ALLEN PARK — The Ford Field crowd roared like a 747 jet engine when the Detroit Lions took the field for their playoff thriller against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night. And while Jared Goff was greeted like no other, the decibels for Jameson Williams weren’t far behind.
Quite the way to be introduced in the starting lineup for the first time in his career.
But he wants more when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town on Sunday for a divisional-round game at Ford Field — and set the all-time NFL noise record.
“I expect it to be louder,” Williams said. “I saw we had the fourth-loudest decibel (reading). It’s really tied for third, but I was just trying to get it to be No. 1. All the other ones was like years, years ago. This was like the most recent one. I just wanna see how loud that is, you know?”
Ford Field hit an ear-splitting 133.6 decibels during pregame introductions before the 24-23 win against Los Angeles on Sunday night, which not only set a stadium record, but ranks fourth all time in NFL history. Arrowhead Stadium holds the record at 142.2 decibels for a game between the Chiefs and Bengals in 2014, followed by Lumen Field (137.6) and The Superdome (136.6).
Next up, your Ford Field.
And players say they’ve heard nothing like it
“I couldn’t even imagine something better,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “It was the best game I’ve ever been a part of as a player, atmosphere-wise. So my challenge to the fans is to be even better this week. I know they will be. I’m excited.”
The Lions have generated tremendous buzz with their remarkable run this season. They sold out Ford Field for the first time ever — yearlong attendance was at 100.5% capacity — while their games against Kansas City, Dallas and Green Bay (on Thanksgiving) all ranked among the top 35-watched programs on TV. Their wild-card game against Los Angeles did even bigger numbers, drawing an average of 31.9 milion viewers to NBC, making it the most-watched prime-time program — sports or otherwise — since last year’s Super Bowl.
Tickets to get through the doors of Ford Field were the most expensive ever for the wild-card round, and those lucky enough to get inside experienced one of the most raucous atmospheres in the history of the sport. Los Angeles clearly felt it too, committing multiple procedural penalties and wasting two timeouts early in the second half. That proved to be a difference in the game, as the Lions were able to seal the win with a pass to St. Brown at the 2-minute warning. L.A. had no recourse to stop the clock, and the stadium roared to 129.6 decibels as the clock struck 0:00.
“Talking to some of those Rams guys, they said it was the loudest thing they’ve ever heard,” Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield said this week. “So, we’ve got to be completely ready for that.”
Lions players say they feel the embrace of the city, and are hoping for more of the same when the Bucs come to town this weekend for a divisional-round game, and a trip to the NFC championship at stake.
If ticket sales are any indication — they’re not only the most expensive in the history of the divisional round, but cost more than all the other divisional games combined — Ford Field should be another sight to behold on Sunday.
“I think the city is giving us a boost though, like how excited everybody is in the city and how they making us feel,” Williams said. “They making us feel like, (expletive), we done already won a Super Bowl just from winning one game. So for them, everything we do is like, overboard to them. They take it to the max. So that’s just how they do it.”
