On the Detroit Lions’ final injury report of the week in the lead up to their Christmas Day bout with the Minnesota Vikings, the team did not even list starting center Graham Glasgow with an injury designation. He was good to go after tallying two full practices this week—albeit in walkthroughs, not actual practices.
So it was a bit surprising to see that the Lions ended up trotting out second-year Kingsley Eguakun as the starting center against the Vikings.
It was a day to forget for Eguakun, who was just making his second career start. Against a tough and cerebral Brian Flores-led defense and in front of a loud Vikings crowd, Eguakun struggled all game. Particularly devastating were the two botched snaps between him and Jared Goff, both leading to critical turnovers at inopportune times. He was also called for a controversial false start, forcing Detroit to abandon their plans to go for it on an early fourth down and punt instead.
So why did the Lions go with Eguakun over Glasgow, a center with plenty of experience against this Vikings defense and a strong rapport with Goff? During his post-game press conference, coach Dan Campbell seemed to suggest it was still related to Glasgow’s knee injury.
“Graham was good enough to help us as a reserve. He’s got that knee, so we were fortunate to even have him as a reserve,” Campbell said. “So I gave Kingsley another go.”
This is far from the first time a team has made a player active, but didn’t feel they were healthy enough to get a full start. However, it does seem a tad odd for Glasgow to not even carry a questionable designation if he was that limited by the injury—especially after two “full” (walkthrough) practices.
It’s also worth noting that after Eguakun’s first start last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Campbell came away very impressed with how he performed.
“I thought it was really encouraging, I really did,” Campbell said. “For his first game to go out there, I thought he competed, I thought he fought, I thought he played fast. It was very encouraging.”
Regardless of the reason, it’s clear Detroit’s offensive performance was not helped by Eguakun or the rest of the offensive line. The Lions managed just 68 rushing yards on 30 carries (2.3 YPC), surrendered five sacks, and only produced a single drive that lasted longer than 40 yards on their way to a 23-10 loss.
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