With the arrival of Week 4, the NFL begins its Sunday morning international game sin Europe in addition to its regularly scheduled National and Reginal slate. The week kicks off Thursday with PIT@CLE on Amazon (and on local channels in these markets) with the usual duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstret will be on the call. The Sunday games kick off in the morning with IND@WAS in London on the NFLN, followed by the usual CBS Regional (Early and Late) and FOX Regional (Single Game) in the afternoon. The Sunday Night Football game on NBC is our Detroit Lions at Carolina Panthers, and the week ends with ATL@NO on Monday night football on ABS/ESPN. Mike Tirico and Chris Collingsworth will be on the call. The CBS early games are NE@BUF, ATL@NYG, TEN@BAL and JAX@CIN. The CBS Late games are DEN@SF, KC@LAV and LAC@SEA. The FOX single games are DAL@HOU, LAR@PHI, GB@TB, NYJ@CHI (all early) and MIA@MIN (Late.) Byes: None NATIONAL BROADCASTS Thursday 8:00 ET: Pittsburgh @ Cleveland (Amazon) Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit also WTAE/ABC Pittsburgh, WEWS/ABC Cleveland Sunday 9:30 AM ET: Indianapolis vs Washington (in London) (NFLN) also WRTV/ABC Indianapolis, WTTG/FOX Washington Sunday 8:00 ET: Detroit @ Carolina (NBC) Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth Monday 8:00 ET: Atlanta @ New Orleans (ESPN) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman also WANF/46 Atlanta, WDSU/NBC New Orleans CBS Early CBS Late Fox Single All listings are unofficial and subject to change. Check back often for updates.  Courtesy of the folks at 506 Sports

Name: Clay Martin Age: 51 Promoted To Referee: 2018 Graphic Courtesy of Football Zebras Last Game: 09/27/26 CIN @ PIT The Cincinnati Bengals committed 6 penalties for 40 yards. They were flagged a total of 8 times. The Pittsburgh Steelers committed 5 penalties for 37 yards. They were flagged a total of 6 times. Together there were 11 penalties for 77 yards. There were 14 total flags in this game. Last Lions Game: 01/04/26 – MIN 27 @ DET 24 The Minnesota Vikings committed 7 penalties for 56 yards. They were flagged a total of 7 times. The Detroit Lions committed 10 penalties for 76 yards. They were flagged a total of 12 times. Together there were 17 penalties for 132 yards. There were 19 total flags in this game. Week 4 Penalty Tale of the Tape Lions and Panthers Notable Unlike last week when the Lions drew a crew that had lots of penalties, this Clay Martin crew is at the bottom of the penalty stats through three games in 2026. With both teams ranking 22nd or lower in terms of flags so far, this should be a welcome crew if things hold to form. Look for False Starts and Offensive Holding to be called when the flags do come out, as both teams have these in common as the top two penalties, which align with Martin's crew tendencies. The last time the Lions saw martins crew was Week 9 home loss to the Vikings last year when they were penalty happy and threw 10 flags accepted on the Lions amongst 17 total accepted flags. There are some minor tweaks to this crew with a new Side Judge (Eugene Hall last year with Carl Cheffers) and a new replay Assistant (Desiree Abrams from Alex Moores crew0, so expect similar trends to last year holding true. Four of the top 5 penalized players are OL/TE for Carolina, and the Lions lead with Ya-Sin and reed and Borom and Sewel.

Welcome to Mickey's Musings, my weekly notebook where we skip the linear narrative and dive straight into three completely unrelated, but entirely fascinating storylines that are bouncing around in my head. We’ve all been there: You head into Costco for toilet paper, but now you are standing in a traffic jam of oversized shopping carts because someone is handing out half a bite-sized pizza roll on a tiny paper plate. As you meander around the store eating samples you stumble across something that really hits your palate. Now there is this guilt where you have a deep psychological urge to buy a 3-pound tub of honey-garlic meatballs just because a nice person in a hairnet handed you one on a toothpick. You get home and realize these meatballs weren’t that good, but in the moment that small sample fooled you. To me that’s similar to some of these Lions players. In the small sample size, they’re not bad. Tyler Lacy, Derrick Moore – and dare I say this aloud – Rodrigo – in small sample sizes they’re not bad. They can step in and give a guy a blow - let Hutch sit out for a play or two to catch his breath from all the double teams. Maybe Rodrigo comes in to allow Derrick Barnes a break on a short yardage situation and save a little on his body so he can do the things he is good at – cover and blitz. But, if we get to the point those guys are playing 50-60% of the snaps, or more, we’re in trouble. For example – Roger McCreary playing 97% of the snaps in any game is not a good thing. Small sample, sure – just not 97%. Derrrick Moore, Alim McNeil, Roger McCreary bring down the Jets WR Garrett Wilson The second item this week is SYI. SYI stands for Summer Youth Initiative. It is a program sponsored by our local Chamber of Commerce where companies hire high school students for the summer and their wages are paid out of a grant. Our agency participated in it for a number of years. They held a job fair in the spring where for an entire day we would have a multiple sessions of applicants come to interview with us for 90 minutes. Typically, we’d have a full classroom of 20-25 kids each time. Our strategy was to talk about what we do and then break into small groups of 7-10 kids where we would do group interviews and then compare notes. One of the questions I would ask the kids was “What kind of car best describes you and why?” Lots of times I’d hear things like “A Cadillac because I’m a classic” or “A red corvette or a Maserati because I’m quick” that type of thing. One time I had a student say, “I’m like a 1999 Chevy pickup because I’ve been beat up, but I’m dependable and I just keep rolling along doing what needs to be done.” I basically hired that kid on the spot. I thought of that reference in regard to the Lions/Jets game. Things didn’t always go our way, but the Lions just kept rolling along and doing what needed to be done to come away with the win. Chuck Clark is in his 10th season in the NFL. When Dan Campbell gave him a game ball after the Jets win he said, “It’s hard as hell to win in this league, dawg. Let’s take advantage of this and next week go get another one.” That’s so true. Survive and move on. The last item is family. Honestly, I didn’t watch the Lions game live, as I was at Comerica Park. I actually went to all three games of the Justin Verlander celebration. He was my youngest daughter’s favorite player growing up and she made a very nice post on Facebook about us hanging out all weekend. We had daddy/daughter games and Friday and Saturday. Then on Sunday my wife as well as her husband and my 8 month old grandson joined us. I’m sure everyone reading isn’t just a Lions’ fan, but a sports fan, and you saw JV’s daughter come to the mound to take him out on Saturday. If you didn’t shed a tear watching that, you probably need to get checked out. That’s my point…From a fan standpoint, isn’t that what sports from are really about? The bonding and the experience? That’s where it’s at. I just turned 60, so I can honestly say I’ve been following sports for 50+ years. For the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL – that’s easily 200 seasons combined of Detroit sports fandom. The Tigers won in 1984 when I graduated from high school. The Pistons won two with the Bad Boys and then again in 2006. In hockey we had the “Dead Things” for a lot of years until 1997 when they became the barometer for the NHL and won 4 Stanley Cups over 10 years. The Lions? We all know how many titles they’ve won. That adds up to 8 championships in 200 seasons. Suffice it to say, titles are few and far between. Even they fade as from about 1990-2005 the Tigers had a long lean stretch, the Wings haven’t made the playoffs since 2016 and the Pistons lost a whole lot of games between 2006 and the time Cade Cunningham came to Motown. Justin Verlander hugs his daughter after throwing his last pitch The thing that doesn’t go away? The bonds that develop. We each have our own traditions. Whether that is putting on your Lions jersey to hang with your family for a few hours on the couch on a Sunday or piling in the car to head to Ford Field to tailgate before going into the game, or texting your family and buddies as each pass is completed or with each missed tackle. In the end, the bonding with your people, that’s what’s important. That is what football is all about. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIONS!!!!!!!

Welcome to The Grey Manes Monday Morning Rundown, a collection of news and notes from the prior week that impact the Lions, the NFL or whatever else catches my eye. Lions Week 3 Accomplishments Lions Players, Coaches and Team Amon-Ra St Brown joined Andre Rison with a rare feat which was one of NINE accomplishments for the Lions players in Week 3 To help bolster the DB room, three DBs were brought in on a tryout and S Jalen Mills was brought back to the practice Squad The Lions also poached S Bishop Fitzgerald from Pittsburgh's PS to the active roster, cutting LB Joe Bachie and placing S Avinte Maddox on season ending Injured reserve RB Jamaal Willaims contacted the Lions and Dan Campbell about a comeback Jahmyr Gibbs Week 3 performance earned him a Topps Card available until Sept 30th, it may be an autographed version Rumors, Nuggets and Speculation The Tigers are changing the name fo the ballpark from Comerica Field to Fifth Third Park starting in 2027 Packers lose their starting RT for the season to a knee injury The UFL is constantly evolving location cities, with two more moving and two new ones coming on board The Green Bay Packers are in serious trouble, sitting at 1-2 with a brutal 10-game stretch in front of them and an injured lineup and no #1 pick in 2027. Things I think are Noteworthy October 2028 will introduce a whole new generation to what a Mogwai is... The Tigers have signed their announcing crew to a multi-year extension Stadium Series eats; the New Jersey Devils are selling a popcorn buckets that has a playable hockey rink on the top. A Gremlins movie is coming in 2028

Final practice report is out, and the trends appear to have held, with both the Lions losing a couple fo starters, and the Jets down two defensive starters, their backup TE and potentially their no 2 WR. Jets at Lions Week 3 Practice Final Report Jets Friday: Jets coach Aaron Glenn ruled out Fitzpatrick, Mauigoa and Taylor and said that Nwangwu would be doubtful. WR Micthell is dealing with a finger injury that he caught in a jersey but should be godo to go per Glenn along with Edges Ossai (despite both being questionable) and Bailey. Thursday: The Jets had the same players with the same designations as their Wednesday estimated report, with the exception of WR Adonai Mitchell. Mitchell was added as a limited participant, indicating that he hurt his finger during practice today. Normally not a big deal, but that leaves the Jets with only three healthy WRs on their main roster for Sunday at this point. Wednesday: Two starters in Kiko Mauigoa and Minka Fitzpatrick were estimated to not practice along with TE Maosn Taylor and Kene Nwangwu were also nonparticipants. Two Edges, Joseph Ossai (Limited) and David bailer (Full) will likely be ready for the weekend per coach Aaron Glenn. Lions Friday: Campbell said that neither Bartch or Harper will likely be able to play and both are out, but everyone else were full practice participants and do not have a game designation and will play. Izien likely starts at S with Rookie Abney or Jalen Mills providing Depth. Thursday: First, the upgrades. McNeil was back from his personal day and was a full participant, as was Hassanein and Hogan Hatten. Blake Miler, Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany were limited, but indications are they will be ready to go on Sunday. Harper and Barch though, appear to be trending to be out, with two days of no participation with foot and ankles, things that are hard to quickly recover from. Wednesday: Alim McNeil, Thomas Harper and Ben Bartch all missed practice with McNeil and Harper likely short term, but Barch is a concern of its the same foot he had the Lisfranc con last year. Limited participants included Blake Mille, Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge and Hassanein, with all appear to be trending toward being available. Lastly was LS Hogan Hatten who has a wrist but practiced fully.

After two weeks, the Lions are exactly where the vast majority of fans would have predicted they would be, 1-1 and facing four straight weeks of teams that were not good last year. The problem is that the defense has been...shall we say...sub-par so far. Giving up 30+ points each week and not looking like a solution is imminent. The Jets meanwhile are also 1-1, coming off blowing a 10-point fourth quarter lead against a Packers team that played terrible for most of the game and lost countless starters to injury. Regardless, a couple of questionable decisions by Jets coach Aaron Glenn snatched defeat from victory and the Jets are coming into Ford Field as an unhappy team. Jets at Lions Tale of the Tape YTD Now that we have two weeks complete, and the logjam at the top was somewhat broken by an optimistic but sad Mike, let's take a look at the standings. Dan, Brent, Chris and Mickey are all at 2-0 with their picks, but Brent holds the tiebreaker and is the leader currently. Chris is 1 pt back, Mickey 7 pts and Dan 8 pts off the closest to the pin of Lions total points. Mike is only 3 pts off the tiebreaker but will need some misses from those in front of him to jump back into the race. The Grey Manes Lions Prediction - Week 3 Looks like all of us will either be winners or losers this week, as every Grey Mane picked the Lions to win this game against the Jets. Four of the five went with Lions scouring 30+, while Mike thinks that they will "only" get 27 against the NFLs No 1 Defense and will win in a close one. Mickey 915 yards and 71 points allowed through two games?!? There is still hope as the 2007 Super Bowl champions - the New York Football Giants - allowed a whopping 80 points in their first two games en route to winning Super Bowl 42. But, that team figured it out defensively, allowing just 18.7 points per game from Week 3 through beating the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl. Obviously, the defense wearing Honolulu Blue and Silver needs to step up their game if this Detroit team is going to make it to the promised land. I can't see any Geno Smith led team putting up those kind of numbers. He’s quarterbacked a team to more than 30 points just once in the last 37 games he's played. That doesn't mean I think the Lions will suddenly look like the ‘85 Bears, but I don’t think the Jets top 30 points. The Lions will continue to score, and if Minkah Fitzpatrick is out and/or hobbled, I really expect a field day for Jared Goff and Co. I see this as the game Jamo gets untracked - he hasn't scored a TD in his last five games. The Lions win another game that blows away the Vegas over/under. Detroit 34 J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets 24. Lions 34, Jets 24 Dan The Lions have had two stressful weeks of defensive lapses and are pretty much the worst defense in the NFL, but the team is sitting at 1-1 just like the vast majority of us anticipated. As week 3 hits, here come the 1-1 (should be 2-0) New York jets into town with the No 1 Defense in the NFL. However, it's really a bit of a paper tiger, having played the lowly Titans and an unexpectantly bad Packers team. Both are in the bottom half of the league offensively, with the Packers run game dead last in the league and the titans passing game 31st. The Packers are also killing themselves with penalties, wiping away over 100 yards per game so far. The Lions have proven to be a far more disciplined team, and the Jets are not really that dangerous of an offense, so I think this week is a "get well" game for the Lions defense with Kelving Sheppard defeating his mentor, Aaron Glenn soundly on the field. meanwhile, the Lions offense is hitting its stride, should see the OL back intact with both Miller and Mahogany returning, which the Jets haven't seen an offense this good yet this season. Lions 31, Jets 17 Brent The Detroit Lions started the season with two of their most difficult games in the first 8 weeks. New Orleans proved their strength in Baltimore and the Buffalo Bills remain Las Vegas #1 favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Lions will get on track this week. The offense will continue to roll after scoring 31 in the first two games, the defense will show better, and the Lions win 41-17. Lions 41, Jets 17 Mike This is not your Dad's Jets, although it is early the Jets are one of the best Defensive teams in the NFL. They are Mid- Pack offensively. While the Lions are one of the better Offensive Teams in the NFL while are dead last in Defense. This will be a tougher game than we all thought when the Schedule was released, add in the return of AG and we should have a good one on Sunday. Lions: 27, Jets: 24 Chris Bounce back week for the Lions, and honestly, it's about time. Everybody and their mother has been on this team's neck lately: media, fans, the whole nine -- and if there's one thing Campbell-coached squads do, it's respond when their backs are against the wall. That said, don't expect a blowout. The Jets aren't the pushover some folks think, and Geno Smith has this weird habit of turning into Superman every time he sees Honolulu Blue. Closer game than the spread suggests. Lions 30, Jets 24

Looks like several Lions players are trending in the right direction, but two guys with two days of no participation mean they are trending the wrong way. The Jets report mirrored their estimated Wednesday report, with the addition of WR Adonai Mitchell, who popped up as limited with a finger. Jets at Lions Week 3 Practice Thursday Report Jets Thursday: The Jets had the same players with the same designations as their Wednesday estimated report, with the exception of WR Adonai Mitchell. Mitchell was added as a limited participant, indicating that he hurt his finger during practice today. Normally not a big deal, but that leaves the Jets with only three healthy WRs on their main roster for Sunday at this point. Wednesday: Two starters in Kiko Mauigoa and Minka Fitzpatrick were estimated to not practice along with TE Maosn Taylor and Kene Nwangwu were also nonparticipants. Two Edges, Joseph Ossai (Limited) and David bailer (Full) will likely be ready for the weekend per coach Aaron Glenn. Lions Thursday: First, the upgrades. McNeil was back from his personal day and was a full participant, as was Hassanein and Hogan Hatten. Blake Miler, Tate Ratledge and Christian Mahogany were limited, but indications are they will be ready to go on Sunday. Harper and Barch though, appear to be trending to be out, with two days of no participation with foot and ankles, things that are hard to quickly recover from. Wednesday: Alim McNeil, Thomas Harper and Ben Bartch all missed practice with McNeil and Harper likely short term, but Barch is a concern of its the same foot he had the Lisfranc con last year. Limited participants included Blake Mille, Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge and Hassanein, with all appear to be trending toward being available. Lastly was LS Hogan Hatten who has a wrist but practiced fully.

Not only did the Lions leave Buffalo with a loss, but they have a whole host of new injuries they are dealing with, especially at S and on the OL with several starters dinged up. As for the Jets, they are also dealing with quite a few injuries, but mainly with their depth and on their defense. Initial Week 3 Practice report Jets Wednesday: Two starters in Kiko Mauigoa and Minka Fitzpatrick were estimated to not practice along with TE Maosn Taylor and Kene Nwangwu were also non participants. Two Edges, Joseph Ossai (Limited) and David bailer (Full) will likely be ready for the weekend per coach Aaron Glenn. Lions Wednesday: Alim McNeil, Thomas Harper and Ben Bartch all missed practice with McNeil and Harper likely short term, but Barch is a concern of its the same foot he had the Lisfranc con last year. Limited participants included Blake Mille, Christian Mahogany and Tate Ratledge and Hassanein, with all appear to be trending toward being available. Lastly was LS Hogan Hatten who has a wrist but practiced fully.

Week 3 has arrived, and this should be the "easy"" part of the Lions schedule, but that does not seem to be the case. We once again have a normal scheduled week of Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games until the international games start in a few weeks. This week kicks off with the Atlanta Falcons visiting Green Bay on Thursday night, seen only on Amazon Prim Video nationally and on local stations in those two markets. The usual duo of Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstret will be on the call. Sunday's games will be seen across CBS (early and late game regional viewing) and FOX (single game regional). The Early CBS slate will consist of CIN@PIT, KC@MIA, TEN@NYG, NE@JAX and HOU@IND. The late CBS games will be BAL vs DAL (In Brazil) and LAV@NO. FOX early games will be LAC@BUF, NYJ@DET, SEA@WAS and CAR@CLE. The Late FOX games will be MIN@TB and ARZ@SF. The Lions will draw the announcing crew of Adam Amin and Drew Brees Byes: None NATIONAL BROADCASTS Thursday 8:00 ET: Atlanta @ Green Bay (Amazon) Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit also WAGA/FOX Atlanta, WGBA/NBC Green Bay, WITI/FOX Milwaukee Sunday 8:00 ET: LA Rams @ Denver (NBC) Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth Monday 8:00 ET: Philadelphia @ Chicago (ESPN / ABC) Joe Buck, Troy Aikman CBS Early CBS Late FOX Single All listings are unofficial and subject to change. Check back often for updates.  Courtesy of the folks at 506 Sports

Name: Brad Rogers Age: 53 Promoted To Referee: 2019 Graphic Courtesy of Football Zebras Last Game: 09/10/26 CLE @ TB The Cleveland Browns committed 6 penalties for 50 yards. They were flagged a total of 9 times. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers committed 6 penalties for 62 yards. They were flagged a total of 9 times. Together there were 12 penalties for 112 yards. There were 18 total flags in this game. Last Lions Game: 01/04/26 – DET 19 @ CHI 16 The Detroit Lions committed 6 penalties for 35 yards. They were flagged a total of 6 times. The Chicago Bears committed 4 penalties for 25 yards. They were flagged a total of 4 times. Together there were 10 penalties for 60 yards. There were 10 total flags in this game. Week 3 Penalty tale of the Tape Lions and Jets Notable Let the flags fly! This week pairs two of the most penalize teams in the NFL (Jets t30th with 23 flags) and the Lions (25th with 19 flags) with one of the most flag-happy crews in the NFL and Brad Rogers. Lots of False Starts, Offensive Holding and Defensive Holding will likely be called. Check out their stats below, as they are above the norm in every category other than home team penalty count which should be good for the Lions. The last time the Lions saw Rogers crew was Week 18 victory over the Bears in Chicago, but they only threw 10 penalties, whereas last week ion the CLE/TB game, they threw 18 total flags. This crew is 100% intact from last season, so expect more of the same this week. Jets WR Isiah Williams is their most penalized with 3, but it's for a variety of issues while LB David Bailey is susceptible in coverage it appears. With the Lions, CB Rock Ya-Sin and OT Larry Borom are the guiltiest parties, with 3 penalties each in the first two games. No other Lion has more than 1.

Welcome to The Grey Manes Monday Morning Rundown, a collection of news and notes from the prior week that impact the Lions, the NFL or whatever else catches my eye. DJ Wonnum was featured in the Detroit Lions Under the Lights production Lions Players, Coaches and Team The Lions achieved several franchise records during the loss to the Bills by Goff, St. Brown, Hutch and LaPorta The Lions have a fan cam that lets you track down your photo if you attended a Lions game Jahmyr Gibbs is getting a limited-edition (126) FOCO bobble head to commemorate his 50 TDs in 50 games. Preorders are available for $80 Amon-ra St Brown also is getting a limited-edition FOCO bobblehead. A "Welcome to Detroit" model limited to 126 units is available for preorder at $60. Isiah Pacheco ended up having back surgery which was a 12-week recovery The second installment of "Under the Lions" features the Lions DJ Wonnum The Lions purchased the building at 1900 St Antoine last year and demolition has started to possibly make it "Accessory parking" Apparently, the Lions have called the Steelers to check in on Joey Porter for a trade The Lions plan to work out several veteran DBs on Monday and have inquired about a former Pro Bowl S after struggling on the back end and giving up 71 points in two weeks Rumors, Nuggets and Speculation Another NFC Contendor suffered a setback with an injury to a star player that will miss at least four weeks Nothing brings a smile onto my face faster than die hard Packers fans crashing out while their team gives the game away in real time Joe Buck has re-upped with ESPN for another Six-years at $108M NFC North competitor loses their leading rusher to IR Two NFC North contenders suffered injuries to key members of their teams. Caleb WIllaims for Bears and Packers WR reed and OT Bako-Bewele Longtime NFL presence Ernie Accorsi passed away over the weekend. Kevin Brukhardt..."No Explanation Needed" was right description on this injury of the Cowboys Cobie Durant Former Lion LB Alex Anzalone is in week 2 of getting significant heat from both National and Tampa Bay Media for sub-par play Former Lion RB David Montgomery made a big show of wanting to leave so he could be the guy in Houston. in two games he is averaging 13 carries, 35 Rush Yards, 1 Rush TD, 2.5 receptions and 16.5 receiving yards and /5 Rec TD per game. Things I think are Noteworthy Stadium Series drinks, both the Buffalo Bills and Nashville Predators are offering a unique adult beverage drink holder (Horn and Fang) for beer and frozen cocktails A classic example of "What not to do" by NC State when trying to get cute and end the game with a kneel down safety while up by 3... Buffalo Bills Labatt Beer Horn and the Nashville Predators Fang

Welcome to Mickey's Musings, my weekly notebook where we skip the linear narrative and dive straight into three completely unrelated, but entirely fascinating storylines that are bouncing around in my head. I had the “privilege” of attending the Thursday Night Massacre in Buffalo since Buffalo is only a little over four hours from Flint, my wife suggested we attend the game. Far be it for me to disagree with my lovely bride, so I immediately began investigating it. When we first started to talk about it, I hadn’t thought about it being the opening of the brand-new stadium. Admittedly, that gave me some sticker shock when we started combing the secondhand market for tickets. However, I digress, so let’s get into our three topics… Some 40+ years ago, during the Dan Majerle era, I attended Central Michigan University. I even played against him in a few pick-up games (another story for another day). In 1988 Dan was the leading scorer on the U.S. Olympic team. Incidentally, it was that Bronze Medal performance that led to the Dream Team in 1992. On August 21st of 1988, roughly three weeks prior to the start of the Olympics, the team featuring Thunder Dan and David Robinson lost an exhibition game to a team led by, among others, Isiah Thomas and Reggie Miller in the first ever game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Dan Majerle of Team USA going against #14 Oscar Schmidt of Brazil at the 1988 Olympics Just as my claim to fame is a pickup game with the Chippewa GOAT, one of my wife’s many claims to fame over the years has been the fact she attended that basketball game that opened the Palace. 38 years later she now can add Highmark Stadium to the list of arenas that she has opened. “Electric” doesn’t even begin to describe the atmosphere at Highmark Stadium. I’m sure you could feel it on TV, but being there in person was just incredible. There was a buzz among the crowd before you even reached the stadium property. Inside, it literally made the hair on your arm stand up like you had rubbed a balloon on your head. When they played the Bills’ hype video, followed by the team intros – I sent someone a one word text. I will admit it, that one word was a four letter word. As Ralphie said in “A Christmas Story” I used "the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the 'F-dash-dash-dash' word." However, I made it a long drawn out 20 letter word…there was no other word to describe what I imagine every Lions’ fan in that building was feeling at that moment. Buffalo Bills Player introductions on 09/17/26 at Highmark Stadiums Inaugural Regular Season game The energy was oozing and even if the opposing team was the undefeated 1972 Dolphins, coached by the pride of Thomas W. Harvey High School, in Painesville, Ohio – Don Shula – I’d have to take the Bills on this night. Although they lost to the Raiders and the Colts, many people consider the 1973 Phins to be an even better team. Others, myself included, consider the 1985 Bears to be the best team of all time. If the ’85 Bears or either of those Miami teams were the visiting team in the Highmark Stadium regular season opener, I don’t know if they’d have a chance at victory. The capacity of Highmark Stadium is 61,280, which may swell to as many as 65,000 when they sell standing room only seats. In recent years the Lions fans have traveled as well as any team in the NFL. There’s been a number of Detroit road games in recent memory where I recall hearing “Let’s Go Lions” chants coming through my TV. In this game, most people estimate the split in the stadium was below 10% Detroit fans in attendance. Even the great Don Shula would struggle when facing the intensity of having 90% of the people in the crowd not just rooting against you, but doing so with such fervor. Our Lions were definitely affected by these crowds. The Bills started the game by matriculating down the field, 10 plays and 85 yards for a score….Their defense forced a three and out on our first possession….Josh Allen followed by leading the Bills’ offense on another long drive. This one was 8 plays and covered 79 yards for their second touchdown of the game….the Bills defense followed that up by allowing the Lions to get a first down, but after a sack and a snap over Goff’s head due to the crowd noise, it went into the books as a 4 play, 4 yard drive….four minutes and change later the Bills made it 21-0 by covering 57 yards in 9 plays. At this point, down 21-0, the Lions had run 7 plays for a total of negative one yard. Shula, Reed, Ditka – you name the coach. In that atmosphere, I don’t know that anyone was going to come back from taking the body blows the Bills had delivered. On the bright side, the Lions continued to battle. When it was all said and done, they outscored the Bills 31-20 from that point forward. I want to preface the last topic this week with a disclaimer. I hate hearing people whine about officiating. I can’t stand listening to fans that grumble about how their team always gets the short end of the officiating stick, ignoring the number of calls and non-calls that went their way. In addition to those complaints, I feel the terms “rigged” and “fixed” are low hanging fruit for fanbases that can’t accept the fact their team didn’t have enough to win on that particular day. I say all that before discussing the penalties, both called and uncalled, that influenced this game. At the end of the day the Lions were assessed 10 penalties and the Bills a mere 5. There seemed to be a number of hits on Jared Goff that weren’t called if one were to apply the rules we have seen applied over the last few years. Dion Dawkins looked like he moved a half step early on nearly every Bills passing play. And, don’t get me started on the defensive holding calls that bailed out the Bills. One of numerous examples of Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff getting hit in head without a penalty called on Bills Do I feel the fix was in? Nope. Do I think Roger Goodell has a direct line to the replay booth to tilt the outcome of games? No. Am I among the fans that feel every official is out to get Detroit? Not in the least. “Detroit vs Everybody” is a nice rallying cry, but when applied too liberally I think it is a crutch for the weak. I am a firm believer that officials are humans and as such are able to be influenced by the numbers of fans that cheer, or jeer, their every move. During Covid games that were played with no fans. In the NBA and the NHL the home/road splits were roughly 50/50 when playing before empty arenas. For the 20 years prior to the pandemic home teams won at a 55% clip. During Covid teams still traveled across different time zones to play games. The visiting teams still had to deal with sleeping in hotels while the home teams slept in their own beds. The only difference was the lack of fans and without them the home field advantage was negated. In August of 2020 a study was completed that analyzed the homefield advantage of teams in the European football leagues. Across 1400+ games, they noted not only the winning percentages in the empty stadiums, but also how referees acted and how players actually played the games. What were the results of the study? Home teams won 44% of the games (with around 33% ending in ties) when playing before crowds. During Covid the home team winning percentage dropped to 33% (with both more ties and more victories to the road teams) Home teams scored almost half a goal less per game than they did pre-shutdown Penalties were called more frequently on both teams. Yellow cards increased by 7% for the home team and decreased by 29% for the visitors, meaning they were now being called relatively even between home and road teams. Basically all the way around, there was a home field advantage that had been nullified by playing in empty stadiums. On the bright side – if we get a rematch against the Bills it will be in Los Angeles in February.