On a Sunday in which the Lions not only lost the game, they also lost Hal Vaitai, David Montgomery, James Houston, and now they have potentially lost star safety CJ Gardner Johnson for the foreseeable future. News broke literally just minutes before I began this blog that CJGJ “is feared to have torn his pectoral”. Now I’m no doctor, as I’ve said before I dig holes for a living. What I do know about this is that everything is speculation until you go under some form of imaging and the medical staff can see what’s going on under your skin. The hope here is that it is just a “fear” and not a fact just yet. If It is a full tare, that would most certainly end his season. However, in the chance that it is a partial tare, there is hope with some rehab over the course of some time he can return at some point. Guys have done it before in the past, but as I said nothing is certain until we hear that Gardner Johnson underwent an MRI, I’m going to hold my breath and hold out some hope. As for his teammate on defense coming off the edge, James Houston suffered a fractured ankle so there’s a good chance we don’t see him again until around late November-early December. That one hurts too. James had a fantastic second half of the season in 2022, recording 8 sacks in just 7 games! There was a ton of high expectations from around the fan base for Houston going into this season hoping he could take the next step as not only a tremendous pass rusher, but also a factor in the run game as well.

As for the other two guys, they’ll be back sooner than later, just how soon though is the question. Vaitai went down with a knee injury, and the replay looked rough. There’s no clear time table for him, nor is there a report on what the injury is. All we know is that he is OUT this Sunday with a knee injury. David Montgomery is in a bit more of a clear situation. He is listed as day to day, but likely OUT as well this Sunday, he told reporters he could miss a couple of weeks. It’s safe to assume the earliest we see him is Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers. Losing both of these starters is a big blow, but the silver lining here is that they do have capabale backups behind them. With Taylor Decker hopefully returning to the line up this Sunday, Penei Sewell can move back over to right tackle and at that point its a 1 for 1 switch at right guard sliding veteran and former Lion Graham Glasgow into the lineup. Glasgow isn’t particularly better than Vaitai but he’s solid, and when he’s in between pro bowlers like Frank Ragnow and Penei Sewell it’s not a bad situation to be in.

Losing anyone in the starting line up sucks. So obviously none of these injuries are a good thing, but by far the biggest loss here is CJ Gardner Johnson. I think collectively as a fan base we were really excited to see what he could do here, and his presence was definitely felt in the 2 weeks of regular season play we saw out of him, along with his very active and colorful training camp. Guys like CJGJ are not only studs, but they make everyone around them significantly better. All we can do now is simply hope that the injury is not as severe as we think, and that we will see him at some point later this season. Until then, God speed Tracy Walker.