Caldwell Says Johnson Will Travel To London With Lions
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said Monday that wide receiver Calvin Johnson, who has been limited or out for the past four games, will travel with the team for Sunday's game in London against the Atlanta Falcons.
Johnson had said earlier that he seriously doubted his ankle injury would prevent him from making the trip. The Friday injury report issued leading up to Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints had listed Johnson as questionable, the same designation he had received the previous week. Both of those games, of course, Johnson ended up being ruled out. Caldwell would not say how close Johnson came to playing.
"I'll kind of repeat what I said before," Caldwell said. "It's not going to be a thing of degrees. It's just when they say he's cleared and he's ready to go and he's feeling great, and when the doctors give us that okay, that's when it's going to happen. There's not going to be a whole lot of in between."
Caldwell has not shot down the possibility of the Lions sitting Johnson through the bye week so he can get several weeks to heal the ankle injury he aggravated in the game against the Buffalo Bills. That would mean one more game in which quarterback Matthew Stafford will be without his number one target, but the Lions have actually fared well without Johnson so far this season. They are 2-0 in games he has missed.
The coach said Stafford has adjusted well to Johnson's absence but hopes Stafford does not have to do so much longer.
"It's not easy when one of the absolute all-time greats is no longer in your lineup and a quarterback's been accustomed to throwing to him," Caldwell said. "He's adjusted well when you look at how many different receivers he's been able to spread the ball around to. He's used it to the max in that regard ... A lot of it has to do with the fact that he follows through on his progressions, he's starting to trust other people as well that he has within his system.
"I think you'll even see it just continue to get better," Caldwell added, "but hopefully it doesn't have to go on much longer without the big fellow back."
