Sam LaPorta isn't sweating his slow start. After a pair of quiet games on the heels of a hamstring injury he suffered in training camp, the Lions Pro Bowl tight end said Wednesday that his "body is feeling really good."
"Only Week 3, so looking forward to a long, healthy season and a lot of wins," LaPorta said.
Dan Campbell said Tuesday that the Lions were "trying to be smart" with LaPorta's workload in their season-opening win over the Rams after he'd been sidelined for the latter stages of camp. And some of that caution "bled into last week," said Campbell, when LaPorta caught just two passes on three targets for 13 yards in the Lions' loss to the Bucs.
His totals through two games -- eight targets, six catches, 58 yards -- almost match his averages from last season. Asked if he's hungry for more, LaPorta said, "Of course it's awesome to be a part of the production. Obviously, the biggest goal is to win games."
"It's great that we have a really creative offensive coordinator and the offensive coaching staff in general, so I know they're going to find ways to spread the ball around," he said. "Some games, targets might find you. Sometimes, they may not. If I can help contribute with a couple of catches, it's great. If not and we still win, that's awesome."
If not and they lose, well, that's harder to swallow. The Lions went 1-for-7 in the red zone against the Bucs, and LaPorta didn't get a single red zone target -- though he did draw a pass into the end zone from Jared Goff on which the Bucs got flagged for roughing the passer. He only got one red zone target, an incompletion, against the Rams.
LaPorta was dangerous in the red zone last season. Of his 10 touchdowns, which led all tight ends, eight came inside the red zone, four of which came from inside the 10. He had another crucial touchdown from the 2 in Detroit's playoff win over the Rams.
The Lions have typically been great in the red zone under offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, finishing third in the NFL last year and fourth the year before that. They are 3-for-11 on scoring touchdowns this year, which ranks 27th.
"Coach Johnson, he said to blame himself," LaPorta said. "Of course, we're the 11 guys out there on the field so we feel like we're credible for everything that we put out there on the tape as well. I'm sure you can expect some more creative play calls as well as better execution. We had a couple penalties in the red zone last week, we went backwards a couple times, which is unacceptable. It's just going to make it harder for you to score down there."
The other limit on LaPorta thus far is that the Lions have so many mouths to feed on offense. Jameson Williams is healthy and playing more than ever, Amon-Ra St. Brown is Goff's favorite receiver and Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery are pass-catching weapons themselves. And LaPorta is a focal point for opposing defenses after he took the NFL by storm last season.
"I'm not sure if they're game planning specifically for me," he said. "There's weapons everywhere. You see Jamo the last couple weeks have huge games, you see No. 14 last week with a bunch of catches, over 100 yards. There's guys everywhere. The defense really has to keep their eyes on a multitude of guys, so if they're game-planning for me and it opens up other guys, that's great.
"If not, I'm going to do my best to get open and create some explosive plays for the offense."
After St. Brown, LaPorta was Goff's favorite target last season, especially on key downs. He threw to him 120 times for 86 catches and 889 yards. More than half of those catches moved the chains. Their chemistry obviously remains strong.
Goff said Wednesday that he fully expects LaPorta's role to expand as his workload grows in the weeks ahead. He was back to his normal allotment of snaps last week, so his breakthrough could come as soon as Sunday against the Cardinals.
"I try to add as much value as I can for this offense, for this organization," said LaPorta. "I say that frequently, mostly because the tight end position gets asked to do a bunch of different things within the offense."
"He’s as good a tight end in this league as it gets," said Goff. "Of course we want to get him as involved as we can."