The Detroit Lions placed defensive tackle Alim McNeill on injured reserve Tuesday, signaling that they will be without the standout for the next four weeks.
McNeill suffered the injury in Sunday's win over New Orleans. In the game, the third-year tackle left early with an injury before returning. However, he'd leave the game a second time in the second half and wouldn't return.
It's the second time this season a player has returned to a game with an injury before missing multiple weeks, with rookie Brian Branch being the first.
Still, the Lions don't believe McNeill returning negatively impacted his situation. In that event, coach Dan Campbell believes that the return was because the defender felt he could play through the injury.
"If we really felt like, man, they're gonna make this thing worse, we're not putting them back in there," Campbell explained. "It's not worth all that to where, alright man, see if he can limp along and then we're gonna lose him for six weeks, we're not doing that. But if the player things they can do it, Mac went back in there, he tried, hey, it doesn't feel right and came back out. So I don't feel that way."
Campbell also explained the thought process behind bringing an injured player back into a game.
"You get some of these, you think you're gonna make them worse, these can become significant, it's not worth it. But if these are things — listen, the thing's stable, it's a pain issue," Campbell stated. "Now, whether you can deal with it or not, that's up to the player. But I think those are a little bit different. If it's not gonna get worse, he's gonna have to deal with pain, then I'm all for it. But if we feel like we could put this player behind relative to the production we're gonna get from him, less than 100 percent, it's probably not worth it. We don't want to do that to our guys."
With McNeill on injured reserve, the Lions will be forced to turn to other options on the interior. Among them are Levi Onwuzurike, Brodric Martin and Isaiah Buggs, all of whom who have been healthy scratches at points this season.
"It's a great opportunity for those guys and that's all you can ask for. If you're one of them, you're excited. Let me say this, losing Mac for these four weeks is gonna be tough, because he's been a reliable, steady, productive player for us. He's really come into his own this year," Campbell said. "He's just grown every year, but this year he was a force for us. Guys got a lot of respect for him so that hurts, but on the same token this train moves on. That's the nature of the game we play in and we've dealt with it all year. We've dealt with it for three years, every team goes through it and so it's next man up. It's a great opportunity (for) Levi, Brodric, Bohanna, Buggs. Everybody, we're looking at next man up and these guys are gonna get an opportunity to prove their worth here and help us out."
Notes
1.) Jalen Reeves-Maybin has been named the NFC's Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against the New Orleans Saints. He had four tackles on special teams in the win.
He becomes the first non-kicker, non-punter or non-returner to win the award for the Lions since Bracy Walker did it in 2004. On the season, Reeves-Maybin is tied for the league lead in special teams tackles with 11.
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