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ALLEN PARK \u2013 The scar down his entire left forearm won\u2019t be going away anytime soon.<\/p>\n
But Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone says he\u2019s feeling better after a much-needed week off to rest his still-healing broken forearm. Now, he\u2019s ready to lead the Lions defense into the playoffs beginning with a divisional round game against Washington on Saturday night at Ford Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little better,\u201d Anzalone said of his forearm on Wednesday after Detroit\u2019s practice.\u201d Last week was a struggle bus, but hopefully I\u2019ve turned the corner a little bit in that regard. I definitely needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anzalone suffered the injury in the Lions\u2019 Week 11 game against the Jaguars, robbing the Lions of their defensive captain in the stretch run of the season.<\/p>\n
He returned from a six-game absence to play in the Lions\u2019 season-ending 31-9 win over Minnesota on Jan. 5.<\/p>\n
That win earned Detroit a first-round playoff bye as the top seed in the NFC. Anzalone, who admitted to plenty of soreness while playing all but one defensive snap with the still-healing forearm may have needed that week off as much as anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just kind of have to fight through the pain a little bit, and a little Tylenol helps too,\u201d Anzalone said.<\/p>\n
The Lions\u2019 defense struggled at times down the stretch due to injuries to Anzalone and a host of other starters, including Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Malcolm Rodriguez and Derrick Barnes. But shined in its finale and Anzalone\u2019s return, holding a 14-win Vikings team out of the end zone.<\/p>\n
Now, the Commanders will bring a new type of challenge, particularly from the quarterback position. Jayden Daniels is the frontrunner to be the NFL\u2019s Offensive Rookie of the Year after throwing for more than 3,500 yards and rushing for nearly 900 in leading Washington to a 12-5 regular season record, then a wild card round win over Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n
Anzalone said the Lions are looking to correct mistakes from the last time they played a mobile quarterback, Buffalo\u2019s Josh Allen, who ran for 68 yards and two touchdowns at Ford Field in early December.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to look at those plays and see the plays that hurt us and correct them,\u201d Anzalone, who didn\u2019t play against the Bills, said. \u201cAt the end of the day you just have to be disciplined and sound in your zone read responsibilities. Unfortunately in that game we didn\u2019t play too cleanly. Hopefully we can going into this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said the team\u2019s defense will benefit from having a player back on the field who knows the game plan better than anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny time your captain\u2019s gone, you lose a little something, and obviously when he comes back you gain something,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cHe understands me to a T, he understands how I\u2019m going to call the game, he studies the game plan just as well as anybody, and if something goes down with my mic, he knows exactly what AG\u2019s going to call, and he does a good job with that, and we have so much conversation on, \u2018How do I see it?\u2019 That he understands how I\u2019m going to call the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alex Anzalone returned from a six-game absence due to a broken forearm in the Lions’ regular season finale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"\n