Getty Matt Patricia hugs Bob Quinn,
The NFL has spoken on the Detroit Lions handling of Matthew Stafford’s injury case, and they have levied a significant fine toward the team and several decision makers.
Saturday, the league revealed that the Lions had been fined $75,000, while Matt Patricia was fined $25,000 and Bob Quinn was fined $10,000 for their involvement in the injury reporting process.
Evidently, the league looked into what they saw and found that the team had violated a rule regarding how they designated Stafford’s injury on the report and what they did.
Lions Fine Revealed
According to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein a month ago, the NFL is going to take a closer look at the circumstances of Stafford’s injury and what the team reported as well as knew. Cases have differed from person to person in terms of an official account of when the team knew Stafford couldn’t go and the specifics behind the decision to list him as questionable on the injury report that Friday, then shut Stafford down by later that Sunday morning.
Here’s a look at what Rothstein wrote regarding what the NFL said, what they plan to look into and why:
“We’ll look into it and gather all the facts,” a league source told ESPN. “As is standard in situations like this.”
Detroit had listed Stafford as limited in practice all week and then listed him as questionable on the injury report Friday. Here’s where it then got a little bit dicey. Media reports started to surface Saturday saying Stafford would be a game-time decision and then by Sunday morning, those same reports said he would be ruled out — ending a 136-game starting streak that had been the second-longest active streak among quarterbacks.
Lions general manager Bob Quinn said on Sundy that Stafford suffered the injury late in Detroit’s Week 9 loss to Oakland. However, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter the injury dates back to last season, when Stafford played through the pain and didn’t miss a game.
In the postgame, multiple players told ESPN and other outlets that they were informed at various points Saturday that Stafford would be unable to play.”
Basically, there is plenty up in the air in terms of what the Lions knew, when they knew it and what they chose to say and not say about the injury. That will come into focus as the league takes a closer look at how everything went down, as Rothstein says. Appa
The league has looked at other such issues in the past, getting involved with the Steelers in terms of reporting on Ben Roethlisberger’s injury status as well as Miami in the case of former quarterback Ryan Tannehill last season. In the case of Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin and the organization were each levied a fine for not properly disclosing the quarterback’s injury.
This action is similar to what was taken against the Steelers.
Doctors Chime in on Matthew Stafford’s Injury
As usual, a solid answer as it relates to what actually could ail Stafford has come in from former NFL doctor David J. Chao.
According to Chao, after looking at video of the purported injury, what Stafford is facing is a short term painful injury, albeit something which is not long term, nor has any immediate impacts on the spinal cord. That’s good news not simply for Stafford the player, but Stafford the person.
That opinion was shared by a personality who does injury analysis for Boston Sports Journal, who referred to the injury as acute rather than chronic stress, which could set the table for a quicker recovery.
For the time being, it looks as if the Lions and Stafford may have dodged a more serious bullet. He hasn’t played down the stretch, but the way the team handled his injury was especially costly.
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