In a handful of days, Amon-Ra St. Brown went from not being able to walk on his injured ankle to catching six passes for 92 yards in the Lions' crucial win over the Cowboys. St. Brown on one leg is better than most receivers on two.
"He’s as important to our team as anyone in the league," Jared Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "And I think he gave everyone a little bit of juice on game day. When we saw him out there running as if nothing was wrong, preparing the right way on game day and being ready to go after what he dealt with throughout the week, it gave everyone like, ‘Alright, if this guy’s gonna go, let’s go do this.’ It was awesome to have him out there. He’s a leader for us and it was an incredible performance by him."
After suffering a badly sprained ankle that knocked him out of the Lions' Thanksgiving loss to the Packers, St. Brown -- who said he "felt like I let (my teammates) down by not being out there" -- was doubtful he'd be able to suit up a week later against the Cowboys. The pain a couple days later was still that severe.
But his ankle started to feel better early last week. Once he was able to get through a workout on Wednesday with the coaches and trainers watching, two days before kickoff, St. Brown knew he was playing. And there was no talking him out of it.
"I think he was kind of upset they even made him work out to show he could play," said Goff. "He knew he was ready to go the day before. He’s a gamer, man."
Dan Campbell awarded St. Brown a game ball after the Lions' win, and gushed about him to the media. He said Tuesday that St. Brown's value to the team is "really indescribable."
"I think all of our fans know this, I hope they do, and for anybody that doesn’t: Saint is a rarity, man," said Campbell. "He’s special. We’re fortunate that we have him. The city of Detroit is fortunate to have him, the Detroit Lions. This guy is unselfish, he is tough as nails, he is smart as a whip, he does anything and everything that you ask him to."
For St. Brown, said Campbell, the decision to play through injury "is as simple as this: 'If I can go, then I'm gonna be able to produce. Otherwise I can't go, I can't do it to my team, it would be hurting them. But if I can go, I'm gonna go. And I don't care what it feels like, I don't care if I'm 80 percent, I'm gonna beat the guy across from me. And I'm gonna do it for the guy next to me, because I owe it to him.' That's how he thinks."
"And if he can't, he feels awful about it, which, he shouldn't feel awful. But he's wired a different way," Campbell said. "He's unselfish. And we've got a few of those guys on this team, we've got more than just him. But that guy is a heartbeat for us, man. He's unreal."
And Detroit will have him for several seasons yet, with St. Brown in year one of his four-year, $120 million extension. He's on track to earn every penny.
"My job is to go out there and make plays and be on that field," he said after the Lions' win. "That’s what they pay me to do."