One of the big questions for the Lions heading into their Sunday matchup with the Oakland Raiders is whether or not running back Kevin Smith is going to be able to go after having ankle problems the past few weeks.
According to John Clayton of ESPN, after practicing all week Smith is expected to start Sunday and appears to be in better shape than he was two weeks ago when he failed to make it through Week 13’s contest against the Saints.
Now of course there is a risk in using Smith this week however his upside against a Raiders defense that has had trouble stopping the run may be too enticing to pass up for the Lions.
Linehan see’s Randy Moss in Megatron’s game?
On the surface, Calvin Johnson hasn’t been as productive as he has been earlier in the season when he was torching opposing defenses for 11 touchdowns in the first eight games. Since then, Megatron has scored just once and failed to top 89 yards in his past five contests.
However that doesn’t necessarily mean he isn’t producing in other ways.
Because of his fast start, Johnson is getting a lot of double and triple teams which is opening things up Nate Burleson, Titus Young and Brandon Pettigrew.
“So if he’s not getting the ball, he’s helping everybody else get the ball,” offensive coordinator Scott Linehan said. “I’ve never really seen anyone, other than him and Randy Moss, affect the game like that. And it wasn’t uncommon for Randy to have stretches of not a lot of production but another guy coming up big in the game.”
“So it goes full circle. We’ve just got to keep going with it. We’ve got to hit those opportunities. If we can hit those, that’ll certainly help us spring Calvin loose.”
There are certain aspects that you don’t want compared to that of Randy Moss, the way you play on the field isn’t one of them.
Ref: ESPN, Mlive.com (image)