Watching Monday night’s tilt between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers was a little too much for Brian Branch. Serving a one-game suspension for his part in a post-game fight with Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, Branch opted not to watch the game at all. It was just too much.

“Watching them would make me miss being out there. That’s something that’s hard,” Branch told media on Tuesday. “I would be eager to get out there.”

Branch apologized again on Tuesday for his actions after the Chiefs game, and said he’s been able to lean on some emotional support to...

Coming off a much-needed bye week, your Detroit Lions are back in action. They’re 5-2 and second in the NFC North, a half a game behind the leading Green Bay Packers. For the first time this year, they take on the Minnesota Vikings, who are in last place in the division at 3-4. The Vikings appear to be getting their starting quarterback back this week, though I’m not sure that can fix all of their woes.

Minnesota is coming off its impressive 14-3 2024 season, just one game short of winning the division after the Lions defeated them in the...

Coming off a much-needed bye week, your Detroit Lions are back in action. They’re 5-2 and second in the NFC North, a half a game behind the leading Green Bay Packers. For the first time this year, they take on the Minnesota Vikings, who are in last place in the division at 3-4. The Vikings appear to be getting their starting quarterback back this week, though I’m not sure that can fix all of their woes.

Minnesota is coming off its impressive 14-3 2024 season, just one game short of winning the division after the Lions defeated them in the...

Each week, SB Nation tracks NFL fans’ confidence levels of their favorite teams with their Reacts Surveys posted on their team websites. For Pride of Detroit, we are tasked with gauging Detroit Lions fans’ confidence in the team heading into each game. But this week, we’ve added a second question to the mix:

1. Are you confident the Lions are headed in the right direction?
2. What should the Lions do at the NFL trade deadline?

After a bit of an up-and-down season, last week’s convincing win over the Buccaneers in primetime helped confidence jump back up to 98%. Now,...

Each week, SB Nation tracks NFL fans’ confidence levels of their favorite teams with their Reacts Surveys posted on their team websites. For Pride of Detroit, we are tasked with gauging Detroit Lions fans’ confidence in the team heading into each game. But this week, we’ve added a second question to the mix:

1. Are you confident the Lions are headed in the right direction?
2. What should the Lions do at the NFL trade deadline?

After a bit of an up-and-down season, last week’s convincing win over the Buccaneers in primetime helped confidence jump back up to 98%. Now,...

Through seven games this season, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams has not produced the numbers many were expecting. After hitting 1,000 yards last season and having his new offensive coordinator say he’s headed for another breakout year in 2025, Williams has just 17 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns. That’s on pace for a 702-yard season, almost exactly 300 yards less than last year’s output. Not exactly ideal for a player the Lions gave a three-year, $83 million extension to just two months ago.

Both Williams and the Lions continue to preach optimism and patience. In his media...

Through seven games this season, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams has not produced the numbers many were expecting. After hitting 1,000 yards last season and having his new offensive coordinator say he’s headed for another breakout year in 2025, Williams has just 17 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns. That’s on pace for a 702-yard season, almost exactly 300 yards less than last year’s output. Not exactly ideal for a player the Lions gave a three-year, $83 million extension to just two months ago.

Both Williams and the Lions continue to preach optimism and patience. In his media...

As the Detroit Lions take the practice field in preparation for Sunday’s divisional matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, coach Dan Campbell provided a few injury updates both for this week and the future. And it was mostly good news on all accounts.

Starting with running back Sione Vaki, who has missed the last four games with a groin injury. Campbell noted that Vaki participated in on-field work on Monday and is expected to practice the entire week with a good chance of playing on Sunday.

“Vaki practiced yesterday. He’s going to practice today. He’s going to practice Thursday after the...

As the Detroit Lions take the practice field in preparation for Sunday’s divisional matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, coach Dan Campbell provided a few injury updates both for this week and the future. And it was mostly good news on all accounts.

Starting with running back Sione Vaki, who has missed the last four games with a groin injury. Campbell noted that Vaki participated in on-field work on Monday and is expected to practice the entire week with a good chance of playing on Sunday.

“Vaki practiced yesterday. He’s going to practice today. He’s going to practice Thursday after the...

Bye weeks present several key opportunities for NFL teams. For the Detroit Lions (5-2), their Week 8 bye afforded them the chance to get multiple players back from injury, do some self-reflection on where they need to improve, and take extra time to prepare for another division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, in Week 9.

If there is a downside to a bye week, it’s that it’s easy for people to forget about teams, regardless of how strong their last performance was—even if it was against a great team on the national stage of “Monday Night Football.” This is the case...

Bye weeks present several key opportunities for NFL teams. For the Detroit Lions (5-2), their Week 8 bye afforded them the chance to get multiple players back from injury, do some self-reflection on where they need to improve, and take extra time to prepare for another division rival, the Minnesota Vikings, in Week 9.

If there is a downside to a bye week, it’s that it’s easy for people to forget about teams, regardless of how strong their last performance was—even if it was against a great team on the national stage of “Monday Night Football.” This is the case...

The bye week is the perfect week to both reflect and look toward the future. So on this week’s PODcast, we did just that.

To kick off the show, we examined the good and the bad from the Detroit Lions’ first seven games of the season, and we did so by handing out some superlative awards. We recognize team accomplishments, individual performances, and which units are playing the best/worst. Here are just some of the “awards,” we hand out in our first segment:

• Most impressive Lions win so far
• Most surprising aspect of the team
• Biggest concern...