After missing two games with a sprained right shoulder, Detroit Lions running back D’Andre Swift is trending towards being back in the lineup Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
“I’m pushing towards that,” Swift said Wednesday. “Like I said, taking it day by day.”
Swift, who leads all NFL players at 8.6 yards per carry, returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday and said he is “definitely going in the right direction” from a health standpoint.
Swift sprained his ankle in the first half of the Lions’ Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and played through that injury the next two weeks before a sprained shoulder knocked him out of a Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The Lions had pushed Swift, who missed losses to the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, to be more available this season after he missed four games with a sprained left shoulder last fall.
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He said he does not regret his decision to play through injuries early this season, or think that contributed to his time missed before the bye.
“That’s how I am, that’s how I’m built,” he said. “I sprained the ankle second quarter of the Eagles game. Y’all probably don’t even know that. But just trying to push through and if it’s something minor, something I can push through, I will, no questions asked. I’m going to be out there, like I said, no questions asked. But some things you just got to kind of let heal if you don’t want to make it worse.”
The Lions, who rank third in the league in scoring at 28 points per game despite getting shut out by the Patriots, have been at their best offensively with Swift on the field.
The third-year back ran for a career-high 144 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries in the opener and had 87 yards from scrimmage and a score on seven touches in a Week 2 win over the Washington Commanders.
Swift, who has two rushes of at least 50 yards this season, said he asked about playing with a harness for his shoulder but was told wearing more padding is the best approach for his type of injury.
“(It is) rough early on when you first get injuries you kind of think like, ‘Is it just my luck? What’s going on?'” Swift said. “But like I said, these are the cards I’m dealt with. I can’t do nothing but control what I can control and that’s coming in here every day, attack rehab, get back out there today, build on that tomorrow. Keep going from there. I can’t really sulk about it, can’t be sad about it. It’s football. That’s what I signed up for.”
High energy
The Lions held their first padded practice in weeks Wednesday, part of post-bye week changes Lions coach Dan Campbell has instituted to get more out of his 1-4 team.
“It felt like a camp practice out there, looked like a scrimmage,” Swift said. “For real, for real. But every time we go the pads on, everybody’s competitive, energy, stuff like that. It was good, though. We needed it for sure.”
Campbell said Monday he wanted to cut down on the volume of plays in practice but amp up the intensity after injuries forced the Lions to scale back their work in recent weeks.
Along with a return to pads, Campbell said he is plans to have more one-on-one periods in practice going forward.
“We actually had less reps, but the intensity was higher. You could feel it, too,” guard Jonah Jackson said. “You could feel it, especially defense. Offense, obviously, you feel it, but defensive side of the ball you could feel it today. I heard some pads popping. I heard some helmets cranking.”
Asked what the payoff is from more intense practices, Jackson said, “A W.”
“That’s what we need,” he said. “We need to win. Nothing else. That’s what ultimately matters is a win. Nothing else.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.