Every week it’s a balancing act for Jahvid Best and the Lions. The Lions’ rookie running back has been dealing with turf toe -- first on one foot, then the other -- all season.

Rest is the best medicine, but that won’t come until January.

So during the week he rarely practices, so the toe will be OK on Sundays.

"Everybody needs to practice, not just a rookie. But that has been a concern, trying to balance both of those. It’s a good question because each person’s a little bit different, but you need to go out and you need to practice and get in the rhythm of things throughout the week. But then on Sunday you need to be healthy and you need to be able to go and you need to balance that,’’ coach Jim Schwartz said. “Probably the most important thing is to be healthy on Sunday.’’

The coach said that Best knows what to do and doesn’t have a problem with missed assignments.

“But when you talk about consistency in the run game and everybody being on the same page and things like that, there’s something with practice. He missed a lot of practice early in the season with it and had been practicing but it’s a situation now where you just don’t want to irritate it too much during the week and try to get him to Sunday,’’ Schwartz said.

The running game has struggled utilizing both Best and Kevin Smith. On Sunday at Dallas they will be without Smith who had surgery on his thumb on Thursday.

Expect Jerome Felton to get more carries and Aaron Brown to be activated to help fill the gap without Smith.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche.)