Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions is ready for the comeback against the Buccaneers
Allen Park — Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has been one of the NFL’s most consistent performers over the past two seasons, but in his first game after signing a four-year, $120 million contract extension with $77 million guaranteed, he had one of the least productive games of his career.
St. Brown was targeted six times in a 26-20 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams and caught three passes for 13 yards – his third-fewest in a game he started in. Jameson Williams, on the other hand, made a real splash with five catches for 121 yards and a 52-yard touchdown.
The fact that the Lions won helped to ease the frustration somewhat.
“A win is a win. A win is the most important thing for us to get where we need to be week in and week out,” St. Brown said. “Obviously you’d like to have catches and stuff, but we found a way to win.”
St. Brown was a two-time captain and is widely regarded as one of the players who shaped Detroit’s culture of hard work and dedication.
But while his ultimate goal is to win, it’s no secret that St. Brown also has very high standards for his own performance. He wants the ball on every play – which, let’s be honest, is about what you’d expect from your best receiver – and he makes no secret of the fact that he wants to be called one of the best receivers in the NFL. He was angry when he was initially left out of the Pro Bowl last season and remains motivated, even though he slipped on draft day three years ago.
“He’s a leader, he’s a captain. He has the ‘C’ on his chest for a reason, and I think – I know he still wants the ball, of course he does, all those receivers want the ball,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “But I think he understands that if we win a game and he’s not as involved as he might like, he’s fine with that.”
“We’re going to win the game and try to win a Super Bowl this year.”
St. Brown said his final numbers weren’t because the Rams didn’t try to pass him the ball or anything specific they did. One of his passes in the fourth quarter was intercepted by Rams safety John Johnson III, and on another, he slipped out of a cut and had to knock the ball down to avoid quarterback Jared Goff intercepting another pass.
“I wouldn’t say they did too much. Maybe a little bit of a blur at times, but they ran a lot of different approaches, different coverages on defense. Some plays we wanted to make, we didn’t look right or we had a false start, so many little things happened during the game,” St. Brown said. “It was just bad luck. I slipped on a route. So many things. It was just one of those games, but like I said, a win is a win, we’re happy.”
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said many of the passes to Williams “very easily could have gone to St. Brown,” it was just a matter of the Rams’ coverage. On Williams’ touchdown catch, he and St. Brown ran the same route and both beat their defender – St. Brown even raised his hand to challenge him – but with the safety leaning toward St. Brown’s side of the field, the ball ultimately went to Williams.
“I’ve seen guys in the past, especially at that position, that when they had a game that didn’t live up to their expectations, they could sulk and do this, that or the other,” Johnson said. “But I don’t know if anyone had a bigger smile on their face right after the game than he did. That’s what comes from wearing that ‘C’ on your chest, and he’s a great example of what we expect from everyone on offense.”
Williams said it meant a lot to him that St. Brown was happy for him despite his lackluster play and he was confident St. Brown would be back to his old self very soon.
“That’s real. Because there’s going to be days like that, you know? There’s going to be days like that for everybody. He was double-covered … they had their eye on him,” Williams said. “Somebody had to step in and make plays. The ball just came to me and I just made the plays that came to me. This week could be different for him. You could look at somebody else, double-cover somebody else and it could be his week to get 200 (yards) or two touchdowns.”
St. Brown will have plenty of opportunity to recover this weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. is expected to miss the game with a foot injury. Cornerback Bryce Hall is out for the rest of the year and Tampa had two other cornerbacks, Zyon McCollum (concussion protocol) and Josh Hayes (ankle), miss practice this week.
St. Brown will not take the challenge lightly.
“I’ve learned not to really care and listen to it because I’m banged up,” St. Brown said. “We played Green Bay last year and they were banged up too, but they came to play. This is the NFL, anyone can play. There’s a reason they’re here, so we don’t take it lightly or take it seriously.”
Still, he is confident he will put in a comeback performance in Week 2.
“I’m excited. I’m ready,” St. Brown said.
@nolanbianchi
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