Notes: Lions adopt ‘dagger time’ rally cry for 2020

IT’S DAGGER TIME, BABY!

Not a bad battle cry, if you ask me. Quarterback Matthew Stafford invented the phrase “dagger time” as the team’s mantra this season, tight end T.J. Hockenson told media on Monday.

“It’s something we came up with in a team meeting. Everyone says finish but I think we wanted to change it up and you know, we’ve heard that throughout — all growing up is finish, finish, finish, but we kind of wanted to put our own little spin on it,” he said.

Detroitlions.com senior writer Tim Twentyman explains that it refers to finishing games and being better in high pressure situations. The 2019 was arguably characterized by inabilities to capitalize on fourth-quarter leads.

Hockenson said the team’s buying into it. You can watch that whole presser below, T.J.’s on at about the 25 minute mark.

“It’s a little spin that us as an offense and as a team, we’ve adapted,” he said.

And onto the rest of your notes:

• We mentioned this in our live training camp updates, but the Lions had a cool live training camp show. In case you missed it live, you can watch today’s in its entirety below:

You can also view official photos from Day 1 here.

• “Due to the loss of the preseason, head coach Matt Patricia may have to change up the way the Lions operate practice during training camp to make sure they’re ready for Week 1 vs. Chicago.” Twentyman explains why a cancelled preseason makes practice all that more important.
• The Lions are supporting charities with an online auction, featuring prizes like meet and greets and autographed swag.

• Erik Schlitt for Lions Wire ranks the Lions rookies in terms of their importance to this upcoming season.

• Some Jonah Jackson hype: