Lions safety Tracy Walker is day-to-day after injuring knee

Allen Park — A day after safety Tracy Walker exited with a knee injury during the Detroit Lions' 31-26 victory over the New York Giants, coach Matt Patricia offered a promising prognosis. 

"I will say I met with the doctors this afternoon, so as far as Tracy is concerned, from that standpoint, we’ll take another look at him tomorrow, but right now he is day-by-day," Patricia said. "We’ll just see how he progresses through the week and go from there. It’s truly just day-by-day and we’ll see what he looks like as we go forward."

Walker suffered the injury when teammate Christian Jones was blocked into him during a third quarter play that resulted in a Giants touchdown. With Walker out, Detroit's depth was tested in the wake of the trade of Quandre Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks last week.

The team rotated through four safeties beyond Walker, including a pair of previously little-used options, undrafted rookie C.J. Moore and Miles Killebrew. 

"There were some good things, there were some things out there we definitely have to address," Patricia said. "Some things from a communication standpoint, I would say, were the biggest thing that I saw that we need to go through. Maybe a couple of different formations, especially late in the game, a couple of different motions, and just making sure that communication is cleaner."

In addition to Walker, guard Graham Glasgow exited the game in the second half and didn't return. Patricia called the veteran lineman's issue minor.

Trade chatter

There continues to be a lot of talk around Lions cornerback Darius Slay, with ESPN reporting the Philadelphia Eagles have expressed serious interest. 

Patricia continued to downplay those conversations, noting the corner is already focused on Detroit's next opponent. 

"I saw Slay this morning, he was in and got some treatment, and was ready to go," Patricia said. "He actually gave me a really good scouting report on Oakland, so we’re just kind of pushing forward as normal.”

Slay missed Sunday's game against the Giants with a hamstring injury. 

Leading up to Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline, Patricia is leaning on general manager Bob Quinn to handle most of those conversations. But the coach said he's prepared to discuss any significant opportunity that comes along. 

"We operate like normal," Patricia said. "If something from a time management standpoint comes up that we need to shift gears, we quickly try to change hats and do our best — whether it’s give an opinion, a thought, an evaluation, a look, a film study, anything along those lines, we’ll do that, and then we’ll just change hats, go back to getting ready to play Oakland.”

D-line gets a hand

The Lions got a boost against the Giants in the form of defensive tackle Da'Shawn Hand, who made his season debut after being sidelined nearly three months by an elbow injury. 

"I think he did a good job in the game for his first action back out there," Patricia said. "I thought he had good energy, I though he played with good pad level, lot of different blocks I think. 

"I’m sure all that stuff was happening real fast for him in there," Patricia continued. "Overall, I was pleased with his ability to play the game, play it at a high level, and be able to make the corrections that we needed to during the game,”

Hand finished the day with four tackles and a batted pass. 

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @justin_rogers