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Niyo: Lions' NFL 'takeover' just getting started
John Niyo
The Detroit News
Allen Park — It’s not just that the Lions are sailing into uncharted territory here, though each week we do get a raft of statistical reminders telling us just how rare all this winning is for the franchise.
No, it’s the way the Lions and their fans are plundering and pillaging these NFL cities along the way —metaphorically, at least — that stands out as much as anything in a 5-1 start to this season.
And it was fitting, really, that this latest scene in Tampa came with a replica pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium, where an estimated 25,000 Lions fans flooded the Buccaneers’ home and turned it into a sea of Honolulu blue Sunday afternoon.
By the time Dan Campbell’s team had put the finishing touches on another dominant effort — winning their fourth consecutive game by 14 points or more for the first time since 1969 — about all that remained were Detroit fans. Nearly an hour after the clock expired, the stadium concourse still was filled with folks in Lions jerseys celebrating a 20-6 victory. And that sort of thing is beginning to feel strangely commonplace. Almost like a tradition.
The Lions, who have finished with a winning road record just twice since 2000, are now 3-0 on the road this season, with Thursday night prime-time victories at Kansas City and Green Bay — the two toughest places to play in the NFL over the last five years — followed by Sunday’s win in Tampa, where they took down another first-place team. And when Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked Monday to explain all that newfound success away from home — his team has won four straight road games, and seven of its last eight, dating to last November — he offered a clever caveat.
“Well, first of all, they're not really road games,” Campbell said, breaking into a huge grin. “That’s what it feels like, anyway.”
It sure does, and strange as it might seem, that feeling is going to be hard to shake from here on out. How many times have we said this over the years, when talking about the Lions and their loyal fans? Can you imagine what it’ll be like if they ever get good? Well, now we’re seeing it, and so is the rest of the league. The national pundits are talking about it. Marveling at it, even, while the Lions’ players and coaches simply revel in it.
'Our fans have been awesome'
“Our fans have been awesome,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said — again — after Sunday’s bruising win in Tampa. “It kinda felt like a home game for us. They were making some noise.”
It was loud at the end in Kansas City, where all this fun started this season. It was louder still in Green Bay, where the Lions embarrassed a divisional rival on the field and in the stands. Then on Sunday, it reached a new level in Tampa.
The kind of level few franchises in this league ever hit with this sort of rabid repetition. Teams with a rich history of success are at the top of that list: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Green Bay and San Francisco all have a legion of fans that show up to support their team in various cities on the road.
But when I asked Campbell, who once played for the Cowboys, if he’d ever seen anything quite like what he has seen this past month, he shook his head.
“Not like this,” he said. “No, not like this. Dallas travels well, of course. But not like this. I mean, over these three road games, there's kind of a takeover here. It feels that way. I mean, this was just another game where you walk out and it's a sea of blue. And then by the time the third quarter hits, you can hear ’em.”
That last part, of course, is a direct result of his team’s play. It’s easier to drown out the home fans when they’re heading to the parking lot because their team is down by a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
But it’s really not an exaggeration when Campbell and some of the Lions’ defensive players talk about the crowd noise being in their favor late in some of these road games.
“I said this last night: Their offense is out there and I swear they're about to go to silent cadence in their own home, because it's so loud,” Campbell said. “Man, that's something else. Seriously, this is … it's pretty awesome.”
Hidden advantage
It’s a hidden advantage, certainly. And we’ll see how well it travels again this week in Baltimore, where a banged-up Lions team will face another first-place team in the 4-2 Ravens, who are coming off a trip to London and haven’t played a home game since Sept. 24. But win or lose Sunday, there are bound to be more true-blue takeovers the rest of the way.
There’s a Nov. 12 road date against the Chargers in Los Angeles, where visitors always find a home, and a Dec. 3 trip to New Orleans that many fans probably booked before the season. Then come divisional games at Chicago and Minnesota, two teams that may already be in the tank by then.
And for a fanbase that has been deprived of a home playoff game for three decades, there’s no telling the lengths they’ll go to make that happen. They may not be welcomed as the loveable losers they once were, but that’s fine. That’s another sign of progress for this new Lions regime.
“I do think just the energy that it presents … that's what you want, man,” Campbell said. “You want the fans to feel like they're riding the wave with us, you know? And we're on the high side right now. They are all in and they're a part of it.
"I mean, I get texts all the time from friends and family and they refer to things like, ‘Our receivers did a helluva job.’ You know, it's ‘our.’ And I feel like that's where our fans are. ‘This is ours,’ you know? And ‘our guys are doing this. … That's what it's about.”
And from the Lions' perspective, it's about time the rest of the NFL sees it, and hears it.
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @JohnNiyo
John Niyo
The Detroit News
Allen Park — It’s not just that the Lions are sailing into uncharted territory here, though each week we do get a raft of statistical reminders telling us just how rare all this winning is for the franchise.
No, it’s the way the Lions and their fans are plundering and pillaging these NFL cities along the way —metaphorically, at least — that stands out as much as anything in a 5-1 start to this season.
And it was fitting, really, that this latest scene in Tampa came with a replica pirate ship at Raymond James Stadium, where an estimated 25,000 Lions fans flooded the Buccaneers’ home and turned it into a sea of Honolulu blue Sunday afternoon.
By the time Dan Campbell’s team had put the finishing touches on another dominant effort — winning their fourth consecutive game by 14 points or more for the first time since 1969 — about all that remained were Detroit fans. Nearly an hour after the clock expired, the stadium concourse still was filled with folks in Lions jerseys celebrating a 20-6 victory. And that sort of thing is beginning to feel strangely commonplace. Almost like a tradition.
The Lions, who have finished with a winning road record just twice since 2000, are now 3-0 on the road this season, with Thursday night prime-time victories at Kansas City and Green Bay — the two toughest places to play in the NFL over the last five years — followed by Sunday’s win in Tampa, where they took down another first-place team. And when Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked Monday to explain all that newfound success away from home — his team has won four straight road games, and seven of its last eight, dating to last November — he offered a clever caveat.
“Well, first of all, they're not really road games,” Campbell said, breaking into a huge grin. “That’s what it feels like, anyway.”
It sure does, and strange as it might seem, that feeling is going to be hard to shake from here on out. How many times have we said this over the years, when talking about the Lions and their loyal fans? Can you imagine what it’ll be like if they ever get good? Well, now we’re seeing it, and so is the rest of the league. The national pundits are talking about it. Marveling at it, even, while the Lions’ players and coaches simply revel in it.
'Our fans have been awesome'
“Our fans have been awesome,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said — again — after Sunday’s bruising win in Tampa. “It kinda felt like a home game for us. They were making some noise.”
It was loud at the end in Kansas City, where all this fun started this season. It was louder still in Green Bay, where the Lions embarrassed a divisional rival on the field and in the stands. Then on Sunday, it reached a new level in Tampa.
The kind of level few franchises in this league ever hit with this sort of rabid repetition. Teams with a rich history of success are at the top of that list: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Green Bay and San Francisco all have a legion of fans that show up to support their team in various cities on the road.
But when I asked Campbell, who once played for the Cowboys, if he’d ever seen anything quite like what he has seen this past month, he shook his head.
“Not like this,” he said. “No, not like this. Dallas travels well, of course. But not like this. I mean, over these three road games, there's kind of a takeover here. It feels that way. I mean, this was just another game where you walk out and it's a sea of blue. And then by the time the third quarter hits, you can hear ’em.”
That last part, of course, is a direct result of his team’s play. It’s easier to drown out the home fans when they’re heading to the parking lot because their team is down by a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
But it’s really not an exaggeration when Campbell and some of the Lions’ defensive players talk about the crowd noise being in their favor late in some of these road games.
“I said this last night: Their offense is out there and I swear they're about to go to silent cadence in their own home, because it's so loud,” Campbell said. “Man, that's something else. Seriously, this is … it's pretty awesome.”
Hidden advantage
It’s a hidden advantage, certainly. And we’ll see how well it travels again this week in Baltimore, where a banged-up Lions team will face another first-place team in the 4-2 Ravens, who are coming off a trip to London and haven’t played a home game since Sept. 24. But win or lose Sunday, there are bound to be more true-blue takeovers the rest of the way.
There’s a Nov. 12 road date against the Chargers in Los Angeles, where visitors always find a home, and a Dec. 3 trip to New Orleans that many fans probably booked before the season. Then come divisional games at Chicago and Minnesota, two teams that may already be in the tank by then.
And for a fanbase that has been deprived of a home playoff game for three decades, there’s no telling the lengths they’ll go to make that happen. They may not be welcomed as the loveable losers they once were, but that’s fine. That’s another sign of progress for this new Lions regime.
“I do think just the energy that it presents … that's what you want, man,” Campbell said. “You want the fans to feel like they're riding the wave with us, you know? And we're on the high side right now. They are all in and they're a part of it.
"I mean, I get texts all the time from friends and family and they refer to things like, ‘Our receivers did a helluva job.’ You know, it's ‘our.’ And I feel like that's where our fans are. ‘This is ours,’ you know? And ‘our guys are doing this. … That's what it's about.”
And from the Lions' perspective, it's about time the rest of the NFL sees it, and hears it.
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @JohnNiyo
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