PLAYER NOTES
–RB Kerryon Johnson will miss his second straight game Sunday against the Rams with a knee injury. Lions HEAD coach Matt Patricia declined this week to say if he expects Johnson to play again this season.
–CB Mike Ford, an undrafted rookie out of Southeast Missouri State, played 51 of a possible 58 defensive snaps in the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Chicago Bears. Ford has started in both games since he was promoted from the practice squad and has surpassed both Teez Tabor and DeShawn Shead as the Lions’ No. 3 cornerback.
–DE Ziggy Ansah has four sacks in five games this season despite seeing only part-time minutes because of his shoulder injury. Ansah had one sack vs. the Bears and now has 8.5 sacks in Thanksgiving games.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: TE Luke Willson. With a depleted wide receiving corps, no Kerryon Johnson and fullback Nick Bellore battling an ankle injury, the Lions might need to get their tight ends more involved in the offense against the Rams this week. Willson was supposed to replace Eric Ebron as the Lions’ No. 1 tight end after Ebron was released in a cost-cutting move in March. And while Willson has played an important role as a run blocker, he has just 12 catches for 79 yards and zero touchdowns on the year. Ebron, meanwhile, is tied for the NFL lead with 11 touchdown receptions playing for the Colts.
GAME PLAN: The Rams average 35 points per game. The Lions haven’t scored more than 32 points all year. And when Lions head coach Matt Patricia was asked about that discrepancy this week, he said his plan of attack was to “try to keep them from not scoring 35 points” this week. The Lions know they can’t win a shootout with one of the league’s best offenses, not with both Kerryon Johnson and Marvin Jones Jr. sidelined by injuries. That means the Lions will take a similar approach to the one they used last week against the Bears, when they tried to control the clock by running the ball and with the short passing game to keep things close.
Since the Rams are so potent, the Lions can’t afford to squander possessions or settle for field goals when they get in the red zone. Defensively, their best bet is to make running back Todd Gurley II beat them, which he’s certainly capable of doing. Expect cornerback Darius Slay to shadow receiver Brandin Cooks, and by playing out of their big nickel and dime packages (perhaps with safety Tavon Wilson on the field as an extra defensive back), the Lions can toe that line between having an extra defensive back in the secondary and yet still enough run-stoppers on the field.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Lions interior OL vs. Rams DT Ndamukong Suh. Aaron Donald might be the best defensive player in football, but Suh spent the first five seasons of his career in Detroit and will be extra motivated to play his first game against his old team on Sunday. Suh moves around the line quite a bit, and he should get plenty of one-on-one blocking from guards Kenny Wiggins and Frank Ragnow and maybe even center Graham Glasgow. He has a history of aggrieving quarterbacks at Ford Field, and it’s up to the Lions interior line to make sure that doesn’t happen to Matthew Stafford.
–Rams QB Jared Goff vs. Lions LB Jarrad Davis. Several Lions spoke this week about the Rams’ play-action passing game, how it’s the best in the league and how it so closely resembles the run. Todd Gurley II is excellent of course, and Goff sells it well, too. Davis has had an up-and-down year for the Lions, and given the amount of sub-package defense the Lions will play Sunday, much will fall on his shoulders when it comes to deciphering between the run and play-action pass. Gurley is capable of racking up big numbers in the run game, but it’s up to Davis and the rest of the back seven to make sure they don’t get burned for any explosive plays.