Detroit Lions RB Ameer Abdullah: I can handle goal-line carries
Dave Birkett
The Detroit Lions might have a simple solution for their recent red-zone woes already on their roster: More Ameer Abdullah.
Abdullah, the Lions' leading rusher with 369 yards on 101 carries, said Thursday he would welcome the chance to be the team's short-yardage back if given the opportunity.
"I feel like I’m a good player," Abdullah said. "And I wouldn’t be standing in front of you guys if I didn’t bring something to the table."
Abdullah does not have a carry on third down this season, and he has just eight rushes in the red zone, including a 3-yard touchdown run against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4.
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Abdullah said he has no plans to ask coaches for a bigger role in the red zone ahead of Monday's game against the Green Bay Packers. The Lions made five trips to the red zone in Sunday's 20-15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, came away with nine points on three field goals, and twice got stopped in goal-to-go situations at the 1-yard line.
"I’m never going to tell the coaches what to do," Abdullah said. "I mean, their job is to design, to put us in the best situations. My job is to execute under any circumstance, and it don’t matter if he calls me a toss play with no blocking in front of me, I’ve got to do my best and I’m never going to tell the coaches what we should or shouldn’t do."
Still, Abdullah hinted he wants more carries in short-yardage situations while talking with reporters Thursday.
When asked what the Lions need to do to be more successful on running plays in the red zone, he said, "Call them, for one. Two, execute them when they’re called. Three, score."
The Lions have used Dwayne Washington (when healthy) and Zach Zenner as their primary short-yardage backs this year with little success.
Washington, who suffered a brain injury against the Steelers and practiced in a red no-contact jersey Thursday, is averaging 2.9 yards a rush on his 15 carries. Zenner has 16 yards rushing and one touchdown on 10 attempts this season.
The Lions rank last in the NFL in short-yardage conversions of third- or fourth-and-1.
"I just think whatever we do, we got to execute whether we run or pass," Caldwell said. "When we ran it, we didn’t execute it well. When we threw it, we didn’t execute it well."
Though Abdullah has a history of injuries in his first two NFL seasons and is considered on the smaller side for a running back at 5 feet 9 and 203 pounds, he was a prolific every-down back in college at Nebraska, when he scored 19 rushing touchdowns as a senior.
He said the Lions are "close" to solving their red-zone woes, but that "almost doesn't count."
"Brandy had a very famous song back in the day, 'Almost Doesn’t Count,' " Abdullah said. "And almost doesn’t count, so we definitely got to make it count Monday."
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Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.