Detroit — A week ago, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he wanted to see more consistency out of linebacker Julian Okwara.
The coach got that and then some in the preseason opener as Okwara looked borderline unstoppable, racking up three sacks in the team’s 21-16 victory over the New York Giants on Friday.
Okwara was a terror off the edge, doing all of the damage on third downs.
“We’ll (need to) see the tape, but I know he was another guy that really flashed today,” Campbell said. “He did a lot of things. You could feel his speed off the edge. He was able to pressure the quarterback. I felt like he was hustling out there and setting the edge a couple times in the run game. We’ll see, but he showed up.”
The soft-spoken Okwara did his best to downplay the performance, saying he wasn’t doing anything special beyond his job each snap while feeding off the excitement from playing his first game this year.
But more important than any stat-sheet stuffing was when he came together with brother Romeo on one of the three sacks, a moment Campbell called “crushing the can.”
The two brothers have often spoke about their bond and the joy they’ve experienced having the opportunity to play together, yet they’ve shared the field sparingly in recent years because of a series of injuries for both, most notably Romeo’s lengthy recovery from a torn Achilles the past two seasons.
“I got some pictures sent to my phone already,” Julian Okwara said in the locker room minutes after the final whistle. “I didn’t really care about the stats, I was just looking at those pictures and laughing. He was my role model growing up and still is. Growing up, I was watching him.
“I feel like I talk about this all the time, but just growing up and watching him, the things he’s been through and where he’s going, I love playing with him, love playing beside him. It was super surreal being able to go out there.”
Okwara said his only regret was the lack of a shared celebration, saying the two needed to work on a cool handshake, if nothing else. He’s hopeful they’ll have plenty more opportunities to implement it this season and potentially beyond.
As for Campbell’s assessment that he needs to be more consistent, Okwara agreed with his coach and is doing everything he can to achieve that standard.
“Violent, consistent, great pad level, knowing who I am and doing it at full speed,” Okwara said. “Just got to do what I got to do…do it again next week. Whatever I did today has to be better next week. I’m looking forward to it.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers