After being snubbed for the Pro Bowl last week, Amon-Ra St. Brown said his only option was "to go harder." Then he caught seven passes for 144 yards and a touchdown in the Lions' win over the Vikings in the regular season finale.
"I was ready," he said. "I was excited. It is what it is, but I don’t know how many 1,500-yard receivers with 10 touchdowns didn’t make the Pro Bowl. I guess I gotta look that up to see."
St. Brown sets big goals for himself at the start of each season. He needed 129 yards and a touchdown Sunday to hit two of them this year. So when he caught a pass on a go route down the sideline on the first play of the fourth quarter and found himself 40 yards from pay-dirt, he ran from one side of the field to the other and eventually through three tacklers make it into the end zone.
"I know you guys asked me what my goals are at the beginning of the season, and I don’t tell you. One was 1,500 yards, the other was 10 touchdowns," said St. Brown. "So going into the game, I was like, I need to get 1,500. That was my goal and I got it, so I was excited."
St. Brown's numbers through three seasons are staggering, forgetting the fact that he was a fourth-round pick. He had 90 catches for 912 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie, 106 catches for 1,161 yards and six touchdowns last season and 119 catches for 1,515 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. Since his breakout game against the Vikings in Week 10 of his rookie year, St. Brown is first in the NFL in catches, fourth in yards and tied for fourth in touchdowns.
He's one of the elite wide receivers in the game, Pro Bowler or not.
"Saint is playing some of the best football you’re going to find right now on the offensive side," Dan Campbell said Sunday.
Now St. Brown can set his sights on the playoffs. He said he hasn't played in a do-or-die game since high school, but he feels made for the pressure-packed environment of postseason football.
"It’s going to be my first time, I don’t really know what to expect. For me, it’s just going out there and doing whatever I can to help the team win. Whether that's zero catches and 10 pancake blocks to get the dub, or 20 catches and we win, whatever it is, whatever it takes, I’m gonna do. I’m just excited to go out there with the guys and try to make a run at this thing," he said.
Raise the stakes and St. Brown will raise his game. Doubt him and he'll make you believe. All he's done since entering the NFL is prove himself right, that he's one of the best in the business. His work here is far from done.