Detroit — The Ford Field crowd reset the bar for the kind of home-field advantage it can be for the Detroit Lions this season. Even though the team fell short in its home opener, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime, the fans set a new record for noise, peaking at 127.5 decibels during the game.
“Appreciate our fans, they showed up and did their part and we didn’t finish it,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.
That easily topped the previous mark for a game at Ford Field, 121.1 decibels during a 2016 game against Washington. The world record continues to be held by Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, which measured in at 142.2 decibels during a game between the Chiefs and Patriots in 2014.
“That was a real, real, real home-field advantage for us today, and having them do that for the rest of the year will be a real, real home-field advantage,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “Got to give them something to root for though and continue to find ways to win games.”
And while the noise wasn’t nearly as disruptive as it was in 2011, when the crowd heavily contributed to the Chicago Bears committing nine false-start penalties, the Seahawks did jump early three times on Sunday, including twice in the red zone.
The 66,434 paid attendance figure was the fourth-largest home game in Ford Field’s history, behind that Monday night matchup with Chicago in 2011, the team’s 2017 Thanksgiving contest and last year’s Dec. 11 meeting with the Minnesota Vikings.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers