Detroit Lions' Week 4 Inactive List
The Detroit Lions will have several new players on the sideline when they take the field in their Week 4 contest, which comes against the Seattle Seahawks at Ford Field.
A rash of injuries has hit the Lions' roster early in the season, forcing the coaching staff to turn to players that have typically had reserve roles.
Wideouts Tom Kennedy and Maurice Alexander will be active this week, and kicker Dominik Eberle will make his Lions debut in replacement of the injured Austin Seibert. Seibert was forced to miss practice all week with a groin injury.
Despite the team downgrading DJ Chark on Saturday, the Lions still have an opportunity to take advantage of their strengths with the Seahawks.
Detroit's rushing attack should have an opportunity to gain traction, as the Seahawks' defense has struggled against the rush.
In fact, just last week, the Falcons' Cordarrelle Patterson rushed for 141 yards (on 17 carries).
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson explained how the injuries impacted the preparation this week, ahead of a key home contest.
"There’s two separate ways to look at it. One is going into the game week, Coach (Dan Campbell) tries to clarify early, and then each day updates who might be available," Johnson explained. "Because once again, that’s our biggest job as coaches, is trying to put those guys in position to do what they do best. And, each guy’s different. Everybody in the building, whether it’s active or practice squad, they all have things that they do well or else they wouldn’t be here."
One point of emphasis the team is looking to improve upon offensively is executing at a higher level on third down.
"Same as we always have," Johnson said. "Third down is a high emphasis. In fact, Thursday’s our third-down day. We’re going to go after it this afternoon, just like we always have. Clearly, we didn’t convert at the rate we’d like to. However, you look at last week, and we were a yard short on a number of them. So, we are very close. I think we called the game the way we wanted to in those situations.”
Here is the updated list of the Lions' Week 4 inactives:
DL John Cominsky
WE DJ Chark
G Jonah Jackson
K Austin Seibert
WR Amon-Ra St. Brown
RB D'Andre Swift
DL Demetrius Taylor
