As most of us Detroit Lions fans are aware of, their first preseason is tomorrow night at Ford Field against the Cleveland Browns. I will admit I had to be reminded that the game was taking place tomorrow, which helped me think of the question: Just how excited do football/Lions fans get for the first preseason?
For me, I don’t get to hyped up about it. I like the fact it is the first official look at the squad for this season, seeing all the new faces and draft picks that get to play. In addition to that, I like to see who the starters are for both sides of the ball. Plus, you get to watch and look for the weakness and strong points of the team. But most of all, it marks the beginning of a brand new and hopefully great football season.
On the other hand, it is just the first game and doesn’t mean much towards the regular season record wise. The starters don’t play for very long and then the backups of backups show up. It is not really that fun to watch them, however, once in a while someone will make a great play to get your attention. Other than that, my interest in the game is gone after the starters exit.
For the Lions themselves, I’m looking forward to seeing how this team responses to the success they had last season. Most of the players had not tasted success in the NFL before last year, so let’s hope they want to taste more of it. The Lions will also have interesting battles at running back and cornerback, which will be watched throughout the preseason. Or maybe not, depending how excited you get for the preseason games.