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Detroit Lions' Romeo Okwara injecting life into pass rush; Dan Campbell expects 'electric' crowd
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- Detroit Lions' Romeo Okwara injecting life into pass rush; Dan Campbell expects 'electric' crowd
The Detroit Lions have been searching for more edge rush help all season. They may have found some right under their nose.
Romeo Okwara had two sacks and a forced fumble in a resurgent December and has played good enough football down the stretch that he's in line to have a rotational role when the Lions open the playoffs Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams .
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"He's helping us out a lot," Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. "And you see his rep count really go up. And then putting him into packages to where he can be free, try to go one-on-one and get to the quarterback. So, we'll continue to do that, and man I'm happy for that player. I really am, because he's starting to see himself as a guy that can affect the game and we're going to put him in position to do that."
Lions defensive end Romeo Okwara tackles Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023.
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Okwara has had minimal impact since his breakout 10-sack season in 2020.
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He tore his Achilles tendon four games into the 2021 season, missed most of last year while still recovering from the injury and only recently began looking like himself again.
He has two sacks in 16 games this season, and had three in the 2021-22 seasons combined.
"I think that has a lot to do with it," Glenn said. "I think he's feeling much better from the injury. And listen, everybody's different and they talk about that Achilles injury, sometimes it takes you a year, maybe a year and a half to really get over that and get moving."
Okwara's role has fluctuated this season.
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He was a healthy scratch in a Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs and played as a rotational pass rusher for most of the early part of the season, but had seven games with single-digit snap counts before playing 34 snaps as the team's No. 3 defensive end last week.
Aidan Hutchinson leads the Lions with 11.5 sacks, and Josh Paschal has played as the No. 2 defensive end since his return from injury. Okwara said he feels "pretty good for being the end of the season here" and attributed his recent success simply to "the opportunities I'm getting on Sunday."
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Detroit Lions linebacker Romeo Okwara (95) on the sidelines during action against the Jacksonville Jaguars Saturday, August 19, 2023.
"When the coach, head coach says (we need more pass rush) I think you've got to take that as a personal challenge," Okwara said. "I feel like I try to take things very personal, especially when it comes to D-line play, rushing the passer. I pride myself on that front, so I think everyone in the room is just kind of on a race to improve on that front, especially towards the end of the season there. And yeah, I'm just trying to do everything I can to help this team win."
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Head games
Like most people, Dan Campbell has never seen a playoff game in Detroit. But the Lions coach thinks he has a pretty good idea how rocking Ford Field will be Sunday.
"To me, this is three years ago thinking about what this was going to be like and what it could be like and now it's here," he said. "And so, I know exactly what it's going to look like. I've seen it in my head. It's going to be different than anybody's seen. I think this is going to be one of the most electric environments, atmospheres that you're going to find, and I think it's going to be an advantage."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Romeo Okwara has injected life into Detroit Lions' pass rush
