Dexter Lawrence was not on the field much in the second half of this past Sunday’s 34-27 loss to the Lions, and his absence was especially notable on the first play of overtime, when Jahmyr Gibbs ran untouched 69 yards for a touchdown to give the Lions their winning points.
Lawrence desperately wanted to be out there.
“I mean, this guy was like in tears on the sideline, just wanting to be out there with the players,’’ interim head coach Mike Kafka said.
Of his many issues this season, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen — fired by Kafka on Monday — has admitted that at times he has not had the ideal personnel on the field.
The defensive meltdown in Dallas back in Week 2, with Lawrence not in the game on a fateful play, comes to mind. Still, it was stunning to look out onto the field at the start of overtime in Detroit and not see Dexter Lawrence lining up at his nose tackle spot.
Did Bowen make another game-day error by not having Lawrence in the game? Actually, no.
Lawrence said he got “nicked up this game.’’ He said it happened in the first quarter, and after that, his playing time was limited.
“They were just allowing me to get to third down and get some good rushes,’’ Lawrence said. “Of course, as a competitor I always want to be on the field, but understood the process and the game plan, and I trusted it.’’
This is why Lawrence played only 31 of the 68 snaps on defense.
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Kafka said the injury “kind of flared up again during the fourth quarter,’’ but Lawrence would have been in the game if the drive continued. That did not happen because the Lions scored on one play — one without Lawrence on the field.
“He was a guy that was battling through this game, this injury, and probably just toughed it out for us and was trying to give us everything he had,’’ Kafka said. “And so, the decision was just to kind of play him in like those pass situations, second and longs, third and longs, so he can be a factor on a limited snap count. I thought that was the right thing to do in handling it and hats off to Dexter for toughing it out and working through that because he got dinged up pretty well.’’
