Sam LaPorta 's rookie season is officially one for the NFL record books after his opening touchdown in the Detroit Lions' season finale against the Minnesota Vikings .
LaPorta caught the 10th touchdown of his rookie season to give the Lions an early 7-0 lead over the Vikings in the first quarter at Ford Field. The touchdown was the 81st catch of LaPorta's rookie season, which broke the 36-year-old record held by former Philadelphia Eagles tight end Keith Jackson for the most catches by a rookie tight end in NFL history.
However, his day turned from a celebration to a cause for concern quickly. With two minutes remaining in the second quarter, LaPorta left the game after staying on the ground holding his knee after being tackled on a 5-yard reception, before limping off under his own power.
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LaPorta set the record with some inadvertent trickery as he fell on his face while faking a block at the beginning of a play-action from the 1-yard line. LaPorta dove to the ground like he was executing a chop block on the end of the line, quickly got up, and dashed to the corner of the end zone, where he was wide open to make the record-setting catch for the early lead.
LaPorta has been consistently productive during his first season. The Iowa product has caught at least two passes in all 17 games, and has nine games of at least five catches entering the final week of the season.
Through 16 games and the first quarter of the Vikings game, LaPorta has 83 receptions for 870 yards and 10 touchdowns, which puts him in the top five of each major receiving category for rookie tight ends in league history. LaPorta is fourth all-time in receiving yards, trailing Jeremy Shockey, Kyle Pitts and Mike Ditka, and is tied for second all-time in touchdowns with Rob Gronkowski , two behind Ditka for the all-time record.
Jahmyr Gibbs , the other top rookie on offense for the Lions, also scored the 10th touchdown of his young career in the first quarter against the Vikings. It is the first time in franchise history the Lions have had two rookies combine for 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns, and gave Detroit its first ever trio of players to reach 1,000 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns in a season, along with veteran runner David Montgomery .
The dynamic "peanut butter and jelly" duo of Gibbs and Montgomery became the first running back duo in NFL history to produce 1,000 scrimmage yards and 10 rushing touchdowns each in the same season.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Sam LaPorta sets rookie TE catch record, hurts knee
