National Football League

Knee injury sidelines Stephen Tulloch for remainder of Lions' season

Published Sep. 22, 2014 12:49 p.m. ET

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ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Another bizarre Week 3 injury has taken away some of the positive vibes from a 2-1 start for the Detroit Lions.

Middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch will be placed on the injured list and miss the remainder of the season because of a knee injury, coach Jim Caldwell announced Monday during his weekly news conference.

Tulloch, who must undergo surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was injured in Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers. It appeared to happen when he jumped in the air and landed awkwardly while celebrating his sack of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

A year ago at this time, the Lions lost receiver Nate Burleson for seven games after he suffered a broken forearm in a single-vehicle accident after trying to save a box of pizza from sliding off the passenger's seat.

Burleson's injury came in the wake of a standout personal performance (six catches for 116 yards) in the third game of the season and became a setback for the offense because he was not the same player when he returned.

The Lions were able to overcome Tulloch's absence in a 19-7 victory over the Packers, but that won't be so easy to do over the long haul.

"Any time you lose a guy like that, who has experience he has and has played as well as he's played for you, it's a loss," Caldwell said.

A potentially big loss, in fact.

Outside linebacker DeAndre Levy moved inside and made the calls for the defense when Tulloch went down. Levy excelled in the role, but if he stays in the middle, the Lions likely will lose some of his production on the outside.

"We'll look at all of our options and see what happens," Caldwell said when asked about how they'll fill Tulloch's void. "In the next couple of days, we'll have some answers."

Injuries are inevitable in football, but not for saving pizza boxes or jumping up while trying to imitate the "Discount Double Check" move by Rodgers in his commercials.

Those types of flukes make reality a little tougher, although Caldwell insisted he's not certain how Tulloch actually suffered the injury initially.

"It's not certain how it happened, first of all," Caldwell said. "The obvious thing was everybody saw him go up and come down (in pain).

"A lot of times with these injuries, they happen a couple plays before that (but) at a certain point in time it may be affected a little bit more than others and come to the forefront.

"I'm not absolutely sure on that (how Tulloch injured the knee)."

Either way, Caldwell wasn't going to criticize his player for reacting the way he did to making a big defensive play.

"This is an emotional game," Caldwell said. "It's kind of an emotional reaction. It's tough to keep that under wraps. We want enthusiasm. We want our players to be excited about it."

For Tulloch, it has to be a frustrating way to have his streak of 131 consecutive games played in the NFL come to an end.

On Sunday, when the Lions are on the road to play the New York Jets, Tulloch will miss his first game since coming into the league in 2006.

"I'm not embarrassed," he said after Sunday's game, when asked about how the injury occurred. "I've played nine years in the league and I've never missed a game. I've been fortunate enough to take care of my family and do some good things in the league.

"I made a play on the quarterback to help my team and, unfortunately, I got up and in the celebration, it happened. I'm not embarrassed about nothing."