Brown: Lions Are The Best Team In The NFC

Lomas, thank you for taking the time to join us. Absolutely.

No problem at all. How you doing tonight? Listen, I don't got a complaint in the world. Hey, you played for the Lions. I know there's a lot of Lions fans who are excited what they've seen this season.

What were your first thoughts when you learned early this morning that the Lions were now picking up Z'Darius Smith? That other defensive end position, it was a hot spot. It was a hot spot during the all-season for the Lions. It was a hot spot going into training camp.

It was a hot spot, like I said, before Aiden got hurt. It just really got magnified once he got hurt that we had to bring somebody in. And I couldn't think of a better person that kind of fits the mold of what we built here in Detroit, what we are building here in Detroit. And he's a hungry guy ready to try to get to a Super Bowl. We're a hungry team trying to get to our first-ever Super Bowl.

So it seems to be a match made in heaven. And Lions legend Lomas Brown is here with us on the JR Sport Brief show. When you take a look at all of your years being a part of the organization and your latter years being away, but even now, is this the most optimistic that you've ever been about what the team is capable of doing?

Absolutely. And the reason why is because you can see this window open, I think, for the next four or five years because of the development and the way our young players, our first, second, third-year guys have stepped up. This is kind of unbelievable how Brad Holmes has been spot on with the guys that he has brought here. And these guys, like I say, they seem to fit right in with the culture that they've developed here. But these guys are ballers. When you talk about Jameer Gibbs, when you talk about Brian Branch, Samuel Porter, and you know, you talk about Terrion Arnold this year, and Enos Raikstra.

The list just goes on and on to Nasool, Armin Ra. Just the guys that he's brought in and we've brought in, these young guys have really stepped up. And that's why I say this window should be open the next four or five years for the Detroit Lions. Well Lomas, talk about the guy that was brought in to be quarterback, Jared Goff. Lions starting quarterback, comes over, has never left California playing football in his life.

We thought that he was just being sent off to the Lions to wither away. This man is in competition for an MVP. What have you seen from him that's different than what we saw in Los Angeles? Which by the way, he did go to a Super Bowl there as well. Well first of all, he's come to a place where the city has embraced him.

I mean, you can't go anywhere to any sporting event. Hell, you can't go to the grocery store and you might hear Jared Goff chants just break out. So the city has embraced him. And I know for any player, when you come to a new situation, that's the one thing that you hope is that the fans and the city embrace you.

And I think that's probably helped make that adjustment that Jared Goff has gone through a lot smoother. I mean, like you said, here's a California kid, California his whole life, he's sent to the Midwest to a team that doesn't have a rich history of women, you know, and a team that basically, he was basically a throw-in. You know, if you look at the situation with Matthew Stafford going there, but yet and still he's come here and I know he feels his love and I know that Detroit is going to always hold a special part in his heart because like I said, the way the fans have embraced them, this community has embraced them. He's ours. He's ours. And we won't let nobody take him away from us. We're going to protect them. And that's what we have as an offensive line. That's what this team has done.

And yeah, man, it's looking great. Lions legend, current broadcaster Lomas Brown is here with us on the JR Sportbreeze show Coast to Coast. Lomas, you played the head coach of the Lions. Well, damn it, he played and it seems that his imprint is all over the team. I don't know if there is another coach who would get out of this crew what Dan Campbell has. How important is he?

He seems like the tip of the spear. Yeah, he is the tip of that spear and FYI, me and Dan played together in 2000, 2001. So he was a teammate of mine and back then I was in my 15th, 16th year.

He was just in the second year. You know, it was something different about the guy. I couldn't have told you back then he would be a great coach.

But you know, it was something different about him, even young in his career. And you know, I think who else deserves a lot of credit is that coaching staff. I mean, he's put together a phenomenal coaching staff. When you think about the coaching staff, I think we got seven players on the team. Seven ex-coaches that are coaching these guys that played and believed. And when you got a coaching staff like that, when you got it full of ex-players, that gives the guys that are on the field that sense of comfort. That they know when they come off that field, if they struggling, they could go to a person that's been there, done that, that's sat in the chairs that they sat in. So don't underestimate the surrounding staff, his support staff, how important they have been in the turnaround with this team and this organization.

Well Lomas, we look at a team that's seven and one. Pretty much the largest negative thing that we've heard about the team is Aiden Hutchinson going down, Jamison Williams dealing with his own personal issues. What are some negatives? What are some spots that need to be fixed here with the Lions? Everything can't be rosy, right? Where's room for improvement? Yeah, there's always room for improvement. Any coach will tell you that even in wins, they're going to find so many things. I think in wins, they find more to pick at you about than they do in losses.

So they always strive and they execute better. That's what we're going to have to do because look, this season is still early. We're going to face some defenses just like we're on the roll right now. You got defensive coordinators that we have to face that are sitting around, devising waves of how to stop us. So we have to keep adjusting. We have to keep reinventing ourselves too. We have to be prepared for the unknown because that's the only way I think they're going to be able to stop us.

It's going to have to be some way that a DC just devises something because we're on the roll right now. So again, it's always points that you can point at and that you can always coach. And believe me, Dan Campbell and that staff, they're doing that because you can always perform a little better. You know that. Now Lomas, we saw last season that the Detroit Lions getting real close to the Super Bowl, even throughout the course of the postseason. We know that he's going to be aggressive.

There is no slowing that down. When you talk to the folks in the city, do people look and say, hey, let's be a little bit more conservative? Are they appreciative of what Dan is doing? You know what?

That's a great, great question because it's almost like a lightning rod. You have some that thinks he's overly aggressive. I think a lot of times it's no matter what you can do, what you do. You know, you're not going to please everybody. And that's Dan's coaching style. And to me, you have to be true to yourself.

All right. You have to be true to yourself. And that's who he is. And if he isn't true to himself, guys will see right through that.

So I think they love, they respect Dan because he's being true to himself. He's a guy he's going to go for it. And he's going to put our team in the best position to win. And the best position that he thinks for this team to win is for him to be aggressive. And he's not going to change that. And I don't think we want him to change it. It's going to come with criticism because, like I say, you can't please everybody. So you're going to get criticism.

But as long as you stick to who you are and your identity, I think you'll be all right. We know that the Lions are the cream of the crop right now in the NFC. The 49ers have been pretty busted up.

They're trying to get healthy. NFC North is pretty competitive in and of itself. You know, the Packers are there.

Vikings are still around. Is there a team that you look at and say, hey, the Lions got to watch out for this squad? To be honest with you, it's nobody that I favor over the Lions in the NFC.

I just don't. Maybe I'm a little jittery about the Philadelphia Eagles. But I mean, other than that, I mean, it's no team that I really fear the NFC.

And I think if I talk about the whole NFL, maybe Baltimore, you know, but other than that, no, it's nobody that I fear because of the way that they're playing, the confidence that this team has right now, the way they've been executing right now. And I'm telling you, if we get home field advantage, if everything comes through Detroit with our home field advantage, oh, look out. Look out. Because our fans, everybody know about our fans now. We don't hear the secret.

They know how we like to travel, but they know how it is when you come into four fields and try to play a game. You're going to hear it. So I think we're looking good right now.

Hey, no more no more jokes on Thanksgiving, man. I'm looking forward to the game, Lomas. I'm looking forward to this one, OK? Absolutely. Absolutely.

My brother. No doubt about it. Well, I know you're busy. I appreciate the time. Where can people follow and listen to you as you give the good word on these Lions? Well, hey, I'm on X. I'm at Lomas Brown 75. You can follow me on X and I do the game. I think it's Sirius XM that gets, you know, for the people nationally, Sirius XM game day will be on.

Myself, Dan Miller and TJ Lang. So, man, looking forward to calling the game and being right there in Houston on Sunday. Hey, Lomas, appreciate the time. We'll catch you on down the line, I guess, as we get closer to the, I don't know, maybe the Super Bowl, huh? I like that.

New Orleans. I like that. We were getting close. Hey, Lomas, you be safe. We'll catch you on down the line, OK? OK. Take care. Thanks.