Notes: Quinn XCII performing during Week 17 at Ford Field

This weekend is the final home game of 2022, so the Lions and Ford Field are pulling out all the stops to make it a great fan experience. As we mentioned, the team is sporting throwback jerseys, but there will also be a special halftime show with homegrown talent: Quinn XCII (read: “Quinn 92”) will be entertaining the crowd between the halves:

Seems like a super fun guy! The team released a gag video showing the musician checking out the Ford Field facilities on social media. Perhaps he has a future in comedy? The short video actually has some cool behind the scenes type shots in the locker room and staff areas of Ford Field.

In his own words, Quinn XCII’s music is a melting pot blend of reggae and soul with hip-hop and electronic music. The artist has a new album “The People’s Champ” coming out in January, and a song from that project titled “Let Me Down” hit streaming and YouTube in December. Even a brief listen reveals it could come with a parental advisory sticker for explicit lyrics, so it will be interesting to see what kind of safe-for-radio edits are made for the Ford Field show.

Now, on to the rest of your weekend Notes:

• Yet another fantastically funny video posted this week: the Lions rookies competed to cook the best pasta dish in 60 minutes for a judge panel of Kelvin Sheppard, Scott Daly, and Dannie Rogers. Host Dan Churchill, an Australian author and chef, was on Dannie Rogers’ show Off the Record back in October.

• Defensive lineman Alim McNeill was this week’s featured guest on Twentyman in the Huddle. You can watch the entire episode on YouTube or listen to it as a podcast on Spotify. Host Tim Twentyman also posted a 10 Questions mailbag article on the team’s official website.

• Pretty neat data visualization page from FiveThirtyEight: The Best Receivers, According to ESPN Analytics It plots the ESPN Overall, Getting Open, Making the catch, and Yards after catch ratings, ordering players by their Overall rating. The interactive chart can be filtered by team or conference.

• In this week’s 1-on-1 interview, Fox 2’s Dan Miller spoke with star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on Thursday. You can watch a video clip on the Fox 2 website.

• Looks like a former Lions quarterback is going to start a game for an NFC West team this week:

• You want more Erik? Yes, you do. The latest episode of the Detroit Lions Breakdown podcast hosted by Joe Kania and our own Erik Schlitt, a preview of Lions-Bears this week, is up for your enjoyment.

• In case anyone was wondering, this was on Friday:

• The Detroit Lions Cheerleaders hosted their first clinic for aspiring young cheerleaders since 2019 at Ford Field and posted a recap video on the team’s website.

• Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow was a guest on this week’s episode of the Dungeon of Doom podcast hosted by MLive’s Ben Raven and Kyle Meinke. You can listen to it on Spotify.

• If you thought playoff odds were the only predictive odds being thrown around, you’d be wrong (hat tip to the Detroit News’ Justin Rogers):

• The 33rd Team’s Paul Domowitch thinks the Lions are one of six teams ready to make a big leap in 2023.