NFC Notes: Lions, D’Andre Swift, Packers, Johnathan Abram, Vikings

Lions

Lions RB coach and assistant HC Duce Staley was asked about RB D’Andre Swift bringing angry energy when he is back to full health.

“When you say frustrated, have you talked to him? So you take that as him being frustrated? Oh, Ben (Johnson) said he was pissed off,” Staley said, via LionsWire.com. ”You can tell I read your clips. Alright, I don’t know, and I will say this, if he is, tell him to take that same energy, that same juice, and use it on the field. You tell him that.”

Packers

Packers S Johnathan Abram is seeing some familiar faces at his new team facility, including former coach Rich Bisaccia, who was formerly with the Raiders and is now the ST coordinator in Green Bay.

Both addressed the release of Abram by Las Vegas and his impending impact on the Packers.

“I mean, coaching staff just decided to go in a different direction,” Abram said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “They know what they want. They know what’s best, so that didn’t include me. So I’m here now, just trying to help Green Bay win. I’ve played a lot of football, a lot of good football, and people around the league notice that which is kind of why I’m here today.”

“Obviously, that was a little bit of a surprise, first of all, that he got cut, and that he ends up here with us in Green Bay,” Bisaccia said. “So he’ll come in, he’ll be a diligent learner. He can run. He’s a physical player and I think he’ll have to catch up a little bit to figure out what we’re trying to do here defensively, but he knows a little bit about our system and the kicking game. He played in a couple of phases, so we’ll see how it goes here in the next few days. … He’s played on (the kickoff coverage unit) before and actually just played on kickoff for the Raiders a week ago, so hopefully we can find a spot for him.”

“I’m beyond happy to be back here with him,” Abram said of Bisaccia. “Can’t wait to get out there and play for him on Sundays.”

• Packers LT David Bakhtiari on the use of turf fields via Twitter: “By allowing teams to continue using slit film turf, about 10 more players will go down with a completely avoidable, non-contact injury throughout the rest of this season. To know something is unsafe and not change it is unacceptable.”
• Bakhtiari went on to blame the injury of LB Rashan Gary on the turf field in Detroit: “The fact that the NFL can’t watch Rashan Gary play because of Detroit’s slit film turf is a shame! You’re taking good football away from the fans!”

Vikings

• The Vikings have ruled out DT Dalvin Tomlinson (calf) and CB Cameron Dantzler (ankle) from Week 10.  (Chris Brown)