Long after the Detroit Lions had left a field more than 1,000 miles from their home, the crowd still chanted their name loud enough to be heard up the tunnel and through the cement hallways beneath Raymond James Stadium.
It was that blue in Tampa.
And Detroit heard ‘em. Again.
“I think we kind of thrive off of that,” head coach Dan Campbell said.
No kidding. The Lions are one of the NFL’s hottest teams, winning their last four games -- all by double digits -- to climb to the top of the league. They’re 13-3 in their last 16 games overall, a stretch that now includes four straight wins on the road. That’s the third-longest active streak in the NFL, trailing only Kansas City (six) and Jacksonville (five).
Lions fans have always traveled better than you’d think, but now that they’re winning in bunches, the fans are coming in bunches, too. There were audible echoes of “Let’s Go Lions!” on the TV broadcast during the season opener at Arrowhead Stadium, perhaps the most menacing road venue in the NFL. Two weeks later, there were so many Lions fans at Lambeau Field that the Packers issued a statement clarifying their position on ticket resales.
The Lions won both games. Then they flew to Tampa, where there might have been a 50/50 split between Lions and Bucs fans. They won that game too, making it four in a row on the road, matching the second-best streak in franchise history.
Not that it really feels like playing on the road when you’re surrounded by so many friends and family.
“They’re not really road games,” Campbell said. “That’s what it feels like anyway. We’ve got significant fan support on the road right now.”
How extraordinary is this kind of thing? Let’s put it this way: Campbell has spent 25 seasons in the NFL as a player and coach, including stints in a big market like New York and a national fanbase like Dallas, and he says he’s never seen anything quite like this.
“Not like this,” he said. “No, not like this. And look, Dallas travels well of course. But, not like this. I mean, you kind of feel like over a three-week period, or three road games there, there’s kind of a takeover here. It feels that way. This is just another game, you walk out, and it’s a sea of blue. And then by the time the third quarter hits, you can hear them because we get up, we’re making plays, and I said this last night, their offense is out there, and I swear they’re about to go to silent cadence at their own home because it’s loud. I’m like, I think I would tell our guys to go silent cadence if it was this loud. And man, that’s something else. I mean, seriously, this is pretty awesome.”
So awesome, even Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has noticed the phenomenon up the road in Ann Arbor.
“I know the Lions have been traveling really well,” Harbaugh told reporters this week. “I think they’ve been filling up stadiums. I’m hopeful they don’t fill up our stadium.”
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October 17, 2023 at 04:26AM
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‘They’re not really road games’: Dan Campbell has never seen fans travel like this - MLive.com
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