Ameer Abdullah was a breakout star of Week 1 as the Detroit Lions rookie running back recorded his first touchdown and looked every bit worth the hype he was originally given entering the league. However, Abdullah did not start the game and likely will not in Week 2 either as head coach Jim Caldwell plans to keep the depth chart the same and put Joique Bell out first in the upcoming game.
Abdullah thrived in his NFL debut putting up 50 yards rushing and 40 yards receiving for a solid day of work. Abdullah got the most snaps out of any of the running back options, but the Lions plan on sticking with Bell as the starter so long as he is healthy. Caldwell feels there is a reason the rookie started as No.3 on the depth chart and he does not see that changing despite the early success.
"I think [Ameer's] a guy that gets the ball a number of different ways, too," Caldwell said, via the Detroit Free Press. "I think you have to look at the total. He's carrying the ball on kick returns, he's carrying the ball on pass receiving, he's carrying the ball from scrimmage. So that's a pretty good sampling size there."
Bell is looking for his role to increase more and more as the season goes along and he gets healthy. The running back has been healing for a variety of injuries and just recently got off the PUP list. He had just eight touches against the San Diego Chargers while knee and Achilles injuries kept him from being overly active. However, the running back told the media that will change with each game as he still plans on being the better rusher during the year.
"I felt good," Bell said, via the Detroit Free Press. "I felt I was able to go 100 (percent). I'll take that back: I wasn't able to go 100, but I felt good enough to go out there and play. And the key on this team, you go out there and get better. (Monday), I feel stronger than what I was at this point last week and, actually like I said before, me go out there my first game, everything held up pretty good. I had no problems. None. So it feels good."
Matthew Stafford needs the running backs to be extremely productive as the quarterback deals with an injury to his throwing arm. The quarterback was coy with what the exact issues is, but he told the media he would be good to go against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions will rely on the run game if Stafford's arm is worse than being reported. That could hurt the fantasy value of Calvin Johnson who was barely used in Week 1 along with Golden Tate and Eric Ebron.
"It was a tough one. He got me good, kind of right on the tricep, elbow area," Stafford said via Fox 2 Detroit. "But I'll be good to go. I started feeling better towards the end of the game, and I'll be good to go."
