DETROIT _ The Detroit Lions' football offensive line had a great day protecting Matthew Stafford and didn't allow the Los Angeles Chargers to sack their quarterback once.
Naturally, a celebration is in order.
"Great feeling keeping Stafford safe and that's really our No. 1 job," right tackle Rick Wagner said Monday. "When that happens, we celebrate a little bit."
Of course, these are offensive linemen. So you can forget about champagne and night clubs.
"We'll have doughnuts tomorrow," Wagner said.
For the second straight week, the Lions faced a pair of elite edge rushers. The Chargers' Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa are both Pro Bowlers who have had double-digit sack seasons. But in Sunday's 13-10 Lions win, neither of them got to Stafford. In fact, L.A. registered just one quarterback hit, and that was by defensive back Desmond King.
It was a big improvement from the opener, when the Cardinals sacked Stafford three times and registered 10 quarterback hits.
"The first game didn't go the way we wanted it to," Wagner said, "so we wanted to learn from that and come out and have a better performance yesterday. I think we all worked together as a group very well."
It also was an encouraging sign of the offensive line's depth. With starting left tackle Taylor Decker inactive because of a back injury, Tyrell Crosby stepped in and played well.
Wagner said there's room for improvement, especially helping the run game, which averaged just 3.4 yards against the Chargers. But keeping Stafford clean remains paramount.
"Oh, yeah. That's our main concern," he said. "We take a lot of pride in keeping him upright. When we have games like that, we're definitely proud.
"But it takes everybody. It takes Stafford getting the ball out quick. It takes the receivers getting open. So it's really a whole offensive effort."
