How 'voodoo magic' helped Sam LaPorta return from knee injury, score Lions TD vs. Rams

Sam LaPorta wore a hulking brace on his left knee, like the one offensive linemen wear for extra support in the trenches, and he'll probably sport the device for the rest of the NFL playoffs.

But the fact Detroit Lions rookie was on the field at all Sunday was a bit of a marvel.

LaPorta hyperextended his knee in last week's win over the Minnesota Vikings and played through a painful bone bruise that kept him off the practice field most of the week. He played 80% of the Lions' offensive snaps in Sunday's 24-23 win over the Los Angeles Rams, caught three passes for 14 yards and scored a crucial 2-yard touchdown on fourth down in the second quarter.

"It’s a credit to (our training staff)," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "It was kind of 24-hour care there. I don’t know all the voodoo magic they did to him, I can’t explain all of it, but it was critical. And just getting the swelling out, and getting it to where it felt better, and to where he trusted it."

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Campbell said he felt good about LaPorta's chances of playing by the middle of last week, but the first-year tight end still had to get comfortable with the pain.

LaPorta worked some on the side at practice Thursday and was a full participant in Friday's workout, but the Lions still tweaked their offensive game plan Sunday to account for his injury.

LaPorta made the key pulling block on David Montgomery's 10-yard run to the right on the Lions' first play from scrimmage, and Campbell said "we put in some things to really spread the ball around to our other guys" in the passing game "because we didn’t know if we would have him entirely."

Josh Reynolds (five catches, 80 yards) factored heavily into the passing attack in the first quarter, and Amon-Ra St. Brown finished with team-highs of seven catches, nine targets and 110 yards.

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"You could tell by Wednesday he was, ‘All right, I can do this,’ and it just got better and better every day," Campbell said. "So, credit to all those guys and certainly Sam. I mean he’s tough. He’s tough, and he wasn’t going to let it hold him down."

LaPorta caught his first pass on the game's opening drive for 8 yards, and his 2-yard touchdown with 7:12 left in the first half gave the Lions a 21-10 lead. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson schemed a mismatch for LaPorta on his touchdown, flexing him into a bunch formation out of the Lions' jumbo package, where he drew a one-on-one with Rams outside linebacker Michael Hoecht.

"That dude’s a stud, and I told him that all week," Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. "And he battled. I don’t know if people quite know how badly he was hurting throughout the week to get himself ready to go for that game, takes a lot of guts, takes a lot of strength and courage. And he helped us today. He really did. And he’s a hell of a player.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How 'voodoo magic' helped Detroit Lions TE Sam LaPorta play vs. Rams