Taylor Decker’s worst days with the Lions have spawned some of his best. He used to wonder how the team would ever start winning. Now he’s savoring the taste of success.
“I feel like I was brought here to be a piece to help the team win, and it took a long time, man,” Decker said Sunday after the Lions’ third convincing win in a row. “But I’m almost thankful for those dark times because it’s made this just sweet. I’m revitalized. I feel great. I feel the best I’ve ever felt, regardless of how many games I've played.”
He’s played 100 of them now in the NFL, all for Detroit. A stalwart left tackle from the moment he arrived, Decker took the field Sunday and did as he’s done for the last eight seasons. He went to work, in a city that works hard. He did his job to make the offense go, and there it went again in the Lions’ 42-24 win. Detroit is 12-3 since last November.
“It’s something that we have to keep going, but it’s no secret that the Lions have been playing good football for 15 games now,” said Decker. “That is a small sample size, but it feels good, it really does. It’s cool when you’re playing primetime games, they’re flexing your games, people want to watch you play and they’re excited about your team. It goes back to peewee football when you’re playing with your friends and things are going well. It’s just fun.”
For a long time, Decker wasn’t having any fun in Detroit. After he helped the Lions make the playoffs his rookie season, which he figured would be a regular occurrence, Decker couldn’t stop them from losing. They finished last in their division four years in a row. They fired coaches and general managers. Anger became Decker’s fuel, which was “bogging me down mentally,” he admits, “because when you’re just angry all the time, it’s exhausting.” He lost his love for the game.
"Nobody wants to be a loser," Decker said. "I’ve always felt personally like I’m a winner, but I wasn’t, because that’s not what the record said. It’s one of those instances where you don’t have any choice but to keep showing up."
Decker, 30, is the Lions' longest-tenured player. He takes pride in this. When the team drafted him 16th overall in 2016, he expected to play here for his entire career. He's well on his way to doing that. He's never made a Pro Bowl, but Decker is one of the game's steadiest left tackles at a position where steadiness is hard to find. The Lions trust him to protect their quarterback.
In the season opener this year, Decker injured his ankle so badly early in the game that he thought he broke it. He played through the pain to help the Lions take down the Chiefs. The injury -- a high ankle sprain and bone bruise -- forced him to miss the next two games, but Decker returned in Week 4 with the understanding that "it's probably just going to fu*king hurt." It throbs a little less when the Lions are winning.
The Lions are built on their offensive line, the engine of their high-powered offense. Decker tends to go under-appreciated on a unit that features All-Pros and Pro Bowlers in Penei Sewell, Frank Ragnow and Jonah Jackson. Perhaps this is a testament to his consistency: Play well enough for long enough at a position where mistakes stand out, and people stop noticing how good you are.
"He just comes out and does his job," said Sewell. "Typically when you don’t hear about an offensive tackle, he’s doing great things. But man, more people need to be talking about him. He’s been ballin' and he’s been doing it for a while now. Big dog needs the respect that he deserves."
The respect Decker craves comes from his teammates, his family and his fans. He has it. He fought back tears talking about his parents, especially being a parent now himself. They were at the game on Sunday and they would hug him when it was over, like they've always done since he started playing football in first grade. He got choked up talking about his wife, Kyndra, and their daughter who turns one this month. They're a deep breath for Decker in his high-intensity job. They're the balance he needs.
And Decker swallowed hard when he thought about the fans, "because all the stuff that I’m talking about having to go through, they went through it, too," he said.
"They’ve been dying for a winner. It’s just special to be able to deliver on that to them and see the excitement in the city. People are buzzing. Football in our country is uplifting for people. As frustrating as it can be for people, it can do the opposite, it can be happiness for them for three hours where maybe they gotta go back to work tomorrow and they’re grinding -- but their team won, so they can go talk sh*t to their friends at the water cooler," Decker said with a smile. "It’s special."
Two years ago, the Lions drafted a left tackle seventh overall. But Sewell wouldn't replace the one they already had, because there aren't many better than Decker. The Lions transitioned Sewell to right tackle, and now they have an anchor on either end of their offensive line. Sewell, 23, talks about Decker like a big brother, which might sound trite. But these bonds aren't a given in the cutthroat world of the NFL.
"He’s meant a lot to me ever since I came into the building," said Sewell. "He’s shown me nothing but love. He really took me under his wing. Any question I had, he was quick to answer. It wasn’t like those other vets you hear about, those type of stories where they don’t want to help. He's been a great guy and really been big in my development here, just growing into the player I know I can be."
In Week 6, the first-place Lions will play the first-place Buccaneers in a game that was recently flexed to a 4:25 start. It will be Detroit's third high-profile kick-off of the season. Decker remembers a time "when nobody wanted to watch us play and nobody thought we were a good team and nobody ever thought we were going to get it right." That was as recent as last season. This is the season Decker's been waiting for.
"It makes me even more grateful for the success that we’re having now," he said, "because I had to live the flip side of that for a long time."