Taylor Decker earned positive reviews in his return to practice Wednesday and the Detroit Lions left tackle remains on track to make his season debut Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn said Decker “looked good” in his first practice in nearly a month and was in line to have an expanded workload Thursday.
“I think today we’ll give him a little more work and see how he holds up,” Lynn said before practice. “He hasn’t played football this year yet. To think that he can go in and maybe play all four quarters (against the Steelers) may be a little aggressive. I’m hoping that he can get on the football field this weekend and help us.”
Decker injured his left index finger four days before the Lions’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers and spent more than a month on injured reserve.
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He returned to practice Oct. 13, but aggravated the injury the next day and did not practice again till Wednesday.
If Decker is able to play Sunday, it will trigger a domino effect that Lynn said should have a positive impact on the Lions’ struggling offense.
Rookie Penei Sewell will move to right tackle after playing the first eight games at left tackle, and Matt Nelson will return to a swing tackle role.
Lynn said he is not worried about Sewell drawing the primary blocking assignment on Steelers star pass rusher T.J. Watt in his first career game at right tackle. Having Sewell and Decker as edge protectors, Lynn said, could help ignite the Lions’ vertical passing game.
“I do believe he’ll hold up in protection, gives you a little more confidence to throw the ball down the field a little bit,” Lynn said. “But Decker is just as good in the run game. He is a big man, powerful man. So with him and Jonah (Jackson) on the left side, if he can go this week, that would be great.”
Toe the line
Lynn said he has no problem with Lions coach Dan Campbell taking a more active role in offensive game-planning in the second half of the season.
“He is not stepping on my toes,” Lynn said. “This is his football team. My job is to coordinate this offense and support his vision the best I can.”
The Lions, 0-8 and the only winless team in the NFL, have one of the league’s most anemic offenses. They rank 29th in points scored, 26th in total yards, 30th in red zone efficiency and have not scored more than 19 points in a game since Week 1.
Campbell said Wednesday he was devoting more time to offensive meetings this week and meeting with quarterback Jared Goff.
“He is not lying about the collaboration because he is definitely more involved,” Lynn said. “He has been involved the whole time anyway. He’s called plays during games, as most offensive head coaches do. When I was in his shoes, I did that a lot. But yeah, he has definitely been more involved in meetings and more communication with the quarterback and I’m sure you’ll see that on Sunday.”
Briefly
Running back Jamaal Williams missed his second straight practice Thursday with a thigh injury. … Lynn said he’s not sure how big of a role newly-acquired receiver Josh Reynolds can have against the Steelers. The Lions claimed Reynolds off waivers from the Tennessee Titans on Thursday. “I just met him 30 minutes ago,” Lynn said. “He’ll come out here, work a little bit today and we’ll see how much he can pick up.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.