Sometimes, reality shows can be a little too real.
The Giants are experiencing that this month, with Hard Knocks showing the world way too much about the inner workings of an NFL team during the crucial stages of the offseason. The Lions might be getting a little taste of it as well.
During the first episode of Receiver on Netflix, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown reveals that he suffered an oblique injury in Week 3 against the Falcons. The next game came only four days later, against the Packers.
“We have a Thursday game after Atlanta,” St. Brown explains. “So, I can barely — I mean, I’m running but the pain is like, on a 10 it’s like at an eight. Eight or nine. And so I’m like, ‘It’s too late for me not to play. The game plan’s in.’ Painkillers is something I really don’t like to take unless — unless it’s the Packers.”
St. Brown did indeed play. But he didn’t appear on any of the three injury reports preceding the game.
He caught five passes for 56 yards against the Packers, including a touchdown that resulted in beer being poured on his helmet.
The question now becomes whether the league will drench the Lions with some belated scrutiny, given that St. Brown clearly was injured (he missed the next game because of it) and the Lions failed to disclose it prior to Week 4.
The issue easily could have been avoided in the editing of the episode. They didn’t need to include the fact that the injury originally happened in Week 3.
But they did. Now, the league has to deal with it. Or not. Either way, the situation proves yet again that the injury reports are far from effective and inside information is rampant.
In this case, anyone who knew about the injury could have bet on St. Brown to hit the under on his receiving yards prop of 72.5 yards.
So, again, the NFL can either be proactive and shore up these problems. Or it can wait for the shit to hit the fan, before acting surprised to find smelly brown flecks of fecal matter all over the place.
Calvin Johnson has already etched his name into Lions history several times over. But the franchise will give him one additional earned honor during the coming season.
Detroit announced on Monday that Johnson will be inducted into the Pride of the Lions during halftime of the team’s Sept. 30 Monday night matchup with the Seahawks. The club describes Pride of the Lions as a permanent display at Ford Field that honors the greatest players in franchise history.
“We are thrilled to add Calvin Johnson Jr. to the Pride of the Lions,” Lions President and CEO Rod Wood said in a statement. “His commitment on the field and to the city of Detroit are legendary and this is a well-deserved honor. We are proud that he will be forever memorialized inside Ford Field and as a Detroit Lion.”
The No. 7 overall pick of the 2007 draft, Johnson played 135 games for the Lions over nine seasons before retiring after the 2015 season. He is Detroit’s all-time leader in receptions (731), receiving yards (11,619), and receiving touchdowns (83).
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 2021.
Why are cities trying so hard to persuade the NFL to bring the draft to town? Because it’s a boom to the local economy.
Visit Detroit and the Detroit Sports Commission said today that the 2024 NFL Draft generated a $213.6 million economic impact for the region, of which about three-fourths, $161.3 million, came from visitors who traveled from outside Southeast Michigan to spend money at Detroit hotels, restaurants and other businesses.
An estimated 775,000 people attended draft-related festivities, spending an average of $275 per person. Visitors came from all 50 states and 20 different countries.
After decades as a relatively small event, the league turned the draft into a popular TV show and then moved it out of New York City and turned it into a major event that cities across the country vie to host in hopes of bringing in significant tourism revenue. The 2025 NFL draft will be in Green Bay and the 2026 NFL draft will be in Pittsburgh. Washington, D.C., appears to be a frontrunner for the 2027 NFL draft.
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had 119 catches for 1,515 yards in 2023 and he put up those big numbers despite some injury issues.
St. Brown is one of the players involved in the Receiver series on Netflix and he recounts a couple of injuries that he had to deal with early in the campaign. St. Brown hurt his toe during the team’s Week Two loss to the Seahawks, but was well enough to play against the Falcons the next week. He had nine catches for 102 yards in a Detroit win, but picked up an oblique injury to go with his toe problem.
“I’ve had a hip pointer before, so I thought it was a hip pointer,” St. Brown said. “Maybe it’s just a little bruise. And I’m like, ‘Damn, my toe’s still hurting at this point. Now I have this oblique injury.’”
The Lions played the Packers on a Thursday night in Week Four and St. Brown, who said he was at an eight or nine on 1-10 scale of pain, was on the field again.
“It’s too late for me not to play. The game plan’s in,” St. Brown said. “Painkillers is something that I really don’t like to take unless it’s the Packers.”
St. Brown caught a touchdown — and got doused with a beer by a Packers fan — in the 34-20 Lions win and then got an MRI. He said doctors told him “you tore your oblique completely off the bone,” which led to St. Brown missing Week Six. He returned with 25 catches in his next two games and didn’t miss any more time, which is the kind of durability and grit that helped him earn a sizable contract extension this offseason.
Lions tight end Sam LaPorta and quarterback Jared Goff displayed clear chemistry in 2023, with LaPorta setting a record for receptions by a rookie tight end.
With Goff signing a four-year contract extension earlier this offseason, the two are now set to play together for the next several seasons.
In an interview with Jim Rome this week, LaPorta complimented Goff’s steadiness day in and day out.
“I say this about Jared frequently, but he’s the same person every day,” LaPorta said. “You’re not going to find someone more consistent than Jared Goff in our building. And for him to be leading the team, you need to have consistency. You’re going to have good and bad days in the NFL — it’s just the nature of the game and how competitive this league is. But, he shows up every day, he works, and he sets the example and he sets the tone in the building.
“To be able to follow him and the example he sets for this organization, it just trickles on down from there — really amazing. And I’m so happy for him and his extension and his security here in Detroit for another couple of years.”
With Goff as his quarterback, LaPorta caught 86 passes for 889 yards with 10 touchdowns in his first season out of Iowa — finishing No. 3 in AP offensive rookie of the year voting. Goff completed 67.3 percent of his throws for 4,575 yards with 30 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2023.