Giants-Lions Inactives & Lineup Changes
Giants Inactives
Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard (concussion)
Although he practiced on a limited basis this week, Sterling Shepard will miss his third straight game after suffering his second concussion of the season.
The Giants are going to continue to be cautious with their top receiver, who has suffered two concussions this season.
Shepard had 25 receptions for 267 yards and a touchdown this season despite missing three-games with two separate concussions.
With Shepard out, Darius Slayton will replace him for the second straight week in the starting lineup.
Slayton has five catches for 62 yards in the last two games, and has emerged as one of Daniel Jones’ favorite targets and has 14 receptions for 217 yards and a touchdown in five games this season.
CB Corey Ballentine (concussion)
Rookie cornerback Corey Ballentine, who has played about ten snaps on defense so far, has made more of a contribution on special teams as the Giants’ kickoff returner.
Ballentine is averaging 26.3 yards a return with a runback long of 52 yards. Without Ballentine back to receive kicks, Darius Slayton has stepped into this role.
Although Slayton averaged 21.8 yards per return last week, he made a rookie mistake on the Giants final possession down six points with a little over a minute left when, Instead of taking a knee to accept a touchback, he returned a kickoff from the mins-1 yard-line and was tackled inside the 15.
With Ballentine sidelined for the second straight week, the hope is that the athletic Slayton, if given another opportunity, will hopefully have cleaned up mistakes such as like last week.
The remaining Giants inactive players--all healthy scratches--are quarterback linebacker Tae Davis, Alex Tanney, offensive linemen Chad Slade and Eric Smith, and linebacker/edge Devante Downs.
Lions Inactives
CB Darius Slay (Hamstring)
The Lions’ 30th-ranked passing defense will be without top cornerback Darius Slay. This injury is even more significant, considering the team dealt with starting safety Quandree Diggs to Seattle last week.
The Lions' secondary has allowed an average of 289.7 yards through the air so far, the third-most yardage allowed (behind the Raiders and Buccaneers).
Detroit’s defensive backfield will certainly miss Slay, who has 16 tackles, one interception, and three pass bat-downs on the season. Second-year corner Mike Ford will likely fill in for Slay.
Ford has started five career games in two seasons and has 30 tackles and two pass deflections.
CB Amani Oruwariye (Knee)
The rookie fifth-round draft choice will miss his third straight game this week with a knee issue. Oruwariye has only played in one game this season, mostly on special teams. It has been a rough start to the former Penn State linebacker’s career, which has been stalled by injuries dating back to the Lions’ preseason finale.
DT Mike Daniels (Foot)
Despite returning to practice this week for the first time since spraining his foot in Week 3, defensive lineman Mike Daniels will miss his fourth straight game.
With Daniels out, Da’Shawn Hand will likely see an increase in snaps.
The Lions’ healthy scratches include defensive tackle Kevin Strong, quarterback David Blough, guard Beau Benzschawel, and offensive lineman Oday Aboushi.
