The Detroit Lions will be without starter left tackle Taylor Decker and cornerback Carlton Davis III in their Thanksgiving game against the Chicago Bears.
The Lions have also classified running back David Montgomery (shoulder) and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (knee) as questionable. Both were believed to be moving in the right direction, with the Lions sounding hopeful about both.
St. Brown informed reporters on Tuesday that he intended to play. Dan Campbell says he kept Montgomery out of last week’s game just to be careful.
The Lions head coach said Montgomery wasn’t happy about not going back in and that he would have a hard time doing the same with him against his former team.
Davis suffered a knee injury in last week’s win over the Indianapolis Colts, and was already playing with a broken thumb. Decker got rolled up on while Jared Goff was sacked but managed to re-enter the game after missing one possession despite knee and ankle injuries.
First-round rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold missed last week’s game with a groin injury. But he is not listed on the injury report, so he’s good to go.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Lions do at both vacancies based on all the flip-flopping to injury. Kindle Vildor started for Arnold opposite Davis last week. But the cornerback had a tough showing, getting picked on and handed a brutal grade from Pro Football Focus. Khalil Dorsey filled in for Davis to finish the game last week.
Emmanuel Moseley could be in line for more action, though. Both he and the Lions said he was ready to handle defensive snaps, and that could come against the Bears on Thanksgiving. Moseley was limited to special teams last week in his first game back from a torn pectoral injury, not to mention losing two straight seasons to ACL injuries.
This was the first time in more than two years Moseley had played and emerged unscathed, an important step in his bumpy road back.
“He’s ready,” Campbell said.
“I think that was — this game yesterday was big. I had to think about that; it was yesterday.
“That was big to be able to — for him, I mean, really, he hadn’t played in two years, and to be able to go out there and know that, ‘OK, I can trust this, I can trust my body.’ He went out there, competed, and did a good job on (special) teams for us. But yeah, I think he’s ready. I think he’s ready, and we’re not afraid to use him.”
As for Decker, the Lions used Dan Skipper at left tackle two weeks ago when the veteran was unable to play in Houston. But he suffered an injury late in practice that week, so they didn’t want to flip the entire operation at the last minute.
In previous years, right tackle Penei Sewell had switched to the left side when Decker was out of action. With a couple of days of preparation and Campbell sounding like he didn’t expect to have Decker as soon as Monday, the expectation leans toward Sewell at left tackle and Skipper on the right.
