The Detroit Lions open the 2026 season against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Week 1 is back. Football is back. And for those of us on the Lions beat, the season doesn’t start on Thursday night or whenever else the NFL decides to kick things off. It starts Sunday at 1 p.m. ET when Detroit hits the field against New Orleans.

Every year before that first game, I spend the entire week watching football movies to psych myself up. So here’s the quintessential list of football movies you need to get through before Sunday. Let’s break it down.

Remember the Titans

It’s the best football movie ever made. I don’t think anything could beat it, and I don’t even want to hear anyone’s arguments. It does not get better than this. It’s hilarious, it comes with a great message, and there are so many memorable lines. The cast is unbelievable. There are memes to this day about Ryan Gosling’s character being a liability at cornerback, even though he’d been all-city, all-conference, all of that. Petey Jones was just so much better. It’s constantly talked about when it comes to football movies, and for good reason.

Jerry Maguire

Look, it’s a romance movie, okay? But there was some really good football stuff in here. You get a behind-the-scenes look at the 1995 NFL Draft. You see old merch that’s cool. You see Drew Bledsoe show up. You learn about the legend of Frank Kush.

My favorite thing is Rod Tidwell, Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character. He talks about the stats he had the year before, and he’s clearly one of the best receivers in football. Yet they act like he’s some no-name practice squad guy who isn’t doing anything. The Cardinals set every Arizona receiving record in 1995, and they’re still like, “Yeah, I don’t know if we want to pay this guy.” Then you find out what the contract is, and it’s something like $11.2 million for three or four years. Today that’d be an $80 million deal. You can build out the whole league thing where you take Tidwell’s numbers and put them up against every other receiver in 1995, and it’s fun. I always have fun with that one.

Any Given Sunday

It’s really blown out of proportion. I think people in the late ’90s really thought this was what football was like. It’s definitely not what the league is now. But it’s one of those stories that, as a football fan, you hope to see play out. The veteran starting quarterback goes down, the backup goes down, and then the third-string guy comes in and becomes a star. That’s the Brock Purdy story. That’s what everyone wants to see. The “who is this guy, he came out of nowhere” story is something football fans just love. LL Cool J is in it, Bill Bellamy shows up and he’s good. Great characters all around.

The Replacements

If I’m doing a ranking, The Replacements might be my second favorite football movie of all time. Might even be one of my favorite sports movies, period. You’ve got the legendary Shane Falco played by Keanu Reeves. And can we just say this real quick? Reeves might be the best action movie star of all time. The Matrix movies, John Wick, Speed, Point Break. When are we just going to give it to him? We always anoint Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I think it’s Keanu Reeves.

You’ve also got Jon Favreau, Orlando Jones, Gene Hackman in all his Gene Hackman-ness. It’s a funny movie, but it’s also a good sports movie with good sports quotes. The quicksand speech, the chopstick scars, all that cool stuff. It’s so quotable.

Varsity Blues

Rest in peace James Van Der Beek and Paul Walker. Such a good movie. It reminds me of being in junior high and seeing it for the first time. Everyone in that movie was the biggest star in the world to me back then. It’s incredibly quotable. It’s football in Texas, so yes, it’s football-forward, but there’s a lot of other stuff doing some lifting in there too.

The Longest Yard (both of them)

You can’t go wrong with either version. The older crowd will tell you about the original Burt Reynolds Longest Yard, and it’s good. But for me, the 2005 Adam Sandler version is my Longest Yard. I wasn’t alive in 1974 when the original came out. I was in high school when the Sandler movie dropped. That’s the one for people my age. And the original doesn’t have Cheeseburger Eddie. I’ve got to go with the 2005 version.

Wildcats

This is the one I want to talk about a little more. Wildcats with Goldie Hawn. I love this movie and have loved it since I was a kid. It’s probably one of the first football movies I ever watched.

Here’s the thing. You always think about the Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson connection through White Men Can’t Jump and Money Train, but nobody ever includes Wildcats. It’s a trilogy. Not two movies. A trilogy. I would love to see another Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes movie. I don’t know if we ever will, but this movie’s fun. LL Cool J is in this one too, just like Any Given Sunday.

The rest of the list

Little Giants. Classic. I’m a big Devon Sawa fan. What can I say? He follows me on Twitter for some reason, and I’m glad he does.

Friday Night Lights. The show and the movie are both worth it, but you’ve only got a week, so at least get the movie in there. The ending is kind of a downer, and the stuff with Boobie Miles is tough. But it’s a fun way to remember what high school football was like.

Rudy. You’ve got to go with Rudy. I think it’s a fine movie, but it’s not the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me like it is to some other people.

Invincible. A good movie. If you’re an Eagles fan, it’s probably a great movie. For me, it’s just a fun watch.

If you’re psyched up for the Lions and can’t wait to watch the game this weekend, get some football movies in to carry you through the week. We’ll see you on Sunday.