Detroit Lions

More help is on the way for Detroit’s defense.

Head coach Dan Campbell announced safety Kerby Joseph is returning to practice on Wednesday, opening his 21-day window to return from the physically unable to perform list.

Joseph was able to play just six games last season with his one issue, but still recorded three interceptions.

“He’ll be running around, start working him in. He’s put in a lot of work. It’s been a long, hard road for Kerby,” Campbell said in his Wednesday press conference. “But he’s passed every test to this point. This is the next thing, is to get him running around now. So, the strength in the knee is good — and the thigh, the quad, all of that.

“It’ll be great to get him back out there with the guys. I know he’s excited, we are. But we’ve still got a ways to go. But this is a step in the right direction.”

The safety was a first-team All-Pro in 2024, having recorded a league-leading nine interceptions with 12 total passes defensed.

“Everybody loves Kerby,” Campbell said. “He’s a good teammate. He brings a lot of energy.”

With the Lions ramping up Joseph, it sounds unlikely that he’ll be available for Sunday’s game against the Vikings. Detroit plays at Miami in Week 9 before traveling to Europe to play the Patriots in Germany for Week 10.

The Packers were on the wrong end of some questionable calls during Sunday’s loss to the Lions. Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur has chosen his public words about the officiating issues very carefully.

On Tuesday, LaFleur was pragmatic.

“I don’t think officiating in this league is very easy,” LaFleur told reporters. “I really don’t. I think things happen quickly and there’s some bang-bang, split-second decisions you’ve got to make. So, I don’t think they have an easy job. But, you know, all you want as a coach is consistency across the board. As best as it can be. And sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t.”

He’s right. It’s a problem that’s inherent to the entire officiating function. As explained on Monday’s PFT Live, the league continues to officiate games with a system that has slowly evolved since the decades before TV was invented. At this point, given the various technologies that are available, the league should tear the current apparatus down and rebuild it in a way that maximizes video and digital technology.

Without that (and it’s unlikely the league will do it, for various reasons starting with the expense), the game is left with a flawed, imperfect system that relies on middle-aged officials who are trying to see what’s happening with the naked eye while avoiding being trampled without the benefits of helmets or pads.

The game moves quickly. Information needs to be processed and decisions need to be made in less than the blink of an eye, from a perspective among, not above, the fray.

No, it’s not easy. If it wanted, the league could make it much easier. Much more accurate. Much more reliable.

It won’t start until someone at 345 Park Avenue is willing to make an unpopular suggestion, and then to become the in-house champion for change. On top of everything else that person already has to do.

Which means that the current situation will continue, with mistakes being made and shoulders being shrugged and coaches and owners (except for Tom Brady, apparently) being muzzled. The only recourse for teams is to submit questions to the league, wait for answers, and then (ideally) keep quiet about that, too.

The Lions were able to defeat the Packers in part due to a blocked field goal on Sunday.

Now one Detroit player has been recognized for that play.

The NFL has named D.J. Wonnum special teams player of the week.

Wonnum blocked a Green Bay go-ahead field goal attempt with 3:25 left in the fourth quarter. That helped the Lions take the rest of the time off the clock after the change of possession, allowing Jake Bates to hit a game-winning field goal as time expired.

This is Wonnum’s first career player of the week award.

The Lions will be at home to face another divisional opponent in the Vikings on Sunday.

On Sunday against the Vikings, Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs could join an elite club in NFL history.

Gibbs has 5,919 scrimmage yards and 58 scrimmage touchdowns since the Lions drafted him in 2023, so as soon as Sunday he could reach 6,000 yards and 60 touchdowns in his career. If he does, he’ll be just the third player in NFL history to reach those benchmarks within his first three NFL seasons.

The others were Broncos Hall of Famer Terrell Davis, who had 7,594 scrimmage yards and 61 touchdowns in his first four NFL seasons, and Chargers Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, who had 7,921 scrimmage yards and 60 touchdowns in his first four NFL seasons.

Gibbs has 890 yards from scrimmage this season, which puts him on pace for 2,522 yards in 17 games. That would break the all-time NFL record of 2,509 scrimmage yards in a season, set by Chris Johnson in 2009.

The NFL’s late-afternoon window on Sundays continues to rack up big audiences.

For Week 7, Packers-Lions on Fox averaged 24.67 million viewers.

While not as big as the Sunday night audience for Chiefs-Seahawks (26.3 million), it’s a big number.

The bi-weekly Fox slot at 4:25 p.m. ET is averaging 24.749 million viewers through the first seven weeks of the 2026 NFL season.

This week, CBS has the late-afternoon broadcast, featuring a Denver rematch of the Week 1 game between the Chiefs and Broncos. Given that the Chiefs are 5-1 and the Broncos are 5-2, it should do very well.

The early window should do well, too. It features the 5-2 Browns at the 5-2 Steelers, the 4-3 Ravens at the 5-1 Bills, and the 6-0 Vikings at the 4-2 Lions.

The Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 in a tie game with 4:53 left, and Jahmyr Gibbs was stopped for a 2-yard loss. Lions coach Dan Campbell has faced questions about his unconventional decision.

Campbell explained that the Lions had more confidence in their ability to gain 1 yard than risk Jordan Love executing a 4-minute, game-winning touchdown drive. Campbell added that, even if Detroit’s fourth-down gamble failed, the Packers would not be able to run the clock out, leaving the Lions time to respond.

It worked out as D.J. Wonnum blocked the chip-shot field goal of Packers rookie kicker Trey Smack, and the Lions won on a last-play field goal.

Quarterback Jared Goff said he didn’t “even think twice” when he heard the Lions were going for it deep in their own end.

“I think it’s so -- I don’t know the right word — exposing of people who think it’s not the right decision just because it’s in our territory,” Goff said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. “It’s guaranteeing us a chance to win the game no matter what. Whereas, if we punt it, they can do exactly what we did to them on the final drive, and I’m sure they wish they had another chance to touch the ball.

“So it’s funny. I think back to a few years ago where we went for that fourth down against Green Bay in a similar situation, fourth-and-1, and we got it with David Montgomery. There was backlash on that, and we converted. I guess no matter what, there will be backlash, so who really cares at this point, right?”

In 2024, the Lions went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Green Bay 21 with 43 seconds left. David Montgomery ran for 7 yards, and Jake Bates kicked a 35-yard field goal on the final play for a 34-31 win.

“I think when we’re in those situations, we’re so much more comfortable in them than the other teams because we do them more often,” Goff said, “and it is an advantage for us. It’s something that we practice and something that we spend a lot of time on, and we feel very comfortable in those situations.”

The Lions lead the NFL in fourth-down conversions (89) over the past five seasons and rank second in attempts (154), according to 97.1 The Ticket. Their conversion rate of 57.8 percent over that stretch ranks seventh.

The Lions have converted 61.5 percent of their 13 fourth-down attempts this season.

“Again, unfortunately we didn’t convert this one,” said Goff. “We want to get the first down and keep the game moving and finish the game on that drive, but Dan knew that if we were not to get it, OK, they’ll either kick a field goal or they’ll score a touchdown, and then we’ll get the ball back. Now, thankfully, they missed the field goal, and everything was great, but by every measure of everything, it’s the right decision.”

Lions head coach Dan Campbell offered updates on Monday about a couple of players who emerged from Sunday’s win over the Packers with ankle injuries.

Campbell said there was optimism that wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and cornerback Ennis Rakestraw will both be able to play in next Sunday’s home game against the Vikings, but that their practice work will be managed to keep them on track.

“I think those guys will probably sit Wednesday,” Campbell said. “The plan is to get them going Thursday and I think they’ll be fine. They should be good, we’ll see when we get there.”

St. Brown had nine catches for 153 yards while playing 78 percent of the offensive snaps. Rakestraw was limited to 21 snaps and recorded two tackles.

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs had 29 carries for 116 yards on Sunday against the Packers, and added five catches for 27 yards. For most running backs, that’s a huge workload. For Gibbs, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

After trading David Montgomery this offseason and then making Gibbs the highest-paid running back in the NFL, the Lions have been trying to get their money’s worth by giving Gibbs the ball more than any player in the league. By a lot.

Gibbs has 134 carries and 32 catches this season, for a total of 166 touches. He leads the league in that category, even though the Lions have already had their bye and have only played six games this season, while most teams have played seven.

If Gibbs keeps to his current pace of 27.7 touches per game for the entire 17-game season, he’ll finish this season with a whopping 470 touches. That would be the second-most in a season in NFL history, second only to former James Wilder, who had 492 touches with the 1984 Buccaneers.

Wilder played in a different era of the NFL, when teams loved feeding the ball to their workhorse backs. More recently, teams have become more cautious about not wanting to give their starting running back such a big workload that he breaks down. That has to be a concern in Detroit, but through six games, it’s not a concern great enough to keep the Lions from doing what they’ve been doing, and making Gibbs the focal point of their offense.

Whenever Matthew Stafford decides to retire, he’ll go down as arguably the best quarterback in franchise history for two teams.

That was true before his performance on Sunday, as the Rams beat the Raiders. But Stafford helped solidify that status by passing Roman Gabriel as the team’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns.

He’s now the first player in the modern history of the league to hold a franchise record in passing TDs for two separate franchises, as he left Detroit as that team’s all-time leader in the category.

“Just super appreciative of all the guys that have helped me do that,” Stafford said in his postgame press conference on Sunday. “Catching touchdowns and throwing touchdowns isn’t a one-man job, it takes a lot of people to block and get open, and coaches to draw plays. A cool thing, didn’t really know that was going to happen today, but fired up.

“It just means you’re old and you’ve played a lot of ball,” Stafford later added. “You wore yourself thin enough at a certain place where they moved on. No, but it’s a cool thing, and I touched on it a bit earlier. My name’s in there, but so many coaches, players, teammates just had so much to do with that, and so I appreciate all those guys. It’s been a heck of a ride, enjoy doing what I do, still love it, and look forward to doing some more.”

When Stafford departed the Lions in early 2021, he had 282 touchdown passes, well ahead of Bobby Layne, who was No. 2 at that time with 118. But since then, Jared Goff has advanced to No. 2 in Lions franchise history with 163. It stands to reason that Goff could surpass Stafford eventually if the quarterback’s career continues on its current path.

Goff is No. 6 in Rams passing touchdowns at 107. Roman Gabriel (154), Jim Everett (142), Marc Bulger (122), and Norm Van Brocklin (118) are between Stafford and Goff on the franchise list.

Tom Brady’s insistence on working for Fox while owning a piece of the Raiders creates potential complications beyond the restrictions on his access to team facilities and practices. When it comes to criticizing game officials, there’s a line he can’t cross.

As the league has previously explained it, Brady is prohibited from being “egregiously critical of officiating” or “call[ing] into question the integrity of an official or the crew.”

On Sunday in Detroit, Brady criticized multiple officiating decisions. The overriding question is whether the league office will regard the criticism as “egregious.”

In the third quarter, Packers linebacker Brenton Cox Jr. knocked Lions quarterback Jared Goff to the ground after a throw. The officials called Cox for roughing the passer.

“Not much at all,” Brady said over the replay. “It’s coming off the block. His face is buried. I don’t know about that. I mean . . . that’s a tough one.”

Fox rules analyst (and former NFL senior V.P. of officiating) Dean Blandino agreed. “He’s coming off the block,” Blandino said. “You really want to see more force there. It’s almost like he’s just trying to keep himself up. There’s no real extension. I don’t like that as roughing.”

“I don’t like it either,” Brady said.

In the fourth quarter, after Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes was flagged for an illegal hit on Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd, Brady was blunt.

“What?” Brady said. “There’s no way. . . . Oh, come on, man. Come on. [Jordan] Love throws it over the middle. There’s linebackers in the middle. He’s just turning his right shoulder away from it. That’s allowed 99 out of 100 [times]. . . . It’s a bang-bang play. I know in super slow-mo every little minute frame looks like a lot, but when you’re on the field, you’ve got to pursue that ball. If [Lloyd] catches it, [Barnes] needs force to knock him on the ground. He needs force to knock that ball out. . . . He can’t go in there and put his hand on him.”

Later, during Detroit’s game-winning drive, Brady sounded off on a questionable roughing the passer call, after Packers defensive tackle Karl Brooks hit Lions quarterback Jared Goff following a throw.

“Oh my goodness, what is that?” Brady said. “There’s no way! Brooks on the tackle. Kind of makes a great play. It’s a bang-bang play. He rolls off his body. It’s a great throw by Goff. It’s definitely not roughing the passer. I mean, you just — you’re just ripping through the line of scrimmage to try to get the quarterback on the ground. Look, I love Goff standing there in the pocket. But you just can’t keep tacking on 15 yards.”

Blandino agreed with Brady’s assessment again. “It wasn’t late,” Blandino said. “They might have said head/neck area. But this is not head/neck area. His head is up. That’s teach-tape tackle. That’s not roughing the passer.”

Each of the calls seemed unwarranted. But the league’s rules don’t create an exception based on accuracy of the criticism. Team personnel (including owners) can only say so much when it comes to publicly criticizing officials.

Is it “egregious”? The folks at Merriam-Webster define the term as “very noticeable.” If that’s the same definition the NFL uses, Brady’s comments qualify.

It has nothing to do with Brady’s role as a broadcaster. (If anything, Kevin Burkhardt’s criticism of the calls was even stronger.) However, the league has a policy that muzzles team personnel, including owners.

If Brady gets dinged for this, it’s not because he’s working for Fox. It’s because he’s working for Fox while owning a piece of the Raiders.