Big day for the traditional northern tier teams.
Cleveland (3-2) shocked the unbeaten 49ers at home, as a frenetic crowd in the old city on Lake Erie starts to think this could be a legit playoff season.
Buffalo (4-2) shook off a lousy night on offense and survived the Giants at home.
And Detroit (5-1), flexed to a national TV doubleheader game for the first time in forever, had probably 25,000 Honolulu-blue-clad fans in the house in Florida and beat the Bucs 20-6.
How crazy is this: If the season ended today, all three would be in the playoffs. And that has never happened before. This is the 64th season that all three franchises have been playing pro football, and Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo have never made the playoffs in the same season.
Let’s focus on Detroit. The win in Tampa was a perfect win for this edition of the Lions. Because it featured the perfect play. With 2:45 left in the first and the score tied at 3, Detroit had the ball at the Tampa 27-yard line. Jared Goff threw to Amon-Ra St. Brown over right end, and St. Brown turned upfield. It looked like cornerback Carlton Davis was fixing to drive St. Brown out of bounds in a pretty solid collision around the 18-yard line.
But here came running back Craig Reynolds from behind St. Brown.
“I just see Craig come out of nowhere,” St. Brown told me post-game, “and he hit Carlton Davis. Just blasted him. I saw it happen right in front of me. Craig made a huge block. Without Craig, that play’s a 10-yard gain at most. Without Craig, that play’s not happening.”
At about the 18-, Reynolds leveled Davis, knocking him off his feet completely. And St. Brown scooted in for the touchdown. I don’t remember a block from a running back as devastating as that one. To me, it said everything about the physicality and selflessness of the 2023 Lions, the team Dan Campbell has built to have both traits.
“It’s the way we play football,” St. Brown said. “We block hard. We run after the catch. We’re selfless teammates. We want what’s best for everyone on this team. We’re a tight group, especially on offense. We love each other. That’s just a testament to the chemistry that we built, the coaching our coaches have instilled in us since the spring. We’ve got to keep it going.
“We knew we were built for this. A game like this is just verification of it.”
Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.
