The Lions added wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa to their injury report on Saturday.
TeSlaa is now listed as questionable to play against the Eagles because of an oblique injury. TeSlaa was a third-round pick this year and he has four catches for 65 yards and two touchdowns while appearing in every game for the Lions.
The team also announced that they will not be activating several players from injured reserve this weekend. Cornerback D.J. Reed, defensive end Marcus Davenport, linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez, and guard Miles Frazier will not play against the Eagles on Sunday night.
All of those players were listed as questionable. Right tackle Penei Sewell (shoulder), left tackle Taylor Decker (shoulder), cornerback Amik Robertson (hamstring), running back Jacob Saylors (back), running back Sione Vaki (ankle), and tight end Brock Wright (ankle) remain in that category.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t have to refuse to answer questions about receiver A.J. Brown on Friday.
Sirianni didn’t get any.
On Wednesday, Sirianni said he’s “close to being done” with questions about Brown, a day after Brown said some things about his lingering frustrations on a Twitch stream. After Sirianni spoke on Wednesday, Brown provided a thoughtful, eight-minute critique of the Philadelphia offense, his lack of targets, and his belief that the attack needs to improve despite the team’s 7-2 record.
It wasn’t just a fair topic for questions of the head coach. It was an obvious one. It was a necessary one.
But here’s a basic reality of press conferences. Given Sirianni’s warning from Wednesday, the assembled reporters would have been inclined to wait for someone else to ask the question. Really, why risk being the person who pisses off the coach when someone else may end up doing it?
Still, someone should have asked the question. Brown said far too much for the topic to be ignored in the next press conference from the head coach. The fact that Sirianni flashed frustration at being asked about Brown’s Twitch-stream remarks shouldn’t have kept Sirianni from being asked about Brown’s comments or their implications.
The biggest implication (as recognized on Friday’s PFT Live by Michael Holley) is this: A portion of Brown’s comments from Wednesday directly rebutted the response from quarterback Jalen Hurts immediately following Monday night’s 10-7 win over the Packers, when Hurts was asked specifically about individual players possibly being discouraged by a sputtering offense.
“Just gotta play the next play, and take it a play at a time,” Hurts said after the game. “It’s an offense, it’s a unit, it’s a team. It flows as one. And so, you know, there are times where things may not go a desired way. Ultimately, it’s about how you respond to those things. And when you look at a win like today, that’s what it comes down to. . . . The bottom line is to go out there and try and find a way to win games.”
Said Brown on Wednesday: "[I]t’s about doing what we’re supposed to be doing on offense. And if we are really in this business for trying to get better, we gotta do what we gotta do. And not just say, ‘Oh, it’s about wins, like, as long as we got the win, it’s cool.’ No, that ain’t — you cannot do that, not in this league. We gotta continue to get better.”
Even without asking a question about Brown, Sirianni could have been asked something more subtle. For example, “Does winning games justify performances by the offense that aren’t as effective as you hope them to be?”
Here’s the core question that remains unanswered, by anyone and by everyone: Why isn’t A.J. Brown getting more targets?
That basic question has various tributaries. Is Brown being double-covered too often? Is he not the primary receiver on a healthy number of plays? Why aren’t plays being designed and called and executed to get the ball in his hands? When Brown is single-covered, why isn’t the ball being thrown to him more often?
Lurking at the bottom of all of this is the one thing the Eagles continue to manage to bury. What’s going on with Hurts and Brown? Last season, recently-unretired defensive end Brandon Graham went there, saying that Hurts and Brown used to be friends but “things have changed.” (Graham quickly tried to perform a cleanup on Aisle 55, but he still said what he said.)
That’s the unanswered question. The slowly rotting cheesesteak in the room. The thing that we’ll inevitably get the answer to at some point in the future.
Maybe after Brown and Hurts are no longer teammates. Maybe when the book-reading Brown writes a book of his own about his years in Philadelphia.
The Eagles are set to have their entire offensive line available for Sunday’s game against the Lions.
Four of the team’s starters were on this week’s injury report, but right tackle Lane Johnson (ankle), center Cam Jurgens (knee), left guard Landon Dickerson (quad), and right guard Tyler Steen (oblique) do not have injury designations this week. Johnson injured his ankle in Monday night’s win over the Packers and Jurgens has missed the last two games.
Edge rusher Nolan Smith (triceps) and cornerback Jakorian Bennett (pectoral) are also set to play after full practice participation all week.
Offensive lineman Willie Lampkin (knee, ankle) is the only player with an injury designation. He is listed as questionable to play.
The Lions have a long list of injuries for Sunday’s matchup with the Eagles, with a few key players ruled out for the contest.
Tight end Sam LaPorta (back), safety Kerby Joseph (knee), and cornerback Terrion Arnold (concussion) have all been ruled out for Week 11.
All three were not able to practice all week.
With LaPorta out, head coach Dan Campbell told reporters before the session that his confidence in Brock Wright is “sky high.”
“Brock’s a guy we don’t talk a lot about but he’s the jack of all trades,” Campbell said in his press conference. “He does everything for us — pass protect, run block, he can run some routes, he plays special teams. He’s one of the most dependable players we have on this team.”
Still on the reserve/non-football injury list, edge rusher Josh Paschal (back) has also been ruled out after three limited practices this week.
The Lions also have several questionable players: edge rusher Marcus Davenport (shoulder), offensive tackle Taylor Decker (shoulder/rest), guard Miles Frazier (knee), cornerback D.J. Reed (hamstring), cornerback Amik Robertson (hamstring), linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez (knee), running back Jacob Taylor’s (back), offensive tackle Penei Swell (ankle), running back Sione Vaki (ankle), and Wright (ankle).
Center Graham Glasgow (back) and edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson (elbow) are all off the injury report and are set to play.
The Eagles had four offensive linemen listed as limited in Wednesday’s practice. Only center Cam Jurgens (knee) remained limited on Thursday.
Jurgens has not played since Week 7.
Right tackle Lane Johnson (ankle), left guard Landon Dickerson (quad) and right guard Tyler Steen (oblique) were full participants on Thursday.
Johnson’s ankle injury looked serious in the first half of Monday night’s game. But he later returned and ended up playing 37 snaps, the same as his replacement, Fred Johnson.
Long snapper Cal Adomitis (finger), cornerback Jakorian Bennett (pectoral), wide receiver Darius Cooper (shoulder), offensive lineman Willie Lampkin (knee/ankle) and outside linebacker Nolan Smith (triceps) again were full participants.
