Yzerman's plan, Iggy's final bow, Izzo's blistering words

Ever wonder how Yzerman plans to bring the Wings back to championship caliber? Well lucky us he revealed it live on national tv last night. Check it out.

Jaw-dropping stuff.

We hope everyone had a good holiday last week, ours was almost perfect despite the Lions L. But all that pain and dismay of losing (again) on Turkey Day will go away if you are able to forward this email to one, single, solitary person. We appreciate you.

Onto the good stuff.

Bills Feast On Late Game Errors To Take Thanksgiving Game from Inspired Lions (4-7), 28-25

Having their second helping of a game at Ford Field in as many weeks, Super Bowl favorite Buffalo snapped the wishbone of tens of thousands of Lions fans on Thanksgiving Day this year.

In bowling terms, Detroit was coming off a turkey of wins (three game win streak), and played an inspired game in front of the second largest crowd in Ford Field history, but it wasn't enough to gobble up a W versus one of the NFL's best.

No appetizers or hors d'oeuvres, let's cut right to the main course.

Like your hippie aunt and conservative uncle arguing over vaccine policies, this was a back-n'-forth affair where both sides refused to quit.

This game featured turnovers, touchdowns, a jinxed missed field goal and even a safety. The Bills found themselves down three at Detroit's 7-yard line with just over two-and-a-half minutes left in the game.

It was here Allen capped off a 14-play, 90-yard drive with a green bean seed to Stefon Diggs to take the lead 25-22, the extra point would put Buffalo up by four BUT WAIT HE HOOKED IT.

With Bills kicker Tyler Bass spilling the stuffing, the Honolulu blue boys only needed a FG to tie it.

Eight plays and 42 yards later, the Lions are facing a third-and-one on Buffalo's 33, when Goff & Co made their most controversial decision of the day - a deep shot to Chark.

Having only one yard to go and a timeout in-hand, this call was a head scratcher and much of the blame was placed on the play call. Why not run for the first, and if you don't get it, you're kicking the field goal anyways? Then this graphic hit the internet.

Either way, Badgley hits the most unpredictable 51-yarder I've ever seen to tie it.

Whatever. Onto overtime, right? WRONG.

Bills got the ball back and just like your estranged cousin talking about her online MLM business, Josh Allen reappeared and completely ruined everything.

But instead of getting you to join his pyramid scheme he just hucked another dart Stefon Diggs' way for a 39-yard pick up which immediately put Buffalo within field goal range.

You know how this ends. Bills run a couple more plays, then Tyler Bass hits the game winning field goal, transforming from the undesirable cranberry sauce to the coveted holiday ham in just a matter of moments.

No dessert, Bills win, 28-25.

Game notes:

• Lions had a red zone interception, tipped by Rodrigo, intercepted by Anzalone.

• Goff went 23/37, 240 yards and two touchdowns. He also did this.

• Jamaal Williams had 18 rushes for 66 yards and a touchdown, he also added a fumble

• Amon-Ra and Chark scored the other two Lions touchdowns, with the Sun God catching 9 balls for 122 yards

Next up: Lions take on Jacksonville at home, Sunday at 1pm.

Wings (11-6-5) Lose Measuring Stick Game to Rival Toronto and Continue to Struggle in OT

Our once red-hot Red Wings, who had won four straight, have dropped their last two, losing to the Maple Leafs Monday and Buffalo last night in an absolutely chaotic game.

The Toronto game featured goals from Seider and Enrne. The Wings outshot the Original Six rival 42-25, but ultimately dropped the decision 4-2 at LCA.

Bad bounces and overall lack of puck luck led the spoiling of Detroit's debut of their controversial Reverse Retro jerseys.

The first time the color black has been featured on a Wings' game jersey in their history.

Then, last night vs Buffalo, the Wings scored 90 seconds into the game but would promptly give up four straight, trailing 4-1 entering the third.

With Craig Anderson, the 41-year-old Sabre goaltender, playing out of his mind, it seemed Detroit would die a slow death. But two goals from Sundqvist and another from Perron, the Wings found themselves tied at 4 with just over seven and a half to play.

The Wings would go-on to have a two man advantage with 2:30 left in the game and fail to score. Ultimately hitting two posts in overtime (Perron, Larkin) and losing on an incredible move from Buffalo's Jack Quinn to seal the deal.

The Wings are now 2-0-5 in overtime/shootout games.

But let's not harp on the negative nor the controversial. The night before Thanksgiving in front of a raucous LCA crowd, Husso and the Wings shutout the Preds (to bring Ville's total to a league leading three), then proceeded to beat Arizona in dramatic fashion two nights later, thanks to our captain.

Up next for the boys in red:

Miggy Announces 2023 Will Be His Final Season

Moment of silence.

While this isn't too much of a shock the news still hits hard when the end is officially in sight.

Miggy, 39 turning 40 in April, is entering the 8th and final year of his $240,000,000 deal with Detroit that he signed back in 2016. He will make $32,000,000 in his final season with the Tigers. Via The Detroit News: 

Miguel Cabrera is throwing a party in Miami on Wednesday, a massive gala and auction to raise money for his foundation and, at a press gathering on Monday, he acknowledged that the 2023 season would be his last.

Mostly, the press event was in Spanish. But to MLB.com’s Christina DeNicola, the Tigers' future Hall-of-Famer said, “It is going to be my last year.”

Then, after a pause, he added, “It feels a little weird to say that. I thought I'm not going to say never, but I think it's time to say goodbye to baseball.”

Cabrera met with manager AJ Hinch and President of Baseball Ops, Scott Harris before making his decision. While Hinch and Harris are excited about the off-season work Miggy is putting in, they made him aware he may not be the team's everyday designated hitter, and Cabrera fully understands that.

“It depends how I'm feeling,” he told MLB.com. “We're always open to talk and see. I always do whatever they want, whatever the manager wants me to do. I don't worry about if I'm going to play everyday or not.

“So if they give me a chance, I'll play. If not, I'm going to support the team. Gotta be a good teammate.” (Detroit News).

No matter what he does this season, the former Triple Crown and MVP winner will be a first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the greatest hitters of all time.

Pistons (5-18) Cade-less, Get Blown Out By Knicks in Green City Jerseys

Inviting headline, no? After a minor spurt of hope, with the Pistons taking down Denver then Utah for their first back to back wins of the season, our boys then quickly reverted back to their losing ways.

Since winning two straight, which accounts for 40% of their wins on the entire season, Detroit lost to Phoenix on the road, then Cleveland and New York at home.

The New York loss was especially embarrassing, losing by 30-points, 140-110. But at least they were dressed well, 'donning' the Big Sean designed and St. Cecilia's Church inspired 'City Jerseys'. 

Also, where's Cade? (Via Freep)

It has been three weeks since Cade Cunningham played a basketball game. He has missed the Detroit Pistons' past 10 games with left shin soreness, and there's a possibility he has played his final game of the 2022-23 season.

A hairline stress fracture is the likely cause of Cunningham's shin soreness, per sources. The team is preparing to be without the 2021 No. 1 draft pick for an extended period of time as he mulls treatment options.

Up next:

State (5-7) Closes Nightmarish Season with 35-16 Loss at Penn State and a $100K Fine

MSU wrapped up their extremely disappointing season banged up and on the wrong side of a 500 record, losing to Penn State in Happy Valley by 19 points.

Considering the Nittany Lions top ten ranking, and MSU's injury report, the Spartans did show resolve and looked like they might hang around for a season ending upset bid. But in the end, they ran out of gas and lacked the talent to close on the road. Via Freep:

The Spartans made it a five-point game early in the fourth quarter, but the Nittany Lions went on a time-consuming march and delivered the knockout punch with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Sean Clifford to running back Nicholas Singleton. MSU quarterback Payton Thorne was intercepted three plays later, and PSU added another score on the next play en route to a 35-16 victory.

This loss moves them to 5-7 and all but ends the Spartans' hopes for a bowl game.

The season is likely over for Spartans (5-7, 3-5 Big Ten), who would need fewer than 82 six-win teams to qualify for the 41 bowl games and get help from others to get a bid based upon Academic Progress Rate scores. (Freep).

Adding insult to injury, they were hit with a gigantic fine.

Michigan State football will receive the largest fine in Big Ten history for the incident in the Michigan Stadium tunnel Oct. 29.

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren levied a $100,000 fine against MSU for a fight that involved eight Spartans and two Wolverines following U-M’s 29-7 victory. That surpasses the $40,000 fine issued to Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard for hitting a Wisconsin assistant coach in February. (Freep)

And Tom Izzo didn't like it.

Speaking of Izzo... his Spartans have one two of three, dropping to #18 Alabama on Thanksgiving and barely surviving Portland this week.

We'll dive deeper into hoops moving forward now that football season has concluded.

Michigan (12-0) Completes Perfect Regular Season With Blowout Win At Rival Ohio State

There's statement games, then there's doing what Michigan did last weekend. This was a game Ohio State had every reason to win and Michigan every reason to lose.

The game was in Ohio State's barn, with the Buckeyes having a whole year to analyze what went wrong last year in The Big House when they lost to the Wolverines 42-27.

Not to mention the weather was perfect, another advantage for the Buckeyes.

What wasn't perfect was Heisman candidate Blake Corum's knee, who walked out of the tunnel looking like he had a bionic leg.

And while his warmup looked strong, he took the first carry of the game, but that was it. He called for a sub, cutting on his injured left knee was too much.

Much like the storyline of most Michigan wins this season, the magic happened in the second half.

After trailing 20-17 at half in a back-and-forth first, JJ McCarthy played the game of his life, with the support of defense and Donovan Edwards, to blowout their rival Buckeyes.

Via Freep:

JJ finished with 263 yards and four touchdowns, one of them on the ground on third-and-3 early in the fourth quarter that gave U-M a two-score lead.

He wasn’t the only one making plays, though. So many Wolverines did, including Harbaugh and his staff, who called a gutsy fourth-and-1 from U-M's own 34 in the third quarter. It was a hurry-up play designed to throw off OSU’s rhythm and it worked.

In that way, Harbaugh outfoxed and outflanked Ryan Day all afternoon and, frankly, for much of the last two years.

Michigan's defense held OSU to three points in the second half. Complete domination.

With the victory U of M now ranks #2 overall in the College Football Playoff rankings and will face Purdue in the Big Ten Championship, Saturday, December 3rd, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Until next week.