Lions' Caldwell has no regrets with handling of Levy

Allen Park -- It's been nearly 12 weeks since DeAndre Levy played in a game and it begs the question -- why didn't the Detroit Lions place the linebacker on injured reserve following his early-season injury?

Lions coach Jim Caldwell does his best to refrain from commenting on injuries, but said the team has been operating on the information it has had available.

"We look at our situation, where we are, going into the week, and make the best decisions based upon what we have available to us, which we've done thus far and will continue to do," Caldwell said.

Even though the Lions desperately needed depth at linebacker at times during this season, the team has weathered the storm and worked its way into first place of the NFC North with five games remaining. That's made it easier for the Lions to swallow Levy's extended absence.

"The answer is I don't regret anything," Caldwell said. "All we're concerned with is winning. That's all we're concerned with. We're hanging in there decently."

Although Caldwell won't admit it, the timetable suggests the original prognosis for Levy's injury didn't call for him to be sidelined this late into the season. And by the time the recovery timetable changed, the team didn't want to risk putting him on injured reserve and losing him for an additional eight weeks.

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Levy returned to the practice field three weeks ago, but his participation has remained limited, putting his status for Sunday's game against New Orleans in doubt.

Various leg ailments have sidelined Levy for much of the past two seasons. He played in the first half of one game last year and worked every snap in the opener this season, after missing extensive time in training camp with a non-football injury.