The Detroit Lions will welcome the Minnesota Vikings to Ford Field for Week 18 of "Sunday Night Football", and it'll be for all the metaphorical marbles. The winner wins the NFC North and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, while the loser (right or wrong) will be the No. 5 seed and have to go on the road for the Wild Card Round.
The news on the injury front has been either non-existent or good lately for the Lions. No big additions to the injury report, and multiple players working toward or making a return to action from IR.
This week's player returning to practice was linebacker Alex Anzalone. His activation clock was started on Wednesday, opening the possibility he could play on Sunday night. Anzalone openly acknowledged all that will go into whether he plays this week or not.
Here is the final Week 18 injury report for the Lions, with statuses for Sunday night's game.
- RB David Montgomery (knee)-Out
- CB Emmanuel Moseley (illness)-Out
- LB Alex Anzalone (forearm)-Questionable
- WR Kalif Raymond (foot)-Questionable
- RB Craig Reynolds (back)-Questionable
- OG Christian Mahogany (illness)-No designation
- LB Jack Campbell (rib)-No designation
- CB Amik Robertson (calf)-No designation
Montgomery is of course out again, with a potential return for the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Moseley did not practice all week due to an illness, and he will miss Sunday night's game after not playing at all against the 49ers in Week 17.
Anzalone, as easily expected, is listed as questionable to keep open the possibility of activating him this week. He has practiced without setbacks, but all previous joking aside head coach Dan Campbell got down to the brass tacks on Friday.
"The only way to trust it is to do it,” Campbell said, regarding Anzalone learning to trust his body again. “(You need) to use it and do it and bang away in there, and you’ve just got to rep it. You’ve got to rep it a little bit, get comfortable. Like, ‘Man, that was a pretty violent hit and I didn’t feel anything.’ Or, ‘Oh, that wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.’ And that becomes a mental thing. Listen, if he’s going to play, it’s because we know he’s going to be able to go full-tilt and he’s going to be able to help us and he’s going to be able to protect himself, play at a high level, and we can trust that and we’re not putting him in harm’s way. And if we don’t feel that way, we’re not going to play him, it’s not worth it.”
Raymond has practiced every day the last two weeks, so his being listed as questionable feels procedural to being activated to fill one of the two open spots on the 53-man roster. The official move should come on Saturday.
Reynolds was not spotted by reporters on-site for the open portion of Friday's practice, and is questionable due to a back injury. A new late-week injury is never a good thing, and if he can't go Sunday night Sione Vaki and Jermar Jefferson will be the backups to Jahmyr Gibbs.
Mahogany missed Thursday's practice due to an illness, but he was back as a full participant on Friday and looks to be good to go.
Campbell and Robertson were both listed as limited on Wednesday's estimated practice report, but the both were full participants on Thursday and Friday and have no designation for Sunday night.
Here is the final Week 18 injury report for the Vikings.
- OLB Patrick Jones (ankle)-Out
- LB Kamu Grugier-Hill (illness)-Questionable
- CB Fabian Moreau (hip)-Questionable
- CB Stephon Gilmore (NIR-rest)-No designation
- S Harrison Smith (foot/NIR/rest)-No designation
- FB CJ Ham (hip)-No designation
- OG Ed Ingram (back) -No designation
- RB Aaron Jones (quad)-No designation
- TE Josh Oliver (wrist)-No designation