ALLEN PARK, Michigan. – Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford is questionable for Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans, and center Frank Ragnow has been relegated.
Both players were injured during last weekend’s loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Stafford suffered a costal cartilage injury in the fourth quarter, when he was hit by Kenny Clark and had to leave the game. He did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday and was not seen working during the Friday part of open practice in the media. It was noted that he was doing a limited job.
Interim coach Darrell Bevell said the Lions would harden Stafford’s injury by the end of the week and will travel to Tennessee.
“This may or may not be a training situation,” Bevell said. “Obviously the conversation of what he’s doing is a side thing even before we get that far. But if we need to do a workout on Sunday morning, we’ll end up doing it too.”
Bevell said Stafford feels and moves better and that it’s hard to judge what that means by his toughness. Stafford said Wednesday that for him, the most important part of whether he will play is whether he can throw and whether he believes his body will be able to handle an entire game.
“You don’t want it to be one of those things where you go out and do something weird early and be out of the first series of the game or something,” Stafford said. “Not to mention, have great success and who knows what might happen. But [I] i want to feel good enough to be able to start the game and i hope i can finish it too. Play at a high level.
“All of these things are a must and we’ll see if we can get there by the end of the week.”
Stafford said his regime of trying to improve consisted of heat, ice, rest and movement. I didn’t know, as of Wednesday, if I needed an extra padding or extra wrap around my ribs if I wanted to play, though he joked, “I’d stick a pillow on my ribs or something.”
If Stafford can’t play, Chase Daniel was expected to start.
Ragnow was told not to speak on Wednesday or Thursday to rest his vocal cords after suffering a vocal cord contusion as part of his fractured throat injury. He visited a specialist on Friday to receive an update.
He didn’t practice on Friday and, although he was initially classified as questionable for the game, the Lions later downgraded him.
Ragnow has been through the installation all week, either writing answers or having teammates and coaches asking him questions he could answer with a thumbs up or a thumbs down or a nod or a shake. of the head. Ragnow’s ability to breathe or eat was not compromised by the injury.
“I know we went from our people to the specialist, and the specialist will really guide us on that information and whether it’s safe to be able to get back into the game,” Bevell said before Ragnow was ruled out. “I can tell you we won’t put it on if it’s not safe.
“We don’t want it to have long-term repercussions in that regard and I don’t think I would want that either. So we’ll take the information we receive from the specialist and continue with that.”
With Ragnow out, rookie goalie Jonah Jackson may slip into center and Joe Dahl will enter the lineup as a guard, the position he played before losing his job last season. Detroit could also play Dahl in the center, if necessary.
Rookie defensive team John Penisini (shoulder) is questionable and four Lions players are out: right-back Tyrell Crosby (ankle), defender Da’Shawn Hand (ankle), winger Darryl Roberts (hip) and wide receiver Kenny Golladay (hip).
Roberts ’injury continues with Detroit’s problems on the corner, where only Amani Oruwariye and Justin Coleman remain healthy among the team’s top five corners.
Golladay is missing his seventh straight game with a hip flexor that has not healed as quickly as he would have expected. Speaking to reporters for the first time since his injury, Golladay rejected the idea that his absence has to do with his contract as he heads to the free agency. He said the injury, which he described as a “muscle strain”, changed, keeping him out longer.
“Sure, I want to be off the field. Even when I was out [for practice]”I certainly thought he was ready or he wouldn’t have come out,” Golladay said. And yes, of course he wasn’t ready yet, to be honest.
“It really sucks. But I mean, I have to be smart with my body.”