si
In the Detroit Lions' 45-21 dismantling of the Arizona Cardinals last week, the offense clicked on all cylinders, scoring on seven consecutive drives. Jahmyr Gibbs amassed over 200 scrimmage yards, Jared Goff delivered an efficient performance, and Sam LaPorta and Jameson Williams combined for three touchdowns. Amon-Ra St. Brown contributed 69 receiving yards, but the star receiver was far from satisfied with his individual effort.
St. Brown, a perennial Pro Bowl selection, was critical of his play, which included two fumbles—one on a punt return after he was pressed into duty following Tom Kennedy's season-ending MCL tear. Speaking on his St. Brown Podcast, the USC product did not mince words: "I felt like I had a [expletive] game, if I am being honest. Like, one of my worst games I've ever had in Detroit. I just feel like it just wasn't my best stuff."
Despite his personal disappointment, St. Brown expressed gratitude for his teammates, who he said lifted him up. "We got a lot of great players on our team that picked me up. That's what good teams do. Sometimes players or good players don't play their best, but you got other players to pick them up. I think a lot of my teammates did that last game. I'm fortunate enough to be on a team like this that has a lot of good players that can do that for me. I mean, I can't imagine being on different teams that can't, that don't have the type of weapons and type of leaders that we have. Like I said, I'm fortunate, I'm blessed. Big win for us, I'm excited to be going into the bye week with that win."
Key Analysis
St. Brown also highlighted the Lions' slow start as a concern. The offense managed just three three-and-outs to begin the game, something the All-Pro receiver found frustrating. "Offense, we started out slow. I think we had three three-and-outs is what I counted. I was on the sideline like no way we just had three three-and-outs," he revealed. "I'm like, damn. But defense, I mean, they played amazing. To have them do what they did for us, they got us started. As an offense, when you can't get things going, you're just hoping that the defense holds strong, you get another chance, another crack at it to make a play and put some points on the board. The defense did that, they got a lot of stops on third down."
While the slow start didn't cost Detroit against Arizona, it did prove costly in Week 2 when the Lions fell behind by three scores to Buffalo. St. Brown stressed the importance of starting fast: "We started off slow, we can't have that. To be where we really want to be, we got to be able to start fast and then finish strong. Everything between, you want to play well, but starting fast is very important and ending the half strong and finishing the game strong. If we can correct that, we will be great."