Lions' Kenny Golladay more focused on mistakes than TDs in rookie debut
After catching two touchdowns in his NFL debut, Detroit Lions wide receiver Kenny Golladay walked across Ford Field, looking for someone special.
Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, now in his 14th season.
“I told him, pretty much, how I look up to him,” Golladay said, after the Lions’ 35-23 victory over Arizona. “I appreciate his game. He’s another big receiver. He gave me a few words of wisdom.”
Golladay now has two career TD catches.
Fitzergerald has 104.
“The dude is an All-Pro,” Golladay said. “You can learn a lot from him.”
And Golladay can learn a lot from this game.
Early in this game, the rookie looked like a newborn horse, standing for the first time.
Wobbling. Uncertain. About to fall down.
And nothing was going right for him.
In the first quarter, Lions quarterback Stafford threw a deep ball to Golladay but he couldn’t come down with it.
Then, Golladay had a false start, a mental error that turned a third-and-short until a third-and-long.
“Everybody saw that,” he said.
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Then, at the end of the third quarter, Golladay couldn’t come down with a two-point conversion.
Through the first three quarters, he was targeted five times but had just two catches for 14 yards, and the Lions were trailing, 17-15.
“Look, I had a rough first half,” Golladay said. “Probably a rough second half.”
The game was faster than anything than anything he experienced at Northern Illinois or in the exhibition season.
“It’s going 100 times faster,” he said.
Welcome to the NFL, kid.
On the sideline, Golden Tate grabbed the young receiver. “GT said to play my game,” Golladay said.
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Then, everything switched for this third-round draft pick.
In the fourth quarter, Matthew Stafford hit Golladay in the left corner of the end zone for a 10-yard TD, giving the Lions their first lead.
“At that point, I needed it,” he said. “I felt I needed to make a play. Matt threw a great ball. I just had to go get it.”
Did he keep the ball?
“I did not,” he said. “I forgot all about it. I was just excited.”
His next one?
Oh, that was a thing of beauty.
He lined up on the right side of the formation and sped down the sideline. He stretched out, like somebody diving head first into a shallow pool. Arms out. Fingers out. All 6-foot-4 of him.
Somehow, Galladay came down with the ball, kept possession and finished the play.
“Really, once again, Matt just gave me a shot,” he said. “Let my skills do the rest. Left my feet. Used all hands and made a nice catch.”
A 45-yard touchdown catch.
“Did he do everything right today,” Stafford said. “No. Did he make some big time catches? Yes.”
He finished with four catches for 69 yards.
“One game doesn’t mean a whole lot,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell downplayed. “Let’s look at it over a period of time. But do we expect him to be a good player? Yes. We do expect him to be. But he’s got to go out there and prove it.”
Later, in the locker room, Tate was asked about Golladay.
“That’s a great way to come into this league,” Tate said. “Big time catches. And a pair of touchdowns that we needed. He set a standard.
“He better bring that every week.”
Golladay stood a few feet away.
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“I know, for me, there is going to be a lot of corrections for that first half,” Golladay said, pausing briefly. “And for the second half.”
He seemed more focused on his mistakes than his touchdowns.
Which might be the best news of all.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/.