Another day, another set of injuries to key players around the NFL in preseason games:
The Lions lost another preseason game Friday, but there were a couple other losses that are potentially much more costly. A game story: https://t.co/1NnhNaEabM via @freep
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) August 24, 2019
Even though Bears Head Coach Matt Nagy has thrown conventional wisdom out the window in favor of doing his things his way, many teams around the league still use Preseason Week 3 as a dress-rehearsal for the regular season. Unfortunately, two teams on Friday suffered some significant injuries.
Four starters in Friday’s Bills-Lions game left early due to injury. For the Lions, it was linebacker Jarrad Davis and center Frank Ragnow. On the other side of the field, Bills guard Quinton Spain and cornerback Tre’Davious White went down with injuries. The last thing anyone wants is injuries. But what makes it worse for these players going down is that it is so close to the regular season. A game like the one between the Bills and Lions will only help the argument that is in favor of benching starters in the preseason.
Of course, not everyone will see it that way.
“I think we can argue either side of the coin on all this,” said Lions Head Coach Matt Patricia, via the Detroit Free Press. “Hindsight is 20-20. So for us, we try to stick to the plan. … Guys can get injured during practice, guys can get injured during the game. I mean, it’s football, to some aspects of it. Injuries are part of the game and that’s something we all have to deal with.”
While I understand the sentiment that players can get hurt at any given moment, there is a different level of injury risk in practice than there is in a game situation. If they were equal, then I would give Patricia’s words more weight. But because we know they aren’t equal, Patricia’s angle comes off as archaic.
Both of the Lions players who suffered leg injuries on Friday will undergo further testing. And while I can’t imagine either injury looked good, Detroit is holding out hope for the best. For their sake, I hope the injuries aren’t season-ending ones.