| Detroit Free Press
Breaking down where Detroit Lions go after deflating loss to Colts
Free Press sports writers Dave Birkett, Shawn Windsor assess the damage after the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Filmed Nov. 2, 2020.
Matthew Stafford did not take part in the open portion of Detroit Lions practice, and the team is not saying anything about his absence for now.
Chase Daniel and David Blough were the only Lions quarterbacks on the field for practice Wednesday, according to a pool report.
Stafford played all 61 offensive snaps in last week’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, when he was sacked a season-high five times.
His absence comes one day after the Lions placed linebacker Jarrad Davis on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
[ Lions going ahead with business as usual after Davis’ COVID case; here’s why ]
Lions coach Matt Patricia said before practice that no Lions player would miss Wednesday’s practice due to contract tracing related to Davis’ COVID case.
“I’m not going to comment on any of the COVID stuff as far as that, but nobody would not be out at practice because of JD,” he said.
Stafford, 32, missed eight games with broken bones in his back last season, but has taken every snap so far this year. He went through a scare upon reporting to training camp, when he tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was placed briefly on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
The Lions later said that was a false positive.
“I had no reason to not believe the results, or whatever, except for the fact that I was feeling fine,” Stafford said at the time. “But there’s plenty of people out there that are positive and asymptomatic as well.
So I think, yeah, there was no doubt there was some fear as I think everybody would have if they got a test that came back positive. And just knowing how much that I’m around and had been around my family and my kids, that’s a little bit of a scary thing. And then when everybody got tested and it all panned itself out, obviously you feel a whole lot better about it.”
If Stafford cannot play Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, Daniel likely would make his debut as a Lion.
The Lions signed Daniel to a three-year free agent deal this offseason.
Kenny Golladay (hip), Taylor Decker (shoulder), Hal Vaitai (foot), Jamal Agnew (ribs) and Tracy Walker also did not take part in the open portion of Wednesday’s practice.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.