Things are not good for Matthew Stafford after the Detroit Lions fell to 1-6 with a loss to the Minnesota Vikings. After putting together a good first quarter of play, Stafford was sacked seven times in the game and one of them potentially injured his hand for the future. The quarterback was forced to undergo X-rays on the injury and could be doubtful coming up.
According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Stafford underwent X-rays on his left hand after taking his fifth sack in the third quarter. The quarterback stressed that he should be fine moving forward and he did not expect the injury to linger. However, if Stafford were to miss time, Dan Orlovsky would take his place as the quarterback has already seen a brief amount of playing time after replacing the struggling Stafford at times this year. Head coach Jim Caldwell note that he was hopeful Stafford would be fine.
"Obviously, [he] felt it and it was a little bit of an issue for him there for a little bit, so he's getting it looked at obviously to see what the extent of it is," Caldwell said, via the Detroit Free Press. "But I asked him if he could function and he could function fine. But we couldn't take any pressure off him running the ball. We were not effective."
The Lions have bigger issues than the potential injury to Stafford as they failed to do much of anything in Week 7. With plenty of pressure mounting on high-priced players, the Lions did very little to quiet the talk around uncertain futures. One big problem for Detroit is rookie Ameer Abdullah who is hitting the rookie struggles hard. The running back continues to deal with ball security issues. He has had four fumbles in the past three weeks. He almost had another in Week 7, but it was overturned. The Lions will be getting Joique Bell back sooner rather than later and he could replace Abdullah as the starter quickly.
One positive note for the Lions was the return of Eric Ebron who had one of the better games of his career following his return from injury. The tight end put up 89 yards and touchdown which is a good sight for the Lions who were concerned that Ebron could be hit with the bust label sooner rather than later.
Offensive inconsistencies continue to plague the Lions. Dropped passes from Theo Riddick and double teams to Calvin Johnson are not helping Detroit improve on the season. According to Johnson, there were enough bright spots in the game to leave the team feeling good about the future.
"You can't let frustration override it," Johnson said, via ESPN.com. "You know, it's encouraging that we could move the ball like we were. It just takes us making big plays. We make big plays, we score touchdowns. If we're not making big plays, it's tough to nickel-and-dime all the way down the field, you know."
