Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell has a blunt message for the doubters

Penei Sewell was the first draft pick of the Brad Holmes/Dan Campbell regime in Detroit, and he has become a franchise cornerstone as well as one of the best offensive tackles in the league. He has taken on more of a vocal leadership role as time has gone one, often captured before games with a message to fire up his teammates.

After the Lions' Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills, with more significant injuries added to an already lengthy medical docket, the doubters have naturally come out.

The response out of the Lions' locker room this week, coaches and players, has been just as expected. Essentially, doubt us at your own risk. The fact remains this is a 12-2 team, with plenty of talent that's healthy and available to lead a deep playoff run.

Penei Sewell has a clear message for those who doubt the Lions

Sewell has experienced the lows of a 3-13-1 record during his rookie season, followed by a 1-6 start to his second season that fostered realistic speculation about head coach Dan Campbell's job security if things didn't at least show signs of getting better. Since then the Lions have one of the best records in the NFL, and they've won 12 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in franchise history. So it's fair to say the negative talk that has come out isn't going to phase Sewell, or anyone else who's been around since the beginning of the rebuild.

The doubters may not phase him, but Sewell has noticed them.

Via Kory Woods of MLive, Sewell offered a message for those who are down on the Lions amid all the injury adversity and coming off a tough loss to arguably the best team in the AFC.

"The real fans, they gonna stick down with whatever, man. That’s why I don’t really concern myself with the talk,” Sewell said. “Because the real ones know we’re gonna find a way at the end of the day. And if you want to keep questioning, then go ahead and just hop off. You’ll see what happens.”

Sewell wants those who doubt the Lions to "hop off", as in "hop off the bandwagon", and "you'll see what happens." His teammates would surely all say something similar.