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Lions dedicate first win to victims of mass shooting
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Nicholas McGee
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Amon-Ra St. Brown celebrates scoring the Lions' winning touchdown against the Vikings
Amon-Ra St. Brown celebrates scoring the Lions' winning touchdown against the Vikings

An emotional Dan Campbell dedicated the Detroit Lions' first win of the season to the victims of last month's mass shooting in nearby Oxford, Michigan.

A last-second touchdown throw from Jared Goff to rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown saw the Lions finally end their wait for a victory in 2021 as they stunned the Minnesota Vikings 29-27. 

Though the Lions celebrated wildly in the immediate aftermath, Campbell struck a more sombre tone in the post-game media conference as he held up the game ball and said: "This goes to the whole Oxford community, all those who were affected."

Campbell proceeded to list the names of the victims of the November 30 shooting at Oxford High School, which claimed the lives of four students. A further six students and a teacher were wounded, adding that all those affected are "in our hearts and prayers".

Asked about his message to the team, Campbell replied: "I just wanted them to know exactly what we were going to represent today.

"The shirts, the hats, the decals, the people that are affected. Some of our players know of someone that was affected. To me, my thought was, 'Hey, man, if we can, for three hours, just ease their suffering a little bit, that's worth it.'

"So, that's kinda how I thought of this and we did a great job, players responded and played well."

Quarterback Goff said: "You never hope for a tragedy like this, but you hope to be a light for those people and a positive thing that they can have fun watching. 

"I hope they were all watching today and were able to enjoy that win and we can take their minds off it for whatever it may be, three hours.

"I think any time that we can do that, it's a lot bigger than our sport, it's a lot bigger than us and I think today was one of those special circumstances that we were able to rise to the occasion and make something special happen."

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