| Detroit Free Press
Breaking down where Detroit Lions go after deflating loss to Colts
Free Press sports writers Dave Birkett, Shawn Windsor assess the damage after the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Filmed Nov. 2, 2020.
Miles Killebrew’s first game as a father was one he’ll never forget.
Killebrew, whose wife, Kailah, gave birth to the couple’s first child, Stormi, Oct. 25, blocked a punt and had a big special teams tackle in the Detroit Lions’ 41-21 loss to the Indianapolis Colts last week.
“To see him break through in the first quarter the other day and really make a couple impact plays to set the tone for us early in the game, that was very cool,” Lions special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs said Tuesday. “I told him Saturday, I’ve been in a similar position. All three of my kids were born in football season. So been there a little bit, can relate, and I told him you’ll never forget your first game as a dad. You’ll remember a lot about it. So make sure that it’s good memories.”
Killebrew has been one of the NFL’s best special teams players during his five seasons in Detroit.
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He has 43 special teams tackles since 2016, sixth most in the NFL during that span, and leads the Lions with six coverage stops this season.
On Sunday, he became the first Lion to block a punt since Casey FitzSimmons on Dec. 23, 2007.
“To block a punt in the NFL is really hard, right?” Coombs said. “I think the last decade or so, I think the average is 14 a year, so less than one per week leaguewide. It’s not easy to do and it’s really almost impossible to do without some sort of error on behalf of the punt team. If everybody over there does their job, snappers and punters, they get the ball out too fast. It’s just tough. But that doesn’t mean you just throw your hands up in the air and say, ‘Well, we can’t do it, they’re going to do their job.’ For us it’s about creating pressure, moving things around, moving parts around, doing whatever we can to make the opponent perform in a high-pressure situation.”
The Lions created enough confusion with their punt rush to give Killebrew a clear path to Rigoberto Sanchez early in the first quarter.
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He was the third of four rushers lined over top of three blockers to the right of snapper Luke Rhodes. Romeo Okwara, the first Lion on that side of scrimmage, looped his rush inside against Rhodes, and when personal protector Khari Willis and tight end Trey Burton both picked up Jarrad Davis, who was blitzing from off the line, it gave Killebrew a direct line to Sanchez between Jahlani Tavai and Jamie Collins.
Collins recovered the blocked punt, and the Lions scored their first touchdown two plays later.
“Really one thing that we preach in our punt rush meetings all the time, to the point where the guys like to give me a hard time for being repetitive, but you just have to rush as if you’re the guy every time,” Coombs said. “As we’re creating pressure for the opponent, it might be designed to hit on one side of the formation, but the way that it breaks down, it might be somebody totally unexpected that comes free. So that’s why it’s really important that all 11 guys are out there doing their jobs, got the pedal to the metal, because if you wait until after you realize it might be your opportunity, then it’s too late. It happens too fast. It’s 1.8 seconds, so you’ve got to expect to be the guy every time. Miles did a great job of doing that and then once he found himself in the position to make the play, making it.”
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For Killebrew, the block came one week to the day after Stormi’s birth.
Killebrew did not travel to the Lions’ Week 7 win over the Atlanta Falcons, though he said in a pregame interview on the Lions radio network last week that he was trying desperately to figure out a way to make both the game and the delivery.
He didn’t, which made Sunday all the more special.
“That was cool to kind of see the look in his eyes after making a couple of those plays,” Coombs said.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.