When Penei Sewell found out, only one word came to mind.
“Crazy,” the Detroit Lions All-Pro left tackle said.
Jared Goff had a similar reaction when he was made aware.
“Awesome, amazing,” the star quarterback said.
Brian Branch was just as gobsmacked upon hearing what actually occurred.
“He tipped it?” the safety said after a 20-17 victory over Green Bay on Sunday, Oct. 25.
Branch had just been informed that yes, defensive tackle DJ Wonnum had managed to get his right middle finger on Packers kicker Trey Smack’s 35-yard field-goal attempt that veered wide of the right upright with 3 minutes, 21 seconds left in the game.
Had Smack converted the attempt, Green Bay would have taken a three-point lead and made Lions coach Dan Campbell pay for a failed
fourth-down gamble at Detroit’s own 24-yard line on the previous possession. Instead, the score remained tied, and the Lions were given another opportunity to break the deadlock. They took advantage, cobbling together a drive to set up Jake Bates’ game-winning chip shot as time expired.
The last-second win might not have materialized if not for the hand of Wonnum.
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“You should be interviewing DJ,” Branch told an audience of reporters.
Many already were.
Wonnum, the Lions’ previously unsung hero, was surrounded by media at his locker.
They had come to hear how he made a game-changing play that went unrecognized by most – if not all – of his teammates.
“I grazed it,” he said. “When I turned around and looked … it was a great feeling.”
Before this weekend, Wonnum had begun to earn recognition in these parts for his pass-rushing exploits. The seventh-year edge defender, who signed with Detroit in March, entered this NFC North clash with a team-high five sacks.
But on Sunday, it was his special teams highlight that earned him praise.
“That’s a huge individual effort,” Goff said after he had learned what Wonnum did.
According to Wonnum, the Lions’ work behind the scenes in the leadup to the game set the stage for his big moment.
“We knew this game was going to come down to the wire,” he said. “Any edge we could get, were going to take advantage of it. Throughout the week, we focused on field-goal block. That’s a real thing.”
Whether the preparation would amount to anything was uncertain when the game began. But Wonnum seemed confident it would bear fruit after the Lions were able to consistently knock the Packers line back on Smack’s previous point-after attempts and field-goal tries.
“We were doing it the whole game,” Wonnum said.
Then they did it one more time with the Lions’ fate hanging in the balance.
Wonnum broke through and thrust his right arm in the air.
The ball glanced off his fingertip and missed its target.
In real time, it seemed Smack simply shanked the go-ahead field-goal attempt. But as replay showed, the hand of Wonnum may have altered the kick’s trajectory, and in turn, the outcome of the game.
“I didn’t know that,” cornerback D.J. Reed said.
Not many Lions players did.
Yet when they found out, they gave Wonnum his kudos.
“He came [up] clutch,” Branch said.
Indeed he did.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: DJ Wonnum's hand gives Detroit Lions grip on NFC North again
