The Detroit Lions open the new NFL season in a few days. The team from the NFC North is currently being carried by a wave of euphoria and if Brad Holmes has his way, then quite rightly so.
The general manager of the Lions said on Friday that his squad would not break under the pressure to succeed. “We’re not afraid of expectations,” Holmes told reporters in attendance. “The expectations have been created by what we have built and achieved to this point in terms of completing the season and our acquisition process.”
Detroit put in an almost unprecedented final sprint in the preseason. Quarterback Jared Goff’s team has won eight of their last ten NFL games and came close to making the playoffs. In the offseason, Holmes and Co. also increased the squad quality even further, so that a veritable hype broke out about the Lions.
“I never thought it would reach this level, but no matter how much positive news comes out of it, we will still maintain the same attitude that we are the hunters and we won’t be killed,” continued Holmes.
NFL: Lions dare NFC North titles
Detroit meets the reigning Super Bowl winners, the Kansas City Chiefs, at the start of the NFL. This will be the first yardstick for the Michigan men. In this match, the foundation for the first playoff entry since 2017 should be laid.
Brad Holmes wants to reach the postseason with his team directly this time by winning the NFC North. “[Mein Vertrauen, dass wir die Division gewinnen können]”It’s big,” assured the Lions GM on Friday. In his eyes, his organization deserved it anyway.
“I think we’ve been taking our medicine for the last few years, me and [Chefcoach] Dan [Campbell] talk about it all the time. We practiced the Senior Bowl, had to do hard knocks, we did all that. We’ve gone through a lot of darkness to get to this point,” said Holmes.