Detroit Lions sign veteran G Tim Lelito, place Joe Dahl on injured reserve

Lelito has 24 NFL starts in 63 career games

After the Lions spent so much money on the offensive line in the offseason, it is starting to come apart, at least temporarily, due to injury.

The Lions made two moves Tuesday. They signed veteran guard Tim Lelito and placed guard/center Joe Dahl (in photo) on injured reserve with a lower leg injury.

Lelito comes to Detroit after most recently spending the 2017 preseason with the Tennessee Titans. He was released on Sept. 4. Prior to Tennessee, he played four seasons (2013-16) with the New Orleans Saints, where he started in 24 games.

Currently in his fifth season, Lelito has appeared in 63 career games (24 starts). He entered the NFL in 2013 with the Saints as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Grand Valley State.

Center Travis Swanson (ankle) didn’t practice all last week and was inactive in the loss to the Falcons on Sunday. He was replaced by Graham Glasgow who shifted from left guard. Zac Kerin, who was acquired off waivers on Sept. 4, started at left guard.

Dahl is a valuable asset because he can back up at center and guard. When Taylor Decker tore his labrum in June, the Lions tried out Dahl at tackle during a few practices.

Decker was placed on the reserve/PUP list which means he will miss at least three more games. Greg Robinson has been playing left tackle in his place.

The Lions (2-1) are preparing to play at the Minnesota Vikings (2-1) on Sunday in a key NFC North matchup. The Vikings have five sacks in their first three games.

Caldwell: Detroit Lions need to move on after Sunday’s strange loss

Next up is road game at Minnesota Vikings

ALLEN PARK — Jim Caldwell is moving on from the ending of Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Now the Detroit Lions coach has to get the team on the same page with him.

It should not be difficult. Caldwell is consistent in his approach with the team. He’s even-keeled throughout the season and he doesn’t want players getting too excited or too down.

“I don’t want to be cynical in that sense but I can tell you that this is a fairly new group. Our nucleus is the same. Every year is different like we always talk about. I can only tell you that you have setbacks during the course of games. You have adversity. We’ve been able overcome those. So, we’ll see how we bounce back,’’ Caldwell said on Monday. “The idea is to get it behind us as quickly as we can, and a lot of that has to do with just guys making up their mind it’s over and done with. But the close ones make you think about it a little bit. We understand that part of it.’’

So on Monday the plan was to go over film of the game and make corrections which is a typical Monday.

Then on Wednesday the players will start preparing for the road game at the Minnesota Vikings (2-1) on Sunday.

We got to travel and play a very, very difficult team. Tough team that’s got some great challenges for us. So, that’s part of the challenge that we face every week after either you win or you lose. If you win and guys are still thinking about how well they played the day before or week before, that can get you,” Caldwell said. “And this is no different but this is kind of this part of this league that it’s all about. It’s how do you handle it? So, we try to preach it and talk about it, and I think our guys have always had pretty good, really good focus in that regard.”

Caldwell said it’s not just up to him to get the players in the right frame of mind. It’s the assistant coaches who work closely with the position groups and the team leaders too.

The Golden Tate touchdown with 8 seconds left was overturned and the clock run down to end the game.

Caldwell said the officials followed the rule.

“End of story. I mean I remember growing up, you guys always talked about a loser’s limp. To me, that’s the next thing to it. You start complaining about stuff, and it should’ve happened this way. Forget about that,’’ Caldwell said. “You’ve got to do something about it rather than talk about it. I don’t believe in excuses and all of those kinds of things. They don’t work, and they’re not good for us. We just need to go back to work.”

Detroit Lions players react to linking arms for national anthem

Eight Lions took a knee; Caldwell issues strong words

DETROIT — Lions players and coaches linked arms during the national anthem before the 30-26 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Ford Field.

Owner Martha Firestone Ford and her daughters were at the center linking arms with the players.

Eight of the Lions took a knee. They included Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Tahir Whitehead, Ameer Abdullah, Steve Longa, Jeremiah Ledbetter,  Akeem Spence, A’Shawn Robinson and Cornelius Washington.

Prior to the game, Lions president Rod Wood said the team supported the players. Mrs. Ford issued a statement echoing that thought on Sunday morning.

Reaction from the Lions afterward:

— Eric Ebron  “I just see things differently. Some people might condone it, I don’t. One of my biggest pet peeves is disrespect and I feel like we were disrespected as an organization. It’s not a form of protesting. Like I said, I just don’t deal with disrespect, and I felt like what came out of the mouth of our leader was disrespect.”

— Jim Caldwell: “I’ve been in the league a while and I know the players in this league, there are no SOBs in this league. These are men that work hard, with integrity, they’re involved in our communities, they’re fathers, they’re brothers, and their mothers aren’t what he said they were. Our guys believe in unity, civility and also First Amendment rights to peaceful expression and freedom of speech which you guys know a little about. So that’s really all I want to say about it, it’s taken up too much time, too much energy. We’re trying to focus on things that help us grow and develop, not things that tear us down and divide us. … It wasn’t in protest of the flag, it was unity.’’

— Ebron on having Mrs. Ford link arms with them: “It meant a lot. She’s a wonderful person. She believes in us, she trusts in us, she’s always there for us whenever we need it. You know, all we can do is just be thankful for the ownership that we have of this organization and this team. She brings a lot for us and we play for a lot because of that.”

— Akeem Spence on President Donald Trump’s statements over the weekend:  “I mean, it’s just crazy and it’s wrong. You know, it shouldn’t be like that.  There are hard-working people who give back to the community.  Our owners are the same way and they have the utmost respect for us and we have the utmost respect for our country, our flag and everything like that.  So for our head guy to say something like that about our owners, what they should do – No man, that’s something I can’t.  Right is right, wrong is wrong. So I feel like he was wrong in that sense. You know, we just came out and acted in unity together and just made a statement.”

— Spence on deciding to kneel during the National Anthem: “We had a conversation and everyone felt a certain way.  Right is right, wrong is wrong and it was wrong so we came together and just made a statement.  Nobody is taking that stuff, man, it’s wrong.  That shouldn’t be accepted in this country for nobody.”

—  Matthew Stafford: “I think the majority of the team was (linking arms) if I’m not mistaken, I didn’t look all the way up and down the line. To show solidarity, we’re a team. It’s just what we decided to do, what we thought was best.” He said the decision to link arms was just talked about among players, no big meeting or anything. The word spread.