St. Brown Not Rattled Despite Struggles: 'I Use It as Fuel'

Can St. Brown rebound against Denver Broncos?

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has had an excellent season in 2023. Continuing his career ascension, the third-year wideout is viewed among the top wideouts in the league. 

As a result, the pass-catcher has drawn increased levels of attention from opponents in recent weeks. Against Chicago in Week 14, St. Brown was limited to just three catches for 21 yards on nine targets. 

The offense was limited to just 13 points. Armed with plenty of talent at skill positions, the Lions have been traditionally one of the league's most explosive offenses under Ben Johnson. 

As a result, the players were not thrilled with Sunday's output. 

"We, as an offense, have high expectations. We know, the guys in our room, we've got a bunch of good players that can make plays," St. Brown said. "So when we only put up 13 points, the whole offense is, we're disappointed, we're frustrated. We know we can be better as an offense. We've just got to execute, everyone do their job and I feel like we'll be fine." 

St. Brown noted that he uses underwhelming performances as a motivator to improve. The unit felt slighted and disappointed by their showing against the Bears, and felt an enhanced sense of urgency to improve this week. 

"For me personally, I use it as fuel. I can't speak for everyone, but I think us as an offense, we kind of use it as fuel too," St. Brown explained. "We know the guys in our room, we know we've got a bunch of playmakers and for us to only put up 13 points, for us as an offense that's a disappointment. We were excited to come in this week to work, go out to practice, do what we do best, get back to the basics and just play and have fun." 

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St. Brown has been seeing more attention from safeties, and the Bears were solid in their zone coverage scheme in an effort to negate big plays.

That extra attention has hindered his production. Heading into Week 15, he's focused on not allowing this to set the offense back. 

"You know, maybe a little. Maybe on third downs, maybe a safety coming down to help. Whatever it is, like I said, for us as an offense, we've got to do what we do best at the end of the day," St. Brown stated. "If you're focusing too much on what the defense is doing, at the end of the day we run the plays, they have to guard us and go where we go. So we've got to just execute as an offense. Everyone has to do their job, including me, and I think we'll be fine." 

The wideout explained that the offense as a whole has been seeing different coverages in an effort to slow down their passing game. 

"I mean they're not playing me much different. Maybe some different coverages in total that we're seeing as an offense," St. Brown stated. "For us, it's just getting back to what we do best, getting back to the basics and being explosive. That's the biggest thing, when we're explosive, we're a pretty good team."