Lions interior linemen preparing for battle with Rams...

Lions interior linemen preparing for battle with Rams

Tim Twentyman

[www.detroitlions.com]

Frank Ragnow, Graham Glasgow and Kenny Wiggins – the three players that make up the interior of Detroit’s offensive line – will face arguably their toughest task of the season Sunday when the Los Angeles Rams come to town.

The Rams are bringing with them the best defensive tackle duo in the NFL in All-Pro players Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh. It’s tough enough facing one really good interior defender, which the Lions have done often this season with the likes of Akiem Hicks, Kenny Clark, Sheldon Richardson and others, but to have two players the caliber of Donald and Suh next to each other presents a whole new set of problems

“It just kind of comes down to you can’t scheme everything up (playing these two),” Glasgow said Friday. “You can’t always scheme up double teams and sometimes it’ll just come down to one-on-one blocks and making sure we come out on the better end of them."

Through Week 12, LA has generated the second most quarterback hurries (153) in the league per Pro Football Focus. They haven’t always produced sacks – the Rams have only 29 of those on the year – but they’re affecting the quarterback at a terrific clip. Donald has been credited with 41 hurries on the year, the most among all interior defensive linemen. He’s sacked Stafford four times in the two times they’ve played.

“You just have to bring it,” Ragnow said Friday of squaring up against Donald and Suh. “You have to bring it 100 percent of the time 24/7. You have to bring your best because these are two of the best.

“Aaron Donald is like the best football player I’ve ever watched on film. Oh my gosh. He’s good. I’m excited to go against him and battle.”

Suh tends to spend a lot of his time in opposing backfields as well. His 106 tackles for loss since 2010 are the fifth most in the NFL.

“That’s what you wake up for,” Wiggins said about playing the best. “You just have to know where they are on the field and be aware of that and then attack them when you can.”