THERE IS A playoff atmosphere around Detroit as the Lions prepare to play the Dallas Cowboys at Ford Field on Thursday night.
It鈥檚 a mixture of excitement and doom surrounding the second consecutive weekday game for teams on the periphery of the NFL playoff picture when kickoff time arrives.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 worry about the other teams that are out there, the other teams that are in front of you or what it looks like in the NFC. Just can鈥檛,鈥 Lions coach Dan Campbell said. 鈥淎nd it doesn鈥檛 matter. And shoot you win out, you might not get in. You don鈥檛 know. Maybe it only takes 11 (wins) to get in. I don鈥檛 know. But I know this: we鈥檝e got to win this one.鈥
Must-win is the scenario for Dallas, too, even after three straight wins to get to 6-5-1. The Cowboys beat the Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day, following up wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and Las Vegas Raiders.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of good momentum, but it don鈥檛 mean nothing if we don鈥檛 go out and handle business,鈥 said defensive lineman Kenny Clark of the Cowboys鈥 second-half push. 鈥淲e gotta wash all that away, what we did. It鈥檚 week-to-week, and we got to just keep on proving ourselves, and getting ourselves out of the hole.鈥
Detroit (7-5) is in this predicament after losing three of its last five, including a key 31-24 home defeat to NFC North rival Green Bay on Thanksgiving Day. One factor working in the Lions鈥 favor is that they haven鈥檛 suffered back-to-back defeats since October 2022.
That status of top wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown may not be determined until game day. Brown suffered an ankle sprain during the first quarter against the Packers when an offensive lineman rolled up on his leg. Brown has a team-leading 75 receptions, 884 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
Considering the Cowboys鈥 explosive passing attack, Brown鈥檚 availability could be crucial. Pacers quarterback Jordan Love threw four touchdown passes against Detroit鈥檚 banged-up secondary. Making things worse for the Lions is that cornerback Terrion Arnold was placed on injured reserve and ballhawking safety Kerby Joseph (knee) remains sidelined.
鈥淲e need all three units to step up for us and play big,鈥 Campbell said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e hot right now, they鈥檙e playing really good football, they鈥檝e got a lot of confidence.鈥
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott is on a proverbial heater, throwing eight touchdown passes and averaging 314 passing yards during the team鈥檚 current three-game winning streak. The pick your poison combination of receivers CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens is presenting major headaches for defensive coordinators.
They combined for 13 receptions, 200 yards and a touchdown in Dallas鈥 31-28 Thanksgiving Day win over Kansas City. And no team is giving quarterbacks more time to throw than the Lions (2.99 seconds), according to Next Gen Stats. 鈥 Reuters
