Lions are releasing Standing Room Only seats again this week in anticipation of another 65,000+ crowd when they host Minnesota. Vikings have the 9th most false starts & 4th most delay of game penalties in the NFL this season. Safe to say Ford Field will be rocking come Sunday.
Officials are going to miss some calls but between the missed offside on Rams -- that cost Detroit a chance at points to end half -- and the no call on Gibbs getting hit 3 yards out of bounds. Officiating has to be better in 2nd half. This is the playoffs.
#LARvsDET
Lions RB D’Andre Swift said his goal this year is to rush for 1,000 yards and have 1,000 yards receiving. He said with Duce Staley coaching him he thinks he can reach both marks.
Lions fans might want to arrive early to Ford Field tomorrow. It’s trending toward a crowd of more than 66,000 for Thanksgiving, which is tracking toward potentially the 2nd highest Lions game attendance in Ford Field history behind the MNF Chicago game in 2011.
Dan Campbell said rookie TE Sam LaPorta has an outside shot to play Sunday. Said they'll know in 48 hours. He said they are talking days and not weeks. Certainly good news.
Lions GM Brad Holmes said he was shocked Arnold was still there in the 20's. He was starting to make calls to move up in the late teens. Arnold was the top CB on Detroit's board. Holmes said he fits them in every way. "We are really thrilled."
Great line from C.J. Gardner-Johnson, whose been on plenty of winning teams in his NFL career: "Winners know what winners look like and this team is full of winners.”
The 30-year drought is over.
It’ll be a very Merry Christmas in Metro Detroit this year because for the first time since 1993 the Detroit Lions have clinched a division title with a, 30-24, win in Minnesota against the Vikings Sunday.
Dan Campbell said WR Jameson WIlliams is a "Man on a mission." He said Jamo the most improved player since the start of spring. That's high praise from Campbell.
Lions go on the road in a gutty performance and beat the Super Bowl champion Chiefs 21-20. Wow. What a statement game for Dan Campbell and this Lions team.
Not only is
@ShowtimeTate
a great receiver, but he’s a good Samaritan as well. Saw him helping people involved in an accident on Southfield Freeway this morning. He wasn’t involved, just stopped to help.
Ran into former Lions RB Zach Zenner here in Indy. He’s now a certified NFL agent and is also working is way to being a certified nutritionist. An agent who can work your contract and your healthy eating habits and supplement’s at the same time. Multitasking right there.
Lions now have two players in the middle of their D-line who ranked in the Top 10 by
@PFF
against the run last year – Alim McNeill (8th) & DJ Reader (10th)
Veteran DT D.J. Reader has agreed to terms with the
#Lions
on a two-year deal, sources tell me,
@RapSheet
and
@MikeGarafolo
.
Another big addition (this time literally) for the Detroit defense.
Veteran
#Lions
DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson went down with a right leg injury Monday & was carted off the field. He was visibly upset and team captains Buggs and Goff made it a point to go comfort him. Hoping for better news than it looked.
Jeff Okudah: “Coming into the game, for me personally, I was tired of being disrespected by everyone. I think the whole defense was tired of being disrespected and the whole team tired of being disrespected, so it’s a game we took personal.”
So the Lions ended up with 5 picks in the Top 68 instead of the original 5 picks in the Top 81. Brad Holmes doing work. First time Lions had five picks in Top 70 since 1976.
Dan Campbell said safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been medically cleared to return to football. Certainly good news. The plan is to get him practicing ASAP.
Week 13 at Detroit looked like a non-descript Rams win. In fact, Matt Patricia’s Lions showed the NFL the formula for shutting down L.A.’s juggernaut offense—and you know Belichick has been watching tape.
@Andy_Benoit
on NE’s key to victory in SB53:
So the Miami Dolphins (9-3) & Green Bay Packers (6-6) lost to 4-8 teams on Monday night. Sound familiar? Tough to win in this league. NFC North standings after Week 14.
Hutchinson furious with official after no call there on 3rd down. He was mugged on that 3rd down play. Tackled from behind right in front of official. What are you looking at?
Matt Patricia was asked if he'd prefer seeing Mahomes in or out of the pocket Sunday. He said "Neither."
"Probably on the sidelines is where I'd like to see him the most."
We all remember Aidan Hutchinson's memorable performance of "Billie Jean" for his rookie performance last year. This year Jack Campbell sang “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams Jr. Jahmyr Gibbs sang “Let Me Love You” by Mario. Here's hoping there's video somewhere.
The NFL is reinstating
#Lions
WR Jameson Williams and
#Titans
OL Nicholas Petit-Frere effective Monday -- two weeks before their gambling suspensions were set to end, per sources.
This is part of the newly agreed to policies related to gambling.
Dan Campbell said the hope is for C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Alim McNeill and Jason Cabinda to all hopefully get snaps Sunday. Campbell also said his plan is to play the starters vs. Minnesota.
Lions rookie LB Derrick Barnes getting a shoutout from WPMOY winner Andrew Whitworth for coming up to Whitworth after Rams/Lions game this year and thanking him for inspiring him and spending time with him while Barnes was a kid while Whitworth was doing community outreach
Hutchinson to me today on his rookie season: “That was just a little appetizer. You give me this whole offseason of training; I’m going to take off to a new level. I feel like I’m about to light it up, dude.”
Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson told me that if he gets drafted by Lions at No. 2, he’s confident he can help be a piece to turn things around in Detroit just like he did in Ann Arbor
Amendola: “What Kenny (Golladay) & I talk about now is we want to win. We want to get to the playoffs. We want to have a home playoff game at Ford Field. I tell him as much as I can there’s nothing like that feeling of winning for your city & that’s what we want to see the most."
Something that should really excite Lions fans.
NFL released avg age of rosters:
Green Bay -- 24.91
LA Rams -- 25.32
Detroit -- 25.38
Lions not only set up for success now but sustained success over a long period of time
The future is bright in Detroit. The vets in that group are two 3rd year players. And that picture doesn’t include QB Jared Goff, LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin & C Frank Ragnow who were also Pro Bowlers
Lions C Frank Ragnow said he's a little stiff but feels pretty good overall. He said he feels better than he thought he would after battling through injury against the Bucs. Good news.