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4 Reasons To Be Hopeful about Lions’ Offense

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4 Reasons To Be Hopeful about Lions’ Offense


Hope is among the strongest phrases within the English language, and hope is one thing Lions followers have been holding on to now for many years.

Lions followers have clung to hope like somebody would cling to a life preserver, in the event that they have been floating within the ocean ready for assist to reach.

Coaches and gamers have come and gone over the course of time, however by way of all of it, Detroit followers have continued to say, “That is going to be our 12 months.”

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Why not?

We’ve seen the trustworthy in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Seattle and New Orleans rewarded with their very personal Lombardi Trophy.

We’ve additionally seen groups that have been seemingly downtrodden ceaselessly a minimum of make it to the “Large Sport” (groups just like the Cardinals and Falcons). 

If they will do it, absolutely Detroit can, too.

Whereas I’m not suggesting this could possibly be a Tremendous Bowl season for the Lions, there are 4 causes followers must be optimistic about their crew’s offense this season.

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1.) Up-tempo offense

Based on Soccer Outsiders, it was decided the Lions had the fourth-slowest huddle-to-snap time within the league in 2021.

I can second that.

As somebody who spent an exorbitant period of time learning their recreation movie final season, watching the Lions’ offense was like watching paint dry.

The report mentioned Detroit averaged a play each 32.64 seconds. That’s virtually sufficient time to stand up out of your seat at Ford Area and seize a sizzling canine (nicely, possibly not fairly), but it surely was a sluggish tempo.

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Now, I perceive the counter-argument of ball management and protecting the opposing offenses on the bench, however that clearly didn’t work out nicely both, as indicated by Detroit’s 3-13-1 document.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell has made a dedication to altering that in 2022. 

“We’re going to be far more environment friendly, simply how we get issues out and in of the huddle,” Campbell advised reporters. “The flexibility to alter our tempo will likely be huge. A few of that simply comes from verbiage alone, imagine it or not. I simply really feel like the whole lot is simply going to be a lot extra streamlined.”

A brisk tempo will hold everybody extra energetic on this offense, and in flip, it ought to yield higher manufacturing.

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2.) New Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson

Final season, the offense went by way of an enormous transition. Detroit fired Matt Patricia and his employees (on the finish of 2020), which included offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Then, Detroit employed Campbell, and he named Anthony Lynn as his offensive coordinator.

Nonetheless, throughout the season, Campbell took over the play-calling duties, and Lynn was finally fired. Which means this offense had three completely different play-callers in the midst of a calendar 12 months.

Now, Johnson is the offensive coordinator.

The cool factor about Johnson’s background is he’s a former quarterback at North Carolina. He’s somebody who has run a huddle and will perceive Campbell’s acknowledged imaginative and prescient for getting this offense shifting at a quicker tempo.

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Being with the crew since 2019, Johnson has additionally been there this entire time and has seen this offense evolve.

Who higher to bridge it altogether?

3.) Including receivers DJ Chark and Jameson Williams

Pace kills.

Chark has put up a 4.34 40-yard sprint up to now, and Williams was mentioned to be a 4.39.

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Pace to take the highest off a protection has been one of many essential lacking components to this offense. 

Final 12 months, the Lions’ offense was like a sugar-free desert, and the deep menace was non-existent. Including this sort of velocity to the vertical passing recreation will open the whole lot else up, together with on the short-to-intermediate route ranges. Defenses will be unable to suffocate the Lions’ offense like they did in 2021.

4.) Offensive line

As they are saying in soccer, the whole lot is determined within the trenches, the place the offensive and defensive linemen wage battle. The optimistic right here is that Detroit has had the offseason to get its offensive line wholesome, and on paper, that is the power of the crew.

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Final season, left sort out Taylor Decker missed eight video games, heart Frank Ragnow was out for 13 video games and proper guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai didn’t go well with up for one recreation.

A wholesome offensive line that performs collectively as a unit will make a distinction for all of the ability place gamers on the Lions. 



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Detroit, MI

President Joe Biden speaks to Detroit NAACP dinner: How to watch

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President Joe Biden speaks to Detroit NAACP dinner: How to watch


President Joe Biden is getting set to speak Sunday evening at the Detroit Branch NAACP’s annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner at Huntington Place in his first visit to the city this campaign season.

Because it’s being considered a campaign event, the White House website won’t be carrying the event live, but there are a couple of places you can watch it, including here on freep.com, courtesy of a link from C-SPAN.

You can also watch it online at cspan.org and WYXZ Channel 7 will be carrying it live on its website, wxyz.com.

The speech to the annual dinner comes at a crucial time in Biden’s campaign for reelection with several swing state polls showing him trailing former President Donald Trump in a rematch of the 2020 election. Michigan is expected to help determine which man gets reelected in November.

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Meanwhile, Biden is trying to shore up support among Black voters, who are vital to his reelection hopes. Earlier Sunday, Biden delivered the commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, a historically all-male Black institution, before traveling to Michigan.

Come back to freep.com for more coverage of Biden’s visit to Detroit.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler



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Detroit, MI

Megan Thee Stallion brings swagger and spice to LCA in first Detroit headlining show

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Megan Thee Stallion brings swagger and spice to LCA in first Detroit headlining show


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She may be just three shows into her first-ever headlining tour, but Megan Thee Stallion looked all the part of a seasoned star onstage Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

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Five years after breaking big with “Hot Girl Summer,” the Grammy-winning rapper has embarked on a transatlantic arena tour of that same name, with Detroit an early stop on the run.

A sellout crowd was there to greet the 29-year-old Houston hitmaker for what was a girls-night-out kind of affair, with many fans arriving at LCA in their own variations of the curvaceous body suits and flesh-baring monokinis Megan Thee Stallion would embrace onstage.

It was a night writhing with snake imagery, sexual bravado and near-nonstop booty shaking. The show was as much about Megan’s confident, assertive presence as it was her ever-growing repertoire of kinky hits — a salvo that started Saturday with her latest chart-topper, “Hiss,” and its barrage of cleverly barbed celebrity shade.

Joined by eight dancers who at one point joined the star for a synchronized twerking number, Megan Thee Stallion kept the pace upbeat and the downtime minimal. The only extended pause for breath came with a mid-show segment in which she invited groups of excited fans — her Hotties — onto the stage for their own personalized dancing exhibitions.

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Amid the extravagant raunchiness that often bordered on camp, that was a touch of come-one, come-all togetherness and accessibility, much like the assorted selfies she snapped on audience members’ mobile phones throughout the night.

As a rapper, Megan Thee Stallion is formidable — she built a name via her electrifying freestyles, after all — and her rapid-fire rhymes accentuated songs such as “Sex Talk,” “Kitty Kat” and “Stalli.” Elsewhere, numbers like “Thot S—” rode high on catchy hooks, with the likes of “Big Ole Freak” becoming arena-wide chant-alongs and “BOA” serving up her distinctive brand of side-eye.

After reported technical glitches on the tour’s opening nights, Saturday’s mix was crisp and full, and the star’s mouth-twisting vowels and spicy wordplay were only occasionally lost in the sonic boom.

Megan Thee Stallion’s trademark, defiant swagger did give way to a little vulnerability with the recent single exploring her battles with depression, “Cobra,” which wrapped up the concert’s opening segment.

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“Wanna Be,” with guest Glorilla, and the 2020 Cardi B smash “WAP” helped the show start a crescendo that finished with the biggest hit of Megan’s career, the Beyoncé-featuring “Savage.”

For all the night’s energy — and props to the likable Megan, that rarely flagged — the show threatened to become a monotonous affair, offering few variations in sound, movement or expression. At a crisp 85 minutes, it clocked out probably exactly when it needed to.

Rising rapper Glorilla had kicked off the evening with a 45-minute set of Memphis-fueled hip-hop and her own brand of self-empowerment.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

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Detroit, MI

Motown Museum to host annual Founder’s Day celebration on May 19

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Motown Museum to host annual Founder’s Day celebration on May 19


DETROIT, MICH (WXYZ) — The Motown Museum is welcoming the community to its annual Founder’s Day celebration from 12-5 p.m. on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

Community vendors, performances from Hitsville NEXT program participants and appearances by special guests will be highlights of Founder’s Day, which is a Motown Museum tradition. Entertainment on the museum’s immersive Rocket Plaza will culminate the day of celebration and give the local Detroit community the opportunity to experience the Motown magic together.

Founder’s Day is an annual, free and open to the public celebration hosted by Motown Museum in honor of Esther Gordy Edwards, Motown Museum’s late founder who made commemorating the Motown legacy in Detroit a reality for the world. The event will kick off the 2024 summer performance series on Rocket Plaza, which will be packed with captivating concerts and unique community gathering events that will make Rocket Plaza and Motown Museum the place to be for live music and outdoor entertainment in Detroit.

Two-for-one Motown Museum tours will also be available on Founder’s Day. Interested participants should plan to purchase Motown Museum tours through the box office on the day of the event. Motown Museum Campus Rocket Plaza (in front of Hitsville U.S.A.) is located at 2648 W. Grand Blvd., in Detroit, MI (48208).

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For more information on Motown Museum, visit http://www.motownmuseum.org





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