DJ Wonnum changed the game for the Detroit Lions in a way most of his own teammates didn’t even catch in the moment.
The defensive tackle got just enough of Green Bay’s potential go-ahead field goal late Sunday to help keep the game tied, and that tiny touch ended up looming huge in Detroit’s 20-17 win over the Packers on Oct. 25. Trey Smack’s 35-yard try with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left drifted wide of the right upright after Wonnum got his right middle finger on it.
If Smack makes that kick, Green Bay grabs a three-point lead and forces Dan Campbell to live with a failed fourth-down gamble at Detroit’s own 24-yard line from the previous possession. Instead, the Lions stayed alive, got the ball back in the tie game and worked their way into position for Jake Bates’ game-winning chip shot as time expired.
Most of the Lions sideline had no idea Wonnum was the reason the kick missed until after it was over.
When Penei Sewell was told, his reaction was simple.
“Crazy,” the Detroit Lions All-Pro left tackle said.
Jared Goff sounded just as stunned.
“Awesome, amazing,” the star quarterback said.
Brian Branch needed the play explained to him before he could fully process it.
“He tipped it?” the safety said after a 20-17 victory over Green Bay on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Branch was then told yes, Wonnum had gotten a piece of the 35-yard attempt, and he didn’t hesitate to point reporters in the edge defender’s direction.
“You should be interviewing DJ,” Branch told an audience of reporters.
They already were.
Wonnum ended up at his locker with a cluster of media around him, the Lions’ quiet difference-maker suddenly front and center after a play that barely registered live for most people in the building.
“I grazed it,” he said. “When I turned around and looked … it was a great feeling.”
For Wonnum, the kick block was a payoff for a week of work that he said made this moment possible.
“We knew this game was going to come down to the wire,” he said. “Any edge we could get, were going to take advantage of it.
Throughout the week, we focused on field-goal block. That’s a real thing.”
The Lions had already been getting a feel for it during the game, according to Wonnum, by consistently pushing the Packers line back on the earlier point-after tries and field-goal attempts.
“We were doing it the whole game,” Wonnum said.
Then came the biggest snap of all.
Wonnum burst through, raised his right arm and got enough of the ball to change its path. From the field, it looked like a simple miss. On replay, it was clear the fingertip mattered.
“I didn’t know that,” cornerback D.J. Reed said.
Plenty of others didn’t know it either, but once the Lions realized what Wonnum had done, the praise started rolling in.
That included Goff, who called it “a huge individual effort” after learning the details.
Wonnum came into the NFC North matchup with some recognition already built on his pass rush. The seventh-year edge defender, who signed with Detroit in March, led the team with five sacks before Sunday.
This time, though, the biggest play in the game came on special teams.
“He came [up] clutch,” Branch said.
And that was enough to tilt the night Detroit’s way.
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