Jared Goff doesn’t practice, unlikely to play vs. Browns; Taylor Decker ‘good to go’

Detroit Lions left tackle Taylor Decker suffered an elbow injury during practice this week, but it appears it won’t affect his availability for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. Head coach Dan Campbell noted on Friday that the injury isn’t considered serious and he expects Decker to play.

“I think he’s good,” Campbell said of Decker’s injury on Friday. “I think it was not as bad as we thought it could be. I think we are fine. I think he’s going to be good to go. Look, he’s tough, man. So, he’s going to handle this well. He got it checked out and should be good.”

Campbell confirmed Decker will practice on Friday.

Decker missed the first half of the season with a finger injury that require five screws and a plate surgically implanted in his hand, according to the Lions' left tackle. After a brief setback in October, Decker finally returned to action last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers in an effort that resulted in Detroit racking up 229 yards of rushing offense.

“I thought my performance was solid, obviously not having played a game at all this year,” Decker said on Monday. “Wasn’t my best, I would say, but it was solid. Something to build on moving forward.”

Decker will have his hands full this week against the Browns’ elite pass rush. Myles Garrett currently leads all NFL defenders with 13 sacks this season, and former first-round pick Jadeveon Clowney is no slouch, either.

Campbell also gave an update on starting quarterback Jared Goff, who has missed the first two practices of the week with an oblique injury. Per Campbell, Goff will try and throw on Friday, and they will know more once the veteran quarterback responds to the movement. For now, the Lions are preparing to play backup quarterback Tim Boyle

“Until we know more from there, we’re planning on Boyle and then certainly (David) Blough is ready,” Campbell said.

Although Goff will try to throw the ball today, there’s no guarantee he’ll even take first team reps at practice today. Campbell said Goff will need to show some sort of comfortability throwing the ball before they put him in live reps.

“We’ve got to see how he can throw before we start giving him reps,” Campbell said. “We’ll know that before we get into the live reps of practice, and if we feel like we can throw, then we’ll give him some reps.”

With gameday now just a couple days away Campbell said he expects to make a decision by the end of Friday which quarterback they will roll with on Sunday.

UPDATE: Jared Goff’s throw session prior to practice apparently did not go well, because the Lions quarterback was not suited up to practice on Friday. It appears very unlikely he plays.