MUNICH – Not only is Amon-Ra St. Brown one of the NFL's top wide receivers and the league's biggest ambassador to Germany, he's also serving as a personal translator for his Detroit Lions teammates this week.
"'How do you say this? How do you say this?' I'm just like a personal Google Translate to them at this point," St. Brown joked Friday after Detroit's walkthrough practice ahead of Sunday's game against the Patriots.
"Asking me how to say certain things, asking me what to eat, what's good, what's good food. I'm kind of teaching them about the culture, it's a little bit different, but for the most part humans have an easy way of adapting so I think they'll be just fine."
St. Brown doesn't mind doing it one bit. In fact, he loves it.
This week is big for St. Brown, who is proud of his German heritage. He runs a youth football camp in Germany every summer and coming here to play a game in front of family, friends and fans means everything to him.
"All the fans, I can't wait for the game," he said in front of a packed media room at the FC Bayern Campus in Munich. "I'm so excited to be playing football in Germany with my teammates. It's really, honestly, a dream come true. I haven't even played the game yet and it feels amazing. The love, the support, the energy. I can't wait to see the fans, so yeah, I'm ready."
Detroit is looking for their fifth straight win Sunday against a New England team that's hungry coming off an 18-point loss to Green Bay last week. St. Brown figures to be a big part of the game plan as the Patriots rank 25th in the NFL against the pass.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell got a good sense of what this game means to St. Brown and how he wants to impact it for Detroit.
"I would say this week you just felt a little bit different pep in his step, a little bit more like, 'Hey, I'm about to show you guys a little bit something. I kind of know a little bit about this place, right? I've got some relations here, man. This is a little bit in my blood,'" Campbell said.
"And you could feel that a little bit. And I think that's pretty cool. We all want to win this game for us, for us as a team, for everybody that's coming to support us and has our back, our fans that have traveled. But for him, for him, because I know this is special for him and his family."
St. Brown wants to play well in front of the fans, win the game and said the icing on the cake would be a touchdown and a yet-to-be-determined German-themed celebration.
He has five touchdowns on the season but none since Week 3.
"I don't have it planned yet," he said. "I still have two days to figure that out. You know, I haven't been in the end zone in some weeks so I feel like Germany would be a great time to touch the paint again."
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES
The Lions face an explosive New England offense Sunday that ranks eighth in total offense and ninth in passing. Campbell said Friday they have to do a good job limiting Patriots quarterback Drake Maye's ability to get outside the pocket and extend plays because that's where he's deadly.
It will mostly be up to edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and his defensive linemates to handle that. It's something they've done a pretty good job with all season, particularly the last four games.
The Lions have talent and depth along their defensive front and face a New England team that's allowed 20 sacks on the year and leads the NFL with 19 giveaways. There could be opportunities to create some impact plays defensively.
"This is one of the best d-lines I've been around and the production speaks for itself. Just with how relentless everyone's being," Hutchinson said Friday about Detroit's 27 sacks on the year, which are third-most in the league.
"I think it's just when everybody's getting their opportunity because maybe one play they'll double me, DJ (Wonnum) will get a one-on-one, maybe one play, they'll chip (Wonnum), I'll have a one-on-one and people are just taking advantage of their opportunities,. Which is how you win games and how you cause a lot of pressure in the NFL."
PORK BELLY & SCHNITZEL
A fan came up to OL Penei Sewell on Friday after the team arrived in Germany and asked him if they could take a picture together. Sewell agreed to the photo, but first the person had to tell Sewell the go-to food in Germany.
"And he said, 'Pork belly and a schnitzel,'" Sewell said. "So yeah, those two are on my list and working on that."
EXTRA POINTS
- Running back Sione Vaki, who sat out practice Wednesday and Thursday back in Detroit with an ankle injury, was on the practice field Friday for the Lions' walkthrough as a limited participant. He was officially listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report.
- Campbell said quarterback Jared Goff showing up on the practice report with a chest injury this week won't his affect his availability for the game and joked it wasn't due to his blocking in recent weeks on Jahmyr Gibbs runs.
"Honestly, it was not really that big of a deal," Campbell said. "Any little thing we have to put on an injury report just so everybody knows. And so, it really wasn't. And he could have practiced Wednesday, but we just chose to let him sit, let him rest for a minute. And no, it won't affect his blocking, I promise you. Even our quarterback blocks, man."
