By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK–Lions defensive end Ziggy Ansah has been on the PUP list since the beginning of training camp. But it sounds like he will be back on the field when the Lions take on the Arizona Cardinals in their season opener on September 10.
“I expect that Ziggy will be ready for week one,” said Lions GM Bob Quinn.
The Lions’ defense could certainly use him, especially after losing Kerry Hyder for the season after an achilles injury in the first preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts, and backup Brandon Copeland, who was lost for the year in the same game with a torn pectoral muscle.
Head coach Jim Caldwell explained the advantages of Ansha’s skill set, and how he helps the rest of the defensive line.
“There are only a few guys that have the kind of explosion, power and size that he has,” said Caldwell. “We don’t have a lot of guys on our team like that, genetically, built the way he is constructed. So that makes it a little different in itself. He can create some problems. He forces teams maybe to look at him a little differently in terms of how they pass protect when he’s on the field.
“Those are the kinds of things that he does and every team will look at him differently. Some teams think they have a tackle that can handle him. They will sometimes send a blocker. Teams that don’t think so, they are going to do a number of different creative things to kind of keep him off balance. Once you get those things going on that side, you leave a lot of one-on-ones elsewhere. And you got to have guys in those positions to take advantage of those.”
The “elsewhere” Caldwell mentioned includes the opposite defensive end spot, which will be manned by Cornelius Washington, who signed with the Lions this offseason after spending four years with the Chicago Bears, and Anthony Zettel, who has looked much improved in training camp and will be part of the defensive-line rotation.
But with the big cut down day coming on Saturday, where NFL rosters around the league must be trimmed down to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET, Quinn said the Lions will be on the lookout for potential players to add to the team.
“We have a lot of work to do. Our scouting staff, myself, [are] putting a lot of time in watching all the other preseason games, watching all the guys that we think may be available at every position because we never know when an injury is going to pop up at any position. So, we have some work to do. We are doing that as we speak, and will be into the weekend, and if we have to make some roster moves come Saturday and Sunday we are prepared to do that.”