After a stinging Week 2 loss to the Buffalo Bills exposed the Detroit Lions' reliance on rookie tackle Blake Miller, it felt like sight for sore eyes to see him listed as a participant in practice ahead of Week 3.
He felt the same, according to team reporter Tim Twentyman:
"It sucked," Miller said Wednesday of missing the Bills game. "Not being there for my team was horrible."
It sounds like he'll be good to go for the Lions' next game against the Jets, but it's far from an easy ramp up back to action for Miller. With New York touting their own star rookie in David Bailey, Miller will have his work cut out for him attempting to block the bull-rush that Bailey has.
Rookie clash will make Lions-Jets a must-see game in Week 3
Bailey's begun the year hot: the rookie edge rusher has eight pressures on the year in addition to five hurries and a forced fumble. He's also got two sacks on the season, and with the way he's been playing, it'd be surprising to not see that number jump up even more against the Lions.
Of course, that's if Miller is unable to contain Bailey.
Miller's been excellent as a pass blocker so far, although we only have one game's worth of a sample size on him. In his first game against the New Orleans Saints, he allowed zero sacks, zero quarterback hits, and had no penalties. He also only allowed one pressure, as the line overall looked really solid in their debut. Then, injuries struck, and they lost their momentum against the Bills.
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It's a great thing that Miller will be back to act as a Bailey stopper in this contest, because there would be nothing more demoralizing than to come off a loss to Buffalo to then get dominated by a rookie edge rusher.
Pressure was the name of the game for the Lions last week, with Jared Goff continuing to throw under duress (and look good doing it, for what it's worth). Detroit cannot just accept that as their new reality, though.
Miller's fully aware of the kind of player he'll be battling on Sunday, with him telling Twentyman:
"I remember sitting there and talking to my other tackle in college and we were like, 'This guy is a special player.' Got out there during the game and he was a really good player and have kind of been vindicated a little bit with his success in the league and where he was drafted."
He'll have his hands full with him and Will McDonald IV in Week 3, although presuming the rest of the starting line is healthy for this contest, Miller should have plenty of help up front to help protect Jared Goff and create space for Jahmyr Gibbs. It's an unmovable object versus an unstoppable force kind of game.
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