Notes: Taylor Decker doesn’t let Lions hype pull focus from his job

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the Detroit Lions are one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now.

Last season’s success caught the attention of football analysts and fans alike. Season tickets sold out for the first time in 21 years at Ford Field.

Yessir. But with that comes a lot of pressure. For a team that, let’s face it, typically enters a season with low expectations, it’s a bit of a new ballgame. I mean, Governor Gretchen Whitmer was walking around practice Wednesday. Asked if the extra attention is affecting him in any way, left tackle Taylor Decker responded exactly how you think a veteran might.

“If I let the outside noise or people coming to practice affect how I approach my job, then I shouldn’t have this job,” he said. “It’s great, it’s cool, but that’s not going to affect my day-to-day of what I go out there and do.”

As a unit, it’s also no secret the Lions offensive line is ranked one of the best in the league. Pro Football Focus has them ranked fifth, Pro Football Network has them at third, and so on and so forth. Any list you find, you’re going to see the Lions unit near the top. That’s also something Decker doesn’t take into account when he gets to work.

“We can still be better. We don’t want to be stagnant, we don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, you know, people preseason have us ranked as a good offensive line,’ but it doesn’t matter if we’re not good. So I think that goes back to the professional mindset of none of that affects what we should be doing out there on the field.”

And onto the rest of your notes.

• Some highlights from Day 2 of the Lions-Giants joint practices.

• Great piece from MLive’s Kory Woods — he spoke with underdog wide receiver Dylan Drummond’s coach from Eastern Michigan, who says he’s not surprised at all Drummond’s doing well.

• Rodrigooooooo.

• Former lineman turned analyst Geoff Schwartz with some praise for Penei Sewell.

And here’s a further breakdown of the rep from Schwartz.

• “I decided to go back to the 2013 season and find the best guys at each position and former a starting lineup full of nothing but the best undrafted Lions players.” A fun one from A to Z Sports’ Mike Payton.

• I know/found zero context about this photo but I thought you had to see it. Now THAT is not just drinking the Kool-Aid, but swimming in it. [Editor’s Note: It appears it came from Lions reddit]