Detroit Lions – Page 47

Calvin Johnson to be inducted into Detroit Lions ring of honor on Monday

Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson will be inducted into the Pride of the Lions ring of honor at halftime during Monday night’s Detroit Lions game against the Seahawks at Ford Field.
Coach Dan Campbell, who was Johnson’s teammate for two seasons, has a behind-the-scenes perspective.

“I’ve said this I don’t know how many times, but I’ll continue to say, I think what’s unique about Calvin — I was fortunate to play with him, it wasn’t very long and he was a pup — when you have the ability that guy has, the things God gave him, and then he gives everything he’s got, he worked at his craft, he was an unselfish player, he was a great teammate,’’ Campbell said on Saturday.

“It’s no wonder he’s a Hall of Famer. Those guys, they’re kind of rare, very rare. I just think he was the total package as a player, as a teammate, as a person and it speaks volumes for the team, the organization to have him back in the fold, to be able to honor him because he deserves that, he’s earned that,’’ Campbell added. “He’s a helluva dude.”

Johnson, who played for nine seasons, holds numerous Lions pass receiving records including: career receptions – 731, receiving yards – 11,619, receiving touchdowns – 83, most receiving yards in a single game in regulation – 329. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and voted to the first team All-Pro three times.

He set the NFL record for most receiving yards in a season (1,964) on Dec. 22, 2012, while playing with broken fingers. In that loss to the Falcons, Johnson finished with 225 yards on 11 catches.

In the book, “Game of My Life Lions” (written by me), Johnson said that was definitely his most memorable game. He needed 182 yards to break Jerry Rice’s record, but there wasn’t a ton of pressure because one game remained.

His first catch that day was a 49-yard bomb from Matthew Stafford.

“Coming off the first reception, right off the bat early in the game, I went to the sideline, don’t know who I was talking to, my coach, he might have said we don’t (have to) worry today,’’ Johnson said in the book.

After the record-breaking catch, he found his father on the sidelines and presented him with the football.

Nicknamed ‘Megatron’ he also holds a number of NFL receiving records including most receiving yards in a single season – 1,964 yards (2012), fastest to 11,000 receiving yards (127 games), most consecutive games with at least 10 receptions (4), most 100-yard receiving games in a single season (11, tied with Michael Irvin), most seasons with 1,600 yards receiving – 2 (tied with 3 others).

Johnson retired in 2016 and has been frequently seen at Ford Field games for the past few seasons.. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

It’s fitting that Johson’s honor comes on Lions homecoming weekend. He’s expected to have 92 former Lions join him on the field for his induction at half-time. They include old-timers like Greg Landry and Eddie Murray; long-timers like Jason Hanson and Robert Porcher; and some of Johnson’s teammates like Golden Tate, Stephen Tulloch and Glover Quin.

Lions DE Marcus Davenport out for season; LB Derrick Barnes to miss ‘significant’ time

Campbell confident with depth on his roster

ALLEN PARK — Lions defensive end Marcus Davenport is done for the season after an elbow injury in the win at Arizona on Sunday.

Linebacker Derrick Barnes, who took a cut block to his right knee early in the game, will be out for a significant amount of time but there is no exact timeframe because testing is not complete. It’s unknown at this point if he will require surgery.

Not great news to lose two defensive starters, but coach Dan Campbell said on Monday the roster is built to handle this.

“It’s not our first rodeo, we’ve been through this. We got hit like this immediately in ‘21. I pretty much said coming out of that year, we would never have another year where we felt like this got on us,’’ Campbell said. “That’s why you have a 69-man roster because everyone of those guys is going to have to help you at one point of another.’’

The team knows it’s next man up.

“We don’t bat an eye. We acknowledge there are some good players that can be down but this is your opportunity now, next man step up and help us,’’ Campbell said. “There’s no looking back, nobody cares, nobody feels sorry for us, we just move forward.’’

Barnes has been playing lights-out during the first three games.

“It’s going to hurt to lose Barnes, Barnes is playing at a high level. But if it’s going to happen in any room the linebacker room gives you faith, all of those guys can play. We have a ton of faith in those guys,’’ Campbell said.

On Sunday they were already missing linebacker Alex Anzalone, who was sidelined with a concussion, and then lost Barnes early in the game.

Linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez started with Jack Campbell who was making the calls. Jalen Reeves-Maybin saw action as did Ben Niemann. Campbell said Niemann didn’t take any of those reps in practice but he stepped in and didn’t miss a beat.

Defensive end Josh Paschal, who played 18 defensive snaps on Sunday, will help fill the gap left by Davenport’s absence.

“Paschal, this is going to be big for him, he’s going to take a load over there now and he played an outstanding game. I thought he played really well yesterday,’’Campbell said. “He’s physical, continues to grow. We’re going to need him to step up and we have all the faith in the world he will.’’

Campbell had better news with the others who were injured Sunday. Defensive lineman Alim McNeill and tight end Sam LaPorta (ankle) are day to day. Brian Branch is in concussion protocol.

The Lions have an extra day of rest because they don’t play until Monday night. Then their bye week comes the first weekend of October which willt give them extra time to heal.

UP NEXT: Seattle Seahawks (3-0) at Detroit Lions (2-1) at 8:15 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30, at Ford Field.

Resilient Detroit Lions run down Cardinals in win; bottle up Kyler Murray

Five reasons for the bounce-back victory

Think of these Detroit LIons and the word “grit” immediately comes to mind. Hey, it’s a fact. However the resilience of the group, under coach Dan Campbell, carried them far last year and it continues early on this season.

On Sunday night, the Lions roared out of the gate and held on for a 20-13 win over the Arizona Cardinals on the road. Detroit was coming off a 20-16 loss at Ford Field to the Bucs last week.

“It’s good to get back in the win column. Our guys were locked and ready to go this week. I felt like we cleaned up a lot of things that needed cleaning up,’’ Campbell said. “It’s still not perfect but ultimately we knew, and our guys knew, that this was going to be one of those grinding, gritty, unglorious jobs that were going to need to be done on the O-line, D-line, receivers. And that’s exactly the game it was.’’

The goal was to establish the run early, along with bottling up Cardinals’ Kyler Murray who was coming off a win with a perfect quarterback rating.

Mission accomplished.

It was a different game than the previous week and that’s OK with Campbell because along with grit and resilience, this team can match up with any type of opponent.

“That’s what makes you feel pretty good. I feel we can play different types of games. We can do whatever we need to with special teams, defense and offense. We just have to find a way to win every week and they could be different every time,’’ Campbell said.

Five of the reasons the Lions won:

ONE: Detroit’s defense allowed the Cardinals to convert six first downs in the first drive which resulted in a touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Marvin Harrison Jr. After that it was tough sledding for QB Kyler Murray and his gang, grabbing just 11 first downs the rest of the game. They were just 1-of-9 on third-down attempts while the Lions were 6-of-12. While Murray was sacked just once (by Aidan Hutchinson) he was pressured throughout including three straight incompletions midway through the fourth quarter.

“Our coverage, I thought, for the most part, played pretty dang good. It was tight coverage and he had to make tight throws with tight coverage,’’ Campbell said. “… We knew they were going to get some, but we were able to do that and then I think a lot of it was offensively, we were able to possess the ball and put pressure on them. We were able to stay up two scores most of the game.’’

TWO: With two minutes left in the first half, the Lions appeared to catch a huge break when Goff had threw an apparent interception that was returned for a touchdown. However, the officials said the two-minute clock had gone off before the play. Campbell said he had heard the two-minute whistle at least a full second before the play. Four plays later from the Cardinals’ 21-yard line they scored on a hook-and-ladder play from Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown who passed it to Gibbs who ran into the endzone. That gave them a 20-7 lead just before the half. It was a huge turn-around.

THREE: Safe to say the Cardinals may be working on their run defense this week. David Montgomery (106 rushing) and Jahmyr Gibbs (83 rushing) gashed the Arizona defense early and often. Montgomery carried six times for 39 yards on the opening drive, finishing it off with a 1-yard touchdown run.

“I think our backs, they kind of feed off each other – Montgomery and Gibbs and that O-line. They were able to establish the ground game and the physical side of it,’’ Campbell said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to have 10-yard runs every time but you know what kind of game you’re about to walk into if youre the opponent – this is the type of day it’s going to be. That’s really what you want to establish.’’ Montgomery and Gibbs have each logged 70-plus scrimmage yards in each of the first three games which is a first in the NFL for a running back duo since 2006.

FOUR: Jared Goff was his usual steady self. Heck, he sealed the win on a keeper, sliding for the first down with 1:13 left. Goff got off to a good start with a 70-yard touchdown drive on the first possession. He didn’t throw an incompletion in the first half (12 of 12). It almost looked easy, but throughout the game yards were tough to come by. He did throw one interception, but overall his numbers were good completing 18 of 23 attempts for 198 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

FIVE: Dan Campbell had the team ready for its first road game of the season. Following a loss where they were 1 of 7 in the red zone, he had said they could fix the problem and they did with two trips to the red zone and two touchdowns, both in the first half. “It was just a great team performance and I’m proud of the guys,’’ Campbell said.

UP NEXT: Seattle Seahawks (3-0) at Lions (2-1) at 8:15 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 30 at Ford Field.