Detroit Lions’ Matthew Stafford, Teddy Bridgewater limping towards battle of injured QBs

Dave Birkett

| Detroit Free Press

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One has a bad thumb, the other a bum knee, but when the Detroit Lions visit the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, both Matthew Stafford and Teddy Bridgewater are expected to be on the field, behind center, for their respective teams.

Stafford was noncommittal Wednesday about his availability for Sunday’s game, insisting, “I’m just taking it day to day.”

But anyone who knows or has spent time around the Lions quarterback in his 12 seasons in Detroit knows that Stafford will be on the field if he is medically cleared to play.

“Just going to do what I can to try to be out there,” Stafford said. “We’ll see. Just trusting what our docs say and what our trainers do to try to help get it as good as I can and we’ll see.”

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Stafford did not practice Wednesday because of the thumb injury he suffered in the first quarter of last week’s 30-27 win over Washington.

NFL Network reported Stafford partially a tore a ligament in his throwing hand, and while Stafford declined to diagnosis his own injury Wednesday, there were several signs his injury is minor.

As he watched his teammates go through stretching and individual drills Wednesday, Stafford, who was in his regular practice uniform, wore a small black brace on the base of his right hand.

He removed the brace before meeting by Zoom with reporters after practice, and said he did not need to take any extra precautions with his hand while at home this week.

“I’m not too worried about (the kids),” he said. “They’re not that tough yet, so I’ll be all right.”

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On Sunday, Stafford played the final three quarters through the injury and completed 22 of 30 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns after he got hurt.

He acknowledged Wednesday adrenaline helped him get through the game, and that “my entire body felt worse on Monday.”

But that’s typical for the day after a game in the NFL, and Stafford has played through a number of hand injuries before.

In 2018, Stafford played with one game with a glove and another with a soft pad on the back of his left non-throwing hand, after injuring his pinky finger in a game against the Seattle Seahawks. The Lions lost both games, but Stafford showed little effect from the injury in his play.

In 2017, Stafford suffered a right hand injury in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens when defensive end Terrell Suggs inadvertently stepped on his hand. He was limited in practice in the days leading up to the next week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but played with tape on his right ring and pinky fingers and threw for 381 yards, completing 81.8% of his passes in a Lions victory.

In 2016, Stafford played the final three games of the regular season and the playoff game with a dislocated middle finger and torn ligaments on his right hand. He used a finger-less glove to help him grip the football, and threw five interceptions in 19 quarters with the injury. The Lions lost all four games.

In 2011, Stafford played through a broken right index finger. He suffered the injury in an October win over the Denver Broncos, then returned after a bye week to throw nine interceptions in the next three games. The Lions went 1-2 in those contests.

Asked if playing through previous hand injuries will help him this week, Stafford said, “probably, but like I said, they all kind of affect you differently.”

“This one, obviously, is no different, but I just got to figure out what I can and can’t do throughout the week and then we’ll go from there, if I can get out there,” he said.

Some of Stafford’s previous hand injuries have impacted him functionally — the injuries in 2011 and 2016, for instance — while the biggest issue with others has been pain tolerance.

For this one, Stafford said, the bigger issue “to be determined.”

“I’m just taking it day to day, trying to figure out if I can get through it and figure out if I can get out there throughout the week and practice,” he said. “Hopefully (I’ll practice) some at some point, and then see if can go out there and play.”

Bridgewater, who suffered a right knee injury in the fourth quarter of Carolina’s loss to Buccaneers on Sunday, was a limited participant in practice Wednesday. Panthers coach Matt Rhule planned to split first-team reps evenly between backups Will Grier and P.J. Walker, and reassess Bridgewater’s availability Thursday.

As with Stafford, though, all signs point to Bridgewater playing Sunday.

“You take veteran guys like Stafford and Bridgewater, especially on Wednesday when they’re limited, first and second down, they probably know so much of it they can sit back and not take full reps and still be dead on with the game plan,” Rhule said in a conference call with Detroit reporters. “They’ve had so many reps over the years that they’re ready to go. So I love watching Stafford play. He’s dynamic, he’s a competitor, and I feel the same way about Teddy. So I think it’ll be awesome to see both those guys out there.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.