Notes: Lions president Rod Wood had ‘productive’ talks with NFL about officiating

Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood spoke to NFL representatives about officiating after Monday’s controversial finish with the Green Bay Packers. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Wood talked to “a variety of people at the league” and appreciated the talk.

“We’re going to continue to work with them to make sure officiating isn’t a problem going forward,” Wood told Rapoport. “Hopefully it’ll improve as the season goes on.”

That’s not exactly the strong statement that I’m sure many Lions fans are looking for, but the Lions haven’t been a team that notoriously puts the officials on blast.

Per Tom Pelissero, Wood called his discussions with the NFL representatives as “productive” but he did not go into any details as to what was discussed.

One NFL representative has already publicly admitted that the second hands-to-the-face penalty called on Lions defensive end Trey Flowers should not have been called.

• Posted without any additional comment:

• Congrats to former Lions running back Zach Zenner, who is signing with the Saints, joining his former teammate Dwayne Washington.

• Still angry about Monday? Want a phone background to express it? The Lions released these timely wallpapers on Wednesday:

• Pro Football Focus ranks the Detroit Lions offense as 11th-best in the league. A big reason for that high ranking? Matthew Stafford’s success in deep-ball passing and solid wide receiver play:

• Rookie edge defender Austin Bryant is eligible to return to practice after being placed on injured reserve six weeks ago. However, head coach Matt Patricia certainly sounded like that wasn’t going to happen this week.

• Pretty cool interview of Lions superfan Sweta Patel by the Detroit Lions. (We profiled her earlier this offseason, too):