Campbell remarked, “I thought Yode stepped up.” “Seeing that was good. He entered the area directly; it was a five-step drop from the gate, and he entered and performed admirably.
“Over the past two years, Yode has really continued to improve. He’s simply kind of developed over time. He performed some really excellent things, in my opinion.”
Due to a forearm injury, experienced tight end Brock Wright was also lost by the Lions, and according to Campbell, there is no chance he will be back next week.
BARNES’ REDEMPTION
In a one-point loss to the Cowboys in Week 17, third-year linebacker Derrick Barnes faced a lot of backlash after missing a tackle on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott, which would have resulted in a safety. Instead, Barnes turned the play into a 92-yard touchdown.
Four weeks later, with one minute and 39 seconds remaining in Detroit’s victory over Tampa Bay, Barnes was beaming after making the game-winning interception. He contributed four tackles during the contest as well.
Derrick is someone I’m proud of, Campbell remarked. “Derrick is one of our kids that we drafted in our inaugural season here; he was a person that developed later in life. After a slight period of time, he truly emerged this season and is performing at a high caliber.
One of his greatest areas of improvement has been in his mentality as much as his ability to play defense at a higher level. When anything unfortunate occurs or doesn’t go as planned, he is able to overcome it and it doesn’t have a negative impact on him. He just keeps going, man. I see the most improvement there, which explains why he’s performing so well. However, that was a tremendous play.
UNSUNG HEREOS
While the Barnes play was among the game’s biggest, there were other noteworthy plays during Sunday’s contest that weren’t produced by Detroit’s biggest players.
How about Wright’s huge third-quarter 29-yard reception that assisted in setting up a touchdown? On a fourth and goal play, third-string running back Craig Reynolds ran a 1-yard score straight up the middle.
“I think it kind of goes back to kind of what I was saying of everyone’s brought in here for a reason and Barnes and Craig are perfect examples of guys that haven’t had the necessarily flash plays all year, but they’ve been kind of waiting in the weeds for their chance and practice hard and do everything right and then show up on time and continue to do everything right for moments like that,” Jared Goff, the quarterback, said. “And happy for those guys, man they deserve it, just as much as anyone else and played well.”
EXTRA POINT
- When the regular season and postseason are combined, Amon-Ra St. Brown has established a new single-season franchise record for receptions in a season (131).
