Lions Announce Roster Moves ahead of Broncos Game

Lions announce Week 15 roster decisions.

The Detroit Lions announced roster moves ahead of their Week 15 matchup with the Denver Broncos at Ford Field. 

For Saturday's game, the Lions elevated linebacker Bruce Irvin and kicker Michael Badgley from the practice squad.

Irvin is making his second appearance as a Lion. In his debut against the Saints, he recorded a sack and earned a 54.3 overall Pro Football Focus grade in 11 snaps.

Among the many things the Broncos execute well, their ability to force takeaways has contributed to the winning six of their last seven games. 

With a record of 7-6, Sean Payton's squad are only one game out in the AFC West standings. 

“That’s not just this week for us, that’s really been the last few weeks for us where that’s been everything. We emphasize it, we drill it. Unfortunately, over the last four weeks we haven’t done a good enough job with our ball security, and we know this team is feast or famine," said offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. "When they get the takeaways, they capitalize on it and they’re winning ball games because of it. And so, we’re highly aware of it. We’ve got to do a better job protecting the ball this week than we have the last four games." 

Lions' Week 15 Rooting Guide

Detroit's offense must also excel on third-down conversions, as the Broncos' defense has been getting off the field and giving the football back to the offense at a fairly high rate recently. 

"They aren’t just good in their takeaways, I think the other thing that stands out to me the last eight weeks, they’re the number one third down defense in the NFL," Johnson explained. "So, they’re doing a great job stopping offenses when they get them in into that situation, so we’ve got to be on point here on third down this week. The good news for us, is we’ve been trending up in our third down conversion rate over the course of the season, so it’ll be a good challenge.”

Denver leads the all-time series between the two franchises, having been victorious in nine of the 14 total contests.