With football season about to kick back into gear, Scott Hanson is already thinking big - and the Detroit Lions are very much part of that picture.
During an appearance on the premiere of John Fanta’s new NBC Sports series, “Fanta in 60,” the NFL RedZone host was asked which team people are sleeping on this season. Hanson paused a bit, noting he wasn’t even sure the pick counted as a true sleeper, but he landed on the Lions and pointed to their “middle third” placement in Super Bowl odds.
“I think that Super Bowl window is still open, and you give Jahmyr Gibbs no -- or limited competition in the backfield and turn him loose for three downs. Jared Goff still playing, Amon-Ra (St.
Brown) an elite wide receiver, the defense has gotten little pieces to get better. We know Dan Campbell can motivate the troops.
Detroit Lions could be a sneaky team to make a run in the NFC.”
That’s not exactly a wild take. Detroit does have the look of a team with real staying power, especially with so much of the core locked in long term.
Gibbs, fresh off his new extension, now sits in the spotlight as the “bell cow” of the Lions’ run game. Around the league, he’s already being floated as an Offensive Player of the Year candidate, and some have even gone as far as saying he could chase MVP.
And while “Jared Goff is still playing” sounds funny when read straight, the point is obvious: Goff has been operating at a high level. He’s coming off three straight seasons with more than 4,500 passing yards and 30-plus touchdown passes, and he still has plenty of weapons.
St. Brown remains the top target, Sam LaPorta is there at tight end, and Jameson Williams has been turning heads all offseason with his highlight-reel catches.
There’s more working in Detroit’s favor, too. The roster is one of the youngest in the league, and the Lions should benefit from a fourth-place schedule.
Up front, they’ve reworked the offensive line, and the run defense showed well in the preseason, giving up just 55.33 rushing yards per game. In the final two games, they allowed only 69 rushing yards total.
Of course, all of that looks good on paper. The NFL has a way of flattening even the most promising teams once the real games start. But Hanson clearly isn’t shy about the kind of matchup he’d love to see in Super Bowl LXI.
After discussing his sleeper pick, Fanta asked Hanson to name the two teams he thinks will meet in the Super Bowl. Hanson immediately referenced the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX and how nobody truly saw that coming before last season began.
That’s why he stopped short of making a formal prediction. Instead, Hanson offered the pairing he “would like to see just as a football junkie, as a football fan.”
He started with the Buffalo Bills, then the Lions, and delivered the line that will sit well with plenty of fans in Detroit and Buffalo alike: “Two of the most starving fanbases in football, head-to-head, Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles. Bring that on.”
The Lions and Bills already produced one wild game last season. In Week 15 of 2024, Detroit lost 42-48 in a shootout that saw them come painfully close to pulling off an unforgettable comeback.
Goff went blow-for-blow with eventual MVP Josh Allen, finishing with five touchdown passes to Allen’s four total touchdowns. The defeat snapped an 11-game Lions winning streak and stood as Detroit’s second and final loss of the regular season.
A rematch is coming soon enough. The teams are set to meet in Week 2, though it won’t be on NFL RedZone. Instead, Lions-Bills will headline Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime as the Bills officially open their new Highmark Stadium on September 17.
In Other News...
Lions Add To Crowded O Line Picture With Another Intriguing Move
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Lions Already Have A New Reason To Feel Great About Blake Miller
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Brian Branch Could Give Lions Defense A Huge Early Lift
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Branchs recovery has reportedly been moving in the right direction, and there is already a sense he could be back at practice after only two weeks on PUP. If that timetable holds, Detroit could be talking about getting one of its most valuable defensive pieces back by Week 6 or Week 7, a boost that would matter even more given how much the unit leans on his range and flexibility compared with the situation around Kerby Joseph. [Read more 🡒]