Sometimes it’s your quarterback, sometimes it’s your All-Pro running back, sometimes it’s your sack specialist. Once in a while, when you really need it, it’s your punt returner, the guy you take for granted on all those fair catches and 3-yard dives into a pile of bodies.
Until you really need him.
And then he’s your life jacket.
Kalif Raymond, all of 5 feet 8, was that guy on Sunday. Here was a game mired in the mud, the Super Bowl-hopeful Detroit Lions hosting the ever-struggling Cleveland Browns, and in the fourth quarter it was still too close for comfort, just a 20-10 lead. The Lions had thrown an interception and dropped long passes and drawn too many penalties and lost some key guys to injuries.
It just felt like they were swimming in goo, letting the Browns hang around, perhaps perilously. After all, the week before, Cleveland had scored all its points in the fourth quarter to stun Green Bay, 13-10.
And then a Browns punt landed in the hands of the 31-year-old Raymond, a guy who played college ball with the Holy Cross Crusaders, an undrafted speedster who has been signed and released so many times by so many teams, he should come with his own real estate agent. He took that punt and headed down the sidelines, then cut diagonally into overdrive and left everyone behind.
He raced into the end zone, 65 yards, touchdown, and the nervous crowd at Ford Field breathed normally again. Once they stopped cheering.
Everybody loves Raymond.
“It’s just a blessing to be out there, man,” Raymond said on the field, after the eventual 34-10 win that his punt return shook loose. “We got so many weapons on this team, when you have a ball come your way, you better make the most of it.”
He made the most of it. He also shook loose a game that might have slipped into a danger zone. After the touchdown, he ran into the stands and handed the ball to his wife. She gave him a kiss.
Everybody loves Raymond.
Detroit Lions find new outlet
“Man, I don’t know if I can say enough great things about ‘Leaf,‘” Campbell said. “He’s such a stud.”
Campbell, like the rest of the Lions, gushes whenever he has the chance to extol Raymond, who reportedly once wore three pairs of socks and big boots just to look taller to college recruiters. He embodies the “team” concept and mirrors Campbell’s relentless drive to never give up, despite six different stints with four different franchises before finally finding a home with his fifth team, Detroit, in 2021.
Campbell admitted he and his staff had spoken about letting Raymond take more chances with his returns this week. That looks like a brilliant decision now.
“He was aggressive all game,” Campbell noted. “The guy just said, ‘Ok, you want (a touchdown return), I’ll give you one.‘”
Everybody loves Raymond.
Browns brought problems
Now let’s be honest. One of the problems for a team with Super Bowl aspirations is that facing weak opponents doesn’t offer you much. At best, you beat a squad everyone expects you to beat. At worst, you lose, and everyone squawks about the upset.
In-between are games like Sunday’s. Yes, the Lions beat the Browns, handily, in the end, as they were expected to.
And yes, they had some nice plays, like an 8-yard Jahmyr Gibbs wiggle for a touchdown, and a diving interception by D.J. Reed, and a forced fumble and three sacks and a quick-hit pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown for a score – and, of course, Raymond’s heroic punt return.
But Detroit also struggled with things that usually come easy, and much of the game felt as if it were being played uphill. Rushing the football was tough, especially up the middle. David Montgomery’s first six tries got him 6 yards.
There were too many untimely penalties. Potential interceptions were dropped by the defense. And Jared Goff had one nice connection with Jameson Williams followed by seven straight misses between them, including some bad drops and an ugly interception.
Then Reed went down with a hamstring injury and Terrion Arnold left with a shoulder injury, meaning the Detroit cornerback room had officially moved into the flashing red light district.
All these things led to a level of concern you don’t really want when playing at home against a decided underdog.
Raymond put that to rest. The defense, energized by his play, put the screws to the Browns offense, forcing a three-and-out on the next series and a fumble on the one after that. The Lions drove 20 yards for a cushion touchdown, soon it was over and they were 3-1.
“We can be so much better,” Goff said afterwards.
That’s true. Then again, as Campbell warned, “You should be careful grading wins.”
Right, better to deposit them quickly into the bank, pull your hat down and keep moving.
Lions, Browns were both right
By the way, know this about the Browns. They may not excite a lot of people (outside of Myles Garrett, their most talked about player is probably their third string quarterback, Shedeur Sanders) but they do play tough defense.
They came into Ford Field allowing just 204 yards per game in total offense. That’s stingy. And they were to rushing attacks what a fallen tree is to a stream – hard to get through.
There was even a small war of words during the week, with Lions offensive coordinator John Morton saying Cleveland had “not seen a run game like ours yet” and Garrett countering that the Lions had “not seen a defense like ours yet.”
Well, they saw each other. And they were both kind of right. The Browns bottled up many of the Lions’ attempts and definitely thwarted the power game of Montgomery.
But the speed game of Gibbs proved too much. He finished with 91 yards, a touchdown and a couple of big-burst runs. And remember, this was against a Browns defense that held Baltimore’s Derrick Henry to 23 yards and Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs to 30.
Also remember the Lions were playing the early Sunday slot after a marquee road win Monday night against the Ravens. The risk is always that a team like the Browns might be seen as less of a challenge. Human nature is human nature. It can make you come out slow.
Which the Lions did Sunday.
But it’s how you finish that matters.
“Look, the grand scheme of things, coming off a big win, Monday night, short week, (we came) out, find a way to close that out and played really, really good defense,” Campbell said. “I was proud of the guys for that. Is there a lot to clean up? Yes, there is. There’s a ton.
“(But for) now, that’s win No. 3. Onto the next one.”
Indeed. Sometimes it’s your quarterback who gets you over the hump, sometimes it’s your running back, your sack specialist, heck, even your placekicker.
And sometimes it’s the gamer who keeps hanging around, who never let a pink slip bother him, who does one of the most dangerous jobs in football, never complains, and when he gets his moment of glory, runs into the stands and gives the ball to his wife.
“It was cool, man,” Raymond said of that celebration. “We’ve always kind of wanted to have a moment to ourselves and as soon as I was out, I was like, ‘Where’s my wife? Where is she?’ But all I see is her, and she’s got a bun in the oven right now.”
A bun in the oven, a football in her arms, a husband who’s the hero of the game and a city that on Sunday would never let him pay for his own beer.
Everybody loves Raymond.
Maybe he could play for the Tigers this week?
Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom on x.com.
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