00:00Detroit Lions trying to find the right answers with stud TE on injured reserve.
00:07Alan Park, Sam Laporta is one of those irreplaceable types of players for the Detroit Lions.
00:13He's a lethal pass catcher over the middle and has the type of skill set that pairs well with
00:18Jared Goff's. The Lions have a ton of confidence in Brock Wright's ability to step into the TE1
00:25role. But Wright isn't the type of dynamic receiving option that Laporta is. When offensive
00:31coordinator John Morton was asked when the Lions miss Laporta the most, he said. All the time.
00:38Laporta posted 40 catches for 489 yards and 3 touchdowns in 9 games. He's since been placed
00:46on injured reserve with a back injury, and while the Lions are hopeful he'll return this season,
00:51they just aren't sure. And that's another issue to account for on offense.
00:57Well, obviously, serious, enough to where we are talking about four weeks here,
01:02Lions coach Dan Campbell previously said. So, obviously, we're going to hope that this
01:08thing calms down, and after those four games, we can get him back. But we're really just taking
01:14this day by day, week by week. Pro football focus ranks Laporta as the second-best tight end in the
01:21NFL to this point. He ranks 16th in pass blocking and doesn't have a drop across 49 targets.
01:29The tight end has missed only nine passes thrown his way this season, which deserves some love after
01:35all-pro Amonare St. Brown caught only two of 12 targets in Philadelphia last week. I mean,
01:41he's a hell of an all-around blocker, receiver, he can do it all, Morton said. But he was really
01:48reliable on third down in the red zone, that's the biggest thing. But his blocking on first and
01:54second down. I mean, the way he's improved with his blocking, it's just been awesome. So,
02:01our other guys, all the tight ends have got to step up. The Lions leaned on Wright heavily in the first
02:07game without Laporta. Wright played a season-high 49 snaps against the Eagles, catching two passes on
02:14seven targets for eight yards. To Wright's defense, he was wide open on the tipped ball interception in
02:21the first quarter and near the goal line on a failed fourth down play. But they used veteran tight end
02:27Ross Dwelly for only one offensive snap. And Jackson Meeks, who has been working with the tight ends and
02:33wide receivers, only played one, two. Jammer Gibbs was the leading receiver, making the most of his
02:40opportunities out of the backfield. The Lions running back had five catches on eight looks for
02:46107 yards, with a long gain of 42 yards via a lethal screen pass design. With Laporta out and the Lions
02:54looking for new ways to open things up, look for Gibbs and others to pick up the slack. There could also
03:01be more meat on the bone for receivers Khalif Raymond and rookie Isaac Taysla. The Lions have
03:07talked for months about wanting to get Taysla more involved, and this could open the door, especially
03:12after increasing his snaps last week. Yeah, not having Laporta, it's a tough deal, Morton said.
03:19I always smile when you bring up Laporta. I'm not smiling right now. No, but this gives everybody else
03:27some opportunities, and then we have to be creative, and that's the fun part. We love that part,
03:34game planning. I love this. Trying to figure out things and trying to create mismatches here and
03:40there. So, we'll have a bunch of different packages, and I'm looking forward to it. We'll practice that
03:47today on third down. And even on first and second down, we're putting guys in different spots.
Comments