Houston — Kyle Van Noy is gracious in victory.
The Lions gave up on the former second-round pick and now he’s going to the Super Bowl as a key contributor on the NFL’s best scoring defense. He could gloat, he could shout, “I told you so,” but he’s content to shoulder the blame for not living up to expectations in Detroit and grateful for his new life with the New England Patriots.
The Lions essentially traded Van Noy for a dozen slightly used footballs, packaging the linebacker along with a seventh-round pick for the Patriots’ sixth-round selection.