Lions vs. Saints: 7 Detroit Lions Under the Most Pressure on Wild Card Weekend

Here it is, folks. The moment we've been waiting for since the year before Matt Millen's hiring is finally upon us.

It's Wild Card Weekend, and the Detroit Lions are still playing football. Only 12 NFL teams are still playing, and the Lions are one of them.

I could go on with other metaphorical ways to say it, but it's nothing you don't already know: The Lions are in the playoffs. I think I'm just repeating it to make myself believe it. Hasn't really sunken in yet, you know?

But it is upon us, and even though the Lions won't be bringing the playoff show back to Ford Field this season, that's not likely to quell any of the excitement around Detroit about the long-suffering home fans.

Excitement is all well and good, but if you're at all like me, you're also feeling a fair amount of anxiety about this game. After all the positivity of this season, the last thing you want is to see it end in an embarrassing loss.

Incidentally, the Lions themselves are up against a considerable amount of pressure in this game, even though they're heavily favored to lose (the Saints opened as 10.5-point favorites to win at home). For the first time in a long time, it's January and they're playing for more than just pride.

In particular, these guys have the most to prove when the Lions take the playoff field for the first time this century.

Matthew Stafford

Drew Brees may be atop the all-time single-season passing list with his performance this season, but Matthew Stafford is fifth.

What's the difference? Brees is in the Pro Bowl, Stafford is not. Oh, and Stafford is also about 10 years Brees' junior.

This is a huge moment in Stafford's career. He's never really shied away from the spotlight, but he's never had one this bright on him in a hostile environment, either.

Statistically and in most other measures, Stafford already belongs among the elite quarterbacks in the NFL. Yet if you go by Pro Bowl voting, he's the sixth-best quarterback in the NFC this year.

This is Stafford's moment to show, on a stage bigger than Sunday night, Monday night or Thanksgiving, that he can go toe-to-toe with a true elite quarterback.

That doesn't mean he has to win (although that would help). But if he plays to the same level as Brees in this game, you can bet his name will stick in people's minds into next season.

Ndamukong Suh

As the storylines for this weekend's games get tossed around, analyzed, dumbed-down for ESPN, reanalyzed, distorted and finally shoved down our throats during the game broadcast, one factor will loom large: Ndamukong Suh's impact.

After all, the Lions' game against the Saints on Sunday night was the first game of Suh's two-game suspension. The story is going to be, "How much effect will Suh's presence have on the outcome?"

The Lions were thin at defensive tackle in that game, (Nick Fairley started playing dominant football, but reaggravated his foot injury), let's be honest here. Although there were a lot of things the Lions needed in that game, most of them had nothing at all to do with Suh.

Still, people are going to be talking about him as if he will be the silver bullet game-changer that allows the Lions to win this game.

That, for a guy in his second NFL season, is a lot of pressure.

Dominic Raiola and Jeff Backus

I don't care to think about how much we've talked about the Lions' playoff drought in the latter half of this season.

Well, all the talk aside, these guys have been through the whole sob story. They are the only Lions to go through the entire Matt Millen regime, remain with the team and not ever see a playoff game.

Jason Hanson stuck it out through the tough times, too, but he got to experience the relative glory days of the 1990s.

But after a decade of everything changing except the losses, these linemates are finally in the playoffs. And after waiting so long to get here, you can bet Raiola and Backus will be amped up to show they belong.

It also helps that a good part of their own fanbase is trying to run them out of town just as the team turns around, too. They have just as much to prove to their own fans as they do they rest of the football-loving public.

Titus Young

The last time Titus Young saw the New Orleans Saints, he mixed it up with one of them after the whistle, took a costly personal foul and subsequently got an earful from his entire sideline.

Since then, he has shown no signs of stepping out of line, and his impact as a receiver has only increased.

Young is going to be under a lot of pressure to ensure both of those trends continue. Lately, his impact on the passing game has been perhaps even greater than Nate Burleson's.

If the Lions are going to keep up with the Saints, Matthew Stafford is going to have to keep pace with Drew Brees, and a big part of that is getting his second-best receiver involved.

Eric Wright

There are two layers to this.

If the Lions are to have a chance against the Saints, Wright is going to be an instrumental part of ensuring Drew Brees remains somewhat contained.

If he doesn't, then two things will happen. One, the Lions will be eliminated from the playoffs, which is no good. But rather than look at this from a fan's perspective, let's look at it from Wright's perspective.

Wright is re-entering the free-agent frenzy this offseason unless the Lions work out a contract extension for him.

Either way, Wright might be thinking about this game as a team player trying to win now, but a month from now, he'll be thinking about how his performance on the postseason stage helped or hurt his prospects of earning a big long-term deal.

Wright is a good player, and if the Lions don't (or can't) re-sign him, someone else will, likely for a starting position.

But he has his long-term career to think about, and there isn't anything that will earn him more money this spring than helping shut down the NFL's most prolific passer in his most prolific season.

Calvin Johnson

The secret is out. Calvin Johnson is really, really good.

In his last three games, Calvin Johnson has amassed 550 yards and four touchdowns.

For reference, here is a partial list of players who have failed to surpass either 550 yards or four touchdowns for the entire season:

• Mario Manningham
• Sidney Rice
• Devin Aromashodu
• Devery Henderson
• Hines Ward
• Randall Cobb
• Andre Johnson

And so on.

The point here is that Johnson is not only probably the league's best receiver, he's also on an incredibly hot streak. The Lions are going to look to get him involved early and often.

Matthew Stafford is visibly comfortable just laying a ball up and letting Johnson make the adjustment and beat his defenders.

The Lions have moved forward from the days where Calvin Johnson was the Detroit Lions offense. But he is such a dominant force on the field that the offense will always go through him.

In other words,Calvin Johnson may well have the most impact on the direction of this football game, especially if it becomes the kind of shootout it certainly could be.