Nick Fairley injury: Lions DT suffers potentially serious knee injury

The Detroit Lions have had a serious case of the injury bug all season, and it unfortunately did not go away on Sunday in London. Early in their game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Lions lost defensive tackle Nick Fairley to a knee injury. He needed help just to get off the field, and he was later carted off to the locker room. It was an ugly-looking injury:

Yeah, that doesn't look good. pic.twitter.com/VxqvpMSQ6u

— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) October 26, 2014

My immediate reaction was that Fairley tore his ACL, but perhaps the injury simply looked worse than it really is.

NICK FAIRLEY carted to locker room. Doubt season ending or surgery. Likely return in 1-3 weeks. Low grade MCL. @Lions @davebirkett

— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) October 26, 2014

I'd say the best-case scenario at this point is for Fairley to miss only a few weeks. Jim Caldwell didn't have an update on Fairley's status following the game, and we probably won't hear anything definitive until Monday afternoon at the earliest. The injury definitely looked bad, but it will take additional testing to reveal the true severity of it.

With Fairley out and C.J. Mosley suspended, the Lions were forced to move Darryl Tapp inside to defensive tackle on Sunday. Mosley's suspension is expected to be over before the Lions' next game, but their lone practice squad defensive tackle, Xavier Proctor, is unfortunately out for the year with an injury of his own. If the Lions end up needing outside help, chances are they will have to sign Andre Fluellen or Jimmy Saddler-McQueen, who were both with the team this past summer.