Tag: Taylor Decker

Injuries could be issue as Lions look to snap Thanksgiving losing streak

ALLEN PARK — It’s Thanksgiving week which means the Detroit Lions are cramming six days of preparation into three. 

On Thursday they will try to snap a seven-game Thanksgiving losing streak when they face the Chicago Bears (4-7). 

“Nobody likes losing, I don’t want to lose. I don’t want to lose a game, I don’t think any of us do. But it’s more so it’s about a division opponent at home, the next one in front of us, more so than we don’t want to lose the Thanksgiving game,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Monday. “We don’t want to lose, period.’’

At the same time, winning on Thanksgiving makes dinner a little tastier. That’s something that center Frank Ragnow longs for. He was drafted by the Lions in 2018 and has never won a Thanksgiving game.

“I’d really like to enjoy Thanksgiving. Usually in the past years it’s been like I don’t really want to talk to my family, all upset about everything. I’d really like to enjoy Thanksgiving and put on a show for the crowd,” Ragnow said.

“It’s such a special unique thing to Detroit, and need to capitalize on it and make it as special as it is,” Ragnow said. “I think we’ve all got that in the back of our mind.”

The coach said this week is about rest, recovery and mental work. The team had a walk-through on Monday with another planned on Tuesday.

Injuries could be an issue for Thursday after the Lions were banged up following Sunday’s 24-6 win at Indianapolis.

Campbell said decisions on some of the injured could come down to the wire. He’s most concerned about the availability of LT Taylor Decker (knee), WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee), Carlton Davis III (knee, thumb) and WR Kalif Raymond (foot). 

None of them would have practiced on Monday, per the estimated practice report.

RB David Montgomery (shoulder) and DT D.J. Reader (illness) also would not have practiced. 

The good injury news is that CB Terrion Arnold (groin), who didn’t play on Sunday, would have had a full practice.

Five things to watch as Lions face Texans; plus injury reports, prediction

While much has been made of the Detroit Lions’ red-hot offense over eight games, the defense has overcome the loss of eight significant players to injury.

And yet, they keep on fighting and winning key battles.

The next test comes in the nationally televised game on Sunday night when the Lions (7-1) face the Texans (6-3) at Houston.  The Texans coming off a loss to N.J. Jets while Lions rolled over the Packers, 24-14, at Green Bay.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn doesn’t usually get much screen time, but in the pouring rain at Green Bay, he just stood and called plays as if it was a sunny day while his glasses were covered in rain drops.

“At one point, and I don’t know – we were in the heat of battle there and I just remember – I said something, ‘AG, we got to be ready for this and wipe your glasses off.’ He’s like, ‘I got you.’ Yeah, that was pretty good. He doesn’t need eyes to coach,’’ Campbell said.

Glenn was just thinking of the next play call and how to put the guys in position to be successful.

“He doesn’t have bad days, he’s not one of these guys. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t get – he can get pissed off, believe me, he’s a fiery guy, but he just doesn’t live like that. Everything is, ‘Hey, you tell me what it is, you tell me what we’ve got and we’re going to make it work and we’re going to make the most of it and we’ll be good,’’’ Campbell said. “And it’s – he’s just positive, upbeat, grinder. I can’t say enough great words about him. Everybody respects him and those guys play – they play hard for him.”

Five things to watch:

ONE: Once again, Jared Goff and offense face another tough defense in the Texans who have the NFL’s second-rated defense. Goff has gone five games without throwing a touchdown and obviously the Lions have won all of them. He’s on a roll that shows no sign of slowing down. He said he does have to filter out some of the noise. “You’re just trying to find a way to stack Ws and I think you get caught up in sometimes not only the bad stuff but the good stuff at times. It can be dangerous,’’ Goff said. “So yeah, you just try to keep stacking wins, people are going to keep telling us how good we are now and then if something were to go wrong, they tell us how bad we are. So, it’s how it goes and just try to keep doing the work, put your head down and go in a hole and keep stacking Ws.”

TWO: Running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs could likely each be a starter on any other team. Halfway through the season and they haven’t  had a bad game yet. It could be because they don’t get tired.”It’’s so hard for a defense when you get a fresh one of them, it seems, every other drive. A lot of these guys that are carrying the ball 25, 30 times, they aren’t fresh the whole game,’’ Goff said. “These guys are coming in the third quarter and they’re fresh. It’s Gibbs then it’s Montgomery, then it’s Gibbs and then it’s back and forth and it’s tough. It’s tough for a defense and I think they kind of get pigeonholed at times like, ‘Gibbs is the fast one, D-Mo is the tough one.’ It’s like no, they both kind of do it all. They both can run away from you, they both can catch the ball, they both can run you over and that’s really hard for any defense.”

THREE: Houston’s C.J. Stroud hasn’t thrown an interception in three straight games but he hasn’t faced the Lions secondary. Safety Kerby Joseph returned an interception for a touchdown in Green Bay, it was his sixth pick of the season. Brian Branch has four. Stroud will present a challenge. “ He’s a big man, he has quick release, he’s effective when he gets outside the pocket of making plays. He’s not a true runner per se, but he can run to create plays,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. “So, the thing that we’ve got to be careful of is, man, these receivers that he has and the running backs that he has, of not allowing him to be able to just dice us up, getting the ball out to these guys, because they can really make some plays..”

FOUR: Za’Darius Smith, who paid Broc Wright to give up No. 99,  could ease his way onto his new team. He’s 32, an NFL veteran, so making a transition shouldn’t be too tough. He’s not a replacement for Aidan Hutchinson but will help against the run and can pass rush. Campbell is confident he will be a good fit. “We’ve got enough people that speak highly of him that I know, players and coaches, and they all say the same thing about him. Team guy, hard worker, tough, loves the game, and then you watch the film, and it backs it up,’’ Campbell said. “So, I can’t imagine that all of those guys would lie to me.”

FIVE:  The Lions have proven themselves to be road warriors by winning all their games away from Ford Field so far. Their only loss was to the Bucs at home. Oddly enough, wining on the road is what could lead to more home playoff games. “If you want to make that happen then you have to win a lot of games and we’re only about halfway there but we’ve done a good job to this point and if we want to find a way to have it come through Detroit, we have to keep winning,’’ Goff said.

LIONS INJURY REPORT: LT Taylor Decker (shoulder), DL Brodric Martin (knee), LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (neck), S Ifeatu Melifonwu (ankle), CB Emmanuel Moseley (pectoral) and LB Malcolm Rodriguez (ankle) are out; Za’Darius Smith is questionable.

TEXANS INJURY REPORT: DE Will Anderson (ankle) and RB Dameon Pierce (groin) are out; WR Nico Collins (hamstring). WR Tank Dell (back), DT Folorunso Fatukasi (groin/shoulder), LB Jake Hansen (ankle), DE Jerry Hughes (hip) and CB Jeff Okudah (quad) are questionable.

PREDICTION: Lions 35, Texans 28

Lions excitement begins this week with focus on topping the Rams

Super Bowl talk takes backseat; winning division is the key

ALLEN PARK — Dan Campbell was so excited to get rolling with Week 1 of the new season, the Detroit Lions coach was seven minutes early for his Monday press conference. He was wearing a big smile and a  Lions’ “Anti-fragile” t-shirt.

“I told the team this morning, now let’s put our guys in position to go win and do what they do best. Let them go win the race for you,’’ Campbell said.

First up, it’s Sunday Night Football at Ford Field against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams. Hard to top that for an opener to a season where the Lions are expected to at least be in the Super Bowl discussion.

They have not made a secret of that. Players, coaches and GM Brad Holmes have not been shy about their goal of winning the Super Bowl. 

Now it’s time to walk the walk.

So Campbell told the team let’s not talk about the Super Bowl any more.

“Now we’re to the point now that doesn’t matter any more. What does that do? It does nothing,’’ Campbell said. “Now it’s about the steps to get to there. The steps are you better win your division so you get a home game. Then once you get a  home game, now it’s about seeding. You win these head-to-heads  then all of a sudden you’re the three seed, you’re the two seed, maybe you’re the one seed.’’

The Lions proved they are legitimate when they came within one half of making it to the Super Bowl in February with a 34-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

From Campbell’s view the anticipation isn’t different.

“It’s hard to say. I always get excited for this time of year. There again, our core is the core and it’s been that way for a long period of time, you hope you build on top of that foundation that we’ve built here, you’ve helped, you’ve improved and everybody grows together. So with that, it’s a new team,’’ Campbell said. “But I think it’s the same type of anticipation.’’

Left tackle Taylor Decker said he never felt the Super Bowl was a big conversation topic in the building but it could come up here and there.

“But again we just need to take it week by week, or we’d be doing a disservice to each other,’’ Decker said on Monday. “If you look too far ahead then you might be 3-4 weeks into the season and then (wonder) what’s going on here. We’re not going to let that happen. We have the right mindset of guys.’’

That’s how linebacker Alex Anzalone sees it too.

“As a competitor it’s exciting, I think this is how it should be. This is the expectation you want as a competitor,’’ Anzalone said. “You don’t want to put one thing in front of the other. There’s a lot of outside noise and excitement outside of here. Dan (Campbell) said today the first goal is to win the division.’’

First up are the Rams who the Lions beat in the playoffs at Ford Field in January. The Super Bowl is so far down the road.

“So now it’s about setting yourself up for that. How do you do that? It starts with Game 1, an NFC opponent, a really good opponent, who I think is going to be staring at all of us in the playoffs at the end of this year too,’’ Campbell said. “That’s it, you find a way to win your division again.’’

INJURY UPDATE: Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu is the only Lion dealing with injury this week. Campbell said it’s a slow-moving injury and they want to get him moving around.