Detroit Lions loss to Rams isn’t end: Breaking down NFL Week 15 loss
Free Press sports writers Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez break down the Detroit Lions’ NFL Week 15 loss to the LA Rams on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025.
Detroit Lions cornerback Amik Robertson sustained a hand injury during the team’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams.Coach Dan Campbell is hopeful Robertson will be available for the next game against Pittsburgh.The Lions’ secondary is already depleted, missing starters Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, and Terrion Arnold due to injuries.
On the play that sealed their fate Sunday, Dec. 14, in a 41-34 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, the Detroit Lions also lost cornerback Amik Robertson. As Colby Parkinson raced around the edge to score on an 11-yard touchdown catch with 4:49 left in the fourth quarter, Robertson extended his right arm and attempted to punch the ball out of the tight end’s grasp. He then tumbled out of bounds, clutching his wrist while grimacing. Robertson didn’t play another snap and was later diagnosed with a hand injury after undergoing an MRI, Lions coach Dan Campbell said Monday.
But Campbell added he was “hopeful” Robertson would be available to play this week against Pittsburgh.
“We’ll know more probably in the next couple of days,” he told reporters. “It’s something that could affect him a little bit. But I think we’d like to believe he’s going to have a chance to play here.”
That’s good news for a diminished secondary down three top-line starters.
Safety Kerby Joseph is out indefinitely and has missed the last eight games because of a bone bruise in his left knee. His sidekick on the back end, Brian Branch, was placed on injured reserve Saturday after tearing the Achilles tendon in his right leg earlier this month. Two days before Branch was hurt in a Dec. 4 victory over Dallas, cornerback Terrion Arnold was shelved for the remainder of the season after the Lions determined it was best for the former first-round pick to undergo surgery and repair an ailing right shoulder bothering him since late September.
As the losses have mounted, a sector of the team once seen as one of the Lions’ sturdiest has struggled to hold strong with replacement parts. On Sunday, with safety Thomas Harper also sidelined because of a brain injury, Detroit surrendered 519 yards – with 360 passing. Before he exited the game, Robertson gave up 82 of those passing yards on five receptions, according to NextGenStats.
His coverage has suffered in recent weeks, as the Lions have continued to give him more snaps out wide than in the slot, his preferred position. In the past four games, Robertson has allowed 27 catches, 382 receiving yards and two touchdowns, per Pro Football Focus. The numbers during that stretch accurately capture the dip in his overall performance. But he has always been there as the lone constant in a damaged secondary.
As he peered ahead toward Sunday, Campbell was optimistic Robertson will again be back out on the field, ready to give it another go.
“But until we get through practice,” he said, “we won’t entirely know.”
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.