EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Detroit Lions cornerback Jamal Agnew started backpedaling. He knew New York Giants punter Brad Wing had gotten a good foot on the ball after punting it from the right hash mark, knew it was going to go far. So back the rookie went, trying to track it as best as he could.
For a second, he let his eyes drop down. Checked where the gunners were. Then, back to the ball. But he misjudged it a bit. So the start of what turned into an 88-yard punt return for a touchdown Monday night was almost a costly error.
Agnew recovered. Stuck his hands out and barely -- barely -- caught the ball before it hit the ground at the 12-yard line.
“It was pretty close to it,” Agnew said. “But I got my hands underneath it.”
Once he held the ball completely, it was time to work. Agnew started working the left side, but Giants defender Roger Lewis Jr. overran the play and was out of it before it even started. Besides, Nevin Lawson had been there as a blocker to give him over.
Agnew broke up the left side, looking for a seam near the sideline. Dwayne Harris had a chance at Agnew, but he was blocked. And when Agnew, as a returner, gets the ball, he knows he has two jobs in the Lions' punt return scheme -- take on the long-snapper and punter. Make them miss.
At the 22-yard line, he encountered Zak DeOssie. DeOssie tried to tackle him, but dove and missed. At this point, Agnew had a good return on no matter what. Rhett Ellison had the best shot at Agnew, but he dove and Agnew faked him out. Plus, Agnew had a spin move at almost full-speed to get around the tight end.
“I knew I was going to get out of that,” Agnew said. “He didn’t have his arms fully wrapped around me. I think my momentum -- I had a full head of steam and I kept my legs moving. I had a feeling I was going to break that tackle.”
Once he did, he knew he had a shot at the end zone. Wing, the punter, was the next man -- and really, the only man left between Agnew and the Lions’ first rookie punt return for a touchdown since Eddie Drummond in 2001.
At the 35-yard line, Agnew briefly looked like he was going to cut to the sideline, then he made a move inside, flustering Wing and sending him to the ground. Once Agnew beat Wing, all he needed to do was outrun Orleans Darkwa to the end zone for the touchdown.
With a top speed of 19.66 miles per hour, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats, he was easily able to do that. Agnew had a little bit of help with Miles Killebrew as an escort most of the way if he needed it -- which he didn’t.
“When I saw it was just me and [No.] 9, the punter, I knew that I was gone,” Agnew said. “If I let the punter tackle me, I’m taking myself out. I’m telling coach don’t let me back there anymore.”
Agnew did a lot of the work -- running an NFL-long 119.1 yards on a single play this week, according to Next Gen stats. He also made sure to credit his blockers, particularly early in the return, for his first career touchdown.
“I know my jammers are going to hold up and the interior is going to hold up, so they are just going to leave the long-snapper and the punter,” Agnew said. “I knew I would have time. The last second, I peeked down to see where their gunner was and seen, I forgot who it was, D.J. [Hayden], he had his leverage on him.
“That’s when the ball shorted a little bit, so I had to go in there and catch it, caught that and made the move on the gunner because I knew my jammer already had the leverage on him and just from there, took my eyes to [DeOssie] and [Wing], and it’s history from there.”