Notes: Lions spreading holiday cheer with Season of Sharing events

A bit of fun with kids from Detroit Lions Academy, F.A.R.M., and the Cub Club.

On Friday, the team’s official Twitter account posted a short video recap of two community events the team participated in earlier in December. Just like last year , the Lions partnered with Meijer for the “Presents from the Pride” and “Shop with a Lion” Season of Sharing events. Featured in the video were Melissa Conway (Meijer’s Director of Community Partnerships and Giving at Meijer), former 1980s Lions quarterback Eric Hipple , and current Lions linebacker and Detroit native Anthony Pittman .

This year’s Presents from the Pride event was on December 12 at Ford Field, and was similar in form to what was described by Meijer about last year’s event :

“Students from the Detroit Lions Academy enjoyed a holiday party at Ford Field that included lunch, a book fair, and a visit from Santa. Every student received presents from their wish list and Lions winter gear.“

A photo gallery for the event posted by the team on their official site showed and many former Lions like Scott Conover, Tony Semple, Luther Bradley, Jeff Chadwick, George Jamison, Jimmy Williams, Eddie Murray, and Tim Walton on hand to assist Roary and Santa in the festivities.

On the “Shop with a Lion” part of the video, we can see the Detroit Lions Cheerleaders plus Khalil Dorsey, Anthony Pittman, Scott Daly, and Charles Harris going through toy aisles at Meijer with kids from F.A.R.M. The team had posted a photo gallery for that event as well, which took place on December 5.

Adding to the holiday season cheer, the team also hosted a Cub Club family movie night at Ford Field on December 4th, where Roary’s Cub Club members could go down onto the field for activities and the indoor equivalent of a movie at the park. A photo gallery for this event is also up on the team’s official website.

Great to see everyone enjoying themselves at these events and thanks to the Lions and their staff for all the work that goes into it. Now, on to the rest of your weekend Notes:

• In case you missed it, our own Meko Scott and Morgan Cannon posted a Week 15 preview film study video on the Pride of Detroit YouTube channel:

Also earlier in the week, the pair put up analysis of what went wrong on offense against the Bears in Week 14 :

Be sure to subscribe to the Pride of Detroit YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on any of the fantastic video content that Meko and Morgan post each week.

• Reminder: vote for your Detroit Lions to make the 2024 Pro Bowl rosters. You can submit a ballot on the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games web site . The interface allows you to filter down by team and permits multiple players picked per position as long as they are qualified for inclusion. Once you submit a ballot, there is a button to vote again… and again… and again…

• You can also vote for Frank Ragnow to receive the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for his community work. Again, the NFL has a web site set up where you can cast your ballot and vote again once you have submitted it. Ragnow’s nomination video is on the NFL voting site as well as the Detroit Lions’ video repository , and is a great way to learn more about his work off the field and the Rags Remembered Foundation.

• The newest episode of the Detroit Lions Breakdown podcast with Joe Kania and Erik Schlitt is up. You can listen to audio of the entire 73-minute Week 15 preview episode in a web player on their site or at your favorite podcast service.

• Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields appears to have carved up the Lions in the middle of the field against zone coverages in Week 14. Reception Perception’s Derrik Klassen plotted the routes run by the Bears and success rates for Fields . Fields was solid against everything underneath but also good between the hashes a little deeper around where the usual Tampa 2 hole is:

• Pro Football Focus posted an article showing their top 50 players set to enter free agency in 2024 . None of them are from Detroit.

• Frank Ragnow and Dan Skipper eating cookies and milk with kids is always entertaining:

• Rookie linebacker Jack Campbell was the featured guest on this week’s Twentyman in the Huddle podcast episode . You can watch the entire 38-minute video on the team’s official YouTube channel.

• Some helpful reminders about today’s game from Ford Field: