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Caldwell Says Status Of Warford, Waddle Still Uncertain

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - The Detroit Lions go on the road Sunday to face the Arizona Cardinals (8-1), and the following week they travel again to take on the New England Patriots (7-2). Following another bout with the injury bug, the Lions may be playing those games without two of their starting offensive linemen.

Both right guard Larry Warford and right tackle LaAdrian Waddle left Sunday's game against the Miami Dolphins because of injuries.

Warford, Detroit's third-round pick in 2013, started all 16 games for the Lions as a rookie last season, and Pro Football Focus graded him as not only the best offensive lineman for Detroit but one of the best in the league. He has started all nine games for the Lions this season.

"He's going to be a little bit," Caldwell said. "They're continuing to look at him today and kind of see where we are, but hopefully - young guys heal fast, so we'll see."

The coach would not say whether Waddle, who has missed four games this season, had re-injured the calf that sidelined him earlier in the year.

"Still evaluating," Caldwell said. "We'll see what happens here ... I'm not certain exactly how much time, but we'll get a sense of it in the next day or so."

The Lions used a combination of undrafted rookie Cornelius Lucas and veteran Garrett Reynolds to fill in for Waddle this season, and Sunday the Lions used third-round draft pick Travis Swanson to replace Warford - no easy task, to be certain.

"Any time you have a guy that's played as long as he's played, obviously any time we have any sort of injury at any position and a guy has a bevy of experience, and if he's replaced by a guy that doesn't have as much experience, you obviously lose that part of it," Caldwell said. "He's been playing extremely well, and if he's not able to play this week, we'll get somebody ready to go. The young guy stepped in and played well, Travis played great, and so we'll make the necessary adjustments."

 

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