For the two years I've been on the beat, the Lions have followed a standard protocol in making their coaches available to the media during regular game weeks. Head coach Rod Marinelli speaks on Mondays (usually at a press conference), Wednesdays and Fridays, and coordinators Joe Barry and Jim Colletto (or last year Mike Martz) are available on Thursdays.

Today, things have changed. Instead of the usual coordinator availability, Marinelli is scheduled to meet with reporters following practice and Barry and Colletto are not available. The Lions are well within their right to change things up – NFL policy mandates coordinators be available every other week – but I have to wonder how much this has to do with silencing Colletto for his “embarrass” comments about quarterback Drew Stanton last week?

Colletto has been pleasantly forthcoming about a lot of things in his media sessions this year, but Marinelli said he picked a poor choice of words in explaining why Stanton was not ready for game action and after he confirmed Gosder Cherilus' one-game benching last month, Marinelli said that was not something he wanted to share with the media.

I was looking forward to asking Colletto how much better Stanton got in the last week of practice, if he's ready to play now just in case the Lions decide to use him this week against Jacksonville. I guess I'll have to settle for hearing Marinelli's explanation on why his coordinators are off limits instead.