SHIT2GRIT

We didn't have outrage. We didn't predict doom. We just had that familiar Lions-fan instinct to protect ourselves by looking away. Marshall and David admit: we almost didn’t watch. Heck, David didn't watch a play until after the game was over. After a season of unmet expectations and emotional whiplash, staying engaged felt like work, and disengaging felt like self-respect. But then th...

David and Marshall don’t waste time pretending this one doesn’t hurt. The season, for all intents and purposes, is over. No playoffs. No miracle run. No Super Bowl, for yet another season. We talk through what really went wrong: yes, the ripple effects of injuries, but mostly, the offensive line collapse. Even the greatest running backs can't find a hole that isn't there. And no pocket qua...

This one starts with pain—literal pain. Marshall takes a tumble down the stairs, and suddenly he has first-hand empathy for what NFL players wake up with every Monday. David follows with his own Hall of Fame wipeouts, including a Ring-doorbell-captured slide that deserves its own blooper reel. What begins as two grown men comparing battle scars quickly turns from the strange comedy inside the thin...

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault in the context of a jury trial. Listener discretion advised. David picks up where his story left off: when the jury room door closes and twelve strangers must decide another human’s fate. David walks us through what it felt like to volunteer to be foreperson, not out of ambition, but because of silence, a silence he broke with a r...

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault in the context of a jury trial. Listener discretion advised. We start with football: the Lions taking down the Baltimore Ravens—and with them, the last shred of doubt about who this team really is. Touchdowns traded, gutsy fourth downs, Jared Goff dropping dimes into buckets…it was a game that reminded us why we love this team. Th...

This episode’s different: David isn’t on the mic. He’s preoccupied with something heavy, something consuming. So Marshall does the show to him instead of with him. It starts with joy: Marshall’s enduring memory from the Lions’ mauling of the Chicago Bears will not be trick plays, or even the many skill-player highlights. It will be the willpower moment: the inspiring third- and fourth-down stand t...

The Lions came out flat. And for the first time in the Dan Campbell era, so did our hope. For Marshall, the Lions' lackluster loss to the Green Bay Packers hit so hard he did what he’s never done under Dan Campbell: he shut the game off. And as he reached for the remote, he heard his father’s old refrain from childhood Sundays— “That’s enough.” To Marshall, this didn't feel like just slopp...

New Green Bay Packers All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons says trick plays are for cowards. The Lions say: see you at the line of scrimmage. In this episode, we dig into the Lions’ evolving identity now that Ben Johnson’s razzle-dazzle is gone and John Morton is calling plays. Are the Lions really the “trick play” team Parsons thinks they are—or are they about to unleash a season of straight-up smash...

Young Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris went down in a preseason game, and 67,500 people went silent, while rival players became an instant brotherhood. We start there: the moment both sidelines chose humanity over the scoreboard. From there, we wrestle with the myth of “the show must go on” and what it actually asks of the 21 men who have to play the next snap after seeing something they can’t u...

We’ve got ten minutes and one big question: what does this Detroit Lions offense look like without the trickery? In this episode, we ponder what offensive life will like post-Ben Johnson. We say goodbye to the razzle-dazzle of the former Lions offensive coordinator's bag of tricks—and ask if maybe we ought to be saying good riddance. We recall the joys of watching wide receivers block like stu...

This one’s about the lies people tell—and the ones we tell ourselves . We start with an update on David's beef with the Arts and Leisure department: that there's no real update, just silence. AI's suspicion as to why helps us transition to a new Netflix docuseries on the 1995 O.J. Simpson double-murder case, and how, thirty years later and with a clearer lens on American truth, Marshal...

They blew David off one too many times. Now, he's got the goods—and the AI-generated (with a little poke from Marshall) script. David’s son Archer—high school junior and marimba wunderkind—wants to play for tips at the local farmer’s market. So David and Archer fill out the forms, submit the video, click all the right buttons. Then…crickets. For almost six months. Until David decides to do som...

Our Season 3 opener has anticipation written all over it. David and Marshall go through the draft pick by pick—and despite the residual pain of last season's abrupt end, we can't help but get axcited. From instant reactions to long-view strategy, we break down why Brad Holmes just might still be in One Step Ahead Mode. We unpack the hunger, heart, and dawg-eat-dawg energy that got added to...

[NOTE: Pardon Marshall's mic on this episode—it isn't connected properly. And David did try to warn me, but I told him it was on HIS end…] In this belated season finale, we explain why we ghosted you all—and the Lions—as we reflect on our emotional journey as fans of this team. We discuss the impact of the team's strong regular season and stunning playoff exit on our lives: the emptine...

David and Marshall discuss cocktails based on Manhattan boroughs, give our takes on the Detroit Lions' outgoing and incoming offensive and defensive coordinators, and hatch a plan for David's upcoming speed-dating event. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

Recorded right after the Detroit Lions were unceremoniously bounced from the NFL playoffs, David and Marshall discuss the emotional aftermath of the loss. We analyze key moments from the game, including coaching decisions, and reflect on the future of the team in blue. Do we need to reevaluate the Lions' direction moving forward? Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Op...

In this live—and live-wire—bonus convo, Marshall and David discuss a controversial play involving NFL player Brian Branch, who got a penalty for pushing an opposing player who was on the ground. David says the penalty on Branch was unwarranted; Marshall argues Branch broke the rules. Along the way, we consider the nuances of referee discretion, the rules surrounding player contact, the expectation...

In this conversation, Marshall and David discuss the remarkable resilience of the Detroit Lions' defense, who overcome a staggering list of injuries to earn this team, for the first time ever, the NFC's No. 1 overall seed—and a desperately needed week off. We also celebrate "future head coach" (David's words) Aaron Glenn, wonder who'll play Dan Campbell in the movie version of this team (10:49), r...

Reflecting realistically on the impact of the Lions’ league-leading injury list, Marshall and David explore what being ‘built for this' actually means (06:09), and predict just how far this team’s resilience can actually carry them. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

After the Thanksgiving victory, Marshall shares how hauntingly familiar the Chicago Bears' woes are to longtime Lions fans. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

On a very special Thanksgiving episode (there's actually nothing very special about it—we're just trying to sound like an old network TV promo), David and Marshall reveal just why Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions seem to run up the score, worry about the fact that Las Vegas hates the Lions, and realize what we're truly thankful for as Lions fans. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam...

Incredibly and historically, the Detroit Lions overcame five turnovers and a 16-point deficit on the road to beat the Houston Texans with a last-second, barely-good Jake Bates field goal. David and Marshall celebrate this defining and unforgettable victory, which somehow turns into a conversation (18:04) about 'freeing' edge rusher and former rookie sack sensation James Houston. Theme music: Mr. J...

With the Detroit Lions trouncing everyone in their path, David and Marshall try to unravel the mystery of James Houston (01:50), who set records as a rookie but since then seems to have lost his ability. We also entertain David's conspiracy theory (11:23): that contrary to what ESPN and other media outlets have reported, Aiden Hutchinson actually has no chance of playing in this year's Super Bowl....

David and Marshall talk before and (16:31) after the Detroit Lions' dismantling of the Dallas Cowboys on the road, in a vivid display of the effects enduring decades of losing can have on our psyches. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"

Special guest Tyler Dunne of Go Long joins us to discuss his riveting article "The Full Monty," which chronicles the incredible litany of trials and tribulations that supremely hard-nosed Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery has endured—and continues to endure—off the field. Theme music: Mr. Jukes and Barney Artist, "Blowin Steam (Open Up Your Mind)"