DETROIT -- It wasn’t quite a first for Eric Ebron, but Thursday against Minnesota was definitely something he hasn’t been used to recently. Ebron has turned into one of the breakout players for the Detroit Lions this season.

Then came the Vikings, and Ebron was shut out.

One target. No receptions. Yet Ebron was OK with this, and there’s a reason for it. Minnesota appeared to take Ebron out of the equation as part of its game plan, perhaps a sign of respect for the emerging tight end.

After making at least three catches in his first seven games this season, Lions tight end Eric Ebron had none Thursday against the Vikings. Andrew Weber/USA TODAY Sports

“It felt like, to me, their game plan today was slowly to keep me out of the game and they did a good job of doing it,” Ebron said. “But I made plays that doesn’t show up on stat sheets to help my team win and I’m proud, man.”

Ebron did have some hidden plays Thursday, including a couple of key blocks on screen passes Theo Riddick broke for larger gains. But Ebron’s contributions went beyond that. Many of his routes were, as expected, in the middle of the field, and drew a linebacker and sometimes safety Harrison Smith to cover him.

It’s not surprising the Vikings chose to focus some of their attention on Ebron. He had seven catches for a career-best 92 yards against Minnesota on Nov. 6 as part of his post-injury emergence. Based on a very unofficial count using the TV video of Thursday’s game, Ebron was double-covered on four plays and single-covered tightly on 11 plays. He was semi-open but not thrown to by Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford five times and actually open but not thrown to twice.

He was targeted just once, the second-lowest target total of his career (he wasn't targeted against Chicago his 2014 rookie season). It was the fifth time in his career he’s been held without a catch during an NFL game, but his first since Week 11 last season against Oakland, part of a multi-game slump that took him a while to break out of.

Last week’s shutout was different.

More often than not, Ebron was clearly not the first option Thursday for Stafford. By the time Ebron was out of his break, the ball was already on its way to the intended receiver on short passes. Minnesota also did a good job clogging the middle of the field to keep Ebron covered up. A combination of receivers Anquan Boldin (nine targets) and Marvin Jones (11 targets) were the primary beneficiaries with the attention paid to Ebron.

For one of the few times in his career, Ebron seemed to be one of the focal points of an opposing defense, something that’s a marked change from previous seasons, when he was consistently inconsistent. Ebron has become one of Stafford’s more relied-upon targets, a fact opponents appear to be picking up on more these days.

It’s why Ebron isn’t too annoyed by being shut out of the receptions column. It helps, of course, that the Lions won to improve to 7-4. But it’s also something else. The way Minnesota played him -- and really, Jacksonville the week before -- tells Ebron he’s starting to get some more notice from the league. And it also shows the Lions are starting to develop another option opposing defenses have to take seriously.

“I’m not too mad. When I was sitting there and I was thinking about it as the fourth quarter came along, I just thought to what my old college coach used to say. He goes, ‘Hey man, that’s called respect,'" Ebron said. “If defenses are starting to key on you and game plan for you, it’s considered respect, man. So that’s all I kept thinking about and I just went out there and made plays for my teammates blocking or whatever else I could, whatever I had to.

“If I was running a route, I knew I was a decoy. If I wasn’t getting the ball, I was going to change the defense so that works for me."

While it might have worked against the Vikings, though, the Lions will need to get Ebron active when they visit the Saints on Sunday.