The Detroit Lions are having quite the week leading into their Week 8 contest against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings.
They just announced on Wednesday that Kerby Joseph, who has been out since the earlier part of last season, would be returning to practice. It's been a long time coming for the Lions' starting safety, who at some points in his recovery seemed like a candidate to potentially never return to the field.
With that news came a lengthy practice report, which was to be expected. Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters that he wanted to get quite a few players "off their feet" on Wednesday, and they'd only be participating in a walkthrough instead of a walkthrough and practice. Some notable names include Aidan Hutchinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
We'll keep an eye on these listed injuries, and Joseph's progress, ahead of the Lions' huge divisional game against the Vikings at Ford Field this Sunday.
Last updated: Thursday, October 29, 6am EST
- How to watch Lions vs. Vikings in Week 8
- Lions vs. Vikings injuries
- Storylines for Lions vs. Vikings in Week 8
How to watch Lions vs. Vikings in Week 8
- Date: Sunday, November 1
- Time: 1:00pm EST
- TV Network: FOX Sports
- Announcers: Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady
Lions vs. Vikings injuries
Lions injury report
Player + Injury | Wednesday, October 28 |
|---|---|
S Kerby Joseph (Knee) | LP |
CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (ankle) | LP |
RB Jacob Saylors (neck) | LP |
RB Jahmyr Gibbs (shoulder) | NP |
EDGE Aidan Hutchinson (rest) | NP |
DT Alim McNeill (rest) | NP |
OT Penei Sewell (rest) | NP |
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) | NP |
DT Tyleik Williams (illness) | NP |
EDGE DJ Wonnum (rest) | NP |
As I mentioned, Campbell told reporters that a few players were being held out for rest on Wednesday. We did see Gibbs come up a bit hobbled on the very last play from him of the Lions' final drive against the Packers in Week 7, so that's an injury worth monitoring. St. Brown and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. were also said to be held out of practice earlier this week as a precaution, so those are two other players we likely don't have to worry about.
Joseph's 21-day, 4-game window is now open. Going off that math, we could see him back for the Lions' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 22, or against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving. We're far from seeing Joseph participating in team drills.
Vikings injury report
Player + Injury | Wednesday, October 28 |
|---|---|
RB Aaron Jones (Knee) | NP |
OG Joe Huber (Knee) | NP |
OT Brian O'Neill (Knee) | LP |
The Vikings' practice report is starting the week a heck of a lot shorter. Jones is the name to watch, as he's the teams' RB1 and can cause issues for the Lions' less-than-dominant run-stopping defensive line. He was listed as day to day earlier this week.
Storylines for Lions vs. Vikings in Week 8
2nd game from Brian Branch, and what to expect
Branch will be entering his second game of the season against the Vikings, and he could be a big factor once again for the Lions' chances at scoring in this game. He is a constant turnover threat, and if he can record another pick in this contest, it could put the Lions in ideal field positioning to score at least some field goals against this Vikings defense.
Minnesota has not had a very solid offense so far this season, despite their 6-0 record. Kyler Murray, while a fun idea as a reclamation project for head coach Kevin O'Connell, has yet to live up to the hype. They rank fourth-worst in yards per game (281.7), fourth-worst in passing yards per game (162.3), and are averaging a whole 10 points less than the Lions per game (20.8).
Branch can continue to put pressure on the Vikings passing game in this contest, as he works his way back to being one of the league's premier safeties.
Jared Goff's prowess against the blitz
Goff is going to be faced with a ton of blitzing on Sunday...most likely. Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is a bit of a genius, and he may see that Goff's excellence against the blitz could actually hurt the Vikings in this contest. This could force him to adjust his game plan a bit, and impact Goff in other ways - maybe with a stronger zone defense, which Goff is only posting a 0.22 EPA/play against this year.
However, if the Vikings stick with their plan to blitz, Goff is the best quarterback in the league against that scheme. He's currently posting a league-best total EPA of 21.71 against the blitz, and a fourth-best 0.32 EPA/play.
Goff told reporters about Flores' defense, "He does a lot. It's a little bit of everything. They’ve evolved over the years as teams have sort of solved some of their issues, and it’s a new evolution of this defense this year and it may be the best one yet."
Jahmyr Gibbs' workload against Vikings defense
Gibbs, who did pop up on the Lions' practice report to begin this week of preparation against the Vikings, is en route to a career-high number of carries. When the team said he'd be the bell cow of this offense, it's clear that they meant it. He's third in the league in carries this year (134), and has 620 rushing yards on the year. And, Week 7 might've been the first time we've seen Gibbs look just a bit hobbled coming off the field.
Is that good? Yes. Is that something the Lions should want to sustain for the remainder of this season? No. It's likely why they've been connected to Kareem Hunt again by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, but until they make a signing, Gibbs' workload is in direct view ahead of their Vikings game. Minnesota, funnily enough, hasn't been dominant stopping the run this year.
Monitoring Vikings success passing to tight ends
The Vikings could find some success in the air by targetting the Lions' linebackers in coverage, which will often mean targetting tight ends. T.J. Hockenson, a former Lion, is likely to get a few more targets than usual because of how weak the Lions' current linebacker unit is at covering tight ends this season.
A staggering statistic from prior to Week 5 regarding the Lions, courtesy MLive's Jacob Richman: "In four games, the Lions have allowed 37 catches for 407 yards and six touchdowns to opposing tight ends. Going into Sunday’s game, the Lions’ 351 yards given up to tight ends in the first three games was the most by a team since at least 2000."
Against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions gave up 57 yards to tight ends - 48 of those were to Tucker Kraft alone, who also had a touchdown on the day after Jack Campbell tripped in coverage against him.
Prediction
There's a lot of talk of the Vikings being "fraudulent" this season. They can't really score consistently, and they have a lackluster quarterback room. It's a shame, as they do have some excellent weapons downfield in Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson. Of course, they haven't needed their help very much this year with how strong their defense has been. They're giving up 12.3 points per game this year.
The Lions, of course, are averaging 30.7 points per game. Something's gotta give. And, we'll err on the side of Detroit for this one, and predict that they finally end Minnesota's undefeated season by a final score of 17-14.
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