Eric Ebron Thinks Lions Would Be In Better Situation If He Were Healthy
Eric Ebron was back at practice Wednesday after a bruised knee kept him out of the latter part of the game against the Seahawks, as well as the last week of practice.
"I'm physically fine," Ebron said. "I look good, don't I?"
Ebron injured the knee against the Seahawks, and originally thought the diagnosis would be much worse. He told ESPN's Josina Anderson afterwards that the injury was a bruise, and that he would be out for about three weeks.
But with Ebron already being back at practice Wednesday, that timeline could potentially speed up.
"I'm 22," Ebron said. "I ain't 40 like most of these guys. I'm gonna be all right."
The fact that Ebron had to miss a game was disappointing for the second-year player, who also missed three games last season.
"A game that I should have absolutely tore apart? It was hard," he said of missing the Lions' 42-17 loss to Arizona. "It still hurts because we shouldn't have been in that situation. If I would have played, we wouldn't have been in that situation. But stuff happens. It's the NFL. You risk your life every time you go out there. It hurts."
In order for the Lions' offense to open up, Ebron said, he needed to be there to "do what I do best."
This season Ebron has caught 15 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. He also has the highest yards-per-reception mark (11.9) on the team, out of the players who have caught at least 10 balls.
The second-year player out of North Carolina has been targeted 23 times this season in the three and a half games he's played.
And although quarterback Matthew Stafford has shouldered a large share of the blame for Detroit's offensive woes this season, Ebron said it's also on the players around him to make him look better.
"Like T.O. said, man, that's my quarterback," he said. "That's our quarterback. That is our leader and we look up to Matt. … I still look up to Matt; we all do. And that's who runs our offense. We have to continue to stay with him, which I do. To me, mentally and physically, that's one of the best quarterbacks. We just have to help him out and show it, man. We're not doing a good enough job to help him. We've had a lot of mental mistakes group-wise around him and we've just got to go in and help him."