Detroit Lions safety Glover Quin admitted Sunday that it's hard to keep his focus strictly on football right now with the events happening around his hometown of Houston with Hurricane Harvey.
Quin's wife Gladys and his three children live in the Houston suburb of Richmond, which is south of the city.
Harvey is responsible for massive flooding in the Houston area. Though Quin's home has been sparred so far, he told reporters Sunday that the water is rising in the fields behind his house.
Quin said it's a helpless feeling being more than 1,300 miles away from his family. He's been glued to the weather channel the last few nights, and said he hasn't gone to sleep before 3 or 4 a.m.
"You're watching the news and you're seeing the city flooded and places that you've been and areas you know like, 'wow, that water is really high,'" Quin said.
"My wife walked out to the fence to take some pictures of the water behind our home and said she was hearing stuff she really didn't know what it was. She paid more attention to it and she was like, 'man, I've never heard animals cry like that."
Quin already has plans to return home to Houston on Friday following Detroit's preseason game in Buffalo Thursday. He isn't expected to play in that contest, so he said Sunday that if he can get a flight earlier than his Friday flight, and can actually get into the airport in Houston, he'd like to try and go home before Friday.
"It's tough," Quin said. "I want to be there to keep them calm and all those things. There's been some really long nights staying up making sure that they're good.
"But (my wife) has done a great job this being her first hurricane, because she's from Albuquerque (New Mexico). She's done a great job dealing with everything, but it's tough. I've been on the phone with her and all the sudden the phone will hang up and the next thing I know I get a message, 'Hey, had to run to shelter, had a tornado warning.'"
It's certainly a tough situation for Quin and everyone else with ties to the Houston area.
DEFENSIVE LINE LOSSES
The Lions have lost another defensive lineman for the season. Defensive tackle Jordan Hill has been placed on injured reserve with a bicep injury
The team filled his roster spot by signing defensive tackle Jordan Lott.
Hill's injury is just the latest setback the Lions have experienced along their defensive line.
Hill was signed as a free agent this offseason, and was expected to be part of the team's defensive tackle rotation as a change-of-pace inside rusher along with Akeem Spence. He now joins defensive end Kerry Hyder (Achilles) as defensive linemen who've been lost for the year in the preseason.
Starting defensive end Ziggy Ansah still remains on the PUP list, and the Lions also have to navigate around the upcoming suspensions to defensive end Armonty Bryant (four games) and defensive tackle Khyri Thornton (six games).
"I think one of the things that everybody realizes is that there are no guarantees in our game, and you have to be able to adjust, and sometimes those adjustments obviously will stretch you to the limits a little bit," head coach Jim Caldwell said.
"But we do have guys that are available and we'll be ready to go. But it's just kind of the nature of what we do. No one likes it, but nevertheless, we have to deal with it."
Young players are going to get some opportunities because of the injuries and suspensions, one of them being rookie defensive tackle Jeremiah Ledbetter, who Caldwell was asked about Sunday.
"Still growing, still developing, still making really good progress," Caldwell said of Ledbetter. "He's getting a little bit better every day. It's a challenging spot when you've got so much going on around you in terms of handling different schemes, and looks and types of body types you have to deal with.
"We like what he's doing at this point and I think he'll be up for the challenge, so he keeps working. He's got the right kind of attitude and he's got physical talent."
Ledbetter came in at 278 pounds and is around 295 now. He did it to become more durable.
"My mindset is always ready to go," Ledbetter said of potentially having to play a bigger role after the Hill injury. "I know the playbook, I'm getting more of it down every day. When times like this come it's best to take advantage of it."
GOOD NEWS
It's not all bad for the Lions on the injury front.
Starting linebacker Tahir Whitehead (knee) and reserve tight end Cole Wick (chest) left Friday's preseason loss against New England, but neither injury is believed to be serious.
"They'll be OK," Caldwell said Sunday.
Whitehead is expected to play a big role in Teryl Austin's defense this season after moving over from the MIKE to the WILL. He was the team's leading tackler a season ago.
Wick is fighting to become the fourth tight end on the roster behind Eric Ebron, Darren Fells and Michael Roberts.
