Taylor Decker remembers. So does Amon-Ra St. Brown. For a while, the NFL wanted nothing to do with the Lions. Last year, the league didn't schedule Detroit for a single primetime game; the 12:30 slot on Thanksgiving was good enough.
Then the Lions played their way into the Sunday Night Football finale against the Packers and NBC had to send its production crew to Allen Park just days before the game to film player introductions: Taylor Decker, left tackle, Ohio State. America was ready to meet the Lions, who shook the country's hand by sending Aaron Rodgers Packing.
They'll return to the Lambeau Field spotlight on Thursday Night Football.
"We just relish those opportunities to be able to go play primetime games in awesome atmospheres, even if they’re hostile to us," Decker said this week. "I feel we kind of flourish in those environments."
Why?
"Because of having to claw this team out of a hole to even be able to play in those games," said Decker, the Lions' longest-tenured player. "I mean, when we did the season finale in Green Bay, they didn’t even have introductions for us. They had to come film them. We know how it is to not get those games, so when we do get ‘em we’re gonna love em."
The NFL was so impressed with the Lions in their takedown of Rodgers and the Packers, the final flourish of Detroit's 8-2 surge down the stretch, that it thrust them right back in the limelight in this season's kick-off against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. On NBC's pregame show that night, commissioner Roger Goodell said the Lions "earned this when they came out and beat Green Bay in Green Bay."
"That was really a statement game for them," said Goodell.
They made another statement in Kansas City, rallying to beat the defending champs. As defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said after the Lions' 21-20 win, "We're coming this season, dude." Here they are, back on the main stage.
"Since I’ve been here, I haven’t had too many primetime games, so to get them is nice," said St. Brown. "You know everyone’s watching. Gotta put on a show for everyone, gotta play our best brand of football. It’s just nice to know that it’s the only game that’s on, the only game that people can watch. And at Lambeau, division rival, it’s going to be exciting."
One of the only players in Detroit with significant primetime experience is Jared Goff, thanks to his tenure with the Los Angeles Rams. Goff has played in 21 games that kicked off at 7 p.m. or later, per Pro Football Reference. He's hardly fazed by the extra attention, though he does enjoy it.
"It’s cool to be the only guy on TV and to know that you’re able to showcase your talents, your team and who you guys are for the whole league," said Goff.
The Lions haven't hosted a primetime game since Week 3 of 2018, when they beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots in their third game under Matt Patricia. That will soon change if they keep winning big ones on the road, not that they're complaining. Goff says the Lions have embraced "the us-versus-everybody mentality."
"Going in there with our backs against the wall and trying to come out with a W," he said.
They're 2-for-their-last-2, in two of the loudest environments in the NFL. It won't be easy to make it 3-for-3, and the Lions wouldn't have it any other way.
"If I’m (the Packers) and I was still on the team last year," said St. Brown, "I’m excited to play us again, and on primetime like we did in the last game of the season. I know they’re going to come out ready and firing, so we gotta come out ready, too."
"Ultimately," said Decker, "it’s going to come down to can we go do it again?"