DETROIT -- For the past few weeks, the Detroit Lions coaching staff -- and Alim McNeill himself -- talked at length about how impressive he looked in practice and how ready he was to make his season debut.

The fourth-year defender hadn’t played a down of football since tearing his ACL last season in a Week 15 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field.

So it was only fitting that he made his season debut in the same building where he took his last snap, in front of the Lions faithful, playing a key part in their 24-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the week leading up to the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell said McNeill could see 20 to 25 snaps.

“I blew that out of the water. I probably had double that,” McNeill told reporters. “It felt good, though. It felt like I needed to get a

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