Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow feels 'good enough' in return from partially torn pec

Frank Ragnow has played through painful injuries before.

He fractured cartilage in his throat late in the 2020 season and couldn't talk for the better part of two weeks. He's dealt with chronic pain in his toe for years. Last year, he played one week after undergoing surgery to repair torn meniscus in his knee.

On Sunday, Ragnow will play with a partially torn pectoral muscle he suffered three weeks ago in a win over the Arizona Cardinals and spent last week's bye rehabbing.

"(It feels) good," Ragnow said Thursday. "Good enough, baby."

Ragnow was a full participant in practice Thursday for the second straight day. On Tuesday, Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell gushed in his weekly radio interview that Ragnow punched him twice as they were walking through the team's Allen Park training facility to prove his arm had healed enough to play in Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.

"I was just trying to demonstrate that I was OK," Ragnow said.

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Ragnow's return comes at a key time for a Lions team that escaped his injury without any fall off – left guard Graham Glasgow moved to center for the Lions' Week 4 win over the Seattle Seahawks – but now plays a Cowboys team that features complicated blitz schemes on defense.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson called Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer the "godfather" of the mug blitz, where two linebackers line up in a standing position along the defensive line to try and sometimes rush the passer and sometimes drop into coverage to try and confuse the protection.

"He’s got a lot of experience against this type of scheme," Johnson said of Ragnow. "Before I even was here, he was going against Zimmer’s defense, so he knows what issues that particular scheme can bring up. It’s interesting, Year 1 for them in this scheme, how much is he going to dive back into his Minnesota years, but that’s where we have a little bit of familiarity with him, particularly with Frank because he’s been able to see all of this and so he knows exactly what we want to do.”

Ragnow said he did "all kinds of shoulder and ... different boring exercises" to try to strengthen his pectoral muscle during the bye week, and he won't be risking further injury unless his arm gets pinned in a situation it shouldn't be in anyway.

The Lions enter the week 3-1 and in second place in the NFC North, with a divisional showdown awaiting next week against the Minnesota Vikings.

Before that, they must get by a Cowboys team that's won two straight after back-to-back losses to the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens.

Dallas (3-2) needs a win to keep pace with the Washington Commanders (4-1) in the NFC East.

"I think in some ways we kind of look at it like four games is like a quarter of the season and now it's time of the next four," Ragnow said. "We know we got to stretch here on the road and we're ready to get it rolling."

Briefly

The Lions added Kerby Joseph to the practice report Thursday with a hamstring injury. Joseph, who has a team-high three interceptions , was limited in practice.

Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" at 7 p.m. Saturday at J. Gilligan's Bar & Grill in Arlington, Tx. Order your copy here.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow feels 'good enough' in return from partially torn pec