The Detroit Lions passed two road tests and have a couple more coming up in their first two November games. They seemingly get a break in the schedule on Sunday when they host the one-win Tennessee Titans.
Following their stunning 47-9 blowout of the Dallas Cowboys, the Lions handed the Minnesota Vikings their first loss of the season 31-29 last week on Jake Bates’ 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining.
Now Detroit (5-1) can must avoid a letdown against the Titans (1-5).
“We’ve got our own standards,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “It’s about us and how we handle our business.”
Detroit quarterback Jared Goff has been handling his business so efficiently that he is being talked about as a Most Valuable Player candidate. Goff has completed an absurd 83.5 percent of his passes over the past four games while throwing for nine touchdowns and getting intercepted just once.
Goff went 22 of 25 for 280 yards and two touchdown passes against the Vikings.
Now, he gets to play in a friendly atmosphere versus Tennessee ahead of consecutive road games against the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans.
“Two away games and being back at home now, in front of our fans, coming off two wins, it’ll be loud. It’ll be fun,” he said.
Goff might have one fewer weapon at his disposal on Sunday. Wideout Jameson Williams is facing a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy.
The Lions will be playing their second game without star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who broke his left leg at Dallas. Detroit managed to generate four sacks against the Vikings, but only one of them was made by a defensive lineman. Campbell said there is no pressure on the front office to make a trade for another lineman.
“We’re going to give Isaiah Thomas a shot, we’re going to give (Al-Quadin) Muhammad another shot, he’s played in this league, done a lot,” the coach said. “We’ll give (James) Houston another shot. So in combination with all those guys that we’ve got, let’s give it a go, let’s give it a look.”
The Titans are in a state of upheaval. They traded wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Kansas City Chiefs and linebacker Ernest Jones IV to the Seattle Seahawks this week as they look to shed salary and accumulate draft picks.
“When you’re in the spot that we’re in — one that we didn’t want to be in, one that we didn’t expect to be in necessarily — but when you’re in those spots, these are the things that come with it,” coach Brian Callahan said. “That’s part of our life in the league. When you get to these juncture points in a season and things like this happen, it’s usually because you’re in the spot that we’re in.”
Mason Rudolph is expected to get his second straight start at quarterback while Will Levis continues to recover from a shoulder ailment. Rudolph completed 25 of 40 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown with one interception in a 34-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills last week.
“He’s still in that week-to-week mode, and I’m not necessarily ruling him out,” Callahan said of Levis. “But I do think we’re going to take a look and let Mason take more reps this week and get ready to play and see how Will comes through the week.”
Levis was a limited participant in Tennessee’s practice on Wednesday, while wide receiver Calvin Ridley (foot) sat out. Tackle Jaelyn Duncan (hamstring) and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (quad) also missed practice for injury-related reasons.
Lions defensive end Joshua Paschal (illness) didn’t practice on Wednesday.