Knevel done for season.

[Hambone]

Just ran into him in Shark Club. I thought he'd moved from 6G to 1G. He told me he won't be back this season due to his shoulder injury. Labrum is the problem.

[B.C.FAN]

Sorry to hear that. He was the first-team left guard in training camp until he hurt the shoulder at FanFest. Best to come back healthy next year. Phillip Norman and the rest of the O-line are playing well. Andrew Peirson and Noah Zerr seems ready to step in if needed.

[SammyGreene]

Hamstringing the team to that degree is simply not a sustainable strategy going forward and the Lions will need to make changes next week to avoid that situation. That could feasibly happen on the defence, with Ryan Philips starting both Mathieu Betts and David Menard at defensive end and altering the team’s rotation accordingly, but a change along the offensive line is far likelier.

Rookie second-round pick Noah Zerr could replace Phil Norman at left guard relatively easily — ruining the team’s season-long streak of starting the same offensive line without change.

Not sure why JC Abbott thinks adjusting the ratio on the offensive line is more likely with Knevel now out of the picture. Zerr for Norman is likely a substantial drop off in front of inexperienced quarterbacks.

Adjusting the defensive line makes way more sense given Betts, Menard and Nathan Cherry are all seeing substantial reps.

O'Connor's injury aside, they do need to figure out who is the best QB to start going forward and no better time to do that than over a bye week. But declaring 2 national starting d-lineman and keeping Norman, Butler and Hatcher on the field at all times gives them the best opportunity to win.

[B.C.FAN]

Hamstringing the team to that degree is simply not a sustainable strategy going forward and the Lions will need to make changes next week to avoid that situation. That could feasibly happen on the defence, with Ryan Philips starting both Mathieu Betts and David Menard at defensive end and altering the team’s rotation accordingly, but a change along the offensive line is far likelier.

Rookie second-round pick Noah Zerr could replace Phil Norman at left guard relatively easily — ruining the team’s season-long streak of starting the same offensive line without change.

Not sure why JC Abbott thinks adjusting the ratio on the offensive line is more likely with Knevel now out of the picture. Zerr for Norman is likely a substantial drop off in front of inexperienced quarterbacks.

Adjusting the defensive line makes way more sense given Betts, Menard and Nathan Cherry are all seeing substantial reps.

O'Connor's injury aside, they do need to figure out who is the best QB to start going forward and no better time to do that than over a bye week. But declaring 2 national starting d-lineman and keeping Norman, Butler and Hatcher on the field at all times gives them the best opportunity to win.

Agreed. The Lions have many options for adding a national to the defensive ratio. Pickett and Archibald are in the D-line rotation with Betts, Menard and Cherry. Also, Lokombo, Hladik and Williams can all be on the field together when the Lions go to a three-linebacker set. Second-year American Josh Woods has been getting those reps.

[CrazyCanuck89]

Hamstringing the team to that degree is simply not a sustainable strategy going forward and the Lions will need to make changes next week to avoid that situation. That could feasibly happen on the defence, with Ryan Philips starting both Mathieu Betts and David Menard at defensive end and altering the team’s rotation accordingly, but a change along the offensive line is far likelier.

Rookie second-round pick Noah Zerr could replace Phil Norman at left guard relatively easily — ruining the team’s season-long streak of starting the same offensive line without change.

Not sure why JC Abbott thinks adjusting the ratio on the offensive line is more likely with Knevel now out of the picture. Zerr for Norman is likely a substantial drop off in front of inexperienced quarterbacks.

Adjusting the defensive line makes way more sense given Betts, Menard and Nathan Cherry are all seeing substantial reps.

O'Connor's injury aside, they do need to figure out who is the best QB to start going forward and no better time to do that than over a bye week. But declaring 2 national starting d-lineman and keeping Norman, Butler and Hatcher on the field at all times gives them the best opportunity to win.

The Guard position is probably the easiest to replace without a drop-off.

[Hambone]

Hamstringing the team to that degree is simply not a sustainable strategy going forward and the Lions will need to make changes next week to avoid that situation. That could feasibly happen on the defence, with Ryan Philips starting both Mathieu Betts and David Menard at defensive end and altering the team’s rotation accordingly, but a change along the offensive line is far likelier.

Rookie second-round pick Noah Zerr could replace Phil Norman at left guard relatively easily — ruining the team’s season-long streak of starting the same offensive line without change.

Not sure why JC Abbott thinks adjusting the ratio on the offensive line is more likely with Knevel now out of the picture. Zerr for Norman is likely a substantial drop off in front of inexperienced quarterbacks.

Adjusting the defensive line makes way more sense given Betts, Menard and Nathan Cherry are all seeing substantial reps.

O'Connor's injury aside, they do need to figure out who is the best QB to start going forward and no better time to do that than over a bye week. But declaring 2 national starting d-lineman and keeping Norman, Butler and Hatcher on the field at all times gives them the best opportunity to win.

What scares me about the OL solution is that while they haven't needed to use the lone backup OL in Peirson I really fear what happens when they do have to put him in. All he's really done in the regular season over the past 2 years is follow Kelly Bates around down on the sidelines like a 300# puppy dog. In the grand scheme of the 6 OL roster I assume Peirson would be the backup for one of the interior OL with one of the guards, most likely Norman, kicking out to tackle if Figs or Perkins got hurt. I don't think there's any way they activate Zerr and inactivate Norman. They have to keep Norman dressed unless they activate one of their American tackles from the PR to give them tackle depth. Zerr did play LT at UofS but the thought of an injury to Figs putting them into a position of having Zerr kick out to LT and Peirson coming in at LG to protect the blindside with literally zero CFL experience at those positions scares the crap out of me.

I don't see that adjusting the DL makes a lot of sense because the numbers aren't there. Those 3 are all seeing a lot of reps in a normally 8 man rotation that has for the most part been working very well in large part because they are leveraging rotation to keep all fresh. Given 6 of the 8 are 250# range it is important to avoid wearing them down later in the game. To use the DL to allow Butler in or to keep the OL intact really ties Campbell's hands when it comes to the rotation as 2 of those 3 would always need to be on the field at the same time. Play Betts and Menard on the ends and Gwachum and Tuehema are on the bench. Rotate either of them in and Cherry MUST come in with Bonner or Banks coming out........unless they want to put Hakeem Johnson in at CB and pull Breaux or Peters or pull Rugumba or Purifoy if they shuffle him back to SAM and put MAC size Hladik or WIL sized Lokombo over there.

If TJ Lee's injury keeps him out for any time that could create a solution. They could try to backfill as they finished Friday's game with Johnson starting at CB (I hope not) and Peters filling in TJ's DHB spot. Or possibly rookie Adrian Greene is ready? He's suited up for the past 3 games but has he seen the field for anything other than special teams reps? Otherwise Tyneil Cooper drawing back in might be the simplest move.

Or maybe they have to start with Scarfone at WR and Butler at TB then double switch to put Hatcher and Mackie in?

One thing for sure there are no no-brainer solutions in the event O'Connor can't go.

[B.C.FAN]

If TJ Lee's injury keeps him out for any time that could create a solution. They could try to backfill as they finished Friday's game with Johnson starting at CB (I hope not) and Peters filling in TJ's DHB spot. Or possibly rookie Adrian Greene is ready? He's suited up for the past 3 games but has he seen the field for anything other than special teams reps? Otherwise Tyneil Cooper drawing back in might be the simplest move.

I don't see the Lions changing the DB ratio for any reason other than an in-game injury as happened this week. I'd like to see Tyneil Cooper get another start. He started the season opener at cornerback in place of Delvin Breaux, even though he was used exclusively at halfback in training camp, where he looked to be challenging for a starter's role. Quincy Mauger is also likely ready to come off the injured list. I like Hakeem Johnson but I'd rather see either Cooper or Mauger in the starting lineup if Lee is out.

[OV:54-40]

Speaking of former Lions' draft picks like Knevel: the NFL Bills recently cut former Lions pick DE Daniel Joseph - NFL undrafted FA with a decent Div I resume; did play a bit in ex. games for the Bills; but did not put up good Combine testings #s ; doubful there is much other NFL interest? Would he come up to the CFL? - not much need unless he is a serious upgrade over recent draft picks / back-up DEs in Pickett & Archibald ? Maybe they could deal his rights to a CFL team in need of Canadian D-Line "depth" (like the Als or Riders) - get something like a mid round pick in return ?