Dwight Smith's foot injury won't hurt the Lions too much in the secondary. Kalvin Pearson has played well at safety the last two games, he fits into the Lions' more aggressive scheme with his blitzing prowess, and he's ready for his chance to be an NFL starter.

"That's everybody's dream," Pearson said Monday.

But Smith's absence -- Pearson described the injury as a sprain, though probably not a season-ender, and Lions coach Rod Marinelli admitted "it doesn't look good" before Smith underwent a CAT scan Monday afternoon -- will hurt the Lions on special teams.

In addition to being a solid nickel back (Travis Fisher should be healthy enough to reprise that role on full-time this weekend), Pearson is the Lions' most valuable player on their coverage units, which have been pretty good. He said he expects the Lions to "lighten up my load a little bit on special teams just to be more productive on defense."