Lions notes: ‘Dancing with the Stars’ photo reveals Calvin Johnson’s mangled finger

• ESPN listed the strengths and weaknesses for every team in the NFL. Their selections for the Detroit Lions won’t be much of a surprise.

• Chris Lemieux joined the fellas over at Numb Bills Fans to preview Thursday’s preseason game and bond with them over sports fandom for bad teams:

• Our own Justin Simon, too, was podcasting this week. He joined Detroit Lions Radio in a two-part episode. Topics include the offensive line troubles and players on the roster bubble.

• This is real. This is happening:

For what it’s worth, Calvin Johnson is actually among the favorites to win the competition according to Bovada.LV.

• Matt Urben of SideLion Report explains why Dwayne Washington is the player to watch on Thursday night.

• ESPN broke down an unstoppable play for every NFL team — Insider required. The Lions’ play involves Golden Tate on a rub route, as seen here.

• Bleacher Report has a detailed story on Erik Kramer’s progress as he continues to recover from his suicide attempt.