we have Sam Laporte and he's pretty fucking good. You know, like, so tit for tat, I could look at a lion's. Like, I'd love to see a Lions Eagles mixture of styles come together. But it's not Washington. It's not Dallas.

It's not New York. I don't believe it's Green Bay, even though they throttled them. Green Bay is clearly a flawed team as well. Minnesota is not better. I don't believe than the Lions. and I'm talking about the Lions because I live in Detroit but because I watch them

and it's the most recent thing we've seen it's not the Bears I love Tampa I love Baker and look that's a team that I could honestly make an argument that talent-wise they may be better offensively like top to bottom you're not going to find

too many teams that are exponentially or obviously better than the Lions in terms of talent but Egbuka's a sick dude Mike Evans has been doing it for a decade Bucky Irving is a guy who can do it out of the backfield, running and catching the ball. Otten's fine, like tight-in-wise, the advantage in that one would go to the Lions.

But wide receiver, you can go, okay, they're comparable. Like, Buk is just a stud. So Tamp, I'd say, like, if they met up, that'd be a fun game. Let's see. And they are going to meet up. They're going to play Monday night football in a couple of weeks. Panthers aren't. Falcons aren't Saints aren't.

San Francisco isn't, Arizona isn't. Seattle isn't Rams aren't. Like, so there might be two or three. teams in the league. And again, this could all change next week. The Lions could come out, lay a stinker, and we think they suck. But there are maybe two or three teams in the NFL right now that I look at and go, they're better than or on the level of the Lions. Three weeks ago, we would have said the lions are cooked. Three weeks ago, we said their offense is dead without Ben Johnson. Three weeks ago, we would have said they can't stop anybody without Aaron Glenn. What have we gotten the last two weeks? Ninety fucking points on offense. That's what we've gotten the the last two weeks out of the Lions. What did we get last night from the defense of the Lions? Yeah, they gave up 30 points. They also made huge plays when they had to make huge plays.

They sacked Lamar seven times. They had six tackles for a loss. They forced fumbles in the game. And they weren't just fluky fumbles. There were peanut punches of Derek Henry to the point that he was melting down on the sideline. Three weeks ago, that team was cooked. Now they're back in Super Bowl contention and arguably top two or three team in the league.

So you can really be fooled. by the first couple of weeks of the year.