Cade Cunningham walking into Ford Field as the Detroit Lions took on the Dallas Cowboys didn’t feel like a headline at first. It was a normal appearance from the Detroit Pistons guard, but once he appeared on the mic with reporters on camera, things changed. What initially seemed like a sense of unity between the Motor City teams quickly changed as he spoke on the broadcast.

“We going to the Super Bowl,” Cunningham said when being asked what he expected the Cowboys to do. “That’s how I feel.”

It must have come as a surprise to many Pistons fans, especially considering the city of Detroit’s sports identity: blue-collar, hard-nosed, physical toughness. Now, when fans expected unity, Cunningham’s response detonated across the city.

Cunningham, to his benefit, was born in Texas, and grew up as a Cowboys fan, and saw his home team take a huge 44-30 win against a Lions squad desperate to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time in more than three years. The Cowboys, who were armed with the league’s top ranked offense, rode their three-game streak to yet another win.

“It seemed like every time we got some momentum, they hit another explosive play,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said after the game. “They have a lot of speed, and they can make big plays.”