APThe pain of losing defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh (and later Nick Fairley) in free agency was mitigated when the Lions traded for veteran Haloti Ngata.
But now they’re Ngata quite certain he’s going to be able to play in the opener.
Via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Lions coach Jim Caldwell took a step back from previous optimism, saying he wasn’t sure when Ngata would be recovered from the hamstring problem that caused him to miss the entire training camp.
“You don’t know,” Caldwell said. “I can’t predict that. It’s just one of those things, we have to kind of see where they are. We’re hopeful. We look at how he’s been performing and going through just in terms of his rehab, we’re optimistic.”
Two weeks ago, he said he thought Ngata would be back “soon, … “And that means sooner than the opener.”
The Lions are otherwise pretty thin at the position, as Caraun Reid could miss the rest of the preseason with a high ankle sprain.
The problem you ask.
Haloti Ngata on steroids this year!
We loved this guy in Baltimore. Oz knows when to let players, as great as he is, go. Injuries were starting to set in but I think he will bounce back and give at least ten good games for the Lions. There’s a long list of good to great Ravens players that Oz let hit free agency that turned out to be average to bust for the high paying teams that signed them.
After 50 years of playing inconsistent football, I won’t believe anything until I see it. If Stafford could just hold on to the ball we might have a shot. With this older, slower and injury prone guy here to replace Suh, we might have to try harder on offense. With the amount of talent we have on this team and only made the playoffs once we should be ashamed of ourselves. Keep your paper bags ready my fellow 0-16 Lions fans!!
Detroit will end up giving up on Ngata before they can even sign him to an extension. Look for Ngata to be back with the Ravens next year for a lot less money than he could have made had he just reworked his contract with the Ravens to start with. Clearly a poor decision to try to squeeze a little more money out of the Ravens. Detroit took on his bloated salary and cap hit this year and the Ravens will get him next year on the cheap with little or no cap hit. This is why the Oz is the Wizard.
Lions are unclear on how to play the game of football consistently and respectfully for the past 50 years! Can you guys have a couple winning seasons in a row? That remains to be seen. Delusional Lions fans keep saying “this isn’t the Lions of old” well prove it. You had a good year last year, but I still don’t think you’re good enough to compete for the Superbowl.