Getty ImagesThat Calvin Johnson played well wasn’t surprising.
That Calvin Johnson played at all might be the impressive part.
After not practicing last week because of knee problems, the Lions receiver put up 129 yards in a convincing win over the Jaguars.
Johnson admitted they had to call plays with his sore left knee in mind, and that it’s something they’ll have to do the rest of the year.
“It’s probably something I’m going to have to deal with,” Johnson said, via Anwar Richardson of MLive.com. “As much running as we do, especially in this game, it’s stuff that really could take the whole season to get over with. It would be great if it can get over it before.
“It’s something that I expect to linger. You just got to stay on top of it with treatments.”
Johnson’s dealt with a number of problems this year, a finger here, an ankle there, a concussion. But the left knee is a persistent issue, and one they’ll have to work around.
Johnson met with quarterback Matt Stafford, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, and position coaches prior to Sunday’s game, and told them he didn’t have a full range of motion.
“It’s tough to cut off a certain leg,” Johnson said. “He [Linehan] called the game plan around that, for the most part. It’s successful the way he did.”
The plan including a pain-killing shot before the game, and he had six catches and 111 yards at halftime
“He’s a tough guy and found a way to contribute,” Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. “He’s a tough guy out there; made a lot of plays for us.
“We had a feeling he would be able to do something. Just how much he’d be able to do and how long he could go was really the question.”
Consider it answered for this week, but very much up in the air for the rest of the season.
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Not even Megatron can escape the Madden curse.
Of course he’ll play all year with pain….that’s what you get when you are picked as the Madden cover guy.
the guy is on pace for 1534 yards, what curse? he has been tackled inside the 2 yard line 5 time snow. What curse?
Too bad his knee can’t explain all the balls he’s dropped so far this season.
The mans a beast! The man is having another great year!
His injuries are amplified by the media to feed the frenzy and the knuckleheads that talk about this curse. It’s the same kind of injuries that he and almost every other NFL player deal with every season. ……SMH
The guy is on pace for close to 100 catches and over 1500 yards with 16 yard average…It just cracks me up that people say he is having an off year. As for the drops, the knee DOES explain those.
When he says “playing in pain” all year, he’s referring to playing in Detroit……………..
he may as well stay home on sunday cause he did not show up for the last vikings game and mega bust wont even be a factor in this one either
As boyd54 noted … you guys all wish you had receivers posting Calvin’s numbers!
It’s kind of like claiming Stafford is having an off year when he’s on pace to throw for over 5,000 yards again and will reach 10,000 faster than anyone but Kurt Warner.
And when teams double, triple, and quadruple coverage on Megatron, it means either Broyles, Young, Scheffler, or Pettigrew is going to have a big day.
Calvin didn’t get into the endzone, but LeShore did 3 times … gee, that’s rough.
who needs Calvin when we have an all pro in Harvin
You need Calvin when Your “all pro” player is made of glass.
u will see how badly our all pro breaks defensive backs if he plays…..ohh wait, u saw that the first game when he ran a kickoff for td……this time it will b ur D
You and I both know beating the Lions D is not something to write home about. With that said Harvin is a solid player and i think if he plays Sunday it will be a good game.