Detroit was the healthiest they've been since Week 1 until safety Kerby Joseph suffered a hamstring injury in practice Thursday. The good news is Joseph was a full participant in practice on Friday and is good to go for Sunday.
"Yeah, he's going to practice today so I think we'll be OK," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Friday. "We'll see, we'll know a lot more after today's practice."
Joseph has been one of Detroit's biggest playmakers on defense so far this season. He leads the team with three interceptions with all three coming in the Lions' end zone to take scoring opportunities away from the Rams, Cardinals and Seahawks in Lions victories.
The Lions also get second-year safety Brian Branch back after he missed Detroit's Week 4 win over Seattle, so having both Branch and Joseph roaming the back end of the defense will be key Sunday in Dallas.
The Cowboys have the league's No. 2 passing attack averaging 271.6 yards per contest.
ROSTER FLEXIBILITY
The Lions currently have a roster spot open, and Campbell said Friday the team isn't in a huge rush to fill it.
"It's really, it gives us options," he said. "I don't want to say that we'll necessarily use that or we're in a hurry to field that. It really has just kind of given us a bit of flexibility right now. It does give us options, but I wouldn't say we're necessarily in a hurry to fill that with maybe one of those (pass rushers) or somebody else right now."
Detroit has loaded up the practice squad with linebackers and edge rushers, and that could certainly be a possibility for active roster inclusion ahead of Sunday's game in Dallas.
"We need a little edge help ... the more guys, that's more competition, and so let's let them just continue to work, practice, develop, get them accustomed to what we do, and then let them fight it out," Campbell said. "Let them compete against each other and let the best man win and if they can help us, we're going to take them to the game."
GOFF'S STREAK
Jared Goff is completing a career-high 71 percent of his passes through four games and is coming off a win over the Seahawks where he set an NFL record for the most completions (18) without a miss.
Goff has completed 19 straight passes dating back to Week 3 in Arizona and needs to open Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys with seven straight completions to break the NFL record of 25 straight completions held by Ryan Tannehill, Marcus Mariota, Philip Rivers and Nick Foles.
"He knows exactly what we're looking for, he knows what the bad looks are too," Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said of Goff this week. "He knows why each play is being called and the premier look for that play, but he also knows what could give us some issues, and so just his general awareness of how to make things right now when I'm not timing things up quite right – it's been really impressive.
"And so, we're getting into our own rhythm, just our week to week, what does a Tuesday look like as we're starting into the week, a Wednesday, Thursday, and he and I like to close the door in the early evenings and just make sure we're squared away. And so, I think we're getting into a nice groove between the two of us as well."
DECKER'S BLOCK
David Montgomery won Good Morning Football's 'Angry Runs' award for his 40-yard catch and run against the Seahawks Week 4. Montgomery was amazing on that play, but go back and watch the block Taylor Decker puts on five Seahawks defenders as Montgomery cuts back across the field. It was terrific.
"I mean, from D-Mo to Decker to the skill guys blocking down the field, that was really impressive," Johnson said.
