More than six months later, Amon-Ra St. Brown’s memories of Detroit LionsThe one-point loss to the Dallas Cowboys last December was still sharp. It wasn’t just the controversial call that overturned a potential game-winning two-point conversion at the bizarre — and bitter end. It was also his charged interactions with Cowboys cornerback Jourdan Lewis, the former Michigan football come out.
“He was talking crazy,” St. Brown said on “The Pivot podcast,» released in July. “Some (stuff) I’ve never heard.”
He could face all that again on Sunday, when he and Lewis face off once again at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The conflict between St. Brown and Lewis is one of the latter’s juicy subplots Lions-The Cowboys game, which is one of the most intriguing in Week 6 on the NFL slate.
Given the opportunity to defuse his personal conflict with St. Brown, Lewis instead opted to ratchet up the tension when he spoke with local Dallas media earlier this week.
“I just remember him going on a podcast to try to vent me,” Lewis told reporters. “We’re going to face each other, so we’re going to see each other and we’re going to play a match together. We’ll see what’s real and what’s not. »
Consider these combative words — the type of incendiary rhetoric that can motivate St. Brown, who prefers to let his play speak for him.
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“Yeah, in general, don’t get too involved,” he said Thursday. “I might respond to something a little bit, but for the most part it motivates me, keeps me going. So, I love it.
In the last meeting with the Cowboys, St. Brown had six receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown. While facing Lewis, he was targeted twice, according to Pro Football Focus. St. Brown caught one of those passes for an 11-yard score near the end of regulation. Lewis, a Cass Tech alumnus, stepped in on the other side, causing a rift.
“He’s a good player,” St. Brown said.
He is also a bit of an instigator.
“There are some people who talk a lot,” Lions forward Jameson Williams said after a question about Lewis was raised Thursday. “You just have to handle it the same way we handle it. Go ahead and make a few plays and maybe it will stop.
But that was never the case for George Pickens last Sunday. After he and his Cowboys teammates limited Pittsburgh’s No. 1 receiver to seven catches for 26 yards in a 20-17 victory, Lewis ran toward Pickens at the end of the game and appeared to taunt him. Pickens then lashed out in a fit of frustration, grabbing Lewis’ mask with such force that he threw him to the ground. That prompted Lewis to take a kickoff as he headed to the locker room.
“Pittsburgh needs a receiver,” Lewis said. “George Pickens is weak.”
Lewis can’t use the same adjective to describe St. Brown, a two-time Pro Bowler who has become one of the league’s best slot receivers.
Conventional wisdom suggests that St. Brown’s inspiring rise from 2021 fourth-round pick to NFL star would help protect him from the invectives hurled by others in the heat of the moment.
“Because I feel like as you get older in this league, you start to respect the players more and what they do and the work that we have to do every week,” St. Brown said.
But last December, St. Brown found out the hard way that wasn’t the case when he faced Cowboys player Lewis. fiery provocative.
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So it goes, St. Brown said.
Yeah, Williams repeated, that’s what it is. But, as he explained, they won’t take the bait if Lewis tries to lure them offside with his trash talk.
“We don’t really go after guys who try to take your game away,” Williams said. “I feel like I can speak for the guys in the locker room when I say that.”
That includes St. Brown, a receiver who usually has the last laugh after being offended.
Contact Rainer Sabin at [email protected]. Follow him @RainerSabin.
This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions Amon-Ra St. Brown seeks last word against Jourdan Lewis
