The city of Detroit will experience one of the biggest sporting events in its history when the Detroit Lions head west to take on the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.
It will be an opportunity for the Lions to prove that they have been more than simply a fun story this season and advance to the Super Bowl for the first time.
While Detroit is mostly healthy, linebacker Alex Anzalone is banged up, and on “The Jim Rome Show” he admitted that he is dealing with a shoulder injury and three fractured ribs.
“I don’t want to miss these games for the life of me,” he said. “So I’m in there and I’m grinding away.”
If Detroit has a weakness, it’s defense — they finished the regular season ranked 19th in total yards allowed and 23rd in points given up, and they gave up over 400 yards of total offense in both of their playoff games so far.
However, they did rank fifth in rushing yards allowed and first in rushing touchdowns allowed, and that rushing defense will be tested when they go up against Niners star running back Christian McCaffrey, the favorite to win the Offensive Player of the Year award.
Anzalone, a third-round draft pick in 2017, had a career year by leading the Lions with 129 tackles (85 solo), while also posting 12 quarterback hits, seven tackles for loss, and 3.0 sacks.
However, their offense is largely what has gotten them this far.
They had the NFL’s fifth-best scoring offense in the regular season, and they had three players with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage: running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs and wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
