Dan Campbell doesn’t sound worried about losing Amon-Ra St. Brown or Ennis Rakestraw Jr. for the Vikings game. Both are banged up, and Campbell said Monday he expects both to sit out Wednesday’s practice and return Thursday, one day after Detroit’s 20-17 win over Green Bay.
St. Brown never left Sunday’s game and didn’t carry an injury designation, but the Lions kept him out of the locker room because he was getting treatment on a swollen ankle. Campbell addressed both players together Monday: “He and Ennis, I think those guys will probably sit Wednesday, but the plan is to get them going Thursday, and I think that they’ll be fine. They should be good,” Campbell said, before adding, “Now, we’ll see when we get there, but — yep.” Rakestraw left Sunday’s game early with the ankle issue. Campbell called it “not major” and said he expects Rakestraw at practice Thursday.
Losing either player for Sunday’s visit from the unbeaten Vikings would sting. St. Brown just posted his best game of the season, nine catches for 153 yards, and Rakestraw was part of a five-man cornerback rotation — alongside D.J. Reed, Roger McCreary, Rock Ya-Sin and Khalil Dorsey — that Campbell said he’ll keep using regardless of who’s healthy. For now, both injuries read as manageable, with the real test coming when the pads come on Thursday.
Sewell’s Decoy Route Sets up Touchdown
Penei Sewell lined up as a tight end in the red zone Sunday, and the route he ran drew a linebacker and a safety away from Jameson Williams, clearing him for a 10-yard touchdown catch on second-and-9 from the Packers’ 10. Sewell split out next to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Isaac TeSlaa, released upfield, and never got the ball — but it’s the reason Williams came free on the other side.
“Yeah, I knew there was a possibility, but Jared’s got the ball, and he didn’t want to go my way,” Sewell said. “So, we got a touchdown, so that’s all I care about.” Jared Goff said afterward he would have thrown to Sewell had the linebacker not followed him, and guard Tate Ratledge needled his left tackle watching the replay: “Throw it to him! He sat… They worried about you.” Williams, who caught two touchdowns for the second straight game, called it “actually crazy”: “Sewell is a spectacular player, so he’s taking defenders with him. It was kind of like a zone, so I sat down.”
It’s one snap, but it fits a larger pattern. Sewell is tied for seventh among tackles in pressures allowed this season, and Detroit’s line — which cratered the unit’s reputation in 2025 — is now deep enough that Cade Mays is pushing Juice Scruggs at center. A left tackle who can also draw safety help in the red zone is one more weapon a defense has to account for.
Dorsey Earns Bigger Role in Secondary
Khalil Dorsey played just 14 defensive snaps against Green Bay, and two of them erased explosive plays — enough to get Dan Campbell talking about him unprompted. Dorsey, normally a special-teams gunner, was part of a three-man outside rotation with Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Rock Ya-Sin as Detroit reshaped its cornerback plan to handle the Packers’ pair of 500-yard receivers.
“I thought (Khalil) Dorsey, man, stepped in and did some big things,” Campbell said, awarding him a game ball. “There was no panic, made some big plays downfield.” Dorsey logged one pass breakup to go with the two plays he kept off the board. Campbell told reporters the plan was to rotate the group deliberately: “That was a plan coming in. Hey, we’re going to use all of them… When guys step out and make plays, you can get more opportunities. That’s the bottom line, man.” Dorsey played 20 total defensive snaps all of last season.
Dorsey can line up at safety as well as cornerback, which matters with Roger McCreary sliding inside to the slot in sub-packages and rookie Keith Abney II holding down a safety spot. Campbell’s framing was conditional — more snaps if the plays keep coming — but after a month in which Detroit fielded the league’s worst pass defense, a special-teamer forcing his way into the conversation is exactly the kind of depth Kelvin Sheppard’s unit needed.
Campbell Defends Fourth-Down Gamble
Dan Campbell said Monday his fourth-and-1 gamble from Detroit’s own 24-yard line wasn’t a leap of faith in the play call — it was faith in what would happen if it failed.
The play itself fell apart — Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon sliced through for a 2-yard loss on Jahmyr Gibbs — but Campbell’s backup plan held. Green Bay drove to the Detroit 22, Josh Jacobs dropped a would-be touchdown, and D.J. Wonnum blocked Trey Smack’s 35-yard field goal attempt. “Field goals from there are pretty high-percentage, so to miss that fourth-down conversion and get the ball back with no harm, no foul is awesome,” Goff said. “Hats off to our defense and D.J. for the block.” Goff then led the Lions down the field, finishing 22 of 32 for 301 yards and two touchdowns — he now has 14 touchdown passes and zero interceptions through six games, matching Russell Wilson’s 2019 pace. Asked why he doesn’t throw the ball even more, Campbell said: “He’s just playing at such a high level, continues to play at such a high level. It’s like, how do you not put it in his hands more than we are?”
This article was created by aggregating Detroit Lions news using Artificial Intelligence.
