The Detroit Lions held a walkthrough on the third straight Wednesday this week. Starting Sunday, they will play three games in 11 days. So head coach Dan Campbell is taking the opportunity to ease off on the practice schedule a bit lately.
"Yeah, I think it’s been good for us, and we’ve -- every year has been different for us, and you’ve got to go with what you feel like is best for your team in that moment, in that year, and so every year it’s kind of evolved,” Campbell said, via Ben Raven of MLive. “I mean, last year, we were still going; we were still practicing pretty good Wednesdays and Thursdays. But we also had a different schedule. We were a little bit younger. Our core of this team is older now, more mature."
“We’re not old, but we’ve played a lot of football together, and so they kind of know what to expect, played with each other long enough, the staff’s been together, myself, the whole thing....."
"So, if you can take a little bit off, it’s good, and really the flip side of that is, ‘OK, but tomorrow when we come in, we’re smoking.’ Just like we did last week, that practice should look like game time. We were flying, and we were competing, and it will.”
First real Lions injury report for Week 12 points to an expected return
So Thursday was, again, the Lions' first regular practice of the week, and thus more meaningful to see in terms of player participation levels than the Wednesday estimate was heading into Week 12 against the Indianapolis Colts.
Here is the Lions' practice report from Thursday, (FP=Full Participant, LP=Limited Participant, NP=Non-participant).
- CB Terrion Arnold (groin): LP
- CB Carlton Davis (thumb): FP
- TE Sam LaPorta (shoulder): FP
- CB Emmanuel Moseley (pectoral): FP
- TE Shane Zylstra (neck): FP
Arnold is a notable addition to the injury report, limited during Thursday's practice due to a groin injury. New injuries suffered during a practice are never good, but as noted by Pride of Detroit Arnold spoke to reporters after Thursday's practice and he seemed to be in good spirits. Campbell will likely have an update on Friday morning.
LaPorta was listed as a full participant on Wednesday's estimated practice report, after Campbell said he was "trending the right way", and with the ramp up to a normal practice he was a full participant again on Thursday.
Davis suffered a broken thumb during practice last week, but he played against the Jaguars with no apparent issue and he was a full participant on Thursday.
Moseley now has five days left in his 21-day evaluation window to come off IR. It seems like a formality he will be added to the 53-man roster.
Zylstra suffered a neck injury against the Jaguars in Week 11, but a full practice on Thursday points to no question about his availability for Sunday.
Wide receiver Allen Robinson left last Sunday's game after taking a hit to the head, but he has cleared concussion protocol and has been removed from the injury report.