Amon-ra St. Brown – Page 13

Lions back at work with renewed urgency after building foundation last season

ALLEN PARK — The Lions returned this week to the team facility for offseason workouts meeting new teammates, introducing themselves to new staff and getting down to business.

Coming off a 9-8 season definitely carries a vibe better than a year ago when they had won just three games the previous season.

While conventional wisdom from NFL prognosticators seems to be that the Lions could be the team to beat in the NFC North, that thought does not carry over into the locker room.

Quarterback Jared Goff has heard the talk, but plainly said there are no favorites in April.

The Lions finished with an 8-2 record in their last 10 games and became media darlings of sorts, but they did not make the playoffs.

“I think the standards and expectations will continue to rise. I think the urgency in the building will continue to rise, I think it has already. All the way from the top down we realize that we’re ready to go…’’ Goff said on Tuesday.

This is Goff’s third preseason with the Lions and he said the offseason moves have been noticeably more aggressive.

“You can see the aggressiveness in them and it trickles into us. We see everything, a couple weeks the draft will come and there’ll be more of that there,’’ Goff said. “The aggressiveness of taking our shot and knowing that we have a team that can compete with anybody and we’re going to try to make some noise this year.’’

Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has been with the Lions two seasons and he thinks the experience of those years will help himself and his teammates transform this year.

“I think, us as a team, we have a lot of young guys that we’ve had since we were here that are hungry, who saw what we did two years ago only winning three games my rookie year to last year to what we can do this year,’’ St. Brown said. “I think being a part of that journey is going to help us throughout the year.’’

Left tackle Taylor Decker, entering his eighth season with the Lions, is singing the same song. He’s excited to be back, sees the changes that have been made but can’t take anything for granted. He does not think the team will have to guard against thinking they are too good.

“I think everybody’s past experiences will take care of that. Players know that have been here, staff that has been here, the fans now,’’ Decker said. “There’ve been some tough years, some really tough years. I have the best job in the world, it’s amazing but you want to win.’’

Decker has made just one trip to the playoffs in his tenure in Detroit and that was his rookie season. He’s excited about this coming season but is mindful of what can be reality in the NFL.

“It’s nice to come into the building with expectations. Like it’s an enjoyable thing to look forward to next year knowing that we laid a foundation the prior year and that’s something we did together as a group,’’ Decker said. “There’s excitement for what the future could hold, but ultimately – it’s a dead horse statement, like beating a dead horse. You have to come in and on your first day of OTAs you have to do your testing, your stretching, your soft tissue, your lifting, your running. That’s what’s important today. That’s the thing about this league: Are you going to come to work every single day? Because if you don’t come to work now, if you didn’t start working out till just now then you aren’t going to have the results. There’s definitely excitement and that’s a great thing, we’ve laid the foundation. But let’s do the work now.’’

(Coming up: The Lions have two picks in the first round of the NFL draft which begins on Thursday, April 27.)

Lions play complete game, defeat Jags, 40-14, for 4th win in 5 games

DETROIT — After defeating the Jaguars 40-14 on Sunday, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he thinks his team can compete with anybody.

“You got to do all the things right, to win, as we all know. It doesn’t matter who we play, it doesn’t matter what the record is. If you don’t play clean enough football, you turn the ball over, you don’t get takeaways, you get a ton of penalties, then no you’re not going to win,’’ Campbell said after the game. “Doesn’t matter who you play. But, when we do things right, I like our odds.”

Detroit’s defense set the tempo early when they forced a fumble and recovered it on Jacksonville’s second snap. The offense came in, went 38 yards downfield finishing with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Williams,

“It was kind of one of those games where early, we felt like we would hold up. We felt like we were going to be alright upfront,’’ Campbell said. “It was validated very early in that game. We felt like our guys were just going to be alright.”

It didn’t get better for the Jags’ offense which converted just 3 of 12 third downs. In comparison the Lions were 8 of 12 on third downs.

“I felt like this was a big win for us. I did. Cause I just feel like this is a game that can catapult us through December,’’ Campbell said. “It was big to win, it was big to come off a loss, and it was big to win that way against a team that’s a lot like us in trying to turn a corner, get everything turned back the other way.

Five of the many reasons the Lions won:

After a 23-6 halftime lead, the Lions did not let up. They’ve seen that movie before and it had an ugly ending. On Oct 30 they were up 27-17 at the half to the Dolphins and lost 31-27. These Lions are so much different than the Oct. 30 bunch. They got the ball to start the second half, D’Andre Swift ran in from 1 yard out to score a touchdown on an 61-yard drive and the Lions went up 30-6.

2. This team is as healthy as it’s been all season. Running back D’Andre Swift showed signs in practice last week that he was back to his old self. Indeed he had 111 all-purpose yards including a rushing score. Wide receiver D.J. Chark, who has been injured much of the season, came up big with a 41-yard pass play that set up a touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown. It was one of two touchdown catches for St. Brown who had 11 catches for 114 yards. “We said going into this game, the bigs did a good job, but really we felt like our skill guys had to show up,’’ Campbell said. “That was the key, our receivers and our DBs. We knew it was that type of game and, boy, they did. All the way across the board our skill (players) played top-notch today.”

3. Jared Goff led the offense which scored on every possession except at the very end when a knee was taken with less than a minute left. “Those guys up front, first of all, like you said, they kind of set the tone, run game and pass game. I mean, especially for me in the pass game, it was clean pockets all day long, and guys were getting open, and we knew what kind of game it was going be with the coverages they play,’’ Goff said. “They get so much depth typically. It was going to be the underneath passing game, and when our shots were there, we were going to take them, but for the most part, it was just going to completions, completions, and that’s what we did.” Campbell said Goff played as good as he could play. Goff completed 31 of 41 passes for 340 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was his fourth straight game without an interception.

4. Detroit’s defense, which was just awful to start the season, has turned the corner with the young guys getting invaluable experience each week. The Jaguars’ offense was held to 14 points (one touchdown). Since Oct. 16 Jacksonville has scored at least 17 points per game. In only one game all season did they manage less than 14 points. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was 17 of 31 for 179 yards and one touchdown. “I think we’re just hitting our stride right now. From the start of that game, it felt like we were rolling and were on the same page, offense, defense,’’ rookie defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson said.

5. Timing is everything for the 5-7 Lions who still have a shot at the playoffs. “Nothing has changed (since the Thanksgiving loss). It’s the same group of guys that we have talked about. And it’s the same when things didn’t look so good. They put in the same amount of work and they just have gone in and they have not lost faith. They are unbroken, they are unshaken, and they just go to work, man,’’ Campbell said. “It’s a group of guys that just go to work. They believe in the game plan and they have a lot of confidence right now. They trust the guy next to them and we’re clicking right now. We’re clicking at the right time.”

(Photo courtesy of Detroit Lions)

BONUS: Wide receiver Jameson Williams saw his first NFL action in limited play. That was the plan for the rookie who is coming off ACL surgery 10 months ago. “Today was just about getting his legs under him. Go through pre-game, be on the sideline, you got your pads on, run into a huddle, run out, line up, wrestle with someone one-on-one a little bit. It was really that, just to get him somewhat acclimated, very much like we did (CB) Jerry Jacobs in Dallas. That’s really what this was. He’s going to get a little bit more next week,’’ Campbell said.

(Up next: Vikings (10-2) at Lions, 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11)

Lions defense takes pressure off Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown

ALLEN PARK — In a perfect world the Lions offense and defense would both play solid football in the same game.

Failing to play complementary football is one reason the Lions are 2-6 heading into Sunday’s NFC North game at the Chicago Bears (3-6).

In the 15-9 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Detroit’s defense played lights out and the offense did just enough to get the win. In other games the offense has been on point and the defense missing in action.

Still when the Lions’ defense plays well it makes it easier for the offense to overcome mistakes.

“Honestly it’s like a breather. You make a mistake, the defense goes out, the Packers drove all the way down and then in the red zone they get a pick – boom – it gives us as an offense life,’’ wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “We go out there, we’re excited, ready, we don’t score. They drive it down again, get another pick.

“It’s like our defense is bomb we have to make plays for them. it gives us juice as an offense,if our defense plays like that every week we have a shot at every game,’’ St.Brown said.

Quarterback Jared Goff — who passed for 138 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the win — agreed with St. Brown.

“I’ve certainly got a lot of things to clean up, but when I don’t feel like I don’t have to play perfect, and I can make a mistake, and the defense can have my back as we do have theirs, that makes things a whole lot smoother, and a whole lot easier for us to overcome,’’ Goff said. “So, it’s big. It’s really big when they can cause turnovers like they were last week and be around the ball, sacks, negative plays for their offense, penalties, whatever it may be. It was really big.”

Of course, there is no magic solution to make the offense more consistent each week. The Lions rank seventh in the NFL in total offense gathering 377.3 yards per game.

“Each week I feel like we say the same thing, we’ve got to be better at this, that and the other. At the end of the day in this league you just want to win games,’’ St. Brown said.

Sunday’s game will add a different wrinkle for St. Brown whose older brother, Equanimeous St. Brown, is a Bears wide receiver.

The brothers talk most every day. The trash talk started Tuesday.

“I’m excited to play him. Whenever I play my brother it’s always super fun,’’ St. Brown said. “Not just football but for my family. They will all be there to watch us. He said they were going to beat us, he gave me a little score prediction, I told him we’re going to beat them. We’ll see at the end of the game.’’

Their parents, John and Miriam Brown, will be hard to miss at Soldier Field. Mom and Dad will each be wearing split jerseys – half Bears, half Lions.

(Next up: Lions (2-6) at Bears (3-6), 1 p.m. on Sunday.)