The Lions made several transactions this week ahead of their matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, including a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for cornerback Johnthan Banks.
A couple familiar faces in Detroit are helping to ease Banks' transition with the Lions.
"It does make (the transition) a little easier with (Darius) Slay being here," Banks said Wednesday before his first day of practice. "And T.O. (Lions defensive backs coach Tony Oden), who drafted me.
"I'm thankful to be here with Slay and really get to see him go out and compete every day like we did in college."
We'll see how soon and how much he'll be able to contribute on defense in the next couple weeks.
MAKING MOVES IN MINNESOTA
Vikings' offensive coordinator Norv Turner surprised the football world Wednesday morning when he resigned. In a statement released by the team, Turner said it was "in the best interest of the team to step down."
"I was very surprised," Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said. "I was very surprised. As far as the impact – a lot of things this year and this season, we're going to get prepared like we always do and move forward."
It's unclear how Turner's resignation will affect the Vikings' offense, especially on a short week after their Monday Night Football matchup with the Bears.
For Mike O'Hara's full scouting report on the Vikings, click here.
FIRST HALF IN THE BOOKS
The Lions are at the midway point in their season, and currently sit in third place in the NFC North with a 4-4 record.
The first half of the season had its ups and downs, but finished mostly strong with a 3-1 record in the second quarter.
"We're getting ready to start all over again just in terms of our next quarter coming up against obviously, a very tough opponent," head coach Jim Caldwell said when asked where the Lions stand at the midpoint in the season. "So what I tell you is that we've made some improvement.
"We went from a team (that) first quarter we were 1-3, to 3-1. Right now we're going to see how we do in this next quarter and we just take them one at a time, focus in on those teams and see what happens at the end of the quarter."
OTHER NOTEWORTHY ITEMS:
- You asked. Now watch cornerback Johnson Bademosi answer your fan-submitted questions in this week's #AskALion episode.
- Catch up on all the news from Teryl Austin's and Jim Bob Cooter's Thursday press conferences.
- Defensive end Ziggy Ansah is still searching for his first sack of the 2016 season. Find out why this might be a good week for that to change.
- Get to know Detroit Lions Cheerleader Courtney in this week's Cheer Spotlight.
