Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons preseason Week 1 preview: Biggest storylines to watch

Believe it or not, were are only a day away from the debut of the 2022 Detroit Lions. On Friday, our home team will host the Atlanta Falcons in the preseason opener at Ford Field.

This has been one of the most highly anticipated Detroit Lions teams in recent member. While there is always a sense of optimism around this time of year, several things have made the city of Detroit particularly vulnerable to the Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid this year. The Lions finished last season strong, they drafted two players in the top 12 for the first time since the 1950s, they’ve got a charismatic coach that is damn near impossible to avoid falling in love with, and “Hard Knocks” has got everyone feeling pretty darn great about the culture.

But all of that feel goodery won’t matter much if the Lions can’t produce an entertaining product on the field, and Friday night will be their first real opportunity to do that in Year 2 of this regime.

Preseason games reveal two different things about a team: how their team may look in the regular season based on the brief play of the starters and how the bottom of the roster may shake out depending on the play of the reserves.

On this week’s First Byte podcast—our first preview podcast of the year—we tackle all of the important storylines facing the Detroit Lions this week. Can the offense look as good as they have in training camp, or is that the result of a shaky secondary? How will the new-and-improved pass rush look? Which rookies will emerge once the lights come on?

We discuss it all on this week’s First Byte. Check it out:

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