The Detroit Lions’ 2023 season was full of plenty unforgettable moments, but only four made the NFL’s top 100 plays.
The Detroit Lions ’ 2023 season will forever go down as one of the most memorable in the modern era of this franchise. Scattered throughout the record-breaking season are unforgettable moments. There’s Brian Branch’s pick-six that helped Detroit take down the World Champions in the season opener. How about Ifeatu Melifonwu’s NFC North-sealing interception against the Vikings or David Montgomery’s 75-yard touchdown run against the Chargers in a wild game? And we’ll never forget Derrick Barnes’ iconic interception that sent the Lions to the NFC Championship game.
However, the NFL wasn’t all that impressed with Detroit’s individual plays from the season. This week, the NFL’s YouTube page dropped the top 100 plays from the entire season , and the Lions were only on the good side of four of them: #99 and #83, #38, and #23.
Obviously, considering there are only 32 teams, any tally over three is better than average. However, considering the magical season the Lions had, it’s a bit surprising to see a few iconic moments left off the list.
And you’ll probably be surprised by some of their choices, too. For example, No. 99 is a Montgomery run you may have completely forgotten about: his 42-yard touchdown run against the Panthers.
Another (No. 83) is going to be much more fresh in your mind: Jameson Williams’ impressive end-around touchdown run that kicked off the scoring in the NFC Championship game against the 49ers .
I won’t spoil the rest for you, but, sadly, the Lions are on the bad end of a lot of plays highlighted. You can just watch the entire video here. (The NFL doesn’t allow me to embed the video below).
- The NFL dropped a list of all 321 draft prospects who have been invited to the NFL Combine this year , which also features a record-breaking amount of prospects from a single school: The University of Michigan.
New NFL Combine Record
The most invites to the Combine, ever.
It’s great to be 〽️#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/m1AG3cBHj0
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) February 13, 2024
- Justin Rogers of the Detroit News has a fantastic, comprehensive primer for the Lions offseason , though it is behind a paywall.
- A reminder: Amon-Ra St. Brown is ELITE:
The highest-graded WRs from the entire 2023 season pic.twitter.com/QBLJpaELkz
— PFF (@PFF) February 13, 2024
- Would Dan Campbell have handled the Super Bowl differently than 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan ? Freep.com’s Shaun Windsor explores (paywall)
- Interesting NFC North development. In passing during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Adam Schefter dropped that the Steelers were big fans of Justin Fields in the draft process . As a result, the betting markets went CRAZY:
The Steelers are now the favorites to be Justin Fields’ next team pic.twitter.com/wrPY4K0OWO
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) February 13, 2024
- Dave Birkett caught up with Brian Branch during Super Bowl week, and, unsurprisingly, Branch was disappointed he wasn’t there to play in the game . He also expressed frustration that he didn’t accomplish more in his rookie season.
- An extra thanks to the Lions’ PR interns this year, who were a tremendous help to beat writers like myself—setting up one-on-one interviews, and providing press conference transcripts and audio, among a laundry list of duties. They were also a big help during our Movember campaign. Thanks, Maria and Maggie!
Intern farewell lunch for @mariaellen09 and @MaggieEvers today. These two were absolute rock stars during a busy season and made a great team as vital extensions of our operation. Thanks for all your hard work pic.twitter.com/WcfilaBnxN
— Eamonn Reynolds (@Eamonn_Reynolds) February 13, 2024