Lions Injury Report Dec 2 as Detroit (7-4) travels to New Orleans (5-6) for the second-consecutive season as the Lions take on the Saints in a Week 13 matchup.
The Lions enter the game following a 16-13 win over Minnesota on the team’s 77th Thanksgiving Day game, while the Saints knocked off Los Angeles, 49-21. The Lions and Saints share an 11-11-1 record in the all-time series history, with Detroit winning the two most recent meetings in 2014 and 2015. In the teams’ only postseason clash following the 2011 season, New Orleans defeated Detroit, 45-28 in the NFC Wild Card round (1/7/12).
DETROIT LIONS INJURY REPORT DEC 2
- The following players have been listed on the Detroit Lions Injury Report today: S Don Carey (hamstring), WR Marvin Jones Jr. (thigh), LB DeAndre Levy (knee), RB Theo Riddick (ankle) and LB Tahir Whitehead (knee) were limited in practice. DE Ezekiel Ansah (ankle) participated in full practice. GAME STATUS: Ansah, Carey, Jones Jr., Levy, Riddick and Whitehead are questionable.
- The following players have been listed on the New Orleans Saints Injury Report today: T Terron Armstead (knee/quad) and RB Daniel Lasco (hamstring) did not participate in practice. RB Mark Ingram (toe) was limited in practice. G Senio Kelemete (hip), TE John Phillips (ankle) and T Zach Streif (knee) participated in full practice. GAME STATUS: Ingram is questionable. Armstead and Lasco are out.
HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL…
On if there’s a template he follows to win at New Orleans compared to other stadiums: “No, it’s always different. Different cast of characters, the team changes so much year by year. There’s a lot of different things, lot of different things to handle. You don’t have any blueprint or patent on winning in certain locations, that’s as tough a place to play as there is. Loud, active fans.”
On the importance of the run game to the offense: “I think it’s one of the things that’s extremely important to us. It’s one that we try to look at and make certain our numbers are up where they should be in terms of somewhere around four a carry to make this an effective group. To be somewhere around 100-yard mark, it’s very important to each and every game, and obviously this game is extremely important because it’s the next game. We’ve just got to keep getting better in that area, keep improving, we haven’t gotten to where we’d like to yet.”
On why he thinks they’ve been less-productive in the third quarter of games: “I’m not sure. I mean it goes up and down, it depends. In fourth quarters of games we’ve been pretty productive, so if you’re going to trade one off for the other I’m certainly going to take the fourth, but I’m not sure. You know, we’ve been staggering some times. Sometimes we came out, we did a pretty good job first drives, offensively, defensively, et cetera. We just haven’t been consistent in that area.”
On the development he has seen from RB Dwayne Washington: “He’s still coming. He’s a young guy. He was out for a while for a good stretch and now he’s starting to get some consistency in terms of practice and playing and those kinds of things. Obviously you haven’t seen the best of him yet. But I just think that every week that I watch him out there in terms of preparation, he just gets better. He has a better understanding of what we’re doing. He’s not perfect yet. He’s got a long way to go. He’s just got to keep working, but he has the talents. I’m not putting him in the category with (Mark) Ingram or anything of that nature. In his own right he is who he is, but he’s a guy that’s got to get better. I think he’s working to do that.”
On if patience is one of the difficult things to teach a rookie running back like Washington: “I’m not certain. I think everyone is a little bit different. I don’t sense that approach with him. They definitely know how difficult it is to be able to perform well in this league. Ezekiel Elliot is just chewing ground up week by week and doing a great job as a young back. (Todd) Gurley did the same last year, but every year is different. Our guys just have to learn to function within our system and play well. I don’t sense any panic or anything of that nature. A sense of urgency, yeah, he should have that. But panic, frustration, anything of that nature, no. He’s just got to keep getting better.”
On the game captains at New Orleans this week: “(Theo) Riddick on offense, special teams (Rafael) Bush, defense (Tyrunn) Walker.”
Derek VanRiper covers fantasy football for Rotowire.com. Vegas’ highest total of the week belongs to the Lions and Saints at a whopping 54 points. Who will be the top scorers for each team?
Detroit Lions schedule