The Detroit Lions aren’t taking any chances with the weather.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Thursday the team is traveling early to this weekend’s game against the Carolina Panthers to avoid any delays due to a snowstorm that’s expected to plunge temperatures into the single digits and drop as much as 8 inches of snow on metro Detroit.
The Lions are scheduled to fly to Charlotte late Thursday afternoon. Normally, they would travel Friday for their Saturday game.
“Just make sure we got out,” Campbell said. “And it’ll be, we’re really getting the bulk of our work will be done (Thursday) morning anyway, so it was just a matter of making sure we beat the storm out and then we’ll wake up, have our walk-through in Carolina, last little bit of meetings, so it’ll flow fine. I mean, it won’t affect us. We’ll be good.”
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Campbell said the Lions made the decision to travel early at the beginning of the week, something they needed to do from a logisitical standpoint to line up an extra night of hotel rooms and meeting space.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for southeast Michigan that begins at 7 p.m. Thursday evening and runs through 4 a.m. Saturday, ahead of a potential blizzard that’s expected to hit much of the Midwest.
Snow is expected to begin late Thursday, and continue all day Friday.
Early Thursday, the NHL postponed the Detroit Red Wings’ scheduled Friday road game against the Ottawa Senators until Feb. 27. Several college basketball games also have been postponed or canceled, including Wisconsin’s game Friday against Grambling State and two Iowa State games.
The Lions (7-7) have won six of their past seven games and can move into control of the seventh wild card spot in the NFC with a win Saturday over the Panthers (5-9) and losses by the Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders.
Iffy ready
Campbell said both C.J. Moore and Ifeatu Melifonwu will see snaps at safety Saturday in place of injured starter DeShon Elliott.
Moore finished last week’s win over the New York Jets at safety after Elliott dislocated his shoulder in the second half, while Melifonwu, a 2021 third-round pick, has played six defensive snaps all season.
Melifonwu moved to safety from cornerback this offseason, but Campbell said he’s not concerned about the second-year defensive back’s lack of experience.
“We like his ability,” Campbell said. “He’s got some range to him. He’s not afraid to get down there and tackle. Some of the experience would be the big thing, but we just felt like he’s another of our young guys, we just let him go. Cause he’s aware enough. He just, he needs the battle reps. So he’s going to get some plays now. He’s going to get to play a little bit. That’s for sure. As will C.J., and of course Kerby (Joseph) will be over there on the other side. But yeah, this is, let’s go. He’s been taking enough reps now, he’s been back for a while, this is about three or four weeks now where he’s been with us and he’s been practicing and putting some days together, so let it go, man.”
Joseph, a third-round pick in this year’s draft, entered the starting lineup in Week 4, after Tracy Walker tore his Achilles tendon in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings, without having played a defensive rep the first three weeks.
He has three interceptions and two forced fumbles in 11 starts.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.