LIONS HEAD COACH JIM CALDWELL TALKS ABOUT UPCOMING THANKSGIVING DAY GAME…

If knowing the opponent well changes the dynamic of a short week: “It does give you just in terms of preparation, you’re pretty familiar with the personnel. It doesn’t mean they don’t make any changes or haven’t made any changes since the last time we played, that kind of thing. But it does give you a sense of who you’re playing, but just like anything else, as the year goes on oftentimes individuals get a little bit better. So, it does change the dynamic somewhat.”

What he thinks is at stake Thursday against the Vikings: “I don’t know. That’s for you guys to figure that out. You ask me the same questions over and over again about those kinds of issues, and I can only tell you that we look at them one game at a time. We look at these guys for who they are. They’re a very good team. They’re on a roll. All we’re worried about-we’re not worried about ramifications. We’re not worried about all of the build up and things of that nature. We’re worried about how we play, and that’s what our goal is to get focused in on our preparation, and get ready to play a tough, hard-fought game.”

If there could be an advantage to having his players look at the game against the Vikings as a game that could clinch the division: “They’re all big. They’re all big. Every single one of them is a factor. In the grand scheme of things they’re all big. And the most important one is the next one. That’s how we look at it. Someone else might choose to do so. Someone else might have a different philosophy. That’s them. I don’t believe in functioning that way. My experience has been it can work against you more than it works for you when you start looking at the grand scheme of things, and acting as if one game is going to make a complete difference in the entire season because you don’t know what’s going to happen the rest of the season. You have no idea. None of you know. You think you know. You think we might know how it plays out, but I don’t think anybody in here is omnipotent. At least I haven’t run into the omnipotent one yet. So, I’m sure there’s some in here that think they are, but I’m not one of them. So, that’s why we just focus in on that particular ball game.”

What he’s learned about the short week before the Thanksgiving game since coming to Detroit: “I don’t think we’ve had a lot of success, we haven’t had enough success I think. And we don’t look back, we look forward. And our week Kyle (Meinke), just in terms of how we prepare, it depends on where we are physically and we adjust it accordingly. So, these short weeks are tough to deal with. It’s hard for guys to come back, but it’s also perhaps one of the great games in terms of our tradition around here. 1934 was the first one, played at U of D stadium (University of Detroit) I think, right? And just the tradition it has here with the city, and the people that have an opportunity to partake in this particular event. It’s watched all over the world. Yeah, there’s some unique things about it that we’re certainly excited about that we get an opportunity to do every single year. Some teams don’t get this opportunity very often, but our guys do, and we don’t take that lightly.”

INJURY REPORT

• The Lions and Vikings did not practice on Monday. The practice participation designations for Monday are based on estimations.
• The following players have been listed on the Detroit Lions’ Practice Report today: CB Jamal Agnew (knee) and RB Dwayne Washington (hip) did not practice. DE Ezekiel Ansah (back) was limited in practice. LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (ankle) participated in a full practice.
• The following players have been listed on the Minnesota Vikings’ Practice Report today: CB Mackensie Alexander (ankle), CB Xavier Rhodes (calf), DE Brian Robison (lower back) and T Mike Remmers (concussion) did not practice. LB Emmanuel Lamur (knee), DE Everson Griffen (foot) and S Andrew Sendejo (groin/hamstring) were limited in practice. S Anthony Harris (hamstring) participated in a full practice.

Detroit (6-4) welcomes Minnesota (8-2) to Ford Field for the Lions’ 78th annual Thanksgiving Day Game Classic. The Lions and Vikings have clashed before on Thanksgiving four times in the teams’ series history, including most recently in 2016 when Detroit won 16-13. In the two teams’ meeting earlier this season, Detroit defeated Minnesota 14-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Detroit Lions schedule