These are the moments Taylor Decker has waited for. These are the games he won't let slip away. Eight years into his career, Decker is closing in on his first division title after helping the Lions rout the Broncos on national TV Saturday night at Ford Field.
"That was definitely one of our most complete games," Decker said. "It felt good to get back to who we are. We know we hadn’t been playing up to our standard. So to go out there in primetime, everybody’s going to be watching us, we came out tonight and played like we’re supposed to."
Decker was speaking of the team, but it felt like he was speaking to the offensive line. The Lions' sturdiest unit has wobbled of late, and it wilted in last week's loss to the Bears. Decker was especially complicit, allowing a career-high four sacks, per Pro Football Focus, in Detroit's sloppiest game of the season. His previous worst was two. Think that sat well with one of the steadiest left tackles in the NFL?
"I was very upset with how I played the week before and just know that is not my standard and not what’s expected of me. So it was important for me to come out here and play well tonight to just help everybody else," Decker said after Detroit's 42-17 win. "Because if somebody’s not doing their job, there’s a trickledown effect and it puts more stress on everybody. I try to pride myself on doing a good job week in and week out, and last week was not one of those weeks for me.
"You just come back to work and move forward and try to have a good game, and I thought I had a good game today."
Decker wasn't perfect, just typically solid. He permitted three pressures on 37 pass blocking snaps, while Penei Sewell permitted just one on the other end of the line. Back intact as a unit, including the return of center Frank Ragnow who was a week and a half removed from surgery on his knee, the offensive line gave Jared Goff the time he needed to pick apart the Broncos defense for a career-high five touchdowns.
"The performance that we can put together when we’re all out there," said Sewell, "you seen it, just like that."
Goff was pinpoint after a slow start, completing passes at will. He had a near-perfect passer rating over the final three quarters, yet another reminder that if the Lions go as Goff goes, Goff goes as the offensive line goes. It is not only the most talented group of players on the team, but the most important. On top of their stout pass protecting Saturday night, the big boys paved the way for Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery to pile up 185 yards on the ground.
"They played so well," said Goff, shaking his head in respect. "They did their thing tonight. They put it on their back in a lot of ways, and I was sitting back there pretty comfortable for most of the night."
"That’s our standard," said Sewell, "is to keep him clean. The facts show that when we keep him clean, we win the game. So the coaches challenged us to do that coming into this game, and I think we answered."
Decker has played a lot of games in December out of obligation, to himself, to his teammates, to the organization that drafted him in the first round in 2016. After playing his 100th game for the Lions earlier this season, Decker quoted his former quarterback Matthew Stafford who once said after playing through bruised ribs in a meaningless December game that he suited up "because I'm the quarterback of the Detroit Lions, and it was Sunday." The Lions' longest-tenured player is of the same mind -- "I feel like that’s what I was brought here for," Decker said -- only now he has a little extra juice.
"It’s just fun getting to play meaningful games this late in the season," he said. "I made the playoffs one time before, never won the division. It’s a testament to, I don’t know, just the group of guys we have, just continuing to work even when the results weren’t there in the win-loss column years back. It’s going to be fun to see what these last couple games have for us."
With a win next week in Minnesota, the Lions will win the NFC North for the first time ever. They will host a playoff game for the first time in 30 years. After hearing Ford Field rock and roar Saturday night, Decker would be lying if he said he hasn't thought about what it will look like, sound like, feel like when the moment arrives.
"A little bit," he said with a smile. "I’ve said you kind of have to dip your toe in the water, because that’s our goal. We want to do that. And that will be pretty special for the players in this locker room, for the coaches, and definitely for this city and the fans. I know they’re dying for it."