Lions News

[jaadam4]

Can you share the link you're referencing, jaadam?

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I would overheat in 30 seconds and why would I want to smoosh my hair like that? lol I wonder if this will inhibit the noise these folks would have made, too. Wish they had thought of something else.

Speaking of that, now is a good time for me to mention that I really dislike the 3rd down signs they give to the fans at Ford Field. First, the color combination makes them very hard to read on TV. Secondly, is it really smart to give fans something to hold in front of their face as you're trying to get them to make noise? Just saying.

[jaadam4]

I hope it doesn’t last longer than the year because it can be negatively construed but f it. It’s better than paper bags

[Iron Lion]

Nah I'd show up in a Nixon mask. Ski masks are some petty 7/11 shit. If you're wearing a president mask you're robbin' banks.

[jaadam4]

Nah I'd show up in a Nixon mask. Ski masks are some petty 7/11 shit. If you're wearing a president mask you're robbin' banks.

Point Break. Amazing movie

[whatever_gong82]

Lions' Gardner-Johnson: Better to drop interception now and catch one in the Super Bowl


Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — For all the talk about the Detroit Lions catching breaks because the Kansas City Chiefs couldn't hang on to the ball in the teams' season opener, the Lions also left plenty of meat on the bone, particularly on defense.

Sure, rookie Brian Branch's pick-six was one of the game's most important plays, but the Lions had opportunities to intercept at least three other passes off the arm of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The reigning MVP twice missed his target long, with one bouncing off the fingertips of Branch, while the other was never located by safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who had his eyes locked on to the target, anticipating having to dislodge the ball.


The most glaring missed opportunity came in the closing minutes of the contest and also belonged to Gardner-Johnson, who had what appeared to be a sure interception bounce off his hands late in the fourth quarter, temporarily keeping the Chiefs' comeback hopes afloat.


Of course, those blown turnovers are a far easier pill to swallow after a win. And even though Detroit's defenders didn't finish those plays, it should be considered encouraging they were in position to make them. That said, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said the group will be putting some extra time into ball drills this week, as a point of emphasis.



Gardner-Johnson, who shared the NFL lead with six interceptions a year ago, said part of the reason he didn't make the plays is he was still calibrating in his first game action with his new team, after not seeing the field during the preseason.

"It's coming faster and once you realize that, your body gets into it and you start flowing," Gardner-Johnson said. "That's a learning curve for me. It's all part of the process. Everybody wants to be 1% better, and everyone is looking at that picture, that video of me dropping the pick. Yeah, we could have ended the game, but that's part of the process. Everything isn't going to be perfect. The end goal, which is the Super Bowl, it will be much better when I catch that pick in the Super Bowl."



Gardner-Johnson said the most important thing early in the season is making sure he and his teammates in the secondary are being consistent with their fundamentals, primarily alignment and assignment. The Lions had some glaring breakdowns against the Chiefs, including during both of the opposition's touchdowns. On the first score, Gardner-Johnson was involved in the coverage confusion, visibly taking the blame after receiver Rashee Rice came open in the back of the end zone.

Accountability, he notes, is key to improvement.



"As a defense, you never want to show signs of finger-pointing," Gardner-Johnson said. "We take ownership in this defense. If it's your fault, you own up to it. We're not worried about who might be laughing; we're just worried about, 'Can we fix it the next play?'"

For the most part, the Lions did fix their issues in the second half, holding the Chiefs to six points and preventing them from converting on any of their seven third-down tries. Still, the back seven came out of the contest with plenty of wrinkles to iron out, which is why the defensive backs and linebackers have continued coming in more than an hour before the rest of the team each morning to conduct player-led film sessions.

Gardner-Johnson called the needed corrections simple, and as long as the team continues to be consistent with its fundamentals, he's confident the interception opportunities will continue to be there. And he certainly doesn't expect to let the next one slip through his hands.



"If we stick to what we're supposed to do, everything should take care of itself," he said. "I might catch two of them this week, if that (ball) hits my hands again."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[edindetroit]

I remember when Twilight was all the rage. I was at a book shop so i grabbed one of the novels and started reading the first chapter. It was so poorly written I couldn’t believe it’s what everyone was talking about. The one that I started reading felt like a kid in high school wrote it with no grades better than a D- in English.

Flat out terrible

You got an F in English? Bobbie you speak English!

[edindetroit]

Nah I'd show up in a Nixon mask. Ski masks are some petty 7/11 shit. If you're wearing a president mask you're robbin' banks.

A friend of mine had one of those and we would drive around, me wearing the mask looking out the window and getting peoples reaction. The double takes I would get! Man it was a hoot!

[whatever_gong82]

Lions coach Dan Campbell's penchant for fakes developed from regret after interim stint



Justin Rogers

The Detroit News



Allen Park — Dan Campbell has quickly established a reputation as one of the NFL's most aggressive coaches, rarely hesitating to go for it on a fourth down in a critical situation, call for a fake punt or even spring a surprise onside kick on an opponent.

But he wasn't always this way.

After serving as the Miami Dolphins interim coach the final 12 games of the 2015 season, Campbell said he had an epiphany while reflecting on how he had handled the opportunity.


"I just remember once I was done there, I had regrets, particularly in special teams, that I didn’t use it more," Campbell said. "With (special teams coordinator) Darren Rizzi, he’s at New Orleans now, he’s an outstanding special teams coach and I just remember it just stuck with me."


That aggressive mindset, the willingness to pull out all the stops to win a game, was only reinforced the next five years while serving as Sean Payton's assistant head coach in New Orleans.

"He made everything very clear," Campbell said. "We knew exactly when critical (calls) were going to come up, what we were going to do, how we were going to handle it. Just being under Coach Payton for five years, it gives you a whole different perspective. It did for me. So, I think that’s really where it comes from."




Now, that way of thinking is rubbing off on Campbell's assistants, none more than special teams coordinator Dave Fipp. Serving in that same role for eight seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, Fipp said the team called two fakes. In Detroit, the Lions have run eight fake punts and converted on seven, including a daring effort deep in their own territory during last Thursday's season-opening victory over Kansas City.

"Obviously Coach Campbell embraces that part and he’s pushed that to another level, certainly for me, and I love it," Fipp said. "It’s been great. When I sit in there and watch the film, I’m looking at all the rushes and he’s like, ‘Oh, rushes, that’s perfect. If they’re rushing us, we can do this, this, this.’ The first thing he’s looking at is all the fakes off it. He's an offensive coach. It’s really helped me being around him and seeing the game kind of through his eyes that way."



Like most coaches, Fipp is fixated on mistakes, in this case the one the Lions didn't convert. The play was actually executed as designed, but running back Godwin Igwebuike dropped punter Jack Fox's pass. But when Campbell called for the fake against Kansas City at his own 17-yard line, Fipp had no doubt it would work.

"In my mind, we were going to get it and it really didn’t matter where it was," Fipp said. "It was just like, OK, we’ve got an opportunity if we get in a certain situation here to run this thing and kind of all those parameters came up on that play. … You don’t even think that way of it not working. You’re just thinking how to make it work."


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

How Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff helped WR Josh Reynolds find peace in a difficult year



Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press


Josh Reynolds was in a bad place last fall, dealing with one injury after another and grieving the loss of his grandfather when Jared Goff made a small gesture that neither knew would give the receiver and his quarterback an unbreakable bond.

Reynolds, who had a short-lived stint with the Tennessee Titans in 2021, was planning a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, during the Detroit Lions’ bye week to move his belongings.

Goff, who was making a personal trip to Nashville the same weekend, caught wind of Reynolds’ plans and offered up a seat on the private jet he was taking to town.



Reynolds had been teammates with Goff most of his NFL career. The two played four seasons together with the Los Angeles Rams; when Reynolds was cut midway through his first season with the Titans, the Lions, short on receivers, claimed him off waivers to give Goff a familiar face in the passing game.


But as friendly as they were, Goff and Reynolds enjoyed mostly a surface-level relationship. Reynolds was the private type, an introvert who kept to himself in the locker room. He and fellow receiver Robert Woods grew close during their time together with the Rams, but Reynolds didn’t have many teammates he truly confided in.

On the plane ride to Nashville, Goff and Reynolds talked about their time together in L.A. and what they were building in Detroit, and Reynolds suddenly opened up about the death of his grandfather and the pain he was hiding in plain sight.



“I started crying on him,” Reynolds recalled this week. “Like, ‘Man, I wasn’t expecting to come out here and start (bleeping) crying on you, either. Sorry.’ It was something I kind of needed at the time and it was good.”

More than anything, Goff was a shoulder for Reynolds to lean on, an ear for Reynolds to vent to about the agony he was feeling in life.



Reynolds’ grandfather, Chuck, was one of his biggest fans, a retired Air Force officer who was a regular at most of his games. Chuck died in his sleep; the sudden nature of his death shocked Reynolds’ entire family. And the injuries Reynolds was dealing with — he sprained his ankle in a Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, which caused a knee problem later in the season, which led to back problems that hampered him the second half of the year — amplified his grief even more.

“I was kind of going through a bad time last year. I mean that, with just all the injuries I was having as well, it just, I wasn’t in a great mindset, state of mind,” Reynolds said. “I was able to open up a little bit to him. We got to talk about a little bit of everything, our time in L.A.; we hadn’t been able to do that before that, so it was nice.”



At 28 and seven seasons into an NFL career that could have been a cup of coffee as a fourth-round pick, Reynolds has learned that just as important as what he’s doing — catching passes for a living — is who he’s doing it with.

And in Detroit, the veteran has found his zen.



He, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond are in their third season together atop the Lions’ receiving corps. He and Raymond have forged an especially close bond; Reynolds opened up to Raymond about his struggles last season, too. He’s healthy after devoting his offseason to strengthening his legs. And he remains one of Goff’s most trusted targets on the field.

“For me, this is just a brotherhood, man,” Reynolds said. “You’re going out every day with a guy, working out, sharing tragedies and just everything. Somebody you’re just grinding with every day. You see him day in and day out, kind of how he carries his self and just be able to talk about deeper things, for me that’s everything.”

Reynolds played some of the best football of his career early last season, before the injuries set in.

He caught six passes for a season-high 96 yards against the Vikings and followed up that up with seven- and six-catch games the next two weeks against the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.



After stumbling to the finish last season with four catches in the Lions’ final four games combined, Reynolds was back making big plays for the team in last week’s season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

He had four catches for a game-high 80 yards and caught two big passes for first downs on the Lions’ go-ahead touchdown drive. Reynolds converted a third-and-12 with his first catch — an 18-yard pass that Goff made while being hit by a Chiefs defender — and he had a 33-yard catch-and-run later in the drive.



“I trust him, I really do,” Goff said. “And I’ve played with him for a long time now and we have a good rapport and I know where he’s going to be, when he’s going to be there. I’ve got a good feel for his body language in and out of routes. He’s got sure hands. He’s very reliable at the catch point, so I trust him a lot and can throw with some anticipation to him.”

Reynolds said that feeling is mutual, and after a difficult 2022, it’s a broader sense he has with the entire team.


“Locker room(s) don’t get much better than this around the league when it comes to like comradery with the team, guys jelling with each other,” Reynolds said. “I’m going to just enjoy the time while I got it, ball out this year and help us win as many games as we can.”



Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson: Blame me for offensive struggles in Week 1


Dave Birkett


Detroit Free Press


Owners of one of the NFL's most explosive offenses last season, the Detroit Lions struggled to move the ball at times in their season-opening win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said he was to blame for the unit's sluggish play.

"I put that on me more than anything," Johnson said Thursday. "(The lack of tempo) and some of those procedure issues we had, I take a lot of pride in that and I think that’s a reflection of me probably biting off more than we could chew with some of the play calls got a little wordy, we were a little bit slow getting the substitutions in there. I have to do a better job getting the play to the quarterback."


The Lions drove 91 yards for a touchdown on their second offensive series, after converting a fake punt to keep from going three-and-out, then didn't score another point offensively until midway through the fourth quarter on David Montgomery's 8-yard run.


On their six offensive possessions between touchdowns, the Lions had seven first downs, one turnover and three three-and-outs. They crossed midfield on just two of those drives, and nearly had a second turnover when center Frank Ragnow snapped the ball prematurely and it hit tight end Brock Wright as he went in motion behind the line of scrimmage.




In retrospect, Lions coach Dan Campbell said the offense probably tried to do "a little much" for a Week 1 game in a hostile road environment.

The Lions worked often out of a silent count last week to try and negate the crowd noise at Arrowhead Stadium, and some of their issues were due to communication problems stemming from being caught in the middle of trying to keep things "simple enough to where you’re not putting a lot of strain on your offense" but having "enough ammo" to keep pace with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' high-flying offense, Campbell said.



"It wasn’t necessarily our best stuff offensively," Johnson said. "More than anything the procedure stuff is the stuff that we got to get cleaned up. We had some pre-snap issues whether it was snapping the ball early on the motion that resulted in the fumble there on our third drive. But that’s kind of, it’s first time with silent cadence, playing on the road, loud environment and we will learn and we’ll grow from that."

The Lions did mount three nine-plus-play drives against the Chiefs, including one that results in the go-ahead touchdown, and Johnson said he was pleased with the team's four-minute offense. Montgomery ran for 5, 3 and 2 yards on the Lions' final drive to pick up a first down and allow Jared Goff to kneel out the final 1:42 on the clock.



"With who we have in that room, we’ve taken a lot of pride in finishing the game with the football and so it was good to see us convert the first down when we needed to and not give the ball back to a good player that it becomes a crapshoot at that point," Johnson said. "So those are two encouraging things that came out of that game."



Touchback talk


More than three quarters of all kickoffs resulted in touchbacks last week, the highest percentage of touchbacks (77.6%) in a single week in NFL history since at least 2000, according to ESPN.

Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said he believes that was more a byproduct of the success teams had returning kicks last season than it was the NFL's new kickoff rules, which allow fair catches on most balls in the field of play to be placed at the 25-yard line.


The Los Angeles Rams made the only fair catch outside of the end zone last week in their game against the Seattle Seahawks.

"The touchback rate was going to go up no matter what, just because the average drive start on kickoff return from a year ago was past the 25-yard line," Fipp said. "So for most teams, when they look at the analytics or the data, they’re going to say, ‘Hey, we kicked a ball for them to return and they returned it. They got past the 25, why don’t we just kick it in the end zone?' And you give it to them at the 25 instead and that would be better for us."

The Lions did not have any returns against the Chiefs, and all four of Jack Fox's kickoffs went for touchbacks. But Fipp said Fox actually was trying to force returns on three of his kickoffs and the ball just carried too far into the end zone.



"We feel good about our coverage group and I think there’s more to it than just looking at the average drive start on all the kicks in the league," he said. "Some of it’s who are you, who are they, what’s the hang time on the kick? Where’s the location of it? And I think that it's, too, I think I did say to you guys that if you kick the ball to the 10-yard line, then the odds say it should come out past the 25, so you’re not trying to give them a good returnable kick either. You’re trying to put some pressure on them."


Of the NFL's new kickoff rule, Fipp said, "I wish when I was in grade school man, they would’ve let me just go like that and wave my hand over my head and given me a B. I didn’t have to take a test. Just give them the ball at the 25, we don’t even have to play the play. No, but, we’ll see how it goes. We’re excited. Hopefully we get a chance to return some kicks this week and hopefully, they get a chance to return some, too."



More Fipp


Fipp said he "love(s)" playing against the Seahawks because of the respect he has for coach Pete Carroll and the team's special teams units.

Fipp said he's a big fan of ex-Lion Nick Bellore, one of Seattle's best special teams players; Seahawks special teams coordinator Larry Izzo was one of the NFL's best special-teamers when Fipp broke into the league as an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers in 2008; and Carroll was winning national championships at USC when Fipp was bouncing around the small college ranks on the west coast.


"Dude, I could go on forever," he said. "But I’ll tell you this, for real: OK, so, No. 1, 1998 I was a coach at Holy Cross college and I went to like my first NFL practice and it’s Pete Carroll and he’s the head coach of the Patriots. So I’m going down there, I park in the parking lot and I get out, I’m walking to the practice. They had let us come in cause we’re a local college team and they’re going to let us on the field and all that stuff. And so we go out there on the field and as we’re walking to the field, there’s this guy riding this beach cruiser, this bike, and he’s like, ‘You guys ready for some football!' And I look up, it’s Pete Carroll.



"They’re going to go play fast and give you all they got. It’s like, I mean, this is why you do it."



Briefly


Left tackle Taylor Decker (ankle), cornerback Emmanuel Moseley (hamstring/knee) and cornerback Khalil Dorsey (illness) did not practice Thursday after being listed as non-participants on the Lions' estimated practice report Wednesday. Moseley and Dorsey watched the open portion of practice from the sideline. If Decker can't play Sunday, Penei Sewell likely will move from right to left tackle and Matt Nelson will start at right tackle.


Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[whatever_gong82]

Where the Detroit Lions stand in NFL's grass vs. turf debate


Jared Ramsey

Detroit Free Press



The Detroit Lions are out ahead of calls from fans and the NFL Players Association to switch playing surfaces from artificial turf to mitigate injuries.

The NFLPA issued a statement on Wednesday imploring the league to switch to natural grass for all stadiums after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers ruptured his Achilles four plays into the season opener on Monday Night Football.

Lions safety Tracy Walker tore his Achilles tendon during a game at U.S. Bank Stadium early last season and told the Free Press he blamed the turf for his injury. In November, pass rushers Rashan Gary of the Green Bay Packers and Von Miller of the Buffalo Bills suffered ACL tears at Ford Field that amplified the call for the stadium to change surfaces.





The debate between grass and artificial turf has existed since teams first started experimenting with different playing surfaces. The argument for turf is that is allows for indoor football and is easy to manage. Grass, on the other hand, requires some upkeep but is far more forgiving on the body.


Players and the Players Association are asking for grass as a way to prevent major leg injuries from cutting or twisting when a leg becomes planted in turf with no give. According to the NFLPA, players have a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower body injuries when playing on artificial turf. Of those non-contact injuries, players have a 32% higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a staggering 69% higher rate of non-contact foot/ankle injuries on turf compared to grass.



The Lions had issues with a grass surface last year after multiple slips on the rock-hard surface helped cost them in a late-season loss to the Panthers. The grass had noticeable wear and tear on what was the coldest game in that stadium's history; it was enough for the NFLPA to file a grievance to get it fixed to prevent injuries in the future.

15 of the 30 NFL stadiums use turf, including Ford Field, while the others uses grass. 10 of the stadiums are either domes or have a retractable roof.



Can turf be changed to grass?


In short, yes.

Playing surfaces at NFL stadiums have been switched from turf to grass for other athletic competitions, including this summer. The English Premier League's Manchester United and Arsenal played a friendly on grass at MetLife Stadium, where Rodgers got hurt, while on a stateside summer tour.


Turf is possible within domes as well. The Arizona Cardinals' stadium, State Farm stadium, uses a natural grass playing surface but the results have not been good so far. The field has been a frequent place for similar injuries to those that are happening more frequently on turf.


New turf at home


The Lions made the switch from slit-film turf to monofilament field turf, the most grass-like field turf used in NFL stadiums, inside of Ford Field in January. The decision came after the NFLPA put out a statement calling for a ban on slit-film turf two months earlier.

Ford Field is one of six NFL stadiums that currently use slit-film turf, along with U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Superdome in New Orleans, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.

Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp said improving the playing surface was important to the organization to limit catastrophic injuries and installing the best possible turf was the best option with limitations on grass inside.



"This has been in the making for a while, and (team president Rod Wood has) been talking about this for before anything came up about the grass and this and that," Lions coach Dan Campbell said in January. "We’re committed. (Owner) Sheila (Hamp) and Rod are committed to finding — whatever it is, we know we can’t have grass, we’re a dome team, so let’s find the very best, the best-rated turf that we can get."



Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett contributed to this report.

[whatever_gong82]

How Aidan Hutchinson's dad rushed in to help in a medical emergency — mine



Jeff Seidel

Detroit Free Press


One second, I was standing at the front of a plane — a plane full of giddy but exhausted Detroit Lions fans coming back from Kansas City.

I was dizzy, nauseous and seeing stars. I hadn’t slept all night and was rushing back for a wedding. I put my hands on the wall, trying to get my balance.

The next second — at least, that’s what it seemed to me — I regained consciousness on the carpet.

"What happened?” I asked.

My head throbbed.

I remember hearing the stewardess mention the potential for an emergency landing, and I touched my forehead, checking for blood.


“You’re not bleeding,” said the stewardess crouched next to me.

Then some dude just kind of appeared out of nowhere. A big dude. Friendly, familiar-looking.

“I’m a doctor,” he said, crouching down. “Are you having chest pains?”

I looked at him again, coming out of a mental fog, and ... it was Aidan Hutchinson’s dad.



Dr. Chris Hutchinson — yes, the former Michigan football defensive lineman is the guy you want on your next flight.

My first thought: This is so weird, I just saw your son in the locker room after the Lions' win over the Chiefs. Check that, I just saw you and your wife on the broadcast.



I mean, this is just weird, right?

But let’s start from the beginning.

Because everything about this Lions’ win and this trip to Kansas City was surreal; and it revealed something important about the kindness of strangers to some wild moments and wackiness with Lions fans.




The first crazy flight




The flights to Kansas City were insanely expensive, so I took an American Airlines connecting flight on Wednesday afternoon through Charlotte, North Carolina, to save the company some money — but it turned into a long, exhausting day of travel.

The plane was filled with Lions fans. After we landed, it started to get weird. A stewardess made an announcement. She was handing over the microphone to a Lions fan sitting in first class.


“I have a song to sing for everybody very briefly, and then we are all gonna get off this plane,” the fan said over the intercom system.



How weird. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a passenger take over the microphone in a plane.

“Forward down the field,” he started to sing. “A Lions team that will not yield.”


Some people were joining him.

“And when the Blue and Silver wave.”

It was that awkward moment on a flight, when some people started to get up and stand in the aisle.

“Stand and cheer the brave,” he sang. “Rah! Rah! Rah!”

A few people were singing and clapping, although I heard a few mumble that they didn’t really know the words.



“Ah, you guys stink!” he said.

And then he finished the song.

“A Lions victory!” he sang. “Goooo, Lions!”

It seemed like half the plane cheered and clapped, and the other half was thinking: What the heck just happened?

“Thank you!” he said. “Thank you for having me on American Airlines Flight 1358 with non-stop service to Charlotte!”

Surreal.

Then we all trudged the next gate and waited for a flight to Kansas City.

continued..

[whatever_gong82]

Could we see this in Detroit?


On Thursday morning, killing time before the night game, I went to a Dick's Sporting Goods in Kansas City. Most of the people in the store were wearing Chiefs gear — 10 hours before kickoff. Or they were shopping for more Chiefs gear. You see the same thing in Wisconsin for the Packers. Everywhere you go.


Again, is this what it would be like? Would a great Lions team take over the Motor City? Would every person in every store be wearing Lions’ stuff?

OK, so that was a rhetorical question — I think Detroit would go absolutely bonkers if the Lions ever got really good.

I got in my car and turned on the radio. They were talking about Patrick Mahomes' greatness.

This team was inescapable in Kansas City.

Yes — I think that’s exactly what it would be like in Detroit, if this team ever became special.

More than three hours before kickoff, I left for the stadium.

I parked at the far end of the parking lot — one of the biggest parking lots I’ve ever seen. My phone recorded 1,100 steps to the stadium, or about a half mile through thousands of Chiefs fans in full tailgate mode.

But I saw something surprising.

There were tons of Lions fans everywhere I turned.




When I got the stadium, I was almost stunned how many Lions fans were already in their seats. Specks of blue were all over Arrowhead. Amazing, considering the Chiefs were celebrating their Super Bowl victory (as well as one three years ago, won just prior to the coronavirus pandemic).



And in the third quarter, they were so loud they drowned out Chiefs fans, yelling: “Let’s go, Lions!” Just amazing.

During games, I have a tablet tuned to the broadcast, so I can monitor it. I glanced down at one point and saw Aidan’s parents on TV.

Chris was mic’d up, and I thought: OK, enough with Aidan's family. We get it, he comes from the perfect family. How many times can TV push that button?

As the game ended, I filed my first column, rushed down to the locker room and interviewed several players.

I glanced at Aidan, wanting to talk to him. He stood with his back to me, by his locker, completely naked; and there’s an unspoken rule that you wait for somebody to get completely dressed before an interview.

“Come on dude, get dressed faster so we can talk to you,” I thought.


He had played a fantastic game.


But I couldn’t wait for him and went back to the press box, guzzled a bunch of caffeine, did some more work and then headed for the airport.

It was around 4 a.m. Detroit time.



And I had a flight to catch — without getting any sleep.

I turned in my rental car, got on a bus, got to the airport, got through security and found a seat on a Delta plane. I must have fallen asleep with my head tilted forward; and I never sleep like that. Not after having neck surgery a few years ago. My head doesn’t really move like that anymore.

Because I woke up seeing stars. I was nauseous. Lightheaded.



So, I got up to use the bathroom, figuring I needed to stretch my legs.

And yes, now, I know it’s pretty stupid to get up when you feel dizzy.

Timber!


Help has arrived



“Do you have diabetes?” Dr. Hutchinson asked me.

“No,” I said.

“Are you on any medication?”

“No,” I said.

Suddenly, I was feeling better. Incredibly embarrassed. But the dizziness was gone.

“Do you have any numbness?”

“Not any more than normal,” I said.

I had spinal fusion and several fingers are still messed up.




“I haven’t slept,” I said. “I’m going back for a wedding.”

“Whose?”

“Evan Petzold, our Tigers beat writer,” I said.

“When you get back, and you take a nap, your neck is going to be incredibly sore,” Dr. Hutchinson said.

By the time I got back to my seat, my neck was killing me — the good doc nailed it. The stewardess said that I passed out, hit my shoulder and my head snapped and bounced off the ground.

“Then, you kinda skidded,” she said.

When we landed, the paramedics came onto the plane. As people were getting off the plane, the paramedics took my heart rate, blood pressure and stuck electrodes to my stomach and chest.

Everything came back normal. Maybe, I was dehydrated or something with my neck. I have sleep apnea, so maybe, I wasn't breathing properly, cramped up in that seat.



“You have to watch for a brain bleed,” the paramedic said. “You hit your head, you might have a concussion.”

They made me sign a bunch of stuff, noting that I refused to go to the hospital, just to get off the plane.

As I left, the Delta stewardess stopped me. “Can I give you a hug?” she asked.

“Of course.”

Those stewardesses were angels.

Kudos, Delta.

Your folks handled this with such care.



Don't judge a book by your TV screen



After a nap, I felt a lot better. My head was banged up — some scratches and a little swelling — and my neck was killing me, but I went to the wedding in Detroit.

Dr. Hutchinson messaged me while I was heading to the wedding.

"Just following up on our 'flight' together," he wrote. "I hope everything turned out OK. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out.”


What a good dude. It said so much about him. I am now a huge fan of the Hutchinson family — TV can show them every week, on every broadcast, if it keeps him on my flights. He is now my personal flight doctor.

"Thanks so much for your help and reassurance,” I responded. “My head is fine. You were right. My neck is jacked up. I’m sure it will be fine. Thanks again.”

To me, it said so much about him, to jump up and help a stranger, not to mention follow up.

Classy, kind, calm, incredibly genuine and a true pro — I can’t say enough good things about him.

And it was a wakeup call for me. Too often we jump to assumptions when we see people briefly on TV. Too often we form opinions based on nothing but a knee-jerk reaction. I gotta tell you, I have such a different view of him now. A such a different view of their entire family.

"Great glad to hear you are all good,” he messaged.

I have a feeling this is just the start with this team. If they keep winning, I can’t wait to see how it changes the Motor City.

Man, this is gonna be a fun ride.

But next time? I’ll be the guy on the plane, wearing a football helmet. Just to be safe.



Contact Jeff Seidel at jseidel@freepress.com or follow him @seideljeff.

[jaadam4]

That’s a really cool article!

[mason reese]

You got an F in English? Bobbie you speak English!

King of the Hill?