ALTO REED TO PERFORM NATIONAL ANTHEM AT LIONS’ THANKSGIVING GAME

Legendary sax man from Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band also set to headline Rock for Jobs concert at The Fillmore Detroit

DETROIT — The Detroit Lions announced today that current and founding member of Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band sax man Alto Reed will be performing the national anthem prior to the Lions’ 73rd Thanksgiving Day Classic November 22 vs. the Houston Texans.

Reed, who will be featured at Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit’s Rock for Jobs concert, is a native Detroiter and legendary sax man. His most recognizable performances include the soulful introduction to "Turn the Page" and the saxophone solo in "Old Time Rock and Roll". Reed has also performed with Foghat, Grand Funk Railroad, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, The Blues Brothers and The Ventures among others.

On Friday, November 23, Alto Reed’s AllStars with special guests rock n’ roll icon Mitch Ryder and former Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner, will perform at The Fillmore Detroit for the Rock for Jobs concert. Proceeds will support Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit programs that help unemployed Metro Detroiters earn jobs.

Tickets start at $10 and are available through Live Nation at www.livenation.com. Gold Main Floor Reserved premium seating is available. The Fillmore Detroit is located at 2115 Woodward Avenue, next to The Fox in the heart of the theatre district. Doors open at 6 PM with the concert beginning at 7 PM.

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DETROIT LIONS VS GREEN BAY PACKERS POST GAME WRAP UP

POSTGAME NOTES

Johnson’s 100-yard Effort
WR Calvin Johnson caught 5 passes for 143 yards and one touchdown in today’s game vs. Green Bay. With 143 receiving yards, Johnson registered his 27th career 100-yard receiving game. Johnson is second only to WR Herman Moore (34) for the most in team history. He also registered 100 yards for the sixth time this season.

Johnson now has three-consecutive 100-yard games for the third time in his career. In the past three games, he has registered 129 yards (at Jax 11/4), 207 yards (at Min 11/11) and 143 yards (vs. GB 11/18) and has averaged 159.6 yards per game.

Johnson Surpasses 1,000 Yards
On Johnson’s 53-yard reception in the first quarter, he surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the season. He now has reached 1,000 receiving yards for the fourth time in his career and for the third season in a row (2010-2012). Johnson also registered 1,000 receiving yards in 2008 (1,331), 2010 (1,120) and 2011 (1,681).

Through 10 games, he has accumulated 1,117 yards, averaging 111.7 yards per game. That average puts him on pace to record 1,787 yards in 16 games.

By reaching 1,000 yards this season, Johnson joins WR Herman Moore and WR Johnnie Morton as the only players in Lions history to reach 1,000 receiving yards in four seasons. Moore (1994-97) and Morton (1997-99, 2001) each did it four times during their careers with the Lions.

Johnson also joined Moore (1994-97) and Morton (1997-99) to register 1,000 receiving yards in three-straight seasons.

2,100 Career Points
K Jason Hanson connected on field goals of 30 and 27 yards, along two extra points, to score eight points against Green Bay. With eight points today, Hanson reached 2,100 career points and became the third player (K Morten Andersen and K Gary Anderson) in NFL history to score 2,100 career points. In 321 career games, Hanson has scored exactly 2,100 points.

Hanson also became the first player in NFL history to score 2,100 career points with one team.

He ranks third all-time in career scoring with 2,100 points and third all-time in career field goals with 483. He trails K Morten Andersen (2,544; 565) and Gary Anderson (2,434; 538) in both categories.

Career Passing Yards
QB Matthew Stafford threw for 266 yards vs. Green Bay and increased his career total to 10,828. Stafford moved into fifth place on the Lions all-time career passing list, surpassing QB Eric Hipple (10,711).

Stafford now trails QB Gary Danielson (11,885) for fourth place on the Lions all-time career passing list.

Rush End
DE Cliff Avril registered one sack (5-yard loss) and two tackles in the game. Avril now leads the team tis season with 5.5 sacks. Since the beginning of the 2011 season, Avril has 16.5 sacks, including a career high 11.0 in 2011.

Avril, who now has 35.5 career sacks, became the fifth Lions defensive player since 1982 to record 35 career sacks.

Lions Longevity
By starting in today’s game, T Jeff Backus and C Dominic Raiola both moved up on the Lions all-time career games played list.

Today’s game marks the 186th career game for T Jeff Backus. He passes Hall of Fame CB Dick LeBeau (185) for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time career games played list.

Raiola has now passed FB Cory Schlesinger (181) for sixth place on the Lions career games played list. To date, Raiola has played in 181 of a possible 185 games during his 12-year career. The only games he missed occurred during stretch of four games during the 2008 season.

Backus and Raiola each have now played more games in Lions history than any other offensive linemen. They have started 166 games together. which is the most by any offensive linemen teammates since the 1970 merger.

Hanson (321), Backus (186) and Raiola (182) now rank in the Top-6 on the franchise’s career games played list.

Mainstay At Left Tackle
By starting in today’s game, T Jeff Backus extended his franchise record of consecutive starts to 186 (187 including postseason). In 2011, he surpassed Lions Hall of Fame CB Dick LeBeau (171) for the most consecutive starts in team history.

Only Backus (active) and QB Peyton Manning (208) have started the first 180 games of their respective careers since 1970 (Courtesy Elias Sports Bureau).

Backus has started every game since he was drafted in 2001(first round). Backus currently holds the mark for the most consecutive starts among active (offensive and defensive) linemen, and he is currently third among all active players with 186 straight starts.

Fairley’s Big Day
Second-year DT Nick Fairley recorded 7 tackles and 2 sacks, both are career highs. It was Fairley’s first career multi-sack game, and it gives him 4.5 sacks on the season.

He also registered his first career forced fumble on the Packers opening drive in the third quarter to halt Green Bay’s drive at the Packers 17-yard line.

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KID ROCK TO ROCK LIONS TURKEY DAY HALFTIME SHOW!

DETROIT LIONS/UNITED WAY THANKSGIVING DAY HALFTIME SHOW TO FEATURE SON OF DETROIT KID ROCK


Detroit, MI – The Detroit Lions and United Way announced today that Michigan native, singer and songwriter, Kid Rock, will perform during halftime of the Lions’ 73rd Thanksgiving Day Classic November 22 vs. the Houston Texans.

This special halftime event will feature a live performance of Kid Rock’s new song, “Detroit, Michigan,” afeature track from his new album “Rebel Soul,” which will be released November 19. The song pays homage to several of Detroit’s music greats, including Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bob Seger and Eminem in addition to icons like Henry Ford and Rosa Parks.

The 2012 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show, highlighted by Kid Rock’s performance, will celebrate the 125th anniversary of United Way by thanking the millions of donors, advocates and volunteers who, over the years, have helped to advance the common good—creating opportunities for a better life for all by focusing on the key building blocks of education, income and health.

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LIONS' HEAD COACH SCHWARTZ ON CALVIN JOHNSON'S KNEE

The Detroit Lions coaches met today and reviewed film from Sunday’s 31-14 win over the Jaguars. The players are off Tuesday and will return to the practice field Wednesday.

The Detroit Lions conclude a four-of-five game stretch on the road this Sunday as they take on the Minnesota Vikings with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Mall of America Field. The Lions are coming off their second straight win with a 31-14 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 9, while the Vikings will look to avenge a 30-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

LIONS HEAD COACH JIM SCHWARTZ:
On WR Calvin Johnson’s knee: “He’s no worse for wear. He toughed it out in the game and made a big contribution in the game obviously.”

On how concerned he is about Johnson: “Yeah, I mean I think that it’s life in the NFL. There’s going to be a lot of (that). I mean we’re in the middle of an NFL season, everybody’s going to be dealing with something like that. But the things that he’s had, eventually will be put to bed. The only thing is you can’t anticipate what else is coming up. I think every player is going to have to deal with injuries over the course of the season. Calvin’s no different than any of these other guys.”

On if Johnson was on a pitch count: “No. We tried to get him out on some, you know, if he ran deep on one play we sort of pulled him out on another. Most of that last drive he wasn’t in there. We were just running the ball just about every down and then also late in the game took him off the hands team just to try to limit. It was three scores but 50 seconds left or something like that there’s no sense of exposing him to another hit if at all preventable.”

On how much confidence does the offensive game give them: “We’ve done some good things. Our third downs have been very good the last couple games. Our red zone has been very good. I think we’re 4-4 in the red zone. Those are important things for us on offense when we’re scoring touchdowns, when we’re keeping drives alive on third down, when we’re making long drives. We did it last week. We did it the week before that. It hasn’t just been single plays. It hasn’t been big plays. We’ve sort of adjusted to the ways teams have played us. We’ve been able to keep drives alive.

On if he starts looking at standings and playoff picture at this point in the season: “We’re middle of the season when it comes to stuff like that. I mean, we need to go out and concentrate on this next game. That’s the only thing that we can control right now. I think when you get late in the season, the final quarter of the season, maybe you start paying attention a little bit more. But even then the most important thing is the way you play. You can’t control anything else. You know, if you play well, then that’s all you can do. Work hard and come out with a win. This is another game for us, a NFC game. You know, it’s a very, very important game for us. It starts the second half of the year.”

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