Get the inside story on the Detroit Lions
Miss our series on Dan Campbell's bunch over the weekend? Links inside. Go Long hung out with all of the offensive linemen trying to change this franchise for good.
All of the gameplanning. All of the offseason training. All of the sacrifice.
And NFL games almost always boil down to one or two plays. That was the case once again for the Detroit Lions on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Lions squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter in falling to the Vikings, 28-24. What could’ve been a monumental tipping point for the franchise ended with a familiar feeling.
This is a team still extinguishing that old “stench.”
But as Go Long learned on our visit to Michigan? The Lions are unquestionably heading the right direction. They’ll be winning those one or two plays very soon. The emphasis on violence, on building a bully along the offensive line is real here. I sat down with Taylor Decker, Penei Sewell, Jonah Jackson, Frank Ragnow and the team’s fire-and-brimstone position coach, Hank Fraley, to figure out how exactly Dan Campbell’s club is putting all of that knee-biting to life.
The effect is real and everything we all love about old-school football.
Subscribe right here to gain access to all of the wild tales on the offensive line.
Sewell’s upbringing on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean included cutting grass with a machete and escaping tsunamis. He’s the cornerstone of this movement in Detroit. (Sewell is not afraid to tango with Aaron Donald, either.)
Traumatic loss fuels Ragnow and Jackson. One lost his father; the other his grandmother. Both players detail just how much those deaths molded them.
Taylor Decker is the unit’s conscience. He explains exactly why this Lions offensive line is unique. At its core, football is forever a mano-a-mano enterprise. And Decker, a man covered in tattoos, is a product of his family. Those tats tell a story. Thinking about his family brings him to tears.
Sewell isn’t being hyperbolic, either. He says the offensive line has grown so close, he’d literally die on the field:
“I’m not only playing for myself out there. I love to play with a purpose. And my purpose is those guys in that locker room. I’d die on the field for my teammates. I’d honestly do that. I honestly say that. Because they mean so much to me. Those boys and the work we put in together day-in and day-out? It’s something you can’t replicate anywhere else to be honest. You’re coming into the building at 7:30 and leaving at 8 p.m. That man is putting in the same work you have while feeling absolutely shitty. Mentally and physically.”
Thanks for reading, everyone. Both parts are linked below.
In Part I, you’ll learn about the men themselves. The personalities. In Part II, you’ll see how this core four is coming together to maul defenses. Now, all they need to do is win.
“The Detroit Lions Must Break You”
Part I: Life and death
Part II: Bringing the pain
Catch up on our latest features right here:
'I want to be the best corner to have ever played in this era:' There is only one Stephon Gilmore
It's a new day for the Minnesota Vikings, Part I: Culture Shock
It's a new day for the Minnesota Vikings, Part II: Why Kirk Cousins 'n co. can think… Super Bowl?
'We’re going to beat their ass:' How Jamaal Williams is pumping life into the Detroit Lions
Murder, cockroaches, belief: How Rachaad White bet on himself
The Beautiful Mind of Chase Edmonds, Part I: 'I was scared shitless’
The Beautiful Mind of Chase Edmonds, Part II: 'It’s over for me'
The Beautiful Mind of Chase Edmonds, Part III: ‘A match made in heaven’
