Injury To Reiff Could Prompt Shuffling Of Offensive Line
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell gave no update Monday on left tackle Riley Reiff, who suffered a knee injury Sunday on the first play of Detroit's game against the New England Patriots.
Caldwell said the team does not know whether Reiff's injury will sideline him long-term.
"Not quite certain yet," Caldwell said in his weekly press conference. "We'll kind of see how it goes here in the next couple days."
The coach did not rule out the idea of the team bringing in a veteran offensive lineman to help in the absence of Reiff, who has not missed a game since the Lions took him with their first-round draft pick in 2012.
Caldwell also noted, however, that the Lions feel comfortable using players already on the team.
"We do have options, obviously," Caldwell said. "We'll find a way to get it done. We have some guys on our squad that we think are capable of making some adjustments for us."
With Reiff out and right guard Larry Warford also recovering from injury, the Detroit offensive line Sunday included a pair of rookies in Travis Swanson -- whom the Lions took in the third round -- and Cornelius Lucas, whom the Lions signed as a free agent.
Caldwell discussed the possibility of moving tackle LaAdrian Waddle to the left side and preparing someone else to play on the right, but he would not disclose whether the Lions are seriously considering such a move.
"One of the things that's unique about that group of guys is they're pretty flexible," Caldwell said. "They can play both sides. I think you've seen from Lucas [that he can] go both ways as well, [Waddle]'s a bit more of a veteran player, so the guys work inside, outside, they work in unison together quite often, so the change is not as drastic as you may think.
"If we did [plan to do that], I wouldn't tell you, obviously because of the fact that [the next opponent gets] a chance to plan and look at some things," Caldwell added. "I talked to you guys about that before; some of the things you guys ask in terms of questions are things that I don't necessarily want to talk about because I just think it gives the opposition a little bit of an unfair advantage. Great for you, poor for us."
The Lions play the Chicago Bears at Ford Field on Thursday.
