Amon-Ra St. Brown Discusses Areas He, Offense Can Improve

Lions star receiver reveals what he learned from self-scout.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) runs onto the field for first half against Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field in Detroit on Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have been one of the NFL’s most productive offenses this season, averaging over 30 points per game through eight weeks. 

Yet, as wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown pointed out Thursday, there’s still one glaring area that needs improvement: third-down efficiency.

“As an offense, I think we need to be better on third down, mandatory,” the All-Pro wideout expressed. “I’d like to be more explosive personally. Just less 18-play drives, more four-play drives. I think we all would want that. But, I think third down’s the biggest thing. If we can take care of that and improve on that, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Despite ranking among the league’s top teams in scoring, Detroit sits in the bottom-half of the NFL in third-down conversion rate, converting just 37.65 percent of its attempts (22nd overall).

That lack of consistency on third down has cost the Lions opportunities to put games away early and has forced them to rely on longer possessions rather than explosive scoring strikes.

In their Week 7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit managed just three conversions on 13 third-down attempts – a telling sign that efficiency has lagged even in victories.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator John Morton have built an offense capable of explosive plays, but sustaining drives has been an issue at times. 

The pieces are there, though. Campbell & Co. are equipped with an elite receiver in St. Brown, a reliable signal-caller in Jared Goff and a dynamic backfield tandem with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. So, converting third downs will simply come down to better focus and execution.

If the Lions can clean up their situational football and improve on third down, they’ll not only extend drives but also reap the benefits of their full offensive firepower — something that could make Detroit even more dangerous in the second half of the season.

St. Brown, meanwhile, would like to also improve upon his own game. 

Through eight weeks, he’s amassed a team-high 50 catches for 538 yards and seven touchdowns (tied for the league lead with Philadelphia Eagles TE Dallas Goedert). Plus, the fifth-year pro is coming off a six-catch, 86-yard and one-touchdown effort against the Buccaneers.

Despite his strong start to the 2025 campaign, St. Brown is far from satisfied, and knows he needs to continue giving maximum effort each day in practice. 

“As the year goes on, you get tired and maybe your body’s hurting, but just making sure you’re going as hard as you can in practice,” the veteran receiver said. “Because to me when it comes to the game, there’s so many nerves and there’s so much excitement going into the game that everyone’s going to go hard. 

“You never realize that you’re lacking (something) when you’re in the game but when you sit back and watch the tape, maybe it’s, ‘I didn’t go as hard in practice.’ For me, it’s making sure I have that same intensity every day in practice, finishing reps, playing fast, so when it gets to Sunday, I’m not thinking about it, I’m just going.”