Detroit, MI

What They’re Saying: David Montgomery Serves Payback

Published

1 year ago

November 29, 2024

What They’re Saying: David Montgomery Serves Payback

Here is a collection of quotes from the Detroit Lions players and coaches, via the team’s social media channel, following their 23-20 win over the Chicago Bears at Ford Field.

Dan Campbell

On the emotions of winning a close game:

“Look, I told the team, that’s what I said. You know, if you’re not careful, you start grading your own wins, and it’s good because you have these standards—the way you think you should play, by your own standards, by what you have. Has nothing to do with the opponent, it’s just you know yourselves, and you know what you’re capable of. And so, if you’re not careful, you start going too far down that thing. Then you start taking wins for granted. Ultimately, that’s a good win against an opponent that has fought every week, and this was the third game in a row, division game, that those guys have brought it over there. So we did what we had to do to win. We’ll clean up the other stuff that cost us some points. I’m not worried about that. But I will take this “W” and I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”

Jared Goff

On players stepping up on defense despite injuries:

“Yeah, it’s fun to see that. Obviously, Za’Darius (Smith) is a new addition to our team, but (Al-Quadin) Muhammad’s been doing a good job since he got here – on defense, on scout team making it hard on us, then obviously in the games now, he’s doing a great job. It’s fun to see guys step up, it’s never fun to see guys get hurt or get injured or have to leave the game – but when guys are able to step up and make those plays and make a name for themselves on national television, it’s fun.”

David Montgomery

On beating his former team:

“It’s always good being able to get a win on somebody that didn’t think I was good enough. I love, I appreciate Chicago for taking a chance on me, for giving me a shot and an opportunity. I was happy to get that win.”

On being introduced with Jahmyr Gibbs during pregame introductions:

“It’s super cool. I’ve never experienced nothing like it. Jahmyr’s my little brother, I’m super blessed to have him in my life as a football player, but as a human for me too. So being able to share that moment and that experience with him, and kind of how the Sonic and Knuckles thing is going, it’s pretty dope to be a part of.”

Jahmyr Gibbs

On breaking the Thanksgiving losing streak and it’s importance:

“Yeah, definitely. What was it, eight years? Seven. It was a long time. It was about time it’d get broke.”

What the 11-1 start says about the team:

“That we can go really far and we’ve just got to stay on the details, stay hungry, don’t get complacent and keep going.”

Jameson Williams

On the team getting its 10th straight win:

“It’s big. We’re rolling. We’re rolling, we’re moving real well. I think that’s the main part. We’ve got a couple things to fix up for this win, even though it’s a win we’ve got a couple things to fix. We’re gonna fix those and we’re gonna be better. Just keep getting better and better and better every week.”

Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (9) runs against Chicago Bears / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Frank Ragnow

On how the team was able to win on a short week:

“I think we just have a good culture, good group of guys, good coaching staff and we find ways to win. Whether it’s ugly, close, blowout, we find ways to win. And that’s what a good team does.”

Penei Sewell

On if he feels more pressure when the Lions call a play for him:

“No, it’s really so fun. Every time I get a play, whether it’s like this or just out in front blocking, I just have fun with it. Those opportunities don’t come a lot and the trust that Ben (Johnson) and the whole offense has in me, I love it. I love when it’s on my shoulders and it’s fun.”

On what he learned from the Lions running ‘Mighty Duck,’ a play designed for him to throw a pass:

“I found out just how much energy the ball carriers use when they have the ball. After that play, I was really exhausted. I think the ball won’t touch my hands for a while.”

MORE: Penei Sewell Destroying Bears Defender Becomes Classic Meme

Za’Darius Smith

On the team’s mentality:

“Get extra work in after practice, you don’t get that everywhere you go with the young guys. So everybody’s keying in, buying in and I’m so excited about it. Obviously we’ve got coaches that played in the league, so man, everybody wants to know what it takes to win. As you can see, we’re 11-1 today.”

On his 1.5 sack performance:

“I missed him twice, I don’t know if y’all saw that or not. I missed him and then I told myself if I get another opportunity, I’m not gonna miss him this time. So I was able to come up with how many? 1.5, that’s something. I was still able to come back and make those tackles. So I learned from my mistakes early from that game.”

Al-Quadin Muhammad

On his performance Thursday:

“It feels great, but it don’t mean nothing if when that opportunity comes, you don’t step up to the challenge. I was looking forward to the opportunity, and I went out and took advantage of it.”

On Za’Darius Smith’s performance despite being banged up:

“It’s football. Sometimes you get banged up, but that’s what we (traded for) him for. Just keep playing and stay relentless and shake it off. That’s the great thing about football.”

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Detroit, MI

Strong storms leave trail of damage across Metro Detroit — cleanup could take weeks

Published

10 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

Strong storms leave trail of damage across Metro Detroit — cleanup could take weeks

MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – Strong storms swept through parts of Metro Detroit Saturday evening, downing trees, toppling power lines and damaging property across Monroe and Wayne counties.

Matt Rose, owner of Rose Tree Service in Monroe County, and his crew hit the ground running to help with the recovery effort.

“Probably about 5:30 in the afternoon the wind started picking up and all you heard was tornado sirens,” Rose said.

The storms didn’t last long — but the damage they left behind tells a different story.

“Within 20 minutes I’d say. It did a lot of damage in 20 minutes,” Rose said.

The storms left behind splintered trees, downed wires and ripped at least one barn to shreds.

Rob Salenbien of Van Buren Township watched the storm destroy what he described as his family’s entertainment space — right before a major family milestone.

“It’s our entertainment place,” Salenbien said. “We were just hosting my family, my mom and dad is inside – their 60th wedding anniversary is coming up on April 30th, we were going to have a party here on May 3rd.”

Salenbien and his family say they are thankful no one was hurt.

As for the cleanup, Rose says crews are still working to finish up damage left by a previous storm — and now they have even more on their hands. He estimates the cleanup from this latest round of storms could take weeks.

“We were still finishing up the last storm of trees broken on houses and stuff like that,” Rose said.

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Detroit, MI

Mitch Albom: Detroit Opening Day tradition embraces the local perfectly

Published

22 hours ago

April 5, 2026

Press Room

Mitch Albom: Detroit Opening Day tradition embraces the local perfectly

To many people, it makes no sense. Here was the seventh game of a 162-game baseball season, the Detroit Tigers had lost four of the six already played, yet seemingly the entire city converged on downtown Friday, April 3, to get into the stadium, or sit outside the stadium, or just hang around the stadium.

They stuffed bars and restaurants. They drank beer despite the early hour. They wore orange or blue clothing and caps with an Old English “D.” There is no way to count how many total people swarmed the streets, or how many of them had called in sick to their jobs to be here.

We call it Opening Day, and in Detroit it is virtually a holiday. Not elsewhere. Other cities don’t make this fuss. To many of them, going wild for the seventh game of the season makes no sense.

And that’s OK.

In fact, it’s perfect.

Far from the only nonstandard tradition

Opening Day made me think about how many things we do around these parts that are uniquely ours, traditions that we cherish but which don’t necessarily travel.

The Dream Cruise. It began as a charity event, and is now is a fixture on the August calendar. But if you tell someone in Boston or San Diego that thousands of people sit in lawn chairs along a busy boulevard to watch old cars drive past, you’ll get laughed out of the room.

The Independence Day Fireworks. Yes, other cities have them. No, they don’t have them in late June. We do. Supposedly we do this because of our proximity to Canada, which celebrates on a different schedule. Of course, Canada Day is July 1, and America’s holiday is July 4, so someone should explain how June got in there.

But, hey, maybe they shouldn’t. It’s our tradition. And that’s what’s important.

Sweetest Day. Hate to break this to area lovers, but that’s not really a thing in the most of the country.

Paczki Day – yes, it’s a way to celebrate Fat Tuesday, but it’s much bigger here in the Midwest than in other regions.

The Charity Preview at the Detroit Auto Show. That’s like the Motor City’s Met Gala, but it doesn’t exist elsewhere. And auto shows in general are not the must-see events they are in our town.

Traditions like throwing octopi at hockey games, singing “born and raised in South Detroit!” chanting “Onward Down the Field” when the Lions score or yelling “DEEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALLLLLL!” are things you will not witness anywhere else.

And it may be a hot dog everywhere else, but it’s a coney here.

If all of this makes us quirky, well, quirky we should be. Because in a world of increasing homogenization, local traditions are in peril.

A taste for tradition

Consider what the internet and multinational corporations desire. Everyone on the same page at the same time.

Apple wants the whole world to line up at a given hour for the new iPhone. Taylor Swift wants the whole world hanging on her latest release. Local coffee shops get swallowed by chains. Local eateries surrender to fast food.

As someone who travels for work, I can tell you, decades ago when you went to the South, you heard different music on the radio. You went out West, you saw different retail outlets. You felt like an outsider. You felt like you were someplace new and wondrous.

Today, Nashville looks like Austin looks like Raleigh looks like Phoenix. There’s your P.F. Chang’s next to your Cheesecake Factory. There’s your Best Buy alongside your Costco. The goal of global economies is scale, big numbers, national – even international – audiences. Everyone wants to be the Super Bowl.

But what of the joy of regional customs? Local traditions? The food you can only get here, the music you can only hear there. As the internet shrinks our distance, it also fades our individuality.

When I was a kid in Philadelphia, they had a parade every New Year’s Day, where string bands marched and people wore these crazy costumes, painted their faces, and competed in different categories. It was called the Mummers Parade, and in my youthful naivete, I thought every city did this. Later I realized it was unique to Philly, and in fact, many outsiders found it silly.

Well, as Paul McCartney sang, it isn’t silly at all. Local color shades who we are. Local activities give us a sense of identity. Local traditions bind us to our hometowns, and our shared memories with neighbors.

So we can ask “Did you go to Opening Day?” around here and people know what we mean. There’s something precious about that. In an age of everyone buying from Amazon and eating at McDonald’s, we should fiercely protect what makes us unique.

So yeah, wearing a “Trammell” jersey or telling your friends, “I’ll meet you at Mario’s before the game for the lobster buffet” may make no sense to outsiders. Good. It’s not supposed to.

Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates on his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow @mitchalbom on x.com.

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Detroit, MI

Justin Verlander placed on injured list for Tigers with hip issue

Published

1 day ago

April 4, 2026

Press Room

Justin Verlander placed on injured list for Tigers with hip issue

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander has been placed on the 15-day injured list with left hip inflammation.

Keider Montero will be called up and is expected to start Sunday, April 5, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Comerica Park.

It will be retroactive to April 1, so the earliest Verlander will be eligible to return is April 16.

Verlander has already pitched once this season, although his first start was forgettable. He gave up five runs off six hits in 3⅔ innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He struggled with his command, throwing 80 pitches (53 for strikes) while recording one strikeout with two walks. Since then, he has worked on his mechanics.

“Head position,” he said Saturday. “Trying to be a little more deceptive and stay in line a little bit longer.”

The Diamondbacks hit Verlander hard, making contact with seven balls that featured an exit velocity over 100 mph.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Verlander said. “I hope it’s not like last year … months trying to find it. Hopefully I find it a little quicker than that. But yeah, you know, I think talking to analysts and those guys and the stuff is actually pretty good, so not too far away. I hope.”

Verlander, 43, signed a one-year deal with the Tigers this offseason, returning to the franchise he spent his first 13 seasons with. He made 29 starts in 2025 for the San Francisco Giants.

And he was expected to start Sunday night against the Cardinals in Comerica Park in front of a national audience on “Sunday Night Baseball” on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.

Montero was optioned to Triple-A by the Tigers on March 4, with the franchise planning on him as their No. 6 starter in the rotation.

“We’ve got to protect our rotation,” Hinch said when Montero was sent to Toledo. “For him, defining the role where we felt like he can help us the most was going to be, at some point, in our rotation. Whether that’s getting called up as a sixth starter, or god forbid anything happens, he’s equipped to handle that, and the only way to do that is get him going and building him as a starter.”

In 2025, Montero registered a 4.37 ERA with 31 walks and 72 strikeouts across 90⅔ innings in 20 games (12 starts) for the Tigers. He also logged a 5.91 ERA across 42⅔ innings in 10 games (eight starts) for Triple-A Toledo.

Montero has made one start for Toledo, throwing four scoreless innings against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on March 29. He struck out three with one walk.

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff

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