November wasn’t a good month for the Lions as a team, but it was a good month for wide receiver Calvin Johnson individually.
Johnson has been named the NFC’s offensive player of the month for November after posting big numbers in all four of the team’s games. Johnson caught 32 passes for 619 yards, more than 19 yards per catch, and three touchdowns over the course of the month. According to Randall Liu of the NFL, Johnson’s 154.8 receiving yards per game are the most in a single month since Lance Alworth posted 156.3 yards per game over a month in 1963 for the Chargers.
So much for the Madden curse.
Well, sorta. All of Johnson’s heroics came during a month that saw the Lions slump to three straight losses to end the month. That leaves them at 4-7 with very little chance of making a return appearance in the playoffs. That’s certainly not Johnson’s fault, but it does take some of the thrill out of the huge individual numbers he put up over the course of the month.