PERSONNEL NEWS

Strategy And Personnel

The Sports Xchange

November 01, 2018 at 1:38 am.

PLAYER NOTES

–DE Ziggy Ansah has missed six straight games with a shoulder injury, but continues to practice on a limited basis during the week. Lions head coach Matt Patricia indicated this week that Ansah will need to take part in a full practice before he plays in a game. “There’s also a football stamina that’s built up with that, too, through the course of maybe a couple weeks or a couple days or whatever it may be,” Patricia said. “So as soon he’s ready to go out there in the game, we’ll put him out there in that situation and hopefully he can go perform.”

–RB/KR Ameer Abdullah received a vote of confidence from head coach Matt Patricia despite losing a key fumble in last week’s loss to the Seahawks. In 35 career games, Abdullah has eight fumbles with four lost, including two on kickoff returns.

–T Taylor Decker did not finish last week’s loss to the Seahawks because of a back injury but is expected to play Sunday against the Vikings. Decker was a limited participant in practice Wednesday, as was running back Theo Riddick, who could return from a knee injury Sunday to play his first game since before the bye.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: WR TJ Jones. Jones is the more experienced of the two in-house options the Lions are considering as a replacement for Golden Tate. He played sparingly in the first six weeks of the season, but caught a career-high 30 passes for 399 yards last year, when he started six games as an injury replacement for Kenny Golladay. Jones can play both inside and slot receiver, where he’ll probably share snaps with Brandon Powell. He’s sure-handed and fearless, and if has a strong finish to the season, the pending free agent could earn himself a decent payday in March.

GAME PLAN: Historically, the Lions and Vikings have played close, low-scoring games, and Sunday should be no different. As usual, taking care of the football will be paramount, and that’s something Matthew Stafford has not done a great job of this year. Stafford has seven turnovers in as many games, and if the Lions don’t want that number to rise they’ll have to keep the ball in Kerryon Johnson’s hands Sunday. The Vikings have two good edge rushers who have given Lions tackles Taylor Decker and Rick Wagner fits in the past, and a heavy dose of Johnson can keep them at bay this week. From a passing standpoint, if the Lions can find a way to get Johnson or Theo Riddick on Anthony Barr, that’s a matchup they can exploit.

Defensively, expect the Lions to stick top cornerback Darius Slay on Adam Thielen, which should allow them to give help to whichever cornerback is covering the speedy Stefon Diggs. Nevin Lawson is probably the better matchup against Diggs considering Tabor’s speed limitations. The biggest issue the Lions have on defense, though, is stopping the run. They’ve given up more than 160 yards rushing in each of their four losses, and while the Vikings don’t have the same sort of power running game as the Seahawks, they’ve been effective on the ground at home.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Vikings WR Adam Thielen vs. Lions CB Darius Slay. Thielen tied Calvin Johnson’s NFL record with his eighth straight 100-yard receiving game last week against the New Orleans Saints, and it’ll be up to Slay to make sure he doesn’t break the mark on Sunday. Thielen is one of the smoothest route-runners in the NFL, and the Vikings throw him a ton of passes. The Lions typically use Slay on their opponents’ No. 1 receiver, and aside from a rough outing against Davante Adams, Slay has won most of those matchups this year. The Lions don’t have great cornerbacks opposite Slay, so quarterbacks like to target Teez Tabor and Nevin Lawson. But if the Vikings want to get Thielen the record, they’ll have to go through Slay to make it happen.

–Vikings DE Danielle Hunter vs. Lions RT Rick Wagner. Hunter was a one-man Lions killer last year with three sacks and a fumble recovery in two games. Most of that production came against Wagner, though Wagner was slowed by an ankle injury for part of the year. Hunter has been dominant so far for the Vikings, with a team-leading eight sacks. He’ll play left end again Sunday with Everson Griffen back in the lineup, which means Wagner better be on top of his game or it will be a long game for Matthew Stafford.

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