Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia says he's had to live with the "mental torture" of being falsely accused of rape 22 years ago ... but insists, "I was innocent then and I'm innocent now."

The background ... Patricia and a college football teammate were accused of raping a 21-year-old woman in 1996 during a spring break trip to South Padre Island, off the coast of Texas.

He was indicted, but the case was eventually dismissed.

Patricia just addressed the media about the case -- and stated over and over again that he was NOT convicted of a crime.

"There were claims made about me that never happened," Patricia said.

He noted it was "unfair and upsetting" that someone would bring this case back up more than 20 years after it was dismissed.

Patricia says he did not volunteer information about the case to the Lions during the interview process for the head coaching job -- but has never lied about the case when asked about it.

Patricia's position is clear ... since he wasn't convicted of a crime, he felt no obligation to disclose that he was falsely accused of anything.

As far as his job status, "I'm 100% the head coach of the Detroit Lions."

Lions WR Marvin Jones just submitted an early entry for NFL tattoo of the year -- a DOPE neck/back tribal piece with an even doper story.

Turns out, Jones' great grandma was full Cherokee Native American ... so with the help of his Tongan teammate, Haloti Ngata, Marvin says he got hooked with one of the true OGs in the tribal game to pay tribute to his roots.

But there's a twist -- Marvin tells TMZ Sports he made sure to tie in something that reps his football background (can you figure it out?).

The craziest part -- the tattooer FREEHANDED IT ... and still finished the tat in just 2 sessions!!

Insane.

Matt Stafford's got a lot of haters after signing the biggest NFL contract EVER ... but one of Detroit's hottest rappers has his back!

Tee Grizzley's standin' up for his boy, Matt ... telling TMZ Sports the $135 million man is about to ball out for the Lions and prove he's worth every dollar.

Tee would know -- he says he's been chillin' with Stafford ... and the QB's coming into this season ready to take Detroit farther than the team's ever gone (so at least the 2nd round).

1:38 PM PT -- We spoke to Wilson's lawyer, Mark Schamel, who tells us, "There's video of the incident that shows Ms. Leach is attacked. Mr. Wilson is a witness, Ms. Leach is the victim and Ms. Jackson is the defendant."

"She's been charged criminally. Her civil claim is meritless and I think she will be convicted for this shortly."

Detroit Lions safety Tavon Wilson is being sued by his baby mama -- who claims the NFL player punched her in the face during a nightclub altercation in May 2016 and broke her nose. But Wilson claims the case is BS.

The woman behind the suit is Alanda Jackson -- who dated Wilson from 2011 to 2014. They have a 3-year-old child together.

Alanda claims she encountered Wilson at Bliss nightclub on May 14 -- where she got into a verbal altercation with Wilson's current girlfriend, Simone Leach.

While Alanda and Simone were arguing, Wilson allegedly grabbed Alanda, threw her to the ground and began punching her in the face.

Alanda claims the attack lasted several minutes before security broke it up.

In her suit, Alanda claims a female friend who was with her at the club was stabbed by a member of Tavon's entourage during the melee. Both women were hospitalized.

Alanda claims she suffered major injuries in the attack -- including a broken nose, a black eye and cuts on her back. She's suing for more than $2.5 MILLION.

The other alleged victim is also suing Tavon -- claiming the NFL player ordered his entourage to "f*ck 'em up" when the initial verbal altercation took place.

We contacted D.C. police who confirm a report was filed at the time of the incident -- but Alanda was the one arrested because Simone claimed she was the real victim.

Wilson is fighting both lawsuits -- he's asked the judge to throw them both out.

Detroit Lions legend Chris Spielman says he's sick and tired of people making excuses for Ezekiel Elliott -- claiming his shirt-pulling stunt was disgusting and wrong, period.

Golden Tate TOOK OVER Cabo San Lucas for his wedding this weekend -- renting out an entire hotel on the beach ... and swapping crazy diamond rings with his beautiful bride.

The Detroit Lions star traded "I Dos" with longtime girlfriend Elise Pollard in front of 250 guests who all made the trip south of the border.

They had a yacht party, hit golf balls into the ocean and blew it out with a music video style pool party. The Tates did it big!!!

And the jewelry wasn't bad either ... Golden put a 5 carat wedding band on Elise's finger to compliment the 6 carat cushion cut diamond engagement ring ... so says Chase Gregory Jewelers.

Golden's ring is dope too ... 140 black diamonds that were each set by hand -- along with 7 larger white diamonds.

They also traded wedding gifts ... she got a diamond tennis bracelet. He got a newly released exclusive 18k Rolex day-date President with a classic champagne color dial.

Golden says it was the best week of his life. Yeah, we get it.

Hump, hump ... HIKE!

Check out Detroit Lions longsnapper Jimmy Landes firing around the football -- underneath a camel -- in front of one of the most ancient buildings in the world!

It all went down in front of the Treasury building in Petra -- built by the Arab Nabateans back in 1st century A.D. It's located in modern day Jordan.

FUN FACT -- the outside of the building was also used as the place where the Holy Grail was kept in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

Matt Millen says all traces of his work in Detroit are "long gone" ... and he couldn't be more proud of how the Lions have bounced back into one of the best teams in the NFL.

Of course, Millen was the President and CEO of the Lions from 2001 to 2008 and posted a 31-84 record during his run with the team and took responsibility for the results.

Now that it's been 8 years since his ousting, Millen says there's ZERO hard feelings -- he's thrilled for the city of Detroit and incredibly impressed by QB Matt Stafford.

Detroit Lions tight end Eric Ebron found a pretty cool way to honor his grandfather -- custom cleats saluting his incredible military service.

Ebron's grandfather was U.S. Marine Corps SSGT Oling R. Jackson -- who served in 3 major wars ... WWII, Korea and Vietnam. Jackson passed away in 2003.

But Ebron wants to make sure his memory lives on -- so he hit up DeJesus Custom Footwear who whipped up a special pair of cleats for Eric to wear this weekend.

They're rivals on the field ... but Matt Stafford and Matt Ryan are on the same team when it comes to vacationing!

The Detroit Lions QB and the ATL Falcons QB just wrapped up a couples vacation with their smokin' hot wives in the Bahamas.

In fact, Matt Ryan's wife, Sarah, posted a pic of the 4-some with the caption, "Boats, hoes and bros."

Stafford's wife, Kelly, wrote, "Another epic trip in the books with our fav people. #doublebirds #imthekingoftheworld."

The couples are pretty tight -- and have even played in the same church basketball league together in Atlanta.

Detroit Lions running back Ameer Abdullah might be the best lil bro ever -- 'cause he just surprised his older sibling with one helluva birthday present ... A NEW CAR!

The 22-year-old -- who's still in his rookie contract (4 years, $4 mil) -- hooked up his brother, Kareem, with a black Chevy Camaro ... and recorded the gift-giving moment for all to see!

"I use to dream of times when I could do things like this for the family and there's no one more deserving than this guy right here," Abdullah said.

"This for all the times you believed in me when I wanted to quit on myself! We on now! Happy early birthday bro you deserve it!"

It's an awesome gesture, just one potential problem ... Ameer has 7 OTHER SIBLINGS!!

New Lions WR Marvin Jones says he's not fazed by comparisons to old Lions WR Calvin Johnson ... 'cause he knows his skills are gonna make him a star in Detroit.

We got Marvin out at LAX fresh off signing a five year $40 million contract with Detroit and had to ask ... is he headed up to Motown to be the new Megatron?

Obviously the Lions must think he's pretty good ... you don't just hand out that type of cash to scrubs.

Jones tells our guy he's going to be a huge success in his new home ... by doing the same things he was doing in his old home ... and NOT trying to be Calvin Johnson's replacement.

Matthew Stafford's wife says she has NO REASON to apologize after selling her tickets to tonight's "Monday Night Football" game ... saying she bought 'em herself and has a right to get her money back.

Kelly Stafford has been under fire on social media after posting 5 tickets to the Lions vs. Saints game on StubHub ... with critics pointing out that her Detroit Lions QB hubby has reportedly made close to $100 MILLION and she should've given the tickets away to fans.

But Kelly hit back on Instagram -- saying, "I bought those New Orleans tickets to take my family to the game, but found out at the beginning of this week my grandfather is very ill so I am going home to see him instead."

"I'm also sorry for being HUMAN and wanting to sell the tickets we purchased because we are not able to go."

"We do a lot for this community and I'm beyond tired of getting badgered for this ... get over yourselves."

Matt Stafford's wife is PISSED AGAIN ... claiming the refs "screwed" her husband's Detroit Lions out of another victory Thursday night -- and once again, she's venting on social media.

Kelly Stafford has a history of going public with her disdain for the officiating -- and this time, she was clearly upset with the controversial facemask penalty against the Lions that set up GB's game-winning Hail Mary TD on the last play of the game.

"At least my brother was here to see us get screwed per the usual," Kelly wrote ... adding, "#detroitvseverybody."

Earlier this season, Stafford's wife called the refs "incompetent" after the Lions lost to the Seahawks ... and last year, she criticized NFL officials for babying Aaron Rodgers.

Finally, someone is coming to the defense of Lions QB Matt Stafford ... his wife ... who claims her husband IS SMART, DAMMIT ... despite what some former coaches think.

After the bloodbath in Detroit this week, in which a bunch of coaches got fired after their 1-7 start, Kelly Stafford said, "Heard that one of the coaches, who got fired, came after matthew's intelligence. That is seriously comical."

"Come after the way he plays all you want, but the second you come after his intelligence is when you look far too desperate."

She then dropped that he scored a 38 on the Wonderlic test, an aptitude test NFL rookies take before the draft. 38 is a pretty good score.

BTW, great Wonderlic scores don't always equal great NFL success ... Blaine Gabbert reportedly scored a 42 ... and we all know how that situation's going.

Matt Stafford's wife opened fire on the NFL -- blasting the league for its "incompetent refs" ... hours after they blew a huge call that cost her husband's team a victory.

By now you know the refs screwed up that "batted ball" call at the end of the Lions vs. Seahawks game on Monday night. Even the league admitted they screwed it up.

Enter Kelly Stafford ... who decided to take her shot at the refs on Instagram -- posting a screenshot of a text message exchange with Matt, in which the Lions QB says the league may fine him over his cleats.

Kelly's response -- "Tell the league that they can fine u for your cleats if we can fine them for their incompetent refs."

BOOM!!!