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Lions tight end Joseph Fauria suffered an ankle injury while "misstepping" at his home. His status for Sunday's game is unknown. (Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- The hits just keep on coming.

Four days after losing their starting middle linebacker to a sack dance, the Detroit Lions now are without tight end Joseph Fauria due to a non-football related injury -- perhaps for a while.

Fauria injured himself with a "misstep" around his home Wednesday night, according to coach Jim Caldwell. He will undergo an MRI and his status for Sunday's game against the New York Jets is uncertain. "One of those innocent things, I guess, around the house," Caldwell said. "Ended up misstepping and twisting his ankle."

Fauria's status against New York won't be known until the team receives the results of the MRI, but Caldwell's forthrightness about the injury -- he dropped the news in response to a question about rookie Eric Ebron -- could be an indicator the Lions worry it might be serious.

That would mean Ebron, Detroit's first-round draft pick in May, could see a heavy uptick in his usage after being used sparingly in the first three weeks of the season.

Brandon Pettigrew has played 136 snaps this season, while Fauria has played 99 and Ebron 91. Ebron's played fewer than one-third of the offensive snaps overall (32.2 percent) and was held without a catch in two of the first three weeks of the season.

He has just three catches for 38 yards overall.

More will be expected moving forward, if Fauria indeed misses extended time.

"The numbers have changed in terms of depth at the position," Caldwell said. "So you can anticipate (Ebron's) probably going to see a bit more, because he'll take on Joe's role in terms of the particular personnel groupings we're using."

Fauria was among the team's breakout players last year, when he went from going undrafted in the spring to hauling in 21 passes during the regular season -- seven of them scoring touchdowns.

He's been quieter this year, with three catches for 49 yards through three games.

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