Amon-ra St. Brown – Page 9

Lions TE Sam LaPorta ‘optimistic’ he’ll be ready to play Sunday vs. Rams

ALLEN PARK — Lions tight end Sam LaPorta said Thursday he is optimistic that he will be able to play in the wildcard game against the Rams on Sunday night.

The rookie didn’t warm up with the rest of the team during Thursday’s practice (which was open to the media) and was officially listed as having “no practice” on the injury report, but he got a little work in.

“I was taking the same blocking reps that we do in our individual drills, ran some routes with Jared (Goff),’’ LaPorta said.

LaPorta hyperextended his knee in the win over the Vikings on Sunday when his cleat got caught in the turf. He was carted from the sideline to the locker room, which is often not a good sign. He did not return to the game.

“It was scary when it first happened, I think everybody had seen a picture of it,’’ LaPorta said. “There was definitely a sigh of relief when I found out structurally everything was good.’’

Since Monday coach Dan Campbell has said there is a chance LaPorta will be able to play, but he won’t know for sure until Friday afternoon.

“I’m not out there getting as many reps as I had these past weeks. Certainly staying on top of the game-planning aspect, but still trying to recover my body, make it feel good and be ready for the game,” LaPorta said.

LaPorta said he’ll probably wear a knee brace as a precaution to make sure the hyperextension doesn’t happen again.

“I’m not sure how much it would inhibit me or practically keep it from happening again. It was a fluke thing,’’ LaPorta said.

In the Lions’ 12-5 season, LaPorta was tied with Amon-Ra St. Brown for most receiving touchdowns with 10 each.

“He’s been a beast. I know he broke some records … He shows it on the field every week, he’s reliable, he’s tough, he can do it all,’’ St. Brown said. “He’s definitely a big part of the offense and we hope he can be with us on Sunday.’’

LaPorta had the most receptions (86), receiving yards (889) and touchdowns (10) by a tight end in franchise history, He was the second rookie in NFL history to produce a season with 85-plus catches, 850-plus receiving yards and 10-plus touchdowns.

Injury update

Others who did not practice Thursday: QB Teddy Bridgewater (personal), CB Jerry Jacobs (thigh/knee) and WR/PR Kalif Raymond (knee). TE James Mitchell (hand) was limited.

UP NEXT: Wildcard playoff game: Rams (10-7) at Lions (12-5), 8 p.m. on Sunday at Ford Field. It’s the Sunday night game on NBC.

Controversial ending key to Lions 20-19 loss at the Cowboys

Two-point conversion to Decker negated over official’s questionable call

After a crazy finish, the Detroit Lions came up short, losing to the Cowboys, 20-19, at Dallas on Saturday night.

Down by 7 with 1:41 left, the Lions went 75 yards downfield with no timeouts and scored when Jared Goff connected with Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Instead of kicking the extra point for the tie, the aggressive Dan Campbell went for 2 points. In the first attempt, left tackle Taylor Decker caught the ball in the endzone, but was penalized for not reporting. Campbell was furious and was yelling at the officials. It was not a reviewable play.

Video shows Decker talking to the official before the play.

“It sucks, I don’t know if I had this feeling before when you feel like you won and you didn’t. With that being said, the next two plays we had a chance at it …” quarterback Jared Goff said.

“What I do know – and I don’t know if I’ll get fined for this – I do know that Decker reported. I do know that (Dan) Skipper did not and I know they say Skipper did. It’s unfortunate,’’ Goff added.

Decker said the same thing.

“I did exactly what the coach told me to do. I went to the ref and said ‘report.’ It was my understanding too that Dan brings up the possibility of those sorts of plays pre-game (to the officials),’’ Decker said.

Campbell, who doesn’t usually show his emotions after a loss, was visibly upset in the post-game press conference.

“I told the offense with 1:41 left we were going to go down and score and then we’re going to go for 2 and finish this game out. I told them that, that’s what we were doing,’’ Campbell said. “We were going for the win.’’

After the Decker play was negated, on the next try the Cowboys were penalized and then Goff could not connect with tight end James Mitchell.

So the Lions, the NFC North champs, fall to 11-5 and the Cowboys keep their home record perfect at 8-0.

“In the end we knew it was going to come down to the wire. I thought our defense played really well today minus one play that was in our hands, we were there to make a play and we didn’t. Other than that I thought we did some really really good things …’’ Campbell said.

Five reasons the Lions lost (other than the official’s apparent bad call):

1. Overall the defense played well but midway through the first, Derrick Barnes had quarterback Dak Prescott within reach for a safety, instead Prescott slipped through and connected with CeeDee Lamb for a 92-yard touchdown play. That put the Cowboys up 7-3. The defense had no answer for Lamb who had 227 receiving yards (including that 92-yarder) but they were tough against the run, holding the Cowboys to 61 rushing yards.

2. Quarterback Jared Goff didn’t have his best night in part because the offensive line also didn’t play at its best. He was pressured often, sacked once and threw two interceptions. He was at his best in the less-than-two minute drive that ended the game. He finished 19 of 34 for 271 yards and a touchdown pass. “We had plenty of opportunities, it never comes down to one play of course. We didn’t play our best on offense throughout most of the game and did towards the end,’’ Goff said. “The second half I thought we played a lot better. We had plenty of chances to score …’’

3. The run game amassed 125 yards, but again didn’t get consistent help from the offensive line. Jahmyr Gibbs had 43 yards on 15 carries while David Montgomer carried 14 times for 656 yards and a touchdown. That double threat will be integral to the Lions in the playoffs.

F4. Campbell is known for his aggressiveness and that did not change. In the second quarter on fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line, he went for the touchdown instead of the safe 3 points. The pass to Sam LaPorta for the TD was incomplete. In that same drive, Campbell called a fake punt that had Jalen Reeves-Maybin pass to Khalil Dorsey for 31 yards and the first down. The Lions were 2 of 3 on fourth downs.

5. In the big picture, the defense looked playoff worthy, but the offense (while it was able to come back at the very end and almost win it) has some work to do.

UP NEXT: Minnesota Vikings at Lions on either Saturday, Jan. 6 or Sunday, Jan. 7 at Ford Field. The schedule will be announced on Sunday.

Five reasons the Lions bounced back with a 42-17 win over the Broncos

DETROIT — After losing two of three, and coming off a loss at the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions were able to get back in gear with a 42-17 win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night at Ford Field.

“We just needed a win and we did that today. Look, we just cleaned up a couple things, focused on our job at hand, the details of it,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said “Honestly we didn’t start real hot early, we didn’t. We can’t do that, we can’t accept that – not with where we’re going. But we got out of it, the defense played well and found a rhythm. I thought (Jared) Goff played a really good game, a number of guys did.’’

With the win the Lions climb to 10-4 and can clinch a playoff spot with some help on Sunday. Two of their remaining three games are against the Vikings who lost on Saturday in overtime to the Bengals.

The Broncos had won six of seven entering Saturday’s game but were no match for the Lions who played one of their best games in several weeks.

Five reasons the Lions won:

1. Jared Goff set a career-high with five touchdown passes. He started the game passing on the first five snaps which seemed odd but in the long run it worked. The ice was broken with a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam LaPorta early in the second quarter. Goff was poised and never threw an interception. In fact, the Lions never turned the ball over which had been an issue. Goff was 24 of 34 for 278 yards and five TDs.

2. While the offense took a bit to get heated up, the defense ran out of the tunnel on fire. They held the Broncos to just 75 total net yards in the first half and just 1 of 6 on third-down attempts. “I just thought we were well prepared, we had a real good feel on what we were going to get, we knew what we had to take care of, we couldn’t let (Courtland) Sutton get going, we couldn’t let him launch,’’ Campbell said. Sutton was held to five catches for 71 yards.

3. In the loss at Chicago, LaPorta and Amon-Ra St Brown never were much of a factor. That all changed. When you’ve got offensive weapons like those two, you get them the ball. LaPorta had 5 catches for 56 yards and an amazing 3 touchdowns. St. Brown had seven catches for 112 yards and a touchdown.

4. Campbell gave credit to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for calling a good game. It was the same with offensive guru Ben Johnson. Nothing risky was needed since the Lions held a 21-0 lead at the half. They got key guys involved and made a few effective changes on defense.

5. Much of the game was about attitude. You didn’t expect this bunch to shrug their collective shoulders after losing two of the previous three games and they certainly did not. Campbell keeps them on track. “The ability for our team to win against somebody of (Sean Payton’s) stature, a Super Bowl winning coach who does it right. It’s good, it’s a good win because I know what he’s about,’’ Campbell said. “I’m happy for our guys, that we got the win here, we needed it. We got to 10, now we’ve got 3 to go.’’

UP NEXT: The Lions play at the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Dec. 24, then at Dallas on Dec. 30 and finish the regular season at home on Jan. 6 or 7.