Lions offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby got the VIP treatment touring the facilities of FC Barcelona during his offseason trip to Spain
Detroit Lions offensive lineman Tyrell Crosby is doing what many NFL players do in the dead time of their offseason. Crosby is decompressing from the long campaign by traveling to other parts of the world.
One of his stops is bound to make fúbtol fans jealous. Crosby was a special guest of FC Barcelona in Spain, one of the world’s most successful soccer franchises. Crosby got a guided tour of their impressive stadium, VIP treatment and a customized Barcelona jersey with his Lions No. 65.
“It’s such an honor to be hosted by FC Barcelona,” the wide-eyed Crosby says, clearly enthused by the experience. “This is unreal. Blown away by the size of this, how amazing this is.”
The Detroit Lions media department has released a behind-the-scenes video featuring coach Matt Patricia mic’d up during the Senior Bowl game.
Occasionally during the 2020 Senior Bowl, NFL Network would cut to clips of Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia being mic’d up on the sidelines and they even landed a very entertaining interview with Tom Pelissero.
Earlier this week, the Lions’ media department released a behind-the-scenes video of Lions’ coaches mic’d up during Senior Bowl practices and now they have released another extended behind-the-scenes video, this time featuring Patricia during the Senior Bowl game itself.
The video opens with quick clips of Patricia interacting with players and giving a pre-game speech in the locker room.
The first play highlighted was a memorable one. Michigan’s Josh Uche destroyed the South’s right tackle with a pass-rushing speed move and had a clean shot at the quarterback, but instead of making the sack, Uche simply touched him as he ran by. It’s worth noting that all week in practice it is stressed that you don’t hit the quarterback, but instead run by him as not to injure him — Uche just had a lapse in judgment, forgetting they were indeed in game-mode now.
When Uche got to the sidelines, Patricia calmly asked him if he was alright, to which Uche said, “I’ve gotta tackle him”. That got a chuckle out of Patricia, who simply said, “Yeah bro, we’re playing a game”, followed by another light chuckle.
Patricia tucked Uche’s shoulder pads back into his jersey and gave him more advice on how to approach the rest of the game, “That was a huge sack. The ball’s coming out on that deal. Listen to me, you’re a defensive player, let them worry about protecting the quarterback, you go get the quarterback.”
Cut to the next sequence and you can see Patricia in his element, talking to the defensive players about strategy and how to read their cues.
What fascinating about the interaction Patricia has with the sideline judge is not what they were actually talking about, but that mid-sentence, Patricia recognized where the play was heading and yelled to him to “watch out” on the sidelines. This all happened before the ball was even thrown, as Patricia knew the play, saw the breakdown in coverage, predicted that’s where the ball was going — and it did, for an 80-yard Darius Anderson (RB, TCU) touchdown.
Lots more interactions with players and more predictive play calls followed, eventually leading up to the Pelissero interview.
The video concludes with Patricia setting up a long field goal opportunity for kicker Tyler Bass, allowing him to give scouts who didn’t see him kick at Georgia Southern a chance to get a better look at him in live-action. This is an excellent example of Patricia doing right by his players and giving them a chance to shine on the big stage — and it’s also likely why he got the Gatorade bath at the end of the game.
You can watch the entire video (over 10-minutes in length) below:
For those unfamiliar with the series, it is led by Dustyn Blindert (Senior New Media Producer) and Eamonn Reynolds (Director of Football Communications), and it looks at Lions player’s lives off-the-field, giving fans a unique perspective on who the players are as individuals.
This episode opens with Wilson talking about what it was like growing up in a tough neighborhood and how he now reaches out to youth in the community, letting them know “their future is bigger than their environment, right now”.
The video then shifts to Wilson talking with youth about facing adversity head-on and not running from problems. He leans on his experiences of growing up in the projects without a mother (who died when he was 12 years old) or a father (who dies when he was only one year old) and that people are capable of overcoming adversity.
Wilson said he recognizes that the NFL provides him a platform to reach out and help others because that’s what he really wants to do. That line of thought transitions into the work he does to raise money for Lupus research as it has impacted his family.
Continuing with the family theme, Wilson then talks about his immediate family and how he enjoys spending time with them on his off days.
Wilson then spends some heartfelt time talking about his wife. Explaining how she is his biggest supporter, as well as the person who helped him break through barriers and overcome his fears.
You can watch the entire touching episode on Wilson below:
Prepare to laugh as the Detroit Lions media department released the latest installment of “Goin’ Nuts with T.J. Episode 5”.
The Detroit Lions media department released the latest installment of “Goin’ Nuts with T.J. Episode 5” and Lang is running solo in this episode as he visits the Plymouth Historical Museum.
The video opens with Lang about to make an entrance into the museum wearing an ugly holiday sweater — note the hilariously subtle description under Lang’s name during the intro.
Lang begins his tour by learning about the museum’s connection to the famous movie A Christmas Story, making clever jokes about himself — like being teased that he looked like Raggedy Ann doll — along the way. Lang also took his picture in a cut out of the pink bunny suit from the movie and nailed the expression of sadness and disappointment.
Lang then jumps off the tour to visit the Lincoln exhibit and has a run-in with Abraham Lincoln, but Lang’s “like 99-percent sure” it’s not the real Lincoln though.
You can watch the entire five-minute episode below:
When the Detroit Free Press asked several Lions players about their favorite football movie, the popular response was “Remember the Titans.” Of the six Lions who responded, half cited the 2000 classic starring Denzel Washington and Will Patton as coaches of T.C. Williams High School as they struggled to racially integrate the football team in 1971.
Austin Bryant, Darius Slay and T.J. Hockenson all cited the flick as their favorite football movie. And David Blough noted he loved it too despite his choice of “Friday Night Lights.”
It’s fitting the Lions players showed love for the movie this week. “Remember the Titans” is based on a true story from Alexandria, Virginia, a half-hour from where Detroit plays this week’s opponent, the Washington Redskins.
Prepare to laugh as the Detroit Lions media department released the latest installment of “Goin’ Nuts with T.J. Episode 4”.
The Detroit Lions media department released the latest installment of “Goin’ Nuts with T.J. Episode 4” and Lang welcomes in a special guest this week — Frank Ragnow.
This installment diverges from previous episodes that are drenched in humor, instead, taking a more serious approach to some things NFL players do on their off days during the season.
The video opens with Lang and Ragnow meeting up at the Glass Academy, to try their hand at blowing glass. Ragnow explains to Lang that he is a regular, is familiar with the process and will teach him how to do it.
Lang has some fun with some of the terminologies of glass blowing and eventually, wants to try his hand at making a creation. Ragnow — with a little assistance — takes Lang through the process but unfortunately, because it takes 14 hours for the glass to properly cool, we don’t get that final look at a finished product.
It’s always cool to get a behind the scenes look at the players you root for on Sunday and Lang’s series continues to give fans a look at different Lions’ player’s personalities.
You can watch the entire seven-minute episode below:
