How injuries have derailed the Detroit Lions’ season
By Max Gerber
Right guard T.J. Lang has a long history of injuries throughout his career. After sustaining his sixth concussion of his NFL tenure, the 31-year-old was placed on injured reserve. The veteran offensive lineman played in just six games for the Lions, allowing only 1.0 sacks on 282 snaps. Lang was a key player in both the passing and running game, and losing him to injury caused Stafford and the rest of the offense to struggle.
Filling in for Lang is guard Kenny Wiggins. A five-year veteran in the league, he started all 16 games for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017. This season, Wiggins has not performed well in his new starting role. The offensive guard has allowed 5.75 sacks and committed three penalties. His poor play has directly affected the rest of the offense, as he has not been able to keep defenders off of Stafford.
Losing Lang to a concussion was a major blow to the Lions’ offensive line. He brought veteran leadership to a line made up of some young players. Lang’s injury hurt the running game, but after losing yet another starter to injury, the team’s now-respectable rushing offense came to a grinding halt.
Running back Kerryon Johnson has made a name for himself in Detroit. The second-round pick out of Auburn quickly rose to the top of the depth chart and even became the team’s first 100-yard rusher since the 2013 season. Johnson became one of the most important players in the Lions’ offense, rushing for 641 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games.
Johnson, alongside veteran running back LeGarrette Blount, were doing well for the Lions until the rookie went down with a knee sprain in the Week 11 win against the Carolina Panthers. Up until then, Johnson was the featured back, and Blount took a majority of short-yardage and goal-line snaps.
With Johnson out for the foreseeable future, Blount had become the starting running back in Detroit. Since the rookie’s injury, Blount has run 35 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns. While this kind of production looks fine at first, there is a big issue.
In the Week 12 loss to the Chicago Bears, 10 of Blount’s 19 carries went for three yards or less. The next week against the Los Angeles Rams, it was 11 out of his 19 carries. The running back is not fit to be an every-down back in this offense, and his production proves that.