Winded on the sideline after playing every snap in the Lions' first touchdown drive last Thursday, "I'm like, I love this feeling, finally feeling like I'm tired," said Isaac TeSlaa.
"When I'm getting in sporadically, I got time to catch my breath and my legs aren’t getting fully loose," he said. "But after that first drive when I’m kind of huffing and puffing on the sideline, I feel loose and now I’m in the flow of the game."
Like you're playing football again? "Exactly," he said with a smile.
TeSlaa entered the Lions' 31-24 loss to the Packers on Thanksgiving knowing he'd have a bigger role with Kalif Raymond sidelined by an ankle injury. Then Amon-Ra St. Brown went down with an ankle injury of his own on the second drive of the game. TeSlaa went from filling Raymond's spot in 11 personnel to playing almost every offensive snap for the Lions -- 58 in total, more than double his previous career-high the week prior. Fortunately, he had prepped himself for every possibility.
With Raymond still out and St. Brown's status in doubt for Thursday night's collision with the Cowboys, "now I gotta focus on the whole game plan because basically I’m gonna be playing the entire game," said TeSlaa. "It’s not like, 'Oh, s**t, this is the week I gotta lock in.' I’ve been locked in. But now there’s a little more importance."
The Lions loved TeSlaa so much in this year's draft that Brad Holmes spent three third-round picks to get him. If ever there was a time for the rookie to pop, this is it. In addition to two of their top three receivers, the Lions could be missing their top two tight ends Thursday night in what feels like a must-win game, with Sam LaPorta (back) down for the season and Brock Wright (neck) likely to miss his second straight game with a wounded trachea.
TeSlaa doesn't want to overhype the moment, but grinned and said, yeah, he's got "a little more swagger" this week: "I gotta bring the juice that Saint does (if he can't play). We’ll see what ends up happening, but definitely a lot of confidence and a lot of excitement."
Down near the end zone, Jared Goff likes looking TeSlaa's way. Hard to blame him. As Lions quarterbacks coach and former Pro Bowler Mark Brunell said Tuesday, "Very good hands and a big target, which is huge." With the Lions in the red zone trailing the Packers by 10 in the third quarter, TeSlaa and Williams ran a two-man concept to the end zone that looked doomed when the Packers dropped five defenders in coverage -- until all of them were drawn to Williams.
TeSlaa was running a clearing route "and then I got behind the linebacker and I saw, like, 18 guys guarding Jamo and I was like, 'Oh sh*t, let me just curl right up here and then JG rolled out and hit the throw." It was a quick improvisation by the rookie, whose chemistry with his veteran quarterback continues to grow. Goff's pass came in lower than TeSlaa expected, "but I’ll catch anything that comes my way," TeSlaa said, "so I wasn’t too worried about it." He went to the ground and secured his third touchdown of the season.
In what could be a shootout with the high-scoring Cowboys, the Lions will need more highlights from TeSlaa, especially if St. Brown can't go. Tom Kennedy will also be involved after stepping up last week, and TeSlaa is the first to acknowledge that "the main focus in 12 personnel is probably going to be getting Jamo the ball and I'll be running those clear-out routes." Williams shined in St. Brown's absence last week with season-highs in targets (10), catches (7) and yards (144).
TeSlaa caught both of his targets for 35 yards. He doesn't necessarily need a pile of targets to make an impact Thursday night. One clutch catch, in the right area of the field, could change the game. TeSlaa's route tree doesn't really change with his bigger role, he said, "because they’re still gonna put me in positions that they know suit my strengths ... it will just be a heavier workload for me."
Last week was an accelerator for TeSlaa, Lions wide receivers coach Scottie Montgomery said Tuesday. He was thrust into a role "that he hadn't practiced at all," and he had to fill it. This week, said Montgomery, "is the last piece," a chance for TeSlaa to translate the exact assignments he's executing on the practice field into a worthy performance in Detroit's biggest game of the year.
"This will be a good test for him," said Montgomery. "We’re looking forward to seeing how he comes out and performs."
"The kid’s got a bright future," said Brunell. "Very talented and he’s only going to get better. And he’s not afraid to stick his nose in there, which might be his best quality. It will be fun to see how his career plays out, because I think he’s going to be a real good one here for a long time."
For TeSlaa and the Lions, the future is now.