Qual è il futuro dell’industria tecnologica a Detroit? Una delle persone in prima linea è il cofondatore di Black Tech Saturdays, Johnnie Turnage.
Parliamo dei cambiamenti guidati dalla tecnologia, di come Detroit può trarne vantaggio, del ruolo dell’AI (Intelligenza Artificiale) e di molto altro ancora. Non potete mancare!
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Jer Staes: Hello and welcome to the table at Tech Town. I am Jer Staes. To my left is none other than Mr. Norris Howard. How are you, sir?
Norris Howard: You already know what it is. The Prince of Brightmoor returns! I’m back here once again in studio. I had a little break, but, you know I can’t stay away for too long.
Jer Staes: Never, never. And joining us is a very special guest, a return visitor to the Daily Detroit studio, Johnnie Turnage. Black Tech Saturday is, I think, one of the leading voices around technology and community in the City. Welcome back to the show, Johnnie!
Fletcher Sharpe: Yeah, it was a great game for the Lions. They played really well. And honestly, beating the Chicago Bears twice in a season, whether they’re having a great year or not, is always a benchmark.
Jer Staes: Those rivalry games really make people have to step up. But I’ll tell you, it seems like the Lions kind of rolled right over Chicago, even bringing out a trick play that’s gotten a lot of people talking.
Fletcher Sharpe: Yeah, I mean, to be fair, the Bears are kind of hapless. Their season was definitely over, especially after Thanksgiving, where the former coach inexplicably just let the clock run. But that does not take away from the fact that the Lions played a complete game. They dominated on offense, defense, and special teams, which is what you have to do in games against opponents that are not great, even if they are division rivals, because those are the ones [to win].
I’m sure people, who watch Michigan or Michigan State, have seen times where one side has been weaker, but the game gets tight because those people really don’t like each other. Yeah, the trick play they brought out, I know, Ben Johnson asked Jared Goff earlier in the week if he could bounce the ball, like, to fake a fumble. And he was like, “No.” They tried it once, and he’s like, “yeah, I can’t do that.”
They decided instead to fake the drop of the ball, which I think is kind of funny given that all the Packers fans freaked out about Goff’s knee being down to hand the ball off, which means they don’t know what the rules are. He had a fake play where they faked that. They dropped the ball. The entire Lions defense and the entire Lions sideline yelled, “Ball,” as if the ball had been dropped. Jameer Gibbs dove as if there was a ball on the ground. And “Mr. Simone Biles,”Jonathan Owens was too busy looking in the backfield to not see Sam LaPorta sneak right behind him as Goff then turned around and lobbed a perfect ball over him to LaPorta into the end zone.
They’re still going to get those trick plays. And I’m typically someone who is like, trick plays are something you pull out when you think you’re going to get blown out. Typically, you see, trick plays happen when it’s like, “Oh, we need to do something to throw this team off, because otherwise they might come down and just maul us.” But Ben Johnson has found a way to incorporate trick plays into the actual playbook where it’s not like we’re doing them because we’re trying to get an upset.
It’s like we’re going to win. And also, here’s our left tackle getting a touchdown reception. Here’s our running back throwing a ball to the quarterback. Here’s our defensive tackle getting a carry up the middle. And it’s honestly refreshing to see, especially in professional football, because they’re paying you money to do this. It’s not like you’re doing it for the love of the game. This is your paid profession, and you’re out there playing as if you’re a 14 or 13 year old. And I’m sure that is probably really enjoyable in the locker room.
Jer Staes: I was glad to see that Jahmyr Gibbs stepped up.
Fletcher Sharpe: I mean he was going to have to with Dave Montgomery gone for most of the season. There’s a chance he might come back later. But even still, an MCL [injury] makes it hard for you to cut. He’s not going to be the same guy he was this year. Next year for sure, but this year it’s going to be a little bit rougher.
People might have forgotten, but Jahmyr was the feature back at Alabama and at Georgia Tech. And he was really good at both those schools. Like, really, really good. I mean, he had a really good offensive line with Alabama, but he can run between the tackles. He prefers to get to the outside, but he can definitely be a guy who carries the ball 25 times if need be and be okay, especially if it’s going to be at the short end of a season. All 18 games, I’m not really sure [about that].
But like the second half plus some playoff games, yeah, Jahmyr Gibbs can handle that. To see him have a game where he goes for 150 plus total yards and a touchdown is great, especially the one where he dove up the middle to get the touchdown. It lets you know that while he is a speedy guy, he’s got a little bruising force too.
The 34-17 win definitely feels good, but let us talk about the bigger picture. We have got a couple of games coming up. We’ve got other teams that do. They’re doing what they’re doing. How are we feeling? Because there was, in sports media, there was kind of a doom loop this week with a lot of people. And I wanted to get your honest feelings about it and where we’re at with everything.
Aaron Glenn summed it up perfectly. He was like, “People are saying the sky is falling and we’re 12 and 2. Like, how is the sky falling when we’re still the number one team in the East? Like, how. How is the sky falling? He’s like, you guys, that’s for you guys.” Pointing to the media people, he was like, “We’re just here to play football. That’s what our job is.”
And yeah, there are some people who are like, “Oh, man.” Some people really thought they were going to win all the way out. And I understand that part of being a fan is like you get kind of swept up in it. But even after losing, that is part of the perk of being one of the better teams in your division, one of the better teams in your conference. You can lose a game, and you’re still near the top. Like, even after losing that game last week, they were still tied for the division lead. They still are tied for the division lead, and they have a tiebreaker. And even better, the Eagles lost to the Commanders on a last second play by Jalen Jaden Daniels, who I think might be rookie of the year.
Now, they’re number one in the East. They are number one. They have the number one record in the East. I know they’re tied with the Vikings, but the Vikings have lost to the Lions, so that, by tiebreaker, puts them underneath [us]. The Lions are the number one team in the NFC.
While the sky is falling, they also have the most wins in franchise history, scored the most points in a season in franchise history, and they still have a few more games left. So, like, if this is a sky falling, I really wonder what it looks like when stuff’s going great.
If you’re going to win a Super Bowl, it’s not going to be easy. It’s never going to be easy.
No, it’s not. And for the Lions, it’s going to be especially hard given the fact that they have so many people on injured reserve, so many key players on injured reserve. I know there is one Eagles fan who was complaining because the Commanders beat the Eagles yesterday. It’s because they’re starting quarterback Jalen Hurts went out after the first quarter, and it was like, “oh, well.” They were talking too about how the Commanders beat a fully healthy Eagles team and all this other stuff. And we were missing our quarterback and I was like, “that’s a very fair point.”
But they wanted to give Josh Allen the MVP after he beat a Lions defense made up of mainly people that got off the street. And she was like, “Well, what is … how is that different?” I’m like not really. Not really. It’s the same thing. If it’s different, it’s because it’s much worse for the Lions. But if you’re going to support a sports team, you’re going to support an organization. You have to understand sometimes it’s going to happen.
Some days it’s just not going to be your day. And fortunately for the Lions, unfortunately for the Eagles, it was the Lions’ day and not the Eagles’ day. There is kind of the nature of the beast in sports, especially a sport as violent as football is. Sometimes you’re gonna have injuries.
And as I’ve said in the past, a few times, almost every year, one team gets the injury bug. Maybe not as much as this, but all one team gets it like, “hey, this year you’re gonna have some people who just get hurt.” Maybe you get the injury bug, and it’s mainly your practice players. But one year, one team’s gonna have a team where it is … your starters are going to be out. … You’re not going to have this guy for X amount of time, and you have to just be okay with it and managing.
Honestly, that just shows the depth that they built with this roster. Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell, Sheila Ford Hampe, they helped assemble a roster that’s deep. Albeit, they’re scratching the bottom of that deepness, but it is still deep enough to contribute and work at a rate that is keeping them at 13 and 2.
We’re going to talk about the 49ers in a minute, but I feel like we’re headed towards a final showdown. That final game of the year against the Vikings.
The Vikings have to get by the Packers. They beat the Seahawks, which I did not think they would do. Geno Smith came back. He is having a great year, a great kind of career with the Seahawks, after the way his season started after his time with the Jets. The Jets tend to do that to their quarterbacks. Watching Geno Smith and Sam Darnold kind of flourish outside of New York is honestly a little unsettling. And seeing Aaron Rodgers go there and just completely crap the bet is unsettling, but in a good way.
If the Vikings get past the Packers and the Lions get past the 49ers, they will both finish at 14 and 2. Then it’ll be a very big important game at Ford Field that I’m sure everyone will be watching. I think the Lions will have a much easier time with the 49ers. And say the Vikings will [too] with the Packers, from the standpoint that the 49ers, while they are playing for pride, are missing so many important pieces. Christian, McCaffrey, for one, who is one of the more dynamic players in the league, he is out. Their defense is beset by injury.
They’re also dealing with controversy. They had a player who they were going to cut. I don’t know if they cut him yet, who refused to go into a game because someone else came back off injury and other players were getting hurt, and he just walked off the field during the third and fourth quarter, just walked into the locker room, and it unsettled a lot of their players. They still have the pieces, some of the pieces from last year that got them to the Super Bowl.
Brock Purdy is still there. I think he’s an ultimate game manager. I think, if you give him some time, he can do the right thing. I don’t think he’s as good as last year. The receiver/running back/do-it-all guy.
Deebo Samuel is still a dynamic player who you do not want to let get into open field, but he’s been having some drops. This year, he has not been playing up to his potential. These are the types of games – the trap games – where if you look past them, you can have a guy who’s maybe had 30 fumbles this year. You look past them. This will be the game he goes off for 2,200 yards and a few touchdowns.
I don’t think Dan Campbell’s gonna let the team look past the 49ers at all, but I think the Lions should be okay. I think this is a game that they — I won’t say comfortably win, but I think. I think at the end, it gets a little bit tighter. But I think. … I think they win this game by maybe seven to ten points.
Really? Right now, the betting line is three and a half points.
Well, that’s because the Lions defense is banged up, and they also think Brock Purdy is [the same] Brock Purdy from last year. I’m seeing something like 31-21, 31-24, something like that. The defense is a little worrisome, but I have faith the defense will hold against this 49ers offense, which really is not producing so well right now.
Fletcher Sharpe, it’s been such an honor over the last year to be talking with you about all kinds of topics. And also, honestly, the Lions, because who knew three years ago when whenever you started being on the air with us that the Lions were going to be front and center. It was the only thing that people really wanted to talk about.
This town has just become Dan Campbell crazy. Honestly, I know that other sports deserve their shine, but to see Metro Detroiters, whether we live in the region or live afar, rally behind the Honolulu Blue has been a magical thing that I have not seen in my lifetime.
Yeah, it’s kind of nuts. I mean, like, the Red Wings, when they were good, people really cared about the Red Wings for sure they still care about the Red Wings. Don’t get me wrong. When the Pistons won their title, people were going to work for the Pistons. “I love the Pistons and everything.” … But when Jim Caldwell brought the Lions back to having a winning record after the Marty Mornhinweg and Jim Schwartz era, people were like, “Okay, I’m invested now.”
Like, all right, the Lions are whatever. And now, while they have not won a playoff game, … while they have not done whatever, they’re back in the playoffs. They’re a good team. Then they brought in Matt Patricia, who strangled the life and love out of most Lions fans. He came in with his old, “I’m, gonna be the Belichek right way.” And it’s like, bro, that doesn’t work, if you’re not Bill Belichick, because people have to respect you. And no one respects you. No one in this building respects you. A lot of Lions fans are pretty low. And when they then signed the antithesis of him in Dan Campbell …
I’ll admit … I’ve been very quick to admit this and eat crow as much as I can. I was like, “You just signed a happy Matt Patricia.” That’s it. You signed a guy who wants to come there and be hyped up.
I’ll never forget what I said. “He’s hyped up because he knows this first season is going to be very bad. And if he’s very positive about it, they’ll give him more years.” Because instead of coming in and being morose, like, “Oh, you know, we suck.” But he was like, “Ah, we’re going to bite kneecaps. We’re going to punch people in the face. We’re going to drink their blood”
Okay? If he is hype about it, people get hype about him. They want to do stuff after the first year, [which was a] little rough. But then the second year started to turn around, and it’s like …
You and I spoke about it off-air at the end of last year. I said, “Man, like, there’s something here. People are starting to believe in this team.” The team didn’t make the playoffs. They finished about 500. They did not make the playoffs. But people were like, “Watch out for the Lions.” And I was like, “Well, we’ll see. We will see. I don’t know. I’ve been there before. I’ve been watching out for the Lions many, many times.”
And we watch-out as a crater the following year, horrifically. But, no, he’s really elevated this team to the point where people want to come to Detroit — and not to say that Detroit is not a great place. I love the city. You love the city. People listening, [they] love the city. But it’s cold in the winter, man. No one loves this weather. And free agents during October and November were like, “I want to go to the Motor City and play football. I don’t care if it’s freezing. I don’t care if it’s negative 2 degrees walking around. I want to go play for this organization.”
And to see that, to me, that’s the crazy part. Detroit is a big city. It’s a lovely city, but it’s a cold city. It’s not Los Angeles. It does not have the allure that New York has. … It’s not Florida with all the heat. Yet, people want to come here. People want to come here and do stuff.
He’s got fans traveling to take over stadiums the past two years, and this year it’s been really majestic because they’re undefeated on the road so far. So you got a bunch of Honolulu Blue Lions fans coming in your stadium cheering for Jared Goff over your own players and watching that team dismantle your team.
It’s like you said, in my lifetime, I’ve never seen the Lions be good. I haven’t seen them be like Lloyd Carr Michigan good. I have not seen this, where it’s like, “Oh, man, you guys are in for a long Sunday type thing.” I’ve never been able to say that before a game started and fully know that it’s about to happen. Seeing the transformation now is nuts. It’s like night and day. And I don’t want to say that I love it, but I kind of do.
* Fletcher is so stunned by the Lions being good that I had to edit out over two dozen “like’s”, “but’s”, and “so’s”.
Let the Grinch out. Open up your heart.
I kind of do. And, I mean, I wouldn’t call it a Grinch. I’d maybe say it is being pragmatic. But yeah. Sure, two sides of the same coin.
You know who else I love to see the success of is Jared Goff, because everybody discounted him. A lot of people thought that Jared couldn’t do it. There’s still people who are like, “Oh, he’s not a[n elite quarterback.]” I don’t know what this guy needs to do to prove to you other than a Super Bowl.
I still believe in the power of the Lions, but this guy’s for real. He’s a different energy than Matt Stafford was. He’s a different energy than I think a lot of people anticipated, but I think he is the hero we needed.
I mean, yeah. … When the Rams traded him for Stafford, they’re like, we are sending you. It’s kind of like the Lion King, where it’s like, “we’re going to send you to the place where the light doesn’t hit. You’re going to the shadow world.” You’re going over here, you’re going to hang out with the dregs in this city.
We’re going to take this guy back to Hollywood. And you typically don’t really see teams who have a quarterback who took him to the Super Bowl, at least two years before. You don’t see them kind of bailing a guy like that. It was kind of the most alarming thing.
Was this the guy who got you to a Super Bowl? Yes. Was he the most important player? No, that was Todd Gurley, the rest of your team and your defense, but, like, he got you to a Super Bowl and you’re going to a young guy, you’re going to bail on him already. That’s kind of wild.
So, yeah, he came to Detroit. He had some baggage. He had some damage. People were kind of like, well, “If they don’t want him and they would win a Super Bowl, literally, the year they got rid of him. Should we want him?”
Like, he’s not very mobile. He doesn’t have a huge arm. He makes some pretty obvious mistakes. Do we want this guy?
And he came in here, and he has embraced the city. He has embraced the culture to the point to where I don’t remember ever hearing Matt Stafford chants at other sporting events. I don’t remember hearing Matt Stafford chants at recreational soccer games. I don’t remember hearing Matt Stafford chants while walking around local cities. You go places, and there is like a 1 in 8 chance they might just start chanting “Jared Goff” just because.
And whoever doubts this man now, … something’s not right at home. And maybe you just need a hug or something. I’m not really sure what is going on, but he’s shown that he wants to be here. He’s shown he’s one of the better quarterbacks in this league, at least this season, the past season as well, and he’s earned that respect. Now, you want to talk about next year, the year following? Sure. When that comes, for sure.
But right now, in terms of quarterbacks in this league, he’s got to be in your top seven, top eight in the league. He has to be. If he’s not, that’s just you. You have an agenda, and that is totally fine. No one needs to hear your opinion much longer.
Well, Fletcher Sharpe, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Thank you so much to our listeners, for sticking with us all of these nearly 1,600 episodes we’ve been doing this for. With that, I’m Jer Staes.
I’m Fletcher Sharpe.
Remember that you are somebody. Have wonderful holidays. Have a merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. And we will talk next week.
