Lions have their work cut out in the second half

This addition of half-time adjustments is pretty easy. The Lions gave the Cardinals three second-quarter touchdowns on a muffed punt and two interceptions. The first two turnovers set the Cardinals up inside the Lions’ 10-yard line and led to two Beanie Wells touchdown runs. The second interception was returned 53 yards for a score by Rashad Johnson with just 30 seconds left in the half to give them a 21-7 lead.

The Cardinals have scored three touchdowns with just eight yards of offense on the scoring drives. They have a total of 111 yards in the first half.

The Lions trail 21-7 because of two costly turnovers and their inability to move the ball effectively on an underrated Cardinals defense.

It might be an understatement to say the Lions have some work to do in the second half.

Here are three places to start:

HANG ONTO FOOTBALL

Why don’t we just go ahead and state the obvious first and get it out of the way. The Cardinals are a bad offensive team and the 7-0 lead the Lions had early in the second quarter might have been enough to win if not for the turnovers.

Simple fundamentals. Throw and catch.

PROTECT STAFFORD

The Cardinals’ pass defense has held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 71.9 this season, the second-best mark in the NFL behind Chicago (67.9). Part of the reason is because they are very good at getting to the quarterback, and though they don’t have any sacks today, they’ve beaten up Stafford, who’s taken some of the biggest shots I’ve seen him take all year.

The Lions have to be better than that. Stafford is feeling the pressure and it’s affecting his play. He’s 9-of-22 passing for 85 yards with two interceptions. That’s good for a 14.4 rating.

LIMIT THE PENALTIES

The Lions aren’t handling the pre-snap movement by the Cardinals defense. The Lions have already been hit with three false starts penalties. Right tackle Gosder Cherilus has two of them and a holding call. The Lions have been penalized five times for 35 yards in all.

Lions stop hurting themselves and they’ll be okay.

Pettigrew and Fairley out; Delmas will start

The Lions will be without starters Brandon Pettigrew (ankle) and Nick Fairley (Shoulder) today vs. Arizona.

Neither practiced all this week after leaving last week’s game in Green Bay with the injuries.

Tony Scheffler and Will Heller will pick up the slack in two tight end sets for Pettigrew.

The team will start Sammie Hill in place of Fairley. Andre Fluellen, who signed with the team earlier this week, is active and will be in the defensive tackle rotation.

Louis Delmas is active and will start at safety. Delmas has missed eight games with a left knee injury and has left two other games.

“What we try to do when he’s been out there … he wasn’t able to go last week, but the weeks before that … I think it was the Houston game that he went and played every snap and then had to come out I think midway through the fourth quarter,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said this week when asked how the Lions might use Delmas the rest of the year.

“So we changed it around a little bit and tried to spot him. He still played three quarters or 80 percent of our snaps but just tried to limit him a little bit early and try to keep his availability throughout the game. It’s really not necessarily a pitch count as much as it is just trying to conserve his reps. There’s not a specific number in there, but if we can keep him particularly for the fourth quarter, then that’s beneficial for us.”

Joining Pettigrew and Fairley on the inactive list are: tackles Jason Fox and Corey Hilliard, quarterback Kellen Moore, defensive end Ronnell Lewis and safety Ricardo Silva.

Kris Durham will make his second consecutive start at receiver and Don Carey will start opposite Delmas at strong safety.

Pettigrew and Fairley doubtful to play Sunday

It looks like the Lions could be without tight end Brandon Pettigrew and defensive tackle Nick Fairley Sunday when the team travels to Arizona to take on the Cardinals (4-9).

Both players missed practice all week and are listed as doubtful for Sunday on the injury report.

Pettigrew hurt an ankle in the first quarter of last week’s game at Green Bay. Fairley injured a shoulder in the fourth quarter. Both players did not return to the game.

The Lions have a few different options if Pettigrew is unable to play. Tony Scheffler and Will Heller would be the primary tight ends. Rookie offensive tackle Riley Reiff, who played some tight end in high school, could serve as the third tight end. The Lions also promoted fullback Shaun Chapas from the practice squad. Chapas could also play the third tight end role.

The Lions released receiver Lance Long to make room for Chapas on the active roster.

“(T) Riley (Reiff) has played that,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said Friday. “We also have extra wide receivers. We could go a lot of different places.

“And I don’t want to rule Brandon out also. Brandon’s a tough guy and he’s played through a lot. Even though he hasn’t been on the practice field, he doesn’t really need that to be able to get out there on Sunday.

“So we’ll just see where that goes. We’ll have a lot of different groups to be able to bail us out if we have any tight end issues. We went through the whole game basically last time without him.”

The team has listed safety Louis Delmas as questionable with that sore left knee. Delmas played limited snaps two weeks ago against the Colts, but was inactive last week. He’s missed eight games total this season because of the injury.

“What we try to do when he’s been out there … he wasn’t able to go last week, but the weeks before that … I think it was the Houston game that he went and played every snap and then had to come out I think midway through the fourth quarter,” Schwartz said.

“So we changed it around a little bit and tried to spot him. He still played three quarters or 80 percent of our snaps but just tried to limit him a little bit early and try to keep his availability throughout the game.”

Safety Don Carey (knee), cornerback Chris Houston (hamstring), receiver Calvin Johnson (knee), cornerback Jacob Lacey (foot, Achilles) and tackle Corey Hilliard (knee) are all listed as probable.

Avril: “The first step is stopping their running game”

“For Corey Williams to go to IR is a big void in our room and on the dline. He’s a heck of a ball player. The leadership will be missed. His play will definitely be missed. It’s unfortunate. He’s been battling this injury basically all year. I guess it just wasn’t going to heal up so they had to put him on IR.

“Bringing back Andre Fluellen is a plus. He’s been in the system for three years or something like that prior to this year so he knows the system. He’s not new to the coaching staff. It’s great to have him back. He’s my draft mate also.

“I don’t know Nick’s injury situation or if he’ll play or not. That’s up to Coach Schwartz to see how Nick is feeling. We would definitely love to have Nick out there if he’s able to go. We want to play a little better obviously especially since we’re missing Corey. The depth a d-tackle kind of went down. But we have Fluellen back. As d-ends, we definitely have to bring our a-game for sure.

“There’s been a couple of games to watch on Ryan Lindley, who is starting this week. He’s a rookie. The goal is always to put pressure in a rookie’s face and bring as much pressure on him as possible up front to try to make him think a little quicker and hopefully worry about us moreso than our linebackers and dbs.

“They do have some weapons on offense. They have some good backs. The first step is stopping their running game. They’re going to probably try and establish that so we need to stop the running game and then try to get after them in the passing game.

“Letting all those runs through in Green Bay is something we have to learn from. You have to make the plays you’re supposed to make. Each individual person has to make the plays they’re supposed to make and I think we’ll be fine. Last week, we let a few of them slip out of there, but I think guys will be ready this week for sure.”

Pettigrew and Fairley miss practice again

Tight end Brandon Pettigrew and defensive tackle Nick Fairley missed practice for a third consecutive time this week, putting into question their availability for Sunday’s game at Arizona.

The Lions will release their official game designations at 4 p.m. today on detroitlions.com.

Pettigrew left last week’s game in Green Bay in the first quarter with an ankle injury and did not return. He’s been wearing a protective boot for most of the week.

Fairley left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury and didn’t return. He spoke to reporters earlier in the week and was hopeful he could play Sunday.

The Lions could be in a situation where they have to make a roster transaction to add depth to the tight end group if it’s determined Pettigrew can’t play. The Lions have only Tony Scheffler and Will Heller healthy at this point. They usually have three tight ends active on the game-day roster.

Safety Louis Delmas was also absent from the portion of practice open to the media after being a limited participant in practice on Thursday. Delmas did not play in Green Bay last week.

The team was also without defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch at practice, who was likely getting a day of rest.

Linehan thinks Stafford could be one of the best ever

Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan spoke to the media Thursday and reiterated his belief that Matthew Stafford can be one of the best quarterback’s to ever play the game.

His comments are getting a lot of play in national media outlets.

“I don’t know where Peyton (Manning) was after four years exactly, but I think that Matt’s definitely on track to be one of the best quarterbacks ever to play this position,” Linehan said.

“He’s in an age of great quarterbacks. He’s not going to be mentioned in that category yet until we put together two or three seasons, like we did last year, in a row.

“Finish this season out strong, you look at the end of the year, see his numbers after two years, I mean it’s hard to say that there’s a lot of quarterbacks that have done that.”

Stafford, 24, is the reigning Comeback Player of the Year and needs to average 331.3 yards per game over the final three weeks to join Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to hit 5,000 yards in a season twice. He’s close to 12,000 career yards and has 77 touchdowns in 42 career starts.

Here is the full video of Linehan’s comments to the press regarding Stafford:

Delmas returns to practice; Pettigrew and Fairley still out

The Lions got three-fourths of their starting secondary back on the practice field Thursday as they continued preparations for Sunday’s game in Arizona.

Cornerbacks Chris Houston (ankle) and Jacob Lacey (foot/Achilles) and safety Louis Delmas (knee) returned to the portion of practice open to the media.

Delmas hasn’t played since Indianapolis because of that sore left knee, and has missed eight games total this year.

It’s no surprise all three players are eager to play Sunday. The Cardinals have the league’s 32nd-ranked offense and the No. 28 passing offense (190.9 ypg).

The Lions were still without tight end Brandon Pettigrew (ankle) and defensive tackle Nick Fairley (shoulder), who both missed their second consecutive day of practice. Both players left Sunday’s game in Green Bay and did not return.

Johnson: “In a tough season that we’re going through, it’s cool to read (fan comments) to give me a little lift.”

“It was cool to see all of those comments from fans last week. In a tough season that we’re going through, it’s kind of cool to read some of that stuff to give me a little lift.

“After all the expectations on the team this year – not only what fans had, but we had of ourselves – it is disheartening to be where we are right now because it should be everybody’s ultimate goal to win the Super Bowl.

“Even if you don’t watch a lot of football, everybody watches the Super Bowl. To be able to just be in a position to where you have a chance to be a part of that and get one of those, to come up so far short so many years, it gets tough. It’s frustrating especially after last year what we went through and then to fall back this year.

“We’re looking ahead to this week. Arizona has a good defense. Starting with the front, Darnell Dockett and Campbell up there. They have some players that cause some havoc up there. They play a little 3-4 so they have some standup guys in the linebackers. Paris Lenon’s over there. It’s kind of good to see guys that you came in here that we were here still in the league. He’s one of those older guys that’s still playing at 35.

“They’ve got some talent on the back end especially with their guy Pat Peterson. Peterson, he’s a talent out there. Whether it be returning the ball or on defense, you just don’t want the ball in the guy’s hands. We have to be able to take advantage of those matchups that we’re going to get with him when he goes one-on-one with me and he’s probably going to follow me.

“Those are the things that we’re going to have to take advantage of, but they have some talent over there. Even though they got beat like they did last week, we can’t come out gun shy. We have to be able to go at those guys because they’re definitely going to want to get that bad taste from last week out of their mouths.”

Lions without five starters at practice

The Lions were without five starters at practice today – four on defense – as they get ready to face the Cardinals in Arizona Sunday.

The team was without cornerbacks Chris Houston and Jacob Lacey, safety Louis Delmas, defensive tackle Nick Fairley and tight end Brandon Pettigrew for the portion of practice open to the media.

Pettigrew left Sunday’s game in Green Bay early in the first quarter with an ankle injury and did not return.

Fairley left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury and didn’t return.

Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said during his Monday press conference that both players were being evaluated on Monday and they would be monitored this week.

Houston and Lacey have been dealing with ankle and foot injuries for the past few weeks.

Delmas missed the Packers game – his eighth missed game this season – with that sore left knee that’s been bothering him all year.

Source: Lions place DT Corey Williams on IR and sign DT Andre Fluellen

The Lions have placed defensive tackle Corey Williams on injured reserve with that sore knee, according to a league source, and have replaced his roster spot with veteran free agent defensive tackle Andre Fluellen.

The Lions have not officially announced any roster transactions.

Williams missed six games this season after undergoing knee surgery in late September. He finished the season with nine tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble.

Fluellen, who spent his first four seasons in the league with the Lions, worked out for the team a few weeks prior to agreeing to terms on a contract on Tuesday. He was a third-round draft pick by the team in 2008 and has the ability to play both defensive tackle and defensive end.

He was most recently with the Dolphins, where he played in two games early this season.

The Lions will have to make a decision on Williams’ future with the team this offseason as he’s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent.