I’m sure as a kid (or an adult), when you were outside, you would go searching for little treasures, lifting any log or rock you could find, and the majority of the time, you would come across a lot of creepy crawlers. Well, the Detroit Lions lifted a massive rock this offseason and found their own bug, Isaiah Buggs, to be more exact.
I know it’s a bad pun joke, but seriously the Lions struck gold when they brought in Buggs after the sudden retirement of John Penisini. He fits exactly what GM Brad Holmes and Coach Dan Campbell are trying to build in Detroit as a man with grit, tenacity, and a no-quit attitude. Even though Buggs was a late addition in the offseason, it has not stopped him from turning into not only an impact player but a leader in Detroit.
The way Buggs presents himself, you would think he is a seasoned vet, but this is only his fourth year in the league, and he is making one massive impression on a defense full of young talent. Even Aidan Hutchinson has spoken out about Buggs and how much of an impact he has made in Detroit.
“He’s huge. He’s really become one of the vocal guys in our room,” Hutchinson said of No. 96. “Kind of I’m not going to say it came out of nowhere. But it’s something that, when we were down and out, he was one of those guys that was an anchor for our team. Now he’s going out there and making the plays. It’s just that’s what you want your leaders to do.”
Buggs is about as selfless as they come, usually not blowing up the stat sheet, but that is due to opening up avenues for others to make their impact felt. Now and again, though, the silent assassin comes up with a play of his own, and none of them were bigger than the forced fumble against Dalvin Cook this past week.
.@BigPooh_91 forced the fumble and @JKERB25 came up with the recovery!#MINvsDET 📺 FOX #ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/Xmdwv0mkP1
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 11, 2022
The Lions were up by a touchdown, but the Vikings were looking to double-dip as they would receive the ball to open the second half. It was 1st-and-goal, three yards from the end zone, prime territory for the dangerous Dalvin Cook. The play did end up going to Cook, but the Vikings were trying to catch the Lions off guard and have Cook dump it to one of their tight ends. The play might’ve worked as the tight end was open, but Buggs had other plans as he blew through the line and knocked the ball out of Cook’s hand into his teammate Kerby Joseph’s.
The reason for the immediate disruption is because Buggs caught wind of the something and instantly notified his teammates of the trickery,
“We smelled a rat. I kinda smelled it at the beginning, they was doing a lot of talking and I kinda smelled it out. I had to alert the line, let them know what was going on and then just went and made a play.”
The Lions rookie pass rushers, Hutchinson and James Houston, have been quite the tandem as of late, recording sack after sack. One of the reasons why they can tee off like they are is because of the focus offenses have to put on Buggs. The pressure he can create in the middle is nothing you can ignore because if Hutchinson was able to get the sack, Buggs was right there waiting for Cousins to clean up the mess.
Aidan got him, but look what Isaiah Buggs does to the poor Viking RG. https://t.co/EPtlzs4g05
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) December 11, 2022
Coach Campbell noticed Buggs’s effort this week and rewarded him with a game ball during the locker room celebration. Campbell referred to Buggs and others as “glue guys” to describe the hard workers that do the dirty work and may go unnoticed. Even Buggs got the game ball for this week; it’s the effort he has brought every week this season.
“If you don’t have enough of those guys, you won’t win in this league and you need a certain amount you certainly need the guys that can give you some juice over the top and all those things as well,” Campbell said. “But man, if you don’t have the guys that are just 100% unselfish, do exactly what they’re asked to do. Do all the dirty work, it’s hard to get places. But we do, we’ve got a lot of those guys and we trust a lot of those guys and we value them.”
The Lions are the talk of the league right now as they continue to show doubters they are for real and are hungry. They are fighting for a playoff spot, and if you ask anyone, the Lions are probably a team you don’t want to run into with how they have been playing as of late. The defense has stepped up massively, and you don’t have to look any further than Buggs, who helped elevate the players as the motivator and dominator for Detroit. He has been a diamond in the rough, and Buggs himself can sense the tides changing surrounding the Lions,
“I love this team. This team coming together tremendously. We finding a way how to win. And everybody is just buying in, collectively — the coaches, the players, everybody. We’re a family here. And as long as we keep doing that, we’ll continue to win.”
