–Kerryon Johnson’s impressive rookie season came to an official end this week when the Lions placed the running back on injured reserve. Johnson hurt his left knee late in the third quarter of a Nov. 18 win over the Carolina Panthers, but the Lions held off on ending his season until they were officially out of playoff contention.
A second-round pick out of Auburn, Johnson leads the Lions with 641 yards rushing on 118 carries, and in September he became the first Lion to top 100 yards rushing in a game since Reggie Bush in 2013.
“Kerryon, obviously, was great when he was out there and it’s part of the season of growing and learning as a young player,” Lions head coach Matt Patricia said. “But right now it’s all about the Vikings for us and the players that we have.”
Zach Zenner, LeGarrette Blount and Theo Riddick will continue to split the workload in Johnson’s place.
–Cornerback Darius Slay was the only Lion selected for the Pro Bowl this week, but Patricia said selections for the all-star game are not an accurate way to judge the talent on the Lions’ roster.
“I think in those situations we’re always congratulatory to those individual awards, we think they’re great,” Patricia said. “But we do know it’s a team game and there’s a lot of players that surround those guys during the course of a season and course of a game that also contribute to everybody’s play and production. So we take good pride in all of that as a group.”
Slay has a team-high three interceptions this season, though he has not played at the same level he did in his eight-interception season of 2017. Quandre Diggs also was named the fourth alternate for the game at safety.
BY THE NUMBERS: 74 – Damon Harrison leads all NFL defensive tackles with 74 tackles and 47 solo tackles for the season. Harrison, who was not selected for the Pro Bowl, is just the second player since the NFL began tracking run-stuffs to have at least 70 tackles, eight run stuffs and 3.5 sacks in a season. Sheldon Richardson in 2013 is the only other player to reach those totals. Harrison did not practice for the Lions on Wednesday because of a sprained ankle, but he could become the eighth player to appear in 17 regular-season games since 1931 if he plays the next two weeks.
