| Detroit Free Press
Do Detroit Lions have any good reason to start Matthew Stafford again?
Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez, Free Press’ reporters who cover the Detroit Lions, debate if the team should start Matthew Stafford again this year.
Dave Birkett and Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Lions declared center Frank Ragnow out for Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans after Ragnow visited a throat specialist Friday.
Interim coach Darrell Bevell said Friday morning that the team would lean on the specialist for advice on how to handle Ragnow’s rare injury.
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Initially, the Lions listed Ragnow as questionable on their Friday injury report, then downgraded him to out around 5 p.m.
“Obviously, (the specialist) has to tell us that he’s OK to play,” Bevell said. “I mean, he’s the specialist, he knows what he’s looking at. The communication from him will be able to tell us, is it safe for him to play? Is it totally clear? All those types of things is what we’re looking for.”
With Ragnow out, the Lions could slide rookie Jonah Jackson from left guard to center, move Oday Aboushi from right to left guard, and play Joe Dahl at right guard.
None of the three has taken a snap at center in a regular season NFL game. Dahl also has taken center reps in practice, and he and Aboushi are interchangeable at guard.
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“We have a good feel for who we like to go in there,” Bevell. “I think the biggest thing is more of the communication than just playing the position. There’s a lot of communication that goes on from the center as well as the quarterback position. If there’s a new quarterback in there, that’s two guys that are communicating that really have to be in lockstep. That’s really been the focus this week.”
The Lions (5-8) are expected to activate Halapoulivaati Vaitai off injured reserve to start at right tackle Sunday with Tyrell Crosby out for the second straight week with a sprained ankle.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.