How will the NFL schedule-makers treat the Lions this year?"On Tuesday Color Rush Amani Oruwariye Jersey , the NFL announced that the 2019 regular season schedule will be released on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. While some of the excitement of the event has already been spoiled since we already know the Detroit Lions 2019 home and away opponents, the real excitement is seeing how many nationally televised games they’ll have this season.We already know the Lions will have the Thanksgiving Day Classic—in spite of efforts from the Eagles to take them on the road—but will the Lions break into the primetime audience after a disappointing 6-10 season? Today’s Question of the Day is:How many primetime games do you think the Lions will have on their initial schedule? My answer: It would be hard to justify more than one. The Lions weren’t only disappointing in 2019, but they were actually quite boring, too. Their offense was no longer the highlight machine it used to be, and the thrilling fourth-quarter comebacks were gone. The defense was even tougher to watch, especially in the first half of the season.That being said, there are reasons to believe Detroit could be more thrilling this year. A new offensive coordinator is in town, the Lions grabbed arguably the best defensive player in free agency, and with a top-10 pick coming in (pending a trade), the Lions could be one of the better bounce-back stories in 2019.However, if I were the NFL Cheap Amani Oruwariye Jersey , I’d hedge my bets. If the Lions turn out to be a surprise team in 2019, then you can flex them into primetime for “Sunday Night Football.” Otherwise, they’re a hard sell nationally right now.Your turn. Twenty years ago, Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders abruptly and shockingly retired from the Lions, with a statement faxed to his hometown newspaper in Wichita. Dave Birkett of the, who looks back at Sanders’ decision to walk away from the game after only 10 NFL seasons, makes it clear that the sense of surprise didn’t extend to some teammates and coaches, who saw it coming for months.Former Lions defensive end Robert Porcher explained to Birkett that Porcher first caught wind of a Sanders retirement from teammate Tracy Scroggins, while on the plane home from the 1998 regular-season finale, a loss to the Ravens in Baltimore.“He said, ‘Man Amani Oruwariye Jersey Womens , you need to go back there and talk to Barry,'” Porcher told Birkett. “And I was like, ‘Talk to Barry about what?’ And he said, ‘Man, he said he’s going to retire.’ And I was just like, I was like, ‘Hell, everybody wants to retire after tonight.'”Porcher then saw Sanders a few months later, and it became more clear that Sanders was serious.“He said, ‘I know there’s been some talks, man Amani Oruwariye Detroit Lions Jersey , people saying [I‘m going retire],'” Porcher told Birkett. “He said, ‘I don’t know what I want to do.’ I was like, ‘Barry, look, man. You’re my teammate. I understand. You don’t have to explain anything to me. I’m behind you just like everybody else. All the other guys are behind you. Whatever you decide, we’re behind you.’ And that was the last we talked about him possibly retiring. And then when we came to camp, all hell broke loose.”All hell broke loose because, even though folks connected to the team suspected it, no one had said anything about it to a media that was far less prevalent and pervasive than it now is. Even coach Bobby Ross, who often is blamed for the decision by Sanders to quit football Amani Oruwariye Jersey 2019 , saw it coming.“My actual reaction was, ‘Well, so be it,'” Ross told Birkett. “I mean because I was 50 percent expecting it, so it wasn’t like I was surprised. I think [executive V.P.] Chuck [Schmidt] probably felt surprised, but when you’re that close to camp you got to go ahead and go. You can’t mope about it and you can’t get down on it. You got to stay up. And so that was my reaction.”Birkett’s article has plenty of details regarding the decision, the aftermath, the effort to replace Sanders, and the amazing reality that the Lions made the playoffs in that first season without Sanders. To their credit, the Lions found a way to process the decision and turn the page.Aiding that effort was now-Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert, who at the time served as Detroit’s director of pro scouting. Colbert put together clips of some of Barry Sanders’ runs from 1998 Amani Oruwariye Jersey Womens , showing Sanders going out of bounds prematurely or hitting the deck with limited defensive contact — and contrasting those runs with plays from past years when he didn’t bail out early.So the Lions moved on, Sanders moved on, and even though there were persistent rumors and speculation over the next year few years that Sanders would come back, the vibe that emanates from Birkett’s story is clear: Once Sanders was done, he was completely and totally done.