| Detroit Free Press
Detroit Lions are 1-3 at the bye. Is there any reason for optimism?
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Trey Flowers should be in Alabama right now spending time with his kids. Frank Ragnow typically returns to Minnesota to see his mother.
But those plans and just about everything else Detroit Lions players had in store for this week’s bye are on hold thanks to expanded COVID-19 protocols the NFL put in place to prevent more outbreaks like the one that postponed the Tennessee Titans-Pittsburgh Steelers game last week and has others currently in jeopardy.
The Lions and Green Bay Packers, the first two NFL teams to have their scheduled bye, are required to stay near the cities they play in during their off week and report for daily coronavirus testing at team facilities.
Typically, players and coaches use the bye week to decompress, visit family or take a quick vacation.
Now, they get away from football, but can’t get out of town.
“Totally sucks,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters after Monday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons. “That’s all I can say about that. Obviously it is what it is, the situation. But especially as an older player, I look forward to the bye weeks immensely. I look forward to kind of a reset, recharging the batteries.”
The few Lions players who spoke about their bye week plans Monday expressed less disdain for the new restrictions, even if it’s clear they’d rather be somewhere else.
“It is what it is,” Ragnow said. “There’s definitely had to be a lot of sacrifices made this year for this season to happen, but I think everyone can say that they’re definitely willing to make those sacrifices to get the season to happen, so that’s what you just kind of have to do.”
Ragnow hopes to go fishing at a local lake during the Lions’ down time. Safety Duron Harmon said his wife’s birthday is Thursday, “so I’ll spend it trying to make sure she’s happy.” And Flowers said he sees the bye as a chance to rest his mind and body.
“Obviously, you probably can’t leave the state, per se, but getting away just mentally, deal with things at home or spend time with your family at home or get some nice rest, watch a movie or something, I don’t know,” Flowers said. “I guess, you can still have opportunities just to settle the mind down as far as get your mind away from football, cause you still have those days off even though we probably can’t go anywhere.”
At 1-3, the Lions bye week comes at a critical time.
Head coach Matt Patricia is under increasing pressure to return the Lions to playoff contention, with several former players sounding off recently about the state of the franchise.
And with five of their next seven games against teams with losing records, the Lions have a legitimate chance to get back in the race.
“The bye week every single year is a great week to really do a good self-scout, take a look at things that you’re doing well, things that you’re not doing well,” Patricia said. “Obviously, we have some tape now, so we can get some game tape that we have that we can put things on and evaluate it. Do we like some of things we’re seeing, or what do we need to change? Or sometimes it maybe a little bit less, sometimes we just have to narrow down the focus and just try to do some things really well instead of maybe too many things at one time. It’s a great week for us. It’s got to be a big growth week for us from that standpoint.”
Though he’d rather be somewhere else, Ragnow said it’s up to the Lions to make sure they come out of the bye better both individually and collectively as a team.
“In a way, not being able to go to Puerto Rico or wherever you’re going, you’re kind of forced to be around the guys and maybe take a harder look,” Ragnow said. “You have more free time and you’re not doing much, you may take a harder look while you’re quarantining and maybe there’s more communication with the guys because everybody is in the same place. You can definitely look at it like that. Maybe that will be the case for us.”
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