ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Lions are dealing with quarterback injuries that could leave them with one healthy quarterback — undrafted rookie David Blough — leading into Thursday’s Thanksgiving game against Chicago.
Starter Matthew Stafford has been out since Nov. 10 dealing with broken bones in his back and coach Matt Patricia said he’s on a similar plan to the past two weeks, where he was inactive. Stafford’s replacement, Jeff Driskel, showed up on Monday’s injury report with a hamstring injury Patricia called “sore,” and that “it really is day-by-day for us because of (the) short week,” when asked if he anticipated Driskel being available against the Bears.
Patricia said if they were going through a full practice instead of a walkthrough Tuesday, he’s not sure how much Driskel would have been able to do. He said he can stay in the pocket without a problem, but there are other things that they would try to “build around that” that they would have to look at.
“He’s pretty sore still today,” Patricia said. “We were talking about it this morning but he’s walking around better, which is good. Ran a lot on Sunday. Talked to him and just kind of get a gauge for how he feels. Be a good day for us, from that standpoint, from a mental prep to just kind of go through communication and calls.
“Our offense has quite a bit of verbiage with it, too, so just kind of getting the calls out, getting used to some of the calls and making sure that everybody in the huddle hears it correctly.”
Patricia said “absolutely” Blough has received first-team reps this week and that the franchise has tried to work him in before during certain team periods to help get him acclimated. He said they are preparing as if both Blough and Driskel would be available at this point.
If the Lions were in a pinch, Patricia said the club has “a couple emergencies out there,” in case Detroit needed another quarterback. Tight end Logan Thomas began his NFL career as a quarterback in Arizona after playing the position in college at Virginia Tech.
When asked about the team’s interest in free agent Colin Kaepernick, he said again the club attended his workout earlier this month in Georgia, but wouldn’t expand on the team’s interest in him. Detroit had inquired about veteran Josh Johnson, who the Lions cut in favor of Driskel in September, but Johnson is signed with the XFL and Patricia was “not really sure the details of what happened with that.”
The Lions have lost seven of their last eight games, including all three starts Driskel has made at quarterback.