During Tuesday's afternoon session of practice, offensive lineman Rex Tucker went down with what had originally appeared to be a pretty serious injury. He was carted off the field in a look of pain, and many worried that it could be an injury that kept him off the field for an extended amount of time. After having a MRI, the results were in, and they were nothing but good news. Much like Shaun Rogers, the injury to Tucker's knee was just a sprain, and will keep him out on a week-to-week basis. There isn't exactly a time frame for his return, but it shouldn't be too far off.
NOTES FROM DAY 6 OF TRAINING CAMP
- The original day 6 of training camp was changed into an easy, relaxing break for the Lions. Yesterday, the morning session was just a walkthrough, and the afternoon session of special teams practice was cancelled altogether. It really was a day-off, which was probably much-needed in the extreme temperatures that had swept through the state of Michigan. Regular practice resumed today.
- The morning session was held on the outdoor fields, which was surprising considering a wave of thunderstorms made its way across southeast Michigan overnight and into the morning. During the afternoon special teams practice, the players worked out indoors. The brightside to these storms was that the mercury dropped considerably down to the high-70s/low-80s. The forecast for Friday and into the weekend calls for sunny skies and temperatures moderately warm around 88-degrees.
- Tackle Courtney VanBuren was released after just joining the team back in March. VanBuren had signed with the Lions on March 23rd after spending the first three seasons of his NFL career with San Diego.
- Nothing different with the PUP list, but Anthony Cannon, Shaun Cody, Shaun Rogers and Rex Tucker did sit out both sessions of practice today. Cannon reportedly had surgery on his right hand's pinky finger after it was dislocated. It's not serious as he's expected to be back in practice in the next couple of days. Shaun Cody will be back on the practice field Monday after recovering from a minor knee sprain. Finally, Shaun Rogers is using his time off from a shoulder injury to get his tonsils out. He wasn't present at all today because of the operation, but will be back whenever his shoulder is healthy enough. Here's Rod Marinelli's daily injury statement:
"Injury front, Rex Tucker will be week-to-week, it's a knee sprain type of thing so it's good there and so it will be week-to-week to get him back. Shaun Rogers is having his tonsils out right now, so he can get that while he's got one thing he can get the other thing, and that's why he wasn't here. Cannon had a little pinky, did something to his little finger so he should be back in a day or so. I think that's about it."
- Rod Marinelli responded today after many question marks were raised when Charles Rogers didn't participate in any two minute drills during the walkthrough on Wednesday morning.
"We're just working some of the other guys in. Don't read too much into it. He's in it, he's getting some work, and he'll continue to get some work."
I think some people are just making a mountain out of a molehill. As Marinelli said, I wouldn't look into it too much, during training camp you want to work everyone in, and if that's happening, then someone's gotta be left out.
- A set of NFL officials were present for both sessions of practice today. Here's the interesting part, the group of refs are the same ones that reversed the Lions game-winning touchdown last season against Rod Marinelli's former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When replayed in slow-motion the next day, there was clear evidence that the Lions had scored a touchdown. Talk about irony.
Only three practice sessions to go before the public scrimmage this Saturday. Check back to Pride of Detroit for the full report of what went down on day 7 of training camp.