–Safety Quandre Diggs broke his left hand in the third quarter of last week’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but could return to action Sunday. Diggs practiced Wednesday with a cast on his hand, and even tried catching some light passes with the cast (he primarily used his right hand to catch the balls). Lions head coach Matt Patricia wouldn’t speculate on if Diggs will play this weekend, but he cited Jack Youngblood playing through a broken leg when asked how effective a defensive back can be playing with a casted hand.
“Everybody’s really different with different injuries that everybody has,” Patricia said. “There’s probably cases of players throughout the history of the league playing with different broken body parts. I’m pretty sure I remember a linebacker from Pittsburgh back in the ’70s who broke his leg by the name of Jack Youngblood and I think he played with that at one point, too. So I really have no idea as far as that’s concerned with all the different players.” Youngblood was actually with the Rams, and played with a broken leg in the 1979 playoffs, including against Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.
If Diggs can’t play, rookie third-round pick Tracy Walker could see an expanded role at safety.
–Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay said the formula for beating the Green Bay Packers on Sunday is to stop quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“Aaron, he’s a whole ‘nother animal out there,” Slay said. “He makes all the throws, makes all the right calls. One of the best in the game, easily. So we know one thing, we got to stop him. We stop him, we win the game.”
The Lions are just 3-13 against the Packers in games started by Rodgers. They swept the season series with Green Bay last year, though Rodgers missed both games with a broken collarbone.
“He believes in his arm, makes all the tough throws,” Slay said. “That’s what makes him so great at what he does. That’s why he’s the highest-paid quarterback in the league.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 400 – With eight catches last week, Golden Tate became just the fifth player ever to record 400 receptions in a Lions uniform. Tate accomplished the feat in his 68th game with the team, topping Calvin Johnson (80 games) as the fastest player to reach 400 receptions in Lions history.