Though the Detroit Lions are basically done for the season, injured quarterback Matthew Stafford isn’t ready to call it quits.
With their playoff hopes dwindling with each passing week, the 3-6-1 Lions do have hope when they go on the road to face the 1-9 Washington Redskins on Sunday. But they’ll likely do it without Stafford, who sat out practice again Wednesday and whose status is considered week to week with fractured bones in his back.
For any doubters wondering why Stafford would even consider playing the rest of the season, the QB had a simple answer.
“Because this is what I do,” Stafford said Wednesday on the team’s website. “… This is what I love to do. I love playing football. I appreciate all the hard work that all the guys in this locker room and in this organization put into going out there and trying to win games on Sunday and I love being a part of that.”
Before sitting out the Nov. 10 game at the Chicago Bears, Stafford had started 136 consecutive games — the sixth-longest streak for a quarterback in NFL history.
Though Stafford practiced before the Bears game, a recent scan of his back showed problems that have kept him from practicing the last two weeks.
Backup Jeff Driskel started against the Bears and was back under center Sunday against the Cowboys.
“It’s tough for me to sit there without the pads on and not be able to impact the game on the field the way I’m used to doing,” Stafford said. “That’s driving me to get back out there, and whenever we all deem it’s the right time for me to get back out there, I’ll be out there.”
Shutting him down hasn’t been discussed, but Lions coach Matt Patricia said Wednesday that Stafford’s status could change as the final weeks of the regular season approach.
“For us, it’s probably, maybe a different conversation as you get closer toward the end of the season,” Patricia said. “Right now, where we’re at, we’re just focused on this week and just worried about kind of everything that affects us for this week.”
The 31-year-old Stafford has completed 64.3 percent of his passes for 2,499 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions in eight games this season.
