Lions' Rice thankful he can walk after scary neck injury

PONTIAC, Mich. -- Ron Rice saw clouds and heard voices.

But for a few frightening seconds, the Detroit Lions' safety didn't know if he could move.

Rice's close call came after colliding with tight end Steve Bush during Detroit's 45-38 loss Sunday at Phoenix.

"Even before I hit the ground, I thought that was the end of my career," Rice said. "I knew something was wrong as soon as I hit him.

"I feel like I dodged a bullet. I could have been in a wheelchair."

Instead, Rice can walk -- with a sore neck -- and believes he will eventually run and tackle again.

Rice will not play for the Lions (0-9) against the Green Bay Packers (6-3) at home today because he will miss the rest of the season after being put on injured reserve Tuesday.

Lions continue to struggle

Detroit has won four straight and six of the last seven on Thanksgiving but enters the game winless for the first time since the series started in 1934.

That's the worst start since it went 0-11 in 1942 during a six-year stretch that the Thanksgiving game wasn't played because of World War II.

The Packers are playing Detroit on Thanksgiving for the first time since 1986, but for the 16th time on the holiday. The two teams met 13 straight times from 1951-63.

Green Bay will be playing where they haven't done well -- in a dome.

It has lost seven of the last eight at Detroit and this season's loss at Minnesota was the eighth in 10 years.

Changing perspective

Rice is handling the Lions' horrible start better than he did before his neck injury.

"When it comes to your health, football means nothing," Rice said. "0-9 doesn't mean anything either. I'd trade anything -- Super Bowls, whatever -- for my health."

Rice, in his seventh year in Detroit, was on the field when two of his teammates weren't as lucky.

The careers of linebacker Reggie Brown and safety Harry Colon ended with neck injuries in 1997. Both have recovered fully, but former Lion Mike Utley is paralyzed below his chest after injuring his neck in 1991.

"That just makes it even more prevalent in your mind. You know that this can happen to you," Rice said. "It hits home so often here."

Detroit's Luther Elliss said he feared for the worst when Rice went down.

"I said, 'Oh my God, it must be something with the Lions because another guy just went down with a neck injury,"' Elliss said. "Then when he started to move around a little, it put us at ease. As football players, you worry about that kind of stuff."

Green Bay safety Darren Sharper agreed.

"You think about it more after the game when you go back to your house and your neck and shoulders are still sore from all the banging," Sharper said. "But during the game, you don't worry about it, you just make sure you tackle with the proper technique. If you do that, your chances of getting injured are a lot less.