The Detroit Lions may not be losing starting center Frank Ragnow for as long as initially feared after he went down in the team’s December 3 win over the New Orleans Saints with a knee injury.
Head coach Dan Campbell told reporters after the game that there is a chance Ragnow avoided serious injury that was the worry in his initial diagnosis on Sunday.
“Nothing, we won’t know till tomorrow,” Campbell said, via SI.com. “At first, coming off, it was sounding like one thing, and then after the fact, it sounded like something maybe a little bit different. One was not as good, one sounds more positive. So, I won’t know until tomorrow.”
While he may have avoided a long-term injury, Ragnow’s absence will likely force the Lions to do some shifting on their offensive line.
Frank Ragnow’s Rough Season
This is not the first injury for Ragnow, as SI.com noted that he has regularly taken time off from practice to heal up. He has managed to fight through the injuries to turn in a strong season, allowing no sacks and just two quarterback hits all year. Ragnow is ranked as the league’s No. 2 center by Pro Football Focus.
The Lions have endured a number of other injures to their offensive line, with Jonah Jackson missing five of the previous six games and Halapoulivaati Vaitai being placed on injured reserve.
The Lions managed a strong showing on offense against the Saints despite the injury, though struggled on defense at times. Fox Sports reporter Carmen Vitali noted that the Lions have had difficulty throughout the season when facing stronger opponents.
“Against mediocre teams, [defense] hasn’t been an issue. Against better competition? It has been the Lions’ Achilles heel,” Vitali wrote, adding, “The defense is giving up an average of 23.5 points per game, which ranks inside the top 10. But that doesn’t manifest in complementary situations.”
Lions Call on Seasoned Backup
When Ragnow went down in Sunday’s win, the Lions moved Graham Glasgow over from center and inserted Colby Sorsdal to fill in at right guard. Glasgow has some experience at center, playing there for a few games this season and filling in when Ragnow took days off during training camp, MLive.com’s Kyle Meinke noted.
Meinke noted that Glasgow had a strong performance filling in for Ragnow on Sunday, making a key block on a touchdown run by Jameson Williams in the fourth quarter.
Talking to reporters after the game, Glasgow said he felt comfortable moving back to center.
“But yeah, I think that you kind of take it in stride for the most part,” he said, via MLive.com. “There are times where I have to think about (stuff). When I’m going through the week, I’m not really thinking about the center stuff. I have it on the back of my mind, but I’m not really thinking about it. And then when that happens, it’s just like trying to picture the run drawings and the tags that are on all these plays. But it was pretty good I guess.”
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