Lions Kitna toughs it out

Lions' Kitna toughs it out

QB returns after concussion to lead team

Tom Powers / St. Paul Pioneer Press


DETROIT -- Jon Kitna had been carving up the Vikings' defense fairly well until he got knocked silly in the second quarter.

"I remember the play that I got hit on," he said. "I don't know exactly how I got hit or if it was that I got driven to the turf and it knocked me woozy for a while."

Out went Kitna about halfway through the second quarter. In came career practice-squad player J.T. O'Sullivan, who was elevated to No. 2 for the Vikings game because of Dan Orlovsky's turf toe. Suddenly, there was an air of apprehension at Ford Field.

As it turned out, for good reason. O'Sullivan had a bit of initial success, then struggled mightily. The crowd groaned and jeered, begging coach Rod Marinelli to let Kitna back into the game. Finally, with the score tied at 17, Kitna returned about midway through the fourth quarter.

The Lions started moving the ball again. At least the looming disaster that seemed to accompany every O'Sullivan pass was gone. Kitna eventually led the Lions to the winning field goal.

"You know, I've seen a lot in this league," Marinelli said of Kitna's return. "But that was special. What he did was special. You saw something really special — you saw toughness, which this town deserves. This is a tough town and they got a leader on this football team that is tough. It represents the city."

Kitna said he was sure he didn't have a concussion and began lobbying to return after halftime. Everyone else wasn’t so sure. At least not at first.

"I just hate not being on the field for my team," he said. "I hate it. I've sat on the bench enough that, when you get your opportunity, you just want to be out there. You feel like you're letting guys down."

Said safety Gerald Alexander: "He's a warrior. That's the reason why our players chose him to be a captain. We know that he has very good leadership qualities. He just showed that today — him having a concussion — to sacrifice himself for the team, especially on a run and things like that."

He completed 22 of 33 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown. Kitna also took off on a run late in the game, got hit and went airborne before crash-landing. On top of all that, he completed a pass to himself by grabbing a deflection and taking off with it.

"All of a sudden the ball is in the air and it's in my hands," he said. "You just react at that point."

O'Sullivan, meanwhile, completed 13 of 23, but was intercepted twice and was really struggling by the time he left the game. Among the many stops listed on his résumé, he spent a year on the Vikings' practice squad in 2005.

"I'm very proud of him," Marinelli said. "He came in under tough circumstances."

Bottom line is that the Lions are off to a 2-0 start.

"This game will get some attention," Marinelli said. "But I just want to get rid of it as fast as I can. We got our work to do for next week. We have a lot of things to clean up. The one thing we've got to keep emphasizing is toughness, character and team."

Kitna gives them a pretty good leg up on the toughness part.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.