DETROIT — Coming into Thursday, Eagles rookie cornerback Eric Rowe had played just six snaps combined in the last five games.
On Thursday, he had to stare across the line of scrimmage into the dark visor of Calvin Johnson and try to stop him.
Was it a fair position to put a rookie in?
“I mean, I think that’s just like the NFL right there,” Rowe said. “Next man up is our motto. It can happen to anybody in the league. So, fair spot, I really didn’t think of it that way. I just thought of it like I have to go out there and do my job.”
The second-round pick was thrust into action against the Lions when starting cornerback Nolan Carroll left the game on a cart in the second quarter with a broken right ankle (see story). Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford looked Rowe’s way soon after.
Defensive coordinator Bill Davis tried multiple things to stop Johnson on Thursday, and none of them worked as the Lions stomped the Eagles, 45-14 (see Instant Replay).
“I blitzed almost half the calls," Davis said. "I blitzed a lot more than I had in the last couple weeks. We had doubles, we had brackets, we moved in and out of coverages. We had to scramble a little bit. We just have to adjust. Everybody’s playing. We’re looking at everybody. They all played today."
Johnson ended up with eight catches for 93 yards and three touchdowns. All three of his touchdowns came after Carroll left the game. Johnson became the seventh player in the modern era to have three touchdown catches against the Eagles (see 10 observations).
Two of those touchdowns came against Rowe, who had decent coverage but couldn’t get to perfectly placed balls from Stafford.
“I feel like we did our job, they just had great throws and great catches,” Rowe said. “I feel like our game plan was good going in.”
After Carroll went down, the Eagles were left with Byron Maxwell, E.J. Biggers and Rowe as the remaining corners; Denzel Rice was inactive.
Since Carroll broke his ankle, the Eagles will need to depend on Rowe to fill in. Going against a receiver aptly dubbed “Megatron” is as tough a start as any.
“At first, it’s kind of surreal but then after the play kept going, I just looked at [Johnson] like another guy,” Rowe said. “He’s just another guy I have to kind of match up with. At first it was kind of surreal because it’s Calvin Johnson, one of the greatest right now. But as the game went on, I was like, 'OK, he’s just another guy right now.'"
