Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford will attempt to play Sunday against the Tennessee Titans with torn rib cartilage, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The Lions listed Stafford as questionable with a rib and right thumb injury, but Stafford plans to play through any pain he has.
Stafford suffered a rib cartilage injury in the fourth quarter of last week’s loss to the Green Bay Packers when he was hit by Kenny Clark and had to leave the game. He did not practice Wednesday or Thursday and was not spotted working out during the portion of practice Friday that was open to the media. He was listed as doing limited work.
Interim coach Darrell Bevell said Friday that Stafford is feeling and moving better and that it’s tough to judge what that means because of his toughness.
Stafford said Wednesday that for him, the biggest part of whether he will play is whether he can throw and whether he thinks his body will be able to handle an entire game.
“Don’t want it to be one of those things where you go out there and do something weird early and you’re out after the first series of the game or something,” Stafford said. “Not to say, take a big hit and who knows what could happen. But [I] want to feel good enough to be able to start the game and hopefully be able to finish it as well. Play at a high level.”
Stafford said his regimen of trying to get better consisted of heat, ice, rest and movement. He did not know, as of Wednesday, if he would need extra padding or an extra wrap on his ribs if he were to play — although he joked he would “tape a pillow to my ribs or something.”
Information from ESPN’s Michael Rothstein was used in this report.