Mike Tirico explains Lions' viral 'Sunday Night Football' player introductions

NBC's Mike Tirico has offered information on the Detroit Lions' player introductions that went viral during the Week 18 "Sunday Night Football" game at the Green Bay Packers. 

"So most teams do those in August, and guys come in, it’s early in the year, and guys play it — mostly — straight up," Tirico explained during an appearance on Detroit sports radio station 97.1 The Ticket, per the Barrett Sports Media website. "But because the Lions were not ticketed for a Sunday night or Thursday night game, the Lions were the rare team where you shot the lineup intros the week of the game. That rarely happens for us. So the guys all had to do them after practice on Thursday, I think it was. So when you watch the season full of introductions, you get very creative. And when you are a team in a good mood, you get very creative."

The NFL flexed the matchup between the Lions and Packers to Sunday night, and Green Bay would've clinched a playoff berth with a victory. Instead, the Lions eliminated the Packers from postseason play via a 20-16 win. 

Before that result, though, Lions running back Jamaal Williams left some viewers scratching their heads when he introduced himself as "First Swagg Kazekage." According to Owen S. Good and Austen Goslin of Polygon, this is a reference to the Japanese anime show "Naruto."