Frank Ragnow is a man of few words -- but not this few. Due to the throat injury he suffered in last week's loss to the Packers, Ragnow has been barred from speaking.
"Yesterday, no words spoken. Today, no words spoken. He’s not supposed to talk through Friday, and then we’ll be able to reevaluate it toward the end of the week," Darrell Bevell said Thursday.
The Lions starting center reportedly fractured his throat, a rare injury most commonly seen in car accidents. Bevell clarified things on Thursday, saying the "biggest concern that we have, and the concern going forward for him, is really his vocal cords."
Thus the silent treatment. Which makes game-planning pretty difficult, and makes Ragnow a natural target of his teammates.
“You can imagine what it’s like in here, right? Everybody knows he’s not supposed to talk, so they’re all trying to get him to say something," Bevell said. "So every way he can, he’s communicating – shake the head, thumbs up, that kind of stuff."
If the material demands it, Bevell said, "we've had him write some stuff down, that kind of information, to make sure we’re passing back and forth what we need to.”
Ragnow's status for Sunday's game against the Titans is unclear. He was held out of practice Wednesday and the Lions won't have a better grasp on things until Friday. He managed to play -- and play well -- through most of last week's game without being able to speak, so in theory that wouldn't stop him from playing this week.
Ultimately, it will be a question of safety. Ragnow's played every offensive snap for Detroit dating back to Thanksgiving of last season.
"We went from our (doctors) to the specialist, and the specialist will really guide us on that information and whether it’s safe for him to go back out in the game," Bevell said. "I can tell you we’re not going to put him out there if it’s not safe. We don’t want long repercussions of this for him down the road, and I don’t think he would want that either."
Bevell said Ragnow's injury occurred early in the game when he 'took a hit to his throat area' and the Lions evaluated him the rest of the way to make sure it was safe for him to keep playing.
"Really, the most important thing was his airway, how he’s breathing, how he’s swallowing, that kind of thing," Bevell said. "As they checked that out during the game, he was still able to function well, so he was safe to go back in the game.
"I think the initial concern was just all the trauma that he had to it. After seeing more specialists throughout yesterday, they (determined) that it’s more of the vocal cord injury. So they’re having him rest his voice."