Getty Matthew Stafford warms up in Green Bay.
The Detroit Lions will once again be without quarterback Matthew Stafford for their Week 12 tilt with the Washington Redskins.
Stafford, who’s nursing a back injury that might have an expanded timeline in terms of healing, will miss his third straight game according to Matt Patricia, who provided the update on Friday morning when he was briefing reporters before practice.
“He won’t be on the game field. He’ll be out,” Patricia said, confirming Stafford’s absence and Jeff Driskel as starter for yet another week.
Stafford will be missing in action for his third straight game.
Matthew Stafford Helping Jeff Driskel
While Stafford hasn’t been on the field, he has been able to help out Driskel in several noticeable ways in terms of preparing him, and that is something which Patricia was proud of.
“I think it’s critical, I think all that is critical. I think all that Matthew has done has been phenomenal,” he said. “Matthew Stafford’s done a great job of at practice, being on the sidelines, going through keys, going through tendencies, going through the game plan with Jeff (Driskel). Certainly brings a lot of value to our team just in general being out there, his presence. What he does as a leader for us is very important, so all that has been great.”
Driskel agreed when speaking this week regarding what Stafford has done thus far for him.
“He’s there every day. He’s in my ear in a good way. He’s bouncing things off of me. Any advice I can get from him is more than welcome because he’s done it at a high level for a long time,” Driskel said. “Leader of this team. Even though he hasn’t been out there for the last couple weeks, he’s still trying to do everything he can to help this team win games.”
Even though Stafford won’t play again, it’s likely his influence will be felt in the game plan.
Matthew Stafford’s Injury Timeline
After Stafford was revealed to be sidelined with the ailment, ESPN’s Adam Schefter explained that while the injury could be shorter term in nature, the likelihood is that it would be a week by week thing the Lions would have to watch. Here’s a look at what he wrote:
“Stafford is now considered week-to-week with an injury that one source said could sideline him for “this week or 3 weeks.” Stafford had started 136 consecutive regular-season games entering Sunday, the sixth-longest streak for a quarterback in NFL history.”
Before the injury, Stafford was rolling along and having an MVP caliber season. Safe to say that all of this puts a major damper on that, no matter how much time Stafford is to miss. Stafford is a warrior however, and has never been shy about trying to play in the past through the pain.
Obviously, the major hurdle for him moving forward will be finding a way to get cleared by the medical staff for any type of return in the month of November with this news. This could have Stafford on track to miss games through Thanksgiving for the Lions, unless he can heal up any quicker.
The timeline presented by Schefter certainly jibes with what the internet doctors have said they see thus far.
Matthew Stafford’s Injury
Listed on the report with a hip and back ailment, Stafford picked up the back injury while playing the Oakland Raiders. The hip trouble had been lingering since the Kansas City game, but Stafford had found a way to play through the pain of that, and was actually looking better on the injury report in the weeks since. The back injury limited him in practice most of the week leading up to the Chicago game, casting doubt on whether he’d actually play. Reports in the hours before hinted Stafford could be in trouble, and the decision was quickly made to sit him down on Sunday morning ahead of the game against the Bears.
Late last season, Stafford dealt with broken bones in his back as well and played through the pain, and the back injury in consecutive seasons has become a troubling trend for the quarterback. With the Lions depending on Stafford in not just the present but the future, they will have to be careful about how they proceed in this case.
This week, Stafford will miss yet another game. It will be interesting to see where Stafford is at come next week for Thanksgiving Day.
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