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GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Lions were committed to pounding Arizona with brutality and force. Their game plan reflected it early. So did their personnel, starting six offensive linemen and two tight ends. Ben Johnson told his guys that if the first run went for at least 4 yards, they’d just keep running the ball out of the jumbo set until Arizona stopped it.
The Lions wanted to get back to Lions football, and that’s exactly what they did early, running all over Arizona.
But Johnson was also holding an ace up his sleeve, a bit of razzle-dazzle that has been in the playbook going all the way back to training camp. And when he dialed up the hook-and-ladder just before halftime, players knew he had played his hand perfectly.
“I knew it was going to score,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said.
And that’s exactly what happened. Goff threw a short pass to St. Brown, who then shoveled the ball to Jahmhr Gibbs, who ran the final 20 yards for a touchdown. That gave the Lions a 20-7 lead, and they would need all of it to hold on for a hard-fought 20-13 win on Sunday against the Cardinals.
“That (play) was super fun,” St. Brown said. “We ran that in camp, actually. I feel like every time we’ve ran it, it’s always worked. It’s been a perfect play.”
The Lions left the play on the shelf the first two weeks of the season, but Johnson dusted it off during practice this week. The play continued to work. And after bludgeoning Arizona on the ground for most of the first two quarters on Sunday, the Lions were back on the move with a fresh set of downs at the 2-minute warning. With the ball at the 21-yard line, Johnson thought the moment was right to strike with a bit of finesse.
Detroit was hoping to get press coverage on St. Brown, but he actually got off coverage.
Didn’t matter.
“He called it, and I’m like, ‘Oh damn!’” St. Brown said. “The guy was pressed in front of me, usually we like it when he’s off so I can just run a quick in route and toss it to Jahmyr. But he was pressed and I was like, ‘OK, I got to win off the line.’ Won off the line, caught it, tossed it to Jahmyr and the rest is history.”
The offense didn’t score again after that, although St. Brown did make a magnificent 18-yard catch that moved the sticks on third-and-12 with 2 minutes left. Detroit needed only one more first down to ice the game after that, and Goff got there himself on a bootleg scramble.
St. Brown finished with seven catches for 75 yards, scored one touchdown, set up the other on the hook-and-ladder, plus put away the game on that huge third-and-12 catch late in the fourth.
“I had some daggers early in that game and they were kind of undercutting them,” St. Brown said. “And so when he called it, I was like, ‘I hope they don’t undercut it.’ But it was Cover 2 I believe, I was able to inside release, and Jared threw a great ball. Before I was even (out of my break), the ball was out. Caught, kind of sealed (the win).”
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