The Detroit Lions are forced to modify their stellar offensive line in Week 10 due to an injury to stalwart left tackle Taylor Decker. Lions coaches haven’t yet revealed their plan for replacing Decker, who is out with a shoulder injury.
Detroit’s opponent, the Houston Texans, is also shuffling the offensive line deck for the Sunday night game.
The Texans are moving regular starting center Juice Scruggs to left guard after losing regular starter Kenyon Green to an injury. Moving Scruggs allows Houston to insert second-year reserve Jarrett Patterson into the lineup as the new starting center.
The interior offensive line has been a massive issue for the Texans all season, so a change might have been in order regardless of Green’s injury. No team gives up a higher pressure rate to interior defensive linemen than Houston, though the injured Green was a big part of that. Patterson is a natural center, while Scruggs does have some starting experience at left guard late in the 2023 campaign.
Regardless of the Texans shuffling, the matchup of Alim McNeill, DJ Reader and Levi Onwuzurike against the Houston G-C-G package is perhaps Detroit’s biggest advantage (on paper anyway) in the game.