The Lions take on the New England Patriots tomorrow in a nationally televised (CBS) preseason game, but will be playing without several big name players. The Lions announced on their official Twitter feed six players will for sure not play tomorrow. Those names are as follows:
- Jahvid Best (concussion)
- Jason Fox (foot)
- Nick Fairley (foot)
- Kyle Vanden Bosch (shoulder)
- Alphonso Smith (foot)
- Maurice Morris (hand)
Best, Fox, Fairley, Smith, and Morris were unofficially ruled out yesterday and others could still be game-time decisions.
Best is supposedly a precautionary move, but we all know how the Lions like to keep injury concerns close to the chest. When a beat reporter is wondering whether it's more serious than they are letting on, it's entirely possible the Lions are hiding something. Best practiced the past couple of days, but Wednesday's practice was helmets only and I haven't read anywhere that he was involved in contact drills on Thursday.
For whatever it's worth, Schwartz says Best and Vanden Bosch's injuries are nothing more than day-to-day.