The Ravens’ offensive tackles were flagged for four illegal formation penalties on Thursday night, serving notice to the rest of the league that linemen lining up properly is going to be strictly enforced by NFL officials this season.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said he didn’t watch Thursday night’s game but heard about the penalties and made sure the issue was addressed with his team this morning. Campbell said the Lions were already aware that it had become a point of emphasis and that linemen would get at most one warning before they were flagged, but the penalties against the Ravens made it an issue for the team to address on Friday.
“I made that point this morning because I knew it had come up,” Campbell said on Friday. “They were gonna make a point of that, they’ll warn you once and then that’s it. There are no more. They’ll just start flagging them. So our guys know that and we’ll be ready for it.”
It’s unfortunate for the Ravens that they were the team the officials made an example of, but now every NFL offensive tackle should be well aware that there’s no more cheating back toward the backfield when lining up to pass block. That’s going to get flagged, perhaps multiple times a game.
Head coach Sean McVay had some positive injury news with one of the Rams’ defenders, but there is some question as to the availability of a key offensive lineman.
Via multiple reporters, McVay said cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring) will be upgraded to a full participant in Friday’s session after he was limited on Wednesday and Thursday. That’s a good sign of his availability for Sunday’s matchup with Detroit.
Receiver Puka Nacua (knee) and offensive lineman Jonah Jackson (shoulder) are also set to remain full participants.
But right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) will be limited again on Friday. McVay said the club will see how Friday’s practice goes before deciding whether or not Havenstein will play.
Additionally, McVay told reporters that cornerback Darious Williams had a re-tweak of his hamstring, which prompted the club to place Williams on injured reserve yesterday. Now he’ll have at least four weeks to heal.
Los Angeles’ full injury report with game statuses will be released later on Friday afternoon.
The Jameson Williams hype train has been running all offseason and it isn’t slowing down with the season opener a couple of days away.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson added more fuel to the fire the team has been building around the wideout on Thursday. Williams has only been targeted with passes 60 times in 21 games since being selected in the first round of the 2022 draft, but the team’s line has been that Williams has given them reason for confidence that he’s ready for a bigger role and Johnson said that confidence keeps growing.
“As high as it’s ever been and continuing to climb,” Johnson said, via the team’s website. “The more reps, the more time we get together on the field, the better I feel about him. He’s grown in so many ways, on and off the field. As a player, as a route runner, as a receiver, and then off the field just his preparation.”
Sunday’s game against the Rams will provide an opportunity for Williams and the Lions to put action behind all of those words.
The Rams won’t have one of their key defensive players for at least the next four weeks.
Los Angeles announced on Thursday that cornerback Darious Williams has been placed on injured reserve.
Williams has been dealing with a hamstring injury and was listed as limited on the Wednesday injury report.
Fellow Rams cornerback Cobie Durant also has a hamstring injury and was limited on Wednesday.
Williams re-signed with the Rams in March after he was released by the Jaguars. He appeared in all 17 games for Jacksonville in each of the last two seasons. He recorded 19 passes defensed with four interceptions in 2023.
Jonah Jackson’s return to Detroit will see him in a different position than he played for the Lions.
The Rams signed Jackson this offseason with a plan to keep him at left guard while Steve Avila moved inside to center, but Jackson missed most of training camp with a shoulder injury and the decision was made upon his return to put Avila back at the position he played last year. Jackson has some experience at center, including with Matthew Stafford at quarterback when both were with the Lions in 2020, and said he thinks he would have moved there if Detroit didn’t have Frank Ragnow.
“It’s something that’s not new to me, something I’m ready to play,” Jackson said, via Jourdan Rodrigue of TheAthletic.com.
The Rams have other issues on the offensive line with left tackle Alaric Jackson suspended for two games and right tackle Rob Havenstein questionable to play with an ankle injury, so they’ll be hoping that Jackson’s move to center is a smooth one.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua exited a joint workout with the Chargers on Aug. 4 with a right knee injury.
He missed some practice time, returning Aug. 26, and Nacua was a full participant on the Rams’ first injury report of the season.
“Yeah, he’s feeling good,” Rams coach Sean McVay said, via a transcript from the team. “He had the knee that he tweaked a couple of weeks ago, but he’s feeling good. He has that good look in his eye, and I’m excited for him.”
The second-year receiver set the rookie record for receptions and receiving yards last season.
The Rams saw every player practice Wednesday.
Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (ankle), cornerback Darious Williams (hamstring) and cornerback Cobie Durant (hamstring) were limited. Offensive lineman Jonah Jackson (shoulder) was a full participant.
The Rams’ trade of Jared Goff to the Lions for Matthew Stafford was one of the rare win-win trades in NFL history. The Rams won the Super Bowl in Stafford’s first year in Los Angeles, and the Lions used Goff and the three draft picks they obtained in the trade to rebuild a team now a favorite to win Super Bowl LIX.
Stafford, the No. 1 overall pick in 2009, returned to Detroit for the first time in the Rams’ 24-23 loss to the Lions in the wild-card round. Fans booed Stafford and chanted “Ja-red Goff!”
“I feel the crowd 100 percent,” Stafford said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “Motivating factor. Love it.”
The teams meet again Sunday in the season opener at Ford Field, and Stafford is ready for the reception awaiting from the fans who once cheered him.
“I want to hear all of it,” Stafford said. “I want to smell it. I want it to feel like it’s football. That’s part of football, especially going to an away game.
“That stuff just motivates me.”
Stafford, who is entering his 16th season, spent his first 12 seasons in Detroit. It was home . . . until it wasn’t.
He went 25-of-36 for 367 yards with two touchdowns in last January’s playoff game.
Stafford expects to feel more comfortable in the visitor’s locker room and as an enemy of Lions fans this time around.
“I’m going to obviously be one more game comfortable being an opponent in that field than I was, I guess, last year,” Stafford said.
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs has already declared himself ready to play in Sunday night’s season opener against the Rams after dealing with a hamstring injury.
Gibbs termed the issue “a little tweak,” saying that he’s good.
In his Wednesday press conference, head coach Dan Campbell said he’s liked what Gibbs has done since returning to practice.
“He looks really good,” Campbell said, via transcript from the team. “I think here’s the trick with Gibbs, and we tell him this. … When you can run like he runs — I mean, this guy can run — then if you don’t touch that speed in practice at least once or twice a day, you set yourself up for something to happen on Sunday. Because you haven’t — you’re a guy who runs 22 miles an hour, you better touch it because if the first time you touch it in a game when someone’s coming after you, I’m running away, that’s where bad things happen. When you have supreme speed, that’s where you can kind of pull away in practice. You pull away, you pull away, but you’re not — you haven’t had to truly turn it on until you got in the game.
“So, I think that’s just the trick is educating him on that and making him do that so that he doesn’t have a setback. So, we’re on it, he’s doing it, and we like where he’s at.”
Gibbs, the No. 12 overall pick of last year’s draft, accumulated 1,261 yards and 11 total touchdowns in 15 games as a rookie last year. He rushed for 945 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry. And he caught 52 passes for 316 yards with one TD.
The Lions will release their first injury report of the 2024 season later on Wednesday.
The Lions aren’t ready to make a call on defensive tackle D.J. Reader’s status for Sunday’s game against the Rams.
Reader spent most of the summer on the physically unable to perform list after tearing his quad while playing for the Bengals last season, but he was activated ahead of last week’s cut to 53 players. On Wednesday, Lions head coach Dan Campbell said at a press conference that the team’s plan was to ramp Reader up this week and that he’s been handling a full workload for the first time since signing with the team this spring.
Campbell said that’s been positive, but stopped well short of saying Reader is a good bet to take the field.
“There’s still a chance,” Campbell said. “I’ll know more probably after tomorrow than I do right now. He’s doing well.”
The Lions will release their first injury report of the season on Wednesday and they’ll issue injury designations for Week One on Friday.
The Lions expect to have running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta for the season opener against the Rams. Coach Dan Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, that safety Ifeatu Melifonwu is the only player who has an injury concern that could keep him out.
Melifonwu had an Achilles’ injury that sidelined him the final week of training camp.
Both Gibbs and LaPorta returned to practice last week after missing much of training camp with injuries.
Gibbs injured a hamstring while running routes in camp. He told Eric Woodyard of ESPN that he is ready for Week 1, calling himself somewhere between 98 and 100 percent healthy.
“I’m good,” Gibbs told Woodyard. “Just had a little tweak.”
Gibbs ran for 945 yards, gained 1,261 yards from scrimmage and scored 11 total touchdowns last season as a rookie.
He told Woodyard he is more confident entering his second season.