- Former Packers player Matt Brock claimed this week that Ndamukong Suh was set off on Thanksgiving because Green Bay players were repeatedly untying his shoes. WXYZ's Tom Leyden decided to watch the film and came to a pretty clear conclusion: "I did it. I just watched EVERY play Ndamukong Suh was on field against Packers. Nobody untied his shoes." Hopefully that ridiculous story can now be put to rest.
- Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson thinks the Lions will be one of the most talented teams they face all season, and he considers Cliff Avril to be "one of the best pass rushers in football."
- Nate Burleson joked this week that since the Lions and Raiders are playing on Sunday, the referees "might be packing a few more flags in their waistline." That sounds about right.
- On Wednesday, the NFL extended its TV deals with FOX, CBS and NBC for nine more years. The revenue generated from these deals totals $3 billion a year, meaning the NFL is getting quite the payday.
- As part of the extension of the TV deals, it will be possible in the future for games between two NFC teams to be shown on CBS and games between two AFC teams to end up on FOX. Currently, games between two NFC teams are exclusive to FOX and games between two AFC teams are exclusive to CBS. According to John Ourand, the change allows for games "going to a small percentage of the country" to switch channels if it results in a bigger audience.
As someone who can't stand most of FOX's announcers, I say the more Lions games on CBS the better. - There are several other changes happening in the future, including the night game on Thanksgiving being moved from NFL Network to NBC, NFL Network getting more Thursday night games and NBC potentially being able to flex games to Sunday nights earlier in the season.
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