That first one was vs AZ, right ? I remember watching it after the Stafford trade because of the familiar opponent. Made it easier to assess /contextualize, imo. Rams TE Higbee put up good numbers vs that dreadful D as well (8 / 84, TD, 7/107,TD) with that powder-puff QB whatsisname behind one of the worst the worst Rams OL of my 40+ years of fandom .
I don’t remember Hock’s runblocking in that game or any other, for that matter, while LaPorta’s clearly keyed two rush TDs & several other run plays . I like LaPorta’s chances of being a better consistent key contributor because of that; a true TE vs a big WR just pretending to get favorable match-ups. Bit of a surprise; I thought he was going to be a similarly limited “boutique” TE, just cheaper. His floor is Higs who is really solid,imo. Ceiling TBD, as you say.
I have to say, it is rather nice the past couple years to see the headlines saying, “XXXXX Lions’ player set this NFL record”, rather than “XXXXX Lions’ opponent set this NFL/career record”. That has to at least show the teams is moving in the right direction to a degree, right?
