Jahvid Best turned in the best game of his short career two weeks ago, a few days after he first appeared on the Detroit Lions' injury report with an injured left big toe. Now that the pain has shifted to Best's right foot, the Lions are hoping their rookie running back responds with another big day.Best sprained ligaments in his right big toe in the first half of Sunday's 24-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He carried one time in the second half and finished with just 26 yards rushing.He left midway through the second quarter, returned for the Lions' first offensive play of the second half and spent the rest of the game on the bench as Maurice Morris, Jerome Felton and Aaron Brown tried ineffectively to fill in."Jahvid's a special player for us and obviously when his services aren't available, you'd like to have him out there," quarterback Shaun Hill said. "But like I said, that's just the way this league is. One goes down, the next guy steps in, and I thought Mo did a good job.""He sort of had one a couple weeks before; it really hadn't been much of an issue," Schwartz said. "He went and had a great game the next week, and we'll see going forward how that affects him. But we had a hard time running the ball without him, because, again, the dimension he gives is a little bit different."Best said Sunday he could not put any pressure on his toe. Schwartz did not put a timetable on Best's return, but nfl.com categorized the injury as "day-to-day." Best could play this weekend against the Green Bay Packers.If he doesn't, running back Kevin Smith could be active for the first time this year. Smith missed the first three games while recovering from knee surgery.Best's injured toe kept him out of practice Wednesday morning. The Detroit Lions was missing five starters in total at practice. Among the missing players were quarterback Matthew Stafford, receiver Nate Burleson, and linebacker DeAndre Levy.
CONTRIBUTE TO THIS STORY




