DETROIT >> Lions defensive lineman Pat O’Connor has played seven years in the NFL. He won Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But by his own admission, he never thought he’d have a moment in the league like the one he experienced Thursday night at Ford Field.

In front of a raucous crowd of 63,987, O’Connor — who played his college football down the road at Eastern Michigan and was a seventh-round pick by Detroit in the 2017 NFL Draft — heard his name called during pregame introductions for the first time.

“Honestly, I never thought I was going to do that, especially with how far I am in my career,” O’Connor said. “To have the opportunity like that is so nice and I never thought about ever doing that. I always think when you see (Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson) come out, it’s probably the coolest thing ever and then to actually experience that for the first time is basically a dream.”

O’Connor is one of many players on the Lions’ defense who’ve suddenly gone from depth to starting. Detroit’s defensive line has been a revolving door since the start of the season, and on Thursday night, the roster was as thin as it’s ever been after defensive linemen Levi Onwuzurike, Josh Paschal and DJ Reader were all ruled out with injuries.

O’Connor, for his part, did a little bit of everything — including coming out for the coin toss as an honorary gameday captain. “It was my turn, apparently,” he said. He came off the edge as a pass rusher; he kicked inside the right tackle; he even played a little bit of nose tackle, something he’s done on very few occasions in his career.

“It’s a tough job,” O’Connor said of playing nose tackle. “You’ve got to be a grinder in there, especially if you just watch DJ, you know, he makes a lot of money doing what he does, he’s done it for a long time, and being able to work with him every day and watch him to kind of try to emulate how he plays — man, just got to hang in there sometimes. Hang in there.”

In that role, O’Connor — a lifelong special-teamer — didn’t show up much on the stat sheet. He finished with one tackle. But he did some things that won’t show up, like when he flushed Packers quarterback Jordan Love from the pocket on third-and-5 in the opening quarter, leading to Lions rushers Ezekiel Turner and Za’Darius Smith hitting Love while he let go of an incompletion.

And before most snaps, he could be seen trying to make a difference by pumping up the crowd.

“It doesn’t take much to show emotion and I just always think that’s awesome whenever you do that and you just hear the crowd, and then you see everyone else around you start doing it, and it just kind of gets everyone’s juice going before the play even starts,” O’Connor said. “So just little things like that kind of help you get you mentally prepared to snap into the play.”

O’Connor was a two-time first-team All-MAC selection during his time at Eastern Michigan. Detroit drafted him with the 250th pick in the 2017 draft but waived him before he ever played a snap for the Lions.

Back in the place where his career started, he’s continuing to make his dreams come true.