Detroit Lions could have an easy road in Jacksonville

So far this season, Jacksonville hasn’t had much of a home-field advantage.

The Lions (3-4) hope that remains the case Sunday.

The Jaguars (1-6) are 0-3 at home this season with the losses by an average of 25 points. There was a 27-7 loss to the Texans, a 27-10 loss to the Bengals and a 41-3 loss to the Bears in which the Lions’ division rival scored 38 points in the second half.

According to Ryan O’Halloran of jacksonville.com, the Jaguars have had the worst start to a season at home in 10 years. In 2002, the Bengals lost their first three home games by a combined 80 points.

Regardless of the start, several Lions players said they don’t plan to take the Jaguars lightly. Jacksonville has the league’s 32nd ranked offense and 25th ranked defense, but the Lions (second in offense; 10th in defense) can’t afford to overlook any team as they hope to climb back into playoff contention.

The Jaguars had some good news on the injury front this week. They will be missing starting cornerback Rashean Mathis and safety Dwight Lowery, but starting cornerback Derek Cox will play. Wide receiver Laurent Robinson (concussion) will also play for the first time since Week 4.

As for the Lions, safeties Louis Delmas (knee) and Amari Spievey (concussion) won’t play. Neither will linebacker DeAndre Levy (hamstring), so Ashlee Palmer will start for the second straight week.

The game starts at 1 p.m. on FOX. Keep checking back at blogs.detroitnews.com/lions for updates.

Josh Katzenstein
Josh Katzenstein joined The Detroit News as an intern on the metro desk in June 2011 before becoming a full-time metro reporter in September 2011. This August he moved to the sports desk and will assist in covering the Detroit Lions. He previously covered the University of Minnesota football and men's basketball teams for the student newspaper, Minnesota Daily, and freelanced for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He can be reached at jkatzenstein@detnews.com.