Veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone was a full participant in practice Thursday as he’s returned to the field for the first time in six weeks after breaking his forearm in the win over Jacksonville Week 11.
Anzalone spoke to reporters following practice and said the decision hasn’t been made yet if he’ll play in Sunday’s game vs. Minnesota. Anzalone still has a steel plate in his arm and was unsure as of Thursday if he’d be able to go or not Sunday.
“I don’t know yet, honestly,” he said. “There’s more decisions to be made collaboratively. What’s safe for me to do? There’s always a risk. It’s just one of those things where you weigh the risk and go from there.”
Anzalone suffered the same injury in college and said he didn’t make it back this soon then. He also said part of the decision is something happening if he comes back too soon, and he misses a long playoff run and potentially the Super Bowl if the Lions advance that far.
“Obviously the doctors and trainers, they kind of go through what the risks are of waiting a week waiting two weeks going through practice and maybe letting it spin next week or the week after that or this week,” he said. “For me personally, I think it’s like, ‘Okay, say if something did happen would I be OK not playing in the Super Bowl?’ That’s kind of the decision I have to make in my own head. Is it worth it? How do I feel going over these next few practices and go from there.”
Anzalone has 56 tackles (40 solo), seven tackles for loss, a sack and four passes defended in nine games played this season and is one of Detroit’s best cover linebackers
PRO BOWL SNUB
Despite leading the NFL in interceptions with nine and having the best coverage grade by Pro Football Focus of any safety in the NFL, Lions safety Kerby Joseph was not named to the Pro Bowl Thursday. He wasn’t even the first alternate. He was No. 2.
“He doesn’t need that as motivation, he knows that he’s a good player,” Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said Thursday when asked if Joseph not being named to the Pro Bowl could be extra motivation moving forward. “What he needs to know, he has nine interceptions, a ton of tackles, he’s made impact plays as we saw last week, and that was done on national TV. So, he doesn’t need that as motivation.”
Joseph said he’s not sweating his Pro Bowl snub because he didn’t plan on being able to go anyway.
“I saw it and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ But I wasn’t really too much worried about the Pro Bowl. I ain’t trying to be the in the Pro Bowl. I’m trying to be in that Super Bowl.”
Joseph said he’d be happy being named All-Pro and being in consideration for Defensive Player of the Year.
“I feel like All-Pro is the real recognition that people give,” Joseph said. “I’m not really worried about it. I’m focused on the Super Bowl. I wasn’t going to go the Pro Bowl anyways.”
QB APPRECIATION
The NFL isn’t a patient league. It’s very much a what have you done for me lately kind of league.
The two Pro Bowl quarterbacks squaring off in Sunday night’s NFL regular season finale in Detroit are two great examples of that reality.
Jared Goff, the No. 1 pick by the Los Angeles Rams in 2016, took the Rams to a Super Bowl in 2019, but was eventually traded to Detroit two years later where he’s since revitalized his career and become an MVP candidate, leading Detroit to a 14-2 record.
Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold, the third pick in the 2018 draft by the New York Jets, was cast aside by the Jets and spent time in Carolina and San Francisco before his revitalization in Minnesota this year where he’s a Pro Bowler for the first time, setting career highs in every major passing category while leading the Vikings to a similar 14-2 mark.
“I think seeing Sam have the success that he’s having, he deserves it,” Goff said. “He’s a guy that kind of got, I don’t know, I mean he’ll never say it, but he got the short end of the stick in New York and in Carolina, and now he’s in a place with a lot of things around him that help him succeed.
“That’s every quarterback. That’s not a slight by any means. That’s every good quarterback in our league. And when you get a team that’s running an offense around you and running an offense that’s tailored for your skills, good things tend to happen, especially when you’re a talented player like he is.”
Baker Mayfield is another great example. Taken No. 1 overall by Cleveland in 2018, he was eventually replaced and spent a year in Carolina and with the Los Angeles Rams before settling in in Tampa Bay and having back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons with a career-high 39 touchdowns and a 107.6 passer rating this year.
Goff admitted teams don’t have much patience these days, especially at the quarterback position, and he doesn’t expect that to change anytime soon. It’s why he’s taken a lot of joy in watching a player like Darnold have the year he’s had.
“He’s certainly making a lot of people look foolish,” Goff said of Darnold.
Goff joked this week he wished Darnold was doing it in a different division other than the NFC North but loves watching players get a chance to succeed, much like the opportunity he’s had to do so in Detroit.
DEFENSE LOOKING FOR BETTER START
The San Francisco 49ers scored 21 points, put up 260 total yards of offense and recorded 15 first downs in the first half against the Lions Monday night, taking a 21-13 lead into halftime.
“Obviously, defensively in that first half we did not play as well as we should have played, and we understand that,” Glenn said Thursday looking back at the 49ers game.
Glenn pointed to the second half against the 49ers, a half in which they sacked Brock Purdy twice, manufactured two Joseph interceptions and limited the 49ers to 13 points as something they can hang their hat on heading into a huge matchup Sunday against an explosive Vikings’ offense.
“I thought that our top players out-willed their top players, and to me, that’s what the focus is on for us,” Glenn said. “How many impact plays we can make and how our top players are going to out-will their top players.
“Listen, are we where we need to be defensively? Not at all. We understand that. But where we are is we’re making impact plays at times that we need to make them and I’m proud of our guys for doing that.”
