(Detroit Free Press)- Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford came out of Thursday's 34-12 loss to Green Bay without any problems after playing with an injured left shoulder, and coach Jim Schwartz said he had no second thoughts about starting him.
"Oh, gosh, no," Schwartz said today. "No. No second thoughts at all."
Stafford suffered an AC joint separation late in Sunday's 38-37 victory over Cleveland. He did not practice before Thursday's game and was listed as doubtful on the injury report, meaning he had only about a 25% chance of playing. He ended up throwing four interceptions.
"He started feeling better the day before," Schwartz said. "Just like I said yesterday, he woke up, felt good, was able to throw the ball, was able to run, had good range of motion in his shoulder. Him throwing the interceptions had nothing to do with his shoulder."
What about a lack of practice?
"Half of one day?" Schwartz said. "No."
Schwartz said half of one day because the Lions had only one real practice because of the short week, and they went hard for only about half of the time. He pointed out that safety Louis Delmas started even though he hardly practiced, and wide receiver Calvin Johnson started even though he wasn't at full speed.
Veteran backup Daunte Culpepper was upset he didn't play. He initially sat on the bench instead of warming up and had an animated talk with general manager Martin Mayhew. But Schwartz indicated there would be no consequences or changes as a result.
"It needs to blow over," Schwartz said. "It was a situation that needed to be handled a little bit different. But I think I'll just stick with what I said yesterday. It was a very tough circumstance, and we honestly had no idea Matt was going to be ready. Matt made tremendous improvement in the last day. He's our starting quarterback."
Contact NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA: 313-222-8831 or ncotsonika@freepress.com. Check out his Lions blog at http://www.freep.com/section/blog21
By NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA, Detroit Free Press Sports WriterIn your voice
