The NFL Network will now air games on Thursday nights from Week 2 through Week 13.

“This will result in every team appearing in a Thursday football game and every team having a prime time appearance throughout the season,” Goodell said in a press conference at the Super Bowl Friday.

Every team, including the Lions, will play an evening game in 2012, either on Sunday, Monday or Thursday, according to the commissioner.

The Lions played in two regular season prime-time games last year: one on Monday night against the Bears and the second on Sunday night at the Saints.

The Lions also played in prime time in their playoff match-up with the Saints.

Schwartz is heading into the final year of the original four-year deal he signed in 2009.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said after the season he’d be working on extending Schwartz over the “next few weeks or so.”

Schwartz was asked how those negotiations where going on Thursday when talking to local media at the Super Bowl.

“The next time I talk about my contract will be never,” he said.

“That’s just something that I’m not going to really comment on, because it has nothing to do with where we are, the success of the team, it has nothing to do with what we do on a daily basis. For us to be successful, we need to sort of stick with what we’ve done. We can’t expect carryover to be from last year to this year, just like we talked a lot last year about winning the last four (games) and, ‘Hey, look, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that carries over.’ It’s all about the process and what we go through, and none of that stuff’s going to change.”

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson could be in line to top that mark as the team and Johnson work toward a long-term extension this offseason. Johnson’s rookie contract expires after next season.

Fitzgerald, speaking to local reporters on radio row at the Super Bowl, Thursday, said Johnson should be the highest paid receiver in the game.

“He should, he’s at the top of the game right now,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s an extremely, extremely impressive talent. To be around him, he’s a really down-to-earth guy.”

Fitzgerald was then asked if he had any advice for Johnson as he seeks a new deal.

“I’m trying to get some (advice) from him,” he said. “Ask him if he can give some to me.”

Johnson recorded 96 catches for 1,681 yards and 16 touchdowns – all career highs – becoming only the third player in league history with at least 95 catches, 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns in a season.

Johnson and Fitzgerald are two of only six players in league history with 45 touchdowns and 5,500 yards through his first five seasons.

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew joked with reporters after the season that he wasn’t going to suggest a pay cut for Johnson when they began negotiations on a dew deal.

Jeff Fisher was recently hired as the Rams’ new head coach.

Fisher spent one season on the Lions’ staff helping with the defense. Lions coach Jim Schwartz previously worked for the elder Fisher in Tennessee.

Hoyer, who will be a restricted free agent, has been impressive when he’s gotten the opportunity to play in the preseason and in spot duty behind Tom Brady.

He’s completed 60-percent of his passes in the preseason for 1,121 yards with five touchdowns, but more than his preseason success, Hoyer plays in a Patriots system that has a history of developing the position.

Brady had turned out to be pretty good in that system.  As was Chiefs starting quarterback Matt Cassell, who was a back-up with the Patriots before getting his shot to start.

“You look at Tom and he’s had great success, and for me, I have been fortunate enough to come in and learn behind him and we have great coaches, obviously,” Hoyer said. “It starts with coach (Bill) Belichick and (offensive coordinator) Bill O’Brien.

“When you are coaching someone like Tom Brady and then you’re coaching someone like me, you kind of coach on two different levels. He’s done a great job of coming down to where I was when I first got here and I wouldn’t be where I am without coach O’Brien.”

Hoyer has been the primary backup for Brady since signing with the Patriots after going undrafted in 2009.

Packers backup Matt Flynn is another career back-up who’s been mentioned as a hot name in free agency this offseason.

Both Flynn and Hoyer could be the next in a line of back-ups that learned under great systems and great coaches before becoming starters. Matt Schaub (Texans), Kevin Kolb (Cardinals) and Cassell, or some others.

Former Lions coach Steve Mariucci, who’s now an analyst for the NFL Network, thinks the NFC North will be a two-team race between the Lions and the Packers over the next few seasons.

“I don’t see the Vikings being a factor for a while,” he said. “I don’t see the Bears really being a factor. I believe it’s a two-horse race over there with the Packers and the Lions.

“You have to build your team around winning your division. When you have a team like the Packers, that likes to spread you out with all of those weapons, you have to be able to match-up with the Packers. That means more cover guys. More corners. And I think that’s where (the Lions) will go in the draft – (offensive) tackle, corners and maybe another linebacker.”

Mariucci, who had Joey Harrington at quarterback when he coached the team, said the Lions have their most important piece in place to compete for a long time in quarterback Matthew Stafford.

“Matthew Stafford is exactly what that organization needs,” he said. “The players rally around him because he’s a tough guy. He’s a confident kid.

“He’s got the baseball hat on backwards and he doesn’t care about all the other stuff. He just wants to play football and he has a very, very bright future. They are surrounding him now with talent and a pretty darn good defense and they’ll be right in it.”

Mariucci likes some of the current pieces the Lions have in place, but insists that some holes have to be filled before they’re on the same playing field as the Packers.

“I think Ndamukong Suh is pretty darn good,” he said. “They added some linebackers and I like their safety (Louis) Delmas, he’s a pretty good player.  I like (Kyle) Vanden Bosch and (Cliff) Avril and Corey Williams isn’t bad.

“If they are going to need help, to me, their front seven isn’t the priority that needs help. I think it’s their secondary. They also have to decide what to do with (left tackle) Jeff Backus, he’s getting a little older. He’s been good over the years, but they have to secure a left tackle for the future and a couple corners.”

He’s a very different player than his father, Jackie Slater, who played offensive tackle for the Rams for 20 seasons.

The elder Slater played in Super Bowl XIV in 1979, which Matthew says he’s seen plenty of times on tape.

“The first time I might have been five or six and the last time might have been a couple years ago. We’ve watched it quite a few times,” Matthew said Sunday from Indianapolis, where he is getting reading to play in his first Super Bowl.

“I’ve (been) getting the play-by-play synopsis over and over ever since I was a youngster. It meant a lot to him. This opportunity means a lot to me and him, too.”

Matthew earned his first Pro Bowl this season as a special teams performer. The selection makes the Slater’s one of five active father-son families selected to at least one Pro Bowl apiece. Jackie made seven Pro Bowls during his career.

Matthew has leaned on his father’s Super Bowl experience to help him in his own experience this year.

“He told me just do everything I can to prepare myself for the game on Sunday so that I can live with no regrets,” Matthew said. “Realizing that this opportunity is not guaranteed to me in my career again, so just do everything I can to take advantage of the opportunity and maximize it, so at the end of the day, I have no regrets at all.”

The Rams lost that Super Bowl to the Steelers in 1979. Matthew said whenever they talk about it, Jackie has to remind his son how close he was with the Rams leading in the fourth quarter of that game.

Winning Sunday might give Jackie a small piece of the victory he never got to experience as a player and that would be alright by Matthew.

Suh will take Storm on a tour of the Nebraska weight-room facility that he funded with a $2.6 million gift before the Lions drafted him in 2010.

SportsCenter ran a snippet of the interview on Monday.

“I would never hurt somebody because why would I want somebody to hurt me,” Suh said when asked about players’ accusations that he’s a dirty player and tries to hurt people. “Taking someone’s livelihood away and their opportunity to fend for their family and grow, for someone to say that, it’s kind of outrageous.”

Storm then asked Suh about suggestions that he may need anger management classes.

“It’s funny to me,” Suh said. “Like I said, I don’t have issues. (I’m not) beating up people in bars. It just doesn’t make sense to me. I think people try to make their own opinion and I think it’s a storyline. It’s a great storyline.

“I understood this year that a lot of people seeing me as a dirty player is a good storyline to have and that’s what it is to me. It’s kind of comical to me to keep saying something and really don’t have any substance behind it.”

This award honors exemplary high school football coaches who display the integrity, achievement, and leadership demonstrated by the winningest coach in NFL history, Don Shula.  The coaches are active or retired high school football coaches and were nominated by NFL teams and players for their character and integrity, inspirational leadership, commitment to the community and on-field success.

This year’s finalists and the NFL teams and players who nominated them are:

Each finalist receives a $2,500 cash award and a $5,000 grant for their high school football programs. The national Shula Award winner will receive a $10,000 cash award and a $15,000 grant for his high school football program. The winner also will be invited to Super Bowl XLVI where he will be recognized at a press conference.

See Tom Leyden’s interview with Herrington at WXYZ.com!

Defensive backs coach Tim Walton and receivers coach Shawn Jefferson were the last to sign on the dotted line.

Walton interviewed with the Rams for their assistant defensive coordinator position last week, but ultimately decided to rejoin the Lions.

The Lions announced the signing of coordinators Gunther Cunningham (defense), Scott Linehan (offense) and Danny Crossman (special teams) earlier this month.

“I think we have a good group of coaches mixed with experience and younger guys, some former players, some guys that never played, but I like that dynamic and I like the consistency,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said after the season. “We were consistent from a preparation standpoint, from a game plan standpoint, from week-to-week.”

The Lions coaching staff has remained one of the most consistent since Schwartz took over in 2009.