Houston better, but still might not play vs. Bucs
The Detroit Lions took James Houston off injured reserve Thursday, but there’s no guarantee the pass rusher will be in the lineup for Sunday’s playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Friday the team still is trying to discern how ready Houston is to contribute after missing four months with a fractured fibula.
“We still got to gauge if we feel like he will be ready,” Campbell said. “And I know this, he’s better. He’s a lot better this week than he was last week, and that’s the progression of it, right, is every week he should start to get his legs back under him, feel good about it and we got to decide if we really believe that if he goes, are we going to get the production relative to who we’re sitting, for the rest of the team?”
Houston had eight sacks in seven games last year while playing mostly as a situational pass rusher.
He was ticketed for a similar role at the start of the season this year before injuring his leg on a special teams play in a Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The Lions have struggled at times with their four-man pass rush in Houston’s absence, but have amped up their blitz game in recent weeks to get after opposing quarterbacks.
Aidan Hutchinson led the Lions with 11.5 sacks in the regular season and has seven in the past three games, including the playoffs. No other Lions defender had more than five sacks this year.
Campbell said the Lions will judge Houston’s readiness by his practice performance.
Hutchinson and Josh Paschal have started four of the past five weeks at defensive end and Romeo Okwara has settled in as the top edge backup, with John Cominsky playing a hybrid role on the edge and inside.
Okwara has two sacks since the start of December. Backup edge rusher Charles Harris was inactive for last week’s playoff win over the Los Angeles Rams.
“That’s kind of where we’re at,” Campbell said. “But I know this, he looks a ton better. I know he wants to go, I mean, who wouldn’t? But he’s done a nice job of coming back.”
LaPorta questionable for Sunday, ‘continues to impress’
Sam LaPorta surprised his coaches with how much he was able to play in his return from a knee injury last week, but the Detroit Lions rookie tight end said he did not feel restricted in any way when he was on the field.
“During the game it was good for the most part,” LaPorta said Friday. “I didn’t notice it for the most part, except of course lugging around the big brace.”
LaPorta is listed as questionable for Sunday’s divisional playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he’s expected to play after playing 80% of the snaps in last week’s wild-card win over the Los Angeles Rams.
LaPorta caught three passes for 14 yards in the game and scored on a 2-yard touchdown.
“I tell you, man, the kid just continues to impress,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “It’s one way or another. It’s what he does on the field. And listen, I know he only had the three catches for limited amount of yards, but the touchdown speaks for itself. The thirdand-21 that he did everything he needed to do just to get us a little bit closer to kick the field goal. And then what he does in the run-game goes unappreciated by most. So the guy, I mean it’s incredible for a rookie. It really is.”
LaPorta is expected to wear a knee brace on his left knee for the rest of the season.
He hyperextended his left knee in the first half of the Lions’ Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings and practiced on a limited basis the past two days.
“I felt like I was able to protect myself,” LaPorta said. “I was planting in the ground pretty well, reaching for all my cuts. Yeah, I thought it went pretty well for the most part.”
The Lions ruled punt returner Kalif Raymond out Sunday for the second straight week with a knee injury, linebacker James Houston (fibula) is questionable to play after coming off injured reserve Thursday, and backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater did not practice Friday for personal reasons but has no game designation.