ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- It was over for a few minutes when Jim Caldwell gathered his team in the locker room inside U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday. He praised his team's effort. Told them they won a game that "wasn't pretty." Then he invited Haloti Ngata to the middle of the gathering of Detroit Lions coaches and players.
They were about to give out the game ball -- and Ngata was the player chosen to make the announcement. He, after all, understood what Steve Longa had been through.
"Losing both my parents at a young age, Steven Longa, this is for you, buddy," Ngata said in a video posted on the team website.