Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford gave the fans yet another demonstration of his toughness on Sunday, playing through a painful rib injury and completing 22 of 32 passes for 252 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
Interim head coach Darrell Bevell would eventually remove Stafford from the game in favor of backup Chase Daniel because as he put it, Stafford had given the team all that he could.
During Tuesday’s Zoom media session, Bevell explained that while it remains unclear whether or not Stafford will practice Wednesday or Thursday, he won’t stand in the quarterback’s way if he wants to play the next two games.
“Obviously, to make it clear, we’re not going to put him in a situation where he can have a long-standing injury from this or repercussions from it,” Bevell said. “But if the guy wants to go out there and compete with his teammates and be there for them, then I love him for it.”
“He was sore, obviously, coming out of the game,” Bevell continued. “He did take a couple hits in that game as we talked about yesterday, and again, he’s tough as they come, he’s tough as nails, and so we’ll do basically the same plan. I think he may be a little bit better than he was last week. But again, we’ll just continue to take it day-to-day.”
Meanwhile for quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan, he trusts Stafford’s intensity and desire to be on the field with his teammates.
“I trust them to do their job,” Ryan said. “My job’s to get everybody in that room ready to play. Matthew shows up every day intent on working and getting ready to play. So until he lets me know something different, we don’t talk about it. I trust everyone to do their job and to do it well, and they do. And we just move forward from there. So not an issue in the quarterback room.”
The Lions will once again be on the outside looking in on the NFL’s playoff picture after having dropped Sunday’s game, with additional changes to coaching personnel expected.
– – Quotes via Dave Birkett of The Detroit Free Press Link – –
