DJ Chark Out Sunday against Seahawks
The Detroit Lions have elevated two players from the practice squad, ahead of their Week 4 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Wideouts Tom Kennedy and Maurice Alexander have been elevated, as DJ Chark has been ruled out Sunday with an ankle injury.
Additionally, kicker Dominik Eberle and tackle Dan Skipper have been signed to the active roster.
In corresponding moves, tight end Shane Zylstra and offensive lineman Drew Forbes have been waived.
Kicker Austin Seibert was ruled out on Friday, due to the lingering effects of a groin injury suffered last week.
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Detroit special teams coordinator Dave Fipp explained to reporters the team had confidence in Seibert to make a career-long field goal in Minnesota, due to his performance in practice.
Fipp indicated that most NFL coaching staffs tend to extrapolate a kicker's range, based on the performance that week in practice.
"Those numbers get magnified by the number of kicks that they’ve hit in game situations," Fipp explained.
"I would say that in my experience doing this, and I’ve done it for a while, I’d say that usually these guys trend to what they do on the practice field," Fipp continued. "So, if a guy’s hitting 70 percent on 50-plus on the practice field, and he’s hitting so in games, I would say if you just push that out and play another 15 years or 10 years, it’s going to trend towards the 70. And, that’s not necessarily going to be perfect, and maybe there is something there, with any given player, that it won’t trend that way. Maybe there is something going on either mentally or physically, or whatever that would prohibit that from happening, which I can’t really answer. But, I would say in my experience, usually it trends towards what you see in practice. And, we have a lot more information from practice, than obviously we get out there in a game.”
The Lions are seeking to avenge their 51-29 Week 17 loss to the Seahawks last season on the road.
