It never looks good when the Pro Bowl center is laying on the field with an injury. It definitely doesn’t look good when the guy needs help from two men to get to the sideline, then boards a cart that whisks him back to the locker room.The Frank Ragnow injury didn’t look good from the press box.Didn’t look good to the Lions, either.“At first coming off, it sounded like one thing,” head coach Dan Campbell said. And that one thing was serious.
But upon further review, the Lions are holding out hope their Pro Bowl center has actually avoided the worst-case scenario. “After the fact, it sounded like something maybe a little bit different,” Campbell said. “One’s not as good, one is real positive. I won’t know until tomorrow.”
The Lions are no strangers to the injury bug up front, playing through myriad health issues to Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson and Halapoulivaati Vaitai, the latter of whom is expected to remain on injured reserve for the rest of the season. They’ve still cruised to the top of the league’s offensive line rankings, according to Pro Football Focus, paving the way for a vicious ground game while offering Jared Goff some of the best pass protection in the league. His sack rate was just 4.9% heading into the weekend, which was fourth best in the league despite taking three sacks last week.But losing Ragnow would be a whole other thing. He’s allowed just two hits and no sacks all season, and ranked as the No. 2 center in the league according to PFF.
