How to watch Lions vs. Falcons: Kickoff time, TV channel, online streaming, radio, more

Year 2 of the Dan Campbell-era Detroit Lions officially kicks off on Friday night in front of a national audience. The Lions will host the Atlanta Falcons at Ford Field for each team’s first preseason game of the 2022 season.

While there is hype around all 32 teams this time of year, there’s definitely an added level of excitement around this year’s 2022 Lions, despite their 3-13-1 record last year. Plenty of factors play into why Detroit is getting some praise, both nationally and locally, but it starts with coach Dan Campbell. His charisma is infectious, and it’s clear has made a drastic change to the culture.

Beyond that, the Lions finished last year strong, added two top-12 draft picks this offseason, and have shown a tremendous amount of progress on offense compared to where they were at this point last season. These are legit reasons for optimism beyond the basic “this just feels different” mantra we seem to use at the start of any new regime change.

At this point, though, any meaningful progress remains theoretical. If they can’t put a better product on the field in game situations, nothing else matters. Friday night, we’ll get our first chance to see how much better this team really could be, and it will also help clarify where things stand for certain positional battles.

Here’s how you can watch Friday night’s game:

Date: Friday, August 12, 2022
Time: 6:00 p.m. ET
Location: Ford Field — Detroit, MI
Local TV: FOX 2 (full list of Lions preseason TV affiliates here)
National TV: NFL Network
Online streaming: NFL+, Detroit Lions mobile app (if local)
TV announcers: Brandon Gaudin, Devin Gardner, Dannie Rogers
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket (full list of radio affiliates here)
Radio announcers: Dan Miller, Lomas Brown, T.J. Lang