Frank Ragnow tried to play through a toe injury before undergoing season-ending surgery last year. Now, the Detroit Lions Pro Bowl center is set to miss time with a toe injury once again.
The Lions ruled Ragnow out of Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders because of toe and groin injuries.
Ragnow suffered a groin injury in practice last week, but played through the injury against the Philadelphia Eagles. He suffered a toe injury early in the Eagles game, but played all 69 offensive snaps. The injury is believed to be on the same foot that Ragnow underwent surgery on last October.
With Ragnow out at least this week, Evan Brown will start at center.
Brown played well in 12 starts last season, allowing two sacks, according to the Free Press’ charting of plays.
Asked about Ragnow and his ability to gut through injuries this week, Lions offensive line coach Hank Fraley said, “He makes you proud.”
“That’s what you want all your guys to do across the team and, shoot, who knows what his percentage was, how healthy he was, but he battled,” Fraley said. “He had a couple, a mistake here and there but, man, he plays physical and the guys feed off of it and he is a leader. He wasn’t going to come out of the game at all, so it was fun to see him battle through and looking forward, you want that in the middle. His leadership, his mind, his focus, his control of the offense. That’s something to be said.”
The Lions will be without at least 2/5ths of their starting offensive line Sunday as right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai is out indefinitely following back surgery. Left guard Jonah Jackson is questionable to play because of a finger injury he suffered in practice this week, while left tackle Taylor Decker is not listed on the injury report, meaning he will play, after missing Wednesday’s practice with a calf injury.
Running back D’Andre Swift, who declined an interview request in the locker room Friday, cornerback Amani Oruwariye (back) and safety Ifeatu Melifonwu (hamstring) also are questionable. Swift sprained his ankle in the first half of the Eagles game and was an extremely limited participant in practice Friday.
“Look, everybody gets the bug at different times and we got a little bit of the injury bug right now, and I think the good news is we got it early so let’s get it knocked out, get it out of the way,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We’ve got to find a way to win with what we have and that’s what we preached from Day 1, it’s next man up and you’ve got a job to do and you’ve got a great opportunity. Some guys got a great opportunity. I mean, if you play well enough, you may not ever look back. That may be your job forever. So that’s how we have to approach it and nobody cares, we got to win. So we put our best foot forward.”
Campbell said the Lions’ injury woes will impact their plan of attack against Washington.
The Lions entered the season with a run-first approach to offense, and were counting on Swift and their veteran offensive line to key their play-action passing game.
Swift had a career-high 144 yards rushing on 15 carries against the Eagles, when he played the second half of the game with the injury.
He downplayed his injury in an interview with the Free Press this week, but sat out practice Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, he told a reporter he was late for something after loading cleats into his Sunday game bag and could not stop for an interview.
“That kid, man, he wants to be out there every down. Every down,” Lions running backs coach Duce Staley said. “You see his excitement on the sideline, you get a chance to go pull up a TV copy and when he comes out, it’s not like he’s upset, he’s just feeling it, he’s in the moment and every day at practice he’s like that. I know y’all get the calm, cool, ‘Little Model’ D’Andre walking around — that’s what I call him, ‘Little Model,’ you get that. But I try to turn it up a little bit. I get a little different approach.”
Staley challenged Swift this spring to be more available through injuries after Swift missed four games with a shoulder ailment last season. He said Friday “the challenge is still out there,” though he said Swift is “doing a great job” managing his sore ankle.
“(The injuries change) what we do a little bit, just the style that which we need to play,” Campbell said. “You just, we’ll have to shift the burden a little bit other places or the load to other places on our team, which is OK. That’s what we got to do. That’s what we’re charged with.”