After a brief hiatus, “Song of the Game” has returned, back by popular demand of our Editor in Chief and Sticktator, Jeremy Reisman. While I’ve been absolutely swamped between work, writing/editing, podcasting, being a husband and a parent, the next half hour I’ll spend writing this is a welcome break of such serious bellyaching about the secondary.
Lions vs. Jets Week 3 Song of the Game: “Dashboard” by Modest Mouse
Growing up in the day and age of burning CDs to create the soundtrack of your bus rides to and from school, Modest Mouse was a staple of my collection.
“Float On” and “Ocean Breathes Salty” spun a bunch on my Sony D-EJ360 Walkman. It hit me right in the midst of my percolating angst as middle school tested my place in the world, and Modest Mouse was just what the doctor ordered.
“Dashboard” is the lead single from the band’s fifth studio album—a track guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, worked on during his first day riffing with Modest Mouse. It’s much more dance-driven pop rock than the slacker rock the band debuted with a decade prior, but even in a different flavor, it’s still damn good.
Modest Mouse’s lineup has changed a bunch over the band’s life cycle, as has the Detroit Lions coaching staff over Dan Campbell’s six years as head coach. Aaron Glenn was one of my favorite hires Campbell made at the start of his tenure, and what he managed to accomplish as a defensive coordinator in 2024 was nothing short of remarkable. It led him to taking a head coaching position with the New York Jets the year after, and while it was a rocky start for the former Jets cornerback, he’s undoubtedly got that team in a position that feels eerily similar to the way Campbell had the Lions in 2022. They’re still feeling out the way to win, but they’re right there—and with tons of draft capital in this upcoming draft.
Oh, it should’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know
Well, you told me about nowhere well it sounds like someplace I’d like to go
Detroit’s defense is still very much a work in progress, especially on the backend, and that’s not something you want to hear about a football team through three weeks of regular season play. Many drew tired of Glenn’s unwillingness to spy mobile quarterbacks, and found him to be overaggressive by the end of his time in Detroit, and we’re seeing how any place other than where we’re at with this defense is someplace we’d like to see it go.
Well, it would’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know
Oh, the dashboard melted, but we still have the radio
And yet, with as bad as the defense has been—with the dashboard melted—we still have the Lions offense playing their same ol’ tunes. 31 points in three straight games, and this game would’ve been, could’ve been worse than you would ever know had it not been for this offense keeping this team in the win column.
Well we scheme and we scheme but we always blow it
We spent all week waiting to see the adjustments Kelvin Sheppard and the defense would make after getting embarrassed on “Thursday Night Football.” What sort of adjustments could they possibly make to clean up that mess? But up until the fourth quarter, the Lions held the Jets to just 10 points. Detroit had a comfortable 24-10 lead, they had schemed and schemed… but they ended up blowing that lead, letting the Jets tie the game with a little over four minutes remaining in the game.
We’ve yet to crash, but we still might as well enjoy it
Standing at a light switch to each east and west horizon
Every dawn you’re surprising
And in the evening one’s consoling
Saying, “See it wasn’t quite as bad as.”
Four plays later, the Lions have the lead, the defense forces a game-winning turnover, and I spent my op-ed this week reminding everyone that while the Lions’ dashboard is melted, we’ve yet to crash, and the radio’s still working, so we might as well enjoy it.
If you want to relive previous Lions seasons, you can find the playlists we curated below: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. And if you want to read previous versions of our Song of the Game columns, you can find those here.
