Caldwell Not Optimistic That Fauria, Ebron Will Play; Pettigrew Iffy
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Detroit Lions tight ends Brandon Pettigrew, Joe Fauria and Eric Ebron did not practice Wednesday and Thursday, and at least in the portion of practice open to media, injuries kept the trio sidelined Friday as well.
Fauria has not played since Sept. 21 because of an ankle injury, while a hamstring issue kept Ebron out of last week's game against the New Orleans Saints.
"Those guys are a very slim chance, to be honest with you," Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said. "It's very slim for those two guys."
Caldwell's comments did not convey a great deal of optimism regarding Pettigrew's status either.
"It just depends on what happens here in the next day or so," Caldwell said. "Brandon is still a big question mark, to be honest with you. We'll see where that goes here in the next 24 hours. 24 to 48 hours can make a tremendous difference, so we'll see what happens."
The uncertainty about the availability of those tight ends - not to mention the up-in-the-air status of wide receiver Calvin Johnson - makes game planning interesting for offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi.
"You just have to have a couple plans in your pocket for the 'if,'" Lombardi said. "You just have to be ready for all the different personnel grouping that might be available to you. We're going to be flexible enough that however it shakes out on Sunday, we'll be okay."
The other tight ends on the roster for the Lions include Jordan Thompson, whom Detroit signed from its practice squad Saturday, and Kellen Davis, a free agent the Lions picked up Monday. Lombardi said Davis has impressed with how quickly he has been able to catch on to the Lions offense.
If the Lions only have Davis and Thompson active and one of them suffers an injury, however, Lombardi might have to get creative.
"You just have to be ready to adjust," Lombardi said. "You've got a plan that if you run out of [tight ends], you've taught an offensive lineman [what] the tight end does. Obviously he's not going to be going out for many routes, but run game and some pass protection stuff. You can teach some wide receivers, and [fullback] Jed Collins maybe to do some of the receiving stuff. You just have to cross-train a lot of guys that are going to be ready to go, maybe not with a whole bunch of practice reps, but they'll know what to do.
"For the receivers it's a little bit easier because they've played what we call the 'Y' position, they've played that in different personnel groupings, so it's not completely new to them," Lombardi said, "and Jed Collins is smart enough that he can figure out really quickly what to do. Then the offensive lineman, he's just kind of learning the run game and pass protection stuff which is what they study all the time anyway."
