FOXBOROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS – DECEMBER 30: Trey Flowers #98 of the New England Patriots reacts during the third quarter of a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on December 30, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
The Detroit Lions looked awful on Thursday night in their preseason game against the New England Patriots. Finally, a bit of good news.
Preseason games lie. They mean nothing, until they don’t.
The Detroit Lions are looking to climb out of the NFC North basement and win their first playoff games Ince 1991. In Motown, there are ample skeptics about this group, with plenty of ire directed towards second-year head coach Matt Patricia. Well, falling behind 20-0 at home in your first preseason games against New England — without Tom Brady playing while your starters do — is a rough look.
However… good news. Defensive end Trey Flowers was activated off the Physically Unable to Perform list on Saturday morning. Flowers, who signed a massive five-year deal worth $90 million to begin free agency in March, has not practiced due to shoulder surgery. Now fully healed, Flowers will likely ease into camp as the Lions prepare for the next month to open the regular season on the road against Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals.
Detroit was active in the offseason, but no move was larger than Flowers. Flowers notched 21 sacks and won a pair of Super Bowls during his time with the Patriots. In free agency, the star decided to reunite with his old defensive coordinator in Patricia, who is looking for footing after an ugly maiden voyage with the Lions in 2018.
If Detroit is going to compete in a stacked division with the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, it’ll need Flowers at full tilt.