Battered Lions offensive line passes test in win over Raiders
Nolan Bianchi
Detroit — There’s nothing like Monday night.
So when Detroit Lions rookie lineman Colby Sorsdal woke up Monday morning, he was understandably a little amped. Sorsdal, a fifth-round draft pick out of William & Mary, was preparing for his first NFL start after the entirety of Detroit’s interior offensive line was ruled out with injury.
The results were immaculate: Rookie Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 152 yards on 26 carries (5.8 yards per carry), Craig Reynolds had 74 on 14 and the Raiders were limited to just one sack while the Lions’ pass protection held up for a majority of the game in Monday's 26-14 win.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said they "did a heck of a job" kickstarting the run game and credited offensive line coach Hank Fraley with preparing yet another first-time starting combination.
"We know Sorsdal can run off the football, he's shown that. (Awosika) can play with good pad level and has some power," Campbell said. "Have we ever worked that combination together? No, but you got to try, and they got it going."
Sorsdal got the start at right guard, while veteran Graham Glasgow started at center for the absent Frank Ragnow (toe/calf) and Kayode Awosika at left guard for Jonah Jackson (ankle). While it was Sorsdal’s first start, it wasn’t his first NFL appearance: He was asked to sub in at right tackle during the team’s Week 3 win over Atlanta after Matt Nelson and Dan Skipper were knocked out of the game. Skipper got playing time later Monday night as Awosika left with cramping.
“I definitely felt a lot looser coming out, ready to go. When you know you’re playing, it’s just a little bit different,” Sorsdal said. “I can’t really describe it.”
Perhaps the best part about Sorsdal’s first NFL start came long before the game kicked off. Sorsdal and his dad went out to dinner Saturday, before it was public knowledge he was starting.
“We were getting dinner and I was like, ‘Hey, you know, something’s on my mind, like, I gotta tell you something. I’m starting Monday night,’” Sorsdal said. “He was like, ‘What?’ He freaked out, so it was really cool.”
One one hand, the start for Sorsdal represented life being born into an NFL career. For Glasgow, the man next to him, it represented one of the “ups” of a long journey.
Glasgow — who arrived at the game dressed as an emo punk rocker — was drafted by Detroit in 2016 and was a starter at several positions for the Lions before spending two seasons with the Denver Broncos. He suffered a season-ending injury in his first season with Denver before being released in March, 2022.
Glasgow was brought back by the Lions this offseason as a depth option but has come in clutch as a starting-caliber reserve. Through the first eight weeks, he’d played 86 snaps at center, 75 at left guard and 294 at right guard. He said postgame he thinks he’s playing the best football of his career at 31 years old.
“It feels good. It feels good, but I mean, this game is very humbling in a lot of ways. I think that it’s nice — everybody’s career has ups and downs, a roller coaster,” Glasgow said.
“But it feels good to have some ups.”
It probably feels good to lend a helping hand along the way. Sorsdal said Glasgow is a wealth of information for him.
“I feel like a lot of my improvement from the spring is because of him and the vets in the room,” Sorsdal said. “Playing next to Graham was really cool, because he just helps me out if I don’t know stuff.
“I mean, I know the stuff, but sometimes there’s a freaky look where I’m like, ‘Graham, what the heck is going on?’ He’s awesome. He’s been a great role model for me.”
Twitter/X: @nolanbianchi