The Lions' No. 2-ranked scoring defense will be severely depleted Thursday night against the Packers -- and their rivals know it.
"Going in to play a team that has had the injuries that they’ve had, we’re just going to have to take advantage and execute one play at a time," said Packers tight end Tucker Kraft.
On top of the growing pile of starters on injured reserve, the Lions have ruled out three more starting defensive linemen for Thursday after they were injured in last week's win over the Bears: Levi Onwuzurike, Josh Paschal and DJ Reader.
Onwuzurike (hamstring) and Paschal (knee) left the Bears game and did not return. Reader (shoulder) finished out the game and notched two sacks but not before getting hurt on a hard fall. All three of them were unable to practice this week.
Reader has been a key cog at nose tackle next to Alim McNeill, who has benefited from Reader's ability to occupy double-teams in the trenches. Brodric Martin, who was sidelined by a knee injury for the first three months of the season, will likely see a much bigger role in Reader's absence after he made his season debut last week.
The Lions are also likely to turn to newly-signed defensive linemen Myles Adams and Jonah Williams to help replace Paschal and Onwuzurike up front, with Al-Quadin Muhammad set to see a heavier workload for the second game in a row.
Detroit could also debut recently-signed linebacker Kwon Alexander and possibly safety Jamal Adams, who repped with the linebackers in practice this week, with three of their top four linebackers on injured reserve in Alex Anzalone (forearm), Derrick Barnes (knee) and Malcolm Rodriguez (knee).
Between those three linebackers, defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson (leg) and Marcus Davenport (elbow) who are also on injured reserve, and Reader, Pascal and Onwuzurike, the Lions could assemble an injured front seven that would rival the starting units of most NFL teams.
But as Dan Campbell said after last week's game, "Who cares? That’s what I go back to. It doesn’t matter. Worrying about it, moaning about it and bitching about it, it's like (a missed) call. I could sit there and throw a fit about it. What does it matter? It’s called, it’s done."
"I know this: whoever we have available, we’re going to get them ready to play and we expect them to hold the line, period," Campbell went on. "You have to do your job, and everybody around you is looking for you to do your job. We'll put you in the best position to have success, and we’ll go."
On the bright side, Detroit's secondary is pretty healthy. No. 1 cornerback Carlton Davis will return to the lineup after missing last week's game with a knee injury and fellow corner Emmanuel Moseley is good to go after injuring his hamstring in pregame warmups last week. Terrion Arnold returned last week after missing the game prior with a groin injury.
On offense, the Lions will be without left tackle Taylor Decker for the second game in a row. He injured his knee in their win two weeks ago over the Colts and hasn't practiced since.