Calvin Johnson Expects To Play Sunday
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson said Wednesday he expects to play when the Lions host the Miami Dolphins this weekend. It will be the first game Johnson has played in more than a month.
"Feeling good," Johnson said. "Back to my normal routine."
The positive aspect of the ankle injury that has kept Johnson sidelined is that he enters the second half of the season as rested as he has ever been.
"Good for the body, I'll tell you one thing," Johnson said. "Definitely fresh when I came back, felt good the other day when we practiced. It's going to be good for me this season."
Johnson had missed or been severely limited in Detroit's last five games before the bye. He had been dealing with the ankle injury since early in the season and re-injured the ankle in the team's game against the Buffalo Bills. Between that game and the previous game, against the New York Jets, Johnson was only targeted three times. He was sidelined for the next three games - all of which the Lions won.
Leading up to the London game against the Atlanta Falcons, Johnson was a limited participant in practice all three days leading up to the game, a sign of progress, but the Lions decided to keep him out of action so he could heal as fully as possible and take advantage of the upcoming bye.
At various points in the first half of the season, Johnson could have tried to play through the injury - and early on he did - but ultimately decided against continuing to do so.
"I did that the first two games after I initially injured it," Johnson said. "You're not being very productive when you're out there hobbling around on one foot. It just feels good to be back at almost full strength."
Johnson would not say he regretted the choice to play through the injury in the Jets game and the Bills game, but he said it was a learning experience, one he would consider during any similar situation in the future, though he said his decision whether to play would depend on the injury.
Lions head coach Jim Caldwell said the decisions on whether Johnson played were made by Johnson and the team's medical personnel - not by him.
"We listen to our physicians," Caldwell said. "They're the ones that make the decision. I think if you keep it that way, it's a lot cleaner. When coaches start getting involved and making decisions to play players or not play them based on their own intuition and not what the player feels along with what the medical staff feels, then you're out of line, I think. At least I'm not going to conduct business that way. They're the professionals ... We leave it up to that."
The offense looked sluggish in Johnson's absence, but the unit had also been missing - at various times and for various lengths of time - starting right tackle LaAdrian Waddle, tight ends Brandon Pettigrew, Joe Fauria and Eric Ebron and running backs Reggie Bush, Theo Riddick and Joique Bell. The Lions, also adjusting to a new offense, have rarely gotten to work with all their pieces.
Wide receiver Golden Tate, who joined the Lions as a free agent this offseason, has stepped up in Johnson's absence, amassing 800 yards on 55 catches through eight games.
One of the theories going into this season was that Tate would benefit from playing with Johnson since defenders would be forced to focus on Johnson, leaving Tate comparatively unattended. Tate has succeeded largely without the benefit of playing with Johnson, however, recording 599 of his 800 receiving in games in which Johnson was targeted sparingly or out entirely.
"As long as you're on the field, especially with [quarterback] Matt [Stafford] out there, you're going to have production," Johnson said. "Golden has done a great job. He's come in here, he's in his prime, and he's playing extremely well, so we need him to keep that up."
