–Rookie running back Kerryon Johnson remains out with a knee injury he suffered Nov. 18 in a win over the Carolina Panthers, but Lions head coach Matt Patricia said the team does not currently have plans to place him on injured reserve.
Johnson leads the Lions with 641 yards rushing in 10 games and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. The Lions have used LeGarrette Blount and Theo Riddick as their primary running backs in Johnson’s absence, with Blount rushing for 149 yards and two touchdowns the last two weeks.
“For us, the injury thing is still the same,” Patricia said. “They’re just day-to-day with it and trying to evaluate our players as they’re trying to work themselves back into a situation where they can go help us and go compete. That’s where we kind of keep it at this point.”
Patricia acknowledged that the Lions want to ensure Johnson goes into the offseason healthy, but said that “doesn’t really kind of dictate either way” whether he returns this season.
“People have gone and done it all different ways and still been able to have great seasons,” Patricia said. “So we’re just kind of going day-by-day right now.”
–Left tackle Taylor Decker scored his first touchdown at any level of football in last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Decker caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford on a play that offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter added to the game plan late in the week and that Decker and Stafford practiced only once.
“My heart rate definitely shot up a little bit (when the play-call came in),” Decker said. “I was really tired after that touchdown because I was going crazy when he threw it and there was nobody around, so it was a pretty cool moment.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 44 – Kenny Golladay ranks third in the NFL with 44 targets since Week 10, trailing only Keenan Allen (47) and Antonio Brown (45). He’s taken over as the Lions’ No. 1 receiver since Golden Tate was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles at the October deadline and Marvin Jones Jr. left a Nov. 11 loss to the Chicago Bears with a knee injury. In the Lions’ last four games, Golladay has 22 catches for 331 yards.
