Detroit News

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown 264 touchdown passes. That’s more than double anyone else in franchise history, and he continues to climb the NFL’s all-time ranks, where he’ll likely vault past Joe Montana sometime next month.  As part of those 264 scoring strikes, Stafford has thrown a touchdown

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News The Lions announced three of their four players on short-term injured reserve will return to practice on Wednesday. The team is getting back offensive lineman Joe Dahl, running back Bo Scarbrough and cornerback Mike Ford.  Dahl opened the season as the team’s starting left guard, but suffered a groin

The Detroit News  |  The Detroit News Justin Rogers, Rod Beard, John Niyo and Bob Wojnowski of The Detroit News offer their predictions against the spread for Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season. Detroit -1 at Jacksonville Rogers: Detroit Beard: Detroit Niyo: Detroit Wojnowski: Detroit Chicago +2 at Carolina Rogers: Carolina Beard: Chicago Niyo: Carolina

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News One of the greatest things about the NFL is stars can be found in the most unexpected of places. Tom Brady, arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, was a sixth-round draft pick, while three of the most productive receivers in league history — Jerry Rice, Randy Moss and Terrell

Through four games, the Lions are getting a better sense of how their backfield rotation will shape up. With Kerryon Johnson, Adrian Peterson and rookie D’Andre Swift splitting the reps, it’s been a weekly shuffle for who gets the most carries and playing time. The rotation varies from game to game based on the opponent

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News In the early minutes of the Detroit Lions’ loss to the New Orleans Saints a little more than a week ago, the Saints faced a third-and-1 at midfield. The handoff went to running back Latavius Murray, who didn’t have much daylight, but was able to power ahead for two

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News Coming out of the bye week, the Detroit Lions are relatively healthy, and it’s possible additional reinforcements are on the way.  The Lions have four players on injured reserve who are eligible to rejoin the active roster this week. That group includes cornerbacks Justin Coleman and Mike Ford, guard

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News In football, there are three key components to any good defense: You need to be able to stop the run, rush the passer and cover. The Detroit Lions aren’t doing any of those well, and it’s a big reason the team has one win through four games.  Despite the league becoming

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News Prior to his season-ending injury a year ago, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was arguably playing the best football of his career. But through the first four games of the 2020 season, he’s struggled to recapture that form.  Stafford’s completion percentage, yards and yards per attempt are closer to

Rod Beard   | The Detroit News With more positive COVID tests, the NFL has had to do some juggling of the schedule to keep things balanced and in order. The Tennessee Titans have been the most notable case of a team with an outbreak, in addition to the New England Patriots, who had quarterback Cam

Rod Beard   | The Detroit News In their first four games, the Lions’ offense has sputtered somewhat, with just 407 total rushing yards (101.8 yards per game) and 929 passing yards (232.3), ranking in the bottom half of the league in both categories. Although they have an upgraded group of running backs with Kerryon Johnson,

By Mike Sielski  |  Philadelphia Inquirer In the age of COVID/Zoom sports reporting, you have to accept what an NFL team offers you after a game. There’s no wave of media flooding the locker room, no waiting out a player until he finishes showering and tying his shoes, no following a guy out of the

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News Following Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Atlanta Falcons fired coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff. It marked the second time during the early stages of the 2020 season that a franchise has cleaned house, following the Houston Texans’ decision to relieve coach/general manager Bill

Kristie Rieken  |  Associated Press Houston — Costly errors and an inability to take advantage of Houston’s mistakes gave the Jacksonville Jaguars another loss to a previously winless team on Sunday and left them in last place in the AFC South. Deshaun Watson threw for a season-high 359 yards and three touchdowns and the Texans got their

Will Graves  |  Associated Press Pittsburgh — Eric Ebron never stops talking. Ever. In the huddle. In the locker room. On the field. On social media. The Pittsburgh Steelers tight end’s inner monologue is broadcast live for all the world to hear, a non-stop barrage of one-liners and verbal mic drops that targets everyone from

By Jerry Green  |  Special to The Detroit News Detroit — The coach was trudging up the slope in the corridor outside the Lions’ locker room past a cluster of critical, curious sports journalists. Suddenly he stopped. “What does it take for a coach to get fired around here?” he whispered into the right ear of

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Tony Paul   | The Detroit News A Detroit man has been charged with operating a chop shop where former Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s stolen car recently ended up. Darnell Smith, 31, was arrested Tuesday and arraigned in 36th District Court on Thursday, charged with operating a chop shop and receiving and concealing stolen

The Detroit News  |  The Detroit News Justin Rogers, Rod Beard, John Niyo and Bob Wojnowski of The Detroit News offer their predictions against the spread for Week 5 of the 2020 NFL season. Tampa Bay -5.5 at Chicago Rogers: Tampa Bay Beard: Tampa Bay Niyo: Tampa Bay Wojnowski: Tampa Bay Carolina +3.5 at Atlanta

Justin Rogers   | The Detroit News In recent years, the best NFL offenses have converted third downs at a clip between 45-49%. Currently, with offensive production up across the league, six teams have been successful a shade better than 50% of the time through four games, led by the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs at 53.9%. On Sunday, the