ON THE OFFICIAL in-house practice script delivered to players and staff before Day 1 of 2023 Detroit Lions training camp, the big moment is described ever-so-cryptically as just "40 THEM THINGS." In 2021 when defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn brought this camp-opening bonding ritual with him from New Orleans he called it, simply, up-downs. Any Detroit fan old enough to remember the Lions' last playoff win (in 1991) probably knows a version of them from phys ed class as squat thrusts. As a star tight end at Glen Rose High School in Texas, often decked out in a T-shirt that said "No Excuses, Just Results," Detroit coach Dan Campbell called them whistle stops.
How the burpee turned the Detroit Lions into contenders
