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The good news for the Detroit Lions is that their incredible season continued with a 52-6 shellacking of the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, improving them to 9-1 through the first 10 games of the season.
The bad news is that their already lengthy injury list saw another name added to it. Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone suffered a broken forearm and exited the game; according to head coach Dan Campbell, he'll be unavailable for the next six to eight weeks, a considerable blow to Detroit's defense.
One of the team captains, Anzalone suffered the injury early in the third quarter while attempting to tackle Jaguars running back Travis Etienn. He appeared to be saying “It's broken” as he exited the field with team medical personnel.
Despite the injury, Campbell kept things in perspective and said he fully expects Anzalone to bounce back, via Sports Illustrated.
“Yeah, look, he’s probably gonna be down for a while. It doesn’t look good,” Campbell said. “I think it looks like he broke that bone down there in the forearm. So, we’re gonna lose him for a bit. But, he’ll bounce back, man. He does. If anything, that’ll put he and Hutch together, and they can get their ass back together. So, that’s hard.”
Before his injury, Anzalone became Detroit's first linebacker since DeAndre Levy to amass seven tackles for loss in three consecutive seasons.
The Lions have suffered extensive injuries to key defensive players this season
Unfortunately, the loss of Anzalone is only the beginning of the extensive list of injuries on the defensive side of the ball for the Lions in the 2024 season.
They lost star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson to a broken tibia against the Dallas Cowboys, and he's expected to miss the remainder of the season, bringing to a halt a stellar campaign that likely would have ended with being named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year.
The Lions have also lost the services of starting defensive end Marcus Davenport and starting linebacker Derrick Barnes. As if that weren't enough, the Lions recently placed linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin on injured reserve.
The good news for Detroit is that they're in a strong position to make a run at a second straight NFC North Division title despite these multiple setbacks. Their next game will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium next Sunday as they visit the Indianapolis Colts.
