The Lions have a deep list of playmakers on their offense and different ones have stepped up at different points to help the team to a 12-1 record and a playoff berth this season.
Wide receiver Tim Patrick got his chances to join that list on Thursday night and he might be the most improbable addition of them all. Patrick missed the last two seasons after tearing his ACL and Achilles in back-to-back summers while with the Broncos and then joined the Lions practice squad after getting cut this summer. Patrick carved out a role and earned a spot on the 53-man roster, but he wasn’t able to make it back to the end zone for the first time since 2021 until Thursday.
Patrick liked it so much that he did it twice. He scored in the third and fourth quarters of the 34-31 win and said in the locker room after the game that it wasn’t a plan for him to be featured, but that “it just fell my way” and that he was savoring what it took for him to get to this point.
“The journey was long, but it was worth it and made me the man I am today,” Patrick said. “It brought me here to Detroit. I’ve won the most games I’ve ever won in my career, just had a two-touchdown performance on Thursday Night Football. I’ve got like 30 reporters in front of me right now, I’m just very blessed and thankful.”
Things may fall a different way in the weeks to come, but a big lesson of the Lions’ season to date is that they have no shortage of players ready to answer the call.
