Getty Matthew Stafford celebrates a Lions touchdown in 2020.
The Detroit Lions have been holding their breath all week about the status of quarterback Matthew Stafford, but it appears they don’t have to hold it any longer.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, Stafford is going to play this week and start against the Carolina Panthers. There haven’t been any setbacks on his thumb injury, so the team is going to roll with Stafford and they expect him to be available to play for Week 11’s matchup.
Lions QB Matthew Stafford is expected to start Sunday against the Panthers, per source. No major setbacks on his thumb injury so the team expects him to be available as of now.
This is good news for the Lions, who at midweek seemed to have a crisis on their hands when Stafford didn’t practice and little was known about the severity of the injury. With this update, it seems Stafford will play at the very least which is good news for Detroit. Having him in the mix should give them a better chance to win the game. Late last week, he moved the ball effectively down the field to help in the win.
Stafford’s health would be a break for Detroit considering the team is already down 3 offensive difference makers and has a host of players questionable for the week.
Matthew Stafford’s Thumb Has Ligament Problems
Stafford, who has a thumb injury that he sustained last week, now has the issue of a partial ligament tear to worry about according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network after further testing this week revealed the problem. While the injury is serious in nature and the team will watch him throw during the week, at the time it was not expected to impact his ability to start this weekend in Week 11.
Obviously, ligament damage is bad news for Stafford and the Lions no matter if he can play or not. This means the injury is likely to linger the rest of the way this season and remain an issue moving forward. That is true even if Stafford is able to navigate the trouble successfully.
Notably, Stafford wasn’t impacted by the injury much in the moment on Sunday and still led Detroit to the last second win. Whether that is different this week is anyone’s guess, so it will be interesting to see how he does in practice and if the Lions can get him recouped in time to feel better for action.
Matthew Stafford’s Thumb Injuries
During the game against Washington in Week 10, Stafford appeared to bang his thumb. After the play, he showed some signs of being in distress so the team taped up the thumb in real time. Stafford didn’t appear to be hampered by the injury at all, which was the good news considering the Lions needed him to throw the ball around plenty in order to secure the big win. They’ll need that again this weekend.
This is hardly the first time Stafford has had an injury to his throwing hand to worry about in the past. A few years back in 2016, Stafford actually had a similar injury which was much worse that required him to wear an apparatus and gloves during games. The Lions struggled during that time, so hearing that this particular injury isn’t that bad is good news for the Lions all things considered, even though it could limit Stafford’s effectiveness when he does play.
It sounds as if Stafford is going to play this week, which is always a good thing for the Lions and their hopes. The will have to watch and hope the damage isn’t that bad moving forward so he can continue to stay in the game.
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