Carlos Monarrez

Detroit Free Press

Detroit Lions running back Theo Riddick stood at his locker, trying to get dressed after Sunday’s 26-19 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Ford Field. The run game managed 14 yards against a Jaguars team that entered the game ranked 29th against the run.

The run game struggled. But Riddick’s efforts to just get dressed after the game bordered on heroic. His right hand, mangled from a collision with a helmet, was wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage. He needed assistance in putting on a bracelet.

Riddick is 25, but he resembled someone three times his age trying to get dressed. He was so slow and deliberate in his movement that he quietly apologized for taking so long. What an irony for the player who is considered the quickest and most elusive on the team.

By the time Riddick was fully dressed and speaking with reporters after leading the Lions with eight receptions for 70 yards and four carries for 13 yards, and after the adrenaline and the rush of the game and everything else had worn off, Riddick said it was no big deal.

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“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “Nothing crazy. Things happen. Physical game.”

But Riddick’s actions belied his words. Even after the bye, Riddick was limited with an ankle injury all three days of practice last week. In the first half Sunday, Riddick was in and out of the game with his hand injury. He had four catches and one carry in the first half.

In the second half, the offense continued to sputter. Rookie Dwayne Washington finished with 13 carries for 6 yards — a 0.5-yard average. So they turned to Riddick, who ran onto the field with a blood-soaked hand and kept the chains moving.

“I just think we all were playing well,” he said, “trying to do the best we could with the ball in our hands, and we made some good plays.”

But left tackle Taylor Decker knew better. He knew what Riddick was going through during the game and how he managed to be effective.

“He’s an unbelievable athlete,” Decker said. “He can just make guys miss. He can really make plays. Maybe the blocking isn’t the best on a particular play but he can make something happen. I think that’s really, really invaluable to have on your team.”

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Riddick’s was a quietly powerful performance and an invaluable one. Without a running game to respect, the Jaguars’ eighth-ranked defense might have entirely engulfed the Lions’ offense. Instead, Riddick kept running onto the field, bloody but unbowed. Lewan is a rookie, but in his short time in the NFL he has become friends with Riddick and sees in him one of football best examples of professional fortitude.

“And I know one thing I like about him,” Lewan said. “He’ll go throw a shoulder on a defensive end if he’s going to chip or something like that. So me, as an offensive lineman, to see a running back that will go and try to saw people in half, I like that. I respect that.”

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!