EJ Johnson’s Got Beef – October 5, 2026

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Sometimes, you can only say so much, you gotta live it, unfortunately. You gotta get your heart ripped out, which we did. And it's a lesson learned. And look, I told those guys, this may have been our only shot. Do I think that? No. Do I believe that? However, I know how hard it is to get here.

I'm well aware. And it'll be, it's gonna be twice as hard to get back to this point next year than it was this year.

Drew Lane (0:25)

Hey, we're live on YouTube, everybody.

It's The Drew Lane Show, Lions post game. We've got a lot to cover. It was a terrible sports weekend for Michigan. Well, for Michigan, the Red Wings, Tarek Schubel pitching a great game for the Dodgers. Then we got to the Lions. And of course, the Michigan game on Saturday. And Eli's here to get us started. Brought to you by Dr. Yaldo, as always.

Eli Zaret (0:48)

You know, what you bring up is that there's really no other month better than this one with so much going on. We got the NFL and college football, NHL NBA starting their seasons, MLB playoffs, even the WNBA is in their postseason.

And what a tough road it's been just before we went on the air. Drew's, I'm sorry, Brandon said those blanking red wings. And I'm reading Jake Butt ripping his former Michigan team. And of course, we saw the game last night.

Drew Lane (1:19)

Wait, a Michigan player ripped the Michigan team?

Brandon McAfee (1:22)

Yeah, they all should be.

Eli Zaret (1:23)

I'm telling you, and Jake Butt, when he does the games on the Big Ten Network, is just all hearts and flowers. I'll read that later when we get into Michigan. But there's really no mystery as to what the problem is with the Lions. Now, you can say you're gonna mix things up a little bit or try a different scheme, but there's not a lot of hope to solve the problem when you don't have a defensive backfield that can stop anybody from completing passes on them. 424 yards allowed in the first four games is by far the most in the league by over 30 yards a team.

I believe they'll lead the league in points allowed, and you can see why.

SPEAKER_5 (2:08)

They're in the yards too. They're making every single quarterback that they've played so far look like an MVP candidate.

Eli Zaret (2:13)

And still, they're not a bad team. They're not getting blown out. They score enough to stay in the game, but the Saints and the Bills and the Panthers have exposed their defensive backfield woes, and they look no better than last year's 9-18.

Marc Fellhauer (2:27)

That's the frustrating part. They're not getting any better.

Eli Zaret (2:31)

No. No.

Marc Fellhauer (2:32)

They're not making any moves to try and get some. I mean, the Porter thing last week to not even go after what the Cowboys had.

Brandon McAfee (2:37)

Porter was traded, wasn't he? Yeah, the Cowboys. What did the Cowboys give up?

Eli Zaret (2:40)

A second and a sixth.

SPEAKER_7 (2:43)

Okay, sometimes you have to do something.

Drew Lane (2:46)

Why is he so in love with his draft picks that, by the way, he hasn't been getting that much for them lately?

Eli Zaret (2:51)

Honestly. You talk about Brad Holmes.

So that's even before this week's game. I'm reading some of the things online about Scott Harris. And what are some of the things?

Drew Lane (3:03)

Scott Harris, the tech guy?

Eli Zaret (3:04)

I'm sorry, Scott. Brad Holmes. Scott Harris too, but Brad Holmes, the two of them are kind of in the same bag being accused of not doing what it took to make their teams competitive to make it to the play offs. So one about Holmes says, happy to be good enough.

Another one says, this clown has no desire to actually win anything of meaning. Another fan says, how can every fan know that the secondary is garbage going into the season, but the GM continues to stand up and say, we love who we've got. Well, you can't love who we've got, especially when the best guys are injured. When Branch, and by the way, one of the reasons they can't go after Joey Porter, who was injured, this is the Steelers defensive back that they traded to the Cowboys, $3.5 million would have been prorated. They can afford that, but then they're going to lose him. It's going to kind of be a rental. And look what they got to extend. Look at the salaries they have. I mean, nine players make $20 million plus. They've been paying their guys. Goff makes $53 million. Hutch makes $45 million. St. Brown makes $30 million. Gibbs is the highest paid running back. Campbell is up there with the highest paid running back.