Detroit Lions vs. Atlanta Falcons first half open thread

Even thought it’s just preseason, there’s nothing like the start of Detroit Lions football. All the excitement and eagerness of the past seven months get its first sense of relief. Not everything that happens on Friday night will matter—in fact, much of it won’t. There’s always a concern that fans will overreact to one preseason game. Remember how “bad” Penei Sewell looked in the preseason?

Still, as football fans, the offseason is longer than the in-season, and that leaves us starving for our Detroit Lions around this time. We’ll finally get that release when the Lions kick off against the Atlanta Falcons at 6 p.m ET on Friday night.

As we will every week during the season, we’ll have these open threads that allow commenters to chat in the comment section during the entire game. Share you thoughts, observations and emotional reactions as the game progresses. At halftime, we’ll switch over to a new post—the “second half open thread.” So be on the lookout for that after the second quarter comes to an end.

In the meantime, welcome back, football. Let’s go Lions!