Every one of the Lions’ 17 games this season will be played in the early-afternoon window. All but one of their contests will be played at 1 p.m. ET; the lone exception is the Thanksgiving Day battle between them and the Bills, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. ET.
MORE: Dennis Allen calls Drew Brees’ tweet about return “a comment made in jest”
Some coaches across the NFL may look at this as a slight. However, Lions coach Dan Campbell didn’t think of it that way at all. In fact, he believes it might be an advantage for the team.
“It’s awesome,” Campbell said during the team’s rookie minicamp on Saturday, per the Detroit Free Press.
MORE: Biggest winners, losers after NFL’s schedule release
Campbell’s point has merit. The Lions will have one of the most consistent schedules in the NFL thanks to their lack of prime-time games. They will have just one short week, and that’s ahead of the Thanksgiving Day game that they have held every year since 1945.
And even that short-week contest will be held early in the day. So, Lions players will be able to stay in a game-day rhythm all season. They won’t have to adjust it on a week-by-week basis to accommodate different start times. That could benefit them as they look to improve upon their 3-13-1 record from 2021.
MORE: The best of Dan Campbell’s quotes as coach of the Lions
The Lions’ schedule quirk is among the most notable across the NFL. One of the others is that the Steelers will never leave the Eastern time zone during the 2022 regular season. It will be interesting to see whether either of these teams can benefit from this unorthodox consistency.
