Let's stop our Thanksgiving Day losing streak Pre-game articles 11-28-2024, 12:30 Eastern

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Here's a paywall article from today's Detroit News:

'So many blessings': Zylstra perseveres through injury, right where he needs to be with Lions

Richard Silva
The Detroit News


Allen Park — Shane Zylstra wasn't prepared for the pain.

He had been hurt before — a dislocated knee against the Falcons abruptly ended his first season with the Detroit Lions — though this time was different. He couldn't definitively diagnose himself while lying on the field, but he was sure something was "pretty jacked up" as he limped out of an August practice last year.

Imaging confirmed Zylstra's fears. His right MCL was completely torn, an injury that cost him the entire 2023 season and paused any momentum he may have had remaining from his three-touchdown performance versus the Panthers eight months prior.


Surgery to repair Zylstra's knee was soon completed, and the recovery rocked him. For weeks, he couldn't walk without assistance, and simple tasks often taken for granted, like showering — he was terrified of slipping and re-injuring himself — became a chore. His wife, Gabriel, had to help him accomplish basic tasks.


"It’s brutal right away, that first week or two," Zylstra said. "It is a pain like I’ve never experienced."

But now healthy again, and back on the active roster, Zylstra wouldn't change a thing.


'No stars'

Zylstra was a multi-sport athlete at New London-Spicer High School in Minnesota, starring as a football and basketball player while also running track. The latter is the one sport Zylstra's older brother, Brandon, is confident saying he's better at.


But the other two? Those belong to little bro.

“You could just tell he was so much different than every other athlete out there," said Brandon, who spent five seasons in the NFL and finished his career as a member of the Lions in 2022. "... To me, he always just looked like the best athlete on the court or on the field. ... I’m sure I’m a little bit biased, but he always just looked way more impressive than everybody."


Despite rave reviews from Brandon, who is four years older, Shane struggled to garner attention from big-time colleges during the recruiting process. Not only was he unranked coming out of New London-Spicer, but he never even had a 247Sports profile page.

"No stars," Shane said. "Nothing like that."


The most interest in Zylstra — aside from a few verbal walk-on offers — came from Division II programs in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, a group of 15 teams all located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota or South Dakota. He opted to go with in-state powerhouse Minnesota State University (Mankato), which made it to the NCAA Division II playoffs in four of Zylstra's five seasons.


Zylstra smashed every relevant receiving record at Mankato, finishing his career with 227 catches for 4,297 yards and 64 touchdowns. Adam Thielen previously had the most catches (192) before Zylstra passed him. Zylstra, Thielen and offensive lineman Chris Reed, currently a free agent, are the only Mankato alumni in the NFL.


"I think small school, small competition," Zylstra said as the reason for his light Division I interest. "To be honest, I don’t know the stats that I had in high school. I know they were decent. ... I think it’s just a lack of awareness for those smaller schools out in the country. I think that had a lot to do with it."


Trying to find a collegiate home as a small-town product — New London has a population of less than 1,300, according to the 2020 census — was challenging, but it was nowhere as difficult as what lay ahead.


Putting on his hard hat

Zylstra knew getting drafted was a long shot coming out of Mankato in 2020, but he was sure he'd put enough on tape to warrant buzz as an undrafted free agent. He believed he was on the precipice of his dreams, and the sacrifices made by those around him — Gabriel, who graduated a semester ahead of her high school sweetheart, had been working as a nurse and supporting the couple financially — would soon pay off.


Then he got nothing. Not a single team reached out. Reality set in. Zylstra put all his eggs in the NFL basket, but he had to come to terms with the fact he may never get a shot. He started working in residential construction, building and remodeling homes while Brandon, then with the Panthers, tried to keep him motivated.


"I just remember ... in OTAs or training camp, I had been around people for a while and I remember texting him and I said, 'Bro, you belong in this league. There’s guys here that, no offense to them, but you’re so much more athletic and better,'" Brandon said. "... I was just like, ‘There’s no doubt in my mind that you and I both have the talent for this.'"


Zylstra waited a year for the next offseason to roll around. He couldn't be drafted this time, but he could still make himself an appealing prospect. His agent worked the phones, offering Zylstra's services to quarterbacks who needed targets to throw to at their pro days. That got Zylstra in front of NFL scouts at Michigan State (catching passes from Brian Lewerke) and North Dakota State (as a target for Trey Lance).


An idea floated to Zylstra from his agent during this: Becoming a tight end. He already had the height, at 6-foot-4, to play the position, and his time working construction beefed him up. Plus, he'd be more a of mismatch for defenses.


The 2021 NFL Draft then came and went. Zylstra's phone, for the second straight year, was dry in the days after. Once OTAs started, he set a deadline for himself: If no one reached out in a week, he'd accept an already-extended job offer from Stryker, a medical devices and equipment manufacturing company he had been interviewing with for the past few months.


Then, out of the blue, the Vikings called in May, "and essentially it was (to be) a camp body." Zylstra didn't care, and he still has "absolutely no idea" how or why they reached out to him so late in the process. He was grateful regardless, and he used his time in Minnesota to show other NFL teams he was capable.


"There was like a sense of belonging, being around some of the guys," Zylstra said. "Did I play the greatest? No. I didn’t get a ton of snaps in the preseason. But I knew that I could play in this league after being there for that short amount of time. It was just a matter of learning as much as I could."


Joining the turnaround

Zylstra had a few teams, including the Lions, interested in adding him to their practice squads after the Vikings waived him during final roster cuts. He was cautious about Detroit, however. He heard "horror stories" from former teammates about what went on in the building.


His agent convinced him it was a new era with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes.

"You heard ... just not great things," Zylstra said. "My agents had met some of the personnel and the coaches here, and they said, 'No, it’s completely different. The culture is really turned around.' Look at it now. From 2021 to now, it’s crazy how much it’s changed."


Now 15 months removed from tearing his MCL, Zylstra finds himself as tight end No. 3 on the active roster behind Sam LaPorta and Brock Wright. When LaPorta was out versus the Jaguars earlier this month, Zylstra stepped up with a 22-yard catch. He's also the emergency long snapper, should something happen to Hogan Hatten.

This is all after he started the season on the practice squad. He made himself, as Campbell put it, "hard to ignore" during practice.


“We felt like he’s a pretty good athlete, and every week he was giving our defense fits on the scout team," Campbell said of Zylstra's promotion. "And that’s what we were looking for through camp, through training camp. And I told him the week before we elevated him, I said, 'I see you, and you’re getting better and better and better.' ... And so we felt like it’s time to give him another opportunity, and he’s been good for us."


Through it all — being under-recruited, going undrafted, working construction, nearly taking a job in the medical field and, most of all, the injury — Zylstra wouldn't change a thing. He's right where he's supposed to be, contributing on a 10-1 team about to play the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving.


He's already won.


“For something like that to happen during a practice, it was devastating," said Zylstra, who assures he has "no ill will" towards the teammate who inadvertently injured him — Khalil Dorsey. "You try to put things into perspective, though, and I truly do think it was for the best. Nobody ever wants to get hurt, but I was able to rehab, I was able to sit back on the sidelines, I was able to be with my family, be around the team.


"There’s so many blessings that I can take away from it, so I try to take as much positive as I could from it.”

rsilva@detroitnews.com

@rich_silva18

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Another paywall article.

Lions will be missing several important starters vs. Bears; here's who can fill the void

Nolan Bianchi
The Detroit News


The optimism of offensive tackle Taylor Decker and cornerback Carlton Davis III now appears a bit overzealous.

Both players were officially ruled out of Thursday's Thanksgiving Day game against the Chicago Bears just days after they each gave his status a vote of confidence. Decker and Davis were two casualties of Detroit's 24-6 win over the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday; both suffered knee injuries that took them out of the victory.


Taylor Decker will miss the Thanksgiving game against the Bears, with Dan Skipper likely stepping into the starting role on the offensive line.


Lions head coach Dan Campbell has consistently said that he didn't feel great about Decker's or Davis' chances of appearing in Thursday's divisional game despite both of them saying in the locker room of Lucas Oil Stadium that they expect to play.

Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee) and running back David Montgomery (shoulder), who also sustained injuries in the win over the Colts, are officially listed as questionable.


Decker was rolled up on during a strip-sack of quarterback Jared Goff while Davis sustained a non-contact injury. Decker returned to the game after a visit to the medical tent but was eventually pulled with the game in hand. Davis, meanwhile, rode the stationary bike after his trip to the medical tent but did not return.


Who's filling in for Decker and Davis?

The Lions elevated offensive tackle Jamarco Jones from the practice squad on Wednesday, giving them a little bit of depth entering the game. But the most obvious solution to fill the void of Decker is Lions offensive tackle Dan Skipper.


Skipper took on left tackle duties against the Houston Texans in Week 10 while Decker missed due to a shoulder ailment. Campbell said after the game that with a little more time to prepare, he might've considered moving All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell to the left side, so it's possible he makes the switch for Thursday's game.


As for Davis' spot, the Lions will likely use some combination of Emmanuel Moseley, Kindle Vildor and Khalil Dorsey. Vildor started opposite Davis against the Colts, while rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold was out because of a groin injury. Vildor struggled at times — particularly in the first half — during his first start of the season and it's fair to wonder if the Lions try something else against a talented Bears receiving trio.


Against Indianapolis, Moseley was playing his first game since coming off injured reserve due to a pectoral injury, and the Lions clearly wanted to keep his workload light. Prior to suffering the injury, Moseley was competing with Amik Robertson for a job at the nickel (slot) cornerback position, which Robertson eventually won. Both players have experience on the outside, but Campbell seemed to indicate it would be Robertson moving to outside cornerback if they roll with the trio of Arnold, Moseley and Robertson.


"All things are on the table," Campbell said. "It’s not like Amik’s never played outside. He can go out there and not bat an eye and then you move (Moseley) inside which is great. So, we have all options on the table. We’re not afraid to play Dorsey with Vildor or whatever the case is. We’ve got options and we feel good about all of them.”


Other reinforcements

Amid a flurry of Wednesday transactions, the Lions also signed wide receiver Maurice Alexander and linebacker David Long to the active roster.


Alexander seems like the best candidate to handle the punt-return duties of Kalif Raymond, who was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day. He helped Detroit handle kick-return duties during the 2023 season; he returned six kickoffs for 146 yards (24.3 average).


Long signed with Detroit's practice squad earlier this month and made his debut against the Colts. Long played 13 defensive snaps (24%) and five on special teams (21%).


"We used Long more than we thought we might, and we just — man, as that game went on ... he had a grasp of the calls going into the game and we felt like it was kind of more his type of game," Campbell said. "... We threw David in there and, man, he showed up, he made some plays in space for us, and so that was good."

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

@nolanbianchi

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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/11/27/brian-branch-mouthpiece-helmet-lions-nfl/76590659007/

[froot loops]

Great article on Zylstra, the one thing the Lions have been real good at since Campbell and Holmes took over is using the practice squad to develop players. Roster limits make depth very hard to obtain, if you are going to have depth and sustain injuries you need to be able to have trusted players on the PS and develop them to the point where they hit the 53 man roster

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Paywall Free Press article.

Detroit Lions vs Chicago Bears: Scouting report, prediction for Thanksgiving game 2024

Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



Chicago Bears (4-7) at Detroit Lions (10-1)

The coaches: Lions-Dan Campbell (39-34-1 overall, 34-27-1 with Lions); Bears-Matt Eberflus (14-31 overall, 14-31 with Bears).

Last game: Lions beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-6; Bears lost to the Minnesota Vikings, 30-27.

Last meeting: Dec. 10, 2023: Bears won, 28-13.


Key matchups

Lions OT Dan Skipper vs. Bears DE Montez Sweat

The Lions will be without Taylor Decker for the second time in four weeks, and while Campbell said he prefers to move Penei Sewell to left tackle in Decker’s absence, that might be a tough ask this week with no practice.


Either way, Skipper should start at one of the tackle spots, and the Bears have a potential game-wrecker they’ll bounce around the defensive line in Sweat. A trade deadline acquisition last year, Sweat has 10½ sacks in 19 games with the Bears, including a team-high 4½ this season.


The Bears rank 12th in the league in sack percentage (8.67%), and if there’s an area the Lions haven’t been great on offense of late it’s protecting Jared Goff. It’s not just Skipper, but the Lions have to do a better job in pass protection to keep Chicago’s pass rush at bay.


Lions WR Jameson Williams vs. Bears CB Jaylon Johnson

Williams has played some of his best football in the three games since he returned from suspension. He had a couple big third-down conversions in a win over the Houston Texans three weeks ago, he followed that with a career-high 124 yards receiving against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and last week he tied a season-high with five catches against the Colts.


Williams has emerged as a bona fide No. 2 receiver and one of the best deep threats in the game, but he’ll face a tough matchup Thursday if the Bears shadow him with Johnson.

Johnson was a second-team All-Pro last season. His numbers haven’t been quite as good this year, but he’s allowed just one touchdown, according to Pro Football Reference, and he played a big hand in holding Justin Jefferson to two catches and 27 yards last week.


Scouting report

Lions run offense vs. Bears run defense

David Montgomery didn’t finish last week’s win over the Colts because of a shoulder injury, but he’s expected to return Thursday as part of the best running back tandem in the NFL. Montgomery ran for 142 yards on 22 carries in two games against the Bears last season and is motivated to have another big day against his old team.


Jahmyr Gibbs is the other half of the Lions’ backfield tandem. He’s closing in on the first 1,000-yard season of his career — he has 886 yards through 11 games — and is averaging 5.8 yards per carry. The Lions will be shorthanded up front without Decker, but they’ve topped 100 yards rushing every game this season and rank fourth in the league at 150.8 yards per game.


The Bears have allowed 151 yards rushing per game during their five-game losing streak and rank near the bottom of the league at 4.8 yards per attempt allowed. T.J. Edwards is a good sideline-to-sideline linebacker, but the Bears have missed injured starters Andrew Billings and Jaquan Brisker. Edge: Lions


Lions pass offense vs. Bears pass defense

Goff has been dynamite at Ford Field this year, completing 87.1% of his passes with nine touchdowns and no interceptions in the Lions’ past three home games. The Lions rank second in yards per pass (8.42) because of their strong play-action game, and face a Bears defense among the worst in the NFL in that stat (7.13 ypa).


Amon-Ra St. Brown is expected to play through the knee injury he suffered last week. His touchdown streak came to an end at eight straight games, but he has a matchup advantage against slot cornerback Kyler Gordon, who has allowed a 107.9 passer rating against this year, according to Pro Football Reference.


The Bears rely on their four-man line to generate most of their pressure, blitzing just 21.8% of the time (the Lions, for comparison, blitz on about a third of their defensive snaps). Johnson is one of the best cornerbacks in football, and Kevin Byard is a ball hawk at safety, but the Vikings torched the Bears for 344 yards passing last week. Edge: Lions


Bears run offense vs. Lions run defense

The Lions traded up at running back when they drafted Gibbs and moved on from D’Andre Swift in April 2023, and Swift will make his Ford Field return Thursday as the Bears’ feature back.


Swift is the same back Lions fans remember, capable of the big play — like his 56-yard touchdown against Washington last month — but inconsistent at everything except leaving yards on the field. The Bears rank 22nd in rushing (111.8 ypg) and have failed to 80 net yards in three of the past four weeks.

The Lions rank fifth in the NFL against the run at 94.9 ypg and haven’t let a back top 100 yards since December of 2022. Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader are playing well at defensive tackle, and Malcolm Rodriguez had a nice game in place of the injured Alex Anzalone last week. Edge: Lions


Bears pass offense vs. Lions pass defense

It has been a rocky season for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, though the No. 1 pick in April’s draft has played some of his best football in the two games since the Bears changed play callers. The Bears have dangerous weapons in Keenan Allen, D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze and tight end Cole Kmet, but Williams has taken a league-high 44 sacks and missed some open receivers.


Campbell said the Bears have tweaked their offensive approach under new play caller Thomas Brown. “There’s a lot more quick game, get the ball out, pretty simple progressions that he’s doing really well with,” Campbell said this week. “You watch him, bam, bam, bam, he’s working across the board, flipping his hips, processes it pretty fast, and if it’s not there then he takes off. I kind of mentioned there is some shift, motions, perfect plays, kills, so there’s a little bit of that that’s different than it was.”


The Lions rank near the bottom of the NFL in passing yards allowed (25th at 227.2 ypg) but are third with 14 interceptions thanks to the NFL’s best safety duo of Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch. Carlton Davis III will not play because of knee and thumb injuries, and the Lions will use some combination of Kindle Vildor, Khalil Dorsey and Emmanuel Moseley in his absence. Edge: Lions


Special teams

Jake Bates made his fifth 50-plus-yard field goal of the season last week and is a perfect 16 for 16 on field goals this year. He and Jack Fox might be the best kicker-punter combo in the NFL, and the Lions have good coverage units, too. The Lions placed Kalif Raymond on injured reserve Wednesday, so St. Brown or Maurice Alexander will handle punt returns.

The Bears lost a game to the Packers two weeks ago when they allowed a blocked field goal as time expired. Kicker Cairo Santos had a second kick blocked last week, but he’s a respectable 7-for-8 on field goals of 50-plus yards this season. The Bears blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown earlier this year, so they’ve created big plays with their special teams, too. Rookie Tory Taylor is netting just 40.5 yards per punt. Edge: Lions




Lions vs. Bears prediction

The Lions have been a juggernaut, winning nine straight games by an average of 18.7 points, and there’s little reason to believe that will change Thursday. They’re back home for just the third time since September. They haven’t allowed a touchdown in 10 quarters. And Montgomery and Gibbs are fresh and poised for big days. The Bears’ only hope of winning is to run the ball, keep the Lions offense off the field and harass Goff into sacks and turnovers. That seems like a tall task at Ford Field, and the Lions have the playmakers to make life miserable on Williams on a short week. The Lions haven’t won on Thanksgiving since 2016, but that streak will come to an end in a big way. The pick: Lions 34, Bears 17.


Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline" from noon-2 p.m. Nov. 30 at the Troy Sports Card Show at the Balkan American Community Center. Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2024/11/27/can-lions-clinch-a-playoffs-berth-on-thanksgiving-day/76598990007/

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How Jared Goff hitting rock bottom became his and the Detroit Lions' salvation

by Michael Silver
November 27, 2024

The Athletic paywall article.



ALLEN PARK, Mich. — First came the beating, another desultory setback in the rapidly degenerating professional life of Jared Goff, the face of a flailing franchise’s enduring futility. That was torture enough. What Goff truly dreaded, however, was The Meeting. Summoned to Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell’s office on a late-October Tuesday in 2022, Goff feared the worst, and with good reason. Two days earlier, in an ugly road defeat to the Dallas Cowboys, he’d been responsible for almost as many turnovers (four) as points (six). The Lions were 1-5, and 4-18-1 since Campbell had taken over as a rookie head coach and Goff had become the starting quarterback. It felt like the whole world wanted him benched, and that Campbell, if only out of self-preservation, would imminently grant that wish.



If the perception was that Goff was broken, well, it was a fair assumption. At 24, he’d gone head-to-head with Tom Brady on Super Sunday. Now, having just turned 28, he’d lost his mojo. He was getting booed by the home crowd, and his failings were constantly flaunted. Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, the man who’d rejected Goff, had just hoisted a Lombardi Trophy in his home stadium, validating his wunderkind status. And he’d done it in his first season with Matthew Stafford, the Lions’ longtime starting quarterback who’d been swapped out for Goff. In dating terms, Goff had been dumped by his partner and was now eating ice cream alone on the couch while watching the ex escort a radiant new flame up the red carpet.

As Goff entered Campbell’s office, he braced himself for bad news. “I know how this thing goes,” he told himself. “I’m not naïve. Is this it for me?” Yet Campbell, an outside-the-box hire with an unflinching nature, told his struggling starter he was sticking with him. And as Goff began to exhale, he had an epiphany.


“Man, I’ve got to stop trying to do too much,” Goff told Campbell. “I’ve been trying to overcome certain things throughout the game, constantly thinking that this is the moment we’re gonna turn it around. I’m squeezing so hard trying to help us win, because we all want it so badly. I have to release that a little bit and just do my job, one play at a time. I’m just gonna do my job and not worry about the rest of it.”

Campbell stared back at his quarterback and smiled. “Jared,” he said, “that’s all I’ve wanted you to do this whole time.”


It was a mental shift that helped Goff manage the emotions he’d experienced since being traded to the Lions after the 2020 season, a move that blindsided him and crushed his confidence. The conversation fortified his bond with Campbell and laid the groundwork for a connection with a famished fan base that would come to view his redemption story as its own. Long before Goff became an MVP candidate and the Lions (10-1), who host the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving, became the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LIX and inspired an iconic chant, the embattled quarterback unlocked the mystery in the nick of time.



“It’s like you squeeze so hard, and the actual answer is to release,” Goff explained last week while sitting in an upstairs room of his Bloomfield Hills, Mich., home, which doubles as a film-watching sanctuary and memorabilia alcove. “Everyone wanted to fire Dan, fire (general manager Brad Holmes) and bench me. If we’d kept losing, of course they would. (But) it’s funny — you do your job one play at a time, and a little momentum starts to build. You do it 10 plays in a row, then 15, then 20, and the other 10 on offense are doing their job, and good things start to happen.

“It’s ironic that when you try to do less, more happens.”


Goff is a rock star in the Motor City, a pinpoint passer in the midst of a career year for a team laying waste to its opponents. He may have walked into Campbell’s office with trepidation that day 25 months ago, but he emerged with a bounce in his step that has morphed into a strut.


The day after that fateful meeting, Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp showed up at practice, spoke to reporters and gave Campbell and Holmes a vote of confidence. Four days later, Goff threw for 321 yards in a 31-27 defeat to the Miami Dolphins. And then, somewhat abruptly, the plot shifted and the losing stopped. The Lions are 32-9 since, a tally that includes their first two postseason victories since Jan. 5, 1992, and Goff’s job security rivals Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s.


In May, the Lions signed Goff to a four-year, $212 million contract extension, with $170 million guaranteed. In late November, Goff is armed with eye-popping numbers that serve as a sharp rebuttal to any remaining doubters. His 109.9 passer rating is the league’s second best, as is his 72.9 percent completion percentage. He’s averaging an NFL-high 9.02 yards per attempt, and he’s part of an MVP conversation that includes fellow quarterbacks Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and running backs Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry.



“Jared Goff is operating with as much command and poise as any quarterback in the league,” said San Francisco 49ers assistant head coach/defense Brandon Staley, who was the Rams’ defensive coordinator during Goff’s final season with the team. “They’re putting a lot on his plate pre-snap, and they’re using his experience and knowledge to get into premier plays almost every snap. The timing and ball distribution has been elite all year long. His swagger, unselfishness, and toughness are leading that football team.”



Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, whose team suffered a 24-6 defeat to the Lions on Sunday, views Goff’s success as a direct result of his comfort with Detroit’s offensive scheme: “He has the answers. He knows what he’s looking for. They know how to attack. He and his coaches just see it the same way.”

“He has taken efficiency to a whole new level,” added Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris.


Since being drafted first overall by the Rams in 2016, the former Cal star has relied upon elite accuracy, a quick release and a penchant for remaining cool under fire. What’s different now, as Staley and Bradley suggest, is Goff’s mental grasp of the position, which deepened when Ben Johnson took over as the Lions’ offensive coordinator after the 2021 season.



“I like to say it’s as much his offense as mine,” said Johnson, who has turned down head coaching opportunities in each of the past two cycles. “It’s really based on what Jared does well, what he felt most comfortable with. And we’ve tried the last two and a half years to challenge him and push him outside his comfort zone.”


Campbell noticed an appreciable difference in his quarterback this past offseason. “When he came in,” Campbell said, “you could tell there was a different feel — like, he wanted to have even more ownership in the offense and to take it to a different level. So now the offense is evolving because of his ability to process and see it.”


Jared Goff’s ownership and understanding of the Lions offense has grown exponentially under offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. (Ryan Kang / Getty Images)
Last month, Johnson told Goff that he’s “now asking these PhD-level questions over the course of the week” that the quarterback hadn’t broached previously. “The game’s slowing down for him, too,” Johnson said. “He can recognize coverages right off the bat. He’ll say during the week, ‘Hey, I know we think that they’re doing Cover 2 in this situation, but if they go man, where do you want me to go with the ball?’ Or, ‘I know it’s not a Cover 0 team, but we’re in this exotic formation, and if they do it versus this and I see it, what do you want me to get to?’”


Two Sundays ago, in the third quarter of the Lions’ 52-6 thrashing of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Goff, en route to a 412-yard passing performance, threw a 5-yard touchdown to tight end Brock Wright that particularly stood out to Johnson. The plan was to deliver a backside throw to wide receiver Tim Patrick, who was lined up to the right of the formation. Goff started by looking left, attempting to get Jags safety Darnell Savage to drift toward Wright, who was running to the far left corner of the end zone. When Goff looked back to his right, he noticed Savage had instead moved to his left toward Patrick — as if the Jags knew exactly what the Lions were planning. Rather than proceeding to his third read, Goff alertly turned back to his left and found Wright, abandoned by Savage, wide open for the easy TD.

“It’s just an example of where he is now,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t like that when he first got here.”



Goff’s commitment to intensive film study makes sense, given his physical limitations. Unlike peers such as Jackson, Allen and Patrick Mahomes, Goff can’t rely on his athleticism to get him out of jams and make off-schedule plays. “You do have to find different ways to win in the pocket because you aren’t as fleet of foot,” Goff said. “I have to play disciplined. And the work that I have to do from Monday through Friday, I feel like has to be more. That’s where I feel like I’m able to get my edge, whereas other guys have their athletic ability as their edge.”


There’s another reason Goff is so intent on trying to master his craft: He’s aware of his reputation, and still a bit sensitive about the prevailing perception that McVay, known for his schematic acumen, discarded him because the coach needed an upgrade in that department. It’s a narrative that began in 2017 when it became clear that McVay, then the youngest coach in modern NFL history, was giving his second-year quarterback cues via the in-helmet communications system as Goff waited to receive the snap. It intensified after Goff’s poor performance in L.A.’s 13-3 defeat to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.


Because McVay had become the brightest young star in his profession — the joke in league circles was that even his acquaintances were getting head-coaching interviews — it was easy to conclude that Goff wasn’t good enough to bring the coach’s brainy schemes to life. The Rams’ decision to deal him just weeks after he’d come off the bench to win a road playoff game with a broken right thumb seemed abrupt and suggested that there were deep-seated reasons for McVay’s dissatisfaction.

“Everyone externally just assumed that I suck,” Goff said, “because why else would this be happening? People thought, ‘He’s done. He’s damaged goods. His story is over. His career will end in this way. This will be the end of the road.’”

Continued..

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The trade hit Goff like an earthquake. The Rams, who’d signed the quarterback to a massive contract extension only 17 months earlier, were so desperate to get out of that deal and land Stafford that they included two first-round draft picks and a third-round selection. Goff got the news while hanging out at his Hidden Hills, Calif., home on a Saturday night in late January, via a phone call from McVay — who was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, celebrating the deal in real time with Stafford and then-Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth, one of Goff’s closest friends on the team.


The news broke instantly, before Holmes, the Lions’ newly hired GM, could get ahold of his new quarterback. Eventually, Goff took phone calls from Holmes — who’d been the Rams’ director of college scouting when he was drafted — and Campbell, both of whom were still at the Lions’ facility as midnight approached.

At first, Goff seemed shellshocked, but when he heard the excitement in Holmes’ and Campbell’s voices, he became fired up and defiant. The next morning, he told me, “I’m just excited to be somewhere that I know wants me and appreciates me.” His phrasing was intentional. McVay’s reproach over the past two seasons had beaten him down, and this was a stark juxtaposition.




Most of the football world viewed him as a declining quarterback who’d be a stopgap starter — at best — for the Lions, but Holmes and Campbell saw things differently. “Everybody created that monster and that was never the case with us,” said Holmes, who called it a “lazy narrative.” Goff, who’d gone 1-11 as a true freshman starter for Cal in 2013, viewed it as a chance to do something epic.


“The opportunity that I have to be at the ground floor of something is something that most guys don’t get in their career,” he recalled thinking. “You can either see it as something that’s happened to you or something that’s happening for you.”

The turnaround didn’t happen quickly — and Goff’s self-esteem suffered along the way. “It felt like he got traded here to never be talked about again,” said Goff’s wife, Christen, who was his girlfriend at the time. The model and actress relocated from L.A. to Detroit after the trade and had an up-close-and-personal view of the struggle. In 2021, the Lions didn’t win their first game until December, beginning with an 0-10-1 stretch that included a 28-19 road defeat to the Rams.



In February, a week before Stafford and the Rams would defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium, I visited Goff at his Hidden Hills home, and he did his best to put a positive spin on the situation. “We all run our own race, whatever that may be,” he told me then, expressing excitement at the prospect of working with Johnson as his coordinator. “It’s part of the journey, and this year obviously was a tough experience. My time will come, whenever that may be, to get another crack at it, and in order to get there, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”


So Goff did the work — schematically and psychically. He felt stung by the way his Rams tenure ended and experienced conflicting emotions as they won a Super Bowl without him, but he refused to let bitterness be his driving force.

“It’s not vindictive for me,” he insisted. “And I think that was a big part of the journey, that it couldn’t be. Because that’s not enough. That’s not enough to motivate you to get through the hard times. It was never that. … It truly became, how can I help this team and help this city and be a part of this rebuild and do everything I could for Dan and for this coaching staff?”


The Lions believed in Jared Goff, and that's all he needed to come roaring back

Even as the losses mounted, and Goff sensed he might be out of time, Campbell and Holmes never wavered in their support. Both men had long admired Goff’s mental and physical toughness. As things turned around in 2022, Goff’s grit and refusal to fold began to resonate with a fan base conditioned to wallow in enduring misery. The Lions rallied to make a late playoff push but were eliminated on the final night of the regular season — when the Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime. Goff got the news during pregame warmups at Lambeau Field, where the Lions’ NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers, still faced a win-and-in scenario. Intent on spoiling the Packers’ party, Goff and his teammates earned a 20-16 victory that ended an era for another former Cal quarterback: It was four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers’ final game with the franchise.



Last season, as the Lions closed in on their first division title and home playoff game in 30 years, it became clear that Goff might have to confront his demons in a conspicuous setting. Sure enough, as if the bracket were drawn up by screenwriters, the third-seeded Lions hosted the sixth-seeded Rams in a first-round playoff game at Ford Field. If Detroit was going to break an NFL-record nine-game postseason losing streak, Goff would have to get past McVay and Stafford.


In the lead-up to the game, Goff tried hard not to make the story about him. As it turned out, tens of thousands of empathic observers would adopt a different approach.

When Goff entered the tunnel to take the field for pregame warmups 50 minutes before kickoff, his image was projected onto the stadium’s video screens.

Spontaneously, fans began chanting his name, increasing the volume minutes later when Stafford, who’d spent 12 years as Detroit’s starter, took the field. It was an acknowledgment of the stakes, of Goff’s difficult journey and of a region’s unmitigated embrace of a player who’d won the respect of the paying public.



“That’s what it felt like,” Goff recalled. “It was very surreal. I was like, ‘Holy s—; this is incredible.’ … They knew I was dumped by this team. They knew that basically (the Rams) said I wasn’t good enough. And they were saying, ‘No, you’re our guy. You are good enough for us. Let’s go win it.’”


Said Christen Goff: “That was so incredible. Everybody here got it. It’s not like they’re cheering his name because they are obsessed with him and they think he’s just everything. It’s because every single one of those people have been him before, or they just get that story, and it resonates with them. … It didn’t feel like fans; it felt like family.”

On the sideline, Goff sidled up to Johnson and told the coordinator, “Dude, I feel great! Let’s go!”


“Yeah,” Johnson answered, “I’d be feeling pretty good if the whole stadium was chanting my name, too.”

Goff delivered, sealing the Lions’ 24-23 victory with an 11-yard pass to star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown just after the two-minute warning — a typically bold Campbell second-down call — and the chants got even louder. When he reached the locker room, his teammates were joyfully mimicking the “Jared Goff” mantra. He cherished the moment, believing it was a one-off.



“I thought that was the end of it,” Goff said. “But yeah, it’s taken on a life of its own.”

The chant resumed a week later at Ford Field as the Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to reach the NFC Championship Game. Soon after, it went viral, surfacing at a University of Michigan hockey game, a Grand Rapids Griffins hockey game and a high school cheerleading competition in eastern Michigan. The chant has since been busted out at Red Wings and Pistons games, at most Lions road games and at Green Day and Creed concerts.


“Now it’s just a fun thing that everybody’s doing when they’re drunk at a bar, which is honestly just as amazing,” Christen Goff said. “I’ve seen it everywhere. People send me videos; I think somebody got married in Italy and a chant broke out. Now I think it’s Michigan’s inside joke.”


Campbell’s wife, Holly, doesn’t see the phenomenon ceasing anytime soon: “I think 50 years from now, Jared Goff chants will still be happening. I think it’s just a thing now. And it’s beautiful, because it is about the underdog fighting adversity and coming out on top.”


Last January, it appeared that Goff’s amazing journey would land him back on the sport’s grandest stage. The Bay Area native returned to his home region for the NFC Championship Game, and Detroit took a commanding, 24-7 halftime lead over the 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. A furious San Francisco comeback dashed that dream — or, quite possibly, delayed it.

The Lions have looked like a legitimate contender from the jump in 2024, and Goff has continued to slay ghosts and smash narratives. In the season opener, he beat the Rams again at Ford Field. In early November, Goff — who as a Golden Bears freshman was pulled from a game at Oregon because he couldn’t throw in a driving rainstorm — completed his first 11 passes, and 18 of 22 overall, in similarly wet conditions in Green Bay.


The following week, in a Sunday night road clash with the Houston Texans, Goff threw five interceptions — more than half his current total for the entire season. Yet the Lions, trailing 23-7 at halftime, rallied to win, 26-23, on Jake Bates’ 52-yard field goal as time expired. Afterward, in the visitors’ locker room, Goff channeled another California native, Kendrick Lamar, and essentially dropped a “Not Like Us” remix while addressing his teammates: “If that ain’t a f—ing lesson that it ain’t over until it’s over, that’s what it is, boys. Way to fight all day. We’re f—ing different. We’re f—ing different than all 31 in this league.”



Later, Goff harkened back to the trying times he, many of his teammates and their coaches have experienced together, and the resolve it fostered.


“Yeah, we are (different),” Goff said, leaning forward in the chair where he sits during his marathon film-study sessions at home. “There aren’t many teams who can go through that and win, on the road, on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ with five turnovers — the whole thing. It took everyone to win that game.

“There are no other teams like us. You can’t replicate it unless you go through what we’ve been through. Which is not fun. And most people don’t survive. And most head coaches don’t stand firm with it — and stand in the s—, and stand in the mud, and take all the criticism.”




Goff’s voice rose as he continued.


“I think there were moments where Dan could have turned his back on me,” the quarterback said. “He was the head coach on a team that was 0-10-1, and then at the end of the season we were 3-13-1. Could’ve done it then; could’ve done it in the middle of that first season; could’ve done it the next year when we were 1-6 to start. And he never did. And I’m thankful for that. ‘Cause you see it all over the league, where somebody’s head’s got to fall. They were calling for his head. They were calling for Brad’s head. They were calling for my head. And Dan just held the line and said, ‘No, I believe in what we’re doing here, I believe in Jared, I believe in what we have going on, and he’s our guy.’ And here we are.”



As he continues his unlikely comeback story, Goff is exactly where he wants to be, in a place that appreciates every bit of adversity he has overcome. His name may be chanted all over the world, but the 30-year-old quarterback belongs to Detroit and its appreciative fans, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.


“I think they relate to the journey a lot,” Goff said. “Especially the last four years of everyone telling you you’re not good enough, and you kind of turning away from that and saying, ‘Hey, watch me. Let’s see. Let’s see what happens.’ And that motivates me. But I’m not motivated by that as much as I am motivated by wanting to win for this city.”

[froot loops]

Great article

[whatever_gong82]

Paywall News article.

Thanksgiving clash brings friendship of Lions' Brock Wright, Bears' Cole Kmet into focus


Nolan Bianchi
The Detroit News


Allen Park — Thursday's game at Ford Field will be the second time that Detroit Lions wide receiver Brock Wright and Chicago Bears tight end have played each other on Thanksgiving Day.

But it will hardly be their second major holiday spent together.



In college, “Holidays were always spent with the tight ends and offensive linemen,” Wright said.

Wright and Kmet were four-star tight ends who both signed to Notre Dame’s 2017 recruiting class, and their friendship goes back even further than that.



Wright told The Detroit News this week they met at a Notre Dame camp called Irish Invasion during their sophomore years of high school, jump-starting a friendship that is still blossoming with both players on their second NFL contracts.

From July through January (and maybe parts of February, too), NFL players live life with their foot clamped on the gas pedal. It’s a grind — long and arduous with a lot of nagging aches and pains. Thanksgiving provides one of a few moments to take a breath and reflect on the fact that this is all pretty dang cool.



“You get to look back at where you came from, and thinking back, in college, it’s just like, the NFL is just a dream,” Wright said. “You hope and set goals for success, and looking back at it, it’s cool to see that you’ve gotten to accomplish some of those goals and now it’s setting new goals, so I think that’s pretty neat.”

From the moment they stepped on campus in South Bend, Wright and Kmet were attached at the hip. They share all the same interests and have similar tastes in movies, sports and food — all the ingredients for any long-lasting male friendship.


They had several classes together, including one called “The Meaning of Life,” where Wright, a graduate of Notre Dame's Mendoza School of Business, remembers being a studious member of the class trying to block out the noise created by Kmet and teammate Robert Hainsey, then an offensive lineman with the Fighting Irish (and one of Wright’s college roommates) who now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“They would just make me laugh the entire time in class, one of those where they’d just poke me in the back and I’d start laughing at inappropriate times,” Wright said.


Despite the shenanigans, it wasn’t long until Kmet’s family was Wright’s family and vice-versa. The players’ parents, too, have forged a deep bond after watching their sons play dozens of college games together.

“You sit at games together and travel all over the country to watch us play, so they bonded really well and so it’s always a good time whenever we’re able to get everyone back together, so games like this, our family cherishes it,” Wright said. “[Kmet] and my dad are always in cahoots. They talk together all the time.”


During a 2022 Lions road trip to Chicago, Wright said the Kmets picked up his parents from the airport, took them to breakfast, and then they all went to the game together. Kmet had two touchdowns, and Wright had one, but on the scoreboard, Detroit got the better of Chicago, 31-30.


“I always find his family in the stands whenever we play there. Whenever they play here we make sure to take care of them,” Kmet told The News. “Always a lot of fun catching up with Brock before the game and then seeing his family in the stands rooting both of us on.”

Of the two, Kmet’s path to the NFL was a little more straightforward. He left school in 2020 and was taken by the Bears with the 43rd pick of the 2020 draft. After compiling 211 receptions and 2,118 yards through his first four seasons, Kmet is now in the first year of a four-year contract extension worth up to $50 million.


Wright had a little further of a climb. He went undrafted in 2021 and signed with the Lions as a free agent. He broke through during his rookie season and scored four touchdowns the next season, including a highlight-reel catch-and-run that went for a 51-yard touchdown to lift the Lions over the New York Jets in Dec. 2022.

This past summer, when the Lions charted out how to maintain their newfound contender status, they made clear Wright was part of that future. After the tight end signed a three-year, $12 million offer sheet with the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit matched it.


Returning to Detroit had several benefits. Wright is extremely familiar with the Lions' offensive system and has a defined role in coordinator Ben Johnson's offense. Back in the offseason, he also noted that Michigan real estate is slightly less expensive than it is in the Bay Area.

But one of the under-the-radar benefits of Wright deciding to stay in the NFC North is that he'll get to play his old buddy twice a year for the foreseeable future.


"It’ll be good to see him and hopefully see his family too," Wright said of Thursday's Thanksgiving clash. "I’m close with his siblings, too, so I hope his brothers can make the game, or his sister...it’d be great to see them."


nbianchi@detroitnews.com

@nolanbianchi

[whatever_gong82]

Niyo: A Lions' win on Thanksgiving is more than a win

Paywall article.

John Niyo
The Detroit News


Allen Park — They need to win this, if only for their families’ sakes.

Because nothing spoils a holiday quite like a loss, and if you don’t believe Dan Campbell when he talks about the added incentive that’s on the table Thursday, as the Lions host the Chicago Bears for their annual Thanksgiving Day football feast at Ford Field, well, “just ask my wife,” the head coach laughed. “She’ll tell you.”

“She's praying for a win — big time,” said Campbell of his wife, Holly. “Because she knows I'm a bear if we don't win.”



He’s certainly not the only one, though. And despite all the euphoria surrounding the Lions’ historic 10-1 start to this season, a loss to Chicago would be especially difficult to bear.

The Lions have lost seven straight games on Thanksgiving Day, and you have to go all the way back to 2016, when they beat Minnesota, 16-13, on Matt Prater’s last-second field goal, to find the last unspoiled turkey dinner in Detroit.


Only two players on Detroit’s current roster, offensive linemen Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow, were around for that one, and as Glasgow recalls of his rookie NFL season, “going home that day and spending time with my family after you win, it was really enjoyable.”

Ever since?

“It's a lot less enjoyable,” said Glasgow, smiling. “It’s like I don't even want to be around my family. I just want them to leave me alone. So going out there on Thursday and being able to get the win would make things a lot better.”


For better or worse, the Lions haven’t been bigger favorites to win on Thanksgiving since 1968, when a winless Philadelphia Eagles team won a 12-0 slog in the mud at Tiger Stadium. Oddsmakers have the Bears listed as 10 ½-point underdogs this year, and a win Thursday for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams & Co. at Ford Field, where Chicago has won three straight on Thanksgiving (2018, ’19, ’21), would be the NFL’s biggest Turkey Day upset since at least 1980.


That was hardly the Lions’ focus this week as they prepared to play their fourth game in 18 days. Of greater concern was a growing injury list that now includes Decker, the Lions' left tackle, and starting cornerback Carlton Davis, both of whom will miss Thursday’s game, along with punt returner Kalif Raymond (foot), who was placed on injured reserve. Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee) and running back David Montgomery (shoulder) expect to play against the Bears despite being listed as questionable, but the combination of a short week without a full practice and another Thursday game looming next week against Green Bay only added to the coaches’ challenge.

“It’s how fast can you recover, get your body right and get your mind focused on the job at hand because you’re not going to get the physical (preparation),” Campbell said. “The distractions are on us, not on (the Bears). We’ve got all our family here, friends, all that. You’ve got to block it out, tell them you love them, and you’ll see them after the game.”


Campbell’s team blocks and tackles better than any in the league right now, as evidenced by the Lions’ league-best point differential (plus-177) and a nine-game winning streak that’s one shy of the franchise record set in 1934.

Of course, that’s the same year the Portsmouth Spartans relocated to Detroit and became the Lions. It’s also the same year then-owner George A. Richards started this whole NFL tradition, scheduling a game against the Bears on Thanksgiving to drum up publicity and then convincing NBC radio to broadcast it nationally to a captive audience. Ever since, with the exception of a six-year stretch during World War II, the Lions have been the centerpiece of America’s Thanksgiving, joined in 1966 by the Dallas Cowboys.


But it hasn’t been without the occasional grumbling. A quarter-century ago, two other NFL owners — Lamar Hunt (Kansas City) and Tom Benson (New Orleans) — backed a proposal to rotate hosting the annual Thanksgiving Day games among every team in the league. They argued it was a competitive advantage for Detroit and Dallas, though the unspoken motive had more to do with TV ratings and prestige.


The Lions and Cowboys, with the support of then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue, beat back those attempts to appropriate a tradition that was older than nearly three-quarters of the teams in the NFL. And one that, as Lions vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. passionately explained, was ingrained in the fabric of Detroit, nurtured and passed down from generation to generation. Eventually, the league added a third rotating game in 2006 as a compromise.

That didn’t stop the complaining, though, as Detroit lost nine straight Thanksgiving games from 2004-12, starting in the middle of the disastrous Matt Millen era. The Lions lost those games by an average of nearly 20 points, and the lowlights were extremely low, from white-flag surrenders against Indianapolis and Tennessee to yellow-flag meltdowns involving Ndamukong Suh and Jim Schwartz. (At halftime of an embarrassing 47-10 loss to the Titans in 2008, CBS studio analyst Shannon Sharpe wore a paper bag over his head and moaned, "This is ridiculous. The Detroit Lions, every single year. This is what we have to go through.”)


This isn’t that, obviously. Six of Detroit’s last seven Thanksgiving losses were one-score games, and in an ironic twist, it’s the Cowboys’ game against the New York Giants that everyone is dreading this Thanksgiving. (“Is this gonna be a Nickelodeon game?” joked former NFL All-Pro Richard Sherman. “They should flex them into Never-uary.”)


Meanwhile, the Lions are now must-see TV, the odds-on Super Bowl favorites with the league’s most explosive offense, a roster loaded with young talent and a rabid fan base finally unleashed. Coming off a breakthrough 12-5 season and a run to the NFC title game, the Lions were awarded five prime-time games this season — one shy of the league maximum — in addition to the annual Thanksgiving game. (The NFL also tapped the Lions for three other late-afternoon national TV kickoffs this fall.)

Detroit can actually clinch a playoff berth this week with a win over Chicago and one of a half-dozen scenarios involving San Francisco, Arizona, Seattle and either Tampa Bay or Washington. But mostly, the Lions need this result to stay ahead of the pack in the chase for another NFC North title and the No. 1 playoff seed to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Or as Campbell put it, “We gotta win to win.”


Yet they also have something else driving them this Thanksgiving: Their appetites.

“Yeah, it’s a big part of it,” said Goff, when asked about ending the Thanksgiving losing streak. “I think you find your edge every week, a reason that you need the ‘W’ other than just needing the ‘W’.”


And in this case, it’s pretty simple. No one wants to be the relative who ruins the holiday dinner.

“Yeah, I’d really like to enjoy Thanksgiving,” said Frank Ragnow, the Lions’ All-Pro center who is in his seventh NFL season. “Usually, in the past, it’s like I don’t really want to talk to my family; I'm all upset about everything. So I'd really like to enjoy this Thanksgiving. And put on a show for the crowd because it’s a unique environment, and we don’t take it for granted. It’s a special, special game.”


john.niyo@detroitnews.com

@JohnNiyo

[whatever_gong82]

After fighting through an illness, Lions rookie thankful for this 'surreal' opportunity

Paywall article. Enjoy!!

Jeff Seidel
Detroit Free Press


You marvel at these big, talented football players.

You see them get drafted into the NFL.


You watch them walk into a stadium with thousands of people… and you forget there is so much more to the story. Each one of them has a family and different struggles and a complicated journey to this moment.

“I'm thankful for my family, my girlfriend, for everyone around me,” Christian Mahogany was saying. “I’m thankful for my teammates, of course, the coaches, the staff here.”



He was standing in front of his locker in the Lions locker room. “You never can say enough thanks, right?” he said, sincerely. “I'm just thankful to be here in general.”

Just being here is a complicated story. The Lions picked Mahogany, a guard from Boston College, in the sixth round of the 2024 Draft. He went through rookie minicamp and OTAs, and everything was going great, as he prepared for his first training camp.


Then it all fell apart when he got sick in mid-July.


At the worst possible time.

“I went to multiple doctors,” Mahogany said. “One doctor thought it was strep.”


He had lost a bunch of weight – around 30 pounds – and was down to 300.

“I just felt sick,” he said.



A long journey back


Finally, doctors figured out it was mono, and it knocked Mahogany out of training camp.

Lions coach Dan Campbell announced Mahogany’s absence on July 25 before the Lions second practice: "On another note, just because I know it’s probably going to come up, Mahogany is dealing with an illness right now so that’s why he’s not out there. As he heals up here, we’ll get him out here and get him going but that’s what’s going on there.”


Mahogany’s illness became a lingering story through training camp. Because every missed practice was a missed opportunity. He was losing a chance to improve and prove himself.

“We’re going on practice six here,” Campbell said on July 30, “and he’s still not here, yes you get concerned with the development of the player because they need everything."


Campbell wasn't being mean or critical.

He was just being straight.


"I mean you miss one day as a rookie and that’s tough to recover from because you don’t have two-a-days anymore," Campbell said. "So, I don’t want to say we’re concerned, and it’s a real thing, this illness.

"It really is a day-by-day – we have virtually checked him in so he’s virtually in meetings and things of that nature but man, when we know he’s ready to get here and be a part of what we’re doing, believe us, we’ll get him here as fast as possible, but as of right now, we have to assume we don’t have him.”


He returned to the Lions in August, but he wasn't anywhere near football shape. He had lost strength and conditioning.


“Yeah, he’s with us,” Campbell said on Aug. 20. “He’s been down there with (Lions Director of Sports Performance) Mike Clark and (Lions Head Strength & Conditioning) Josh Schuler and those guys just trying to get his legs back under him, his conditioning, strength level and he’s trending the right way. I can’t give you a timetable but he’s doing well. It’s good to have him here.”

Seven days later, the Lions placed Mahogany on reserve/NFI (non-football related illness). He was not allowed to practice with the team but he could weight lift and go to meetings and watch practice, which became excruciating for him. “Sitting out is not fun,” he said.


There was a strange benefit. Mahogany got a chance to stand on the sidelines and watch one of the best offensive lines in football go through practice.

“These guys are unreal,” he said. “They have a lot of knowledge. Everyone's great, great people, great human beings.”


Mahogany continued to study his playbook, trying to stay sharp. Trying to go through practice in his brain. Just trying to get ready without actually playing football.

Mahogany was taken off the illness list in October, which allowed him to practice for the first time all season; and the Lions had 21 days to decide if he could join the 53-man roster. It was a crucial moment and the Lions faced a difficult decision: should they shut him down for the rest of the season, possibly stunting his growth even more; or decide to keep him active and let him practice and develop?


“We just need to see improvement,” Campbell said on Oct. 9. “We need to see that he’s improving every day, every week. He’s got 21 days here and like I said yesterday, he looked like that was his first day to practice. It’s like his first practice and his first NFL practice, which you would expect.

"So, tomorrow, just a little bit better. Friday, a little bit better. Then we just need to see this improvement from him and then we’ll assess it after that. But I think if he shows that he’s just taking these steady steps it may be hard not to want to put him on the roster, but we’ll see. I can’t answer that just right now.”


Even though Mahogany missed training camp, even though he didn’t play in any preseason games, the transition was easy for him because Boston College and the Lions have similar systems, similar philosophies and similar wording.

“He’s gotten better every week,” Campbell said on Oct.25. “He’s made strides every week and that has been very noticeable.

"So, I’m just – standing up here in front of you, I think it would be hard to say that you don’t want to continue this progress, that would be hard to say. So, but until I talk to Brad, I won’t know for sure on that.”


By November, it was clear the Lions were impressed with his improvement.

“Since he’s come off of IR, you’ve seen Christian grow immensely,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said on Nov. 21. “I wish – I really wish we, as a staff really wish, he would have been available there in the preseason because those would’ve been huge games to really get a gauge for where he’s at right now, and it’s a little bit harder in practice.


"Sometimes we have pads on, sometimes we don’t. But, from the one-on-one aspect, the pass-pro and run blocking, you see flashes of immense potential right there. So, we’ll continue to try to find where we can slip him in to get him more experience, but he’s a guy that we have high hopes for.”

Flashes of immense potential?


Did you catch that? Johnson doesn't throw around a phrase like that casually.

And it's why this is more than a cute comeback story.


Making his debut

The Lions decided to keep Mahogany on the 53-man roster, and he was activated for the first time in his career last Sunday in Indianapolis.


“It was a surreal feeling,” Mahogany said, of just walking onto the field wearing his uniform. “It was a good experience to know my family, friends were happy to see me, see me out there, see me in pads for the first time. It was, it was a great experience that I'll never forget.”


He made his debut against the Colts and saw action in four plays on special teams.

For a guy who started dropping weight, withering away and doctors couldn't figure out why, for a guy who missed all of training camp, who missed every preseason game, it was simply magical.


“I'm thankful for everything I've got in life,” Mahogany said, standing by his locker. “I'm just thankful for this opportunity. For everything.”

Maybe, to fully appreciate what he said, you had to see the look in his eyes. To feel the pure appreciation and gratitude.


But it captured everything this day represents.

Happy Thanksgiving.


Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on X @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.